10th MARCH 2014/ ISSUE 17 FREE
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Interview: Rob Ford
Music interview: Ella Eyre
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The Mancunion vs. Food
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Lecturers refuse to mark assessments due to pay dispute Jonathan Breen Editor-in-chief
University staff and students have signed an open letter to the University of Manchester Vice-Chancellor after lecturers announced they would stop marking any exams, dissertations, or other coursework, in an escalation over a pay dispute. The University and College Union (UCU) – the lecturers union – announced they would start a marking boycott from 28th April, the first day of term after Easter break, and the deadline for many students’ dissertations. “I believe that all employees at this great university deserve your support and recognition for the role we play in delivering high quality research, education and services for our students,” reads the open letter to Vice-Chancellor Dame Nancy Rothwell, made as part of a petition on ipetitions.com. The threat from university lecturers – which could ultimately impact graduations – follows further industrial action this academic year, with six strikes since October 2013, over a one per cent pay increase offer, rejected by university staff. Unions, including UCU, Unite, and Unison, are campaigning for a better pay deal after the last four years have seen
lecturers suffer a 13 per cent pay cut in real terms. Lecturers have also been angered by university vice-chancellors’ pay rises, which average five per cent, and who they say now earn an average of £235,000 annaully. In an email to student society leaders, University of Manchester Students’ Union Education Officer Rosie Dammers called for students to support staff and to “take action” by signing the open letter to Dame Nancy. “As students I believe we have a responsibility to make sure the staff who teach us are paid a fair wage,” said Dammers in the email. “If we are taught by over-worked and underpaid staff, it is our education that will suffer. “We also have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with the Postgraduate Research students who teach, who are often those who are most exploited and, in some cases, don’t even get paid a living wage. “You can take action now to stop this boycott from happening by signing this petition and getting your friends and family to do the same. It asks university management to support us as students and stand up for what is right in order to stop this marking boycott of our assessments.”
Continued on Page 2...
Lecturers will stop marking coursework and exams from 28th April unless pay issues are resolved. Photo: Tobias von der Haar @Flickr
02 : NEWS
ISSUE 17 / 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Highlights
Books:
The poetry of sex
Last week performances were put on for ‘Pakistan Week’. Photo: Pakistan Soceity on Viimeo
Page 24
Picture of the week
Film:
Preview; Godzilla Page 18
Continued from page one... 665 people had signed the petition as of Friday 7th March. Commenters
on
the
petition showed support for staff, and questioned the University’s financial decisions,. “The
Staff
at
university BETTER
this
deserve (sic),”
said
Francesca Saunders.
Fashion & Beauty:
This season’s summer fads Page 17
“How can you justify a £1 billion investment on facilities whilst not even paying your staff a living wage?” asked Claire Laxton. Nicholas
Byres
wrote,
“As a student rep, I will be making my fellow students aware of this matter.” The UCU last used a
marking boycott as a tactic
their employers have so
union’s
in 2006, which saw a deal
far refused to enter into
lost support, with recent
university
worked out before any
negotiations with them.”
strikes having little or
to have students’ best
no effect, and said it was
interests at heart if it is
“disappointed”
action was enforced. If
implemented,
boycott
would
The
Universities
the
Colleges
see
Association,
Employers
Page 15
at
can
claim
the
not pushing for talks with
marking boycott, which it
the union to resolve this dispute.”
represent
higher
called action “once again
education
institutions
aimed directly at students’
for
exams,
“I fail to see how any
who
meetings in preparation meaning
– including Manchester – in pay negotiations with
year
staff, have agreed to enter
Sally
a
angry staff are at the
“exploratory” talks with
marking
boycott
“the
hypocrisy over pay in our
UCU.
ultimate
sanction,
but
exams
for
those
graduating this year. Dammers also said, “The marking
boycott…could
UCEA
declined
to
have a real impact on our
comment
further
education.
the exploratory talks take
until
education.”
