17TH FEB 2014/ ISSUE 14 FREE
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Film: The 2014 Oscars and ‘victim narratives’
WWW.MANCUNION.COM
P18
Music interview: Justin Robertson
Feature: The stories behind P8-9 our building’s names
P12
Mourners leave tributes to cyclist killed in collision Aidan Gregory News Editor
officers attended the scene, and a large section of Wilmslow Road was cordoned off to vehicles and pedestrians for several
Tributes started pouring in for a cyclist killed in Fallowfield last week. Joshua Jarvis, aged 21 and who lived in Fallowfield, was killed at the junction
Within a day of the fatal accident, floral tributes appeared at the roadside. One anonymous mourner left a poem.
between Wilmslow Road and Landcross
Student Jennifer Rogers witnessed the
Road when his bicycle collided with a
accident. Speaking to The Mancunion,
cement mixer, last Tuesday.
she described her feelings of horror upon
Emergency services were called to reports of a road traffic accident at 3.25pm on 11th February. Traffic was diverted as dozens of police
Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs
hours.
witnessing the harrowing scene.
Continued on page 2...
Continued on page 2...
02 : NEWS
ISSUE 15 / 24th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Highlights
Film:
The Oscars special
Members of the Exec Team joined the protest in Salford against ATOS and their “crimes against disability”. Photo: ExecTeam Campaigns-Officer Facebook
Pages 18-19
Picture of the week
Theatre:
Political theatre; Poo-poo Putin Page 25
Food & Drink:
The craft beer revolution Page 22
Continued from page one... Manchester ranked most unsafe city Library fines The guide estimates that around one-third of students will become victims of crime while at university, with 20 per cent of robberies occurring within six weeks after the start of the academic year. M a n c h e s t e r Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester took 21st and 22nd place respectively in a table to find the most reported crimes, with MMU having 2.55 reported robberies, burglaries and violent crimes per thousand residents, closely followed by Manchester with 2.51. The top nineteen
places were all taken by universities in London, with King’s College having the highest correlation between crime and population, at 3.59 crimes per thousand. Mr Kingston said that crime figures should be taken into consideration when deciding where to study, “While the quality of tuition and the prospects for employment after graduation are key elements in choosing a university course, it is important not to overlook other aspects of the environment in which the student will be living for three or
more years. “Regrettably, our university cities are not immune from the pressures on society and crime is a constant presence.” Bristol, Nottingham and Birmingham joined Manchester among cities with the highest crime levels, while York, Canterbury and Bath were found to have the lowest. Among individual institutions, only Hull University had a higher incidence of crime than Manchester and MMU, with Aberystwyth, Durham, and Winchester having the fewest reported crimes.
Deputy Editor: Harriet Hill-Payne Sub-Editors: George Bailey, Jennifer Grimshaw & Eleanor Muffitt
Lifestyle:
Five Twitter accounts you should follow Page 27
Visit Our Website www.mancunion.com Facebook: The Mancunion Twitter: @THEMANCUNION Editor: Jonathan Breen editor@mancunion.com Postal address: Univerity of Manchester Students’ Union, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR Phone (0161) 275 2933
Arrears for accommodation or childcare services are also mentioned in the report as non-academic debt it is “unfair” for universities to penalise in this way. The OFT is now ‘recommending that universities employing these terms and conditions should review their rules and make any necessary amendments’. Colum McGuire, NUS vice president for welfare, said: “I’m delighted to see that the OFT has responded to our complaints and confirmed that this practice is incredibly
unfair, which is what NUS has been saying all along. “Students who owe money for accommodation, overdue library books or other non-academic debt should certainly pay off the money they owe, but this sanction
The University Library. Photo: The Mancunion
beauty@mancunion.com Food & Drink Editors: Ben Walker & Maddy Hubbard foodanddrink@mancunion.com
News Editors: Michael Williams, Pippa AllenKinross & Aidan Gregory news@mancunion.com
Film Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson & Angus Harrison
News Reporters: Inez Dawoodjee, Anna Philips, Charlie Spargo, Samantha Schiffman
Features Editor: Sam Dumitriu
News Web Editor: Dan Harold
Games Editor: Alasdair Preston
Opinion Editors: Alice Rigby, Charlotte Green & Joe Anthony
games@mancunion.com
opinion@mancunion.com Fashion Editors: Susie Coen & Marie Yates fashion@mancunion.com BeautyEditor: Haylee Wells
was disproportionate, and actually made it more difficult for students to repay by restricting access to student support or making it more difficult to secure employment in an already challenging job market.”
film@mancunion.com features@mancunion.com
Lifestyle Editors: Moya Crockett, Isabelle Dann, Beth Currall & Lauren Arthur lifestyle@mancunion.com Music Editors: Tom Ingham, Patrick Hinton & Phoebe Clarke
music@mancunion.com Sport Editors: Andrew Georgeson, Thomas Dowler & Thomas Turner Sports Reporters: James Eatwell & Jonathan Roberts sport@mancunion.com Theatre Editor: Stephanie Scott theatre@mancunion.com Web Editor: Jennifer Ho webed@mancunion.com Photography Editor: Peter Chinnock photography@mancunion.com Photography team: Patrycja Marczewska, Joshua Brown & Cil Barnett-Neefs
ISSUE 14 / 17th fEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 03
Student fights off guntoting thief on campus - 18-year-old attacked by 42-year-old ‘prolific’ criminal - Thief gets five years for attempted robbery and imitation firearm Michael Williams News Editor
This is the moment a student was confronted by an armed robber on campus – and bravely fought him off. A man brandishing a handgun set upon the 18-year-old student in front of University Place, at around 4am on Friday 29th November last year. He shouted, “Do you want to be shot?” at the student, and demanded the student hand over his mobile phone. After a struggle which saw both men wrestle with the handgun, the student hit the armed man in the head, stunning him and allowing the student to run away. The would-be robber, later revealed to be 42-year-old “prolific and persistent offender” Jason Dunne, was then swarmed by University security guards a short distance away in front of the Manchester Museum and was soon after arrested by police. The gun was later found to be
Dunne shouted ‘do you want to be shot?’ at the student, and demanded he hand over his phone an imitation firearm. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras – and the
After having a gun waved in his face. the student wrestles with the man before hitting him and escaping. The thief was then apprehended by University security and police. See the full video at Mancunion.com shocking full video can be seen at Mancunion.com. Dunne was jailed for five years at a hearing earlier this month, after admitting attempted robbery and having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence. Detective Chief Inspector Colin Larkin, of Greater Manchester Police, said, “Dunne is a prolific and persistent offender who was in an area heavily populated with students in the early hours of the morning with the sole intention of committing a robbery. “As the CCTV explicitly shows he was armed with a gun, a
terrifying weapon that he used to threaten his victim.” University security staff had first spotted Dunne riding a bicycle around campus on the night of the incident, and tracked his movements on CCTV after having their suspicions aroused. The footage shows Dunne donning a balaclava before cycling around campus; he is pictured cycling up and down Oxford Road before leaving his bicycle at the junction of Oxford Road and Bridgeford Street. As the student scuffled with his attacker, security called police and “scrambled to the location”
before detaining Dunne. Gary Rowe, Head of Security, said, “The CCTV footage clearly shows the bravery of our team and I am pleased that this dangerous individual is now off the streets as a result of their actions. “The safety of our staff and students is always our priority and this incident demonstrates their dedication and professionalism.” Detective Chief Inspector Larkin seconded the praise. “Security staff at the University saw events unfolding and saw that he was armed with a gun.
Despite this they have bravely and without consideration for their own safety set out to detain this man, which they did successfully,” he said. “They could have had no idea that the gun was in fact an imitation and this makes their actions all the more impressive and worthy of recognition. “I must also credit responding officers who were in the area within minutes and the investigation team who, working with the CPS, have ensured a dangerous criminal is off our streets.”
Human rights campaigner MMU staff in full-day strike over ‘unlawful’ pay dock made Professor of Law Pippa Allen-Kinross News Editor The University has made human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti an Honorary Professor of Law. Shami Chakrabarti is the Director of Liberty, the National Council for Civil Liberties, and a trained lawyer who has spoken widely on the importance of maintaining human and civil rights in a democratic society. Professor Chakrabarti was one of the eight Olympic Flag carriers at the London 2012 opening ceremony for the Olympics, and this year was judged as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Radio 4’s
Woman’s Hour. She was also one of the six independent assessors who advised Lord Justice Leveson in his Public Inquiry into the Culture, Practice and Ethics of the UK Press, and regularly appears on Newsnight, Question Time and the Today Programme. Professor Geraint Howells, Head of the School of Law, said, “I am delighted Shami Chakrabarti has joined our School. She is an impressive advocate for the causes she believes in and will help us in our mission to promote debate about justice. “Last year she took part in a popular event with our students in the School of Law and this post will ensure
that they will continue to be challenged by her perspective on civil liberties. “Engaging with our community in these debates is important for the School of Law, and we will be planning public events where interested parties can discuss with Shami important issues related to justice and human rights”. Shami Chakrabarti said, “Liberty began with the struggles of the Hunger Marchers 80 years ago, and Emmeline Pankhurst hailed from Manchester. So it’s an honour indeed to join a great Northern Law school at a time when rights and freedoms are once more on the line”.
Charlie Spargo News Reporter
Lecturers from Manchester Metropolitan University staged a whole-day strike after being told that they would lose a day’s pay if they took part in the recent twohour strikes. Continuing strike action by members of the University and College Union in response to a “miserly” one per cent pay rise has resulted in employees of both MMU and the University of Salford being told they would be docked a day’s wages for the two-hour stoppages, whereas University of Manchester staff had only two hours’ worth of pay taken away. Manchester Metropolitan University’s Human Resources department messaged staff stating, “If there is evidence that you have participated in
the strike on January 23rd then we will deduct a day’s pay on account of you having taken industrial action,” and that any work undertaken on that day would be considered as voluntary. The University of Salford issued a statement saying that anyone “who participates in two-hour strike action will be committing a breach of their contract of employment.” Staff from a total of eleven Higher Education institutions from across the UK walked out for an entire day in response to this rule, while most universities continued with two-hour strikes. The one per cent pay rise for employees of Higher Education institutions has lead to a 13 per cent decline in income in real terms according to UCU members, and so far a total of six full-day or two-hour strikes have
been held to protest against this treatment. According to the General Secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, a two-hour strike should only result in a two-hour pay deduction. “Their hard line, aggressive action is designed to frighten us into not exercising our democratic right to strike,” she said. The UCEA said that strike action has had “little or no impact” at most universities and that protestors should focus on negotiating better pay deals for the 2014-15 period. UCU Scotland Official Mary Senior stated that similarly affected staff were “furious at how they have been treated. “We will be launching a legal challenge to recover money we believe has been unlawfully deducted.”
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
04 : News
Students perform ‘neknominations’ during uni lectures Dan Harold News Reporter
Students at the University of Manchester have joined in the next level of the viral craze known as ‘neknomination’ - choosing to complete the challenge during lectures. Last Thursday a student interrupted an Introduction to Comparative Politics lecture to complete a challenge wearing a Robin costume. Another neknomination also took place during a nursing lecture. This comes after reports that lectures have been similarly disrupted at Universities in Edinburgh, Nottingham, and Leeds. While the drinking game continues to be increasingly popular, reaction from other students who were in the relevant lectures has been mixed. Issac Atwal, a Manchester student who was in the lecture, told The Mancunion, “It was all a bit stupid really, he was dressed as robin, not even batman. It was funny for about the first ten seconds then it all seemed a bit pointless really”. Charlie Spargo, reporter for The Mancunion, also in the lecture, expressed similar feelings, tweeting, “it wasn’t actually very funny or imaginative”. However, not all students have been so disparaging towards the trend. Nursing student Lauren Boon, who witnessed a neknomination in one of her lectures, told The Mancunion, “I thought it was quite funny, the lecturer didn’t however, he was brave to do it like that.” As previously reported, neknomination involves a person ‘necking’ a large amount of alcohol, before posting a video of it online and challenging others to perform a similar stunt within 24 hours. It is believed the craze started in Australia but has rapidly spread around the world on Facebook and Twitter. The phenomenon has recently been blamed for the
A student ‘downs’ a pint for a ‘neknomination’ in a lecture theatre at University of Leeds Photo: Tom Platt @Youtube deaths of two Britons. Issac Richardson 20, from Essex, became the first to die after drinking a cocktail of “wine, whisky, vodka, and lager”, while police in Wales are investigating whether the game led to the death of 29 year old Welshman Stephen Brooks. Health charities have warned that the game can have “consequences that are no laughing matter.” Dr Sarah Jarvis, adviser the alcohol charity Drinkaware, said, “Young people often say they feel peer pressure to drink to fit in, but competitions to drink excessively in a short space of time can be dangerous and this should not come as a surprise. “Quite apart from the risk of accident or injury as a result of drinking to excess, there is another aspect to these online drinking games which is the ‘cybershame’ some young people may experience.” There have been reports that those who ‘break the chain’ i.e. refusing to complete the
challenge that had been set to them - have been subject to online abuse. Professor Mark Bellis, of the UK Faculty of Public Health, told the BBC that the craze highlighted the danger of having a “culture where people don’t understand the dangers of alcohol”. He argued that this was only part of a societal problem whereby drunkenness is “probably actively encouraged”, adding, “This is just the tip of an iceberg of young people damaging themselves on a week by week basis”. Eric Appleby, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said, “It is devastating for family and friends to lose someone in this way. “This lethal ‘game’ shows just how hard we have to work to de-normalise binge-drinking among young people. But it’s not just about young people. They take their cues from society’s attitude to drinking and it’s this we have to change for all our sakes.”
Isaac Richardson, reportedly the first British man to die from doing a ‘neknomination’ Photo: Collect
The University of Manchester and the Students’ Union don’t tolerate sexual harassment, and you shouldn’t have to either. Staff and students have the right to live and study in a safe and supportive environment.
DO YOU GET IT? www.manchesterstudents union.com/wegetit www.facebook.com/WeGetItUoM #WeGetItUoM
I’m Campaigning to raise awarene ss of sexual harassment!!
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 05
Man dies of ‘drug overdose’ at Academy indoor festival Police suspect the man may have taken MDMA at the IllumiNaughty festival Michael Williams News Editor
A man has died after a suspected drug overdose at an event held on the Students’ Union premises earlier this month. The 30-year-old was admitted to the Manchester Royal Infirmary after it is believed he took a quantity of MDMA at the IllumiNaughty festival on Saturday, February 8th. His death is reportedly the first to occur due to drug-taking at an event on Students’ Union property. The IllumiNaughty festival takes place across the Academy 2, Academy 3, Club Academy and Union bar venues, just as Pangaea does. The Mancunion has learned that the man was in Academy 2 when he began to feel unwell. Unlike Pangaea, there was no increased police presence at the event – and no drug-detecting sniffer dogs on the door. An IllumiNaughty
spokesperson told The Mancunion “We are devastated by the tragedy that followed our event last weekend. “Our thoughts and sincere condolences go out to his friends and family at this difficult time”. IllumiNaughty is an external club night that runs an indoor festival three times a year in the Manchester Academy venues inside the Students’ Union, bringing in an estimated £4050,000 in revenue to the Union. The theme of last weekend’s event was “The Masked Ball”, and tickets ranged from £12.50 to £17. Students’ Union General Secretary Grace Skelton said, “IllumiNaughty is a public club night, organised and presented by external promoters and has been held at The Academy since February 2013. “We are supporting the police appeal for witnesses.” A postmortem examination into the man’s cause of death was inconclusive, and police are awaiting results of a toxicology report.
The man passed away on the Monday following the event, which was held inside the Students’ Union building Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs An investigation has also been launched in an attempt to establish what happened in the moments leading up to the man feeling unwell, and as to the origins of the drugs. In a statement Greater Manchester Police Detective Inspector Ian Cottrell said, “Sadly this man has died after
becoming unwell during a night out at The Academy and I want to reassure his friends and family as well as the wider community that we have launched an investigation to establish exactly what happened. “While we are keeping an open mind we suspect that drugs are a factor in this man’s death.
“Were you in the venue on Saturday night and did you see anything untoward or suspicious? Did you see anyone selling drugs inside the venue or someone collapse inside? If so, please call us. “I would also like to take the opportunity to remind people of the potential consequences of
taking illicit drugs. You can never know exactly what you are taking or what reaction you will have and as this incident so tragically highlights, the consequences can be dire, not only for the person taking them but also for their family and friends.”
Professor takes an icy dive Ministers ‘concerned’ by in the Baltic for ‘charity dip’ vice chancellor pay rises Samantha Schiffman News Reporter A Manchester professor took to the Arctic waters of Finland earlier this month – all for a good cause. Wendy McCracken, the UK’s only Professor of Deaf Education, went for an ‘icy dip’ in the Baltic Sea in order to raise money for two small charities very close to her heart; Girlguiding Stockport and Music and the Deaf. The Arctic Dip saw Wendy, 61, from Bramhall, carried out to the Baltic on an ice breaker boat wearing an Arctic survival suit, where she submerged herself in sub-zero waters. Whilst on the boat, Wendy literally came over with a case of cold feet, with temperatures as low as -10 degrees, but she simply had to do it for her charities. Wendy described her dip
experience as “totally surreal”, due to the fact that the huge suit meant she didn’t feel the cold of the water at all. She had to be careful though, because in waters where you would survive for a mere 16 seconds before your heart stopped beating in normal clothing, if any part of her hair or face touched the water it would freeze on impact. “Once I was back on my feet again having been dragged out of the water like a beached whale, the feeling of exhilaration was almost overwhelming and it all felt completely worthwhile.” Wendy had been very keen to participate in a dip for a long time, but did not think she could be so “self-indulgent” as to do it simply for her own personal experience. Having been a Guide as a young girl, she has a close connection with Stockport Girlguides, her local group.
With many local areas of economic need, Wendy explained that many young girls “have very low expectations of what they can do” and so Guides can help them to realise their potential. The other charity, Music and the Deaf, was set up by Paul Whittaker OBE, who was born deaf but went on to study Music at Oxford University. Wendy explained that when 100 people were asked how to communicate with a deaf child, only four realised that you could talk to them. “Most people would never realise that deaf people could learn a song or be in an orchestra, but do you know any teenagers that don’t like music? So why not let deaf children have access?” If you would like to make a donation to Wendy’s charities, please visit http://uk.virgingiving.com/ WendyMccracken
Pippa Allen-Kinross News Editor
Universities have been warned by ministers to restrict the pay rises of their vice chancellors. In a letter to England’s Higher Education Funding Council, Business Secretary Vince Cable and Universities Minister David Willetts expressed concern about “the substantial upward drift of salaries of some top management”. This comes at a time of university staff strikes across the country, including at the University of Manchester, over the proposed one per cent pay increase offered by employers. According to the University and College Union (UCU), staff ’s pay has fallen by 13 per cent in real terms since 2009. However, figures show that last year vice chancellors in the Russell Group received pay rises averaging eight per cent,
and a five percent rise in overall benefits. Last month, the UCU wrote to Vince Cable, asking him to make universities reveal why senior staff are entitled to the pay rises they get. UCU General Secretary, Sally Hunt, said at the time, “Despite promising to cut back on excessive pay at the top, vice chancellors continue to hide behind the shadowy remuneration committee when it comes to their pay rises. “Vice chancellors have no problem accepting large rises while at the same time telling their staff there’s no money available and that they must accept another real-terms pay cut. “Their continued avarice is an embarrassment for the sector and we urgently need some transparency”. Vince Cable and David Willetts also revealed the university budget for 2014/15, which
involves the teaching budget being reduced by £945 million this year, and possibly cut by another £246 million next year. However, universities are expected to receive an increased fee income from students of £2,600 million to compensate for the cuts. In their letter, the ministers said, “We want to see leaders in the sector exercise much greater restraint as a part of continuing to hold down increases in pay generally”. Commenting on Vince Cable and David Willetts’s remarks, Sally Hunt said, “Ministers are right to rebuke greedy vice chancellors for their unjustified big pay rises, not least when according to the government’s own figures average academic pay has flatlined since 2010. “Unlike those at the top, all staff want is fair pay and we hope ministers will recognise this distinction”.
06 : News
ISSUE 14 / 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
BBC investigation exposes fraud on student visa tests Inez Dawoodjee and Anna Philips News Reporters Home secretary Theresa May last week suspended English language tests run by a major company after a BBC investigation exposed multiple cases of student visa fraud. Undercover footage filmed by BBC’s Panorama showed applicants being replaced by “ fake-sitters,” to whom the correct answers were read out. The footage was captured during English language exams, administered by the English Testing Service (ETS), a large firm that carries out English language tests for international students. Despite a large international student population at the University of Manchester, a spokesman for the institution said, “The qualification featured on the Panorama programme is not one that is recognised by The University of Manchester for degree level study.” Concerned students are encouraged to contact the Tier 4 visa team. An e-mail sent to university staff indicated that there was uncertainty about the implications for students with a Tier 4 visa. As yet there is no “official notifica-
tion of what this means for applicants.” The e-mail read, “ Following the recent Panorama programme, colleagues may be aware of the subsequent Home Office suspension of ETS examinations (which includes TOEFL) as acceptable qualifications in support of Tier 4 visas.” “We understand at present this only applies to candidates applying for a visa from within the UK.” The exposures of fraud come at a time where Tier 4 visa application fees have been raised in an attempt to make sure prospective applicants have sufficient funds. Jebi Joseph, a third-year law student from Singapore, said, “A failing in the system has been exposed but that’s no reason to suspend upcoming tests and throw everything into an upheaval. “This ad-hoc solution only inconveniences and frustrates the plans of students with legitimate standing. UK, as a world-leading education provider should have responded in a more reasonable manner.” The programme was filmed by sending international students, with legitimate visas, to immigration firms. They pretended to speak poor English and told the firms they wanted to extend their
stay in the UK illegally. A director of Studentway, one of many immigration consultancy firms in London, told a student, “Someone else will sit the exam for you. But you will have to have your photo taken there to prove you were present.” Cheating also occurred during multiple choice tests. The invigilator was filmed reading aloud all 200 correct answers to students being tested. The two-hour exam was shortened to just seven minutes. In another instance an undercover student was able to purchase a guaranteed entry package from an Immigration Agency in London. Students were also sold false bank details to show they had sufficient funds - a requirement for a Tier 4 visa. In one case this was done by collecting the bank details of a person of the same name who had the amount of credit required to qualify for sufficient finances. One of the agents at Studentways told an undercover applicant, “Someone else with the same name, whose account and money will be used for you. So when there is need for verification it’s verified for you till you get your visa.” Home Secretary May told Panorama, “The government has done a huge
Take the quiz!
amount to root out fraud. We have significantly changed the student visa system. As a result, 700 colleges are now no longer allowed to bring non-EU students in.” However, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, commented, “Yet once again, the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. Instead abuse is getting worse, whilst genuine international graduate students are being put off.” This follows a similar incident last
year at London Metropolitan University, which had its licence to sponsor students outside the EU revoked by the Home Office. It failed to monitor students’ attendance and immigration status adequately. Since then, it has managed to regain its licence. Future measures aimed at tightening applicants for student visas could include more face-to-face interviews.
