Issue13

WWW.MANCUNION.COM 8th FEBRUARY 2016 / ISSUE 13 FREE

Mandelson loves Manchester

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The inaugural Mancunion Live

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Peterhouse appoints first female, LGBT* Master

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University IT Director resigns

Charlie Spargo Editor-in-chief The University of Manchester’s Director of IT has resigned from his position after three years, soon after the last of the 68 staff who were offered voluntary redundancies, left the university.

Gerry Pennell OBE, 56, joined the university in July 2013 having worked as a Chief Information Officer at the Co-op group. He will leave with effect from the 31st of March following a period of handover to interim Director Adrian Ridpath.

Pennell was tasked with implementing the university’s ambitious Manchester 2020 transformation programme, the aim of which is to become one of the world’s leading universities by 2020.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “Gerry Pennell has resigned from his position as Director of IT with ef-

fect from 31 March 2016 and will be leaving the University of Manchester. As a consequence, an interim Director of IT has been recruited and Adrian Ridpath will join the University on 15 February. The process of recruitment to the permanent Director of IT position will begin immediately.”

Pennell was head of the department during the university’s outsourcing of IT services, which led to anger amongst the campus unions when 219 staff were told their positions were at risk if 68 did not take voluntary redundancy. At the same time as this announcement, Manchester academics published a book called ‘What a Waste: Outsourcing and how it goes wrong’.

The proposed Framework Agreement was meant to fulfil IT requirements using third parties, as opposed to from inhouse, in order to achieve integration, simplicity and value for money. The expected investment required was between £50 million and £150 million. It has now been put on hold, as was announced in an e-mail to IT staff last month.

“In light of the university’s current position, it is now likely that the required significant IT investment will be spread across a longer period of time than the 3 to 4 years originally envisaged,” it read.

“Therefore we will not be progressing with the Framework Agreement at this time but instead will, subject to any required procurement process, appoint a partner to assist with the implementation of Student Lifecycle systems.”

Martyn Moss, UCU North West Regional Official said: “Staff have experienced a difficult and expensive programme of change in IT at the University of Manchester, including losses of jobs and subsequent involvement of private sector contractors.

“UCU were never shown a business case for the change, or even its cost, and we now want the university to transparently audit that process. We are not opposed to innovation, but we feel this particular project needs to be properly scrutinised and a much better case made in the future.”

Cambridge student found dead in Cairo A Cambridge student was found murdered in Cairo last week after a widespread international search.

The body of Italian Ph.D. student Giulio Regeni was found in a ditch near the Egyptian capital after disappearing on the 25th of January— five years to the day since the Tahrir Square protests. His body showed “clear signs of torture,” according to an Egyptian Prosecutor.

Egyptian officials had suggested that Mr Regeni had been killed in a road accident,

conflicting with the initial reports suggesting torture, but Italy summoned the Egyptian ambassador to express its “bewilderment over the tragic death.”

Regeni was studying for a Ph.D. at the Department for Politics and International Students at Cambridge and was a visiting scholar at the American University Cairo (AUC) to carry out research into Egyptian labour movements. Recently tensions between the working classes and the government have been particularly

high, and according to Amy Austin Jones, head of Sociology at the AUC, researchers have been denied entry to the country or arrested.

“It has become increasingly difficult and dangerous to conduct research,” she said.

The prosecutor said that while the cause of death remained unclear, Regeni’s body had bruises, burns and knife wounds that covered “all of his body, including the face.” He appeared to have suffered a “slow death.”

The Italian foreign minister extended his con-

dolences to the family of the murdered student, said the Foreign Ministry. Its statement also made a strong commitment to achieve justice.

“The Italian government has learnt of the probable tragic end to this affair,” it said. “The Italian government has requested the maximum effort from the Egyptian authorities to find out the truth of what happened.” Investigators and forensic experts from Italy are expected to join the search for the killers.

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ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Highlights P19

Film: Review: Spotlight

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Peterhouse appoints its first female Master

But more must still be done, says College’s Women’s Officer Merle Streck Senior Reporter On the 1st of February, Cambridge’s oldest college, Peterhouse, established in 1284, elected its first female Master, Bridget Kendall. On top of this, Kendall is also LGBT* which students at Peterhouse believe will improve their reputation as being too staunchly conservative.

In his statement to the press, the LGBT* representative at Peterhouse, Julian Sutcliffe, said that Kendall’s election was “an historic moment for a college that will hopefully mark a change from Peterhouse’s reputation as the most conservative college.”

Kendall has worked for the BBC for over 30 years and served as a diplo-

matic correspondent. Between 1989 and 1995 she was the BBC Moscow correspondent where she reported widely on the tensions within the Soviet Communist Party, as well as the internal conflicts in Georgia, Chechnya and Tajikistan. She later became the BBC correspondent in Washington D.C. in 1994 and is currently the host of the radio talk show The Forum on BBC World Service.

In her statement about her recent appointment on the Peterhouse website, Kendall says “I feel very privileged to have been chosen by the Fellows of Peterhouse to be their next Master. This is an exceptional College with a distinguished history and record of academic excellence.

It represents all that is best about

Cambridge University.”

Out of the 31 colleges at Cambridge, nine women currently hold positions as “Head of House”. While the newly elected women’s officer at Peterhouse, Stevie Hertz, is thrilled at the prospect of another woman joining the ranks, she nonetheless admits that the college and university still have to make significant improvements to gender inequalities. She says: “We can do better with access, we can do better with the cost of living and we can do better as a gendered institution,” she said. “It is still an inherently masculine space but steps like this, where we are actively showing that we care about gender, are heading in the right direction.”

The outgoing Master of Cam-

bridge’s Peterhouse, Adrian Dixon said: “This is a great day in the evolving history of Peterhouse. Bridget will bring to the College her exceptional skills in communication and knowledge of international affairs.

She also provides an outstanding role model for students and young academics alike.”

While staff and students have expressed that Dixon will be missed in the future, there is an overwhelming excitement particularly expressed

by LGBT* representatives as well as women’s officers across campus at the prospect of working together with Kendall.

Russell Group universities spend hundreds of millions of pounds on outreach activities in schools and colleges, and on bursaries and scholarships that support disadvantaged students throughout their degree course.”

As reported in last week’s Mancunion , in 2013, only 48 African, Caribbean or mixed background students were accepted into Oxford out of the total 2,233 places available. David Cameron condemned these recent statistics in The Sunday Times , and wrote the shocking statement: “If you’re a young black man, you’re more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university.”

The Prime Minister highlighted that his 2020 goals are to achieve “not just greater numbers at university, but many more jobs, apprenticeships and start-up loans. And I am determined to fix that stubborn problem of under-representation in our police and armed forces.” He also insists that other universities should publish their statistics about appli-

cants and successful students.

But there has been a considerable amount of rebuttal to this. An article in The Spectator argues that Cameron is wrong about who is to blame for lack of Black students in top universities and that Oxford University is not institutionally racist as the article suggests. Toby Young writes that, “even if every Black Caribbean student that applied to the University was successful, they would still only make up 1.34%.” Young also highlighted that these statistics are fairly representative to the BME population in Britain. For example, the average amount of BME students at Russell Group Universities is at 18 percent, which is a direct reflection of the BME population of 13 per cent, according to the 2011 census.

In the same article from The Spectator, Young says to look at the reasons behind why fewer BME students, compared to their White counterparts, do not apply for top universities. He suggests looking at BME student’s grades at GCSE and

A-Level before we deem Oxford University as racist. He also points out that BME students are more likely to apply to over-subscribed subjects such as medicine, PPE, law or economics—affecting statistics of BME students at top universities; explaining that this could be a reason as to why there are so few BME students at Oxford University.

The Runnymede Trust—led by the University of Manchester’s own Professor Claire Alexander—looks into race inequality and diversity in higher education. They have acknowledged an increase in BME students in higher education over the last twenty years, thought there is a concern because this increase has not really occurred in top universities. Runnymede want to encourage universities to aim for the “race equality charter mark” which aims to encourage BME students to apply to the university of their choice and do well in their studies.

Food & Drink:

BME representation at universities remains poor

Review: Almost

Emily Hulme Reporter

Famous Burgers

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Books: My bookshelf

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The debate at Oxford University regarding the Cecil Rhodes statue seems to have shed light on the low numbers of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students attending top universities. In comparison to their White counterparts, the number of BME students are considerably fewer across the UK. Here at the University of Manchester, almost a quarter of students are from BME backgrounds, exceeding the Russell Group average, but there is still room for improvement.

Between 2010 and 2015, at Russell Group Universities the number of Black students starting courses at our universities rose by 62 per cent, the number of Asian students rose by 28 per cent and the number of mixed ethnicity students rose by 43 per cent.

However Dr. Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, has said: “We are far from complacent.

Current Affairs Editor: Joe Evans Magazine Editor: Elise Gallagher

Visit Our Website www.mancunion.com

Theatre: Review: Macbeth

The Mancunion Mancunion Extra @TheMancunion Editor-in-chief: Charlie Spargo editor@mancunion.com Deputy Editor-in-chief: Marcus Johns deputyed@mancunion.com Postal address: University of Manchester Students’ Union, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR Phone: 0161 275 2989 Subeditors: Gemma Sowerby, Shaun Carter, Nadia Cheung, Lauren Nolan, Karenza Cutting, Jack Howell, Emily Piper

Head News Editor: Jenny Sterne News Editor: William Brown Deputy News Editor (Science & Technology): Andy van den Bent-Kelly news@mancunion.com Features Editor: Liam Kelly features@mancunion.com Opinion Editor: Isaac Atwal opinion@mancunion.com Head Fashion Editor: Kassi Allcock Deputy Fashion Editor: Kathryn Murray Deputy Fashion Editor (Beauty): Millie Kershaw fashion@mancunion.com Head Food & Drink Editor: Ellie Gibbs Deputy Food & Drink Editor: Helena Maxwell-Jackson foodanddrink@mancunion.com Head Film Editor: James Moules Deputy Film Editor: Nicole Tamer film@mancunion.com

Head Lifestyle Editor: Eva Katz Deputy Lifestyle Editor: Alice Williams mancunion.life@gmail.com Head Music Editor: Henry Scanlan Deputy Music Editors: Matthew Staite, Rob Paterson music@mancunion.com Head Sport Editor: Will Kelly Deputy Sport Editor: Harry Newton sport@mancunion.com Books Editor: Yasmin Mannan books@mancunion.com Games Editor: Josh Goldie games@mancunion.com Theatre Editor: Elise Gallagher theatre@mancunion.com Arts Editor: Ashley McGovern arts@mancunion.com Head of Photography: Hannah Brierley Photographers: Ege Okyar, Przemek Piwek, Thomas Chan, Avinash Kumar, Daniel Saville, Kayleigh Brook mancunion.photography@gmail.com

The Mancunion is the official student newspaper of the University of Manchester., established in 1969 with a readership of around 20,000. It is printed weekly for 20 editions and is distributed across campus and the city.

All writers are volunteers and new contributors are always welcome. You can get involved by turning up to a meeting, the times of which are listed on the Mancunion website’s Join page.

We gladly accept contributors from outside the University of Manchester.

The Mancunion is part of the Manchester Media Group, along with Fuse FM and Fuse TV. This body encompasses all of the Union’s official media outlets, and organises training, outside speakers, and social events for Manchester students interested in student media.

If you have any comments, questions, or complaints, or would like to contribute, please e-mail the Editor-in-chief or Deputy Editor-in-chief.

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Gender pay gap exposed at Manchester A report released on International Women’s Day reveals that male professors at the University of Manchester are paid over £6,000 more than female professors A report released for International Women’s Day by the University and College Union (UCU) has exposed the lingering gender pay gap within universities across Britain, where, on average, female academics are paid £6,103 less per year than their male counterparts.

At the University of Manchester, the report states male professors earn £82,851 per year, compared to just £76,711 for female professors— a gap of £6,140 per year—meaning that females earn less than 93 per cent of males’ salaries.

In the combined pay gap rankings, calculated by assigning higher scores to the institutions with the largest pay gaps amongst four contract levels (all, early-career, mid-career, professors) and correcting for the ratio of males to females, Manchester is relatively low at 70th of 87. The worst offender, receiving 93 points in the combined list, is St. George’s Hospital Medical School.

For all academic staff, the University of Leicester has the largest disparity once specialist institutions are eliminated, with females earning 78.7 per cent of males’ salaries.

At some universities the disparity in professors’ pay drops as low as 83.6 per cent, and the report notes that Russell Group universities generally have a greater gender pay gap. The study, which examines both further and higher education, found that unless the rate of progress seen over the last ten years changes, the gender pay

gap could remain until 2050.

UCU, who are striving to close the gender pay gap within further and higher education, outlines a four-point plan to end the pay gap within the report, including conducting equal pay audits and analysing the results, and working with the UCU to address any pay disparity. However, they note that many employers not only fail to stick to these steps, but do not even undertake equal pay reviews.

University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer, Jess Lishak, told The Tab: “It’s disappointing to see that not only are women underrepresented in the University, making up only 20 per cent of professors and 34 per cent of all academic staff, but that they are also paid less for the same job.

“The University should not only be a better and more equal employer, but they should also be setting an example to their students (who may well go on to be leaders and employers themselves) that regardless of gender there should be equal opportunities and their work should be valued the same.

“Until the university insists on paying its women staff the same as their male counterparts, perhaps they should be charging their women students 7.4 per cent less tuition fees as well.”

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University of Manchester takes issues of equal pay very seriously. We conduct equal pay audits every two years, in accordance with guidance recommended by both the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Joint

Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff. These audits are overseen by a Joint Working Group comprising University and trade union representatives, including representatives from UCU. The audits examine pay differences by ethnicity and disability as well as by gender.

“The most recent of our audits shows that out of a possible 54 grades and categories examined, there are 47 with such a small pay gap that there is no need for further attention. There are also no significant gaps for staff in grades 1-8 across gender, ethnicity and disability. For the pay zones in which a vast majority of our professorial staff are paid, the gender pay gap is negligible (less than 1%) and overall, the gap is 5%. 23% of our professorial staff are women, though we have a target, which is supported by a number of measures, to achieve much greater gender balance.

“The audit shows that the University’s implementation and application of Higher Education Role Analysis—a standard for higher and further education institutions—and the associated pay structures provide a framework within which the University continues to provide equal pay for like work. This means that it is continuing to meet its obligations in this area under the provisions of the Equality Act. “The University has developed and is maintaining a fair and equitable reward system and, in so doing, is supporting its equality objectives in a critical and measurable way.”

Manchester takes in £47m as universities announce record £1.8 billion surplus Paul Scott Senior Reporter In 2015, universities across England gathered a collective surplus of £1.8 billion, which has largely been attributed to the rise in tuition fees in the 2012/2013 academic year.

The highest ever surplus figure published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for 2014/2015—up £0.7 billion from the previous year—preceded a record number of successful university applications in August last year. Over 400,000 students were accepted onto higher education courses starting in Autumn 2015 after the government lifted a cap on university places.

However, while overall university enrollment is on the increase and universities are enjoying record surpluses, part-time and mature student applications are down. As news of the record £1.8 billion sum was announced, the Open University declared a deficit of £7 million as well as falling applications.

As a largely “distance learning” institution, the Open University is primarily used by those unable to attend university full-time—often by those already in employment or with families. Despite being a non-taught university, where degree programmes are studied for solely using academic materials and resources, students still incur a payment of £1393 per module.

The Open University prides itself on its accessibility and their “mission,” according to their website, is to “promote educational opportunity and social justice by providing high-quality university education to all who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfill their potential… We are committed to promoting equal opportunities for all.”

The drop in numbers will certainly be cause for concern for the Open University and for proponents of equal access to higher education.

Conversely, like many English universities, the University of Manchester has seen an increase in student numbers and currently has the highest student population in the UK, with a total of 37,925 enrolled.

However it is the Oxford University that tops the surplus table, registering a considerable £191 million; Imperial College London also gathered a healthy surplus, with £143 million; Liverpool behind them, posting £65 million and the University of Manchester retained a surplus for 2014/15 of £46.9m (4.6% of income) according to a university spokesman.

A University of Manchester spokesman added: “Our surplus is used for investment in the University, such as funding our capital investment in new facilities. Until a few years ago we used to receive formula capital funding from the Higher Education Funding Council of around £30/35m per annum, however this is no longer the case, so universities need to generate surpluses to fill this gap.”

Development works are well underway in Manchester, as the university sets out to transform the campus through its “£1 billion Campus Masterplan.” Recently the university outlined plans to revamp its Oxford Road campus by creating “a parkland at the heart of campus to benefit staff, students, visitors and the local community”.

While universities like Manchester say they’ll be able to invest in new facilities, more widely accessible institutions like the Open University are struggling to even break even. The university being £7 million in the red attests to the precarious future of part-time and adult higher education in the UK, while mainstream universities reap great financial rewards.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Eve Forster Reporter

Continued from page 1...

Jenni Smyth, a mature student and parent, was elected as Women’s Officer with 2,529 votes after only two rounds of voting. Speaking to The Mancunion Smyth stated: “As I said in my speech, I’m a mature student and a student parent, and when I started uni I felt a little bit isolated during Freshers’, like there was nothing for me. I went to Conversation Corner, met the women’s campaign, and suddenly I didn’t feel like a mature student, I just felt like a student, a woman, and that’s where I found my university family.

“Since then I have been absolutely dedicated to the women’s campaign, Jess Lishak is amazing and has done such a good job. She’s done two years, and I’m proud and honoured to at least try to attempt and carry on the good work she’s done.

I can’t believe it, I’m in shock! Thank you!”

Following Smyth’s victory, the Activities and Development Officer results were announced. The vote for this position proved to be the closest of the night, with 16 rounds of voting. From the first round the overall winner Tamara O’Neill was in the lead and eventually won the position with 1,626 votes.

O’Neill, speaking after her election, said: “I’m extremely, extremely happy. Overwhelmed, shocked that that many students voted. I feel

really happy! […] Well done to all the other candidates because it was very hard, very strong competition.”

O’Neill had also earlier in the night won the joke award for best banner of the campaign.

The final announcement was for the position of General Secretary. Incumbent Naa Acquah was re-elected with 2,576 votes. Acquah thanked many people, including some of the newly elected Exec Team including Mir, Spence, Nagdee and Smyth.

Acquah told The Mancunion: “I feel absolutely over the moon. It was a really hard competition this year, it was hard, we worked so hard and there were some people who I really, honestly, wanted to win. I’m going to party now, I’m going to drink, and I’m going to carry on doing the work I did, and keep doing it, and keep loving life! I’m so happy, thank you so much!”

Next year’s eight member Exec Team is made up of six women; with three Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) members; one Muslim; and two members of the LGBT community. For the first time ever, there are no heterosexual white men on the Exec Team, making this the most diverse a Manchester Students’ Union Exec Team there has ever been.

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ISSUE 14 / 14th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Students urged to register to vote after electoral registration shakeup A recent study by the Labour party has revealed that nearly 80,000 voters will be lost due to the new voting signup rules, with many of them expected to be Labour or left-leaning students Georgie Hines Senior Reporter

Changes to the electoral registration system so that voters will now have to register individually is thought to decrease the number of voters most drastically in areas that have a large population of students.

University town, Canterbury has seen the largest drop in voters—numbers are expected to have fallen by 13 per cent. Cambridge and Dundee West have also been negatively affected, each with an 11 per cent loss in voter registration.

Previous to the changes, voters could register by household. The government has argued that the change is to improve the accuracy of the list, which will help to avoid fraud and error.

Those opposed to the changes say that the move is too quick, having been brought forward by a year against the advice from the Electoral Commission.

Supporters argue that this change has been coming for a while, particularly with the UK being the last Western democracy to use the household registration method.

Far from the 1.9 million missing voters that the Electoral Commission predicted in the run up to the register changes, there is concern over the 1.8 per cent that are missing from last year.

Gloria De Piero, Shadow Minister for Electoral Registration, has been at the forefront of those encouraging students to register, even knocking on doors in her constituency in past weeks.

She says: “The transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) has resulted in a significant fall in the number of people on the electoral register in areas with a university,” “As you will know, IER prevents universities from block registering all their students in halls of residence, but measures should be taken to ensure that it is as easy as possible for individual students to register.”

According to De Piero, some higher education institutions are succeeding at tackling

Photo: Alisdare Hickson @ Flickr

the problem. She says that: “The University of Sheffield has seen outstanding results by integrating voter registration into the enrolment process … I write to you today to call for official guidance to be issued to every Vice Chancellor in the country about how they can adopt the Sheffield model in their universities for next year’s enrolment.”

As of last year, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Royal Northern College of Music have a total of 50,000 students registered to vote.

A concern in the Greater Manchester area is the high house turnover rate, meaning that 1 in 5 of the population change household each year. High turnovers, such as in this area, make

it difficult to contact individuals to remind them of registration.

Changes to electoral registration aren’t the only issue for Labour. New government boundary changes mean that the number of seats will decrease from 650 to 600.

Many have accused the Conservatives of promoting this adjustment to make it harder for Labour to win in the next election.

It is currently thought that the opposition “may need bigger swing than in 1997 to win”— around 10 per cent.

Labour fears that the boundary review will potentially favour Conservative-held areas.

The party not only need to win seats back from the SNP but also ones they have never won before, including Basingstoke, Portsmouth South and Canterbury.

Speaking on the topic of electoral registration, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Individual Electoral Registration is an essential measure to tackle electoral fraud.

We have worked hard with local authorities for years now to clean up the register—any entries removed will be people who have moved house, died or never existed because they were registered fraudulently,” “Students often move house every year and this can make it hard for councils to keep accurate registers. That’s why, with the government’s help, councils are working with universities on ways of ensuring the highest possible level of student registration. We fully support the aims of the National Voter Registration Drive this week. Students, like everyone, can now apply to register online in just a few minutes and at any time, day or night.”

De Piero insists that Labour need to use this time to find the voters that the government have lost. “The most important thing we all can do now, all of shadow cabinet, every Labour MP, is go out and hear people about why they did not trust us last time and what we need to change. You can never be having a fight with the electorate, you’ve got to be standing with the electorate.”

She considers this Labour’s “moral duty”. “It’s not their fault, it’s politics’ fault,” she says.

Students don’t regret Corbyn’s leadership On Thursday evening, the Manchester Debating Union questioned the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. The House voted in favour of Corbyn Elinor Bridges Reporter

Last Thursday evening, the Manchester Debating Union held a debate to discuss the motion ‘This House Regrets the Election of Jeremy Corbyn to the Role of Labour Lead’. The initial straw poll indicated that just 11 per cent of the audience were in agreement with the motion, with 58 per cent against and the rest unsure.

A repeat vote at the end of the debate suggested that the proposition’s argument had been effective in convincing those who were undecided, but did not sway Corbyn’s supporters—the majority still opposed the motion at 57 per cent, whilst the percentage of those in support of the motion increased to 39 per cent.

The debate proved extremely popular with a large turnout. The lively audience was frequently called to order, and impassioned outbreaks of applause drowned out the words of the speakers on several occasions.

Speakers for the proposition included David Bender, a Ph.D. candidate of the university of Hull, and Henry, a Labour Party member and postgraduate student. The opposition was comprised of Hannah McCarthy, Campaigns and Citizenship Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, and Sam Wheeler, author of the Northern Futures Document for Corbyn’s leadership campaign and a representative on Unite’s Regional Young Workers Committee.

The proposition opened by discussing the view that Corbyn is bad for the electoral potential of the Labour party, going as far to say that he could lead them to “electoral annihilation”. The reasons cited for this include his perceived lack of competence in leadership and management of the economy, and unclear representation of his views to the media.

In response, the opposition argued that Corbyn’s appeal to the young and poor lies in the fact that he offers a left-wing alternative to mainstream career politicians. The opposition then argued that Corbyn has brought some important issues to the forefront of politics, including the refugee crisis and spending cuts.

During the proposition’s rebuttal, Bender agreed that today’s politics is narrow, but disagreed on the level of Corbyn’s popularity with the young, citing the -16 per cent approval rating of him amongst young people. He went on to argue that the negative perception of Corbyn turns the public away from some otherwise popular policies.

The opposition’s response focused on the personal change of Wheeler’s perception of Corbyn; he described his initial scepticism, and how that vanished after listening to Corbyn speak at an event in Manchester and, to the enthusiastic applause of debate audience, saw him take a selfie with a barman.

One audience member asked whether there was regret that Corbyn was not presenting his stance in a more effective way. There was disagreement within the opposition, with McCarthy believing that Corbyn standing behind his beliefs was more important

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

than how he presented them, and Wheeler arguing that there was a case for a better press campaign, as both the message and presentation of it were important.

Henry of the proposition went much further than this, claiming that Corbyn’s approach was a “tactical disaster”. Bender argued that this is an issue specific to Corbyn rather than PR itself, and claimed he is “unwilling to engage” with this aspect of politics.