She added, “The strong
the disruption of final
support for our action
UCU general secretary,
an
Hunt,
called
one
universities.
if
“The employers cannot
would
plead poverty when it
negotiate with us over pay.
comes to staff pay and
the
avoidable
so far demonstrates how
employers
“I have spoken personally
place later in March, but
to the trade unions, and
said in a statement last
spoken to wishes to see
rises to a handful at the
they are adamant they do
month,
carrying
this dispute escalate, but
top.”
not want [the] boycott to
out
‘damaging
in the continued absence
go ahead. They feel they
course’ could face a full
of meaningful negotiations
have been forced into
withdrawal of pay.”
from the employers, we
taking this action because
“staff
such
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
a
The UCEA also said the
Sub-Editors: George Bailey, Jennifer Grimshaw & Eleanor Muffitt
Phone (0161) 275 2933
had
lecturers refuse to attend
Deputy Editor: Harriet Hill-Payne
Games: Manchester hosts UK’s biggest student gaming tournament
and
campaign
News Editors: Michael Williams, Pippa AllenKinross & Aidan Gregory news@mancunion.com
“No
BeautyEditor: Haylee Wells beauty@mancunion.com Food & Drink Editors: Ben Walker & Maddy Hubbard foodanddrink@mancunion.com Film Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson & Angus Harrison film@mancunion.com
News Web Editor: Dan Harold
features@mancunion.com
opinion@mancunion.com
Features Editor: Sam Dumitriu Games Editor: Alasdair Preston games@mancunion.com Lifestyle Editors: Moya Crockett, Isabelle Dann, Beth Currall & Lauren Arthur lifestyle@mancunion.com
Fashion Editors: Susie Coen & Marie Yates fashion@mancunion.com
I
have
then
award
enormous
are left with no alternative.
News Reporters: Inez Dawoodjee, Anna Philips, Charlie Spargo, Haider Saleem
Opinion Editors: Alice Rigby and Charlotte Green
member
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 17 / 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 03
Working class must ‘fit in’ to ‘middle class world’ says Brant - Peter Brant has said acting like the middle classes will encourage working class children to apply to top universities Pippa Allen-Kinross News Editor
Working class children must learn to act more middle class if they want to apply to the best universities, according to a government adviser. Peter Brant, head of policy at the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, has said that in order for working class children to “fit in” to this “middle class world”, changes need to be made in their cultural experiences, relationships, clothes and food. In his blog post, Mr. Brant said fear of “not fitting in” was deterring working class children from applying to top universities. He said: “It probably contributes to lack of confidence amongst those who are upwardly mobile as they struggle to adapt to their new social environment with a detrimental impact on their ability to reach their potential”. However, Tom Geddes, a final
year English Language student, described himself as “working class with ease”, and argued that rather than being detrimental his working class background “gives you the drive to get out of the situation you’re in”. He said: “I think such a privileged view is not helpful, it just causes resentment. To say the places you go and pursuits you follow aren’t helpful to you is a horseshit perspective”. Martin Browne, a second year Theology student, described himself as middle class but with parents from working class backgrounds. He said: “Cultural experiences would have made a difference when I was younger. Things like that can inspire you, but being working class shouldn’t mean that you enjoy those things any less. “You shouldn’t be obliged to take your children on expensive trips. Some games and books can be just as valid for cultural experience, and are more accessible”. Mr. Brant identified “barriers” between the working class and middle class, including a lack of shared cultural experiences like theatre trips and hobbies, different lifestyles including clothing and choice of restaurants, different cultural reference points, a lack of career role models for the working class and different attitudes to relationships, describing “more
subtext, nuance and casualness in middle class relationships”. Mark Ramotowski, an MA student studying Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, attended a fee-paying school and did his undergraduate degree at Oxford University. He described himself as middle class. He agreed with Mr. Brant’s view that his background made him more willing to apply to the top universities, saying: “If I was from the north and came from a farm I would want to be a farmer. “If you live in that environment you aspire to it”. Recent research carried out for the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission showed that those educated in private schools are significantly more likely to be in the highest status jobs three years after graduating than stateeducated students with exactly the same qualifications from the same university. Mr. Brant described the “critical importance of educational attainment in determining future life chances and the large gaps by social background we know exist in early years’ outcomes, attainment in primary school, GCSE results, the chances of staying in full-time education post-16 and the chances of entering university, especially at the most selective institutions”. He added: “One helpful thing would be more awareness of this as a potential issue – it can often be unappreciated by
“Fitting in” with the middle class includes going to the theatre, eating in different restaurants and changing personal relationships. Photo: Bahman Farzad @Flickr policy makers who mostly come from middle-class professional backgrounds. “This often means that debate can all too easily assume that if educational inequalities can be reduced and aspirations of young people from working-class backgrounds raised then that alone will be enough to tackle the
problem”. However, James Birchenough, a third year English Literature student, said that he felt he was leaning towards being middle class because of his university education, despite being from low-income family. He said: “[Brant’s] view is really stupid, and it shows how out of
touch the government are with reality and with real people. “People from a low-income background are helped by going to university, and we need to do more to encourage that”.