Why risk being without your laptop or phone?
Play for your chance to WIN a month’s rent for you and your housemates. PARTY ANIMAL
The Home Office has suspended English language tests for student visas after an undercover BBC investigation revealed mass cheating Photo: ccarlstead @Flickr
Protect them against... • Theft • Loss • Accidental damage • Liquid damage
GEEK
Covered anywhere in the UK & up to 30 days worldwide 24 hour* laptop and phone replacement. Gadget insurance from the UK’s No.1 student insurance specialist.
DODGER
BOSS
Get protected today.
Visit: endsleigh.co.uk/university Call: 0330 3030 284 01282 672 108
PLAY NOW! Visit: endsleigh.co.uk/housing
Insurance recommended by
Terms and conditions apply. *24 hours represents 1 working day from us approving your claim. Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This can be checked on the Financial Services Register by visiting their website at www.fca.org.uk/register Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited. Company No: 856706 registered in England at Shurdington Road, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire GL51 4UE. 14227 0113
270mm x 168mm.indd 1
29/01/2014 11:59:54
ISSUE 14 / 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 07
Students’ Union hosts week on the ‘Future of our World’
‘We have the power to tackle these huge issues, but we’ve got to learn about them and how to tackle them’, says organiser Aidan Gregory News Editor
The University of Manchester Students’ Union put on a series of interactive exhibitions, academic lectures, and functions aimed at highlighting the issues of climate change and global development. The programme of events, which ran from the 10th to the 15th February, asked Manchester students to think about the questions, “What is the future of our World? What issues do we need to tackle in our lifetimes? What are the big problems our society faces?” The centrepiece of the events was a series of lectures entitled ‘The Future of Our World’, which were given by prominent academics from across the University of Manchester. The Humanitarian Conflict
Photo: Manchester Students’ Union Response Institute (HCRI) gave students the opportunity to win a fully paid scholarship in one of their programmes. Different university halls also got involved with the ‘week’. For example, Owens Park ran a bike sale in Fallowfield and Oak House did a ‘donate clothes’ to charity day.
Finally, the Manchester Museum partnered with the Union to run an evening at the Museum and a tour of the Living Worlds Galleries. Clifford Fleming, Campaigns & Citizenship Officer for the University of Manchester Students’ Union, was the person responsible for organising the
week of events. students will go on to become Green Week and I ran on my When asked by The Mancunion politicians, CEOs, campaign manifesto that I would do my why he went to the trouble directors, policy makers and utmost to raise global issues.” of organising ‘Earth Week’, more. He added further that the week Fleming explained that, “I have “We have the power to tackle was “absolutely fantastic, with a passion for these areas and I these huge issues, but we’ve got packed out lectures and lots think it’s really important for to learn about them and how to of people engaging with lots of our generation to be considering tackle them. Also, it’s in Union different themes. some of the toughest challenges policy to have such a week, it’s “The volunteer team have been 890-LUni Mancunion Ad_Layout 1 13/12/2013 13:14 we have133x168mm to face. University in conjunction with national GoPageso1engaged and just amazing.”
Piccadilly Gardens: The “Berlin Wall” of Postgraduate Visit Day Manchester The gardens have been rated as one of the most unappealing attractions in the city
many of the commentors.
of this bleak expanse, there is
The Gardens are ranked 96 out
nothing here to interest anyone
of 114 attractions in Manchester.
and your personal safety cannot
The city centre was revamped in 2002 with new designs by famous
Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter
Japanese
be guaranteed.
architect
concrete proof that things don’t
Tadao Andao. Andao won a
always change for the better as
competition held to decide
it used to be a little oasis in the
whose designs would feature in
centre of the city.”
the city centre, which had been
Out of 162 reviews, 59 reviews
largely destroyed by an IRA
rated Piccadilly as “terrible”, 15
bomb in 1996.
reviews rated it as “ excellent”.
A new water feature and
Other unpopular attractions
concrete pavilion were built in
include Victoria train station
addition to a redesigned garden.
and the AMC cinema.
has
been hailed as Manchester’s
did not make it more attractive
Deansgate and the Museum
most unpopular attraction by
according to many locals.
of Science and Industry rank
Gardens
A
Tripadvisor. The
website,
which
rates
senior
contributor
on
Tripadvisor said that describing
travel destinations, describes
Piccadilly
Gardens
as
the city centre as being “dirty”,
“attraction” would be “pushing
“ depressing” and being a “ big
the description.”
Ranked in the
“This square is quite literally,
However, the refurbishment
Piccadilly
Wednesday 26th February 2014 12.30pm to 4.00pm in the Charles Carter Building
John
among
Rylands
the
Library
more
Top 1%
of universities in the world
If you're considering postgraduate study at Lancaster, our event will be a great way to: • discuss your study options with academic staff • talk to current postgraduate students in an informal and friendly atmosphere
in
• find out about the funding and finance opportunities available to you • receive advice and guidance about how to apply from our award winning postgraduate admissions team
popular
attractions.
an
slab of concrete.” It has been
The contributor added, “If
nicknamed “Berlin Wall” by
in Manchester, just steer clear
Book online at:
www.lancaster.ac.uk/postgraduate-visit-days/
08 : Feature
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Who is Roscoe anyway? the story behind the names
Did you know Tom Kilburn developed the world’s first commercially available computer at Manchester University? Photo: Martin Klefas Stennett
Sam Dumitriu gives a brief history of the University of Manchester by way of its buildings and who they are named after
R
oscoe, Schuster, Kilburn, Stopford. We see these names every day when we check our timetables, but who are the people these buildings are named after? To answer that question we need to look back at the history of the University of Manchester. Some names will already ring a bell, for instance we probably all know about Alan Turing with recent coverage of his pardon and an upcoming film where he will be played by Manchester alumnus Benedict Cumberbatch. But few know about fellow computer scientist Tom Kilburn who helped form the School of Computer Science in 1964. Kilburn was the School’s first department head and worked on the development of the world’s first commercially available electronic computer, the Ferranti Mark 1 with fellow Manchester computer scientist Freddie Williams. One day we all hope (most of us sooner rather than later) to graduate from the University of Manchester. Graduations are held in the Whitworth Hall, named after Sir Joseph Whitworth. Whitworth found fortune as an industrialist inventing a system for screw threads and more excitingly, the Whitworth rifle. a gun commissioned by the British
Considered to be the father of nuclear physics, Rutherford continued to research at Manchester and was the first person to split the atom in 1917. government but deemed too expensive for the British Army to use. Regretfully,
the gun found its way into the less than savoury hands of the Confederate States in the American Civil War, and worse still, the French. Whitworth left his will to philanthropic causes with his friend Richard Copley Christie to decide on how the money was spent. Christie decided to donate one fifth of the money to the University of Manchester, then known as Owens College. Christie personally assigned that £50,000 pounds would be spent on the erection of Whitworth Hall, no small amount of money back in his day. Christie himself will be a recognisable name to those who frequent Christie’s Bistro. The Bistro is based within the Old Christie Library which used to be the University’s main science library. Manchester’s greatest legacy is probably its scientific achievements. The School of Physics and Astronomy is housed within the Schuster Laboratory and is named after Sir Arthur Schuster, the University’s first Dean of Science when Owens College became Victoria University of Manchester. Schuster took charge of the University’s physics laboratory during a time of great scientific discovery. Within the Schuster Laboratory are four lecture theatres named after past teachers
and researchers. The most famous of which was Ernest Rutherford, who was appointed to the post of Chair in Physics by Schuster in 1907. Rutherford had already carried out Nobel Prize winning research in Chemistry by the time he reached Manchester, but it was at Manchester he came into his own. Rutherford’s gold foil experiment led to great advances in the way we understand the structure of
the atom. Considered to be the father of nuclear physics, Rutherford continued research at Manchester and was the first person to split the atom in 1917. Back to Schuster - was a student of Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe (of Roscoe building fame). Roscoe lived an interesting life, at Manchester, with his friend Robert Bunsen (inventor of the Bunsen Burner) he took what is considered to be the first ever flash photograph in 1864...
Samuel Alexander was a famous philosopher Photo: Joe Sandler-Clarke
ISSUE 14 / 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
This was funded by Joseph Whitworth Photo: Martin Klefas Stennett
...using magnesium. Later on he served as a Liberal MP for Manchester South and even had a mineral, Roscoelite, named after him. Like in physics, chemistry and computer science, Manchester also excelled as an institution in medical science. The Stopford Building, which houses the Faculty of Medicinal and Human Sciences and the Faculty of Life Sciences, is named after another leading scientist. Baron John Stopford of Fallowfield was the first medical graduate to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society. This was not the only accolade he picked up, Stopford was knighted, given the Freedom of the City of Manchester, and eventually given a life peerage in 1958. Social scientists should not feel left out. The Arthur Lewis building, the home of the school of social sciences, is also named after a great thinker. Arthur Lewis was a West Indian development economist who joined the University in 1947. While lecturing there he developed the Lewis model, which is still taught in most introductory development modules to this day. The model states that an economy develops when a capitalist sector takes labour from a subsistence agriculture sector to take advantage of increasing returns to capital. The model was so well received that in 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. To this day, he remains the only black laureate to win the prize in a field
other than peace or literature. Manchester also has a fine philosophical tradition with the School of Arts and Humanities in the Samuel Alexander Building. The building was renamed after the Australian philosopher Samuel Alexander in 2007. Students may recognise Samuel Alexander from the impressive
Arthur Lewis was a West Indian development economist ... he remains the only black laureate to win the prize in a field other than peace or literature bust in the building’s foyer. The philosopher was known for his work in the British Emergentist movement, which believed that the mind emerged from the body but was not reducible to it. The John Rylands University
Feature : 09 Library, which was recently renamed the University of Manchester library to avoid confusion, is named after John Rylands who was the first multimillionaire in Manchester’s history. When he died his estate was worth two and half million pounds which in today’s money is almost £250 million. His wife erected in monument the John Rylands Library in Deansgate, which in 1972 was merged with the Manchester University Library. Playing a large role in the merger was former ViceChancellor William MansfieldCooper, who has his own building named after him. The new Learning Commons contrary to popular belief is not named after the Sascha BaronCohen character Ali G, but actually former University vicechancellor Alan Gilbert. Gilbert was appointed the founding President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester when it formed after a merger between UMIST and Victoria University of Manchester in 2004. Speaking of UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) we shouldn’t leave out the North Campus. The Renold building is named after Sir Charles Renold an engineer and management expert who was vice-president of UMIST. Opposite the Renold building, is the North Campus Students’ Union otherwise known the Barnes Wallis building - named after the inventor of the bouncing bomb, Sir Barnes Wallis, which was famously used in the Second World War Dambusters raids. When the North Campus SU opened, Barnes Wallis was awarded lifetime membership of the UMIST students’ union. Back on the South Campus, the Students’ Union building was named after anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko. Biko’s death in police custody was one of the defining moments of the movement against apartheid. Recently, the SU opened a new cafe, Biko’s, named after the activist. The Students’ Union has also named its rooms after famous political actors. In 2010, they named Room 2 in the Steve Biko building after Egyptian protestor Khaled Said, who was killed by police, in order to show solidarity with pro-democracy movements in Egypt. In late 2013, students voted at an assembly to rename Room 8 after the suffragette Christabel Pankhurst who was awarded a law degree in 1906 from the Victoria University of Manchester. Finally, it would be amiss not to mention the John Owens building. Named after merchant John Owens who after his death in 1846 left a bequest of £96,942 to create an education establishment based on his ideas. In 1851 the eponymous Owens College was founded, which of course became Victoria University of Manchester and then eventually the establishment we study at today.
Come and hang out in the teepee. Cosy up. Drink hot chocolate, eat cake, win stuff and if you want to chat with us about your future, we’d like that - no pressure though. Find us next to University Place - you won’t be able to miss us. We’ll be the only teepee on campus and probably in Manchester.
Opinion Trial by twitter is harmful to justice
10
Christopher James argues the time has come to reconsider our social media ethics
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
#Your
Space
Want to give your thoughts on University news, or comment about an article? Tweet, and it could appear in this fortnightly column...
@MancunionOp
Photo: Rosaura Ochoa @Flickr In recent months, the internet has become an arena of public shaming. Hundreds of thousands of social media users with no legal training and possessing no knowledge of the cases in question are in danger of becoming online vigilantes. Armed only with 140 characters and a hashtag, many are taking to the web to denounce those accused of unsubstantiated allegations. The internet has become a town’s square, only now large enough to put all the worlds accused sinners in the stocks. Examples of speculative justice expressed on social media have clearly occurred in Manchester itself this year. The acquittal of William Roache on all charges as of the 6th February, has highlighted the damage that can be done to an individual’s integrity and reputation if assumptions are made regarding the charges against them on social media as well as in the courts. Nowhere has this issue been more true than at our very own university, where last summer a student of the University was indicted in an accusation of rape. An image of the student released by the police appeared on several websites and news programmes, starting with the Manchester Student Safety page, rapidly spreading through Facebook and Twitter. Users were quick to vilify the student in question. By late afternoon the image was being circulated by the Manchester Evening News and ITV Granada and was trending on Twitter. With users instantly lending a guilty verdict to the case in question, without knowledge of the evidence, the incident must beg the question of whether people should be more considerate in what they post. Eight months later, the student has been cleared of all charges. However, the incident has done perhaps permanent damage to the student’s reputation. The pain this student was forced to endure would have been confounded doubly by the hatred received online. By hopping on the trending bandwagon, we see users jumping to their own conclusions without seeing the full facts. This is not only
unfair to the victims and the accused but it is certainly not in keeping with the principles of due process and fair justice. We must also consider the longer-term consequences for those charged on public forums like Twitter and Facebook. It may attach a stigma to a potentially innocent individual, regardless of the eventual trial and outcome. Of course it is of paramount importance that victims of abuse can come forward with
Armed only with 140 characters and a hashtag, many are taking to the web confidence, fully in the knowledge that justice will be delivered but it is not for the glare of the public eye to determine the outcomes. It is counter productive to the cause of justice for victims if unproven allegations are allowed to circulate. In the case of Bill Roache, the actor’s personal life was brought to the fore by social media and damning accusations made about his character, accusations from which it can be difficult to recover. A further example is the case of Lord McAlpine and the ‘witch hunt’ that ensued after false allegations were made regarding sexual abuse claims last year. Of course the increasing prevalence of smartphones and Twitter is becoming an aid in some cases, notable the Steubenville rape case in 2012, where the use of social
media accounts such as Twitter, Flickr and Instagram were paramount in building a successful case against two high school football players. Images uploaded to Twitter, depicting scenes of a gratuitous nature regarding the rape of a student at a party featured heavily as evidence brought against the two young men. But as the images were in the public domain it became very much a public trial, with threats being issued to the men prior to their eventual conviction. Lord Leveson, speaking at a conference in 2012, claimed that new laws are needed to stop this ‘trial by Twitter’. He argued that the web has become a global megaphone for gossip and that governments will need to consider introducing laws to regulate it. Also at issue, is the perception that online actions do not have legal consequences, something many users can forget when spouting vile abuse from behind the safety of the keyboard. Earlier this week the alleged molestation of Dylan Farrow by her actor/director former stepfather Woody Allen was once again brought to the fore, following Dylan’s open letter to the New York Times. Many people (in excess of 3000) were quick to take to the comments section in order to either condemn Woody Allen or direct abuse at Dylan, accusing her of lying. At the moment, the case looks unlikely to be brought before a court but far too many people are taking to the internet to voice an brash opinion based on ill-founded beliefs. The trial by Twitter and other social media platforms is a worrying trend. We are seeing the presumption of innocence, the very cornerstone of our legal justice system, ignored, in order for ill-informed ‘trolls’ to wreak havoc on people’s names. I must assert once again that I believe all those who have been abused should come forward in all cases. But, until substantiated evidence has been brought forward in a court of all law, let’s for now try and keep our personal judgements off the Twitter-sphere to avoid doing more harm than good.
Opinion
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
11
UCU, for strikes to succeed you need to get students onside As you may or may not be aware, lecturers, tutors and academic staff have been striking on and off over the last two weeks. Industrial action has been taken six times just in this academic year over a pay dispute. The main higher education union, the University and College Union, has joined forces with Unison, Unite and the EIS in order to apply increased pressure but so far their efforts have yet to yield satisfactory results. In fact so far the only real consequence of the strikes has been to make students opposed to the strikes. Without much knowledge of why our lecturer has chosen to go on strike, we instantly turn the situation around to how it will affect us. In an air of bitter resentment we claim that by missing that one lecture we are bound to fail the module, and probably our whole degree. After all, we pay their salaries. Now industrial action by academic staff is seen as selfish and morally irresponsible, a breach of contract. However this view is just plain wrong. Firstly, the term hypocrite should be levelled against us;
how many lectures and tutorials have we missed because of alcohol-related illness during your degree? In my case it’s too many to count. We defend our own truanting as anarchical laziness, but as soon as the boot is on the other foot we are more than ready to denounce it. Secondly, with the dramatic spike in tuition fees, we are effectively buying the services of the University. We were more than happy to march against the raise, but now that it has been established it seems extremely odd to me that we have no interest in how our money is being spent. We are the ones paying the wages of University employees. So we should give a damn if those wages are grossly inflated or reduced to a miserly stipend. If, for instance, staff received a pay offer of one per cent it would leave them with a real-term pay cut of 13 per cent since 2009. This is not hypothetical. Whilst ordinary academics have seen their wages steadily decrease with inflation, vice-chancellors enjoyed an average pay rise of 5.1 per cent last year, and an average salary of £235,000. Our own VC received
Photo: UM Ucu Facebook
one of the more restrained wage increases, at 1.6 per cent, but her salary is still just over £250,000. At the other end of the scale, the London School of Economics, well known for its honesty and humble egalitarian morality, has increased the salary of its VC from £270,000 in 2011/2012, to a staggering £425,000 in 2012/2013. Just to make it absolutely clear, that’s an increase of 61.1 per cent, whilst lower staff remain on one per cent. So, where is our solidarity with
this movement? I am damn sure that I don’t want my tuition fees going straight into the pockets of University bureaucrats and executives. And yet when the strikes roll around, when the staff wave placards outside Uni Place I’m at home in the warm, thinking about something completely different. Our tendency to turn on our own, coupled with a students’ innate laziness is partly to blame. But a major factor has been the lack of information provided, both by the Union and by our own
lecturers and tutors. This is additionally strange when you consider that the protests have not been without controversy. Tristram Hunt, a front bench Labour MP, has been criticised recently for crossing a picket line at Queen Mary University to give a lecture, somewhat ironically, on Marxism. Mind you he supplements his salary with a measly £66,396 he gets as a Member of Parliament. I was only alerted to the strikes through a terse email from University administration informing me of days that might be disrupted, but without any context as to why these strikes were taking place. I had to do my own research to establish exactly what the mysterious “ongoing dispute” was. When I knew why the action was being taken, it had my full sympathy and support. But I had to find out on my own. Oxford Road is not plastered with posters proclaiming the issues, nor were any of my teachers explaining why they were withholding their labour. If anything it seemed like a dirty secret, something they were embarrassed about when asked. So far the strikes have not
succeeded. According to UCU further industrial action is planned, including the possibility of a marking boycott if negotiations do not advance. This will be just another nail in the coffin of UCU’s relationship with students, at least if they don’t work to get us onside. So this is a message to UCU, from me, a supportive student. We love a good protest, look at Sussex, Birmingham, and the 2010 marches - please extend the invitation and involve us. Support from even a tenth of the student population at Manchester would considerably thicken the ranks of protesters, and numbers are often the key to effectively applying pressure. Two hour strikes (which can also be equated with a lie-in, or an extended lunch hour), are really only hurting us, the learners. If you want to achieve a pay-rise that represents the valuable work you do, you need to work with us, not against us. I’m onside, now it’s time to convince everyone else.