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ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

End of sanctions will have little effect on Iranian Higher Education There will be no “sea change” in Iranian students studying abroad now that sanctions are lifted, claims The Times Higher Education Ellen Lawrence-Clery Reporter On Saturday 30th of January, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, formally announced “Implementation Day”; the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran after the UN confirmed that the country was keeping to the nuclear accord made in July 2015. This heralds a fundamental shift, not only in Iran’s economy, but its society as a whole. The lifting of the sanction will unfreeze billions of dollars of Iranian assets and allow businesses in the West to trade with Tehran.

Deals are already underway with companies such as Total, Boeing and Peugeot, to name a few. Most importantly, however, Iran will again be able to sell its oil on the international market, and plans to ship 600,000 barrels to Europe every day. The effects of implementation are already visible; money changers in Iran were on the streets flogging US dollars on Sunday, and McDonald’s is taking applications for opening an Iranian branch (no date has been set though, unfortunately).

Amongst all of these fundamental changes in Iranian society, however, there is one aspect that will remain mainly untouched. According to an article published on The Times Higher Education website, we should “not expect a sea change in regional higher education relations as a result of the ending of sanctions.” In terms of education there is little for other Gulf States to offer Iran, as the quality of education is fairly low and many Middle Eastern countries remain hostile to Iranians. Most students are more interested in studying in Europe, Australia, Canada or the US, but struggle to get visas or cover the cost, especially since the value of the Iranian rial remains so low. The conclusion: although Iranian money may be flowing into Western markets, the same influx of Iranian students into Western universities is set to take a lot longer.

In comparison to the rest of the Middle East, Iran’s education system is already in very good

Sharif University of Technology Photo:massoudk@Flickr

shape, boasting one of the most highly educated middle classes in the region. According to recent statistics, there are currently 4.5 million students in Iran, 60% of whom are women.

In 2013, 58% of Iranian 18-24 year olds were in higher education, while recent figures show that only 30% of British students are accepted into university. Education is very competitive, with Iranian parents spending 2.1 billion per annum on their children.

For many Iranian students, the costs of international study might well outweigh the benefits, considering the quality of education at home. However, a study by the British Council suggests that postgraduate students may be

Living Wage for University of Manchester catering staff As of the beginning of February, catering staff at the University of Manchester are to be paid the Living Wage Jenny Sterne Head News Editor As of the 1 February 2016, the University of Manchester Conferences (UMC) Limited now pay its staff a minimum of £8.25—the living wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation.

UMC is owned by the University of Manchester and runs Chancellors Hotel, The Chancellors Collection, FoodOnCampus, FoodInResidence and BarsInResidence on behalf of the university.

The company have said that the pay increase is just one of their planned actions within catering services, aimed at “developing and improving their financial performance and service quality”.

The new rate is £1.05 per hour more than the National Living Wage is to be introduced by the government from April 2016. The

Photo: katerw@Flickr

governments Living Wage will be paid to all UK employees over 25-years-old. UMC have, however, announced that they will pay £8.25 to all staff regardless of their age.

In responses to this decision, the University of Manchester’s Student’s Union’s Living Wage Campaign told The Mancunion that they “are delighted by the news”.

The campaign organisers added that “This is a massive win for fair

pay in the work place here at the University of Manchester, as over 300 members of staff will benefit from this change.”

However they urged the whole university to follow in UMC’s footsteps stating that they need to “follow its commitment to social responsibility and become an accredited living wage employer for all its staff and subsidiary companies.”

the most likely to consider studying abroad, because the demand for postgraduate positions in Iran so massively outweighs the places available. According to the study, the US will be the

top destination for Iranian postgraduates by 2024, with 11,900 arriving every year. What effect this exodus of Iran’s most highly educated citizens will have on the country will remain to

Student charity shop “The Closet” trashed at Pangaea Tori Blakeman Senior Reporter Located in the old RBS Building next door to the Students’ Union, ‘The Closet’ (Formerly known as the ‘Upcycling Project’), is a charity clothing shop run by students, for students, with all proceeds supporting local mental health charity Manchester Mind.

The rebranded shop opened its doors to the students of Manchester last Wednesday evening with an exciting launch event, featuring music from Bilderberg and Lord of the Tings residents, plenty of freebies from popular coconut water brand Vita Coco, and showcasing the work of several young Manchester fashion designers.

However, the launch event was put into jeopardy when organisers found the shop to have been trashed after Pangaea. First thought to have been left open for students to roam around, the shop was left messy with cigarette butts and used drinks cups, and was also

found to have had several donated items of clothing stolen.

It was later discovered that ‘The Closet’ was in fact used as a designated green room for several Pangaea artists. ‘The Closet’ organisers were not informed of this, and Students’ Union staff failed to even move donated items to a safe place before allowing artists to have free reign in the room. One security guard reported there being up to twenty people drinking and partying within ‘The Closet’ at one time.

Despite the upset, ‘The Closet’ organisers managed to clean up the room in time for the launch event, attracting around 250 students, and raising around £400.

‘The Closet’ aims to promote sustainable fashion, promote awareness for Manchester Mind, and promote youth entrepreneurship. If you would like to support this student action project, the shop will be opening Wednesday-Friday this term from 1-5pm.

A spokesperson for the University of Manchester Students’ Union said: “The Univer-

sity of Manchester Students’ Union General Secretary, Naa, spoke with The Closet offering our apologies for the breakdown in communication with our intentions of using the venue as a Green Room for Pangaea Festival.

The venue operates as a space for students, campaigns and events and efforts are always made to ensure the venue is accessible to all whilst protecting anything contained within the space to the best of our ability. Therefore we will be working closely with the Closet to identify any items that are missing and will look into the matter further.

Every effort was made to clean the room following the Festival and we liaised closely with The Closet seeking their feedback in the lead up to their event.

On behalf of the Students’ Union we would like to congratulate the on-going efforts of The Closet and their successful launch event.

News

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ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NHS Foundation British science will Trust‘requires be hindered improvement’

by EU exit

In a continuing mental health inspection programme, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) concludes that the safety and leadership of the North West’s Five BorJo Johnson, the Universities Minister, has voiced his oughs Partnership NHS Trust is inadequate opinion that a British exit from the European Union could damage the future progress of UK Science Georgie Hines Senior Reporter Speaking at the Campaign for Science and Engineering, the Minister of State for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, questioned how the UK would continue to prosper outside of the EU, considering this is where half of its collaborations are based.

In the current EU research round, Horizon 2020, the UK secured 15.4 per cent of funds, following closely behind Germany. “No one doubts that Britain could stay a science player outside the EU,” Mr Johnson pointed out. “But the risks to valuable institution partnerships, to flows of bright students, and to a rich source of science funding mean that the leave campaign has serious questions to answer.”

During his speech, Mr Johnson also announced a doubling of the Newton Fund which would amass to £150 million a year by 2021. The Newton Fund supports research between the UK and developing countries. It was also revealed that the government will invest £20 million

towards an Inspiring Science Capital Fund, along with a futher £10 million taken from the biomedical research charity Wellcome Trust. This will support science exhibits and attractions in order to attract younger generations to consider a career in science.

Successfully finding research funding outside of the EU is not unheard of, however, as proven by Norway, Turkey and Israel. This argument was acknowledged by Mr Johnson in his speech, stating that although “non-EU countries may be part of the European research area…but they don’t get a seat at the table when the ministerial council or the parliament are setting the rules, or deciding the budgets.”

These comments are seemingly against the views of Sajid Javid, current Business Secretary and Mr Johnson’s superior, who recently stated that although EU membership funds were useful for UK science, he doubted that they were of significance in the overall EU dispute.

Pressed by Labour MP Stella Ceasy during the Commons Science and Technology Committee on whether he thought

EU membership benefited the world of UK science and research, Mr Javid responded that funds such as Horizon 2020 were “helpful”, but failed to qualify as an important part in the overall debate. This has led many to believe that there is a divide in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

When asked whether his views regarding the EU clashed with those of Mr Javid, Mr Johnson replied: “There’s no disagreement between us at all.” Mr Javid has refuted claims that there is a disagreement between the pair.

His vote in the upcoming referendum, thought to be taking place in either June or September this year, remains unknown. Mr Johnson reasoned that “free movement of people makes it easier for our universities to attract the best talent, and for British students to spread their wings across the Continent, as I was able to do as a young student at institutions in France and Belgium.

Photo: comedynose@ Flickr

Katie Buckingham Senior Reporter A quality report has rated the Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (FBPFT) in the North West of England as ‘requires improvement.’ The FBPFT provides mental health and learning disability services across Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

The Foundation Trusts are different to normal NHS trusts as they are accountable to local people, who can become governors and members. They also have the freedom to decide locally, how they meet their obligations. The NHS states that they are still accountable to parliament, despite these freedoms, in order to maintain national standards.

The report, carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), identified that the most pressing issue was with its governance system, which had

impacted on a lack of formal strategy and framework for delivering care in the North West.

A lack of consistency of care across the services was also identified by the CQC. It appeared that staff were not responding to incidents and complaints, meaning it was likely that the problem would reoccur.

The report noted that the trust had made efforts to solve this culture of apathy throughout the services. However, these attempts were still yet to create a new ethos that was truly embedded throughout the services.

Despite these shortcomings, Dr Paul Lelliott, the Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and CQC lead for mental health) said: ‘The trust was doing some things very well. The trust had a high level of incident reporting, demonstrating transparency… Overall we rated nine out of

ten of the core services as good and the forensic service rated as requires improvement.’

The report acknowledged the value of the trusts work with the community to promote “positive attitudes towards people living with mental health needs”. Dr Lelliott contended that the commitment of the trust to reducing the stigma of mental health would have a significant impact on people in the North West having to deal with mental issues, from students to the elderly.

The commitment and passion of many of the staff to provide good care was also recognised by the CQC, particularly the numerous ways in which some of the staff encouraged the patient and carers to be involved in the organisation and running of the trust.

The FBPFT responded to the report saying that ‘action plans’ were in place to tackle the inadequacies identified by

New study reveals the importance of being in tune with the Earth A recent study working on mutated mice has implicated the importance of having an internal clock that is synced with the 24 hour cycle seen on Earth

Rossy Natale Reporter A team of researchers, including the University of Manchester’s Andrew Loudon, have released a study detailing the importance of having a sleep/wake cycle that is in tune with the Earth’s rotation.

Most animals have an internal circadian clock that operates cyclically over 24 hours.

These are in tune with the rotational speed of the Earth and drive when we sleep, eat, and wake.

The research team has found that mice who have abnormal circadian clocks are less likely to survive and

reproduce.

After inducing a genetic mutation that caused the clocks of the mice to run on a 20 hour cycle, rather than the conventional 24, the team tracked the survival and reproduction of these mutated mice and compared the figures to those from normal mice with a normal body clock.

As the paper outlines, there is “strong selection against short period genotypes”, which was seen as the mutated mice had higher mortality rates.

These findings are relevant for multiple aspects of human life too, as we can often be subject to abnormal light/ dark cycles.

The study has shown the

importance of having a circadian clock that is in tune with the Earth.

The research may also have implications for space travel. Loudon explains that “the rotation speed of Mars may be within the limits of some people’s internal clock, but people with short running clocks, such as extreme morning types, are likely to face serious intractable longterm problems.”

“The body clock has evolved as an essential survival component for life on earth. A correctly ticking body clock is essential for normal survival in the wild, and this has to be in phase with the rotation speed of the earth.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Global 7

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

In the news this week...

The important and interesting stories from the wider world this week.

Stories by: Liam Kelly, Merle Streck, Joe Evans, Andy van den Bent-Kelly. Gemma Sowerby, and Charlie Spargo.

Pyjamas banned from district courtoom USA A Pennsylvania judge has had to ban members of the public from attending court in their pyjamas.

District Judge Craig Long said that the move came after large numbers of people saw fit to turn up to hearings wearing leisure wear. He said ‘We have a growing problem of people not dressing appropriately for court.’ The move was backed by the erection of a laminated sign reminding court goers that ‘Pajamas are not appropriate attire for district court.’

Playboy comes to the end of an era USA Playboy’s March issue will be its first-ever non-nude edition.

Next month’s Playboy will not feature any explicit shots, but instead will have models posing more provocatively as their readership is more and more taken by instantly-accessible internet pornography.

Nude images are now “passé” says the company’s Chief Executive. “That battle has been fought and won. You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free.”

Their new strategy is intended to target the social media generation. Many photos in March’s edition are Snapchatstyle. “The idea was to look at me from a boyfriend’s perspective,” said next month’s cover star, Sarah McDaniel.

Die another day: Woman makes appearance at her own funeral Australia As her own funeral was being held in a small neighbourhood near Melbourne, Noela Rukundo, mother of eight, watched inside of her car as her mourners emerged from the church.

When her husband stepped out, Rukundo startled him shouting “Surprise! I’m still alive!” Her husband, Balenga Kalala, had paid two hitmen to kidnap and kill his wife a year earlier. The hitmen took her to an abandoned building but spared her life, deciding to keep her husband’s money and let her go free.

While she got in touch with the Kenyan embassy, her husband told everyone in their Melbourne community that Rukundo had died in a tragic accident. After Rukundo approached him at her funeral, she was able to get him to confess to the crime in a subsequent recorded telephone conversation. A judge in Melbourne sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Earth, Wind and Fire founder dies aged 74 USA Singer-songwriter Maurice White, founder member of Earth, Wind and Fire, has died aged 74. Earth, Wind and Fire sold nearly 90 million records worldwide and entered the cultural zeitgeist through songs such as September, Shining Star and Boogie Wonderland. While most famous for his work with the nine piece band he later worked as a producer with stars such as Barbra Streisand and Cher. He also played as a session drummer for blues legend Muddy Waters. He had been suffering with Parkinson’s Disease and died in his home in LA.

Prostitute surgically removed from dead client China A Chinese prostitute apparently needed to be surgically removed from her client after he died during their session.

A video has surfaced on LiveLeak that shows two figures lying one on top of another on a gurney being wheeled in to an ambulance. The bottom figure is still whilst there is movement on the top.

The ambulance took them to hospital, where surgeons separated the two. His body was taken to the morgue, whilst her condition is unknown.

In Science this week...

German team takes major step towards nuclear fusion Efforts to produce power from nuclear fusion have taken a big step forward with the successful testing of an experiment in Germany.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Greifswald switched on the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in early February, in a ceremony attended by the chancellor Angela Merkel. A tiny amount of hydrogen was injected into the device, where it was heated to 80 million degrees for a fraction of a second. At this point, the gas became plasma, meaning that conditions inside the stellarator were very similar to the Sun. Nuclear power stations currently operate via fission, whereby atoms are split in a chain reaction. Despite being an efficient process, fission produces great quantities of nuclear waste. The fusion of atoms is a far more attractive alternative, largely due to the huge amounts of energy produced and the lack of any waste, but until recently the extremely high temperatures required have been a major hindrance.

The German stellarator, which cost €400m to construct, had some success in December, when it heated up a sample of helium and sustained the plasma produced. Fusion of hydrogen, which takes place in the Sun, is the ultimate aim, since it releases significantly more energy than helium.

The team now intends to use more power to sustain hydrogen plasma for as long as 30 minutes at a time, which could pave the way for other experiments to achieve nuclear fusion.

Og-non!

France France has been shaken to its very core this week as L’Académie Française, the organisation of “guardians” of the French language, have announced that 25 years after putting the plans in place they will make the circumflex accent (known to many GCSE French students as the hat, or eyebrow) optional, and change the spelling of words such as ‘oignon’, which will become ‘ognon’.

These tweaks will come into effect in primary school textbooks, official documents, and in outraged tweets from characteristically angry French language purists, using the hard-hitting hashtag #JeSuisCirconflexe.

The changes are primarily an attempt to fix common spelling errors and inconsistencies, as well as a chance for the Académie to make people believe that they are still relevant in this Dictionary. com-based century.

Not only have they changed the spelling of words such as ‘week-end’ to ‘weekend’ (so much easier to understand now, right?!), but have also committed themselves to some quite ridiculous misunderstandings: “Je suis sûr ta soeur elle va bien” (“I’m sure your sister is doing good”), becomes “Je suis sur ta soeur elle va bien”, which roughly translates to “I’m on top of your sister, she’s doing good”…

Worlds heaviest man dies Mexico The world’s heaviest man died on Christmas Day, aged 38, following a ‘three-day energy drink binge.’ Andreas Moreno, who at his heaviest weighed 70 stone, was drinking more than six energy drinks a day at the time of his death according to his doctor, Jorge Ojeda. The doctor said that, ‘exposing yourself to a stimulant can cause an irregular heartbeat, and that or a heart attack can lead to death.’

Four-litres-a-day keeps the reaper away.

Spain Spaniard Antonio Docampo Garcia, who recently died at the age of 107, credited his longevity with his habit of drinking four bottles of red wine each day, and never drinking water.

Mr Docampo vinted his own red wine, and drank two bottles of red wine with lunch and another two with dinner.

“He could drink a litre and a half all at once,” according to his son, Miguel. “When we were both at home we could get through 200 litres of wine a month… He never drank water.”

Mr Docampo bought his own vineyard following the Spanish Civil War and set up a company that specialised in organic, chemical-free wine. He only drank the wine he produced himself.

Mr Docampo’s lifestyle flies in the face of recent UK government guidelines, that cautioned against drinking even in moderation.

4 in 100 people in the UK ‘dring their own urine’ UK A survey by Plumbworld has found that 4 in 100 people in the UK engage in “urophagia”, that is, drinking one’s own urine, in the belief that it has health benefits.

Many promote the healthiness of recycling your waste water—since ancient times people have been trying their own excreta. An organisation with over 1,000 members exists in China called the China Urine Therapy Association. Daily intake of his own urine, according to head of the association Bao Yafu, cured him of “constipation and canker sores” as well as restoring hair growth. Mr Bao also washes his ears, face and even eyes with it.

The bathroom company also released a book of pee cocktails, including the ‘Pee’na Gryllada and Long Island Iced ‘Pee’ that those interested could try in order to cover up the taste.

Absurdly named alleged criminal will face court date

USAAn alleged criminal with perhaps the strangest name on record has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer. The man, named Beezow Doo-doo Zopittybop-bop-bop, is alleged to have been caught ripping down flyers down from a library by an officer. The officer was forced to chase the suspect who fled the scene.

Zopittybop-bop-bop is accused of biting the officer’s finger, stabbing the officer with a pen and attempting to grab the officer’s gun in an ensuing struggle.

Zopittybop-bop-bop was punched in the jaw and was tasered during the attempts to subdue him but remained ‘unfazed’ according to reports. He is also alleged to have thrown a rock at police officers as he fled on foot.

Previously known as Jeffrey Drew Wilschke, Zopittybop-bop-bop will appear in court on February 16th.

UK gives the go-ahead to gene editing Genetically modified human embryos could be created within a few months after the UK fertility regulator approved a request from a London-based team to carry out gene editing.

The landmark decision represents the first time that a country has officially considered the controversial technique and subsequently sanctioned it.

The team, headed by Dr Kathy Niakan of the Francis Crick Institute, will focus on genes that are active a few days after fertilisation. A procedure known as CRISPR-Cas9 will be used to switch them on and off in early stage embryos. However, the researchers will not be permitted to implant these modified embryos into a uterus, and will instead have to destroy them after seven days of study.

Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, said: “The approval of her licence gives the exciting prospect that we will at last begin to understand how the different cell types are specified at these pre-implantation stages in the human embryo.”

The announcement comes a few months after Chinese scientists announced that they had modified embryos to correct a gene responsible for a blood disorder, although their research had not gone through an official regulatory system beforehand.

Advocates of gene editing point to the fact that it can lead to a better understanding of how human embryos develop, which could result in higher IVF success rates and fewer miscarriages. Controversy arises from the fear that it could lead to designer babies. There are also concerns that any negative side effects could be passed down to future generations.

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Feature

ISSUE 13/ 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Ally Routledge represented Manchester Labour Students Last week we hosted the inaugural Mancunion Live event, inviting representatives from Manchester Labour Students, Conservative Future, Liberal Youth, UKIP Students and Young Greens to take part in a roundtable debate. We invited questions from the audience, and we put the most popular ones to our panel.

- “Should the UK vote to leave the European Union?” o Routledge said that she was unequivocally in the ‘remain’ camp, and lamented the apparently negative rhetoric from those on the other side of the debate, especially concerning immigration.

- “What effect has Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics since his election as leader of the Labour Party in September?” o Routledge described Corbyn’s new style of politics was “refreshing” and praised the extent to which his election had increased the number of people getting involved in politics, especially the traditionally non-voting young. o She also praised the fact that Corbyn’s shadow cabinet was the first in history to contain an even number of men and women, and his creation of the post of a shadow minister for mental health. o However, Routledge complained that Corbyn had received unfair criticism from sections of the press and from the government benches during Prime Minister’s Questions, but downplayed apparent splits within the Labour Party itself, claiming that “Labour’s values as the party of the working people are paramount”.

- “Do you agree with the Safe Space policy?” o Routledge claimed the Safe Space policy was misunderstood by those who opposed it, and that she was “proud” to have voted to uphold the policy as a member of the Students’ Union Senate. o She made the distinction between the right of the individual to freedom of speech and the right of the individual to be free from hate.

- “Where do you stand on the abolition of Maintenance Grants for disadvantaged students by the government?” o Routledge lambasted the government for trying to make changes to student maintenance through an 18 member parliamentary committee, rather than after a debate in the full Commons chamber. o She said that people from poorer backgrounds will be worse-off as a result of the changes relative to their richer peers, and it will shut people out of higher education.

- “Do you think more can be done to help refugees fleeing the Middle East?” o Routledge called the government’s response to the refugee crisis “awful”, and claimed that to resettle 20,000 refugees, as the government has promised to do, would require resettling just ten families in each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies.

Matt Downey represented Liberal Youth “Should the UK vote to leave the European Union?” o Downey said: “Europe is fantastic, we love Europe.” He particularly emphasised the importance of the EU as a way of preserving peace, stating it is important to form “one political community”.

- “What effect has Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics since his election as leader of the Labour Party in September?” o Downey said that Corbyn was “not the Leader of the Opposition, but the leader of the opposition within the Labour Party.” o He also claimed that Corbyn’s leadership was allowing the Conservative Party to do as they wish in government, a power curbed by the Liberal Democrats while they were in coalition.

- “Do you agree with the Safe Space policy?” o Downey stated that while he is not an expert on the policy he did say that the notion that ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me’ was “bollocks”. o He went on to state that we need to get down to the core of the issue and firmly categorise what safe spaces are.

“Where do you stand on the abolition of Maintenance Grants for disadvantaged students by the government?” o Downey said that we need to give more support to people, but that it is not the most important development in the grand scheme of education policy. o He pointed out that focusing more on early education is important given the effect that it has on educational trajectory. o Downey also stated that we need to focus far more on offering alternative paths rather than just offering university to young adults.

- “Do you think more can be done to help refugees fleeing the Middle East?” o Downey stated that we should “let everyone in” and that as a liberal he “instinctively [supports] open borders.” o He also said that we need to resolve the issue of thousands of unaccompanied children currently seeking asylum. o Downey also sought to highlight the “false dichotomy” raised by the UKIP panellist that money spent on foreign aid would detract from solving issues in the UK.

Tom Boroughs represented Young Greens - “Should the UK vote to leave the European Union?” o Whilst Boroughs was under no illusions that the EU was perfect—citing things like TTIP—he claimed that it was only possible for positive change to come whilst remaining part of the EU o He suggested that remaining part of the EU would allow us to make progress on refugees and climate change.

- “What effect has Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics since his election as leader of the Labour Party in September?” o Boroughs said he was “glad to see” Corbyn be elected in September, claiming that his style “adds a new dimension” to British politics. o He went on to suggest that, hitherto, politics had been too partisan—“like football clubs”—and that issues would now be at the forefront.

- “Do you agree with the Safe Space policy?” o Boroughs started by grumbling about the conflation and incompatibility of ‘safe space’ and ‘free speech’ in the rhetoric of the critics of the policy. o He said it was of paramount importance for there to be a safe space, especially at university.

- “Where do you stand on the abolition of Maintenance Grants for disadvantaged students by the government?” o Boroughs denounced the government’s policies as a manifestation of “class warfare”, and said that it was a further indicator of the “displacement of money” from the poor to the rich under the current government. o He also claimed that it was an economically illiterate policy, as the vast majority of student loan money is never paid back. o Boroughs passionately urged the audience to consider the number of students currently at university across the country who would not have attended had the new system been in place when they were applying.

- “Do you think more can be done to help refugees fleeing the Middle East?” o Boroughs suggested that the refugee issue is an instance to demonstrate the efficacy of the EU, and that the number of refugees should be apportioned to EU member states “proportionally”. o He also suggested that the current refugee crisis would have been avoided if Western military intervention had not been pursued earlier in the century. o “We are all one people… let them in.”

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ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

live

Luke Dyks represented Conservative Future

- “Should the UK vote to leave the European Union?” o Dyks praised the Prime Minister’s intentions when going into renegotiations, but added that he was underwhelmed by the deal put on the table last week. o He suggested that negotiations were difficult as “the EU does not want national parliaments to have any sovereignty.”

- “What effect has Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics since his election as leader of the Labour Party in September” o Dyks said he admired Corbyn’s ability to stick to his “courageous” principles, and that he felt personal attacks on him were unfair. o However, he said that his positions on topics such as the Falkland Islands were “fundamentally wrong”, and claimed his economic policies would “make the rich poorer, and make the poor poorer.”