Salford student jailed ‘Lost City’ Pangaea makes loss of £4,000 for money laundering Michael Williams News Editor Pangaea made a £4000 ‘operational loss’ in January – despite a significant portion of the £16.6k Activites & Development Officer’s position being dedicated to running the event. The event, entitled ‘The Lost City’, suffered from a lack of interest compared to previous incarnations of the festival, with tickets failing to sell out as they have done in years past – despite the capacity being reduced by 1,000 from the September and June festivals. General release tickets for January’s event, headlined by a DJ set by Hot Chip, cost £25 - a price point that was defended by a post on the event’s
Facebook page. “Before you dare complain about the price of tickets please ask yourself where else you get the same level of line-up, creative input and production value for less than £25”, read the event’s description. The bar profits from the event were healthier - £22,000 was raised on the night. However, the bar profits go into a separate budget, whilst Pangaea’s budget is a rolling budget with money made at preceding events going into the next event. A meeting of the Trustees of the Students’ Union on 12th February noted that January’s event made a loss. Activities & Development Officer Liam Mayet downplayed the loss.
“We anticipate that our overall Pangaea budget will balance”, he said. The position of Activites & Development Officer for next year was advertised on Twitter during the nominations with a post that read: “Could you organise a Pangaea even better than @Exec_Liam?”. When asked for more detailed figures, Liam refused to provide any further information, citing confidentiality clauses in the contracts of artists signed to perform at the event. He instead issued the following statement to The Mancunion: “Pangaea is a not for profit event run by students, for students. Any surplus income made at each individual event is reinvested into the annual, overall Pangaea budget.”
Haider Saleem News Reporter
A student at the University of Salford has been jailed after women from around the world were duped into handing over money to someone they met over the internet. Business student Emmanuel Stephen Jack admitted 11 counts of money laundering totalling £186,000 and possession of articles for use in fraud. He was sentenced to three years in prison at Manchester Crown Court. Two women connected to him are British. One met a man who went by the name of ‘John Creed’ , who claimed to be a self-employed architect/building contractor on a dating website in August 2011 when she was aged 61.
‘Creed’ expressed his love, then claimed to have contracts worth £950,000 that required funding of £1,500 towards supplies for the project. The victim questioned this claim a number of times, so he phoned her and accused her of not trusting him. Feeling guilty, she then funded ‘Creed’s’ account. Also in August 2011, another woman, aged 52 and vulnerable, began communicating with a man over the same website who claimed to live in Spain and work as an architect/ building contractor. He asked her for £1,500 to repair damaged machinery and then asked her for further funds to pay workers. She took out a loan and paid the money to accounts that resulted in the money being transferred to Jack’s account. Following the reports from the two women,
officers from the Volume Fraud Team launched an investigation. Jack was arrested in April 2012, and his bank accounts were identified and forensically investigated. Police discovered that in total, two UK and six foreign victims sent money which ended up in Jack’s accounts. Collectively they were conned out of £186,000. DC Stuart Donohue, from GMP’s Volume Fraud Team, said: “While we strongly suspect - but cannot prove - that Jack was the person who was communicating with these women, what we can prove is that money totalling close to £277,000 has been transferred through his bank accounts “Woman from across the globe were targeted and exploited. Women, who in most cases were vulnerable and lonely.