Charlotte Green
Russell Brand is wrong, apathy does not engender revolution It is easy to write off the opinions of a man who shares the same appearance and mannerisms as Fagin from Oliver Twist and jangles like a gypsy who’s just won the National Lottery. Accordingly, many people have totally discarded Russell’s recent foray into political criticism, with a recent survey of 16-25 year olds carried out by vInspire demonstrating that 69 per cent disagree with Russell’s incitement not to vote. But Russell does highlight one truth – our current political system is failing. You hardly need to be doing a master in politics or wake up every morning to dredge through The Times to know that something in this country’s political system is very, very wrong. Like many I share Russell’s disenchantment with the political system and the points he highlights are symbolic of a generation which has lost touch with its political process. Many people don’t vote because they simply don’t see anyone to vote for. If they partake they only
perpetuate a system full to the brim with broken promises and choices between three comparatively neoliberal parties. Mark Twain once said, “If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” I feel the frustration, but voting abstinence is not the path to utopia. In the article Russell wrote in response to his infamous interview with Jeremy Paxman, he argues, “The only reason to vote is if the vote represents power or change. I don’t think it does.” But there is so much more to voting than that, voting is participation, which breeds knowledge and engagement, even inciting anger in the discontent. Abstaining arouses nothing. By Russell inciting complacency, rather than zeal, he is weakening the position of anyone who listens, especially 16-25 year olds, in a system which we have already marginalised our self in. What we need is a demographic of young people who make themselves heard. Who get angry. They should hate us, not the
Photo: Flickr@ T J Morris other way around. The only tool of influence we have is our single vote, and by relinquishing our right as a citizen you not only compromise your right to be part of a society, but you are consciously and willingly allowing yourself to be ignored by those in power. It is both foolish and dangerous to incite complacency. What we need is the opposite – not merely a demographic that disagree with Russell – but a tirelessly active demographic of 16-25 year olds who make themselves heard, and
to those 31 per cent, certainly not one that sits back, comforted by the knowledge that Russell Brand has endorsed their slacktivism. A 2013 IPPR poll found that 72 per cent of those aged over 65 vote and consequently their warmth and wellbeing during winter months is of high priority to the government, why? Because they have proven that they matter. Russell advocates a “revolution” – and I too agree that drastic action is absolutely necessary. He writes, “we have brilliant thinkers
and organisations and no one needs to cook up an egalitarian Shangri-La on their todd; we can all do it together.” Here he finally makes sense; albeit it wrapped up in his own frustratingly histrionic lexicon and communist utopian fantasy. We must do it together. However, the revolution I would propose is not one of abstinence from voting or smashing out the windows of every designer boutique in Northern Quarter (might take a while), but simply one of how we, as citizens, engage and ultimately seek to change our political system. The first step is engagement; apathy does not engender revolution. Young people are not tired with politics, young people are some of the most opinionated and politically motivated of any demographic – they are tired of the political system. Many enlightenment movements presupposed a republic where everyone is forced to allot some time to engage in the political process as the foundation of a strong society. Such a system demands
participation equally from all, with laws arising from the will of the general population. This is not what happens when you allow a political system in which the lazy majority let their decisions be made for them by the active minority, and moreover, political disengagement is even advocated by some. We have the power to change – and in the first instance, this comes through engagement, which is manifested by voting. Singularly we are weak but together we are strong. The only way to progress is for the next time a similar poll is taken, 100 per cent to disagree with Russell, and in the next election, everyone to vote and everyone to prove they matter and for everyone to demand change. Only then will there be a country of people motivated to change the system into something people don’t feel obligated to take part in – but something people celebrate their right to participate in, something malleable to the will of an active, important population. Morris Seifert
ISSUE 13/ 10th fEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Phoebe Clarke, Patrick Hinton, Tom Ingham Interview
Opinion
theMUSIC OPINION: Why I hate the general public The live music scene has never been more important than it is now; with album sales dwindling bands need the great music public to fork out 30 quid for a badly made, black t-shirt that’s inevitably going to give you a rash. It’s engrained in our minds that if we like a record we would therefore love to see the band live, but is that necessarily true? Get yourself down to the Academy about half 8 before a gig and you’re likely to be faced with a sea of sweaty, larger swilling blokes - if you’re lucky you’ll be able to make out the bassists forehead. Compare this to sitting on your arse with a Capri sun and your headphones on – it seems like a no-brainer. But you’re not about to settle for your spot at the back of the venue, so you make your way through the hostile crowd, trying to fudge your way into a position that actually justifies you standing up for the next two hours. You, my friend are now part of the problem – people. The main problem with gigs is the people, I hate them. Stewart Lee tries night after night to refine his audience but still the same riffraff turn up. And it’s not just reserved for the more brutish behaviour frequented at Beady Eye gigs, I saw Laura Marling at The Lowry at the end of last year and the stuffy nature of the audience drove me to tears. You couldn’t even applaud too loud for fear of upsetting the Jeremy Irons look-a-like in the seat in
front of you, swigging a plastic bottle of Rose. Next up is the oblivious talker, the dick who has no idea what’s going on who’s even playing. At the risk of making a huge, sweeping statement, Americans tend to be worse for this. If you find yourself at a three and a half hour Bruce Springsteen concert, every now and then the Boss is going to bring the volume down and play a delicate acoustic number, which is inevitably backed by a load of chumps screaming and shouting “Bruuuuuuce”. It’s why You Tube bootlegs are so shit, most of the vocal is coming from the cameraman. At number one, my personal pet-hatred is the ‘pretend’ fan; the one moving his lips intently to a track he’s never heard before, making a noise not too dissimilar to that crazy bloke sat at the front of the bus with a brown paper bag. If you don’t know the lyrics go for the standard head nod, if that doesn’t float you boat just stand there arms folded looking all contemplative and interesting n shit. But we still continue to go, and we always will because of the connection and sense of community with the band. However, if you find yourself in the aforementioned do me a favour – stay at home with your Breaking Bad box set and your You Tube converted mp3’s, and let the rest of us get on with it. Thomas Ingham, Music Editor
the MUSIC INTERVIEW: Justin Robertson We spoke with Justin Robertson about the musical influence of Manchester, his illustrious remixing career and the role of Bugged Out in the UK dance scene Justin Robertson has been a part of the UK dance music scene for over two decades, and still he remains one of the most forward thinking and exciting names around. I spoke to him prior to his appearance at the Bugged Out Weekender. Robertson went to the University of Manchester himself, studying Philosophy. I question how much impact and influence the city had on his musical career. “If I hadn’t gone to Manchester I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. When I went up to Manchester I was a real fan of music, but this was pre-acid house. I was a big fan of The Fall and New Order and a lot of Manchester music, that’s why I moved to Manchester really. But then going to the Hacienda in the early days of acid house and Chicago and Detroit house and techno - just hearing that music, especially in a club like that - was a real road to Damascus change for me.” “There was suddenly this really alien sound that I hadn’t really heard before. I used to knock on the DJ booth door and annoy the DJs, asking what records they were playing. It was that combination of a venue, a time and a new kind of music. There was something unique about Manchester, the whole atmosphere of the place – it continues today. It’s got music in its bricks and mortar. Music is part of the city. It was a massive influence on me.” On to Robertson’s career, last year he began releasing under a new moniker: The Deadstock 33s. He explained to me the reason for this change and how different the production process is compared to creating a track as Justin Robertson. “I went in to the last decade going through a transition period, changing the way I was working. It took me a good 2 years to get a sound that I was happy with, that was fresh, that was original – something that felt exciting. The process of it was to do quite raw, psychedelic electronic music that was primitive in some ways” That sound became The Deadstock
If I hadn’t gone to [University in] Manchester, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. 33s. “I called it The Deadstock 33s because, well: one, it was the name of a pair of Levi jeans I was really fond of. And secondly, I just felt like doing something new. I’ve been around for ages and I thought maybe people wouldn’t be that excited about a Justin Robertson record. I wanted to reinvent myself a little bit, giving myself a new name felt like a good beginning. I like doing that, I’ve only done a handful of records under my own name. It feels like it gives me the freedom to do something within that, then if I want to change I can start another project.” As well as creating his own productions, Robertson’s remixing catalogue is illustrious. What draws him to the songs and how does he approach remixing them? “It’s a variety of things. My idea of remixing is to try and bring something new to the tracks, to take it somewhere else and put a bit of your own identity in it. I try to look for things that I love that I can see elements in that I want to take and tease them out and explore. Sometimes you can just take 1 or 2 elements and make something totally new out of it. So that’s what I’m looking for… And if I like it.” Is there any artists that Robertson hasn’t yet remixed that he’d particularly love to have a go at? “Probably millions. The weird thing is, sometimes you think you’d really like to do something for your favourite artists, but then it turns out that their music is perfect already and you don’t really want to mess with it. I’ve just had that with
‘De Testimony’ by Finitribe, I just took it somewhere complete different because the original track was so good.” Talk turns to production releases for 2014: “I’ve got a new Deadstock 33s album that’s finished, just need to find a home for that. Then Daniel Avery and I are doing a new project that’s due in April. It’s a kind of strange, eclectic, odd sounding record.” Robertson is set to play at the Bugged Out Weekender, and has been affiliated with Bugged Out! for over a decade. “I just love their attitude. They’ve got that original acid house spirit of why people like going to clubs - to have a great time, listen to great music and share a great experience, without any cynical bandwagon jumping or worrying about fashion. They’ve always had a good soul.” The Bugged Out Weekender marks their 20th Anniversary, and their impact on the UK dance music scene has been massive. “They’ve brought so many people through and nurtured and supported them. They’ve always put on new stuff as well and introduced new things to people whilst supporting the roots of it. Their events put a bench mark on production and quality of event. There’s always been that care about the punters, the crowd is a part of it as much as everything else. That inclusiveness of the crowd has made them stand out.” Finally, I ask who Robertson is most looking forward to playing alongside at the Bugged Out Weekender. “Everyone really. Look at it, the line-up is insane. I might have to separate myself out into many parts. There’s going to be some mad business going on that weekend I tell you.”
You can catch Justin Robertson at the Bugged Out Weekender, tickets are on sale now at www.buggedoutweekender.net Patrick Hinton, Music Editor
Top 5: by Sam Bartram
TOP 5
SONGS:
to help overcome the winter blues
1. Inner City- Good Life “No more bad times...No more sorrow...No more rainy days” - if only the latter was true about Manchester then we’d be laughing.
2. Gloria Gayner - I Will Survive
3. Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer
4. Gabrielle - Sunshine (Wookie Main Mix)
Is the heating in your student house shite? Your hangover even worse? Listen to Gloria and remember that you “will survive”...and probably do some grooving whilst you’re at it.
As long as Aretha Franklin is saying her prayers for us then it will be alright, yes? On a real note though, there a few more heart warming and uplifting songs to get you through those long dark days.
“Looking at the world in an optimistic light” will help as much as Wookie’s garage beat in overcoming seasonal depression. Look forward to summer and some ‘Sunshine’.
5. Bicep - Vision Of Love Think piano-house, think summery vibes, think Bicep playing this in what had to be a stand out set from last year’s Parklife and you’re almost there, cured for another winter.
ISSUE 13/ 10th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
: @MancunionMusic : / TheMancunionMusicSection
Music
13
Interview
Reverend and The Makers Dan Whiteley Reverend & The Makers have, in the past decade or so, become something of an indie pop institution. Originally emerging out of the same Sheffield scene that brought the world Little Man Tate, Their new record, titled Thirty Two –The Rev’s age, not-so-coincidentally - arrives on the 24th of February, with a UK tour to follow; after catching up with the man himself, it’s clear that experience and maturity haven’t lowered his or the band’s ambitions. “There’s nothing to prove,” says McClure, in trademark no-nonsense fashion, of the band’s new album, “We’ve had three top twenty albums - largely without the mainstream - and so there’s nothing to prove to them. It’s a happy acceptance. Yeah, I’m 32, and happy to be 32. It’s almost like our debut, in so much as it’s us saying “this is where we’re at and who we are - and what?” We had a lot of fun making it as well.” Listening to ‘Your Girl’, the first song
unveiled from Thirty Two, it’s no surprise to hear the band enjoyed themselves creating this record; its siren wail synths and shout-along chorus make it one of the most party-ready tunes the they’ve written to date. Having been compared to Madchester acts such as the Happy Mondays in the past, I ask if their influenced had any bearing on the new track’s sound: “Ah you Mancs, I love ya, always tryin’ to claim everything as your own!” This time at least, though, it isn’t the case, “it owes a bigger debt to the Prodigy then to any of the Manc bands I think.” Whilst their February/March tour will see Reverend & The Makers play some of the country’s best loved venues, including Manchester’s own Ritz, their latest promotional efforts have seen the band play some much more intimate shows, many of which taking place in fan’s own homes. “It’s about communication of the spirit of the music. I write
songs about real life, and it’s my way of standing with the fans and saying “I’m one of you”, that it’s people’s music. I think - and I hope - that people see the disconnect between the bullshit in the mainstream and what people actually want. The response has been amazing… I sort of nicked the idea from my pal Carl Barat; him and Peter [Doherty, Libertines frontman] used to do similar things, didn’t they? The main thing, though, is it’s such a laugh. Like, you make an album, then tour it, then go to festivals and it becomes formulaic. This is my way of getting back to the soul of the music. It’s been class -I’ve had a wedding proposal, a dog named after me, a car crash, a riot van turn up all in one week so far!” This close connection with their fanbase doesn’t just extend to their shows, as the band have always maintained a heavy social media presence; they even christened their last record @Rev-
erend_Makers after their busy twitter handle. As The Rev is keen to explain, “You have two distinct choices as a musician. A: make cheesy fuckin’ music to fit in with Little Mix and One Direction and get on the radio, or B: make music on your own terms and rely on social media and word of mouth to do the rest… I know where I’m at.” The band will be celebrating their ten year anniversary next year; I ask McClure if and how the musical climate, and industry as a whole, has changed since he first started out: “Yeah it has
- indie got so out of fashion amongst the London “trend-setters” as to make us perhaps the most uncool band in the country. But these people are on a revolving door; the music is permanent. So I guess you batton down the hatches and wear the same sweater for ten years. Eventually, you come back in fashion,” he says, “next year, I’ll be the coolest motherfucker in Britian.”
Mancunion Music Show! Every Thursday, 5:00pm
Listen online at www.fusefm.co.uk Review
Review
Anna Calvi The Albert Hall - 6th February 2014 First thing is first; Anna Calvi looks exquisite. From the moment this figure of terrifying beauty sauntered on stage, I’m certain the entire audience fell instantly in love. But her striking femininity is made even more enticing by a certain boldness that seems to scream, “I am as fearless and powerful as any man”. Opening with ‘Suzanne and I’, Calvi gains complete control, not only of her band who respond instantaneously, but she has us all in her sole captive. It’s her operatic shrill
Childish Gambino
that alone might sound sickly, when posed against her attack on the electric guitar, just works. With this guitar she dispels any aspersions of her as just a pretty face. Yet when her red nails intricately work their way up and down the guitar’s neck particularly on ‘Eliza’, she is effortlessly provocative. She is forceful and delicate at the same time, with her voice rising and falling from extreme intensity to a whisper in a matter of moments. Adding to her coolness, Calvi doesn’t utter a
9/10
word between songs, but shows gratitude for the wild applause with a coy nod of the head. The descent into each song is so well timed with her voice pitching to perfection, that often her fierceness is lost entirely. ‘Sing To Me’ is chilling in its minimalism, with Calvi’s ghost-like vocals haunting throughout. This fragility stands in stark contrast to the aggression of ‘I’ll Be Your Man’, where Calvi proves her success is worth more than a red lipstick. Returning for an encore of ‘Blackout’ and ‘Jezebel’, I don’t think it’s too bold to call her set faultless. She manages to unleash a ferociousness on the guitar which perfectly compliments the raw elegance of her voice, and experiencing this within the atmospheric walls of the Albert Hall, the result cannot be anything but winning.
Gorilla - 5th February 2014 Childish Gambino, also known as the actor and comedian Donald Glover, thrilled fans at his latest gig in Manchester this month. After his extremely successful ‘Camp’ album, his dedicated followers were keen to see what the rapper had in store for them with his latest release ‘Because the Internet’. In many ways this did not disappoint, with some tracks like ‘Sweatpants’, and ‘WORLDSTAR’ sure to get the crowds going! After a long wait in the relatively small venue of Gorilla, with no support act or hype, Childish
Gambino appeared on stage. A live band stood behind him and begun the dramatic drum beat of the track ‘Crawl’, from his latest album. The crowd was very responsive, in part due to the intimate size of the gig, but also because the track itself was the perfect song to begin with. The rapper then proceeded to please the crowd with many of the most heavy tracks from his new album, but surprisingly delighted fans with some of the most famous tracks from ‘Camp’, such as ‘Heartbeat’, and ‘Bonfire’. It goes without saying
8/10
that the room soon felt electric with excitement! After his set ended, the crowd screamed for more and an appreciative Childish Gambino emerged once more to end with a bang, by playing some of his favourite tracks from his old album ‘Royalty’. This was something die-hard fans were waiting for. On top of this Gambino, proceeded to rile the crowd even more by producing some verses written just for his fans in Manchester. Though at times the mic was perhaps not quite loud enough, it was clear that Childish Gambino was made for live performances; his singing was recording worthy and his rapping was full of passion. In short; an amazing gig, with an amazing artist.
Natalie Proctor Cordelia Milward
14
Music
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Mancunion Recommends
Book now: 0161 832 1111
Now: Foster The People Supermodel
For full listings visit:
manchesteracademy.net FEBRUARY Mikill Pane Friday 14th
Columbia Records Release Date - 18th March 2014
Since the release and extensive touring of debut album Torches in 2011, Foster the People have been keeping a very low profile. Sceptics may take the stance that the band who wrote hit single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ were simply one hit wonders, and a three year silence will also have meant that some of their audience may have forgotten of their existence. Supermodel is the bands long awaited second album. First single ‘Coming of Age’ landed in January and its title is indicative of the whole album. While the band have retained their signature dance infused sound, the band’s song writing has definitely matured. Supermodel contains an eclectic mix of styles: from the African drums underlying ‘Are You What You Want To Be?’, to the disco funk bass line of the
8/10
‘Best Friend’ (arguably the best song on the album). ‘Nevermind’ is a return to the bands recognisable jangly pop sound, but in contrast it’s dark and brooding lyrics portray the ugly side of western capitalist and consumerist culture. ‘Fire Escape’ continues this theme, with haunting harmonic vocals recognising that seasons and fashions change, while imploring us not to be lured into their cycle. Finally the strangely titled ‘Goats in Trees’ is acoustic and stripped back, providing a welcome break from the fast tempo of the rest of the album. The band have promised that the record will really come alive on stage, and it’s hard to doubt them. Following a long tour of the USA and Canada in April and May, there is a visible hiatus in the band’s touring schedules in June and July, so we can surely expect to see them at several UK and European festivals over the summer months. Supermodel is hardly going to win over the haters, but fans of Torches are in for a treat. While the album doesn’t have a single as catchy and stand out as ‘Pumped up Kicks’, as an LP it is stronger and shows more longevity than Torches . While it may have taken Foster the People long enough to create their second album, thankfully the band have avoided suffering from the dreaded second album syndrome. Matthew Staite
Then: Lauryn Hill -The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Ruffhouse/Columbia Records - August 1998. With a turbulent personal life involving unexpected pregnancies with Bob Marley’s son Rohan and arrests for tax evasion last year, it’s easy to forget how monumental a landmark ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ was for Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul. Released as her solo debut following the disbandment of the Fugees in 1997, Hill won five Grammys for the LP and it’s easy to see why. The album incorporates influences that span from R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop and Reggae and recounts Hill’s experiences in dealing with moterhood, the Fugees, love, heartbreak and God. In fact, throughout the album regular interludes are played of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children, in order to suggest a larger community working to redefine itself. Hill’s lyrical honesty is thus best shown in track ‘Ex-Factor’ that lasting almost 6 minutes, narrates her struggles in love over licks of soulful guitar. Referencing good friend Aretha Franklin, Hill said at the album’s release “I wanted to make honest music like her. She was able to grow up and find herself. I don’t like things to be too perfect or too polished.” This lyrical integrity has therefore left a legacy of endless covers such as that of ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’ released last year by Hip-Hop
prodigy Angel Haze. It’s unclear whether Hill’s return to Music this year is born from musical inspiration or a need to pay the tax-man but really, the music world couldn’t care less. If her new material is half as good as the debut, we could be witnessing the rebirth of R&B.
Parquet Courts Saturday 15th Tich Monday 15th Sonic Boom Six Wednesday 19th M.A.D. Friday 21st Room 94 Saturday 22nd MDNGHT Saturday 22nd Laura Cantrell Saturday 22nd RockSoundImpericonExposureTour2014 We Came As Romans + Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! + The Color Morale + Palm Reader Wednesday 26th Black Onassis Thursday 27th
MARCH
Hue & Cry Thursday 10th Memphis May Fire Friday 11th Manchester Orchestra Friday 11th UB40 Saturday 12th Penetration Saturday 12th Gallon Drunk Tuesday 15th Augustines Wednesday 16th The Summer Set Thursday 17th Berlin Berlin Saturday 19th The Temperance Movement Wednesday 23rd Uncle Acid &The Deadbeats Thursday 24th
The Dear Hunter And Anthony Green Saturday 1st
Patent Pending & People On Vacation Friday 25th
Temples Saturday 1st
Jace Everett with band Friday 25th
Blackberry Smoke Sunday 2nd
The Smiths Ltd Saturday 26th
Black Lights Saturday 8th
John Butler Trio Sunday 27th
Example Friday 14th Heaven 17 Saturday 15th Maximo Park Saturday 15th Sex Pistols Experience Saturday 15th Space & Republica Thursday 20th NMEAwardstour2014withAustin,Texas: Interpol + Temples + Royal Blood + Circa Waves Thursday 20th Ian Prowse & Amsterdam Friday 21st Quadrophenia Night Friday 21st Heaven’s Basement Saturday 22nd Transmission - The Sounds of Joy Division Saturday 22nd Azealia Banks Wednesday 26th Bonafide Wednesday 26th Deathstars Wednesday 26th Jack Savoretti Thursday 27th Loveable Rogues Friday 28th Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank (TGT) Friday 28th The Stranglers Saturday 29th
APRIL Phoebe Clarke Music Editor
Johnette Napolitano (Of Concrete Blonde) Thursday 10th
Hopsin Tuesday 1st The Robert Glasper Experiment Wednesday 2nd Emblem3 Thursday 3rd Therapy? Troublegum 20th Anniversary Thursday 3rd Mentallica vs Megadeth UK Saturday 5th
Blood Red Shoes Monday 28th
MAY De La Soul Friday 2nd Northside Saturday 3rd Clean Bandit Wednesday 7th The Hold Steady Wednesday 7th Janelle Monae Wednesday 7th Martin Stephenson & The Daintees Thursday 8th Jagwar Ma Saturday 10th The Clone Roses Saturday 10th Pentatonix Tuesday 13th Lit Wednesday 14th CASH – The No.1 Johnny Cash Tribute Saturday 17th Goldfinger/Zebrahead Thursday 22nd Ned’s Atomic Dustbin + The Wedding Present + CUD + The Sultans Of Ping + The Frank & Walters + Chameleons Vox
GIGANTIC – Classic Indie All Dayer Bank Holiday Saturday 24th
The War On Drugs Wednesday 28th AWOLNATION Thursday 29th
REST OF 2014 Schoolboy Q Sunday 1st June The Polyphonic Spree Saturday 7th June Jurassic 5 Thursday 19th June Extreme – Pornograffitti Live Tour Friday 4th July Anberlin Thursday 7th August AxisOfAwesome Monday22ndSeptember Vance Joy Thursday 25th September
Bipolar Sunshine Saturday 5th
Evile (Album Launch Show) Saturday 27th September
Deaf Havana Saturday 5th
The Orb Saturday 18th October
Riverside Sunday 6th
Asking Alexandria Friday 31st October
Devildriver Wednesday 9th
Cockney Rejects Thursday 6th November
The Wildhearts Thursday 10th
LimehouseLizzy Saturday22ndNovember
Games
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
15
Editor: Alasdair Preston Feature
Preview
Retro Corner
Oculus Rift
Damien Trinh investigates the phenomenon; is it the future, or just a fad? So dawns the age of virtual reality, brought to you by Oculus VR Incorporated. Their product, Oculus Rift, manages to do something where so many others have failed: affordable virtual reality that actually works, and it works very well. Most attempts prior to this have either flopped or been out of the price range for most gamers. Right from the get go, Oculus Rift managed to lure gamers in. Starting on the crowd funding site Kickstarter, the developers set an initial target of $250,000. They achieved this in less than 24 hours. By the end of their campaign they had raised a staggering $2.4 million. This piled on the pressure for Oculus to deliver. So did they? Absolutely. Oculus Rift is a head mounted display which works independently from your PC monitor. That is, the games you play will be shown through the Oculus Rift’s own screen, achieving a depth of field by creating different images for your left and right eyes. It’s more than just a small screen mounted to your head. That would be pointless. The screen actually mimics human vision making the games you play all that more immersive. Coupled with this is its ability to track head movements, allowing you to look around in real time. This isn’t even the final consumer version, just the development kit for testing. As you can probably imagine, as well as all the fun and immersion Oculus Rift brings, so too does it bring motion sickness and dizziness; a common complaint amongst early testers. Still being in development, Oculus revealed an updated version in the recent Consumer Electronics Show 2014, Crystal Cove. This new prototype reduces the motion blur associated with moving your head, making the induced nausea much less and the
Preview
Preview Sora Ltd. & Namco Bandai • Nintendo • Out: 2014 • Available on Wii U & 3DS The next iteration of the famous brawler franchise didn’t shock when it was announced back in 2011 at E3. In fact, series director Sakurai was probably the most surprised by the revelation, as Nintendo head honcho Iwata announced the news seemingly without confirming with Sakurai. When we first heard about the new Smash Bros, Nintendo’s outlook was very different to today. The 3DS was beginning to find it’s feet, and their new system, the Wii U was on the horizon. Compare that situation with now, the 3DS is thriving while the Wii U is struggling to make an impact. Nintendo are banking on killer IPs Mario Kart and Smash Bros to shift Wii U units in decent numbers.