- “Do you agree with the Safe Space policy?” o Dyks suggested that, if there was a real and present threat of violence or incitement to violence, banning such speakers was a sensible course of action. o He qualified this by suggesting that the policy was used in an overzealous way, and that “no-platforming” speakers made them martyrs to their cause and gave them undue publicity. Dyks said he would prefer those with unsavoury views that have their positions challenged, rather than being muted.

- “Where do you stand on the abolition of Maintenance Grants for disadvantaged students by the government?” o Dyks claimed that the current system was “rotten for those in the squeezed middle”, and that the changes brought in by the government would move the cost of education onto those who would earn more after graduation.

- “Do you think more can be done to help refugees fleeing the Middle East?” o Dyks hinted that he would like to see the government commit m to allowing more than the promised 20,000 .co refugees, as Britain has the capacity to do so. s p o He also emphasised that priority should be given toathose in refugee camps in Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon, as M across Europe themselves, often at the whim of people r it would prevent refugees making the perilous journey o t traffickers. ec

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t© Mike Wigram represented UKIP Students igh py

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- “Should Co the UK vote to leave the European Union?” o Wigram was unequivocally backing the campaign to leave the EU, claiming that the Prime Minister’s renegotiation deal was “not good” for Britain, or the other EU member states. o He went on to say that the government was attempting to “con the people”.

- “What effect has Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics since his election as leader of the Labour Party in September” o Wigram started by describing the election of Corbyn as “refreshing”, praising the fact that he is a “genuine conviction politician”. o However, he went on to call Corbyn “dangerous” as a result of his opposition to the Trident nuclear deterrent, his unclear views on “shoot to kill”, and claimed that his ruminations on the migrant situation in Calais would set a “dangerous precedent”.

- “Do you agree with the Safe Space policy?” o Wigram claimed that the implementation of safe space policies has “gone too far”, and that universities were no longer a place where “critical thinking” was encouraged. o He added that it was not for the Students’ Union to tell its members whose opinions to listen to, or not.

- “Where do you stand on the abolition of Maintenance Grants for disadvantaged students by the government?” o Wigram was personally in favour of the student funding changes, despite his party’s opposition to them, emphasising that student loans were not “a normal loan”; instead, they are paid back in gradations, which he claims would benefit those from poorer backgrounds.

- “Do you think more can be done to help refugees fleeing the Middle East?” o Wigram made a distinction between two ongoing refugee crises: the crisis of those fleeing Syria; and those who were economic migrants moving to the EU. He claimed that 60% of those seeking refuge in the EU were not from countries beset by conflict. o He went on to suggest that it was unfeasible to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees in the UK, given the housing and homelessness crises already prevalent in the country. o Wigram also suggested that more should be done to help those in Syria, and that those who had already fled the country were relatively well-off, as they needed funding to secure passage to Europe.

Footage of the full event can be found via Fuse TV’s YouTube page: youtube.com/user/uomfusetv

Opinion

10

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The Rhodes Must Fall campaign should grow up Adam Merrill

If Cicero

It’s good to see common sense prevail every so often. Every now and again in student life, there is a new populist simpleton fad that everyone can join in with that will “challenge” the establishment and cause a new “cultural revolution” that would put Chairman Mao to shame.

The latest was the regressive and childish Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which had decided that because Cecil Rhodes was an imperialist and a racist, he didn’t deserve a statue because it might hurt their feelings or offend somebody.

Luckily however, the adults have intervened. Some have threatened to withdraw funding from Oriel College, upon which the statue was erected, or already have done, taking the college out of their wills.

One was angered by the “shame and embarrassment” Oriel College had brought upon itself to even consider the proposals demanded by the regressives, and has written the college out of their will.

Others have expressed their opinions more publicly. Mary Beard has publicly chastised the hypocritical zealots who want to take down the statue to Cecil Rhodes but continue to use his scholarship. The Cambridge professor said they “can’t whitewash Rhodes out of history, but go on using his cash”.

Others have been more forceful.

The Chancellor of the University, Chris Patten, has told students involved in the campaign that they must be prepared to embrace freedom of thought or “think about being educated elsewhere”.

What the children involved in the campaign don’t seem to realise is that a statue is not the same as a memorial or glorious piece of art. It’s not a “celebration”, it’s a recognition that he has an important role to play in history. Statues are built on commission to commemorate a historical event, or the life of an influential person. He was influential, he deserves one.

This is an excerpt from Adam’s article the rest of which can be found online at www.mancunion.com

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Mandelson loves

Manchester Last summer the General Assembly of Manchester University was offered three candidates for the post of Chancellor: a distinguished poet, a distinguished conductor, and Lord Mandelson. Over 17,000 members voted, placing the poet first, the conductor second and Lord Mandelson third. Although Lord Mandelson has enjoyed over a decade of political power and influence in the United Kingdom and the European Union, he has not won an election since 2001.

Very few students were eligible to vote in the General Assembly, but the ballot nonetheless gave the student body some opportunity to say what they expected from the figure who acts as the ceremonial figurehead of their University and the emblem and custodian of its values. They had the chance to campaign for a candidate and try to influence the University staff and alumni who comprised nearly all the electorate.

In spite of his rebuff, Lord Mandelson just cannot keep away from Manchester.

A week before Christmas it was announced that he would become Chancellor of the city’s other university, Manchester Metropolitan. No democratic hazards for him this time, no pesky poets or meddlesome musicians in the field… he was chosen by just twenty governors of the university, and he was the only candidate.

The appointment was accompanied by an outpouring of official spin. Some of this was frankly hilarious. The University’s pro-chancellor, Vanda Murray, called Mandelson a “world-class statesman”.

Many alternative epithets to “statesman” leap lightly to the lips. The Students’ Union President, Jordan Stephenson, one of the governors who chose him, said that Mandelson “has demonstrated that he understands the particular challenges MMU students face”. Indeed, Lord Mandelson does have a unique understanding of the problems of students who live in £11-million houses and spend vacations on oligarchs’ yachts.

But beneath the accidental comedy were clear indications of why Mandelson had been chosen—to build relationships

I’d like to start this article by saying that I am not an avid campaigner for Brexit. I’ve had many discussions on the benefits of staying in the European Union, and have considered them carefully whilst also trying to increase my research on Britain’s membership to the EU. It was at a debate last week at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), however, that the case for Britain to leave the EU became clearer to me, but also why left-wing people should consider voting to leave, too.

That is not to say I don’t have reservations about leaving the EU. Studies by think tanks such as Open Europe have suggested that by 2030, Brexit could mean that Britain loses 2.2 per cent of its GDP. The Week makes reference to this study, but my reservations are countered.

The same study suggests that if Britain leaves the EU but negotiates a free trade deal with Europe, our GDP could rise by 1.6 per cent. This study is characteristic of the EU campaign as a whole, one side trying their best to scaremonger, with the other side saying the opposite.

Steven Woolfe MEP argued last week at the MMU debate that the EU is rather like a Motorola phone—its served its purpose but is now a rather outdated model. It’s worth thinking, therefore, that David Cameron’s renegotiations, which were outlined recently, are most likely not going to be enough to remedy and improve this outdated system. The ‘red card’ process for our parliament to be able to block EU laws would not necessarily give us more sovereignty and control because we would still be reliant on other member

with business and policymakers. To help Mandelson in this role, the University has appointed an experienced journalist, Michael Taylor, who had earlier assisted his unsuccessful campaign to become Manchester University Chancellor. Mr Taylor has promised “to embed MMU in every conversation where it would be useful”, which gives fair warning to the rest of us. If I ever encounter Mr Taylor at a Wedding Feast, I will rush to the nearest Ancient Mariner.

Now, if all you want from your university Chancellor is to procure money and influence, you could not choose a better procurer than Peter Mandelson.

But if you also want some commitment to the basic values of your university, particularly a commitment to truth, his appointment might raise a few questions or even protests. Apart from a few rude comments in social media, I have seen no reaction against him from MMU students or faculty since term began. As a veteran of the dizzy Sixties, I find this disappointing. Lord Mandelson may be disappointed himself and worried that he no longer has the power to excite controversy. A few years ago he posed as a pantomime villain to promote his unmemorable memoirs. It is a terrible experience for a pantomime villain when no one goes “Boo! Hiss!” at his appearance.

The students and faculty at MMU can make up their own minds about their new Chancellor. They are perfectly entitled to share the glowing views of the university governors and spinners. But before they do this, I would urge them, politely, to make some study and assessment of the following issues.

One: Peter Mandelson’s conduct in 1996 over his huge undisclosed loan from his fellow MP, Geoffrey Robinson, to buy a house, which ultimately led to his first enforced exit from government. They do not have to accept the mild judgement on this by the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee. What do they think about it now? They might take the time to compare the account he gave to that Committee with the one given years later in his memoirs. Are these two compatible? Can both of them be true?

Richard Heller on the reasons not be cheerful about MMU’s new chancellor Photo: Downing Street @Flickr

Two: his stewardship of the “Millennium Experience”, the expensive year-long celebration of year 2000. Did this show any intellect and imagination, and create any lasting cultural legacy to match the Festival of Britain in 1951, under the supervision of his grandfather, Herbert Morrison? They might study in particular Mandelson’s promises about the Christian content of the “Experience” (minimal) and about an attraction called “Surfball, the sport of the 21st century”(non-existent) and decide whether these promises were honestly given.

Three: the admiring article he published on the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad, “a decent man doing a difficult job”. Was this a reasonable view to take when the article was published, in November 2001, to coincide with a meeting between Assad and Tony Blair?

Four: Mandelson’s record towards the Third World as an EU Commissioner and his relationships with lobbyists for big business.

Five: Mandelson’s relationship with the toxic American financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile.

Six: Mandelson’s openness over the sources of his personal wealth, which cannot be accounted for from his political and public career. Why has he been so eager to withhold the names of clients of his opaque consultancy, Global Counsel, from public view in the House of Lords Register of Interests? The bare mention

From right to left Romy Biscoe

states voting against the law and gaining a majority. Small businesses both in Britain and in countries heavily affected by the migrant and refugee crises, struggle with having to comply to EU law and European contracts.

In light of the proposals, Luke Dyks, Manchester Conservative Future Chairman, has said: “This week we have seen the elected Prime Minister being reduced to grovelling to an unelected figure to get some minor changes to EU law. It is a disgrace to see that a proud sovereign state has been reduced to a region in a union controlled by an unelected monolith. The referendum must be fundamentally about how much say British people have on their own laws. At the moment we have next to none.”

Interestingly, Steven Woolfe made reference to a proposal that was being discussed last week in Brussels. He said that the only reason a decision about VAT on food did not get passed was because of the political ramifications it would have.

It concerns me that decisions could be made on domestic issues affecting us that we have no say and influence over.

Daniel Hannan raises an important point about referendums in that they mostly go in favour of the status quo, and

that is my worry about the EU vote. This is despite a recent poll in Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which showed that all three nations preferred their deal in terms of trade with European countries than ours as a member of the EU. I would put money on people voting to stay in the EU because it seems like the ‘safe’ option, and Europhiles have a tendency to latch on to the fear of change.

This change, however, is relevant to both the Left and Right. What is most perplexing is that parties such as the SNP and Plaid Cymru are in favour of a more devolved power, yet support membership of the EU. They would remain a member of an institution that they have much less influence in than our parliament.

One of the arguments that John King makes in The New Statesman is that leftwing people should vote to leave the EU because it would save roughly £10 billion a year, and that could be pumped back into public services in Britain, benefitting those who pay taxes in our country.

I would argue, however, that a key reason for the left to vote to leave is the way the EU is bound to corporations, and notably the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In short, this agreement reduces regulations for big businesses in the EU and United States

of their names could not possibly damage the clients, so one can only assume it would embarrass him. His declarations may satisfy the House authorities—but are they good enough for MMU? Students and faculty deserve to know more about who is paying their new Chancellor—and how much and what for.

Seven, and most important: Mandelson’s relationship with the Putin regime and with at least two oligarchs who support it.

What do they make of his regular visits to Putin’s annual economic “vanity summit” in St Petersburg, his association since 2004 with Oleg Deripaska, the aluminium magnate, and his service since 2013 to Sistema, a Russian group which includes one of Putin’s top defence contractors, RTI? MMU is a busy place and both students and faculty may well think that they have many other things to worry about.

However, a study of all these issues in their Chancellor’s career would make an excellent contribution to many academic programmes, including politics, international affairs, media studies, economics, business, accountancy, law, language and logic, and, above all, ethics.

Richard Heller was formerly political adviser to Denis Healey and Gerald Kaufman. He has been a professional speechwriter for over 30 years and has recently released a book titled ‘The Importance of Not Being Earnest’.

to trade with each other. As John Hilary, quoted in The Independent argues, it is “An assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.”

Irrespective of the secrecy around the agreement and the lack of democracy in its process of coming about, this should concern left leaning individuals for a number of reasons. Most notably that it exposes our services, such as the NHS, to be opened up to US companies, which Lee Williams argues that it could risk privatisation of the NHS. Crucial to this argument is to do with TTIP and banking regulations.

Considering the extent to which bankers have been vilified by the left in recent years, I think they would be concerned about how the agreement could loosen banking regulations on US banks that were implemented after the financial crisis. In his article, Lee Williams gives further examples regarding jobs, privacy, and food and environmental safety as further reasons why TTIP goes against left-wing values.

It is clear, therefore, that despite Cameron’s renegotiations we will still have little influence over decisions made in the EU that affect us. Importantly, we can continue to make strong trade links both within and outside Europe, such as in Australia and emerging economies in the Commonwealth. Given the strength of our economy in a global context, in Daniel Hannan’s satiric words, “I think we might just about scrape by”.

Opinion11

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Is single-payer healthcare right for America?

The British often taunt Americans for not having free healthcare. And truthfully, many Americans are ashamed of not being part of the club—we hate being excluded. However, frustration at the US not having a single-payer healthcare system should be reconsidered. Instead, these ill-placed sentiments need to be directed at the unequal distribution of mixed benefits.

The percentage of GDP the United States spend on welfare is greater than in most advanced industrial economies. But the country spends less and taxes less on welfare in real terms because the systems of support that social programs rely on are a combination of government spending, tax-based subsidies, and private social spending.

When people criticize the US healthcare system for falling behind other developed countries’ welfare infrastructure, they are speaking of direct public spending. Take into consideration though that when countries deliver benefits to their people, the government taxes them as well, completely reducing the actual value of benefits.

What critics should divert their attention to is net social expenditure. Developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it takes into account direct public spending, tax-based spending, private spending, and the taxes people pay in measuring a country’s social disbursements. Meaning that when Americans do get benefits, they get to keep most of them. In this context, the US ranks fifth in highest social spending, right after Sweden.

Net social expenditure is a better assessment because people are assisted by official means other than direct government aid. Because these means are still regulated by the government, it would fall under the national healthcare system. Though subsidies and tax breaks are not the same thing, economist David Friedman argues that, “they have the same effect on federal budget”, therefore they will be treated as interchangeable. The US government uses methods like tax exemptions for employer contributions to health insurance, and

Photo: Erlin1 @ Flickr

Jessica Chow-Lau Opinion Writer tax reimbursements for child care in order to take care of its people. But as countless news outlets have covered, wealth inequality is a problem in America. The fact that subsidies do the same work as direct spending programs in a country that ranks first in “tax breaks for social purposes” justifies the shift of focus to how private social benefits are presently distributing resources unequally.

Private spending in the United States is like a moderate, partly effective version of David Cameron’s “big society”. The government relies on voluntary employer-provided pensions and requires some employers to pay for sick leave. This covers health insurance, pensions, dependent care, tax exclusions, and other related items. Though it makes up almost 40 per cent of US social spending, coverage is secured for some but not all. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Compensation Survey, the higher the average wage at a firm, the more likely they’ll offer health coverage, retirement, and life insurance. What happens then is that private social benefits are accumulating with the middle and upper income bracket. Because even with the existence of in-kind benefits (like Medicaid) that is provided free or at a reduced

price, the disadvantaged are unable to reap indirect benefits; since major US tax breaks are usable only to those with enough resources to contribute to charity or take out a large mortgage.

There are more than (an already understated) $905 billion worth of tax breaks allowed under US tax code. Approximately $530 billion of that goes to corporations and tax codes benefitting the middle upper class. Even federal tax credits for higher education, targeted at lower incomes, mostly benefit middle and upper income households. With the exception of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, tax benefits disproportionately help those who pay hefty income taxes.

Because lower income citizens don’t have large liabilities—they are in effect left out of the system.

Though about 96 per cent of Americans benefit from some type of government social program, the quality of that gained by the necessitous is significantly lower than the middle and upper echelons.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is not a sustainable solution. The penurious are better off under the health reform, with the targeted groups of young, Black, and Hispanic being successfully

covered. Unfortunately, numbers suggest that new options may be unappealing or out of reach for the middle class, causing their take up percentages to be lower. It is effectively fighting back inequality, but the results might be temporary. Proponents will cite the lower than expected costs of the program. But the reason that it’s true is because expected enrollments have fallen. So while 9 million Americans gained insurance coverage in 2015, the amount of healthy people (calculated through exchange enrollments) subsidizing the overall risk pool is not enough to keep insurance prices from rising.

Sweeping improvements are difficult to come into fruition, but it does not justify defaulting to a single-payer healthcare system. Bear in mind that additional tax revenue to fund this system would mean putting pressure on the middle class, not just the wealthy. If it were proposed, Americans would vote against it because many already have good coverage through their employers. It is, however, politically feasible to enact equalizing tax breaks that refund, instead of deduct below a certain income. Regulations mandating the private sector to provide a more thorough array of assistance to the population are urgently needed for the lower class, and can be improved on for a more robust middle class. The UK’s success in targeting impecunious households offsets the 14.5 per cent cash benefit of an average British household’s disposable income to the OECD average of 21.9 per cent. Compared to the US, where only 7 per cent of direct public spending goes to income considered programs. Being that there are few US policies that emphasise helping the disadvantaged, increasing social programs can be considered. But the main focus on targeting tax-based subsidies and private social spending should not be lost. It is unquestionable that the United States welfare state needs to be reformed, but there’s no reason for Americans to fall to the international peer pressure of having “free” healthcare.

Darknet markets are making drugs safer

The ‘deep web’ is a term used to describe parts of the internet that cannot be found using regular search engines. It has become the tool of anarchocapitalists to fight the current onslaught on internet privacy by supposedly free and democratic countries; a gateway to material deemed unlawful, ranging from revelations of government activities to child pornography.

Almost synonymous with the ‘deep web,’ or ‘darknet’, are drug markets. Despite the demise of Silk Road and Silk Road 2—both were shut down by the US government in 2013 and 2014 respectively—the amount of markets selling drugs is on the rise. It appears that, in hydra-like fashion, when one market is shut down, more rise.

“Imagine a world where drug-taking was legalised, and regulated by government-approved standards. ” Every day, thousands are involved in transactions of illegal substances ranging from heroin to cannabis. Carol Cadwalladr, a writer for The Guardian, has described these drug markets as something resembling a parallel universe where eBay has been taken over by drug cartels. This illustrates how easy it is becoming for people to purchase illegal substances off the web.

Running parallel with the rise of these drug markets is the lengthy and largely failing war on drugs.

Johann Hari, author of the critically acclaimed “Chasing the Scream”, calculates that the war has lasted almost one hundred years and has resulted in countless deaths—certainly ranging in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions—leading him to provide a convincing argument for looking at alternatives.

The alternatives must be geared towards the legalisation and regulation of drugs, and drug markets provide a positive model of what society could look like if this was done.

Like in any competing market, the most successful drug market is the market that provides the best product and service. This has led to the drugs on these sites being purer than what is found on

Alister Pearson Contributor the streets. Now, the phrase ‘purer drugs’ is likely to spark fear into the anti-drug brigade, but it is unclear whether or not their fears are warranted.

Most drug-related deaths are caused by accidental poisoning. According to government statistics, 79% of male drug misuse deaths were caused by accidental poisoning in 2014. For females, it’s 69%.

Accidental poisoning is largely caused by one of four factors: Either the drug wasn’t the drug the user thought they were taking, the drug was laced with something more harmful, the user took too much, or the user combined it with other substances.

Out of the four factors, the first two can be easily prevented by buying from a reputable and reliable source. This is where online drug markets can be brought back in, for they are providing better quality, and more reliable drug service. Increasingly, the most successful vendor is the one that has the most favourable views, which are gained by buyers using their service and testing their products, ensuring that the vendor isn’t passing off one drug for another. The purer the drug, the better the review.

The purer a drug is, the less likely it will be laced with something more dangerous, or worse, sold as something not advertised.

Now, imagine a world where drug-taking was legalised, and regulated by government-approved standards. These outlets could be modeled on drug market philosophy in terms of the quality of the drugs leading to safer drug taking. This wouldn’t prevent all drug-related deaths, for there is still a possibility of drug abuse, but it would significantly lower the amount of preventable deaths.

The last two factors I mentioned as causes of accidental, drug-related deaths can be reduced with better education about drug taking, something you see more and more of on the deep web.

Currently, the government is forced to provide very little substantive evidence to teach people about the effects of drugs. Often they are used as scare-tactics to try to prevent people from taking them, but this is becoming less and less effective, and in fact, more dangerous.

People are starting to see through the propaganda

Photo: Epsos @Flickr

spouted out by the government when it comes to drug-taking. Take a recent anti-marijuana campaign featuring a ‘stoner sloth’ designed to curb use as an example of the ridiculous lengths governments go to in their crusade on drugs. It only takes one positive experience of taking a particular substance to make people disbelieve any information that was previously given that tried to say that nothing positive can come from drug-taking. This invariably leads people to self-educate themselves about drugs, experimenting with different substances whether legal or illegal and in different quantities.

You can now see the dangerous nature of the current anti-drug campaign on people’s drug taking.

Drug markets are providing a better alternative for our current situation. More and more frequently, vendors are listing their drugs with instructions about how much to take and what effects can be expected. In an article for The Guardian, Jamie Bartlett observed one browsing customer ask, “Do you think I could just buy a tiny amount of marijuana?” to which the vendor responded: “Hi there! Thanks for the mail. My advice is that starting small is the smart thing to do, so no problem if you want to start with 1 gram. I would too if I were you.” Better information than the stoner sloth that’s for sure. With the right education and information, people are able to make informed decisions. Of course, there will still be accidental deaths, but the number will reduce significantly enough to warrant decriminalisation.

Again, we can imagine a world where drugs are decriminalised and drug education is reliable because people trust the government to not give them propaganda due to ulterior motives. This would lower the amount of deaths caused by taking too much of a substance or mixing with other substances because, without an ulterior motive, the correct information will be given out about how much people ought to take and what to not combine it with.

Drug markets are of course not all positive, for they still sell products I wouldn’t like to see decriminalised. For example, I don’t believe cocaine or crystal meth should ever be legal. However, these markets provide a vision of what could be if we were to end the war on drugs. It surely is time to stop seeing these drug markets as an undesirable consequence of an anarcho-capitalist society and more as a guideline towards a safer society.

Music

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Live

Album

Massive Attack

MONEY: Suicide Songs

28th January @ 02 Apollo

Released 29th January via Bella Union Records

LOCALLY SOURCED

Massive Attack hit their usual beastly musical standards, but their heavy-handed activism left the crowd with an uneasy aftertaste

MONEY, one of Manchester’s finest current bands, have created a powerful second album that affirms life and confronts death

Adam Rogers Contributor

Dom Bennett Critic

7.5/10

Following a 5 year break since the release of new material, Bristolian legends Massive Attack embark on their first fully fledged UK tour in as many years. Supported by the release of their new EP Ritual Spirit, the duo sought to bring a heavily politicised performance with a setlist split between old classics and relatively obscure, newer work.

Opening with ‘Battle Box’, a solo single from Robert Del Naja released in 2012, the lights descended to the darkened, bass-heavy tension of the track as it ebbed and flowed with the vocals of Martina Topley-Bird. The impressively expansive visual display behind the 7-strong live band flickered up names of pharmaceutical medicines backed with the bulk prices per pill. The band followed up with the Heligoland B-side ‘United Snakes’, with the screens this time strobing between the flags of countries and the logos of large multi-national corporations such as McDonalds and Goldman Sachs reimagined in red, black and white. Both performances leave a poignant message, even if it’s a little heavy-handed and Banksy-esque.

A highlight of the night included the hazed-out and hair-raising performance of Mezzanine’s ‘Risingson’, which was intimate and intense. Doing away with the cumbersome didactic themes of the night, the track flowed with a certain weightlessness to the positive response of the crowd.

The band also brought out veritable legend Horace Andy who performed ‘Angel’ and ‘Girl I Love You’, both of which were clear crowd-pleasers with Andy’s dread-wise vocal delivery held an emotional note through the classic Bristolian bass weight.