Image: Oculus VR
graphics much clearer while moving around. However, Crystal Cove does something much more amazing. Already being able to track your head as you look around, Crystal Cove tracks not just where you’re looking, but how far forward or back your head is. In essence, not only does it let you look around an aircraft cockpit, for example, but also move forward and look closer at the instruments and controls, putting you right there in the game. Since the first development kits were released, thousands of videos have been broadcast on YouTube showing a variety of games and how they work with Oculus Rift. Imagine games like Minecraft, DayZ or Skyrim and actually being face to face with a fearsome foe, with the ability to examine the world up close around you to an already highly involved game. Or would you perhaps prefer flying a Spitfire, firing down upon your enemies, moving your head frantically as you try to get a visual on other aircraft? What about having a godlike feeling as you overlook the battlefield in a real time strategy, giving you ultimate control as your ever watching gaze sweeps around like the Eye of Sauron? Oculus Rift makes all of this possible. With each passing month more games are
Kris Coombes relives the early-noughties cult classic Hogs of War
adding support for Oculus Rift. Action and Adventure games are where Oculus Rift really comes into it’s element, with support already available for the hugely popular Half Life 2 and Minecraft, and an unofficial mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Oculus Rift would work well with any game with a first person aspect, such as racing games like F1 2013 or DiRT 3. Needless to say it makes horror games an even more frightening experience that’ll make you come back for more. The rise of indie games like Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable means Oculus Rift can give a completely new dimension of exploration. The consumer version is expected to be released at the end of 2014 or early 2015. There’s no word yet on price, but the development kit is currently $300. Perhaps this may seem a little steep, but it definitely shouldn’t be viewed as a new game or gimmick. It’s more on the level of a new PC monitor, in which case the price isn’t that bad and is actually relatively affordable. The current resolution of the Oculus Rift is 1280x800 on a seven inch screen, however the consumer version is expected to be 1920x1080. There are talks already of a 4K version for an ultra high definition and mesmerising experience. Moving in a game is of course still limited to traditional methods; a controller or keyboard and mouse, but you really can’t expect much more from them. As it stands, Oculus Rift is the closest you’ll actually get to traversing epic landscapes, piloting a plane or running into a bloody battle, all from the comfort of your PC. It manages to connect the game on your screen to the seat you’re sitting in and, from here, things can only get better.
During the early to mid-90s, a freeware game sparked a new genre of gaming: turn-based strategy. Scorched Earth had you control the turrets of a fleet of stationary tanks and battle another fleet of tanks. Fast forward towards the end of the century; Worms has established itself as a universally-loved classic, Square had released the critically-acclaimed spin-off Final Fantasy Tactics, and turn-based strategy had been integrated into the action/ adventure genre in the combat aspects of games such as Hybrid Heaven. To this day, the Worms series remains as popular as ever, which is why it saddens me that Hogs of War never got the sequel it deserved. It had been announced for April 2009, but the financial collapse of Infogrames laid waste to those plans. Hogs of War, released June 8th 2000, is a story about an army of porky privates (always with the anthropomorphic characters) with one aim: to conquer the aptly swine-shaped isles of Saustralasia and claim its rich source of swill, ordered to do so by the grizzled pig-incarnation of Rik Mayall. Battling as one of England, France, Germany, USA, Japan, or Russia, the campaign mode is comprised of 26 hilarious and simultaneously frustrating missions. Hogs is unique in that you can assign each pig to a class with promotion points depending on whether you want to bazooka the enemy to kingdom come, utilise your tactical knowledge to spy on the opposition, or make use of a delectable array of explosives. The 3D element was a great idea, perhaps crudely executed graphically, but everything aside from jumping worked very well (my expectations would be too high to expect a pig to execute a picturesque leap across a river on its hind trotters anyway). The best part of all this is the dry wit and over-the-top stereotypical comedy ladled across the game. The names of the Russian pigs, for example, all end in “ski”, and the plucky Brits have names typically associated with the comical representation of our armed forces, such as Ginger and Nobby. Rik Mayall adds his sarcastic two cents throughout the missions and in the cutscene comedy skits, and this is accompanied by accents too daft to be considered offensive. I live in hope that, one day, someone with the technical nous picks up where Infogrames left off and creates a worthy sequel. Kickstarter, anyone?
Feature
Super Smash The rise and fall Bros. of Flappy Bird Can Nintendo’s flagship fighter rescue them from financial failure? Development on the titles began in 2012 and, in a first for the series, is a joint venture between usual studio Sora Ltd. and Namco Bandai. The newcomers bring with them their experience of several major fighting franchises including Soulcalibur and Tekken. Image:ToTheGame
As is becoming traditional during development of a Smash Bros. title, we’ve been
drip fed new information and screenshots since day one. “Big reveals” have brought us tidbits such as the return of Mario & co. to the lineup. More significant announcements tell us that Capcom’s Megaman has joined the roster, along with the return of Sonic, finally allowing gamers to settle some very old scores. Between the handheld and console versions, we know that the characters available will be the same, but the stages will be different. This is to facilitate some as yet undetailed compatibility between the two titles. We do know that this will not be in the form of cross platform multiplayer a-la Playstation Allstars Battle Royale.
Alasdair Preston
The saga of a simple game gone supernova You could be forgiven for wondering just what Flappy Bird is. The simple smartphone game came out of nowhere just a few weeks ago and now is disappearing just as suddenly.
Image: Alasdair Preston
The list of reasons people give for liking or disliking it is longer than this paper. Common Flappy Bird complaints include it’s heavily Mario-influenced art and frustrating difficulty. Dong Nguyen started 2014 as a practically unknown developer in Hanoi. His 2013 free release, Flappy Bird, was flying under the radar for most smartphone gamers. Then it exploded. Instantaneously, it seemed that everywhere you looked people were playing and talking about Flappy Bird. What made Flappy Bird capture everyone’s attention wasn’t flash or hype. In fact, it was quite the opposite. When compared to competitors on the Android and iOS app stores, Flappy Bird is exceptionally understated. It’s visuals are simple, there is almost no delay between starting up the game
and playing and there are no microtransactions or pay-walls. Like many similar games you’ve probably already played, the idea behind Flappy Bird was simply to propel your dopey avian through pipes by tapping the screen. The mechanics of this have been lambasted and loved by many. Nguyen has come under fire from popular gaming websites and social networking, with Kotaku’s Jason Schreier (himself no stranger to causing controversy) reporting that “Flappy Bird is making $50,000 a day off ripped art” before hastily toning down his accusations and apologising. When asked how many death threats he was receiving per day, Nguyen replied, “Few hundreds”. Finally, on February 8th, Nguyen tweeted “I’m sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I wil take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this any more.” Sure enough, the next day the game had vanished from the App and Google Play stores. Nguyen has stated his intent to continue developing games.
Alasdair Preston
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Susie Coen, Marie ClareYates, Halee Wells (Beauty)
TOP
5
I’m sexy and I know it... Feature
Scarlett Whittell on how to spice up your life with her favourite saucy role play outfits
If you’re strolling into February (the sexiest month of the year) without a role play outfit lurking somewhere in the back of you’re underwear drawer, now is the time to sort that out. 1. Sexcretary The classic. ‘Oh I’m working late in the office, bending over the photocopier and such … Oh no! All of my clothes have fallen off to reveal a skimpy pinstripe two piece!’ That’s just a little bit of inspiration for the script which accompanies the wearing of this outfit. Plus, as the dissertation deadlines creep closer, dressing as a sexcretary could allow you to fit in an extra couple of minutes of research whilst pretending to do your paperwork. Practical and sexy, genius.
2. School Girl For the economically thrifty roleplayers, the naughty school girl option is a winner. You could fork out for a few thin strips of tartan, or alternatively you could revamp the real thing. Dig out your frumpy old school skirt, shorten it to a totally inappropriate length and bobs your uncle. If you have an old shirt lying around you could incorporate that, or else maybe just go for a tie. Less is more in these situations anyway.
/TheMancunion: Fashion & Beauty @MancunionFash
“They should avoid dressing like sluts” Anna Sopel on sexual harassment and the We Get It campaign
What is sexy?
Elle magazine seems to have got themselves into a bit of a pickle. February’s fourth annual Women in TV Issue featured some of the small-screen’s most talked about actresses: Zooey Deschanel , Allison Williams, and Amy Poehler all looked fabulous, yet Mindy Kaling’s cover caused quite a stir. The Mindy Project star’s shot is undeniably beautiful, but the unmistakable differences between the covers’ styles have sparked an intense backlash. Mindy’s cover is shot in black and white and a close up, whilst the other women’s covers feature full body shots in colour. Instantly, with each of these covers sitting side by side on a newsstand, you can’t help but notice a painstakingly obvious disparity.
Lady in red...
Nikki Patel shows us how to pull off sexy during this season of lurrrve. The red lip and sexy eye combo is a look that will never date. But with this look, you’ll definitely score yourself a rather hot one...
If Kaling’s cover had solely been published, this big furore would have been a smidgen of its current size, if not non-existent. But with being able to compare it to the other actresses, is Elle subconsciously telling us what is and isn’t considered sexy? Or is the public’s preconceived idea of what is sexy the reason why in defending Kaling they actually offended her? So what is considered sexy? Obviously, the general idea of what ‘sexy’ is has evolved over the years. From women’s body shapes to men’s facial hair, transforming cultures and changing times have been accompanied by the evolving notions of ‘sexy’. In a society where, whether we like it or not, celebrity culture guides what is considered sexy, hot and beautiful, the general definition in the dictionary would probably be next to a picture of Mila Kunis. We have our Megan Foxes, our Blake Livelys and our Beyonces prescribing this ideal of what’s hot and whats not. But then we have women like P!NK, Nigella Lawson and Meryl Streep, who don’t typically fit the size zero, young, hot mould, yet are still considered some of the world’s sexiest women.
Unfortunately sexual harassment is an all too common part of daily life, and statistics would suggest it is something you, your friend, your sister, or your mother may have experienced. This doesn’t always mean rape, it may be someone pinching your bum in a club, a man shouting at you in the street to “get your tits out” or a guy commenting on a Facebook photo that “she’d get it”. I don’t care if a woman is dressed in tiny bum-revealing hot pants and a crop top, she isn’t asking for it. I don’t care if a woman is dressed in a skin-tight, boob and bum accentuating dress, she isn’t asking for it. I don’t care if a woman goes out dressed in a skimpy bra and a thong, she is NEVER asking for it (although she may be asking for pneumonia). The University of Manchester has recognised this is a problem and as a result has launched the We Get It campaign. This campaign seeks to spread awareness for the fact that sexual harassment happens on campus in everyday situations. The campaign urges people to take a pledge that they will stand up against and report sexual harassment whenever they see it. The campaign has also launched the must-have accessory for this Spring, a We Get It wrist band which every person who takes the pledge will receive. Sign the pledge at wegetit.nationbuilder.com and get yours!
Feature
Skye Scott explains how underwear doesn’t need to be confined to the bedroom...
Think delicate satin, lace, tulle and contouring. These aspects of the lingerie department have now become acceptable to wear as clothing. The trend originated when stage performers such as Madonna and Lady Gaga started to wear corsets and body suits. Then underwear and more daring designs started to be worn on the red carpet. It is thought that the trend is to blame for the large increase in sales for nipple stickers and boob tape. This season is no different. Many of us have it in our wardrobes already and we are quite happy to add to it for the summer season.
If upholding the law is your sort of thing, then make sure you take FULL advantage of buying all the fun props to go with your police woman outfit. Handcuffs, some nunchucks … potentially a whip (totally dependent on your pain threshold of course). This lady over here has gone ubertechnological with a walkie talkie! This accessory is useful if your role play is taking place over a number of rooms, or if you’re incorporating a game such as hide and seek (don’t laugh, I’ve heard that this a genuine thing). 5. Saucy Sister (aka. A Nun)
The Lace Slip
The Cami
The Bralet
Perhaps you feel that February 2014 is calling for something outside the box. Cue the saucy sister! The designer of this PVC monstrosity clearly lost their mind when they decided that a sexy nun outfit was the way to make their millions. It is a bit too closely linked to the church, and as a result a bit of an uncomfortable choice. Particularly because of the white priest collar. Well, if it is up your street I am glad to have been of service and brought it to your attention. For the rest of us it’s just funny to have a giggle isn’t it.
You may think this is something your grannie would wear under her favourite ankle skimming floral skirt, but think again. The Lace Slip in silk or satin has been on the catwalks this season. They are available in dark, midnight hues or colourful florals for summer days. It was popularised when Victoria Beckham wore a Louis Vuitton one out at Wimbledon. Since then, all our high street favourites have caught on. This one from ASOS has the ultimate sex appeal. It is made from a silky fabric with a peek-a-boo lace plunging neckline. It has the perfect balance of lingerie and subtle sexiness. In black, it also nods to one of this summer seasons colour trends.
The Cami has been a big trend and we bet there aren’t many wardrobes without one now. In silk and lace with skinny straps that emulate bra straps they have a subtle nod to our underwear. This season, make sure that your wearing a satin or silk version for a light and sexy feel. They are perfect paired with jeans for a smart casual occasion. Look out for camisoles with little features to make them a bit different from the usual vest. This one from Topshop has a racerback with super skinny straps to flatter the body. And choose a colour for your skin tone like this rosy shade. There are plenty of floral and polka dot varieties around for summer as well.
The Bralet can vary from literally just a bra, to a corset type, to a slinky lace number. It is perhaps the most daring and definitely the most revealing key item for the underwear as outerwear trend. But worn with high waisted skirts or jeans or even layered over long sleeved tees it can become instantly wearable. This H&M version has a ruffled edging for a little more coverage. With the skinny straps, triangle bra shape and little hook and eye fastenings it gives the shape and support of a bra. The colour is perfect for spring; wear it layered over a striped tee for daytime or with high waisted disco pants for night. Images: ASOS, Topshop, H&M
Step 1: After priming and applying your foundation, using a soft, wide eye shadow brush, pat a matte brown shadow all over the lids as a base, bringing it up to just ender the brown bone. Next, define your eyes by brushing a richer brown into your eye creases.
Is it outrageous that Lively’s slender frame and P!NK’s athletic build can both be described using the same word, even though Lively’s Hollywood body is considered the norm? I believe that everyone has their own opinion on what they find sexy. I personally think that Megan Fox’s sexy is actually way too intimidating, verging on scary. On the other hand, Christina Hendricks is my kind of woman. Some of you may think Kim Kardashian is the epitome of sexiness, yet some of you may have been offended by that and will probably stop reading. Sexy is, to state a cliché, in the eye of the beholder. So when it comes to the Elle covers, of course they are all sexy. I mean, they would be sexier without all the airbrushing, but that’s a topic for another issue…
Opinion
The metro vs. the hetro
Sean Gleeson questions whether the current obession with male grooming is what really rings our bells
4. Police Woman
Images: sparklingstrawberry.com; yandy.com; newegg.com
Beauty bible
People were outraged that Elle would attempt to hide Kaling’s body and ethnicity, yet it was Mindy herself who tweeted, ‘“I love my @Ellemagazine cover. It made me feel glamorous & cool. And if anyone wants to see more of my body, go on thirteen dates with me.” Elle’s Editor-in-Chief Roberta Myers shot back with a response, declaring that the notion of trying to hide Kaling’s shape and ethnicity goes against what Elle believes in, and that the choice in cover was because she looked, “powerful, beautiful, potent, and sexy in the best sense of the word.” Which she does, without a doubt. And if Mindy herself loved it, why should the rest of the world kick up such a fuss?
Being dressed sluttily, sexily, provocatively, whatever you want to call it, has for too long been used as an excuse for the disgusting, but all to frequent occurrence of men sexually harassing women. One of the most famous examples of this was when a Canadian police officer, Constable Michael Sanguinetti suggested that in order for women to remain safe “they should avoid dressing like sluts”. This kick started a global campaign called SlutWalk in which participants protest against explaining rape by referring to any aspect of a women’s appearance. According to SlutWalk Manchester “We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result. Being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work, or if we choose not to have sex at all”.
Bra-vo!
Images: Instagram @pbandj_eromy, Flickr Creative Commons
Natalie Clark discusses THAT Elle cover, and what sexy really is...
What does it mean to dress like a slut? Back in the day, being a slut meant being a bit slovenly and messy, but today the word has taken on a whole different meaning. The English Oxford dictionary informs me that being a slut means “a woman who has many casual sexual partners”, and that dressing slutty is a manifestation of this. Have you ever gone out in a pair of denim hot pants and a crop top, or a tight dress revealing your cleavage? The chances are, you’ve dressed up for a night out in a ‘slutty’ manner, I know for sure that I have. If dressing ‘slutty’ merely means dressing in a provocative and sexually attractive manner, then I’m sure the majority of women for most of human history and across different cultures have done this at some point. So what is the motivation for a woman to dress in this ‘slutty’ way? Because she can and it feels good? Absolutely. To catch someone’s eye? Most likely. To impress her friends or a man? Probably. To be sexually harassed? Nope, never.
17
Beauty
Beauty
3. Naughty Nurse Armed with a plastic stethoscope, you will be well equipped to tackle any pain or ache your chosen one might be suffering from. The matching hat is my favourite element, I can’t help but wonder if there is an elastic strap to hold it on? Balancing that on your head whilst strutting around must be a distraction. Maybe some hat-wearing role players could send us a review?
Fashion
It’s no secret that the 21st century man is one who likes to groom; the Guardian recently reported that the UK male skincare market is now worth a staggering £600 million, suggesting we are slowly but surely becoming as beauty savvy as our female counterparts. Whilst a trip to the barbers and a dab of moisturiser may have once sufficed, the modern regime can now encompass everything from concealers, waxing (of all parts), and even the odd mani-pedi. Now I for one am all for us gents looking after ourselves; I’m never without a decent face wash and moisturiser, and without my tweezers my eyebrow mid-section would be highly questionable. But has male grooming gone too far? And what exactly do women prefer when it comes to their men; the rugged heterosexual, or the preened and polished metrosexual? I never like to write an article without backing it up with the cold hard facts, and so I decided to carry out some in depth research into the matter. I selected two well-known faces that I felt most accurately represented each end of the hetro/metro spectrum; Hugh Jackman and Joey Essex. Although one is arguably slightly more successful than the other, each certainly has his army of adoring fans.
Clicking onto the most recent Hugh related article on the Mail Online, one comment (from Monica in Houston) reads ‘DAMN THAT MAN IS TOO FINE!! IT SHOULD BE A LAW THAT EVERY MAN HAS TO WORK OUT LIKE MR. JACKMAN’, whilst Joey has become a national treasure of sorts, appearing on Celebrity Juice at least 17 times, not once with a hair out of place. Next up was gathering a focus group, consisting of my four female housemates and a couple coursemates for good measure. Despite Joey winning the accolade of not coming last on this year’s ‘I’m a Celebrity’, unsurprisingly Hugh came out on top, with some comments all but mimicking that of Monica’s. So why is it then, so many of us men are taking influence from the sun-kissed, veneer sporting Essex, as opposed to the un-kept rugged Jackman? We can’t deny our tans are getting deeper, our skin getting softer and our facial hair getting sharper, but is it time we put down the trimmer, and resisted the urge to look as good as all those models do in the Clarin’s ads? I urge you to give it a go; if anything you’ll at least have the support of my focus group. Images: Paul Kush Photography & Anthony Stanley @Flickr
Step 2: Now to bring your eyes to life. Using a shimmery highlighter and fine brush (here I have used Mac pigment in Naked) highlight the inner corners of your eyes. Using the same pigment and brush, gently line your lids to add a bit of glamour and really reflect the light. Create a rich shadow under your eyes using your original brown shade and a soft brush before lining your water line with a dark brown/ burgundy liner. Finish it all off with a lick of liquid eyeliner and your favourite mascara. I recommend ‘They’re Real’ by Benefit.
Step 3: Now for the lips. Grab a lip liner in a deep red shade and after lining the outer lip shape, fill in the entire area as you would with lipstick. This acts as a failsafe lip primer to ensure that your lip colour stays put for the entire evening. Gently dab your lipstick of choice all over your lips, preferably with a lip brush. Here I have used Dior in 5th Ave which has purple tones but Mac Viva Glam, Revlon Matte in Forbidden Red and Mac Diva are all beautiful rich lip colours which would suit this look.
Step 4: Set your makeup with a matte finishing powder (Bobbi Brown is my go-to), or try Rimmel Stay Matte powder for a cheaper choice. Now dress to impress and you’re good to go! Happy dating lovebirds. Images: Nikki Patel
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson, Angus Harrison Top 5
TOP
Awkward sex scenes
5
Lloyd Hammett gives us his top five scenes to leaving you groaning (one way or another) 5. American Pie (1999) The beginning of awkward teenage sexual experiences starts here with the beautiful Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) naked on Jim’s ( Jason Biggs) bed and it’s time for him to become a man, live on a webcam. What happens? He does an extremely strange strip tease gets into bed and gets way too excited way too soon, twice.
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) The film is chock full of awkward brilliance from slamming on the wall fake orgasms to some extremely long unsuccessful oral. However, this barely compares to the little side story of the newly weds who just can’t consummate the marriage or just don’t know how, “God put our mouths on our head for a reason. No!”
3. Knocked Up (2007) Judd Apatow has a keen eye for awkward sex it would seem with The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) bursting with it. However, it reaches new heights whilst Alison (Katherine Heigl) is pregnant, because Ben (Seth Rogen) cannot quite bring himself to continue the deed. Why not? This quote says it all; “all I see is our baby getting poked in the face by my penis.”
2. Superbad (2007) The girl you like gets so drunk she flings herself at you, but you end up quoting health class, whilst she attempts some very strange dirty talk right before she throws up everywhere. Michael Cera is creepy and awkward looking enough without putting him into this sort of scenario.
1. Gigli (2003) This is special on the list for one reason; it isn’t supposed to be awkward. Yet it is some of the most cringe worthy dialogue you’ll ever hear (“gobble gobble”), alongside the strangest music choice that makes it almost unbearably awkward to witness. .
Feature
the FEATURE:
The 2014 Oscars and ‘Victim Narratives’
Sarah Murray discusses The Wolf of Wall Street’s place amongst the hard-hitting Oscarnominated narratives this year Author and film critic Bret Easton Ellis has been talking recently on his online podcast series about ‘Victim Narratives.’ Ellis identifies a trend in modern cinema toward the ‘cult of victimization,’ and claims that this trend can be clearly recognized in the Best Picture nominations for the 2014 Oscars. The nominations include features that tell the story of African-American slavery, of individuals suffering from AIDS, and of Captain Phillips’s plight at the hands of Somali pirates. However, Ellis picks out Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street as an anomaly in this pattern. The Wolf of Wall Street has sparked a number of debates and discussions, and provoked a varied range of critical opinions. Critics have noted that the film drops the ‘F-Bomb’ more than any other in cinematic history. Another key concern has been the ways in which the film glamorizes Wall Street culture, and the unrelenting greed and hedonism of the elite. However, what is arguably much more interesting is the critical focus on ‘Victimhood.’ In the end of The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort does not appear to have learnt anything after his release from prison, as he gives an enthusiastic talk on sales. Critics and audiences have expressed outrage that Belfort was not sufficiently punished or condemned by the film, and at the fact that the ‘victims’ of Belfort and Stratton Oakmont are not represented or sufficiently avenged. Ellis claims that the so-called ‘victims’ of Belfort were just as dumb and greedy as he was. Blinded by their own greed, they failed to see through the smooth talk and the promise of money to see the lame scam that was Belfort’s company, Stratton
Oakmont. On the theatrical poster for The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio as Belfort invites us with a smile and open arms to the Belfort show, as chaos ensues in the background. We the audience watch this show, this unapologetic roller coaster ride of
debauchery, transfixed for the three hours running time. The final shot of the movie is Belfort’s audience looking back at us, Belfort’s other audience. Our relationship to the film instantly changes. We are forced to recognize ourselves in the role of spectator, more enamoured than the blank faces that look back at us in that closing shot. Ellis argues that ‘Victim Narratives’ are passive narratives, and that The Wolf of Wall Street deserves to win the Best Picture award for defying this tendency in modern cinema to hail the victims as the new heroes. I would completely disagree, and argue the opposite. Let me take Dallas Buyers Club
and 12 Years a Slave as an example. The characters within these films are not passive. They are, in fact, incredibly active. Captivating in their refusal to be victimized, their ability to endure and remain hopeful no matter what grips us and leaves us feeling inspired. In Dallas Buyer’s Club, Matthew McConaughey’s Ron Woodruff stubbornly refuses to lie down and die, after he is diagnosed with HIV and given 30 days to live. When Woodruff finds that AZT, an antiviral thought to prolong the life of AIDS patients, actually causes his health to deteriorate further, he seeks alternative medications. Woodruff begins to sell them to others suffering from AIDS once he finds that they work. However, as they are not FDA approved, he faces fierce opposition from them. Woodruff is far from passive; his every move is a ‘fuck you’ to victimhood. Similarly, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northup, in 12 Years a Slave, refuses to give up hope that he will be freed and reunited with his family. His story is full of hope and endurance under the most unimaginable pain and suffering. His character is anything but passive. Ellis is right in saying that the 2014 Best Picture nominations tend to tell the story of the victim, but I disagree entirely that this is a negative thing that brings the category down. There have been many fantastic releases this year, as the nominations show, precisely because they depict characters railing against oppression and victimization. Their activity, rather than accepting the state of passivity enforced upon them, will continue to inspire us.
Preview
the PREVIEW:
The Fault in our Stars
Steel yourselves: this one’s going to be a weepie. Ever since the colossal Harry Potter series demonstrated the box office drawing power of Young Adult novel adaptations, film studios have been trying to recapture lightning in a bottle to varying degrees of success. The Twilight series shambled alongside the later Potter movies for a while and introduced, whisper it, “supernatural romance” to the equation. In the wake of R-Patz and K-Stew we’ve had southern gothic witches (with boy problems), angelic demon hunters (with boy problems) and parasitic, alien bodysnatchers (so many boy problems!!) dominating the multiplex while the superheroes were on their days off. So for a young adult adaptation to not feature some element of the supernatural at this point is remarkable. The Fault in Our Stars is adapted from the wildly successful novel of the same name, released in 2012 to rave reviews. The author, John Green, is one half of the popular YouTube siblings, the Vlogbrothers and if you’re familiar with his video work then the writing style of the novel will instantly be familiar to you. Eloquent, sometimes knowingly pretentious
Director: Josh Boone Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff Released: 20th June 2014
prose offset by a deep vein of sincerity and a dash of smart-ass. The plot centers on Hazel, a 16-year-old cancer
survivor. It should be restated that there is nothing supernatural in this story, no spells, werewolves or love triangles, Augustus Waters is no Edward Cullen and Hazel Grace Lancaster is no Bella Swan. Thank God. Hazel’s temporarily recessive thyroid cancer leads her to a loathsome support
group where she meets Augustus. Saying any more would be telling but suffice to say, what follows is a refreshingly honest, tragic and frequently hilarious romance. Relative newcomers Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort will bring the couple to life onscreen in early June under the direction of the similarly fresh-faced Josh Boone. Fans of the Vlogbrothers will have been treated to months of behind the scenes videos from production which thus far looks very promising. Reaction to the trailer which was released late last month is also a good indicator as we are repeatedly warned to bring a box of tissues and a shoulder to cry on, yep, it’s one of those films. Like the original prose, the film doesn’t sugar-coat the medical aspect as the spectre of Cancer is constantly hanging above proceedings but at its heart, The Fault in Our Stars is a thoughtful, bittersweet love story. Avoid if you’re the stoic type or if teenage witticisms make your skin crawl (as genuine as the dialogue feels, it’s still way too refined to be coming spontaneously from maladjusted teenagers) but for everybody else, a hearty recommendation. Matt Thomas
/filmmancunion @mancunionfilm
Film
19
Review
the REVIEW: Robocop According to Tom Bruce, the 1987 ‘Robocop’ was in no need of a re-boot Paul Verhoeven, director of the 1987 RoboCop, is on record as calling this 21st century remake ‘completely idiotic’, and he’s not wrong either. RoboCop is a corporate bastardisation of everything that the satire-centric original stood for, with little in the way of action or acting. Beginning with a news broadcast lampooning America’s ‘policing’ of the Middle-East, propaganda hypeman Pat Novak (Samuel L Jakcson) asserts that ‘corruption-free’ robots are the best line of defence against criminality, and demands that the senate replace human police officers with giant drones. Back in the US of A, Officer Alex Murphy ( Joel Kinnaman) is cruising the sterile streets of a hi – tech Detroit and trying to bring down mob man Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow), presumably because he has guns and sells pirated DVDs. Long story short, Murphy gets blown to literal pieces and pro-robot-rights Omnicorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) decides to turn him into a 2.6 billion dollar android enforcer. RoboCop takes far too long to become just that, and there are far too many stages to his development; at first he’s just Alex Murphy except
with a metal body and a cool bike, but his past traumas affect his efficiency, so Omnicorp ‘switch off his emotion’, turning him into an impassionate killing machine. Eventually, Murphy is able to override his bot-brain by
references to the original RoboCop, so wildly out of context it makes you wonder if director José Padilha even likes the film. In two hours there are only four action scenes, three of which take
quantifying people’s expressions (i.e Fear: 70%, Sadness: 65%) to become some kind of po-faced humanitarian. Each incarnation is more inexplicable then the next, and throughout you are forced to endure face-palm inducing
place in identical warehouses and unfold like the opening missions of a game of Time Crisis, only difference being that when it’s game over you won’t want to put another pound in. 1987 RoboCop was gruesomely,
Cornerhouse Pick of the Week
The Invisible Woman
George Bellamy reviews Ralph Fiennes’ latest directorial venture - a biopic of Charles Dickens and his secret lover, Nelly Turnan With his second feature as director, Ralph Fiennes has comfortably established himself as a highly talented cinematic presence both in front of and behind the camera. Like his previous film, the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Fiennes’ film making is as dramatically powerful as it is intellectually stimulating, elegantly moving through impressionistic devices in the cinematography, combined with powerful emotive performances which never seem to imply an egotistic desire behind the bravura of his style. Yet it would be a mistake to construct the success of The Invisible Woman as one attached around the figure of Fiennes, as Abi Morgan’s subtly complex screenplay, and Felicity Jones’ superb performance as the central Invisible Woman both serve the film’s haunting achievements in its portrayal of Nelly Turnan’s relationship with Charles Dickens. The film’s structure concerns Felicity Jones’ Nelly Turnan coming to terms with her relationship with Dickens. Mimetic of the process of memory, the scenes flow over the process through which the young actress becomes a mistress of sorts to Ralph Fiennes’ already famous Charles Dickens. Whilst the story is interested with probing elements of the great writer’s life and work, the real interest is on the effects he had on others, of the distraught caused by the lack of love with his wife, and the tumultuous ramifications of a relationship on the verge of public
scandal. The recurrent evocation of turbulent waves support in an appositely Dickensian fashion the theme of repressed desires, and emotional experience coming to surface in memory - implicitly recreating the motifs and themes of Dickens’ own work. The style is in the realm of the writer’s thought, but is devoid of any resemblance of his sentimentality. From the perspective of the female side, the tensions of the love affair have high stakes in what it could mean for the future of a young woman (Turnan was eighteen when she first met the forty-five year old novelist), and the film exists in a constant state of anxiety of which Fiennes’ Dickens is never fully aware of. The Invisible Woman is a film in which the acting is superb throughout. Yet, credit must be given to the editing and the screenplay – many scenes have their endings coming to an abrupt finish where conclusions do not have verbal evocation, nor are tied up with satisfactory statements. So much is said by the performances of charged gestures, and telling glances that there is barely a sentiment overstated. The film is about collecting the fragments of experience, and the narrative encourages the audience to do so on their own. If Fiennes as a director can keep assembling such talent and skill around him, then he has an illustrious career as an interesting director ahead of him which could rival his acting reputation.
Director: José Padilha Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman Released: 7th February
hilariously over the top with its use of violence, but even Dallas Buyers Club has more blood than this 2014 model – 12 A, really? In order to justify RoboCop’s existence, the Detroit setting should have at least felt dangerous. As it is, the steely dystopia on screen isn’t even as bad the reallife Detroit today. Rusty is the best way to describe most of the performances in RoboCop. Samuel L as Commiehating newsman Pat Novak is no substitute for the uproarious parody scenes interspersed throughout the 1987 classic, while Gary Oldman’s morally compromised Dr Norton is an incoherent mess and Michael Keaton just looks beaten. Joel Kinnaman’s portrayal of the corrugated copper lacks conviction, and Abbie Cornish (aka Mrs RoboCop) is side-lined into obscurity. RoboCop is a tin man of a movie, lacking not just a heart but a brain as well. Joyless to its cybernetic core, the end credits misery is compounded by the shameful use of ‘I Fought the Law’, essentially yelling ‘You didn’t just watch crap!’. But it is crap. It very much is.
From the instant the Russian police force launched into their rendition of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” to the “thank goodness it wasn’t us” moment when the world admired four brightly illuminated Olympic rings instead of five, Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics promised to be one to watch. With the spectacle of the opening ceremony over, attention can finally be focused on the athletes themselves and all the ice related sports we forgot existed, but are so glad we found, are celebrated for two weeks for your catch up TV pleasure until they glide back into obscurity for the next four years. With every nation doing its best to oppose Russia’s anti-gay policy this is lining up to be the most flamboyant Olympics ever. After watching Canada’s ‘The Olympics have always been a little gay’ commercial featuring a Luge warm-up set to The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” (trust me look it up), watching the world’s best roller-coaster suddenly seems like an infinitely more political yet entertaining event. My personal highlight from 2010 has got to be the Snowboard Cross in which highly paid and highly trained professionals fall over each other with extreme frequency, often only a matter of metres from the finish line. With the BBC holding the rights to Olympic coverage iPlayer is where you’ll find this overwhelming array of athletic excellence, hidden gems of absurd humour and some of the most baffling sporting endeavours known to man, all of which are definitely worth a look. If all the camp and pageantry of the opening ceremony is a bit much, then perhaps try Looking, (Sky Player), for a contemporary, realistic portrayal of the lives of gay men in San Francisco. It’s charming and resolutely normal. Eat your heart out Putin. Lucy Gooder
Contrary Corner
Give Spring Breakers a break Nikolas McNally rallies against the dangers of false advertising in Hollywood’s hunt for the widest possible audience “Worst film ever.” “WTF James Franco wasn’t even hot.” These are just snippets of disgruntled Twitter estrogen from ‘Beliebers’ rabidly foaming at the fingertips after watching Spring Breakers. Promoted as a Project X-like celebration of American teen debauchery with the added novelty of Disney girls gone bad, the dejection from an audience with Drake as its favourite philosopher at first seems puzzling. However, under the helm of subversive art-house director Harmony Korine, Spring Breakers’ neon nihilism belies a biting underbelly absent from the standard ‘teen party’ flick. Mostly abandoning a conventional focus on plot or characterization, the film bombards the senses with a psychedelic flurry of industrial noise, dayglo vibrancy and repeated dialogue and shots. The effect varies from grating to unnervingly visceral, though Spring Breakers gains its teeth upon the introduction of the arms-collecting, drug-dealing, grill-brandishing rapper Alien. Borne out of a dark-humoured, wildly unhinged James Franco performance, Alien perfectly captures the zeitgeist of ‘YOLO’ culture, bellowing maniacal
monologues (“Look at my shit!”..) that reflect the toxicity of materialism, excess and the American dream. Such concepts might be too obviously deplorable for commentary on them to be considered ‘deep’, though the decision to push the film towards the very demographic it savages is a curiously scathing one. Here, mismarketing seems
to be a means to stealthily challenge viewers to reevaluate their ideas by holding up the mirror. Though despite critical praise, bile spat back from the teen audience suggests that Korine’s provocation may have fallen on deaf ears. A less respectable case of mismarketing surrounded Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006. English trailers dressed Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy up as a family-friendly gothic take on Narnia, airbrushing out the
backdrop of bloodshed in fascist Spain, which exercises a bleak reign of terror over the film’s tone. Children eagerly awaiting wacky hijinks in the House of Mouse were sucker-punched within the first 15 minutes by the brutal sight of Captain Vidal crushing a peasant’s nose in with a wine bottle, to say nothing of later torture scenes. Not to lapse into nauseating moral guardian territory, but such deceptive marketing ideally shouldn’t completely compromise basic audience sensitivity for financial success. Nevertheless, it paid off: Pan’s Labyrinth proved highly profitable alongside deserved critical acclaim. Less successful was Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are. Pitched ambiguously between a surreal children’s film and an introspective film about childhood, the film broke even only by a hair, suffered considerable scorn from audiences not expecting its low-key, pensive melancholy and quickly disappeared from public memory. An unfortunate danger of mismarketing is now apparent: that it breeds unjustified backlash for films differing from viewers’ preconceptions rather than a genuine judgment of quality.
light up the
t
fill it with noise
On 27 February, take to the streets and Reclaim the Night from street harassment and sexual assault. At 7pm, join a neon parade full of colour, light and sound from Owen’s Park in Fallowfield. The march will be led by a women’s-only block, open to all self- defining women and followed by a mixed march open to all genders. Don’t miss the Reclaim the Night After Party from 9pm in the Students’ Union.
manchesterstudentsunion.com/reclaimthenight
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
/TheMancunion: Books @MancunionBooks
Editors: Esmé Clifford Astbury, Annie Muir
Books
21
Feature
Review
Dulce et decorum est
Aftermath exhibition at the John Rylands library
To mark the 100th anniversary of WWI, Claire Morris examines the work of poets Jessie Pope and Wilfred Owen This year marks the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, which would last four years and claim the lives of almost one million British people. The war left behind a great legacy in terms of how it changed and developed attitudes towards warfare and politics, but as well as this, some of the finest poetry in Britain’s history was produced during this turbulent time. What is remarkable about the poems written between 1914 and 1918 is the diverse range of attitudes towards the war they convey; from the early patriotic poems commissioned by the government and the media, to the later more tragic poems by the soldiers who had witnessed the horrors of the fighting firsthand. Early poems such as Jessie Pope’s “The Call” of 1915 and “Who’s for the Game” of 1916 highlight the extent to which enlisting was glorified. Lines such as “Who’s going out to win?/ And who wants to save his skin” in “The Call” present a choice: either you enlist, or you’re labeled a coward. Pope’s poems seem lighthearted on the surface, but they were actually powerful pieces of propaganda designed to encourage men to fight. Many men were probably persuaded by poems of this kind, and went away to what they believed to be a heroic, glorious war. But the horrors that awaited them in the trenches were a far cry from “the game” that Pope describes. Poems such as Wilfred Owen’s
man in fire.” At the end of the poem, Owen directly addresses the patriots who believe the war to be glorious and heroic: “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.” He is trying to shock them, to make them imagine the realities the soldiers are facing, instead of telling people that the war is a noble cause. Owen is condemning the work of poets such as Jessie Pope. The title of his work shows this, the phrase written in full in the final few lines of the poem is “Dulce et Decorum est/ Pro patria New Directions: 1963 mori,” which translates to “it is sweet and right to die for “Dulce Et Decorum Est” of 1917 your country.” Owen appears present a much more accurate to be using this phrase in an depiction of the harrowing ironic sense, telling people not realities of life as a soldier. Owen to believe this “old lie.” was Second Lieutenant with Owen’s work is amongst some the Manchester Regiment and of the most emotive, tragic was posted to France in 1916. writing of the period and A year later, he was diagnosed remains well loved by the nation with shell shock and sent to and valued amongst First World recuperate at Craiglockhart War War literature today, perhaps Hospital in Edinburgh. Writing more so than the propagandist poetry was a form of therapy work of Jessie Pope. for Owen; he was encouraged to Owens died in action a week record his experiences through before Armistice Day in 1918, his poems, which resulted in but his poems leave behind a very real, moving accounts of powerful message: he is telling his suffering on the front line. us not to believe in the glory of “Dulce Et Decorum Est” is a patriotic death, but to lament full of vivid – and in some the millions of young lives places gruesome – imagery. lost unnecessarily in war. This It depicts the soldiers “Bent message is still as poignant, double, like old beggars under powerful and tragic today as sacks,” exhausted, dejected and when his poems were first hopeless. Owen uses a sickening written almost one hundred simile to portray how one of years ago. his comrades dies right in front of him after being subjected to a gas attack, “flound’ring like a
Review
The Other Room: experimental poetry Alex Webb enjoyed his first insight into the strange world of experimental poetry at The Castle Hotel On the 5th February at the Castle Hotel, a small pub on Oldham Street, I entered the world of experimental poetry. Chris Stephenson started with a funny call-and-response list of insults: “milky way buttonhole/ underachieving hemorrhoid”. Stephenson’s poems utilised unusual forms with his ‘Revenge of the Mirror People’ being best described as loose, unconnected rambling. However, this was not a bad thing as Stephenson’s work was concerned with reimagining how we define poems and poetry as a genre. Frances Presley was the most established poet with eleven publications. Her books Mine and An Alphabet for Alina formed the basis of her reading following a theme of ‘trees’ for the night. Presley’s poems were the hardest to engage with as they were
fitted precariously around her theme. However, Presley had some of the best poems of the night. My favourites were ‘L is for Logs’, which discusses various stereotypes about women, and ‘Branches’, an interesting take on the “suffering” of a tree. These two are clear indicators of the abstract poetry that The Other Room aims for. After a short interval, the standout poet, Gavin Selerie took to the stage and read a vast range of poems. Exceptional pieces were ‘Man U’, a poem about MADAM, the first computer built in Manchester, using onomatopoeia and different voices to keep the audience engaged with a positive response. ‘Cloud Head’, read as an interior monologue, really showcased Selerie’s remarkable skill as a spoken-word poet. Overall I enjoyed my first, strange
insight into experimental poetry and would encourage anyone who is interested in the genre to go to the next event on the 2nd April at 7pm. Walk through the doors of the Castle Hotel with an open mind and you’ll leave with a refreshing, new understanding of just how vast the world of poetry is. And look out for me in the audience.
Bianca Boorer thinks the Aftermath exhibition is definitely worth a visit, but James Jackman advises you not to try and make a day of it Designed to bring together examples of “protest, reflection, memorial and invention”, the Aftermath exhibition aims to show how, throughout history, some of the greatest acts of brutality have been countered with pieces of compassion and ingenuity. As you move past the exhibits, you step from tragedy to tragedy, interlaced with pieces of poetry and artwork. There are pieces ranging from before WW1 (which this year marks the centenary of ) all the way through to the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
Photo: Bianca Boorer
no bigger than a corridor, which sadly doesn’t work as an advantage. The result is that as you can jump decades in one step, which had the effect of removing any empathy for those who were affected by the various horrors. It made it feel more like a far-removed documentary, especially with later tragedies, which had little content. Perhaps a better move would have been to focus the entire exhibit solely on the disasters of WW1. This would have enabled it properly mark the centenary and have more focus on the resulting pieces of art and literature. One piece which really captured my eye was a collection of a letters from students at Manchester University, who were soldiers at the time, to their professor in Manchester. It was very interesting to see what the relationship between tutor and student was like 100 years ago and to see how it has changed since. Overall it was an interesting exhibition, however I feel it would have benefitted from a stronger focus on WW1. It’s worth seeing if you are nearby the John Rylands library, but I wouldn’t make a day of it.