A wholly unavoidable and staple point of the night, however, was the heavy inclusion of the current Syrian refugee crisis. The band offered up some truly horrifying statistics presented on the screens that highlighted the glaring failures of the British government to accept refugees—alongside more widespread terrors such as Sweden’s

plan to evict 80,000 refugees. The subject matter was highly topical and unequivocally vital, but it caused a dissonant atmosphere throughout the show; almost questioning the audience as to how they could really be sitting there and enjoying the act when they are being shown photographic evidence of children drowning.

This had cut sharply throughout the staple song ‘Inertia Creeps’ where random headlines from the previous few days are flashed out above the band, which raised the topic of how issues with true gravity are diluted in a sea of tabloid wankery.

However, the point became somewhat cheapened when headlines such as “Asylum seekers made to wear coloured wristbands in Cardiff” were mixed with “Porn shown at a funeral”.

It would be a cheap shot to say that missing certain songs from the set list—such as ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ is a crime. But for a band who have comfortably released a “Best Of” record ten years ago, there’s simply not enough room to include every “essential” song.

The recurring theme of the night seemed to be a top-notch musicality with a side of slightly discordant, heavy-handed activism. Perhaps not the carefree evening that many of the attendees may have hoped for, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.

Photo: nudevinyl @Flickr

9.5/10

With their second album, MONEY move above and beyond the lazy comparisons that get thrown at every Manchester band, creating a singular work of great depth and power. It is understandable to approach the album with some trepidation—the title and cover potentially making new listeners expect a morose and maudlin album.

Suicide Songs is neither of these things; however, the spectre of death undeniably hangs over the album (just as it does in the artwork, and over all of us…), but the album acts more as an exploration of how thoughts of death impact our lives and the ways in which we try to carry on nonetheless. “I know that some of us need to turn the light into dark” vocalist Jamie Lee comfortingly sings on the title track. A beautifully sparse number, Lee backed only by guitar and sweet horns.

Throughout the album, Lee’s poetic lyrics seem in perfect balance with the more varied accompaniment given by bandmates Charlie Cocksedge and Will Byron. Acoustic guitar was little used on their debut, but here it acts as the lead instrument on several songs. The heartfelt atmosphere it brings fitting the subject matter. The Indian Dilruba finds its place, too, matching the detached spiritual restlessness of the opening songs: “I’m not trying to say that I want to be God, I just don’t want to be human”. The arrangements rise and fall along with the vocals on the intoxicating eight minute sprawl of ‘Night Came’,;Lee continuously shifting from a heavenly falsetto to a guttural snarl, and back again.

The band have stated in interviews that there are few moments of redemption on the album, but vitally, there are some. The delicate title track acts as a turning point that gives way to a more hopeful second half. “When I was a child I made a deal against the sun, that if it died out I would carry on” Lee defiantly sings on lead single ‘I’ll Be

The Night’, rousingly backed by pounding drums and strings. This is followed by the cathartic rush of ‘All My Life’, the grand and emphatic lyrics (“Hold me close and don’t ever let me go”) being propelled by soulful backing vocals and strings that seem to rise endlessly before collapsing into an atmospheric outro.

Sparsity is once again brilliantly used on the closing track, ‘A Cocaine Christmas And An Alcoholic’s New Year’. This hungover horns and piano ballad describes the vices mentioned in the title as wastes of time, Lee now declaring himself “as happy as a child, because you don’t have to ask me why”.

“I’m tired of things that just aren’t real, in a hopeless world” goes one line. With Suicide Songs, MONEY have crafted the perfect antidote to this.

This is an album that makes clichés like transcendental and life affirming actually make sense, rightfully exploring the darkness in the human experience to then find authentic hope and beauty.

Photo: Album Artwork

Album

Field Music: Commontime Released 5th February via Memphis Industries Jacob Nicholas Contributor

9/10

You’d be forgiven for not expecting much from Commontime, the fifth album from the Brewis brothers, otherwise known as Field Music. The cover art is plain, the song titles are uninspiring at best (‘I’m Glad’, ‘Don’t You Want to Know?’, ‘How Should I Know?’) and the two brothers have spent the last few years working on their own projects as School of Language and The Week That Was, suggesting their collaborations are a spent force.

But as soon as the lead single ‘The Noisy Days Are Over’ kicks off it’s clear the two are revitalised. It’s an absolute stormer, a taut, funky track that keeps its momentum over its six and a half minute run time, even erupting into a satisfyingly discordant saxophone solo. The brothers are singing about accepting middle age and living a quiet life, but they sound raucous and energetic as ever.

‘The Noisy Days Are Over’ showcases the whole of Commontime in a single track—the tight, trebly groove, the orchestral flourishes, the two brothers harmonising, and a slightly off-kilter drum outro. It’s by far the best song on the album, and the only truly essential track. However the rest of the album still manages to be really fucking great. ‘Disappointed’ starts off weird-

Tracks of the

Week Zakk Brown Contributor

Field Music take simple pop songs and create something occasionally genuinely transcending, brilliant and life affirming ly soft-jazz before erupting into an energetic plea to a lover to set their expectations low, before twisting yet again into a desperate ballad for the choruses. This hyperkinetic stream of ideas defines Commontime. ‘Trouble at the lights’ spends its first half as a slow lament, before erupting into an instrumental freakout. ‘They Want You To Remember’ starts out like a slower Talking Heads number, before disappearing into an orchestral bridge, before returning with full force, charging to the finish.

But really, the endless inventiveness isn’t the appeal here. Instead, what Field Music have managed to achieve is something only a certain few bands from the North of England can do. Like British Sea Power, the Arctic Monkeys (before they became impossibly dull) and of course Pulp, they take simple pop songs and create something occasionally genuinely transcending, brilliant and life affirming in a way that’s hard to describe. Commontime isn’t perfect by any stretch—at 14 songs and nearly an hour it’s too long, and it veers dangerously close to musical theatre on tracks like ‘The Morning is Waiting For You’, but Field Music have pulled a genuine blinder. But then again, Prince is a fan, so maybe it’s no surprise at all.

5/10

Photo: Album Artwork

Animal Collective: ‘Lying in the Grass’ Released 1st February via Domino

Eagulls: ‘Lemontrees’ Released 1st February via Partisan Records

Future: ‘In Abundance’ Released 3rd February via Metrop Boomin

The experimental Animal Collective are once again changing up their core sound on their forthcoming album ‘Painting With’. This time, they’re opting for a more ‘Pet Sounds’ era Beach Boys vibe, adopting their ideology of putting anything that makes noise in the album. The track is filled with an organised chaos of different sounds and instruments, such as a piano making a cameo appearance for two bars and is never heard again. The harmonised vocals are still at the heart of the band while still experimenting with older genres to further their neo-psychedelic pop sound.

The uncertainty and anxiety in Eagulls’ debut album highlighted by the disorientating treble-y fuzz on tracks like ‘Nerve Endings’ has been stripped back on this new release for a more Cure style approach. While the shoegazing element is still here, the distortion takes a backseat role, making frontman George Mitchell’s wounded yelps more clear and decipherable. These yelps consist of some more biting lyrics, rather than his internal panic from the debut, attacking ‘whoever sells the seeds beneath the lemon trees’. This ‘bittersweet’ track blends the sweet post-punk vibe of The

Future’s new track ‘In Abundance’ and where it came from seems to be a bit of an enigma. It was packaged on its YouTube release with the ‘Purple Reign’ mixtape cover and didn’t actually feature on it, nor is it part of the track list for Future’s new announced album ‘EVOL’ (no connection to Sonic Youth). The track has a smooth beat and comprised of mostly brag lyrics, which Future has earned with his work on ‘DS2’ and ‘What a Time to Be Alive’ last year, putting him among the most eminent rap artists in our current time.

Music 13

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the

Shut up and Opinion play the hits

feels cheapened... to you I have to say: I’m seriously sorry... I just hadn’t considered that.”

But here’s where I call bullshit. James Murphy is unscrupulously considerate; having watched pretty much every interview with him that’s available and scrutinised his every lyric, it seems he’s extremely empathetic and completely obsessed with what things mean. What does that hi-hat timbre reference? What’s that girl thinking? “Has everybody got pins?” to quote him in nervous, bumbling preparation for their ‘last’ show. He went to a lot of effort to make sure that the end of LCD Soundsystem meant an awful lot and I think he knew precisely what he was undermining with their reformation. Despite his claims to the contrary, despite his undying commitment to inspiration and legacy, our prince-muso-geek is surely selling out for profit? Weren’t you the guy who sang “I was there?” Well I was there too, man! And what does that mean now?

The trouble is that I wasn’t there; I didn’t even get properly in to them until after their momentous MSG show. I also thought right from the start that this was nothing more than a ‘victory lap’ for an exorbitant amount of money and I was totally fine with it. To my mind, if they were to play a few shows, airing out their old material, it would leave their legacy totally intact. LCD Soundsystem would still have ended as a creative project and I would get to see them relive it live on stage.

By reforming for ‘purer purposes’, as it were, and making a new album, James has wrenched LCD Soundsystem, kicking and screaming, out of its peaceful rest in music history. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go; they were supposed to be one of those music legends, a band of my generation.

“There was this band called LCD Soundsystem, kids. They were at the height of their powers and still loved one another, but decided to break up, because they realised that some things are too perfect to compromise through continued existence… but then they realised they were wrong and got back together.” Why can’t they just shut up and play the hits!?

But I wasn’t there. And I don’t just mean the MSG show; I mean all of it. I don’t know how James Murphy was feeling when he decided to break up the band, I don’t know whether he felt things were perfect, I don’t know whether he’s anything like what I think he is. All this legacy, all this meaning, is something that, at best, I’ve bought into and at

Many fans rejoice at the news that LCD Soundsystem are reforming. Some feel betrayed.

Rob Paterson has a borderline existential crisis.

LCD Soundsystem are one of my favourite bands and, never having had the chance to see them live before their break-up in 2011, I was extremely excited to hear rumours of their reformation. On hearing confirmation that they were indeed to headline Coachella in 2016 and embark on a world tour, I couldn’t believe my luck; Blur last year, now this.

All I’d need is a spontaneous, beyond the grave Beatles reformation in 2017 and I’d label this decade a pretty good one. Ironically, what was to break my heart was the characteristically self-deprecating, rambling and beautifully heartfelt message from James Murphy himself, clarifying the whole affair.

The reformation was triggered by his having “more songs than he’d ever had in his life” and not knowing what to do with them. Fair call James, I think that’s the right move. You broke up because you thought there was nowhere left for the band to go, but people change their minds, I get that. It’s not like you booked out Madison Square Garden and played one of the best concerts of all time to mark the occasion; a joyous wake in the awe and reverence of your bereaved disciples. It’s not like you made a profoundly beautiful film in order to document it, which touched the hearts of fans and non-fans alike and made surprising insight in to the terrible and beautiful human truth that even the best things must come to an end.

Except that is what happened. And, quite reasonably I think, some fans were upset, or at least confused. In the words of one Facebook commenter, “I feel like I just got over a breakup with someone I was completely in love with, and now they’ve told me that they want to get back together”. In Mr Murphy’s defence, he sincerely apologised for this. “There are those... that travelled for the MSG show and who found it to be an important moment for them, which now to them

Photo: Justin Kent@Flickr

worst, I’ve constructed in my own head. What’s worse is that what I’m proposing was never an option; I really do believe him when he says they would never have reformed unless he had more to do with the band.

Would I have preferred it if they’d stayed dead and I’d never have got to see them live? I am still going to go and see them, probably multiple times, and I’m even going to buy their album; I’ll probably fucking love it. This seems to suggest that I would prefer it this way and yet I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been robbed of something important.

This has really fucked me up to be honest—what does any of it mean?

Should I bother investing in anything? Is it all self-constructed legacy and fairy dust?

Most of you probably think I’m blowing things way out of proportion.

As I read this back, I kind of want to punch myself in my pseudo-philosophical, self-interested little face, so I await the vitriolic hate storm that awaits me online (if anyone even reads this. What’s the fucking point? Everything ends in oblivion anyway). I have absolutely no idea where I stand (on anything anymore). But I think there’s one thing that every fan can agree on, whether they await the new record with excitement or frustration; it better be fucking good.

Live

the Interview Ø [Phase]

Tai Kolade is most often in awe of Ø, when in the throws of his techno wizardry. Unfortunately, he finds the chance to sit down with him on the its groggy aftermath.

“Yeah… um what do you mean?” he replies after my nonsensical first question. My previous nights antics are clearly evident. Sitting across from me is Phase, Token records loyalist and techno magician. Despite my dislike of Peep Show I can’t help but liken him to Super Hans, not literally but he has a similar look and exudes the same sort of confidence Hans does. Being a genuine fan of his I feel nerves are maybe getting to me too, on top of the lack of sleep. I fix up, shake of my haziness and calm myself. I finally find my form and articulate my first question properly so I can ask him about the new album and what he meant when he called it ‘forward facing’?

“Only in comparison to my previous album. It’s hard to say really what you put into something, I mean I don’t go into some deep concept about things exactly but certainly in terms of where I was, what was going on in my life when I did the other album and things I was going through in my own personal, psychological kind of growth and what not, it was about that and this one I’m more looking at moving forwards at where my mind is.”

I feel a sense of togetherness dawn over me now, confidence is building and my synapses are firing properly. My new found clarity allows me to understand that Phase has his own mantra with how he likes to do his stuff and what he aims to achieve. “When I started making records, trying to put them out and get it out there some of my main things were i strongly wanted some DJs to play my records, that was really important to me. If so-and-so can play my records then I’d feel like I’ve achieved something, like i’ve got their respect. If Jeff Mills or Derrick May was playing my record.

That’s really important to me to reach that standard… It is subjective, music and art, and someone may say they don’t like it and someone says they do but you can’t let the person who said they don’t like it put you off or put you down. At the same time there’re certain people with credentials which you respect and those are the sort of people you do want to like your records and I am gonna take notice of.”

I now unleash on him my techno fan boy and brag that tonight would be the third time I’ve seen him this year, and notice that every time it’s been somewhere dark and atmospheric. “I’ve said it before, it [Techno] needs to be in quite a dark atmosphere, it doesn’t work in certain environments so

Top 5...

Krautrock songs

Also known as kosmische musik, krautrock was one of the most important and innovative music genres of the post-war period.

Tom Learmouth Contributor

Can – Paperhouse (Tago Mago, 1971) The opening track of Can’s glorious second album represents the unsurpassable rhythm and variety that underpins their sound.

The Köln 5-piece were a melting pot of free jazz, psychedelic rock and avant-garde classical music.

Essential.

well. The more moody dark room you get the better… I played a place in the summer and it was, for example, the wrong venue because it was very light with white walls and tech house would’ve been fine in there but it wasn’t quite gelling properly and everyone was a bit frightened and around the edge of the dance floor. It was a really busy club but there was space because it was so light. Its really difficult to try and convey what you want to convey in the wrong space.” His passion for the right type of venue is evident, so I ask which venue is his favourite “I played last week, last Saturday, in Gare club in porto, that’s one of my favourites. its like a low ceiling like underneath a railway. Gare means railway or station I think in Portugal. It’s a low ceiling and nice vibe so I enjoy playing there, so yeah that’s one of my favourite places and berghain is a favourite because they’ve just got everything right there just on a slightly bigger scale…”

Despite calling myself a techno fanboy I shamefully decide to drop in that I actually haven’t been to Berghain… “YOU’VE NOT BEEN THERE!?

What are you more of a house person? You scared of getting rejected?

You need to come next week I’ll put you on the list!” Now last night is just a distant memory as excitement overcomes me. “.. because they’re selective on the door they’ve kept it the way they want it to be; without tourists streaming in. Because of the way they run the door and because it’s just set up right it just works for that sort of music. It’s why it’s got the reputation it has. 2009 was the first time I played there and I didn’t really get what it was all about. But after a few times I stayed there longer after I finished playing and understood what it’s about, and how it’s more of a relaxed pace of partying. Traditionally wherever you go, everyone’s burnt out by 7/8 am.”

He looks up at me with a knowing grin and chuckles “I’m reminding you about last night aren’t I!” I share in his laugh. However, little does he know I was actually up until 9.

Photo: Screen shot

Neu! – Jahresübersicht (Part Two): Negativland (Neu! , 1972)

Amon Düül II – Archangels Thunderbird (Yeti, 1970)

In 1971 Klaus Dinger left Kraftwerk due to the band’s “lack of vision” and formed Neu!. This track represents their more minimalist sound over a groove of progressively changing tempo.

Emerging from a radical art commune in Munich, this album was formative in krautrock and even prog. One its more melodic offerings’ is anchored by an irresistible, fuzzy riff,

Pangea: Level 10 30th January @ the SU Matt Staite Music Editor

7/10

Pangaea is a difficult event to review as you can take it so many ways. Everyone has their preferences, whether it be catching the headliners in the academy, or spending the whole night in the silent disco. One unanimous feeling seemed to be that this iteration’s ‘level 10’ theme was brilliant; just ask any of the super marios and Laura crofts bopping around rooms covered in Tetris blocks as if they had unlimited extra lives.

In terms of the line up, Pangea Level 10 was reasonably solid. Electro-popper Katie B tackled the headline position fairly well. ‘Crying For No Reason’ was an expected classic, and ‘Calm Down’ (written with Floating Points and Four Tet) from her star studded upcoming album impressed. Unfortunately it felt as if her set wasn’t on for very long, and it she lacked charisma with fairly long gaps between songs. Preceding Katie B came Swim Deep. Playing a set heavy with tracks from new album ‘Songs For Our Mothers’, it was nice to see a different indie sound at Pangaea compared to a nearly completely electronic lineup. Unfortunately their sound didn’t lend itself to a wild student night, and this was reflected in their failure to draw an Academy 1 crowd compared to past Pangaeas.

Up in Academy 3, Move D had the crowds in the palm of his hand with a purely disco set. From Bileo’s ‘You Can Win’ to Timeless Legend’s ‘I Was Born to Love You’, the set was a joy to behold and embodied the Pangaea ethos. In contrast Mount Kimbie anticipated DJ set failed to impress, being heavy and a bit uninteresting.

Personally this author spent the whole night in the back beaten top floors of the students union. Up there in these dens of iniquity, students moved from room to room with every song change. You could move from a crammed room of pulsing drum and base, to a room of 5 people monging out to the blaring beats of Kink’s ‘Cloud Generator’. To me this feels the true spirit of Pangaea; having a great time in a place you wouldn’t expect. Wherever you spend the night, from the SU cafe to the Council Chambers, this tends to be the case.

Kraftwerk – Stratovarius (Kraftwerk, 1970)

Faust – Krautrock (Faust IV, 1973)

Surprisingly, humans provide the rhythm on Kraftwerk’s eponymous debut album; and ‘Stratovarius’ sits closer to rock music than electronic music. Kraftwerk’s Kraut sound never fully died, but here it stands front and centre.

The song that made sure the name stuck. It’s is a compelling, repetitive 12-minute industrial blitzkrieg of the future. Witnesses of a recent performance confirm that Faust operate on the edge of sanity – waging war on the concept of compromise. “Art is error”, they tell us.

14

Music

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

J Dilla: Donuts Record Released February 2006 via Stones Reappraisal Throw Records Ten years ago, J Dilla left behind his nostalgic, lifeaffirming swansong; Donuts. The 31-track masterpiece is a sprawling and inspired distillation of 70s black music that cemented his status as a musical genius, says Jacob Bernard-Banton Forgive the present writer for mentioning David Bowie’s death yet again – coming to terms with it hasn’t been easy – but the circumstances surrounding his poignant farewell (accomplished on his final album Blackstar) are particularly noteworthy. Bowie knew he may not live to record another album. That same profound sense of mortality imbues Donuts, the ninth album by James Dewitt Yancey, otherwise known as J Dilla. Like Bowie, Yancey was battling a grave illness during production: he was terminally ill with the blood disease TTP and lupus. (Incidentally, both men released their last albums on their birthdays.)

Photo: Album Artwork

And yet, Donuts is triumphant and incredibly life-affirming, both Yancey’s masterpiece and an immensely nostalgic love letter to music. It distils an overlooked era in the history of African-American music into just thirty-one tracks: that fairly underwritten period in the 70s which

birthed the Philadelphia Sound, vocal groups like the Moments and the Dramatics, and the iconic TV show Soul Train. Quite a lofty claim, but it isn’t without justification. ‘Stop’ beautifully mangles the wistful strings of an old Dionne Warwick tune into something strange and heartfelt.

The unusual, seesawing time signature on ‘Bye.’ contorts the Isley Brothers’ wafting R&B. ‘Airworks’ gets its groove from strutting funk courtesy of Stax session guitarist L.V. Johnson. The shrieking siren on ‘Gobstopper’ (an unmistakable Dilla staple that resurfaces throughout the record) opens to soul-indebted brass fanfare.

All these styles and sounds short-circuit as the cut-and-splice antics of hip-hop take over.

However it isn’t self-indulgent retro-fetishism.

It’s fresh, inspired and experimental, like the warped, garbled stride of ‘The Factory’. Yancey’s choice of source material wasn’t always funky or even fashionable. ‘Anti-American Graffiti’ features an unlikely sample from obscure Australian pop rock outfit Tin Tin, whose debut was produced by sometime Bee Gee Maurice Gibb.

Donuts’ celebratory finish comes in the form of ‘Welcome to the Show’ – both jubilant and desperately sad – before it cuts off into the album’s first track: a glorious, self-referential infinity loop of a closer. As many posthumous compilations have shown, Yancey was quite the nonpareil genius. Who else would sample the opening three seconds of Sly & the Family Stone’s ‘(You Caught Me) Smilin’’ for use as an atmospheric, skeletal beat, or crib from Pharaoh Sander’s ‘Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt’, changing its pitch and burying it beneath handclaps and vinyl crackle? A nonpareil genius, that’s who.

BAND MEMBER wanted Drummer needed! Very new, Manchester-based heavy rock project looking to snare a drummer. Our current influences include Queen, Rush, Bon Jovi, Kamelot, Tool, Dream Theater and plenty more.

With you behind the kit, we will develop a rich catalogue of heavy rock and metal covers while simultaneously gelling as a potential four-piece band to write our own music.

If you’re interested, get in touch with us!

Shaun Carter: 07914391235 Shaun.carter@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk Brad Sleigh: brad_sleigh@hotmail.co.uk

Get Involved!

We’re always looking for passionate new contributors. No previous experience is required.

Email us at music@mancunion.com to find out more about joining The Mancunion team.

facebook.com/musicmancunion @MancunionMusic

GRAB YOUR FIRST BURGER AND GAME CARD FROM SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY. ONLY IN THE UNION BAR.

Games 15

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Feature

Final Fantasy VII HD: Everything we know

Jasmin Tiyur Contributor

Square Enix has recently found itself back in the forefront of our minds and on the tongues of all gamers young and old, and there can only one real explanation why—the long awaited urban legend has finally become a reality—the Final Fantasy VII (FFVII) Remake is coming.

After a rocky couple years of uncertainty, and what has been perceived as “money grabbing” tactics that seemed to place profit over quality, Square Enix may have finally made a breakthrough to shoot itself straight back onto our most beloved developers chart. There is, however, the argument that FFVII Remake is just another one on the list of games that will aim for profit at the sacrifice of gaming experience. Many have complained about Final Fantasy XIII unnecessarily being a trilogy set, and some have found the lightning and cloud resemblance too much to bear. Some have even called the extremely premature announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 as an act of desperation while others are more concerned with the frequent changes being made to Final Fantasy XV. But with even with all these factors taken into account, Square Enix has always successfully secured a fanbase with gamers who are undeterred by such apparent issues; and it is safe to assume that the Final Fantasy VII Remake will most likely have similar results. However, some fans have already raised issues with the minimal content and information that we have had available to us thus so far. So,

Photo: Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd

what do we know about FFVII Remake and what can we expect?

First thing’s first, some critics have seemed to confuse the concept of a remake with a remaster. FFVII Remake is what it says it is—a complete remake of the original game that was released on PlayStation in 1997. Whereas Final Fantasy X and X-2 underwent a graphics revamp to allow for a sharper, and more crystal clear gaming experience—as well as remastering the original soundtrack.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake is offering an entirely new gameplay system and while some are absolutely ecstatic over the changes, others would have apparently preferred the original in a remastered version (I know, I don’t understand why either!). Critics of the remake do pose some interesting questions, however.

First and foremost, and I believe that I’ve

probably started with the most pressing and important question: how will the battle system work? Final Fantasy VII was played with the traditional Active Time Battle system, however, recent games in the series have since adapted their battle systems by including their own unique features. For example, Final Fantasy XIII’s paradigm shift system. The trailers released recently would apparently show a similar system. We have Cloud actively engaged in battle at different moments of the game, however there are two points in the trailer where both Cloud and Barret are engaged—raising the question as to how exactly this is going to work out.

From the trailer alone, it seems that Barret is the character being controlled while Cloud is automatically attacking.

Perhaps the gameplay will be similar to that of Kingdom Hearts, but instead we

will be able to switch between characters.

Or perhaps, the game will still be turnbased and the trailer is showing Barret’s turn whilst Cloud is busy carrying out the commands that he has been set. There is still much more to find out about the battle system. The trailer shows Cloud attacking in a way that is very similar to his Limit Break, and I would hope that it would be safe to assume that this will still be a feature as well as the use of Materia and, of course, Summons; as this can be seen from the battle menu commands: Magic and Summon. How these Summons will look, however, and that is always one of the big questions to be asked, remains unknown.