The exhibit is housed within the John Rylands Library in Deansgate. Yet it is in a space James Jackman I expected a general summary of WWI but the exhibition focused more on the effects, during and after the war, on our very own Manchester. It featured items that had been dug up in Whitworth Park by archeologists (I remember seeing people digging in Whitworth Park and now I know why). There are many hidden treasures lying underneath our feet! Because of the 1933 war memorial, the park has become an important space for former veterans to meet in remembrance of those who died. The exhibit didn’t objectively showcase facts about WW1 but the experiences of the people going through it, using various art forms such as poetry, artwork and letters. This made it
more personal than general, as it takes you on an emotional journey through the shoes, of not only the soldiers, but also the families and friends affected by the war. For example the descriptions of women who were displaced and grief-stricken by the war, but who took comfort in the writings of other women such as the poet Lynette Roberts, who wrote war poems about those who were left behind. The exhibition allows you to experience the aftermath of WW1 through its influence on art and the city we live in today. If you haven’t been yet it’s definitely worth the detour from your weekend shopping spree. Bianca Boorer
Review
Poets and Players Review James Jackman heard some naughty poems and a public exorcism, all in one Saturday afternoon at John Rylands in Deansgate The idea of Poets and Players is very simple, some people read their poetry and some people perform some music. The first poet, Jo Bell, was an archaeologist for 18 years and lives on a narrow boat (she’s the Canal Laureate). As a result, her readings were of poems based around those two subjects. However, do not be mistaken, her work was not entirely quaint and rosy. For every piece which was calm and content, there was another which used language probably not suitable for a public event at three in the afternoon. But it certainly went down well. One poem with fire in its belly was that of “Ducks and Gang Rape”. I’ll leave that for you to ponder. An overall humorous person, she showed that poetry really can be about anything you want. Grevel Lindopp, the second poet, had a very different style. His work was incredibly descriptive and at times very serious, none more than when he was describing the feeling of being alone at night. He relaxed towards the end of his time on stage, even though he used his last poem to exorcise and banish a supposed ghost from the reading room itself. You could tell he really put his soul into his
Photo: James Jackman
poetry, painting vivid mental pictures which let you into his work. Chris Davies and Beth Allen were the players. They performed music which was based around the theme of “breath”. This abstract concept was achieved through the use of several instruments including a glockenspiel and a saxophone. But none of the instruments were as effective as the simple act of breathing itself. These works reminded me of carols, which worked incredibly well in our gothic location, an effective “cathedral of literature”. It was an enjoyable afternoon and is something I will definitely do again. Poets and Players takes place every month, the next event is the 8th March at John Rylands in Deansgate.
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Ben Walker, Maddy Hubbard Review
Feature
you Ask
we ANSWER ...what’s the deal with herbal tea?
We are often being told that coffee isn’t good for us, filling us with caffeine to make us more alert then leaving us frustrated when we can’t sleep. Tea is quintessentially British and a perfect accompaniment to almost any kind of cake, but there is a whole world beyond Breakfast, Yorkshire, and PG Tips. Herbal and fruit teas are now gaining much more popularity, and as a self-confessed tea geek I can see why. Firstly, there are so many different kinds so you will never get bored! They are also incredibly quick to make, popping the tea bag in a hot water and ditching it a couple of minutes is far easier than rummaging around for milk and sugar only to discover you have none and you have to go to the shop. They also claim to have many benefits. Camomile, is thought to calm you whilst peppermint can aid digestion, ginger tea can curb the feeling of nausea—useful for those hangover days, and let’s not get started on the supposed endless good qualities green tea can bring! Herbal teas can also be drunk cold having a cooling refreshing effect. However, it’s not all great news. Herbal tea drinkers can be seen as fussy, not everyone houses a fanciful selection of teas for you to choose from; they don’t give you the same energy boost as an Americano and they don’t satisfy your sweet tooth like a hot chocolate or go with a biscuit quite as well as your average cup of tea. They’re also not really a ‘guy thing’ and apparently you would need to let the teabag brew for up to 10 minutes and be drinking at least 4 cupful’s of the stuff a day to really feel the benefits which seems like a lot of effort to get your health kick! And yes, maybe sometimes they do smell a lot better than they actually taste but shh! Whether you like them or not, it’s an excuse for a break from work though right? Tea for the skin: Rooibos contains anti-oxidant properties. This tea is supposed to help with skin concerns such as eczema and rosea. Tea for the mind: Known for its calming properties camomile tea is made from flowers and is considered a natural sedative to help relax the mind, ease anxiety, and encourage sleep. Tea for the body: Peppermint tea is thought to aid digestion reducing bloating after a meal. It is easy to create your own by adding fresh mint leaves to hot water for 10 minutes, adding sugar for sweetness or lemon for sourness—bit like a virtuous mojito. Tea for the days when you just don’t feel well: Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and the warmth of the tea can help to increase circulation and reduce the feeling of nausea. Faye Waterhouse
Secret Supper Club James Jackson explores the delicious world of supper clubs in Manchester, perfect for anyone who wants to try something different A what? A secret supper club is essentially having dinner with people you don’t know, in a secret location, eating food from a mystery menu. But don’t worry, it was far removed from a horror-film experience. Booking There are several supper clubs spread around Manchester and spread around the country. The one I went to was “Wendy’s House Supper Club”. I found this particular one through the utilisation of tools such as Google and Twitter, just search for “Manchester Supper Club”. Wendy’s House is a vegetarian supper club, run by a lovely chef called Wendy (funnily enough), in a secret location in Manchester. The event I went to was titled “Mexico Monday” and for £25, you are served top quality, chef-cooked Mexican food, along with an experience which you won’t soon forget.
feast, consisting of several delectable dishes. The pudding was served up soon after, which was mango cooked in tequila and chilli, served with ice cream and a sauce from the heart of Mexico. It was all topped off with a hot chocolate, which guaranteed satisfied stomachs all around. Yes, a big part of the experience is dining with other people who you have never met. It may sound worrisome, but I found it to be a great way to meet a lot of people who you normally would never come across. For a student, it was a brilliant way to escape the “student bubble” for a little bit. The great bit is that you probably won’t meet the same people twice, so it will be a different experience each time. Have faith and your stomach will thank you soon enough!
Photo: Wendy’s Supper Club
Food Upon arrival I was treated to a tequila based cocktail named Paloma, which was dangerously drinkable. The dinner began promptly as soon as all the guests had arrived, with 5 homemade courses being served in total. Beginning with tortillas and dips, it quickly evolved into black-bean soup, with hints of chilli (delicious). The main course was a serve-it-yourself
Feature
My Day on a Plate Anthony Cornish tells us about his daily eats, and it the opportunities are endless Breakfast: Like most students across the country (not just those residing in Fallowfield), you probably don’t have much in the kitchen that mum would class as a hearty breakfast. No matter. While it may be ‘the most important meal of the day’, all too often last night’s cold pizza get the nod. With regard to drink, a revitalizing beverage is highly important and when it comes down to it, the list of options is a little more limited than the vast menu for food. If you’re feeling sleepy: coffee or tea provide the perfect boost to get you on the earlier magic bus; if you aint feeling too healthy: have a glass of OJ and flush out that illness; dealing with a hangover: don’t get fancy, just neck a pint of water; and if you’re feeling continental: all of the above. Of course, the liquid side of things is just one aspect of the morning and once this is decided upon, the hunt begins for the morning munch. Time consuming but easily the most rewarding is to reach for the frying pan and get some eggs or bacon on the sizzle. Combine a fried breakfast with any drink and you simply cannot fail.
accompanied by a bit of fruit and, of course, a tasty snack is a perfectly satiating offering to your growling stomach. Or you could just get a Maccies.
Lunch: When this window of opportunity opens, there are a number of culinary possibilities. If you’ve missed Uni (and breakfast!) and are still at home, that George Foreman needs to be switched on, ham and cheese out the fridge and you know what to do. I could wax lyrical about the wonders of the toastie until the cows come home but for now let’s just say a toastie is a quick and tasty lunch for all you bunkers out there. Made it in to Uni? A packed lunch of sandwiches or a salad
Dinner: When the dinner bell begins to toll, if you’re left with nothing in the kitchen to satisfy your needs, may I suggest you pick up the phone and start dialing for one of Fallowfield’s finest fast food delivery services. Everyone has a mountain of menus and everyone has a favourite. For those of you with a bit more foresight and who can actually include dinner in the plans for the day, there are some quick dishes that can be rustled up with minimal effort and maximum taste.
Photo: Kitchen Files
Of course we got the ready meals and pastas but a recent revelation is to pick up a couple of pizza bases for £1.50 at Sainsbury’s, slap on some toppings and for only a few quid you’ve got a homemade pizza (which will definitely taste better than if you bought it in the shop, and healthier) Finish that with something sweet and that’s your day done with no complaints. A milkshake is always a certainty to please as the evening hours drift by.
Food & Drink 23
/TheMancunion: Food & Drink @MancunionFood
Feature
Takeaway Menu Roulette Maddy Hubbard braves the takeaways of Withington and lives to tell the tale Photo: Maddy Hubbard
As yet another flurry of takeaway menus drops through our letterbox; I decided to invent a new game. Picking a menu at random and stabbing blindly at it I would order whatever dish my subconscious clearly felt I needed in my life. Praying blindly for sushi from Kyotoya rather than a donner kebab from Al Rayyan, I opened my eyes… The result: Wing On Palace. It’s a small, quite grungy-looking Chinese round the corner from me. Could be worse, I thought – I rang them up and ordered ‘Roast Pork with Cashew Nuts’ for a pretty reasonable £5.50.
20 minutes later I collected my box of food from a friendly teen, part of the extended family that fills the shop. A grandma is wiping down the sides as a five year old and a baby play in the kitchen. It turns out the place is not only a Chinese but also serves fish and chips, along with a few other ‘English Dishes’ which seem to be mainly omelette and chips. As I wait for my food I dream up a few fusion foods (sweet and sour chicken omelettes? Stir fried chips?) and try not to think too hard about hygiene standards. At home I open up my plastic bag. Initially the box looks unprepossessing. That typical Chinese takeaway gloop was covering everything in its sweet, sticky, MSG-laden ubiquity. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t order a Chinese takeaway for its clarity of flavour and delicate spicing, you order it for the satisfying hit of sugar, salt and fat that makes it so addictive. I dig in. It’s actually pretty decent. Despite the edges of the roast pork being tinged an alarming red it is relatively moist and tasty. There is a good variety of veg that has been expertly thawed, and the cashew nuts are tasty and plentiful. I must admit I scraped quite a lot of the goo off to the side of my plate, but in the end I almost finish the mammoth portion and feel quite proud of myself, if slightly nauseous.
Would I order it again? No, probably not. My kitchen now stinks of takeaway, that kind of artificial smell that only comes from foil containers. To be honest I’m probably a bit of a food snob, and if I’m going to eat Chinese food I’d rather it was from somewhere specialising in a particular part of the 9,706,961 square kilometres that makes up the most populous nation on the planet. Anglicised Cantonese gloop has its fans, but I’m not amongst them. Having said that, as Chinese takeaways go, it was surprisingly alright. Which goes to show you should never judge your grotty local Chinese/ chippy on appearances.
Wing On Palace, 36 Old Moat Lane, Withington (01614455502)
Photo: Maddy Hubbard
Recipes
our
RECIPES OF THE WEEK
Raspberry Muffins
Roast Squash Salad • 1.
2. Photo: Joanne Procter
• INGREDIENTS
• TIME •
1 small butternut squash, chopped into 4cm square chunks 4 tablespoons of olive oil 2 chicken breasts cut into strips 2 teaspoons of paprika 2 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce 75 grams of feta cheese A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach A handful pea shoots A handful of pumpkin seeds
20 minutes, serves 2 hungry people
3. 4.
METHOD
Joanne Procter’s salad and Faye Waterhouse’s cupcakes are the perfect recipes to try out on a lazy Sunday afternoon
•
Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 for a fan oven). Line a baking tray with foil, and toss the butternut squash chunks in 3 tbsp of olive oil, place on the tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Check on them after about 15 minutes and toss them about a bit. Once tender to the point of a knife, take out of the oven and leave to cool.
•
METHOD
•
1.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 degrees Celsius (fan).
2.
Line a muffin tin with a little butter and melt the rest.
3.
Sift the flour and icing sugar together in a bowl then add the almonds and combine the ingredients.
Whilst that’s happening, coat the chicken in the paprika. Heat up the remaining tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, and then fry the chicken until cooked through. Once it’s cooked, take the pan off the heat, and add the sweet chilli sauce. Coat the chicken in it fully, then leave to cool in the pan.
4.
Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl and when they begin to form soft peaks add to the other bowl along with the zest and melted butter and gently fold together.
5.
Put a dollop of each mixture into the muffin tin and squash about 3 raspberries in the centre leaving them half visible.
Place the spinach and pea shoots into a serving bowl, and add the cooled squash and chicken.
6.
Bake for 25 minutes and leave in the tins for a while before turning out to cool. The raspberries will become syrupy in the muffin making them light and moist.
Reheat the frying pan you just used for the chicken, and add the pumpkin seeds. Heat gently until they start to pop, then add to the rest of the ingredients in the serving bowl. Top with the feta,
Photo: Ali Ebright
• INGREDIENTS • TIME • 100g ground almonds 30g plain flour 115g butter (softened) 3 egg whites 130g icing sugar Zest of 2 lemons 100g frozen raspberries
25 minutes, makes 6
24
Arts & Culture
Feature
HOW
TO
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Abbie Roberts, Matilda Roberts
Talk
Origami Waterbomb
Festival of Imagination Nancy Barnes hears Jeremy Deller, Mary Anne Hobbs and Dave Haslam examine the dark underbelly of the imagination The Festival of Imagination, simultaneously held in London, Manchester and Birmingham, is a new campaign which encourages you to “open your mind and explore”. The festival consisted of events and workshops as well as a programme of talks from worldrenowned figures. One of these talks was a discussion which aimed to examine the darker side of the imagination. Jeremy Deller, Mary Anne Hobbes and Dave Haslam, a trio who have frequently worked together on music and art projects came together to express their views on the ‘power of the imagination’. I attended this talk at the peculiar and mundane setting of Manchester’s Selfridges store. On arrival I was chaperoned through the store with pop-band Bastille blasting out of the rather tinny speakers - not what I had expected when I was told I would be going to see a Q & A involving three highly respected professionals within the art world. Mary Anne Hobbes was interested in how the imagination is an escape from boredom and how as a young girl it was all she had to drive her away from her ‘uninspiring’ hillside town of Garstang, Lancashire. However the ongoing contrast in the views of the other two panelists was what interested me especially.
Jeremy Deller was interested in the positive effects of the imagination and spoke about how for conceptual art, free thinking (the imagination) is how you get to new ideas. He spoke about putting himself in the state of a child - allowing your imagination to run free without embarrassment and worries. Although Deller spoke about the use of the freedom of imagination in art, he avoided speaking about the negative effects which the chair of the talk, Dave Haslam, seemed to want to probe into and question the most . Writer, DJ and legendary honorary Mancunian, Haslam, addressed issues such as how it can be dangerous to ‘imagine’ a life out of your reach, showing his obvious interest in the dark and dangerous side of the imagination. This appeared to me a particularly fresh approach as it is often easy to herald our imagination as a tool for positivity and progression, ignoring the uneasy paths our imagination can take us down. What frustrated me was how Haslam’s attempt to provoke interesting debate was often repressed by Deller who seemed to blatantly ignore his comments, perhaps in an attempt to avoid digging too deep. Instead of engaging, Deller would reply with a witty comment, once even jokingly announcing that ‘Dave, you must be
Photo:Selfridges
depressed’. This was a shame as his lightheartedness steered the conversation away from something that could have been more personal and profound. This rigidness in his position within the debate and his unwillingness to open up to the audience undermined its intention: to explore and understand the power and depths of the imagination. What I really wanted to hear was how he has personally experienced his imagination taking a wrong turn. Isn’t it so refreshing and eye opening hearing about someone else’s darker moments, the moments that people often think they are alone in having?
What’s on
Upcoming Live Art and performance in Spring Jasper Llewellyn fills us in on the up and coming live art calandar. Photo: Abbie Roberts
1.
To make the base, use a square of paper and fold in half diagonally.
2. 3. 4. 5.
Fold the top right corner to the bottom so that the folded edge lies in the centre.
6.
Fold the 2 bottom corners up to the top so that they meet at the centre. Repeat behind.
7.
Fold the left and right sides in to meet the centre. Repeat behind.
8.
Fold the two top [points of the front flap down to the centre on a line between the two upper corners. Repeat behind.
9.
Fold the 2 little triangular flaps and tuck them into the adjacent pockets. Repeat behind. Fold the bottom point up to the centre and return.
10.
Apply pressure to the top and bottom and blow into the little hole to raise the form. The water bomb is now complete!
Turn the paper over. Fold top right corner to bottom point. Put your thumbnails inside and separate the front from the back allowing the 2 side corners to come together. This is the completed base.
After a quiet Christmas break, a number of exciting programmes have recently been announced for the upcoming Spring season and, by the looks of things, live art and performance are going to play an even bigger role in Manchester’s art scene then last year. For one of the first times in what feels like a while, Contact ( just down the road from the SU, Fallowfield direction) has a programme of performances to really get excited about, with Live Art production company Word of Warning, the people behind last year’s fantastic Domestic festival, heavily involved in the curation of the programme. Coming up in a couple of weeks’ time on the 18th February is The Good, the God and the Guillotine – a new piece by multi-disciplinary and Manchester based company Proto-type Theatre who, despite their live work, are a collective of artists with a variety of backgrounds and interests (recent work includes an installation in a Roman garden in Chester). The piece, based on Albert Camus’ landmark absurdist novel L’Etranger (The Stranger), involves handdrawn animation, laptop musicians and haunting live music – check out the sinister trailer on both the Contact and Word of Warning websites for more info. As we move into March, Word of Warning and Contact bring us another collection of fantastic looking performances in the form of the annual ‘Flying Solo’ festival (12-22 March), a collection of performances that celebrate solo performance with 10 days of live art, spoken word, performance and
Photo: The Mancunion
dance at the Contact. One of my favourites from Domestic festival, Exposure, is being shown and if you want to witness something intimate, personal and truly tender, then you need look no further than Jo Bannon and this captivating oneto-one work (showing every 12 minutes from 5-7pm and 8-9pm on the 12th-13th March). Towards the end of March, we see the return of Manchester’s annual ‘Future Everything’ festival (27 March – 01 April), which, upon first glances, has a truly diverse and exciting range of different performance ranging from Miwa Matreyek’s live animation piece ‘This World Made Itself (at the Royal Northern College of Music at 2pm on March 30th) and Zoomwooz Live Cinema’ to the listening post sound installation, ‘The Longplayer’ (a piece of music that is programmed to last 1000 years!). Both
pieces are taking place at the RNCM alongside many other interesting-looking works. One that particularly caught my eye was an installation called ‘The Hall’ by artists Emmanuel Baird and David Leonard which apparently contains ‘2 gigantic circular flexible mirrors sealed into a frame with vacuum pumps’ and is a direct response to the RNCM’s own studio theatre. All in all, it looks like its going to be an exciting and packed Spring season of performance, installation and live art, so try and see as much as you can. Tickets are available for ‘Flying Solo’ on both the Contact and Word of Warning websites and all tickets for Future Everything can be found through the RNCM website. Enjoy!
Theatre
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editor: Stephanie Scott Review
What’s on
Project XXX
this
Carys Lapwood reviews Laid Bare Theatre’s exploration of sex and pornography in contemporary life Let’s talk about sex. Specifically, let’s talk about online pornography, losing your virginity in front of a video camera, and everything else in between. I saw Project XXX, which describes itself as “a dark, romantic comedy”, at the Bolton Octagon on the 6th of February. It tells the story of Amy, a teenage feminist blogger, and Callum, a 25 year old loser, as they negotiate the sticky world of relationships, desire and trust in a digital age. After a video of Amy giving her ex a blowjob is uploaded on to a revenge porn site, she is sent to spend her summer in a rainy seaside town. There, she meets Callum, whose anorak obsession with a faded porn star hinders any hopes of a real, functional relationship. On the cusp of her sixteenth birthday, Amy decides that, in order to reclaim her sexual identity, she wants to film her first time. But things, as you might expect, don’t exactly go according to plan. The classic two-hander format saw a successful update with the use of multi-media projections, and often these felt more realistic than the drama unfolding on stage.
A video interview with porn star Jenna Jaze, played by Hayley Thomas, struck a particularly chilling note, and scratched the surface of the unrealistic and sinister demands of the porn aesthetic. Chloe Wade, who played Amy, was funny, likeable and hard-as-nails in the role, but in spite of this, the “Will they? Won’t they?” romance between Amy and Callum often felt a bit clunky and odd. Ultimately, Project XXX never really managed to lose its educational theatre vibe, and you Photo: Michel Healey could easily imagine the key moments in These are hard themes to tackle at the best of times, the play being used to inform a PSHE lesson. and are probably too vast for a one-act piece of theatre Maybe, though, that’s not such a bad thing. With access to tackle completely. However Project XXX, for its faults, to hard core porn just a click away, and the worrying had a good stab at them. It also offers some genuinely rise in “revenge porn” sites over the past few years, funny moments, including, but not limited to, ice lolly teenagers have got a lot more to contend with than the fellatio. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write. risk of pregnancy and STIs. Sex education, as the play tries to communicate, can’t just be about the correct way of putting a condom on, or the perils of chlamydia.
Save Our NHS Presents Theatre Editor, Stephanie Scott reviews Save Our NHS’s night of theatre and activism against government cuts to the National Health Service and her drug addiction was stark and jolting. The audience could not help but wonder what lay beneath the addict’s exterior. Despite the humanity that was central to ‘What’ and its message, the direct link between the play and NHS cuts seemed clunky and forced. A single scene in which Michelle is turned away from rehab due to a lack of places and funding highlights the issue, but doesn’t seem to gel as smoothly with the rest of the performance. Combining theatre and a very specific message is often very difficult, and here ‘What’ slipped up, be it momentarily. After the interval, ‘A Loss’ took the audience in a completely different direction. ‘A Loss’ demonises and belittles the ATOS system, satirically suggesting that their methods of examination are ridiculous; those claiming benefits are posted to ATOS headquarters in boxes and their claims assessed whilst they remain in their boxes. Rowan Mataram carried the performance
as the doctor, and Sam Edner-Landy’s exaggerated French accent brought the comedic elements of the play to life. The performance was largely informative and upbeat, but ended on a more serious note – the Code Red flipboard in the back of the scene, covered in tally marks, represents those people who have passed away due to more stringent ATOS assessments. The Save Our NHS Presents evening was very informative and alerted those attending to the tragic effects of cuts to national healthcare. As well as this, the plays were well written and performed. However, it is very difficult to engage in an issue without either making that issue overtly obvious or isolating the audience in some way, and neither ‘What’ or ‘A Loss’ managed to avoid these obstacles entirely. The activist in me was fully satisfied when leaving the Martin Harris Centre, but the theatre reviewer was not.
My Favourite Scene
my FAVOURITE SCENE In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s farcical take on the frivolities of Victorian high society, the author is wildly successful in creating comedy. The bizarre plot begins to reach a climax of ridiculousness in the following scene, where John Worthing’s (Jack’s) lies begin come apart. Prior to this, Jack has announced that Ernest, the brother he invented as a means of covering up his own misdemeanours, has died whilst lavishly holidaying in Paris. It is also revealed that Algernon Moncrieff, Jack’s close friend and confident, has travelled up to Jack’s country house under the pretence of being the apparently deceased Ernest Worthing, in order to seduce Jack’s adopted daughter Cecily. Having appeared in clothes of mourning, Jack is put in an immensely awkward position when the “surprise” of Ernest’s appearance is revealed. Jack can only stand and watch at the “absurd” and frankly embarrassing scene before him, much to Algernon’s delight. [Enter Cecily from the house.] Cecily. Uncle Jack! Oh, I am pleased to see you back. But what horrid clothes you have got on! Do go and
This week Sam Ebner-Landy tells us about his favourite scene from Oscar Wilde’s brilliantly funny The Importance of Being Earnest
change them. Miss Prism. Cecily! Chasuble. My child! my child! [Cecily goes towards Jack; he kisses her brow in a melancholy manner.] Cecily. What is the matter, Uncle Jack? Do look happy! You look as if you had toothache, and I have got such a surprise for you. Who do you think is in the diningroom? Your brother! Jack. Who? Cecily. Your brother Ernest. He arrived about half an hour ago. Jack. What nonsense! I haven’t got a brother. Cecily. Oh, don’t say that. However badly he may have behaved to you in the past he is still your brother. You couldn’t be so heartless as to disown him. I’ll tell him to come out. And you will shake hands with him, won’t you, Uncle Jack? [Runs back into the house.] Chasuble. These are very joyful tidings. Miss Prism. After we had all been resigned to his loss, his sudden return seems to me peculiarly distressing. Jack. My brother is in the dining-room? I don’t know what it all means. I think it is perfectly absurd.
WEEK
Priscilla Queen of the Desert Priscilla is a vibrant, colourful musical, oozing with fabulous fun and outrageous outfits. A group of friends head off in a bus, named Pricsilla, in search of friendship, love and adventure, and end up finding much more. A guarenteed giggle and sure to leave you grinning, Priscilla is a must see musical. Runs from the 17th to the 22nd February at The Palace Theatre
Orlando
Review
On the 4th of February, NUS award-winning society, Save Our NHS hosted a night of theatre to raise awareness of both the society and the effects of drastic cuts being made to the NHS. The evening consisted of two plays; the first a depiction of the devastating effects of drug addiction and cuts to rehabilitation service, the second, a shorter satirical piece about ATOS and its effect on those claiming disability benefits. Called ‘What’ and ‘A Loss’ respectively, this play on words introduced the audience to the ideas about to be portrayed before the curtain had risen. ‘What’ portrays a small cast of characters, primarily three friends, all addicted to heroin and living in a squat. Michelle (Tasha Miller Bell) and Rick ( Joseph Aldous) portray an incredibly touching relationship, drawing the audience in through their childish games and tangible platonic adoration of each other. Tasha Bell created an especially enthralling character; both likeable and irritating, the contrast between her innocent sweetness
25
[Enter Algernon and Cecily hand in hand. They come slowly up to Jack.] Jack. Good heavens! [Motions Algernon away.] Algernon. Brother John, I have come down from town to tell you that I am very sorry for all the trouble I have given you, and that I intend to lead a better life in the future. [ Jack glares at him and does not take his hand.] Cecily. Uncle Jack, you are not going to refuse your own brother’s hand? Jack. Nothing will induce me to take his hand. I think his coming down here disgraceful. He knows perfectly well why. Cecily. Uncle Jack, do be nice. There is some good in every one. Ernest has just been telling me about his poor invalid friend Mr. Bunbury whom he goes to visit so often. And surely there must be much good in one who is kind to an invalid, and leaves the pleasures of London to sit by a bed of pain. Jack. Oh! he has been talking about Bunbury, has he? Cecily. Yes, he has told me all about poor Mr. Bunbury, and his terrible state of health.drive one perfectly frantic.
Based on Virginia Woolf’s extraordinary novel of time travel and gender-swapping, this adaptiation promises to be just as funny and incredible as the original. Sarah Ruhl has adapted the nvoel for the stage and brings it bursting to life - despite the many shocking occurences throughout the story! Runs from the 22nd February
The Seagull Chekov’s masterpiece of theatre, The Seagull, returns to the stage in an exciting new adaptation by upcoming writer Anya Reiss. Anya is only in her early twenties but has rejuvenated several classic theatre pieces already, to huge critical aclaim. This tale of family, frustrated youth and unrequited love, that has captivated audiences for two centuries will be an umissable production. Runs from the 2st February to the 8th March at The Lowry
The Good, The God and The Guillotine Contact Theatre presents an exciting production by Prototype Theater. This music-driven, dynamic show takes it’s cues from gigs, recitals and the opera and promises to be a piece of exciting theatre comparable to no other. Inspired by Albert Campus’s novel; The Stranger. Tuesday 18th February at the Contact Theatre
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Lauren Arthur, Moya Crockett, Beth Currall Feature
from THE VAULT
The O.C
California, here we come! Rebecca Williams sings the praises of one of the Noughties’ best TV shows For the past week, my housemates and I have been babysitting an extensive DVD collection. (Friends were having a party and wanted to remove anything valuable – namely, their beloved box sets − from the house.) The constant hungover re-runs of Friends have been great, but gradually, even Chandler’s jokes were beginning to lose their sparkle. Just in time, I discovered the holy grail: the complete box set of The O.C. For the next few days, I was transported back to a time when the lives of Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa were just about the most important things, ever. Hindsight is a fine thing, and re-watching The O.C. is quite hilarious. Remember how much you loved Marissa’s clothes? In the most recent episode I watched, ‘Coop’ wears a waistcoat, a t-shirt with short, puffy sleeves, and a green beret with a pink bow on the back. For all the nineties and early noughties fashion you see on the Oxford Road, I think that golden oldie might be a step too far for even a Manchester student. I thought I remembered most of the show’s storylines, but it’s been long enough for some twists in the plot to be genuinely surprising. A friend and I spent about an hour trying to remember – did Teresa really did have Ryan’s baby? Or did she have a miscarriage? Was it a fake miscarriage? And wait − wasn’t it Trey’s baby anyway?! It still has the comfort factor of watching a familiar show, but makes a refreshing change from being able to recite every line of every Friends episode ever. Perhaps most importantly, The O.C. was responsible for creating the best TV couple of all time. Ryan and Marissa were okay, but they frowned too much. The romance everyone was really rooting for was that of Summer and Seth. From Seth naming his boat Summer Breeze (subtle), to their matching toy plastic horses (Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle, of course), to that Spiderman upside-down kiss in the rain, the Seth/Summer relationship − on and off-screen − would have teenage boys failing to live up to girls’ expectations for years to come. And while Marissa’s clothes may now be laughable, Seth remains just as fanciable. This is a show to laugh at, as well as with. Seth (can you guess my favourite character yet?) has all the best lines, and is genuinely witty in his shy, nerdy way. Meanwhile, it’s quite enjoyable to see the character of Ryan, supposedly seventeen years old, being played by an actor who’s pushing thirty. Maintaining the trashy-witty balance is a fine art, but The O.C. manages it. So the next time you get to escape the confines of the library, or can’t think what to watch on a hungover morning, pop the kettle on and dig out one of your old The O.C. DVDs. Let the sound of Phantom Planet’s “California” fill the room with nostalgia, and leave behind the grey rainclouds of Manchester for the infinity pools of the Orange County.
The O.C.’s best moments “I love you.” 5. Marissa: Ryan: “Thank you.” “You know what I like about rich kids?” [Punches 4. .Ryan: Luke] “Nothing!”
Health & Wellbeing
The science of sleep We’re used to feel constantly tired, but it’s worth investing some energy in a good night’s sleep. Moya Crockett discovers how to get the best shut-eye Photo: MC Quinn (Flickr)
“How are you?” “Tired.” It’s an everyday, mundane exchange. University life is a perfect storm of exhausting factors, and most of us are so used to feeling a bit, you know, shattered that we hardly notice it anymore. Like the little minus sign by your bank balance, the feeling that you could really do with a nap is a constant. And it’s not just students: according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, one in five people feels unusually tired at any given time, while one in ten have prolonged fatigue. We all know that you’re meant to get eight hours of sleep a night, but this can sometimes feel like a big ask. Getting stuck into a Game of Thrones marathon until 3am, the sounds of your housemates moving around, the buzz of your phone with a Facebook update, Finance the fact that you didn’t wake up
until noon: they all conspire to make it difficult to drop off. Student life tends to be pretty unstructured – most of us aren’t living to a 9-to-5 schedule – but unfortunately, the best recipe for a good night’s kip is a regular bedtime routine. “A bedtime ritual teaches the brain to become familiar with sleep times and wake times,” says Jessica Alexander of The Sleep Council. Set aside some time before going to bed to “wind down” for the night. A warm (not hot) bath, light stretches, and reading or listening to the radio are all good relaxation techniques. If you’re often kept awake by your mind whirring in the early hours of the morning, writing a to-do list for the next day can help organise your thoughts and clear your mind of distractions. What’s not good for sleep,
unfortunately, is that which we Gen Y-ers love most: technology. Burying yourself under the duvet and embarking on a good old streaming sesh might feel like relaxation, but screen time is likely to hinder sleep, not help it. US studies of college students have suggested that using computers at night can lower melatonin levels, and because melatonin is responsible for monitoring our internal clocks and sleep cycles, less melatonin = more disrupted sleep. Another study, conducted at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in X, showed that two hours of exposure to a bright tablet screen at night reduced melatonin levels by 22%. Apart from all this science, though, technology is simply distracting. If you’re at a really good bit in the TV show you’re watching, or your phone keeps vibrating with texts, you’re not going to be ready for sleep . “It happens all the time,” says Sophie, a third-year History student. “I’ll be just dropping off when my iPhone vibrates. It’s annoying, but I need my phone as an alarm.” I’ll let you into a little secret here, Sophie: in shops all over the land, you can purchase a wondrous invention called an alarm clock. These tend to sound more annoying than phone alarms and they’re also harder to silence and shove under your pillow in the morning: a worthy investment. It may be boring, but really, bedtime needs to be as much of a gadget-free zone as possible.
Sex and Relationships
Tell me what’s your flavour? Romance is a risky business. Let’s stop seeking gratification in sex, says Rowena Cox-Willmott, and give some love to snacks instead So, it’s been and gone again: that glorious time of year when perfectly happy singletons are made to feel like Miss Havisham, and couples are forced to prove their love for each other by buying naff balloons or − God forbid − sitting through ANOTHER Anne Hathaway vom-com. There is nothing to miss about Valentine’s Day. From the incessant TV ads filled with gooey eyed love-munchkins, to finding yourself queuing in Primark to buy a fluffy pink thong (#solidinvestment), everyone should be glad to see the back of it. In an attempt to make
everyone’s next Valentine’s Day less stressful (couples included), here’s my two cents on how to invest in something you can rely on and avoid romantic disappointment. When Cupid brandished his bow this year, I decided to point him in the direction of Gary Lineker. Not because him and his sexy ears tickle my pickle but because he also holds the key to my heart: crisps. Much like my intellectual counterpart Russell Brand, I am an addict. However, my favoured rock is rock salt. My name is Rowena, and I am a crispaholic. Crisps are flawless and divine in every single way.
They’re diverse, nutritious (definitely one of your five-aday) and perfect for bringing people together, as your hands tentatively touch as you reach for the bowl... Being such a fanatic, I regularly encounter the impossible question, “What’s your favourite flavour?” This is basically like Sophie’s Choice. Stop asking me. I can’t choose. I won’t choose. So next year guys, my advice to everyone is to chill out about alentine’s Day, whack on ‘Kiss from a Rose’, and instead have some quality time with that salty potato you’ve been eyeing up for a while.
“I can’t even pick out my shoes in the morning, let
3. alone plan the rest of my life.” Summer Roberts
Seth: [Encouraging Sandy to sing karaoke] “Do it, Dad.
2. Travolta’s your bitch.”
Sandy: “Oh, thank you, son.”
1.
Seth: “What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico.” Ryan: “What happens in Mexico?” Seth: “I don’t know, because it stays there. That’s why we must go!”
If you’re regularly getting your eight hours and you’re still feeling exhausted, it’s worth booking an appointment with your GP. Problematic sleep and feelings of exhaustion are far more likely to have a psychological root than be caused by a medical problem. Anxiety and depression can both result in poor sleep and lethargy, and your GP will be able to help in this area. Constant tiredness can be a symptom of coeliac disease, a digestive condition caused by a gluten intolerance. The malnourishment associated with the condition means that you may not be getting the nutrients you need to maintain energy levels. Women tend to feel more tired than men, which can be linked to lower iron levels, and iron-deficiency anaemia is very common in young women (symptoms include constant feelings of tiredness and lethargy, a pale complexion, and dry nails). Doctors are likely to prescribe iron supplements and, again, will advise you to adjust your diet to ensure you’re getting necessary nutrients. If you’re subsisting on pesto pasta and £2.50 wine, it’s not surprising you’re feeling lethargic. We might be used to feeling tired all the time, but getting a good night’s sleep is an area of life worth putting a bit of effort into. As Ernest Hemingway once said, “I love sleep. It’s when I’m awake that my life has a tendency to fall apart, you know?”
Photo:S Griffiths (Flickr)
Photo: instasham.me
TOP
5
My top five recommendations for Valentine’s Day (or any other day for that matter): 1. Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar Kettle Chips. To add a bit of class to the occasion go for this classic. Salty, sexy and not too overpowering in the breath department. An aphrodisiac if there ever was one. 2. Quavers. A fitness fave for all the babes out there, at only 88 calories you can have another pack! 3. Frazzles. For anyone who considers themselves a bit trendy, these are the perfect Hipster crisp. Totally vintage. Totally delish. 4. Pickled Onion Monster Munch. Not for the faint-hearted or those in a relationship (v. pungent) but these bad boys are guaranteed to spice up a night alone and go fantastically with a side of Bobby Pickett’s ‘Monster Mash’. 5. The Multi-Pack. Any flavour will do. This is the party choice for the greedy go-getter. Much like any sexy experience, whether it’s a party for 1 or for 8, you’ll come out with a smile on your face.
Lifestyle
/TheMancunion: Lifestyle @MancunionLife
Feature
HOW
TO:
Careers
Survive moving back home
Wondering how on earth you’ll cope when you have to move back in with the rents? Claire Morris has got it covered You’re nearing the end of your degree and you’re facing that dreaded prospect: moving back in with the parents. According to the Office for National Statistics, an increasing number of young people are making this choice. In 2014, it’s estimated that twenty-six percent of adults in the UK between the ages of twenty and thirty-four will be living at home with their parents; not surprising really as rising living costs and an unstable job-market sometimes mean it’s impossible to consider anything else after years of accumulating massive debts at uni. So, you’ve packed up three years of your life and dropped off your keys, said an emotional goodbye to your housemates and sobbed all the way home. You get in and your mum tells you dinner is ready. It’s already like you never moved out. But what do you do now? Below are some tips for surviving the first few months back home. Surviving the First Week The first week isn’t so bad; you’ll wonder what you were ever worried about. Your mum keeps saying how nice it is to have your things left all over the house again, they let you lie in and there’s a free supply of alcohol readily available. But don’t be fooled. A week later, you find all the stuff you left lying around in a pile by your door and if you’re still asleep past nine in the morning, your mum may suddenly decide there’s a patch of carpet just outside your room that needs vacuuming. Oh, and when you go to the fridge for a glass of wine three nights in a row, be prepared for the concerned looks and questions and be ready to say no, you don’t have a drinking problem. Then just neck the rest of the bottle anyway. Make Plans Once the first few weeks are over and your parents have exhausted the list of relatives who haven’t seen you in years to invite round for dinner, brace yourself for some pretty long nights doing nothing. Gone are the days when you could spontaneously plan a night out. Now you have to plan in advance. Friends might be busy or live miles away, and good nights out are not often readily available if you don’t like in a city as vibrant as Manchester. You will find yourself wondering if you will ever be ridiculously drunk again, or whether you are confined to watching The Chase and Holby City every evening for eternity. It’s vital though- both for your own sanity and your parents- that you spend some time apart. You might be shocked to notice that after a month you’ve began channeling your sixteen year-old self, whining about tidying up, or crying because your dad won’t let you watch X-Factor Photo: Images of Money (Flickr)
27
in the living room. The first time you notice this, after the initial ‘what have I become?’ moment, you should be more than motivated to have some much needed time to yourself. Start going to the gym perhaps, or take up a hobby that gets you outside of the house and enjoying yourself. Unfortunately, you have to start working out what adults do for fun now. There is no such thing as ‘clean enough’ You may not be paying hefty amounts of rent in a crumbling student let anymore, but that means that you have to pull your weight around the house. Welcome back to the world of chores. At uni, cleaning may have meant washing all the pots when you ran out of plates and glasses. But back home, your parents run a tighter ship. The cleaning cupboard’s a minefield. Who knew there were so many types of disinfectant? But get used to using the right ones, because the first time your mum spots you using kitchen cleaner in the living room, there’ll be hell to pay (even though they’re probably the same thing). You might feel obliged to do the odd spot of housework if you’re living at home rent-free. So you clean all day and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself by the time your parents walk through the door. However, be prepared an hour later to find someone redoing the floors because ‘you missed a bit’. Don’t be offended; maybe one day you’ll understand this level of perfection (or obsession). For now just leave them to it. The prospect of returning to ‘family mealtimes’ and a bedroom that has been frozen in time since you were eighteen may seem pretty bleak, but there are advantages too: your bank balance (and liver) will get some well-deserved rest and your health can only benefit from you eating vegetables again. Moving home can actually be a great alternative if you iron out the creases in the first few weeks. Your parents need to see that you’re not the same person you were when you moved to uni, but equally, you need to understand that they developed a certain way of doing things in your absence. So, take a deep breath and just get on with it. Always wash up after yourself, turn down your TV after ten pm and never, ever let your mum catch you putting a drink on the table without using a coaster. Remember, it could be much worse and it won’t be forever. One day you might even miss it!
the CAREERS INTERVIEW
Where former Manchester students report back from the ‘real world.’ This week, Amy Bowden talks to novelist and lecturer Maria Hyland Photo: Maria Hyland Novelist and former lawyer Maria J. Hyland lectures in creative writing at the University of Manchester. The author of three multi-award-winning novels (How The Light Gets In [2004], Carry Me Down [2006] and This is How [2009]), she has also written for The Guardian, The Financial Times, the London Review of Books and elsewhere. Where and what did you study? I studied Law and English Literature at the University of Melbourne and then did a Masters in English Literature. I graduated from Law and English Literature in 1996 with a 1st Class, and did my MA from 2000-2002. Did you know what you wanted to do when you graduated? Yes, whilst I was studying Law I was writing (especially short stories) although, haphazardly and without very much discipline. I was also editing a literary magazine throughout my combined degree which took six years to complete. Although I loved studying Law, I wasn’t especially keen on the practice of Law – although I did it for seven years! Two of those years I lectured in Law but I knew that sooner or later I would be a writer. It was a question of getting myself organised and disciplined enough to write a novel and as soon as my first novel was published I quit Law altogether. What path did you take to get you where you are now? I’ve been writing since I was 7 but my first short story was published when I was 17. It took me so long to write and publish my first novel because I was studying and practicing Law. I was also a professional procrastinator, especially after getting home from a day of working at various Law firms. I quit Law in 2003, which is the year my first novel came out and did nothing but write from then until 2007. I then went to Rome to do a yearlong scholarship when I received an email from the University of Manchester asking if I’d be interested in coming in for an interview to teach. In Rome, I was running out of money and thought about how much I love teaching. I had only ever taught in Law and never in a formal capacity on the topic of Creative Writing. So, I came from Rome to Manchester; a place I had never been before and I did the interview and got the job! Which authors inspire you? Oh gosh! The true answer is a long one but mostly American short story writers from around 1940’s onwards. The writers who are like catnip to me are Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver and Richard Ford as well as certain Russian writers such as Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov. I also read a lot of non-fiction. What genre are your novels and what draws you to this genre? I loathe the topic of genre. I want to write intelligent page turners and the most important thing for me is plot and the overall telling of the story – so, its genre-less! Crime is featured in my novels, especially the second and third. M,y stories are focused on psychological examination and the unconscious mind. What does your current job involve? Although I love to teach I want to continue writing novels and therefore work part-time at the University of Manchester. I teach second and third year undergraduates as well as the Masters programme for fiction writing. I teach alongside whoever happens to be the iconic appointment at that time. It was Martin Amis and then Colm Tóibín and now it’s Jeanette Winterson. I also like to write pieces of non-fiction from time to time for newspapers such as The Guardian but my main gig is novel writing! What do you most enjoy about your current role? I am in love with teaching and it matters a great deal. A young writer’s apprenticeship can betrekkyandy sped up by(Flickr) years if they have a decent teacher and if that sometimes means bePhoto: ing tough then I’ll be tough! I always had good teachers so I guess it’s in my bloodstream. What advice would you give to students who might aspire to have a similar career? To write a lot and read copiously! Think of it as akin to wanting to be a musician; you wouldn’t dream of thinking of it as a profession unless you had that guitar or violin in your hands for less than three or four hours a day. A student of writing should be leading up towards that mark. It’s work. It’s talent plus ten thousand hours to see whether you, as a writer, have the stamina, will and drive to write for the long-haul.
Have you got what it takes to be the next: Activities & Development Officer, Campaigns & Citizenship Officer, Community Officer, Diversity Officer, Education Officer, Wellbeing Officer, General Secretary, Women’s Officer?
1st - 27th February HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO LEAD THE STUDENTS’ UNION?