But given the absolutely phenomenonal design of Final Fanatsy XV’s teaser, Summon and Ramuh, I am certain we can expect great things to come.

We also now know that FFVII Remake will be sold episodically which has drawn both praise and indeed, more criticism from fans. The episodic nature of the release may go a long way in reassuring fans that the game will be made and completed with as much detail as the original. However there are concerns over the potential costs of each release— whether they will be available for purchased separately or in bulk. Even so, in speaking about the overall plot of the remake, fans have commented on beloved scenes that will be brought back to life as their main highlight of the new release; scenes such as Red XIII, also known as Nanaki’s discovering of the truth of his hero father, Seto; walking around a bloodsoaked Shinra headquarter with “Bloody Trail”

playing in the background; the iconic moments that capture Aerith’s death at the hands of Sephiroth; and, of course, the most famous scene of all—Cloud’s crossdressing mission for Don Corneo!

The most pressing question to be asked about the plot, however, is this—it is known that the original Final Fanatsy VII was cut short during production and released without completion. The original concept for FFVII had included Zack’s story.

Although this prequel to FFVII is already available under the title Crisis Core and is a complete account of the events that unfold from Zack’s beginnings, to the beginnings of FFVII. Fans are still asking: “Will Final Fantasy VII Remake complete its original concept and dedicate parts of the storyline to Zack?” It would go a long way in tying up the loose ends within the game—especially during Cloud’s mental breakdown as he discovers the truth about his memories, as well as his identity belonging to Zack.

Though it may end up peeving the Cloud and Aerith fans if Zack and Aerith take centre-stage! I always preferred Cloud with Tifa myself anyway.

Whatever fate has planned for FFVII Remake and for the mental stability of all it’s fans who are losing their minds over it, we can expected to wait quite a while for its official release. The most recent updates have stated that Final Fantasy VII Remake will continue to be in development throughout 2016. Here’s hoping that 2017 will bring in some better news. Until then, DRINK YER GODDAMN TEA!

Retro Review

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc Joshua Goldie Games Editor

Previously I reviewed the game Rayman 2: the Great Escape on the Nintendo 64. It was Ubisoft’s first attempt at taking their platforming hero Rayman into the third dimension.

Like other games in the series before it, the transition was not incredibly smooth, though the game still turned out enjoyable for the most part. Now a year later, I had the opportunity to play the games sequel, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc for the Nintendo GameCube. This title is very similar in style and idea to the previous game, so I thought it would be a fun idea to look at the two games and compare them in order to judge whether Rayman 3 was a good successor or not.

I will be referring back to my Rayman 2 review—so I urge you to give it a proper read before or after reading this article.

We will start with the story. In the previous game, Ubisoft attempted to dive more into the lore of the franchise and give a grand tale where Rayman had to save the whole world. The story was fitting as the series had gotten much larger in its jump to 3D and the game reflected that. So it comes as rather baffling that the storyline for Rayman 3 is non-existent. There is a story, don’t get me wrong—but because it was so low key, so inconsequential and so poor that it came across as an excuse to get Rayman to these locations rather than trying to detail out the world of the game. He may as well have been rescuing a princess or something. The story is this: the Lums from the previous game (fairies which give Rayman health and power) have turned evil and begin hunting the denizens of Rayman’s world.

But Globox accidentally swallows their leader and so the two travel around in search for a looking a doctor who to remove the villain from Globox’s belly.

That’s the premise that takes up all but the last tenth of the game.

The game has not changed much in its most basic controls from Rayman 2. All of Rayman’s abilities like climbing and gliding return here and you receive them all right from the get-go. These aspects have been tweaked however, and it is all for the better. Platforming no longer feels like a game of risk and everything is actually responsive. I never ran into problems like I did with the previous game. The cages return in this game and by collecting eight you are rewarded with Rayman’s health increasing. Some of these are optional while others mandatory. Combat is more common in this game and thankfully the battle system has been greatly improved, too.

There are not many enemy types, but each one has some kind of unique way in order to defeat them which is nice.

Rayman 2 was filled with gimmicks in every level and Rayman 3 tones this down slightly. The rocket levels return from the previous game and are slightly easier to control this time around.

Other than that, you get grinding levels in between chapters which I can only describe as ‘psychedelic’ in design but are fun nonetheless. The final gimmick is also the biggest focus of this game and that is the power-ups. Rayman can find 5 power-ups in this game that is frequently required to solve puzzles and move from area to area. These range from just increasing Rayman’s strength and copter abilities to giving him a rocket arm, grappling hooks and a punches that cause tornadoes on impact. These power ups appear everywhere and thankfully they are implemented seamlessly without fault. Using them is very simple and very easy to grasp and they make good editions to the game.

Unfortunatly that was the last positive thing I had to say about this game.

Although the power-ups are great, it

comes at the detraction that the game begins to feel very same-y. The level progression is more linear here than it was in the previous games which are emphasised by the removal of a map screen and the side levels. Each level is connected through the previously mentioned side areas and is split into segments. Each segment ends with a point of no return which means if you are exploring and accidentally end up on the games designated path, then the only way to return is to restart the whole level. This can be really frustrating at times and whilst this was present in Rayman 2, it was so uncommon that I couldn’t really complain. But now it happens all the time. Add this with the lack of new gameplay elements happening and you’ll find that the game truly becomes a bore to play at times.

Finally, we have the sound design which I only have one proper thing to say. The voice acting in this game is awful. Rayman 2 had a bit of English voice acting, but it was fine and underrepresented. Here, Rayman and Globox especially would not shut up and they have some really annoying voices. The dialogue is not funny and the quality of it dates the game hard. I found myself just lowering the volume outside of story important cutscenes and listening to my own stuff so I did not have to hear them talk anymore.

This next paragraph contains spoilers.

I will be talking about the last boss much like I did in the Rayman 2 review and if you would rather wait and see it for yourself then just skip to the end paragraph. Otherwise keep reading.

This boss sucks. I did not think they could make a boss worse than the one in Rayman 2, but they somehow managed.

The problem I had with the final boss in Rayman 2 was the controls of the rocket but here it is the monotony of it all. The final boss is a gauntlet, having three

forms that are designed to utilize all of Rayman’s power-ups and it sucks so badly. The first part is hard to dodge his never-ending onslaught of attacks while you run around desperately trying to grab the right power-up and then attack him while also jumping up and down to avoid his attacks. It is a pain. But it is the only hard part of the boss as the rest is just dragged out instead. Next he turns giant and you are put into a mock 2D section. The problem here is that to get the power-ups needed, you have to run all the way to one side of the level and then run all the way back. Three times.

All while dodging again. The third part involves using the propeller power to scale a bunch of platforms that are falling and it is just poorly designed. You fall way too easily and some platforms are just unreachable. Of course, ending off this nightmare is another rocket section.

Though easier to control, it is still not great and just takes forever to do enough damage. Only after that do you win. And

Photo: Ubisoft Entertainment S.A.

did I mention that you have to do it all without dying? If you do die then may the divine help you because you start all the way back to two rooms before the first part of the boss fight. I hated this and it amazes me that Ubisoft could be so bad at designing this. It just tarnishes the whole experience.

Overall, I have to admit I was disappointed with this game. While the gameplay was a lot more polished than Rayman 2 and the gimmicks were a lot more controlled and refined; the whole experience just feels like a step backwards. Everything else is worse— from the story, to the pacing, to the sound, and in the end I only felt compelled to beat this game just so I could write this review. That is not the sign of a good game and it’s a shame that this was the last original 3D Rayman title before the Rabbids took over for all those years. But if the series was continuing in this way, then maybe that Rabbid takeover was not really a bad thing after all.

Fashion & Beauty

16

Celeb Fashion

It’s time to dress to impress Fleur Stevens Contributor

Alicia Vikander

Photo: Rare

Sarah Kilcourse Contributor

The 2016 Oscar nominations are shrouded in controversy from every angle in society. The films nominated are no longer a cause for celebration but the topic of equality debates; however, enough voices have weighed in on this conversation that I shall leave mine out. Instead, let us draw our eyes to the beautiful fashions of this year’s cinema.

The AW15 Gucci runway was cause for many comparisons to one of cinema’s most unique style icons—Margot Tenenbaum. Gwenyth Paltrow’s portrayal of Wes Anderson’s character was given a new lease of life thanks to the Italian powerhouse. This awards season sees the relationship between fashion and cinema set to continue on its dizzying romance.

My favourite film of last year was, by far, Carol.

Every detail was considered in this spectacular piece of art: the lighting, the camera angles, the acting, the mise-en-scene all built to a beautiful viewing experience. Best of all was the costumes. Cate Blanchett’s Carol is a perfectly tailored, put-together 50’s glamazon. She exudes wealth and luxury, creating the kind of character that rarely exists in the twenty-first century, who can wear furs, hats, and brooches to go Christmas shopping. The detail is so great that her make up and hair are reflective of her state of mind. Therese is the complete antithesis of Carol, style-wise; she looks like she is wearing a Catholic school uniform, in the best possible way. The tartan bobble hat is sure to become a

Review: London Fashion Week Rebecca Thomas Contributor

Coming from the heart of Soho, London fashion week is renowned by its guests for its status as the best fashion week for individualism, and SS16/ FW16 is no different. Here’s a roundup of what happened in some of the key catwalk shows for 2016, with an emphasis on ‘seasonless’ fashion, asymmetry and belts: Topshop fashion unique SS16 A showcase of tailored suit jackets and trousers, big on giant polka dots and huge, mismatched earrings. Coats were a large feature, and were layered in new ways, with some sleeves pushed up to expose shirt sleeves, and some dropped off the shoulders. Furry stoles were carried over one shoulder, followed by models carrying furry doctor’s bags—fluff now not being exclusive to winter.

This show was all about decadence, fusing Emily Gilmore with 80’s fashion. The models, including Bella Hadid, wore red lipstick and had Jane Birkin-esque fringes. A particular high point of the show was a sheer leopard print dress worn under a holey cricket vest jumper.

Christopher Kane SS16 Appearances suggested the models on this catwalk had met with an arty accident; torn trousers

and paint-splattered tops were the vogue. With rips and childlike colour, it was as though sporty met Art Attack and was hospitalised. A blend of odd and fun, the best items were those that featured black as a contrast. Nods to the medical world came with colour zip ties worn as bracelets and hair ties. Luminosity and Perspex were in, which will potentially see more ‘see-through’ clutches replicated on the high street.

Marques’Almeida SS16 Less well-known but a personal highlight of mine, this show was a mix of pool slides and layers of asymmetric, neutral fabric in heavy ruffles. Leather jackets and denim halter necks contrasted with sheer nude dresses; one of the best looked as though it came from the romantic era and moved like a jellyfish. Makeup featured magenta and copper pigment below the eyes, skin was dewy and legs glossy. This aesthetic has moved to the high street, with Zara going for Marques’A lmeida vibes in their new collection.

Jonathan Saunders SS16 This was the finale for Saunders, who announced the closure of the label last year; the resulting show was both poignant and beautiful.

With Japanese influences, the models wore elegant combinations of diagonal stripes and diagonal chequers, in varying but not gaudy colours.

Beauty

Sophie Soar illustrates how art and fashion are interlinked

Photo: ASOS

As far as dresses go, red has to be one of my favourite colours. It’s bold, sexy, and makes a statement—a bit like Rachel McAdams herself.

Her beautiful maroon coloured dress brought some sexiness to the red carpet, and no one could have done it better. I love the fact that it’s extravagant but subtle at the same time, and I honestly believe Noah would approve.

Steal her style with this budget friendly Missguided number (£30). Alternatively you can window-shop the fabulous gown here; http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2016/01/18/critics-choice-awards-2016.

This year, I feel like a lot more celebrities are daring to be bold. With the rise of brighter and pastel (icy) colours, I think this has been the best year yet. Good luck, 2017.

Drawbertson designs on a jacket Photo: Carolyn Coles @Flickr

Photo: Missguided

Art and fashion as two distinct mediums have shaped society through their various means, viewed as separate entities either in a gallery or on the street. In opposition to this categorical separation, the two are synonymous mediums, intrinsically married, and equally influential on one another’s cultural significance.

The artistic references represented by designers are often explicit. This includes YSL’s Piet Mondrian shift dresses, Alexander McQueen’s Hirst-inspired scarves, Versace’s pop art collection in the 90s, or even the iconic oversized eyes and cheeky grin of Bart Simpson and Cara Delevingne alike, with an iconic image of the supermodel wearing a cropped jumper brandishing

Kimono style jackets and wide trousers moved in lightweight fabrics. Patterns were geometric but muted, with a recurring motif of a 60’s white belt.

Burberry SS16

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, has said fashion is now seasonless; perhaps referencing the globalisation of style by the social media effect.

This sentiment was matched by the Burberry catwalk, with coats over slip dresses, and low slung rucksacks being the prominent feature. Each look being reminiscent of a range of coffees, with black and caramel the dominant colours, some in geometric lace. The men wore tailored suits and slipper style shoes, the women caged heels, and many looks combined black with gold detailing, making for glamourous yumminess.

disproportionate to its neighbour. Double denim returned once again, but was made edgy with mismatching sleeve lengths, chains and rips. Little shearling aviator jackets and flared cornflour blue trousers paid a certain homage to both the 70’s and the Bee Gees. To understand the patterns of the show, a look at ‘Wetherspoon’s Carpet’ tumblr—a blog documenting the array of carpets in the pub—is startlingly similar and equally inspirational. The models had Alexa Chung cheekbones and Noel fielding hair, and looked pretty great.

Topman FW16 Projecting ahead another season, Topman has just released the catwalk for next winter’s fashion. Topman partners with initiative to support upcoming talent in menswear, a scheme called Newgen Men, which showcased some of the designs in the January show. The catwalk had a feel of somnambulism chic, with men wearing satin gowns and mashup headgear of Cossack hat and nightcap. An Edward Scissorhands aesthetic matched the sense of randomisation from a game of picture consequences, with each clothing item

Photo: Zara

Beauty

Nails, nails, nails SS16 Beauty Forecast Photo: BagoGames@Flickr

Perisha Kudhail shares her sure-fire way of getting great nails

Fashion illustration at your fingertips

Rachel McAdams

However, it wasn’t just the ladies making a statement and turning heads. The men have been on top form this year. Leonardo DiCaprio, John Hamm, and Kit Harrington have all stood out in their classic black tuxedos; a look that will never go out of style.

thing, I’m certain of it.

Carol offers an opportunity to witness two different fashions reacting to each other, and is sure to excite trends. For this, it has received an Oscar nomination.

One of the other films that had a bigger budget connection to the fashion world was Disney’s live action, Cinderella. Sandy Powell and Jane Law designed and created the fairy tale dress that caused a slur of controversy about Lily James’ waist. In spite of all the press, both designers insist her tiny waist was an optical illusion created by the size of the skirt. Cinderella is one film in which the dress and shoes will always be important—Disney did not disappoint. Swarovski created the eponymous glass slippers, reflecting a dream of desires. Cinderella is definitely another strong contender for the Best Costume Design Oscar, but I don’t think we’re going to start wearing glass slippers anytime soon…

The other nominees include The Revenant, The Danish Girl and Mad Max: Fury Road. I could go for a bit of mountain-wear chic à la Leonardo DiCaprio, or sport Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander’s 20’s dressing, but I think I can pass on the tortured and bionic style of dystopian Mad Max.

Review

Contributor’s Pick

Brie Larson Another celebrity whose dress sense is to die for is Brie Larson. Like the trends of last year, she wore a blue Versace gown. Although it has brought about some controversy, I personally think she could not have chosen a better gown.

The shaping was unusual but classic, and the colour was different to the popular pinks and greens of the season; a winning combination.

As icy blues and silvers dominated the red carpet last year, it’s nice to see someone stick to what they know. Sairose Rohan and Jennifer Aniston also stuck with icy blue colours.

If you like this style, we recommend this Asos beauty (£45). See the original dress here; http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2016/01/31/sag-awards-2016-red-carpet.

Fashion in film: The Oscars Edition How will this year’s fashion nominees infiltrate our wardrobes?

What do most girls love more than anything?

Diamonds? Chocolate? Dresses? Quite possibly it’s all three, but dresses are the highlight of the moment.

Every girly girl has a number of statement dresses in their collection whether that’s a sexy LBD or a cute, flowy, floral piece. As a lover of dresses myself, there is always one time of the year I am most excited for (apart from Christmas, of course!)… AWARD SEASON. As soon as the celebrities roll out onto the infamous red carpet, you know you’re going to be blown away by the dazzling and enchanting dresses they’ve picked for the occasion. Last year, I remember the beautiful blues of the Ellie Saab collection and the more unusual mustard colour that I soon found out was a favourite of colour of mine (or that may have just been because it looked amazing on Gigi Hadid).

This year was no expection. One lady who has stood out in the wardrobe department has to be Alicia Vikander. Everytime she goes on stage to collect her award, dress lovers everywhere are going crazy for her couture. Her most recent sequined Louis Vuitton dress was one that has particularly stood out to me; the mixture of beautiful earth tones makes for an almost magical feel that I think could not have suited her more.

Try this style with this Rare dress (£20) or find the original image here; http://www.vogue. co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2016/01/31/sagawards-2016-red-carpet.

Feature

Fashion & Beauty 17

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Matt Groening’s illustration.

Alternatively, the representation of fashion in art can often be overlooked. A designer’s illustrations mostly act as the precursors for their work, forming the basis of their designs before the three-dimensional realisation; Manolo Blahnik is one of few designers who specifies the significance of his illustrations as an art form in their own right.

However, fashion illustrators are increasingly leaving their carbon footprint via pencil shavings across the art world. These artists perhaps also deserve greater recognition and praise when considering their specialism; whilst the art world is constantly evolving and demanding innovation and high quality, the fashion world has its own seasonal speed that a fashion illustrator must keep in time with.+ Whilst social media can be friends to some and enemies to others, for a fashion illustrator, Instagram is their greatest alliance. The app allows for an immediacy of display on a virtual mood board, with these artists gaining an outreach larger than they might have ever had before.

With fashion illustration at your fingertips, here are some illustrators on everyone’s favourite cyber outreach: @blairz @mekel_illustration @paperfashion @akimdesigns @drawbertson

Looking to update your makeup look just in time for spring/summer? Laura Mills brings you the rundown of what’s hot on the SS16 catwalk, featuring a blast from the past, a classic red laip, and some plain old weird lashes The SS16 catwalk saw a host of new beauty trends cast into the spotlight. Whilst some of them are regular features for this time of year, others are a little more daring and new. Whether you’re after a makeup update or just interested in discovering what’s hot; here are next season’s beauty trends.

Blue Eye Shadow & Liner

Photos (L-R) : ASOS, Essie, Boots

People often forget that nails are an accessory, too. Keeping our nails in pristine condition is a great way to snazz up your look. We understand, with the stresses of being a student, that your nails are not always on your list of priorities, but we have some sure-fire ways to keep your nails looking gorgeous with minimal effort.

For a basic manicure, it’s always best to stick with a block colour before you begin nail designs.

Keeping your actual nails healthy and looking great is always the way to go, rather than caking your nail with layers and layers of nail varnish.

This is our simple manicure to get your nails on point.

1. First begin by cleaning all the old nail varnish from the nail.

2. Then file your nail into the desired shape. You could go rounded, square, or pointed.

3. Then run your hands under some warm water.

4. Next, pop on some hand cream and push your cuticles back.

5. After this step you can choose to buff and paint your nails or simply leave them natural.

This quick-time manicure will mean that your nails strengthen over time and, even without nail varnish, your nails will look fantastic.

So now you’ve got the base sorted, you can start

experimenting with colours. Here are a few tips to get a professional look.

If you don’t want to go be too outrageous, you could start with simple statement nail. The statement nail can be anything from an out-of-thenorm colour to a pattern that you can have some fun with. Check out these great nail options that will make you look like you’ve come straight out of a nail bar.

Barry M Aquarium Nail Paint Collection, £3.99.

This nail paint is a quick and easy way to funk up your nails. The glitter will provide an extra glam factor and is perfect for a statement nail. Barry M are renowned for their heavy duty brushes, making the application process that little bit easier.

Essie ‘Fall in the Lobby’ Nail Polish, £7.99.

Essie nail polishes are brilliant for achieving a nail salon look without the price tag that comes with it. This nail paint is long lasting and gives the appearance of gel, so you can get a professional look without even leaving the house.

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish, £9.99.

When it comes to nails, you can’t leave your nail polish collection free of Sally Hansen. This selection of nail colours not only look fab, but help strengthen your nails as well. That’s our kind of nail polish!

tured, natural beauty was also favoured in shows such as Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Versace, Isabel Marant, Balmain, and Stella McCartney. Very light makeup with a heavy emphasis on glowing skin was all the rage, with the new trend ‘strobing’ taking centre stage. Strobing involves some serious highlighting on areas such as the cheekbones, brow bone, Cupid’s bow, and down the centre of your nose. However, don’t go too heavy-handed; you don’t want to look like you’ve just got in from a good workout or a crazy night out.

Whilst some of these trends are definitely more wearable than others, there’s something for everyone to incorporate into their daily routines from the runways this year.

Who’d have thought this would ever make a comeback? After dabbling with blue eye shadow back in the early 00’s, with a few hideous pictures reminding me why it’s never a good idea, I swore I’d never wear blue on my eyes again. However, making an appearance on the runway from shows such as Missoni, Marc Jacobs, Mary Katrantzou, and Chanel, it has suddenly become acceptable again. Whilst I don’t think I’ll go all guns blazing like my 7 year old self did with this trend, a subtle hint of blue liner might be rather refreshing to my usual black flick.

Oversized, Clumpy Lashes Think oversized, wacky, clumpy, and just plain bizarre, with this trend that was featured on catwalks such as Louis Vitton, Marc Jacobs, Sibling, and Jeremy Scott. Whilst I can’t see it being one to catch on for everyday wear, it wouldn’t look out of place on a fancy dress night out.

Matte Red Lip Ah, everyone’s favourite summer colour is making a return this year, and it appeared on the lips of countless models in shows like Topshop Unique, Jenny Packham, Jason Wu, Oscar De La Renta, and Celine. This trend looks great on everyone, is super easy to rock, and will turn heads for all the right reasons (sorry clumpy lashes, I’m just not sold).

Photo: InsertMaga @Flikr

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Film

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ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Interview

TV Binge

Making a Murderer Since Making a Murderer’s December release, online debates, petitions, and verdicts have bombarded the web, making it easy to spoil the story for the uninitiated viewer and even harder to review it without mentioning key events. Nevertheless, the basic facts are these: Wisconsin man Steven Avery, released from prison after serving 18 years for a sexual assault he didn’t commit, is the focus of this 10-part documentary that delves into the unsavoury practices of the US justice system.

All the components of a compelling crime documentary are present. The sweeping shots of a dusty Wisconsin landscape and unnerving soundtrack create an eerie backdrop to the crimes. Binge watching becomes compulsory due to episode ending twists, and attachments to characters are created by clever pacing, which prioritises storytelling over any time constraints. What makes Making a Murderer even more compelling than other recent hits like True Detective or House of Cards, is that these are real people, and real events, and are therefore even harder to forget once we return to our normal lives.

Making a Murderer portrays events organically as they unfold due to the 10 year filming period, without rushing or hand-holding the viewer. As a result, when

the twists come, they shock and amaze with maximum impact without feeling forced or exaggerated. The patient opening episodes give viewers the opportunity to judge the characters themselves, whilst never dropping the intrigue and suspense.

As the show progresses, it becomes increasingly distressing to watch, but at this point the viewers’ attention is firmly secured through the skilful execution of key events that play out in real time to ramp up the tension.

Whilst Making a Murderer has the intended effect of transforming viewers into armchair detectives, there are issues with essentially trying to present an entire trial from start to finish. The show fails to provide context and interviews for one half of the trial, which effectively causes viewers to forget who the real victims are and places blame where it is unfair to do so.

Some manipulation is expected, however, since Making a Murderer is essentially a piece of entertainment and—contradicting the way some fans are discussing the show online—is obviously not going to be used as evidence in the trial.

The experience of watching Making a Murderer is so consuming that at times I had to remind myself that I could walk away with my freedom intact. After sitting

Alex Hurst: Hostage

Tristan Goldsmid Contributor through the relentless 10 hours, the inevitable despair about the state of the US justice system was combined with a burning desire to plunge into the depths of the web and join the thousands of internet users in uncovering the truth. Despite being highly disturbing and presenting a questionable representation of the trial, it is this refreshingly emotional reaction, alongside the eye-opening depiction of the US justice system, which makes Making a Murderer a genuinely unique and exciting TV event, and the new benchmark for future crime documentaries.

Photo: Netflix

James Moules Head Film Editor The University of Manchester’s new film-making society has produced two student short films over last semester—one of the films, Hostage, is a psychological thriller from first time film-maker Alex Hurst. Produced on a micro-budget of under £100, and with influences including David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick and the film noir genre.