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
29
SPORT
/TheMancunion
@Mancunion_Sport
Sports Editors: Andrew Georgeson, Tom Dowler and Thomas Turner Contact: sport@mancunion.com
Venture Further
Khan he do it? Seamus Soal analyses Amir Khan’s chances against Floyd Mayweather Amir Khan has been voted fans’ favourite in an official online poll as to who Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent will be. The fight is scheduled for the 3rd May in Las Vegas. It is expected that Khan’s selection will officially be announced in the coming days (if not so by the time this is published), but the question is, can Amir Khan defeat the 45 time undefeated Floyd Mayweather? The simple answer is... NO CHANCE. Some commentators have speculated the reason Mayweather’s next opponent was selected by an online poll was because they knew Khan would come out on top. The belief is that the heavier handed Marcos Maidana would be a tougher opponent but would lose in an online poll due to having a small hardcore fan base. Does this mean that Team Mayweather is playing chicken with Maidana and fixing the result to an easier selection like Khan? I wouldn’t say this is the case, Maidana isn’t much of a better prospect to beating Mayweather than Khan is. The answer, some believe, is that Khan with a twitter following of 1.7 million is a much better known fan favourite and would sell much more pay-per-views than Maidana. I’m tempted to believe that argument as professional boxing has been plagued by swindling and money-grabbing, but, is Khan just a lamb to the slaughter for a quick buck? Well not entirely, there is certainly a case to be made for Khan and we can’t write him off just yet. Mayweather has remained undefeated in his 18 years as a professional boxer but as he gets
older it is noticeable, although still a great fighter, age is creeping up on him and has started to slow him down. By the time the fight takes place Mayweather will be 37 years old and those in the Khan camp, few as they are, believe the speed and quickness from the Bolton lad will be enough to pose a surprising threat to the aging Mayweather. Khan having fallen from glory after two successive defeats to Garcia and Peterson has made small rebuilding steps in defeating low-profiles Molina and Diaz. This will be the biggest fight of Khan’s career and in my opinion will have a ‘make or break’ outcome. None the less, I for one will NOT be casting my lot with Khan. The simple fact of the matter is that Mayweather is infallible. The school of thought being passed in boxing circles that Mayweather has gotten too old to keep up with Amir Khan is nonsense being thrown out to hide the truth that Khan is in for a whooping. I am sure some may have been expecting a controversially written article and for some hope to be given towards the Khan camp but unfortunately it will not be found here. Mayweather is too experienced, too strong and too quick for Khan. Khan’s key weaknesses is leaving himself too open to high powered shots, something I have no doubt ‘Money’ Mayweather will take full advantage of. I will be putting my money on Mayweather for a third round KO (heard it here first) and we will see Amir ‘King’ Khan dethroned even more. ‘Khan he do it?’ No he Khan’t!
Business start-up competition Want to start your own business? Here’s your chance to win £10,000 and make it a reality. • Enhance your CV - enterprise and entrepreneurship skills • Advice, mentoring and support workshops • Produce a business plan and progress your idea It’s open to students, researchers and recent graduates from all subject areas at The University of Manchester – so get involved! The closing date for entries is 5pm on Friday 28 March 2014.
I would encourage anyone with a business idea to enter “Venture Further. It’s a safe environment to test your ideas and builds a great foundation for the next steps.” Matthias Schmid 2012 winner and co-founder of Kaffeination Ltd. – the creators of UPs caffeinated sweets.
Fans’ favourite Amir Khan faces a tough fight against Floyd Mayweather in March. Photo: @SportsWN
Want to write for Mancunion Sport? Contributor meetings take place every Thursday at 6pm on the 1st Floor of the Students’ Union
Visit our website for more details – www.manchester.ac.uk/venturefurther
/EnterpriseAtManchester
Manchester Enterprise Centre
@EnterpriseMCR
Original Thinking Applied
SPORT : 30
ISSUE 14/ 17th February 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Man City’s American Revolution Andrew Georgeson discusses the damage foreign owners are having on the MLS Andrew Georgeson Sport Editor 1985, New York, NY. The year that saw the last match that the New York Cosmos, the world’s most ‘glamorous team’, ever played. An all-star line-up that comprised of the likes of Pele and Beckenbaur, faced off in the NASL against a Chicago team featuring a few blokes rounded up half an hour before kick-off. In April this year, the team will reform again. This time they will not be the most glamorous team in the world. They won’t even be the most glamorous team in America. They will write the next chapter of their illustrious history in the reformed NASL against the Atlanta Silverbacks. If there is one thing that American’s thrive off its tradition, especially in sport. You have Babe Ruth in Baseball, Michael Jordan in Basketball and Jessie Owens in Athletics. In soccer, on the other hand, you have Landon Donovan, a man so content with being the big fish in a small pond he never swam across the great pond to truly test his trade in Europe’s major leagues, despite his two successful loan spells at Everton. The Cosmos represent a welcome attempt to recreate the history of one of football’s most interesting clubs. Indeed, it can be argued that the Cosmos players were the first ‘modern footballers’, not in
their style of play, but more in their style of living. They were decadent, they were rich, and they were celebrities competing with culture in 1970s America and a flagship team. Shep Messing, exgoalkeeper for the Cosmos, said this of the team’s cultural status, “We were as big as the Yankees and bigger than the Giants. We had our own tables at all the clubs. But we weren’t any more decadent than players today.” The lack of history behind the MLS, indeed American Soccer as a whole, makes it even more surprising that they are accepting Manchester City’s New York Blues to be established in Brooklyn, with a 50,000 seated stadium, just up the road from the only jewel in American Soccer, the newly formed NASL New York Cosmos. The acceptance of the team could be seen in two different ways. The first is, along with Beckham’s Miami Franchise, a welcome addition to a sport struggling to make its mark on American soil due to inflated television rights in a nation scared of losing interest in their national sports. Obviously with Manchester City you get the financial security, and with Beckham comes the international interest and the usual media circus. But in terms of a sport actually developing, can we really believe NY Blues’ Chief Executive Hal Steinbrenner when he said that “just as we
Beckham launching his MLS Franchise in Miami Photo: @101greatgoals
will send Manchester City the most exciting American Talent, so to we hope for Manchester City to send us some English talent too!” It smacks of naivety, and he knows it. Manchester City’s NY Blues team will essentially be the same as Barcelona’s B team. A team for youngsters to ply their trade, or somewhere to send off failed signings or reserve players. A Premier League B team would never be accepted in the Championship as the standard is too high and it would ruin the essence of what is, in my opinion, one of the most open domestic leagues in Europe. So this is an easy way around it. That’s fine, to an extent. Even if you have endless resources, you still like value for money, look at the signing of Negredo for proof of this. If you can find a goal keeper of the standards of Tim Howard in New York, then transfer him from your
New York franchise for free, then why not? It’s smart business. But in terms of a sport developing, what can the NY Blues actually hope for? A pre-season exhibition match with City and a season long loan of Jack Rodwell? Perhaps they will be able to sign Aguero when he is 34 years-old if they offer him a £250,000 a week contract. Beckham’s venture is a more innocent pursuit. He seems to genuinely want to help the American game develop, having had a clause in his initial contract with LA Galaxy to perhaps open an MLS franchise when his career is over. But City is dining with the devil in the form of the New York Yankees. For City, the New York expansion represents an attempt to become a world sporting brand like Manchester United. For the Yankess, however, already one
of the biggest sporting brands in the world, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for them to take such a vested interest in football, the minority sport in America. The timing of their interest becomes even more suspicious with it being so close to the re-forming of the Cosmos. In essence, the sport needs to revaluate itself. America’s infrastructure for sports is incredible, far superior to that of the UK, with specific legislation ensuring sporting funding will be split equally. The pool of talent is also so much larger to choose from. What needs to stop is the silly signings. The Jermaine Defoes, the Thierry Henrys, and instead focus on bringing young players through. 18-yearold Diego Fagundez has scored 12 goals and had six assists for New England Revolution last season, so the talent is there, it just needs unearthing. The stadiums are there, the crowds are building, but America’s sporting executives simply don’t want soccer to succeed. They would rather have a stadium full of plastic fans in Brooklyn then a small stadium full of real fans watching the cosmos in the NASL The staggering difference in price for television rights, offering heavily subsidised pricing for NFL coverage compared to MLS, proves this. It is not their sport, but it still has potential to be another chapter in America’s proud sporting history.
RAG Publicity Officer Emily Hodgson explains Bogle A Bogle is historically a Lancashire imp of folklore that appeared in hallucinations to UMIST lecturers on the 55 mile walk from Lancaster to Manchester when they missed the last bus home back in 1961. The devilish imp was willing them to quit, and it was the overcoming of this mental obstacle that gives this challenge its name. In commemoration of this, every year the fundraising arm of the University of Manchester’s Student’s Union, Manchester RAG (Raise and Give), recreates this challenging feat by holding the Bogle Stroll event. This year, the event will be taking place on Friday 28th February and Saturday 1st March and anticipates 500 people taking part with a collective fundraising total of over £50,000 for charity. The Bogle Stroll takes three forms. The first is the Bogle Stroll which is a 55 mile walk taking between 14 and 24 hours to complete. Second, there is the Bogle Ramble, a 26 mile walk starting early in the morning and taking up to 10 hours. Finally, the Bogle Roll, this is for those more suited to two wheels, a 78 mile cycle taking between 5-6 hours to complete. Although Bogle can be completed for any charity, this year the charity partner is Oxfam, who are there to offer fundraising support and additional perks to those who walk or cycle for them. They will also double every pound fundraised for Oxfam through a government scheme, raising money for their Mother
Playnify: Manchester’s sporting social network Click & play sports platform innovated by University of Manchester students
Tom Dowler Sports Editor University of Manchester final year Spanish, Business and Management students Jonathan Suárez and Danny Taeidy have introduced an exciting new sports platform in Manchester to great success. The two avid footballers discovered Playnify – a social network for sports while spending time playing football on their year abroad in Madrid, Seville and Barcelona. Hoping to meet similar minded sportspeople and socialize, they decided to bring this excellent idea to Manchester. Playnify was set up in 2012 in Portugal by CEO Joaquim Valente. It has grown at a staggering rate and currently boasts 15,000 users in Europe, providing an easy opportunity for people to participate in a variety of sports and activities. Considering their University town as the ideal start-up venue for Playnify’s British conception, the entrepreneurial undergraduates have already
established regular football matches in the five-a-side cages on 3G pitches at the Armitage Centre in Fallowfield. Keen to promote accessibility to grassroots sport the duo offer the service at cost price. It costs just £3 for a full hour’s play - a bargain compared to other football venues in the city. Currently, Manchester’s Playnify network has over 180 registered players, and it couldn’t be easier to sign up and then start playing immediately. With the option to register and play as a team, or to join teams as an individual, the network allows great flexibility and a lack of pressure to force housemates and friends to turn up to make up the numbers at the last minute. This is one of the clear downsides of the Student Soccer experience; committing to competitive matches on a regularly basis can be difficult with coursework deadlines, Sunday morning lie-ins and busy schedules to contend with. Games can be scheduled
with ease by the website, or on the Playnify app. Facility of access and organization are
available times to play on the adenga, Jonathan and Danny intend to take the concept UK-
Playnify is proving popular amoungst students in Manchester Photo: Playnify
two key driving forces behind the project. After experiencing the challenge of moving to new cities on their year abroad, Jonathan and Danny are particularly keen to encourage Erasmus exchange students to come and join their footballing community. After a successful trial period in Manchester and with more
wide in major cities, bringing sport to as many as possible at the grassroots level. Jonathan told us it is, “A sports social platform which helps people organize their sporting lives. If you don’t have anyone to play with, you’re new to the city or you’re missing a couple of players. Join Playnify, meet people and get your sporting
life back on track. It’s so easy.” He continued, discussing their sporting experience in Spain “We got people together and we played amongst people from all over the world who were in exactly the same situation we were in and had a kick about. This was easy because everyone wanted to play and everyone wanted to meet people! ‘Why don’t we bring this to England’, we asked, and ‘How are we going to do it?’ Our research brought us to Playnify.” Further to this exciting sporting development, Jonathan and Danny are looking to recruit some willing volunteers to help with promotional work in Manchester. This would be an (unpaid) opportunity to gain some valuable experience for your C.V. and be a part of a thriving sport start-up. For more details email careers@ playnify.com. Sign up with your Facebook account on www.playnify.com and like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/playnify.
Appeal, which supports mothers living in poverty worldwide. Nancy Gartside, Oxfam’s Regional Fundraising Manager, says how, ‘Myself and Oxfam are absolutely delighted to have been chosen by Manchester University RAG as the charity partner for Bogle this year. All proceeds will go to Oxfam’s Mother Appeal, a fundraising campaign which hopes to raise £10 million for mums living in poverty all over the world and is receiving £1:£1 matched funding from the UK Government.’ For more information visit: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ mother-appeal. This event is open to everyone, students and non-students alike. Signing up is easy, go to http://www.manchesterrag.com/bogle/ signup/ or head to the Student Activities space on Floor 1 of The University of Manchester’s Students’ Union. The entry fee is £10 for students and £20 for non-students. There is an additional £30 refundable deposit which will be returned upon the participant raising the minimum £60 sponsorship for their chosen charity. Group discounts are also available; please contact the event coordinators at bogle@manchesterrag. com. Why not join us and take the scenic route to the extreme with this year’s Bogle, and raise money for a good cause close to your heart. Bogle. A step in the right direction.
SPORT : 31
ISSUE 14/ 17th FEBRUARY 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM/
#PurpleandProud Continued from page 32... The current junior crop would arguably be at the peak of their careers at Tokyo 2020, but it is now doubtful whether Team GB will even field a team. The decision raises a number of issues, all of which question the Olympic legacy promised at the close of the 2012 games. Firstly, it places a self-defeating focus upon winning medals, which unfairly punishes emerging sports such as waterpolo. As Graeme Thompson told me, “All sports go through an emerging stage. Even cycling and rowing did”. The only way for women’s water-polo to win Olympic medals is with the continued support of UK Sport to allow the sport to develop. This cut in funding now throws the entire future of the sport into question. Without a realistic possibility of Olympic participation, the attractiveness of the sport to would be players is greatly diminished. The focus on medals is also unhealthy given the sheer unpredictability of sports such as water-polo. The past two women’s water-polo gold medal winners, the USA (2012) and Holland (2008) were both ranked 5th in the world when they won gold. UK Sport said it was a risk to continue to award women’s water-polo funding. I think the evidence shows that the risk is in withdrawing it. Another issue is the message this withdrawal sends out to other young
women with Olympic aspirations. One of the central tenets of the Olympic legacy was to encourage participation. Without the role models of the likes who spurred on Kathryn, Hazel and Lisa, how do we expect this to happen? “This is not a helpful message”, Graeme Thomson said. How does UK Sport hope to encourage young girls to take up sports such as water-polo, when they themselves do not deem them as having ‘medal potential’? What too does this say about the future of Olympic team sports? With Basketball also having its funding withdrawn, the only team sport to continue to receive funding is Hockey. Men’s water-polo has also been a victim of funding cuts to team sports in recent years. The evidence showing the benefits of participation in team sports is clear, and what’s more they are far more regularly practiced in school PE lessons. The emphasis on the individual at the expense of the team sends out completely the wrong message to the generation the London games was meant to expire. And finally, what do we say to those who have built their lives around the sport? The current water-polo crop playing abroad are mostly tied down to representing their teams until June. Their funding stops in May. Similarly, the cost to the coaching staff of the funding withdrawal is equally severe. Graeme - who only took up his post in
March 2013 - will be made redundant in May. The water-polo team have already qualified for this summer’s European A Championships in Budapest - a distant dream some ten years ago. Now, it is doubtful as to whether they will attend. Girls who have and continue to dedicate their lives to a sport and who dream of representing their country; thwarted. This isn’t a legacy, it is a national disgrace. “It feels like we have been walked up to the top of the hill, and then dropped off”, Graeme said. We are seeing our Olympic legacy, that we were supposed to be so proud of, hollowed out before our very eyes. The talk of ‘widening participation’ can now be seen for what it truly is - a facade to disguise the fact that we continue to place success over support, and medals over development. Nobody disputes that those sports courting public funding ought to be accountable. But to ostracise a sport which has come so far in so little time defies sense. An appeal will soon be lodged with UK Sport, but in the meantime please take the time to sign the petition detailed on the back page. A decision which impacts so many people so severely does not deserve to go unnoticed.
Kathryn Fowler CN La Latina (ESP) Right Winger Maths and Physics Hazel Musgrove Ethikos (GRE) Centre Back Psychology Lisa Gibson CN Mataro (ESP) Centre Forward Biomedical Sciences
The saints go marching on First defeat for Rugby League as York St. John emerge victorious
Rob Eden Sport Reporter
Last Wednesday, the University of Manchester Rugby League 1st team faced York St. John 1st XIII in the last 16 of the BUCS Rugby League 2013-14 Northern Conference Cup. The game was played in extremely difficult conditions, most notably the horrific winds, and unfortunately Manchester narrowly lost eight points to four. Kick-off spelt what was to come. The ball just about reached a distance of ten metres for what would normally travel four times as far; the strong winds were clearly going to have an impact on this game. That was confirmed in the opening moments with both sides making handling errors, the emergence of which seemed to make the game a lot tighter. Often simple passes would end up a metre behind the intended target. This made exploiting the pace of wingers particularly difficult and the game became more of a forward’s battle with each team fighting for extra yards. Nine minutes in and the game had its first try. York mounted an attack from inside Manchester’s half, successfully working down the left flank. The York forward did well to keep himself in play and power his way over the line for a lead of four points. York went on to dominate the reaminder of the opening period, containing Manchester in their own
half. When Manchester looked like they were about to ease the pressure by launching an attack just inside York’s half, they were dealt a penalty for crossing. The resultant York attack was neutralised by the stern Manchester defence, forcing a kick after their fifth tackle, yet Manchester knocked on almost immediately to give York possession on Manchester’s 30-yard
The resultant kickoff pegged York back in there own half. Good defence allowed Manchester to reclaim possession inside York territory. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to breakthrough the York defensive line, Paddy Allen played a delightful cross field kick from left to right to use full advantage of the wind. The hapless York winger never looked like claiming the ball allowing Jack Crowder through to claim the ball
some huge hits, knocking defenders back in spectacular fashion, whilst always being the first to chase down kicks. It was Manchester’s attacking display that was a cause of concern for the coaches on the touchline. Nevertheless, 15 minutes into the second half, Manchester woke up and began to control the game. Starting out from their own try line, Manchester drove all the way to within 15-yards of
Manchester struggle to get going in tough conditions at the Armitage.
line. Again the York attack brought power. York’s towering forward made a blistering run through the heart of Manchester defence, knocking over man-after-man until he bounded over the try line to increase York’s lead to eight after 32 minutes of play. The match looked as if it could be getting away from Manchester, however, the home side’s players seemed to have different ideas, responding instantaneously.
and cross for a try in the right hand corner. At halftime the score stood at eight points to four; unsurprisingly no kick for goal had been successful. The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with York dominating early proceedings, making Manchester play most of their rugby from deep inside their own half. Manchester had excelled all game in defence, they should have arguably been trailing by more points. In particular, Nathan Scott stood out for registering
York’s try line. Some superb offloads and a formidable run from Jack Lynch seemed to ignite Manchester’s attack. For the rest of the game, Manchester harboured a certain desire to out do their York St. John counterparts, something of which had been lacking in the first half. Again and again Manchester came knocking on York’s door only to just be denied, often at their own fault due to handling errors. With no score in the second half, and a momentary lull in which the game went
back and forth in the midfield, the match experienced an amusing interlude. Both team’s substitutes took part in their own battle. A shouting match of “woo” after every tackle or attacking knock down which managed to keep both teams entertained for a while until the last few moments of the game. With two minutes to go York were pegged back deep into their own territory, Manchester had their final chance of the game. Initially attacking right, Manchester was able to suck York’s defenders in, which enabled Manchester to quickly distribute the ball left. Nathan Scott found himself on the wing with a bit of space and seemed to have beaten his man, but defensive support came and brought Scott down. In a last ditch effort, Manchester attempted to chip and chase but a tackle meant that Manchester ended up knocking the ball on. It proved to be the final play of the game, the match finishing eight-four to York. Captain Chris Bates (who was unable to play due to injury) singled out Jack Lynch as Manchester’s man of the match, “He led from the front all game in a weakened pack.” The result means that Manchester are knocked out of the Northern Conference Cup; however, they are still undefeated in the BUCS Rugby League Northern 2A Division with five wins from five, and will look to bounce back from this unfortunate defeat with a win against UCLAN.
SPORT
17th FEBRUARY 2014/ ISSUE 14 FREE
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
P.29
Khan he do it?
Spend it like Beckham
P.30
: @Mancunion_Sport : /TheMancunion
WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Rugby League cup defeat P.31
Olympic dreams dashed for University alumni UK Sport withdraw funding for women’s water-polo, jeapordising trio’s Rio hopes Thomas Turner Sport Editor Three University alumni have seemingly had their Olympic dreams dashed, as the women’s water-polo team they hoped to represent in Rio had its funding withdrawn by UK Sport. Kathryn Fowler (Maths and Physics), Hazel Musgrove (Psychology) and Lisa Gibson (Biomedical Sciences) all represented the University, and currently play abroad with a view to securing the best possible preparation for Rio 2016. In total, seven Olympic and Paralympic sports have had their funding withdrawn: basketball, synchronised swimming, water-polo and weightlifting in the Olympics, and 5-a-side football, goalball and wheelchair fencing in the Paralympics. While in a statement UK Sport said their door “will not be shut permanently” on any sport which has lost funding, the reasons cited for the withdrawal is the failure to demonstrate a realistic medal potential by the Tokyo games in 2020. Kathryn Fowler, who is currently playing in Madrid for La Latina having deferred her masters said, “I haven’t come to terms with it yet, I’m shocked and totally confused by their decision”. Having been part of the BUCS
Championship winning side of 2010/11 and subsequently club captain the following year, Kathryn’s Olympic dream was inspired by the performance of women’s water-polo team at the 2012 London games. It is indeed an impressive story, seeing the GB team rise from 16th to as high as seventh in the European rankings in just six years. The seeds of this success story were sewn as early as 2003, when
the team were invited as a last minute replacement to the World Championships in Barcelona. Losing heavily in the 15-16th placed play-off to France, the self-funded team were very much on the periphery of the World and even European water-polo scene. The setup only appointed its first full-time coach in January 2007, and the improvement since has been marked - culminating in a quarter final
loss to eventual silver medallists Spain at London 2012. As the embers of the Olympic torch died out, the future for GB water-polo looked brighter than ever as 2012 came to a close. In December 2012 UK Sport revealed their aim to put more money than ever before into the sport starting from May 2013, as a result of the gains made in previous years. The increase was the largest afforded to any Olympic sport.
Manchester alumni Lisa Gibson (far back left), Kathryn Fowler (middle back row) and Hazel Musgrove (one in from right, middle row). Photo: @GB_WP_Girls
However, just nine months on, a full U-turn by UK Sport has seen them withdraw all funding from the team, leaving their plans in jeopardy. Many in the water-polo setup will admit that the team is currently in a period of transition following the 2012 games, with retirements and coaching changes contributing to a difficult few months in which the team missed their ‘milestone target’ of 12th at the 2013 World Championships - albeit by just one place. But quite how UK Sport can deem the sport to have medal winning potential in May 2013, but not in February 2014, is what has baffled most. This is especially puzzling given the preparations in place to push for podium places in Rio and Tokyo. Most of the current women’s team are playing abroad with UK Sport help in preparation for 2016, playing against many of the world’s best on a regular basis. What’s more, the junior team finished 8th in September’s World Championships - the best performance by a women’s GB water-polo team on the world stage ever. In the wake of London 2012, attendance at national trials increased for both men and women by between 60 and 70 per cent. Continued on page 31...
Support the petition!
The petition to restore funding to the women’s water-polo team can be found at the link below:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/60282