The film’s titular scenario details the story of a girl who finds herself under interrogation from a man named Dr Brant.

The film’s production, which wrapped up recently, has run very smoothly—Alex has said that producer Cerys Spilsbury has been “fantastic in terms of organising” the shoot and finding the necessary locations. Given the highly stylised nature of the film, the main concern for this low-budget film has been about lighting, but Alex has said that the film’s crew have been able to work well within their budgetary limitations. The main cast consists of just two actors, Ra-

chael Kipling plays the lead, and Oliver Maynard in the role of Dr Brant.

Alex is reluctant to share too many details about the film’s plot, stating that he does not wish to spoil it for viewers.

Hostage is currently entering the stages of post-production, with possibilities of April being the month of completion. The film is estimated to be at about 10-15 minutes in length, although the exact runtime will not be determined until editing is complete. There will also be an upcoming fundraiser to help with the additional costs for the film—no date has been set yet for this event, but Alex says that it will be happening in the near future.

Alex adds that he would highly recommend the film-making society to other student film-makers, citing the society’s president James Walker as an enormous help in getting his film into production. The film-making society will be continuing to produce more student films, aiming to submit them—including Hostage—into short film competitions.

Film Reel

Movies to watch if you’re single this Valentine’s Day Photo: Dune Entertainment

(500) Days of Summer (2009) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in Marc Webb’s directorial debut, a fiercely witty satire of expectations and reality in relationships. We are reminded from the film’s opening moments that this is not a love story, but a story about love.

- James Moules

Photo: The Weinstein Company

Blue Valentine (2010)

Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopian satire is set in a world where singles must find a partner or be turned into an animal. Managing to critique societies’ obsession with coupledom, while still being filled with dark humour, it’s a perfect choice for Valentine’s rebellion.

- Dom Bennett

Annie Hall (1977)

This film is both endearing and unforgiving in its Annie Hall is an honest look at love. The film is portrayal of diminishing love. The future scenes serve drenched in Allen’s cynical view of people, capturing as a sad reminder of what is to come, leaving us with the many sides of a relationship - the pitfalls and the the message that even the greatest bonds can fail. Blue frustrations, but also ultimately the moments of happiValentine offers a refreshing, melancholic take on love. ness another person can give you. It’s funny too.

- Nancy Dewe Mathews - Joe Hunt

Photo: Picturehouse Entertainment

The Lobster (2015)

Photo: Umited Artists

Photo: UGC

Breathless (1960)

Photo: Lionsgate Films

Secretary (2002)

Godard’s debut film featuring transatlantic lovers in Paris Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader are fantastic in in this French New Wave classic that broke almost all the this dark comedy about an avid self-harmer who gets rules of cinema. Treating his characters and audience a job with a commanding lawyer. It explores the lure of both like complete utter crud, Breathless is still a refresh- the relationship with unexpected humour, and creates ing take on romance you could never think to yearn for. one of the oddest screen couples in cinema.

- Nadia Cheung - Jane Simmons

Film 19

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Review Photo:Open Road Films

Spotlight Charlotte Gough Film Critic Directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy, Spotlight—nominated for three BAFTAs, six Academy Awards and recent SAG Awards 2016 winner for Best Ensemble—recounts the true events of The Boston Globe’s investigative journalists who revealed decades worth of hushed-up child molestation cases involving multiple priests in the local Boston area, resulting in scandalous implications for the Catholic Church as a whole.

This film has all the tension of a crime-thriller without any of the usual features, as a small team of journalists are depicted as if they were hungry FBI agents—armed with nothing but phones and notepads—unyielding in their hunt for answers. Indeed, despite taking place in quiet, mundane newspaper offices and cramped meeting-room settings, with a monotone colour palette throughout, Spotlight delivers continuous, ever-building excitement. The team’s progress is enough to set a gripping pace without pointless sensationalism and each new piece of evidence leads to a bigger, more shocking discovery—stemming from the corrupt web of Boston’s Irish-Catholic system. Michael Keaton plays Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson (who prefers to consider himself an approachable ‘play-coach’ rather than an officious leader of Spotlight’s team), deliver-

ing an expertly conflicted performance as he unearths the rotten core of the community in which he is a well-respected member. He must butt-heads with old friends and face pressures from the city’s power-players who want him to keep his mouth shut as he pursues the truth.

Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams’s characters are very much the heart of the investigation with their fierce determination and shared crises of faith as the chaos unfolds.

Sacha Pfeiffer (McAdams), is played with an intense compassion for the case and for the personal stories of the victims—‘the survivors’—and will stop at nothing to get their stories told. Ruffalo in particular, shines as the diligent, leather-jacketwearing livewire, Mike Rezendes, who continually comes up against institutional red-tape and delivers an enraged, heart-wrenching monologue as a disillusioned church-goer who must come to terms with the appalling magnitude and far-reach of the abuse.

Mitchell Garabedian, (Stanley Tucci) the victims’ barbed-tongued lawyer of Armenian heritage and Marty Baron, the Globe’s new editor (“an unmarried guy of Jewish faith who hates baseball”), played with understated brilliance by Liev Schreiber, are the perfect underdogs; outsiders struggling against the iron-clad collusion of Boston’s ‘small town’ mentality and old, white-male Catholic bureaucracy that perpetuated the conspiracy. Garabedian states: “if

it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one”.

An almost tangible silence hangs in the air in the background of every scene, evocative of the very silence that characterised the abuse cases— shrouded in secrecy by the Catholic Church and its powerful political connections. Spotlight also expressly emphasises the importance of language for the article’s readership, as well as the film’s audience; as Pfeiffer defiantly asserts: “it cannot be sanitised”. We are confronted with the sexual abuse and the painful, often tragic, psychological aftereffects for the victims in minute, horrific detail.

The film’s tone is difficult to achieve yet it manages to be at once an unflinching exposé and not an all-out crusade against Catholicism.

It criticises those in authority who take advantage of that very faith.

To use Keaton’s words from his SAG award acceptance speech: Spotlight is a voice “for the powerless” and it will leave audiences, much like the Globe’s writers, squirming with the sheer injustice and large scale of the cover-up. An extensive list of areas affected by similar cases even plays over the end credits like a cenotaph for victims’ untold stories; urging people not to forget or ignore what took place and was allowed to continue, hidden and unnoticed in our culture worldwide, to uphold the established order.

Barney Weston Film Critic Following the award-winning success of La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs, writer-director Paolo Sorrentino brings us his second English language film, Youth. With a cast including Sir Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz and Paul Dano, the film consists of people reflecting on their own lives whilst on holiday in the Swiss Alps.

Michael Caine plays the film’s main character, Frank, an acclaimed, although retired, composer and conductor. The role is seemingly unlike anything Caine has done before. His most recent film was Kingsman: The Secret Service. In Youth, however, Caine performs— and fleshes out—his role perfectly. You can tell that the

role was, literally, written for him. Despite his age, he is 82-years-old, and in Youth, Caine proves that he has certainly still got it.

In addition, Harvey Keitel plays Mick, an ageing director who is looking to finish writing the script for the film that will be his ‘testament’. Unfortunately for Keitel, his role seems insignificant in contrast to Caine’s role.

Keitel’s character ultimately stands out as a secondary character. The cameo appearance of Paloma Faith playing herself, the footballer Maradona played by a lookalike, and a levitating monk—all manage to add several secondary, one-dimensional elements to the film.

Rachel Weisz and Paul Dano are secondary characters only on paper, playing Frank’s daughter and assistant Leda, and actor Jimmy Tree respectively. To many, these characters will prove to be the highlights of the film. It is fantastic to see each of their interactions with Michael Caine’s character, as well as their own reflections on life. Rachel Weisz’s character is particularly fascinating. We watch her go from divorcing her husband, getting angry with her father, and finally forming a relationship with mountain climber Luca, played by Robert Seethaler. Luca Bigazzi, as the film’s cinematographer, is also worth noting. He does a fantastic job of “accepting

the beauty of the Swiss Alps”, as he has put it.

Ultimately, Youth is a film which is based on ideas bigger than the Swiss Alps themselves, and the film’s characters are merely used as a way of expressing—and relating—these ideas to us as members of the audience.

The film does this well, But by adding Harvey Keitel’s obviously secondary character, cameo appearances, and an attempt at comedy, and there is a lot to wade through to get to what Youth is about. And to be honest, because of these additions, I am still not quite sure.

Room

Short Reviews

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

5 Heathers

Perhaps the most sinister film on the list, cult classic Heathers is a darkly funny and twisted satire, deconstructing the high school hierarchy in a way that can only be described as ‘Mean Girls meeting Natural Born Killers’.

Starring a fresh-faced Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, Heathers definitely makes for some slightly off-kilter Valentine’s Day viewing if the usual boy-meets-girl formula doesn’t take your fancy.

Photo: New World Pictures

4

Labyrinth

There’s no doubt that Labyrinth features some of the cheesiest (or creepiest) puppet characters ever onscreen. Complete with musical numbers from David Bowie himself, this film is not only the pinnacle of his acting career, but also one of the most iconic fantasy films of the 80s—loved and renowned by viewers of all ages.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was one of several great films by John Hughes that captured the sense of apathy and anti-authoritarianism shared by teenagers everywhere—in the most lighthearted and endearing way possible.

Ferris Bueller’s narration, coupled with a suitably cheesy soundtrack, ensured that the film became as genre-defining as its titular character— whose plethora of cheesy quips and one-liners made him one of the most loveable characters in 80s cinema.

2

Photo:StudioCanal

Creed

Photo: A24 Films

We count down the five perfect 80s flicks to watch this Valentine’s Day

Photo: Paramount Pictures

Full Reviews on Mancunion.com/film

Room shines in a crowd of big-budget Hollywood releases like The Revenant and The Big Short. Its recognition in the Oscars and Golden Globes underlines the continual of growth of Abrahamson as a director. Centrally to this fine tapestry of film are Tremblay and Larson nonetheless. As the focal point and the main narrator, Jacob Tremblay delivers one of the most impressive child performances to date.

Normally with child actors, there is a natural tendency for them to overact and to simply recount the dialogue given to them. It is fair to say that with every line of speech that Tremblay delivers is to utter precision.

The mental challenges faced by their two characters is as arduous as the runner’s wall. The ending of Room will leave a cleansing feeling of your assured humanity and admiration for all those involved in creating such a beautiful piece of film. - Alasdair Bayman

Cheesy 80s films

3

HOME Pick of the Week

Youth

Top 5

Spotlight shines as an investigation procedural movie, featuring finely-crafted characters and some powerful themes

Creed has a perfect balance between nostalgia and paving the way for a new protagonist to carry on the franchise. In Michael B. Jordan, we have a new star.

The actor has wavered in a few of his past projects, but Creed is so far the finest showcasing of his talents. And there is no better example of this in the film than the duration of the iconic training montage—expertly updated for the new character whilst also retaining the essence of Rocky’s legacy.

Director Ryan Coogler’s sophomore effort has proven to be just as compelling as his debut, Fruitvale Station.

The baton has successfully been passed, so much so that when the original theme does finally bellow out in all its glory, it is as if the theme was made for Creed himself. The point is ladies and gentlemen, that Creed—for want of a better word—is good. In fact, it’s very good. It’s a total knockout. - Imran Bukhari

Ghostbusters

When discussing cheesy 80s films, who could forget about everyone’s favourite paranormal pest controllers? Ghostbusters is a tgreat example of the perfect blockbuster, thanks to the perfectly placed jokes and unmistakably excellent onscreen chemistry between Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver. Ambitious in its special effects and witty screenplay, Ghostbusters is endlessly entertaining and boasts one of the catchiest taglines in modern cinema. So, who you gonna call this Valentine’s Day?

1

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club clinches the top spot due to its ability to pull off cheesiness juxtaposed with genuinely poignant themes. Easily John Hughes’ most famous work, the film ultimately spearheaded the teen film genre with its deceptively cynical examination of the social dynamics of high school. The film also contains its fair share of fun with dance sequences, an unforgettably 80s soundtrack Georgia Welch Film Critic

Books

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Upcoming

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script to be published Yasmin Mannan Books Editor J.K Rowling has just announced that she will be publishing the script of the upcoming stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This is unbelievably exciting news for anyone who has been longing to return to the Wizarding World.

However, J.K. Rowling has made it clear on Twitter that the new publication is not a novel, and definitely not a prequel, since it is set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Both parts of the script will be published by Little Brown in the UK—the release date is currently set for 31 July. In addition, The Bookseller has confirmed that an e-book edition will be published by the infamous Harry Potter fan-site Pottermore.

Apparently the script is being published due to the ‘massive fan demand’ from overseas readers who will not be able to travel to the Palace Theatre in London’s West End to see the play. The publication of the script will also bring joy to those Upfans in the UK, including myself, who were not able to get tickets because of the obvious high demand. I know many fans will be thoroughly looking forward to reading the Cursed Child script, although not yet giving up hope of finding a ticket to the live play.

Poetry

Photo: capitrueno @Flickr

Upcoming

Upcoming: an evening with Gloria Steinem Photo: jef_safi @Flickr

My postmodern friend

By Joely Thomas

You’re always there but never quite here.

Letters flow through your veins as you breath rhetoric; your heart an amalgam of emojis I sit... waiting... watching... ... anticipating the response...

My solitude satiated with interaction, I’m no longer sure if I am ever alone.

And I wonder... what makes you different from the other skeletons of syntax what separates you from the screen at which I stare in a parallel reality, what significance can conversation ever bear Perhaps all either of us desire is words to fill the silence.

Gloria Steinem, hailed as one of the leaders and major spokeswomen of the 1960s and 1970s Second Wave feminist movement— an acclaimed writer, editor, journalist, and activist—is coming to Manchester for her first visit to the UK in 20 years.

On the evening of Tuesday 23 February, Gloria Steinem will be in conversation with The Observer critic and author Rachel Cooke, hosted by Manchester Literature Festival in Waterstones Manchester. Steinem is the co-founder of the American ‘liberal feminist’ magazines and has devoted her life to discussing, writing, and campaigning for women’s rights and equality. She has also organised social movements across the United States and campaigned with Hillary Clinton and Bobby Kennedy. Some of her best-selling books include Revolution From Within, Moving Beyond Words, and Everyday Rebellions.

A representative from Manchester Literature Festival stated glowingly that Steinem’s new memoir, My Life on the Road, “beautifully documents her childhood, her relationship with her nomadic father, her own wanderlust, and her travels across the United States and India.” It also “crucially focuses on the individuals and communities she encountered on her travels and the profound impact they have had on her life and work.” bell hooks praises the book My Life on the Road as “as an inspiring work, a call for action” as well as an essential reading for anyone interested in feminism and social change.

Tuesday 23 February 7:00pm Waterstones Deansgate 91 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2BW Tickets £10 / £8 concessions & Waterstones card holders Book on 0843 208 0500

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Barnes Wallis Building 11 February 2016

Food & Drink

22

ISSUE 13/ 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Feature

Almost Fearless

Eva Katz Lifestyle Editor

I was like, good gracious buns are bodacious To the untrained eye, the Great Northern Warehouse addition to the Almost Famous empire probably resembles a danger zone. In all honesty, they wouldn’t be far wrong. This burger joint is certainly the black sheep of the polished bars and eateries that line Peter’s St. But in spite of its rather rebellious appearance, the quality that can be expected from this institute is nothing less than mind-blowing.

It’s difficult not to feel a slight sense of fate when dining at the baddest burger joint in town. After all, the menu is covered with so many applicable life quotes that have been uttered from these very lips... Personal favourites must include “All I need is Prosecco and mascara” and “I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry”.

Walking into Almost Famous is oddly reminiscent of childhood memories: defaced Disney characters and a giant gorilla, minus the booze and burgers unfortunately. There’s no denying that whoever fashioned Almost Famous’ crazy concoctions is a burger connoisseur with a great love of all things burger-related.

Some may feel surprised and potentially disappointed that these burgers are not automatically accompanied by their usual potato sidekick, but don’t be fooled. These meaty mountains are no normal feat and neither are their “wonder-dust” coated companions. Honestly, each of these are a meal in themselves, but if you really can’t face one without the other, sharing is recommended, strongly recommended. You see, the issue with Almost Famous’ gastronomical delights is that once you’ve started you simply can’t stop: trousers will be unbuttoned, you’ll be crying out for a bib and your stomach will be protesting pitifully. But in spite of these protests your horrified eyes will still be watching yet another morsel advancing toward your sauce-covered lips.

For spice lovers, the chicken blasts are your dream come true, slathered in hot sauce these buttermilk fried boneless chicken strips will leave you reaching for another with one hand and

the water with the other. Vegetarians need not be excluded, nor served anything less than greatness; and if a burger is just not your jam then there’s still plenty to choose from. Meat-free options include the Brittany Murphy or the Anna Nicole- both cheesy masterpieces, one with mac patties, the other a triple threat toasted cheese melt. Or for those who are simply not a fan of cow, then prepare yourself for the most drenched chicken wings imaginable *Disclaimer: sticky hands are inevitable* In keeping with their “love us or hate us” attitude, normal rules apply for the franchise: booking is not permitted so they send warning of waiting times during peak hours and weekends.

They’re a popular bunch, so best to get in there early. If you’ve chosen Almost Famous to host a special occasion though, then never fear, this branch has now opened up two private dining rooms for your pleasure.

As if they couldn’t wow you further, Almost Famous’ talents don’t stop at burgers, oh no, they like booze too and their cocktails are equally ingenious. After all, who doesn’t need an injection of sophistication after wiping sauce from their chin and recovering from a wave of meat sweats? Labelled with the caution of containing “hopes and dreams”, these potions are like nothing you’ve sipped before.

Is that it though? No. For those who have become crazed with over-consumption, there are desserts. In expected fashion, these are not some light palette cleansers; instead expect: fried, sugary, rich and saucy to apply to each and every option.

So if you’ve not already wiped the drool suspended from your chin, do so now, then be sure to make your way down to Almost Famous to calm that grumbling stomach. You can thank me later...

100-102 High St, Manchester M4 1HP

Graze vs Earlybird Elizabeth Gibson I recently cancelled my EarlyBird subscription, gritting my teeth as I clicked through screen after screen of them wheedling me to stay, to take such an offer, they would miss me so much. But it’s done. Back to Graze. But why? you may well ask if you know anything about these services. Graze is for yummy mummies! EarlyBird is for students!

I know. The packaging makes that pretty clear.

I’ll start at the beginning. I had seen Graze advertised but wasn’t that bothered until my mother got an offer on a box. Impressed with its contents, I snapped up the offer myself. I had had recently arrived at Uni and thought it would make a nice little midweek treat, just for a while. Now here I am in fourth year, still receiving a box a week. What is it that’s so magical about a box of healthy snacks?

Whereas I had envisaged them being all nuts and raisins, there is plenty of variety. There are dips, croutons, flapjacks, little cakes with sauce to pour over them… Healthy snacking never seemed so delicious. The snacks come in handy little packets and you have some influence over what you get: you can “bin” snacks online in order to never receive them. By now I know what my dream box is: My Thai, Coco Paradise, Banoffee Dippers, Pomodoro Rustichella.

If you’re reading, Graze people…

Then EarlyBird came along. My eyes were continually as-

Which is better?

There’s only one way to find out... saulted by their psychedelic ads and I just wasn’t interested – I had Graze. Then I got an offer and took it, and my first EarlyBird Box arrived. Accustomed to the lovely naturalness of the brown cardboard cuboid that is a Graze Box, I was now greeted by a glaring hexagon of clashing colours.

Inside I found two teas, some decent artwork and five snacks. The snacks are pretty repetitive and very similar to Graze ones but with less pizazz. Additionally, getting into their individual plastic packaging is difficult, though apparently they are planning to change that. The tone of EarlyBird’s emails and general branding is very matey and can get annoying rather quickly.

I never intended to be subscribed for any length of time to one snackbox, yet alone two, and Graze won.

However, EarlyBird is a new company so with time and space they may develop and find their identity. Hopefully they’ll mellow out a little where colours and voice are concerned.

Some of their snacks do show promise and I like their idea of incorporatPhoto: The Mancunion ing art and music.

Subscription boxes are taking off in so many industries – fashion, beauty, books, music.

Maybe it’s due to our increasing laziness; we don’t want to prepare these snacks ourselves. Or maybe in an age where, thanks to the Internet, we almost always know what’s going to happen, we just like being surprised once a week or month. Maybe one day I’ll receive that dream Graze combination and that is a day you will see me smile.

Not suitable for vegetarians. Photo: Almost Famous

Alternative Valentine’s Ellie Gibbs Food Editor

If you haven’t heard before, FoodCycle is the lovely organisation that spends its Sundays preparing delicious vegetarian food for the homeless, whilst on Wednesdays there is a three course meal prepared for anyone who visits the Roby Church on Dickenson Road at 7.30pm.

Anyone can get involved by signing up and registering an interest on their website. It takes five minutes to enter your details, ten to complete the online hygiene course, and a couple of hours of your time to chop veg and serve it up with a smile when it’s cooked.

Food is all prepared from donations generously delivered from various suppliers such as Sainsbury’s , Waitrose, Morrisons and Asda to prevent food wastage, the unfixed shop content adding an extra element of fun to the project; what to make.

Volunteers are encouraged to get creative and enjoy coming up with innovative recipes, but if you just want to chop some carrots, that’s also fine.

The ‘cycle’ element of the name comes from the method of recycling food and also to the means of transport used to get into town on a Sunday: the food-cycle.

A specially made trailer is attached to a bike to fit two industrial size pots full of delicious street-feeding goodness. One rice and one stew is then available to be served to the hungry mouths of Manchester city centre on the last night of the week.

Helpers can stay to serve or carry on home after cooking is done, but it’s a fun atmosphere to be in and worth it to experience the happy chaos in Piccadilly gardens.

FoodCycle are always looking for new volunteers and it’s a great way to help the community and get involved with helping those less fortunate. You’ll also meet some lovely, caring people and likely have some fun!

To celebrate Valentine’s this Sunday, hub leaders are preparing an amazing three course meal for just £10, alcohol is not included which means you can bring your own! So if you and your loved ones, flatmates or friends want to get out of the house and celebrate being together with some hearty food, this is the place to go.

Drink some supermarket wine and mingle with the characters of Manchester whilst chomping from an ethically sourced Valentine’s buffet in Longsight. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to spend the day.

Photo: FoodCycle

The Roby, 307 Dickenson Rd, Manchester M13 0NG Register: http://my.foodcycle.org.uk/ FB event: FoodCycle Manchester

Food & Drink 23

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM Review

Each time I come back “Earth café is the wasabi pea of NQ eateries. Green and innocent on the outside, and on the inside, a delve into an unknown dimension” Ellie Gibbs

Photo:Earth Cafe

You know those sour sweets, or wasabi peas—at first you’re all like “woah, no, no,” and then, as the flavour cools or the heat subsides, your taste buds adjust and you simmer down and think: “Actually, maybe I like this. This feels good. I’ll take another one.”

Earth café is the wasabi pea of NQ eateries. Green and innocent on the outside, and on the inside, a delve into an unknown dimension.

However, that’s where the metaphor ends. Earth café is not filled with mouth-burning horseradish spice—though it retains the element of the unexpected—but a canteen-style self-service counter, for which you require a member of staff to serve you from.

New Year, New Logo. Photo:Tampopo

Being invited to attend and review the launch party of the revamped pan-Asian restaurant Tampopo in the Corn Exchange came as a bit of a surprise. The party was billed as a VIP event; even in my capacity as a parttime journalist, I barely even qualify as a P. However, being a student, the opportunity of free food proved an irresistible proposition, as did the chance to try my hand at restaurant criticism.

Tampopo’s zany aesthetic is a cross between Chinatown and a Fallowfield bedroom; lanterns hanging from the ceiling, walls painted in vibrant colours, neon signs all the way down the staircase, with bamboo and other exotic greenery dotted around. Old episodes of Pokémon were being played on television screens above the bar (mercifully, atmospheric music was being played rather than audio from the TVs) and, all in all, it’s a rather pleasant place to be.

Frustratingly, the draw of the party proved to be so popular amongst the great and good of Manchester that the restaurant exceeded its seating capacity of 105, plus bar seating, so it was a night mostly spent standing.

Softening this blow was the free bar, which was open all night.

At first I did not compute, and when at the bar for the first time, I went to pay for my drink. Being told by the (lovely) bar staff that the bar was free gave me a euphoric feeling, unmatched neither before nor since.

There is a wide selection of beer and wine to be had at Tampopo, with the East Asian beers a real treat, and provide welcome respite from the relative monotony of European lagers available everywhere else.

At this point in a restaurant review, it would be fair to ask for some mention of the food. However, this was the most problematic feature of the launch party. The volume of attendees at the party meant that only canapés were served and, whilst the two that I was able to sample were perfectly nice, fate contrived to deny me more than a couple of morsels of Tampopo’s Asian street food throughout the night.

That said, when we were able to grab seats at a table later in the evening and light churros with a divine hot chocolate dipping sauce were brought out of the open kitchen, the feeling of euphoria came back.

It would be unfair to any restaurant to give a negative review based on its opening night—one need only watch ‘The Innkeepers’ episode of American sitcom ‘Frasier’ for confirmation of that much—so I will reserve proper judgement until I have had the chance to have a more traditional sitting at Tampopo. That said, the beer and churros are worth a return trip alone and, if the main menu lives up to those standards, the people behind Tampopo may be on to a winner.

The element of surprise comes from the variation in feature dishes, as well as the manner in which they are served. With a smile, or a look or irritation? It is over the number of fingers on my hand that I have visited the food cave that sits so volcanically under the enlightened space of the Buddhist centre. Part of my so copious attendance is to observe, or hope for, any change in this whimsical mood.

At first I sought to pass off the less than pleased attitude as to a ‘bad day’ or ‘nothing personal’. But, after many a visit, I must conclude that to avoid the disheartening feeling of as though you’re getting in the way, one must act in an unwaveringly friendly and upbeat manner to rouse the staff from their desire to be elsewhere. A remedy can be to strike up conversation, to ask what the best dish on the menu is, but do run the risk of a look of disappointment if you don’t already know how the four item system works.

Seven times in, I’m still not entirely sure, but best not to ask.

Though the solution is as simple as a smile, I must add that this does not apply to all of the staff, and reactions change from day to day.

Once the capricious task of deciphering the mood is over, one can enjoy the homely vegan and vegetarian hotpots and stews that are on offer, all served with a rotating range of quinoa, brown rice, roasted parsnips, braised cabbage and optional salad. The food here is what keeps me coming back: Healthy, wholesome and filling; it’s food you don’t have to think about.

There are vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free and generally planet-friendly cakes and brownies available, which are said to be delicious. Though, round one over, it’s really the dining experience that cools the tongue, washes the spirit in a pool of calm, brings the chakras up from the kundalini.

It’s an underground, wooden space with beams and perfectly dim lighting. Little vases of fresh yellow flowers and modestly simple salt and pepper shakers, school canteen style. You help yourself to water, take your plate off your tray, gaze out of the window and breathe in the energy of ancient wisdom that circulates, seeping in from above.

The electric shock of wasabi has dissipated from the air and the slate of your mind is wiped cleaner than before. You leave, opening your eyes to face the bustle of Manchester city centre with a new sense of self, belonging, and realisation. You are one with the earth and its café.

Food: 3.5/5 Value: 3.5/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Service: 3/5 16-20 Turner St, Manchester M4 1DZ

The Mancunion got an invite to the relaunch party of Tampopo, and sampled as much of the cuisine as it could get its hands on.

Liam Kelly

The Garratt Hope Rapp Astrid Kitchen Sophie Wyburd This relaxed pub with its friendly staff welcomed us in from the blustering rain and eased us nicely into a leisurely lunch.

Traditional pub décor met the cool; there were no scary ’70s carpets in sight, and pretty art deco light fixtures set up around the bar.

The cocktails were a fantastic value with its offer of two drinks for £6, with a wide selection to choose from. I chose The Zombie from the extensive list—a heady combination of rum and pineapple juice which, for a Thursday afternoon, certainly packed a serious punch!

It wasn’t the tastiest cocktail I have ever had, but if you are after getting slightly boozy after one drink, it could very well be for you.

The lamb burger was properly cooked—pink in the middle and charred on the outside, though arguably slightly dry due to the scorched exterior.

However, the deliciously creamy tzatziki more than made up for this. The generous helping of fat and crispy chips were slightly under-seasoned, but it was nothing that a shake of salt couldn’t fix.

As fellow foodies, naturally we dipped into each other’s plates and sipped on our concoction of cocktails. Agreed that the Zombie may very well leave you feeling a little zombified with its intense alcoholic punch, the Purple Rain was a deliciously syrupy cherry dew. One glass was definitely enough to satisfy the sweet blue curacao craving—no need for a Purple Rain storm.

The next plate—the falafel burger, offered a strong veggie alternative. Encased in a classic white bun with a light spread of hummus, the no frills main certainly made you fala-FULL. A tasty and sweet chickpea patty laid within, accompanied by the 50p upgrade of salty, crunchy curly fries. And at just £3.50, you get what you pay for—a satisfyingly sensational cheap bite, and the perfect excuse to indulge in those dangerously delicious classic curly fries. For good measure, we ordered a cheeky side of onion rings, dunked in barbecue sauce; a guilty but gorgeously greasy extra was in our midst.

The Cajun chicken wrap did not stray far from its name, offering a slightly spiced chicken in a no fuss wrap with a generous serving of mayonnaise. Not the most startling of flavour combinations, and perhaps more reminiscent of an Indian marinade than the smoky paprika base, but it nonetheless ticked the boxes for a tasty lunchtime feed. Unlike the other mains, the wrap arrived in solitude! Not a garnish or side in sight, it was a dish for those loyally devoted to the wrap flex that is so trendy in this day and age. However, such an absence was compensated at a reduced price—an option for the thriftier ones after the simple things in life. I expected nothing less from the student hangout zone with its blindingly yellow picnic tables (you will have no trouble locating The Garratt), Justing Bieber playlist and prices lower than your local Wetherspoons.

Photos: Hope, Sophie and Astrid

Photos: Tampopo

Tampopo Corn Exchange House M4 3TR

It would be dishonest to advertise this as anything more glamorous than pub grub. But only a ten minute walk from university, with very friendly staff and amazing prices from £3.50, it is definitely worth giving it a go. Whether you fancy a tasty and hot lunch on your way into town or if you’re in need of lining the stomach before a night out, The Garratt is a safe bet.

Price: £ • Food: 3/5 • Drinks: 3/5 • Service: 4/5 • Atmosphere: 2/5 • Value: 5/5 127 Princess St, Manchester M1 7AG

Theatre 25

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Review

Review: Mary Poppins

Review

Review: Macbeth

Mary Poppins at the Palace Theatre Manchester creates a magical HOME’s new interpretation of the Shakespeare classic Macbeth casts and breathtaking rendition of the Disney classical with added new a dystopian setting against the violent play twists and turns to be portrayed, adding The two complimented each Hannah Foy Brogen Campbell Reviewer “Practically perfect in every way” Everyone has watched, or at least heard the story of Mary Poppins. It’s a timeless classic.

Zizi Strallen takes on the role of the “practically perfect” Mary Poppins and is wonderful. It isn’t easy to take on this iconic lead, especially as the role has become synonymous with the likes of Julie Andrews, yet Strallen succeeds in bringing poise and elegance to the magical character. Mary Poppins isn’t the only iconic character. Matt Lee, steps into the shoes of Dick Van Dyke’s character Bert. Lee brings energy and exceptional dance performances, whilst perfectly encapsulating the cheeky chappy character.

However, this wasn’t a show driven solely by the leads; instead it is the liveliness and spirit of the entire cast which results in a show stopping performance. The feel good sentiment of the show is infectious. This was particularly seen in the rendition of ‘Step in Time’,

which was certainly a key highlight within the show.

The production was spectacular.

Seamless group dance sequences, extraordinary vocals, and an unbelievable tap dancing sequence around the proscenium by Bert. The Banks children brought mischief and produced a nearly flawless performance. Wendy Ferguson was magnificent and had exceptional comic timing playing the role of Mrs Brill, one of the Bank’s employees, and produced a standout performance. The entire cast brought the magical story to life, which broke the fourth wall and engrossed the audience.

The production wasn’t the same old rendition of film, but added new dimensions. New characters were introduced, such as the villainous Miss Andrews, the strict nanny.

Or the vibrant and sassy Mrs Correy, who owns a conversation shop.

The show featured new songs, alongside classics, such as ‘The Perfect Nanny’ alongside ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’. Rebecca Lock performs a heartfelt and vocally excellent performance of ‘Being Mrs Banks”, a new

song. The show also presented a darker side to the story, which made the redemption of characters that much more rewarding, as they learn the error of their ways.

The show was vibrant and energetic, showcasing the impossible and the audiences’ imagination. There were bright vibrant sets that brought the park sequences to life. The entire set design was incredible and nothing short of magic. The set changes were flawless and dynamic, as the Banks’ family home was transformed as simply as a child’s doll house.

The production was incredibly creative, illustrated through the attention to detail from Mary Poppins iconic peacock umbrella to the costumes of the statues and toys that come to life.

As a result, the show is rewarded by spontaneous applause throughout and leaves the audience wondering how set pieces were created if not by magic. The show is definitely not one to miss. It’s a feel good classic with added dimensions, which leaves you with the feeling that ‘Anything can happen’.

Reviewer “Is this a dagger which I see before me, its handle toward my hand?”

I’m always intrigued to see how a reworking of Shakespeare can be transported to modern day, this production made it look effortless. As if Macbeth’s tale was written to be performed in a sort of dystopian underpass.

It was clever, accurate and relatable. It gave the sense of the darkness of the play, both physically in the dungeonlike modern setting, and practically of the murderous rampage the tyrant goes upon.

Beginning, of course with the witches, or weird sisters, whose spirits appeared to move them, it was a clever incorporation of dance and choreography to form their many movements giving the three power in the effortless form they created.

They helped move between scenes, flawlessly being both a part of and distanced from the production; it allowed their power to be felt through scenes without physical interaction required. I was, however, slightly disappointed that Hecate was removed from the play, I feel her scene allows the connection of the witches

determination to their part.

Regardless, the three sisters appeared strong and feminine, mystical and alive, carrying the spirits of the play through them.

Equally the leads of John Heffernan’s Macbeth and Anna Maxwell Martin’s Lady Macbeth carried through the violence, manipulation and strength required by this play.

Lady Macbeth may not have been quite the innocent flower she wished to depict; instead she was surely the serpent underneath, portraying her strength and ultimate madness Martin triumphed in her portrayal. Likewise Heffernan was equally strong and persuasive in the end, overcoming his previous fears to take on his name as tyrant.

other, passing over the power, strength of their characters to form an unruly double act.

The production was a perfect retelling of this well-known tragedy, elegantly retold in a new setting; the stage clearly the battleground of power and determination. With a cast all holding equal power in their presentation of the story, the tale shone through the stage and transported the audience to the battle of Scotland’s sovereignty. Equally it was engaging to have the play going straight through, the lack of an interval kept the suspense and darkness of the play; allowing it to unfold at a quicker pace.

If you’re around Manchester, catch Macbeth at HOME until Saturday 6th February.

HOME’s Macbeth Photo: Press shot.

Review

Review: Shrek the Musical Harry Newton looks back on a fantastic performance by the cast of Shrek the Musical at The Lowry

Mary Poppins UK Musical Tour Photo: Press shot.

Editor’s Picks

What’s on this week?

Tuesday Mary Poppins – Palace Theatre, 7:30PM CATS – Opera House, 7:30PM Wit – Royal Exchange Theatre, 2:30 & 7:30PM The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Royal Exchange Studio, 7:30PM QC16: Laurie Brown – Contact Theatre, 9:30PM QC16: Jamal Gerald – Fadoublegot – Contact Theatre, 7PM Wednesday Mary Poppins – Palace Theatre, 2:30 & 7:30PM CATS – Opera House. 7:30PM

Photo: garryknight @Flickr

A few picks throughout the week in Manchester

Wit – Royal Exchange Theatre, 7:30PM The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Royal Exchange Studio, 7:30PM Thursday Mary Poppins – Palace Theatre, 7:30PM CATS – Opera House, 2:30 & 7:30PM Wit – Royal Exchange Theatre, 2:30 & 7:30PM The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Royal Exchange Studio, 7:30PM Friday Mary Poppins – Palace Theatre, 7:30PM

CATS – Opera House, 7:30PM Wit – Royal Exchange Theatre, 7:30PM The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Royal Exchange Studio, 7:30PM Saturday Mary Poppins – Palace Theatre, 2:30 & 7:30PM CATS – Opera House, 2:30 & 7:30PM Wit – Royal Exchange Theatre, 2:30 & 7:30PM The Solid Life of Sugar Water – Royal Exchange Studio, 7:30PM

It can often be risky when you take something so wellknown and completely change it; whether that be a book into a film, or in this case a film into a musical. Shrek the Musical at The Lowry, however, has ignored this risk and triumphed in a fantastic adaptation of the muchloved film.

With classic lines from the films, constant laughs, and even the odd innuendo for the older watchers. The audience was full to the brim with many ages, and it was difficult to find a face not smiling with a glance around the audience, evident by the numerous members of the audience who stood up at the end to clap off the actors.

With big shoes to fill after big names having played Shrek and Fiona in the past, both Dean Chisnall and Bronté Barbé respectively lived up to expectation and put in a flawless and funny performance for the masses. Despite this, it was Gerard Carey who stole the show with his hilarious characterisation as Lord Farquaad. Despite his standard height, the actor brought himself down to his knees to carry out the performance, using fake legs to hilarious effect. Carey’s knees will no doubt be aching for

weeks after spending the whole performance on them running up and down the stage, but I’m sure it will be quite a pain relief knowing that he performed so well.

Changes to the usual Dreamworks plot include the introduction of the Pied Piper and a back story to Shrek’s life as a child, however it was another big change that brought about my highlight of the night.

Despite the film being famous for bringing to life animals and objects and giving them a voice, whether that be a talking donkey or a talking gingerbread man, the character of Dragon has always remained silent.

However, silence no more! Dragon has

a voice, and what a voice it is!

Candance Furbert, who also played the Fairy Godmother, voiced the dragon and brought about the best song of the musical with “Forever” in act two, as her soulful performance brought rapturous applause from the audience and lived up to the high standards expected of from the audience as soon as the fantastically designed dragon puppet came out.

A night to remember for all the family, with all the expectations the film set before the musical— and then some! Whether you’re six or sixty, this is one for everyone to enjoy at The Lowry, until Saturday the 20th of February.

Shrek the Musical UK Tour Photo: Press shot.

26

Lifestyle

ISSUE 13 / 8th FEBRUARY 2016 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Who needs love when we have the hills?

Let us raise a glass to spending February 14th with mankind’s softest lover, mother nature herself Astrid Kitchen Contributor For all you lonesome souls currently living life as an independent singleton, anxious to opt out of a day reserved for fortunate romantics, follow in my footsteps and take the fifty minute train to Edale!

Last year my friends and I decided to escape the relentless reminders that Valentine’s Day is not for everyone and took to the Peak District. It’s easy to forget that our busy city is in fact situated near the dark depths of one of the country’s most popular walking destinations but it is, and it is oh so accessible. Trains run every other hour from Piccadilly so there’s Photo: Astrid Kitchen

no need to pre-book a ticket; grab one at the station (a return is little over a tenner).

Take the scenic choo-choo to Edale or Hope and you will find yourself confusingly plonked in another world, far from the perils of self-soothing and Netflix for one. The Peaks scream of a serenity and beauty above and beyond anything that another drab date night could possibly bring to the table. There are many recommended oxygenating routes all over the net (try out Walking Britain, or some of the links below for inspo) and Edale has a bunch of quaint, cosy pubs (‘The Rambler Inn’ is a real treat) to reward an afternoon of gallivanting.

I realise this is not for every-

one; my friends mother was woundingly baffled by last year’s adventurous expedition, and would rather she was “spending the evening with a good-looking boy” (direct quote) but pay no attention to such conformists, there is enough love and endorphins in a countryside gamble as in any overrated relationship type thing! Nor is money a valid excuse; you could get a Dominoes or two bottles of wine or half a Topshop t-shirt for the same price.

If particularly inspired by my wholesome plea, take it a step further and stay in one of the many B&B’s the area boasts.

I disclose the following with trepidation and am appealing to the intrepid Fallowfield

community, but there are also a number of campsites shockingly still open for bookings.

This might, however, be taking such optimism a cheeky step too far; we in Manchester are destined for a glorious, never-ending near future of heavy rain and temperatures dropping to 3 degrees.

A few have inevitably (and, admittedly, tragically; RIP friendship) dropped off the single bandwagon, but those of us exhaustingly left behind are making the bittersweet return to the hills 2K16,and we hope to see you there.

Long live solitude.

P.S. The peaks are currently capped with snow, so hurry while the offer lasts.

Valentine’s gift guide on a budget

Photo: amazon.co.uk

Photo: The Works

Rowan Jenner Contributor Valentine’s Day can be quite tricky when it comes to deciding on presents for your significant other.

With it being so soon after Christmas, it can be hard to think of an original and unique gift idea, and finding the funds for said gift can also be problematic.

So here’s some inspiration and potential gift ideas to surprise your loved one, without breaking the bank.

Gifts for Her Candles are always a nice present to receive. With Christmas now being over, it’s time to banish the cinnamon and peppermint scents until next year and replace them with something fresh. There are of course Yankee candles, however others such as Urban Outfitters, Anthropology and even supermarkets like Marks & Spencer have their own range of unique, and intricately decorated candles starting from £5.

The most on-trend gift idea, this year, is an adult colouring book. With an abundance of themes such as

Overheard University of Manchester

enchanted forests, mandalas, travel landmarks and even Harry Potter, these can be found at most major book retailers and start from only £3.

Finally, everyone needs a place to keep their jewellery, so trinket or ring storage can also make a lovely gift. Urban Outfitters, in particular, have some beautiful and individual designs, ranging from ceramic trinket bowls to copper tortoise jewellery storage, which are generally under £12.

Gifts for Him For men, washing and bathing gift sets are always a good option. Boots stock a huge range of branded gift sets, from Ted Baker to Jack Wills which can include body washes, body sprays and anti-perspirants for very reasonable prices. It can also be worth browsing the “male grooming” section of department stores such as Debenhams and House of Fraser whose post-Christmas sales are still ongoing.

A slightly more original gift idea is a ‘grow-yourown’ kit. Believe it or not, there are so many things you can grow even in student accommodation: bonsai trees, chilli peppers, green tea, coffee plants. Available from places such as notonthehighstreet.com,

“I hate it when people have babies just to put something on Facebook.”

– Overheard in Withington

Photo: Marmite Facebook

Photo: sanakeefer@Flickr

prezzybox and also Urban Outfitters, they usually sell for around £10.

For a super budget-friendly and more creative option, you could make your own hamper including all of his favourite sweets, snacks and potentially alcohol. Decorate an old shoe box with tissue or wrapping paper and fill it with treats. Many low budget shops, such as Poundland, stock quality brands, including Cadburys and Thorntons, for a fraction of the supermarket price; allowing you to fill your hamper for less!

DIY Ultimately, the best way to stay low-budget is to pick a DIY option. Whether it’s making an old-school mix CD or framing a photo of you two together, gifting something handmade can often mean so much more (and cost much less!).

Another creative idea is making tokens for your partner. Include tokens for things which you maybe begrudge slightly but they love, e.g. token for a back massage or token to watch Mean Girls (again). Using coloured paper and metallic pens could make them look even more special.

“That’s good that she’s dead, there’s more homoerotic tension now.”

– Overheard in Didsbury

“He bit the label off her t-shirt and fingered her in front of the moon landing.”

– Overheard in Didsbury

Glass mason jars are a DIY-ers heaven. Try filling one with hot chocolate powder and mini marshmallows, for a DIY movie treat.

For Friends Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to specifically be for couples, you could also choose to share the love with your friends, your flatmates or anyone else you just want to spoil.

Personalised Nutella jars, available from Selfridges, are an ideal present for anyone with a love for hazelnuts (or who just wants to make it clear that that is their jar of Nutella, nobody else’s). However, if you’re more of a savoury spread fan then Marmite are also offering a personalisation service. Although they warn that requests for cringeworthy pet names such as “Bae” and “babycakes” will be duly denied.

For artsy or creative friends, Urban Outfitters provide a brilliant variety of innovative books, including “Cakeology”, “Tequila Mockingbird” and “642 Tiny Things to Draw”: This February, spend less time sniffling over a lack of Valentine’s cards and more time on artsy activities.

“That’s what civilisation relies upon, people going to sleep and waking up in the light. It’s fucking barbaric.”

– Overheard on a 143 bus

For some reason all his jeans have holes in the crotch, I’m suspicious of why that is.

– Overheard in Sainsbury’s Fallowfield

“Here at the Students’ Union, everything we do is for students, by students. Sounds like a cliché, right? Think about it.

Until the 19th Feb

Ever been to Pangaea? Joined a society? Needed advice on an academic, financial or wellbeing issue? Or simply eaten a delicious burger down in our bar?

All of these amazing facilities and events are provided with the direction of our elected Exec Team, who work full-time to implement your ideas, run campaigns, support student-led activities and ensure your voice is heard by the University.”

manchesterstudentsunion.com/elections

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The Munich Air Disaster Remembered

Sports Editor Will Kelly reflects on the 58th anniversary of the tragedy

February 6th, 1958 was the darkest day in Manchester United’s history. The ‘Busby Babes’ had just defeated Red Star Belgrade on aggregate to set up a European cup semi-final clash with AC Milan.

Flying back, the team had stopped in Germany to refuel where heavy snow was apparent. The first two attempts to take off from Munich airport were aborted. Following a third attempt, the plane crashed. 23 people, including 8 Manchester United players and 3 members of the clubs staff, suffered fatal injuries. Duncan Edwards, one of the 8 victims of the team- passed away 15 days after the crash. It is particularly upsetting to note that had the technology we have today been around at the time of the crash, Duncan Edwards would have survived.

Roger Byrne (28), Eddie Colman (21), Mark Jones (24), David Pegg (22), Tommy Taylor (26), Geoff Bent (25), Liam Whelan (22) and Duncan Edwards (21) all died, along with club secretary Walter Crickmer, trainer Tom Curry and Bert Whalley.

Eight journalists died- Alf Clarke, Tom Jackson, Don Davies, George Fellows, Archie Ledbrook, Eric Thompson, Henry Rose and Frank Swift, who was a former Manchester City player. Plane captain Ken Rayment perished, as did Sir Matt’s friend Willie Satinoff. Travel agent Bela Miklos and crew member Tom Cable also died.

As you approach Old Trafford, you will immediately notice the Munich clock, where the time has frozen to 4 minutes past 3, the time of the crash.

When you venture down the Munich remembrance tunnel, along with the forever glowing candle light there is an inscription that shines out, reflecting the romance that millions of fans around the world share with the club: “Before the tragedy at Munich, the club belonged to Manchester. But afterwards, Manchester United captured the imagination of the entire world”.

It is impossible to talk about the history of Manchester United without relating to the Munich air disaster. Taking over the reigns of the club on the verge of bankruptcy in 1945, Matt Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy embarked on a journey to shape English football. Busby dreamed of younger, fresher legs – players to mould in his image. United would win the league title in 1952 but the team was ageing and it was time for Busby to bring young, homegrown players into his senior squad. Not all of Busby’s players were homegrown “Babes”. Centre

forward Tommy Taylor was signed from Barnsley whilst goalkeeper Harry Gregg commanded a world record fee for a goalkeeper at that time.

United would run away with the title in 1956 with the average age of the team at just 22. Captain Roger Byrne, known by some as the ‘father of the team’, was 28. “The marks of the nursery cradle were on them, but they did not show”, remarked a proud Matt Busby. It was this team that began to capture the hearts and imaginations of English football with their inspiring forward play. Having won the title in 1956, they were invited to enter a new tournament established by UEFA, the ‘European Cup’.

This was a football competition for the champions clubs of UEFA affiliated nations but the English FA were in strong opposition to this, particularly the Football League’s secretary Alan Hardaker. They had banned Chelsea from taking part the season before but Matt Busby defied the league and United became the first English team to play in Europe.

In their first season in Europe, Manchester United would reach the semi final but bowed out to Real Madrid, who had been European champions for 5 successive years between 1956-60. Manchester United were becoming a force to be reckoned with in Europe, and won the league title again in the 1957/8 season to once again embark on their quest for European glory. “You’ve never had it so good” once proclaimed Harold Macmillan about the people of Britain and it was certainly true for the Busby babes. After an initial slump at the start of the 1958/59 season, United had closed the gap at the top of the table to 4 points after a thrilling 4-5 win at Highbury against Arsenal, where one Daily Telegraph respondent reported “The Babes played like infants in paradise”. This would be there last league game together before tragedy struck at Munich after they had secured a semi final clash with AC Milan in the European Cup. Manchester United had charted the British European Airways plane because as mentioned before, the Football league were not favourable towards United playing in Europe. This meant United had to make it back for their top of the table clash against Wolves or would face a point reduction. An investigation by West German airport authorities had originally blamed plane captain Ken Rayment, saying he did not de-ice the aircraft’s wings, despite eye witness statements claiming he did. 10 years

later, Thain was cleared as it was later established that the crash was caused by slush on the runway, which slowed the plane down too much to take off.

Sir Bobby Charlton was pulled from the burning wreckage by Harry Gregg, after being unconscious for quarter of an hour. Bill Foulkes also joined the search with Gregg, as they went in and out of the burning wreckage helping people. Bobby Charlton put his coat around Matt Busby, as he lay in a pool of water seriously injured. People who knew Charlton best, including his brother, say there is irrefutable evidence that he “stopped smiling” and left his sparkle in the wreckage. He would never forget a German patient in the hospital he was admitted to, reading out the names of the dead, “The names of all my pals”. Friends he would go to the dance with at the weekend, friends that would invite him over for dinner at Christmas. “It felt like my life was being taken away, piece by piece.” Matt Busby was critically injured and had to have his death rites read 3 times and Bobby Charlton remarks that Busby probably felt the loss more than anyone else: “He had brought these players together, he had cajoled everyone’s parents to make them sign for Manchester United and then he took them into Europe when he had been told it was against the FA’s wishes”.

Everyone associated with football in England was devastated by the news. Sir Alex Ferguson recounts whilst he was revising for a exam, his friends burst into his room in tears and his football training had to be cancelled because everyone was in shock. On a personal note, my grandad had taught the great Duncan Edwards whilst he was a teacher in the Black Country. He used to put Duncan in charge as he stepped out the classroom because “no one would ever mess with big Duncan”. Still to this day, fans that had the chance to see him in action get emotional. Many claim he was the greatest player they had ever seen at 21, which is quite something considering the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi today.

As Matt Busby lay immobile in Munich, he told his assistant Jimmy Murphy (who had missed the trip because of his duties as Wales manager) to “Keep the flag flying, Jimmy”. As Harry Gregg noted in his autobiography, those who could play had to play and it saved his sanity. 13 days after the crash, United faced Sheffield Wednesday in the FA cup in front of an emotionally charged Old Trafford of 59,

848 fans. United’s chairman Harold Hardman left a message on front of the match programme that was simple, yet effective.

“Although we mourn our dead and grieve for our wounded, we believe that great days are not done for us….Manchester United will rise again”.

Perhaps then, just as Matt Busby returned to England when Manchester United reached the FA cup final it was fitting that the clubs badge would be a phoenix rising from the ashes. The frail Busby sat on the bench and watched his team finally run out of steam, losing 2-0. Murphy whilst in charge, proved beyond doubt that United would indeed go on as it was a minor miracle to have reached the FA cup final. In the European Cup semi-final they beat Milan 2-1 at Old Trafford, before a valiant, yet comprehensive 4-0 defeat in the San Siro.

Yet 10 years later, Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy had rebuilt a team and won the European Cup, captained by survivor Bobby Charlton. Fittingly, the exuberance of local youth- the driving force behind Busby’s dream- played a full part in United winning the European Cup at Wembley, defeating Benfica 4-1 after extra time. This was for them, the ultimate debt to their memory. 50 years later from the Munich Air Disaster, Manchester United would become champions of Europe for a third time in 2008. Manchester United should have won many more European trophies than they have and they would have done had this terrible disaster had not taken place. Almost certainly, Real Madrid would not have dominated European football had the Busby babes been around. Sir Bobby Charlton is also convinced with the quality of English players in the team, England would have won the World Cup a lot sooner than in 1966. Every year, hundreds of fans gather at the memorial to show their respect. The defiant song that is still heard in the stands today echoes around: “We’ll never die, we’ll never die, we’ll keep that red flag flying high, because Man United will never die”.

“Oh England’s finest football team its record truly great, its proud successes mocked by a cruel turn of fate, Eight men will never play again who met destruction there, the Flowers of English football, the Flower of English football, the Flowers of Manchester”. Eric Winter (1958).

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The Changing face of Sports Broadcasting Alex Whitcomb Sport Reporter

On Tuesday, the BBC confirmed that they would continue broadcasting the Olympic Games until 2024. Prior to this, there had been doubt over whether the beeb would continue to show the Games or not, given the Pan-European deal between the IOC and US-based Discovery Communications that had been signed in 2015. Discovery having agreed to sub-license free-to-air rights to the BBC is part of a greater trend of collaboration that has kept major sports on free-to-air TV, despite the financial pressures on terrestrial broadcasters.

The BBC have been the Olympic Broadcasters since 1928, and managed to continue their relationship beyond 2016 by securing an innovative deal with Discovery—the owners of the Eurosport channels. The BBC will sub-license TV rights to Discovery for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, and then Discovery will sublicense free-to-air rights to the BBC in 2022 and 2024—this partnership was key to maintaining the event on terrestrial TV and was by no means guaranteed. It will be seen as something of a victory for the corporation, since over 50 million people watched at least some of the coverage of the 2012 games, with Director General Tony Hall saying: “I’m delighted that through our new partnership with Discovery, the BBC will continue to carry the torch for great sporting coverage right through to the 2024 Games.”

Collaboration between companies has kept other events on free TV, as those watching the Six Nations this weekend will have noticed. BBC and ITV sharing the rights from 2016 onwards has meant that the whole competition will be on terrestrial TV, which also wasn’t guaranteed. The Ofcom code on sports events does give protection for the Six Nations, but is only a category B event, meaning that only highlights have to be shown free-to-air. Sky Sports were invited to bid for live rights for the first time, but were out-manoeuvred by the joint forces of BBC and ITV, securing terrestrial coverage for the next six years. Not only will it be beneficial to the corporations, but also to the profile of rugby union, with far higher viewing figures on free-to-air than satellite. According to the BBC, the Six Nations ratings peaked at 9.6 million last year, which is far higher

than a game would get on Sky Sports, with England’s autumn international against South Africa in 2014 being watched by 736,000.

Non-exclusive contracts for presenters have also been more common than before. Gone are the days of presenters like Des Lynam only being able to work for one broadcaster at a time. Now Gary Lineker and Clare Balding can easily work for terrestrial and pay TV, further levelling the playing field in the competition between free-to-air and satellite.

Satellite TV really became a major force in British sport in 1992, when the 22 clubs of the English First Division broke away from the Football League to form the Premier League, in order for clubs to receive a greater share of TV revenues. Since then, not one top flight game has been broadcast on ter-

Photo: Graham Holliday@flickr

restrial TV, and many a bidding war has been won

by Sky. The recent £5 billion TV deal shows how lucrative this has been for the Premier League, and

The Changing DNA of Test Cricket Toby Webb Sport Reporter England’s triumph in the recent test series in South Africa was immensely enjoyable. Before the series began, it was predicted that England would offer little resistance to a South Africa team playing at home, boasting the likes of Amla, Steyn, and Mourkel. Steyn’s absence through the majority of the series due to injury played a part in England’s eventual triumph. Yet, England played the better cricket throughout the series and deserved the win.

However, the series ended on a rather sour note. Having played 3 test matches,

contributed to 2015/16 being the first season where clubs collectively spent over £1 billion.

For some sports, the prospect of large sums of money is enough for them to give most of their events to satellite channels. Cricket is a case in point for this, and the ECB have spent the last decade using a policy of selling exclusive rights for all English cricket to Sky Sports. The ECB successfully lobbied for test matches, including the highly lucrative Ashes Series, to be removed from the list of protected events. This summer will mark 10 years since the first test match was shown live on Sky, marking the end of the era of free-to-air cricket.

The justification for this was the extra money being pumped into the grassroots game, and the improvement in the quality of broadcasting, with no

two convincing wins either side of a narrowly secured draw, they were out played in the last, losing by 280 runs.

While this is not a hammering, the defeat was dominated by a 2nd innings English batting performance that was nothing short of appalling: They were bowled out for 101 after 34.4 overs. Explanations were offered: A combination of tiredness following a run of tests in a short time period, and the fact that the series was already secured deemed the reason.

For me, the explanations for the defeat were not satisfactory. Although England were chasing a mammoth total of 381 (380+ has only been successfully chased down 3 times since the turn of

need to cut to the 6 o’clock news towards the end of matches as used to be the case on Channel 4.

However, the drop in viewing figures was stark, and

Photo: SmithGreg @Flickr

the century), it was the manner in which they batted which was so frustrating.

While I did not expect them to achieve the vast total, I did expect a little more fight from a team yet to lose on the tour.

The limpness of the England batting performance is something that has been observed several times over the past year. In the Ashes series of last summer, both in the second test and the fifth test, England offered little defiance when batting, subsequently losing both matches heavily. Undoubtedly, there is a feeling when watching England that a wicket falling could be the start of many.

However, this feeling is not limited to England. Last summer’s Ashes series was notably for several Australian

must be at least partially responsible for the decline in the England team’s profile among the British public. In 2005 the Ashes had a peak audience of 8.4 million, while the 2015 series only drew in 467,000.

Joe Root failed to be nominated for Sports Personality of the Year, despite being man of the series—an accolade that was enough to win Freddie Flintoff the prize in 2005. It is, of course, arguable that the nature of both series were very different, but calls for more cricket on terrestrial TV have grown in volume since the Big Bash League started drawing 30,000 average crowds and million+ average ratings on Channel 10 in Australia. County Cricket on free-to-air could help a revival in the domestic game.

There are also some sports that make an active effort to keep their events on terrestrial TV. The All England Club have kept the BBC as Wimbledon’s host broadcaster, due to its ethos of trying to find the largest audience instead of the highest payment from a pay TV company. This is in spite of only the finals being protected by Ofcom. The BBC is seen as a safe bet by AELTC, who tend to stick with longstanding sponsors and partners, with 17.3 million UK viewers tuning in to watch Andy Murray triumph in 2013. This must have had an effect on Wimbledon’s attendances, because they continue to grow year-on-year, with gates for on-the-day tickets now often being closed in the early hours of the morning.

World Snooker have also kept their grandstand events free-to-air, largely due to the growth of the sport in the 1970s and 1980s being due to primetime BBC coverage. The peak audience for the 2014 World Championship Final was an impressive 5 million, but the record ratings were set at the climax of the 1985 “black ball final” between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor, where a staggering 18.5 million people watched in the early hours of the morning.

Figures such as these are nearly impossible to gain on Sky or BT Sport.

The debate over how sport should be televised will rage on for years to come, but recent deals have shown that the terrestrial companies are increasingly able to compete with the satellite giants. After 20 years of dominance in bidding wars, maybe freeto-air will see a resurgence in the next decade, and raise the profiles of some sports back to where they belong.

collapses (think Edgbaston and Trent Bridge) which led to England’s victory in the series. Aside from Chris Rodgers and Steve Smith, there was no player that showed belligerence. This is remarkable, given that Australia teams of the notso-distant past were full of tough players capable of batting for long period.

Casting back to England, I’d argue that Alistair Cook and Joe Root are the only English players who you could have faith in when the going gets tough, with Cook nearing the end of his career. Gone are the likes of Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior, Andrew Strauss, and Paul Collingwood. While the new crop of players are undoubtedly exciting, they lack the metal of the old.

This is a trend observed in across international Test cricket: gone are the likes of Tendulkar, Kallis, Ponting and Sangakkara. While these players are amongst the best to ever play the game, the issue is the disparity between the quality of player retiring and the quality of player coming into Test cricket. There are virtually no players coming through that could be deemed Test cricket specialists. Instead, the majority of players nowadays are competent in all three forms of the game.

White-ball cricket, both T20 and Oneday, is fast becoming the premier form of cricket. The concentrated form is very appealing to the modern-day fan who wants easily manageable chunks of high-octane cricket. The popularity of the form has meant that it is the most financially-attractive for those playing; for example, top cricketers can earn over £1mil in the Indian Premier League

Photo@ Wikimedia Commons

(the season is 2 months long).

Understandably, it is difficult for players to ignore these lucrative ventures, despite them often conflicting with the international Test calendar. Emerging players are brought up on the shorter form of the game, a strict diet of fast, high-scoring hitting. The ability to bat for long periods, to concentrate and select shots that will preserve your wicket, is a dying trait. The One-day skillset is applied in Test cricket out of necessity. It can be very effective, as Ben Stokes illustrated recently (he scored 258 from 198 balls). However, it is clear that the DNA of Test cricket is becoming irreversibly changed by the demands of one-day cricket.

The tradition and prestige surrounding Test cricket means that it will never die out. Indeed, many players still see it as the supreme form of the game. However, for someone like me, someone that could be labelled a ‘purist’, there is an undeniable feeling of loss: Test cricket is in the process of losing some of its finest attributes. To me, Test cricket is about the gradual development of a contest between bat and ball, a batsman occupying the crease for hours on end and bowlers requiring all the tricks in their armoury to achieve the ultimate goal. Test cricket should be a slowburning drama, reaching its crescendo after many twists and turns. To see it tarnished as a consequence of one-day cricket is saddening.

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Comeback Kids

James Haughton Sport Reporter

“We’re going to win 4-3.” These chants echoed around Broadhurst Park after George Thomson’s strike for FC United on the stroke of half-time. Now Harrogate were only leading 3-1 at the interval. The chants produced a wry smile from me, dismissive of the possibility that our defence could possibly forgo the shambolic episodes, a consistent failure to mark opposition players from set pieces and open play, that had led to three Harrogate chances, which they took with aplomb, meaning that after 40 minutes, FC were losing a generally tight, hard-fought game 3-0.

But in the first minute of the second half, neat play outside Harrogate’s penalty area culminated in a perfectly timed shot by Sam Sheridan, finding its way into the goalie’s bottom right hand corner. 3-2.

The comeback was well and truly on now. What had seemed initially like self-deprecating chanting now seemed tantalisingly prescient. My earlier cynicism was replaced by a cautious sense of optimism: a belief that the Harrogate were anxious and vulnerable, but tempered by watching more than half a season of FC United flirting with the relegation zone. There was a chance we could draw, or even win the game, but surely that would be too good to be true.

However, it wasn’t, and in the 55th minute, a through ball from midfield set Tom Greaves on his way, outrunning the Harrogate centre back and with only the goalkeeper to beat. And just inside the penalty area, Greaves drove his shot into the goalie’s right-hand corner. 3-3. Cue the ecstastic scenes from me and every other FC fan. We had contrived to go 3-0 behind in a tightly contested affair, against a team fifth in the table who had beaten the league

leaders 6-0 the week before, but now we had got back to 3-3. Plus, there were still 35 minutes, plus stoppage time, left. Would FC now go for jugular and finish Harrogate off? Or would they relax, and let Harrogate regroup and possibly win?

Those questions were answered all of two minutes later; Sam Madeley, FC’s dynamic winger-cumforward, ran at the Harrogate defence and, after coming out the better of a 50-50 tackle, charged into space and towards the Harrogate goal. Another one-on-one, another great finish. 4-3 to FC United, four unanswered goals inside fifteen minutes of playing time. The majority of the stadium erupted into pandemonium: Madeley ran towards the terrace behind Harrogate’s goal and the fans streamed down from the terrace to congratulate him; I, on the other hand, jumped and cheered in disbelief, more than happy to have been made to look a right idiot.

After Madeley and his teammates were able to navigate the scores of jubilant supporters and get back into position, the game restarted. A few minutes later Harrogate were down to ten men, the assistant referee spotting an off-the-ball incident between Madeley and the Harrogate defender Louie Swann. The game calmed down after that; the advantage of an extra-man allowing FC United to retain possession of the ball for long periods. There was one good chance to make it 5-3, a Greaves shot producing a fine save from Harrogate keeper Peter Crook. As stoppage time beckoned, however, Harrogate pressed for an equaliser; a succession of goal kicks and corners resulting in nervy moments for FC. Indeed, one of these set pieces landed on the head of a Harrogate player in the centre of the penalty area, but he could only direct his header straight into the hands of the grateful Dave Carnell.

And, despite having ignored the protestations of me and those nearby that injury time was up, the referee finally called an end to the game—one of the

FC United of Manchester most exhilarating sporting contests I’ve witnessed (admittedly an opinion not likely to be espoused by Harrogate Town’s players, staff or fans).

Regardless of the game being played or the standard of play, all sports fans can relate to the joy of witnessing a comeback from a seemingly certain defeat. Indeed, comebacks are so wondrous not just because of the on-field action, but the potent mix of emotions they inspire: firstly that moment, however fleeting, when your player or team has lost; then, after a positive passage of play, the thoughts of “this could actually happen”, coupled with the dread that it’s too late and the opponent(s) will just about manage to cling on to victory; and then, finally, at

Photo: James Lobley

the end of play, the realisation at what you have witnessed, the incredulity at what has happened...fading away, transforming into an unparalleled sense of joy.

It is why, I am sure, City fans never forget the 4-3 FA Cup victory at Tottenham, or the 1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final. It is what makes the Champions League finals in Istanbul and Barcelona so incredible for fans to remember. Nick Faldo’s 1996 Masters victory against Greg Norman, Gauston Gaudio’s 2004 French Open victory from 2 sets and match point down against Guillermo Coria. The list goes on. Admittedly, however, I won’t be complaining if FC United win their next home game

Sport in the City

With an abundance of different local sports in Manchester, Sport in the City focuses on one each week. This week: Sale Sharks

Adam Selby Sport Reporter

Whether it’s a new sport, a team about whom you did not know, or just an event that interests us, we hope that we will be able to entice you to explore the wide sporting variety that the city has to offer during your time studying at the University of Manchester.

In the spotlight this week: Sale Sharks (Rugby Union) Well… what is it?

Sale Sharks are a professional Rugby Union club that currently compete in the national Aviva Premiership and have historically proved to be one of the leading Rugby Union clubs in the north of England. Founded 155 years ago in 1861, Sale Sharks are an offshoot of local neighbours Sale FC, who are still based at the original home of Sale Sharks at Heywood Road in Sale. Yet in order to accommodate for the large number of both home and visiting fans, the modern day Sale Sharks presently cross codes with Rugby League, but only through sharing the same ground as local outfit Salford Red Devils. During the current league campaign, Sale Sharks have proved formidable at home, and are unbeaten ahead of our featured match against high flyers Exeter Chiefs, totalling four wins and one draw. Therefore, you can certainly expect a high level of rugby on offer for our upcoming Sport in the City.

How do I get there?

Sale Sharks play their home games at the AJ Bell Stadium, which might not be in Sale itself, but is thankfully situated

not too far out of Manchester City Centre in Salford. In terms of public transport, which I would expect to the most commonly-used method of student travel around Manchester, you have two options: bus or tram. From Manchester, the number 67 conducts a regular service to Liverpool Road, leaving only a short two minute journey by foot to the stadium. Make sure, however, to catch the bus from Victoria Station and Deansgate and not Piccadilly Bus Station. The tram is another option, although its nearest stop to the stadium, Eccles, is inconveniently situated quite a long walk from the stadium itself. There is, however, the option to hop on the 67 bus after departing the tram at Eccles, to speed up your travel time should you strongly wish to catch the tram. Should you wish to drive or catch a taxi to the stadium, the ground is conveniently located for drivers, less than 500m from Junction 11 off the M60 with parking available for 600 cars.

fortable experience to watch the Sale Sharks’. On top of the larger West Stand, which holds up to 4,500 people with the remaining stands holding 2,500 people each, the well-maintained and modern fibre-based grass pitch ensures a great playing surface for both teams, whilst the ample parking space and insertion of ten kiosks at concourse level ensure that the stadium addresses all areas for players and spectators alike.

Tell me something I didn’t already know…

Having played in England’s top flight since 1994, Sale Sharks have boasted a number of star attractions with play-

ers from all over the world turning out for the Sharks. At the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Sale Sharks had three of their own players representing their individual countries, Phil Mackenzie (Canada) and TJ Ioane and Johnny Leota (Samoa).

Meanwhile, the likes of 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Jason Robinson, French international Sebastien Chabal and the Argentine Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe have all donned the Sale Sharks colours in years gone by. Sale Sharks play in royal blue at home and electric yellow away from home, and the Sharks recorded their largest ever victory against El Salvador, six years ago, in 2010, recording an enormous victory of 97-11. Their biggest defeat, however,

came at the hands of Bath, who beat Sale Sharks 84-7…at home!

Finally, when can I see this in action?

Our featured event this week has come to you from Sale Sharks, and their upcoming home game against Exeter Chiefs on Saturday 13th February at the AJ Bell Stadium. For more information please visit: http://www.salesharks.com/ If you have any requests for local teams, sports or events taking place in Manchester, or if you wish to be involved, please contact: sports@mancunion.com.

But how much does it cost to get in?

For Sale Sharks’ upcoming home match against Exeter Chiefs this Saturday 13th February, tickets are available at the venue and also online. In terms of pricing, luckily an afternoon out watching the Sharks shouldn’t take a big chunk out of your student loan (if there’s anything left of it since its arrival) with student concession tickets available for those aged 16-22 with valid student ID. Concessionary seated tickets are available for £22 with standing on sale for £15.

What are the facilities like?

In the words of the Sale Sharks official website ‘the newly built 12,000 capacity AJ Bell Stadium has state-of-the-art facilities to provide you with the most com-

Photo: Charlie @Flickr

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City steal Deadline Day

Pep Guardiola joins the blues Harry Newton Sport Editor

In what is possibly the least surprising news to enter the football world, Manchester City have formally announced that Pep Guardiola will be joining the club as first team manager at the start of the 2016 – 17 Premier League season. In other news, water is wet, the North is cold, and Tomáš Rosický is still playing football.

Despite how Manuel Pellegrini sees his team sitting in a pretty comfortable position in all four competitions, this will be his last season in charge of them. Manchester City interrupted a dull transfer deadline day—saving Sky Sports News from pretending anything interesting was happening—to announce the news. It described how they had managed to acquire Guardiola after having discussions which had stretched as far back to 2012.

The way in which Pellegrini has conducted himself in his reign as manager of Manchester City has been nothing short of commendable. Despite constant questioning about the worst kept secret in football history, the Chilean has been calm and collected. When instated as manager, Pellegrini was described as a “holistic” choice

by City, and as his reign is nearing to an end, it is clear that this is a fair statement.

The Chilean will continue to manage the first team for the rest of the season and will leave the club with a Premier League trophy and a Capital One Cup from his first season in charge—and possibly, one to four more trophies will be won this season.

Guardiola will also continue managing Bayern Munich until the end of the season. This opens up an interesting prospect if both teams continue to progress in the UEFA Champions League, as the two could potentially meet in the next stage. Despite how Pellegrini has behaved with the utmost respect for the club, his players and even Guardiola himself—that would be a match he would love to win. Pellegrini has previously insisted in interviews that he would welcome Guardiola to the club in the future and believed that he would one day manage Manchester City.

Guardiola’s record speaks for itself as to why he is being touted by the blues. With only 19 league losses in his managerial

career, and officially Barcelona’s most successful manager in terms of trophies, it dwarves many other records. The 45-yearold will join City on the 1st July 2016 on a three year deal.

How long has Manuel Pellegrini been aware of City’s communications with Guardiola is uncertain, although he was keen to defend the club in his press conference on Monday. “The club are not doing anything behind me. I knew this one month ago but I don’t think it’s good to have rumour or speculation about these things” he said in their defense. He then goes on to say how the players were informed on the same day as the press. The decision to tell the press was made two weeks ago between Pellegrini and the club. In the official statement from the Premier League big boys, they also stated that Pellegrini is “fully supportive of the decision to make this communication, [and] is entirely focused on achieving his targets.”

Pellegrini has been a rare phenomenon in the Premier League, as a manager at a big club who likes to keep himself to himself, and a man who does not make any rash statements about any other club or manager. Despite Alan Pardew graphically insulting the Chilean last season, Pellegrini rose above this and never turned to insult Pardew himself. Never one for controversy, he will definitely be missed from the Premier League, and it would be surprising if he didn’t feature in the league again in the future.

A question that may be asked, however, is how will the players react? Although every footballer loves to win trophies, surely the news that their manager is already a dead man walking will affect their future performances—whether this will be negatively or positively is an uncertainty.

Weeks will tell whether this has any effect at all; it may spur the team on to go and win a trophy for the man that has shown faith in them for this long, or it may even demotivate the team playing for a man with no future at the club.

Guardiola himself has been quoted saying; “I am like a woman, I can multi-task, I can control both situations. It’s not a problem, I have a big talent for this” and Pellegrini has also said this will not affect the team. Both these men are classy managers

with the talent to be able to handle this situation and this is evident.

With futures all tied up now and both managers knowing where they stand, this offers stability for the club without the never-ending array of questions from reporters to Pellegrini, about his position at the club. The players, however, will worry– and they should. An overhaul is expected in the summer and each player should be playing for their place in the team instead of feeling that they don’t need to play for a manager who isn’t there for long. Joe Hart, after the midweek clash with Sunderland, was quoted saying “We are a professional group. We really enjoy playing under Manuel. He has been a top manager for us. His man-management has been something that I personally have really enjoyed, so we are going to look to give him the best send-off, what he deserves.” Let’s hope.

Ignoring this season for a moment, this is certainly fantastic news for Manchester City and the Premier League for next year!

Guardiola is a proven winner and will no doubt rise to the targets set before him, and will not give in to any pressure that will definitely be present. With City currently finding themselves with quite an aged starting eleven, the Guardiola era is likely to begin with a massive change to the squad to bring in players more suited to his style of play. City’s starting eleven at weekend against Aston Villa, in the FA Cup, consisted of six players aged 30 or over: Willy Caballero, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Gaël Clichy, Fernandinho, and Jesús Navas.

These players are regular starters for City, and big omissions such as Yaya Touré and David Silva are also over 30. As Touré was sold by Guardiola to City during his reign as Barcelona FC’s manager, it is most likely that this will spell the end to the controversial Ivorian’s Manchester City career.

Manchester City have always been a big football club, but 2008 saw them shift into a global brand that could bring in all sorts of names from around the world. 2016 has the potential to spark the next step in this evolution for Manchester City—as of now, they have the hottest property out there at a time where Guardiola can mold any team he so wishes. Exciting times are certainly ahead for them.

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