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04 : News
UCL student fined £1000 for chalking - University of London Union will help with the payment of Konstancja Duff’s fine Dan Harold News Reporter
A student from University College London has been fined £1010 for writing a protest slogan in chalk on the building that houses the office of the university’s Vice-Chancellor. Konstancja Duff, 25, was arrested last July on a protest against the outsourcing of university employees’ contracts after writing “sick pay, holidays, pensions now” in chalk on Senate House, which houses most of the university’s administrative staff. Duff, who had denied the charges, was found guilty of criminal damage at Highbury Magistrates’ Court
and received a three-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay over £800 to cover the cost of repairs to the stone, as well as £200 in legal fees. Daniel Cooper, VicePresident of the University of London Union, said: “Shame on the management of the University of London. “They instructed the arrest, and have carried through with this prosecution for one reason: to ward off and silence any effective opposition to the university’s discredited plans for staff and students. “It shows that the university have lost the argument.” Cooper made it clear that having condemned the original arrest as “a disgrace”, the ULU would be contributing to the payment of Duff’s fine. In a statement released after the initial arrest of Duff, the University College London Union claimed that the police had used “disproportionate force (violence)” and accused
the university of deliberate intimidation. “Student unions and universities should be safe spaces for students, where we are free to critique management and the status quo without fear of police violence. “This is a clear example of how the presence of the police, and university management, on campus is contrary to this.” Following the incident the University of London banned student protests and warned students would face prosecution if they protested in certain areas of the campus, stating the university was “no longer willing to tolerate demonstrations”. Duff was also found not guilty of assaulting two police officers during the arrest. The University of London declined to comment on the guilty verdict.
Venture Further 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.
Visit our website for more details – www.manchester.ac.uk/venturefurther
/EnterpriseAtManchester
Manchester Enterprise Centre
@EnterpriseMCR
Original Thinking Applied Students pointedly wrote with chalk on university property during a recent protest in London. Photo: @ahgillett, Twitter
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 05
Fallowfield caterer makes it to finals of BBC Radio competition
- Deborah Kermath, head chef at Fallowfield’s Ashburne Hall, has beaten thousands of contestants to reach the finals BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards Charlie Spargo News Reporter Head of catering for Fallowfield Campus’s Ashburne Hall Deborah Kermath has reached the final three of Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards 2014, in a year of a record-breaking number of nominations. Overall, the twenty-four finalists vying for the eight Food and Farming Awards come from a wide range of regions from East Sussex to the Isle of Gigha, Scotland. Contestants include a street food vendor marketing unpopular cuts of meat and fish, a social supermarket selling lowprice surplus to those claiming benefits, and a fifth-generation butcher from the Wirral. Chef, writer, presenter, and chair of the judges Valentine Warner said “the scale of the public’s response has been overwhelming.” There have been over 6,000 nominations for the Awards, a record-breaking amount.
The Food and Farming Awards are held to celebrate Britain’s local food scene and the people behind it. It aims to “honour those who have done most to promote the cause of good food”. Categories include Best Food Market, Best Food Producer and Best Street Food/Takeaway. The Awards have been running for fourteen years and cover producers, chefs and initiatives both large and small. In recent years seven categories have increased to ten to reflect the rising popularity of things such as brewing and distilling. The nominations sent in by the general public are narrowed down to three by a panel of judges, this year including chef Raymond Blanc and public health officer Gabriel Scally. After this the judges travel to visit and meet the finalists before meeting to discuss and agree on a winner. Deborah has made it to the final three of the Cook of the Year section. Her competition comes from a chef at Ravenscliffe High
Ashburne Hall’s 180 residents are catered for by a finalist of BBC Radio 4’s Cook of the Year. Photo: Charlie Spargo
School, Halifax, and a team of caterers at an Inverness Hospice. The Cook of the Year is described as “someone who is preparing tasty, healthy meals on a budget in a hospital, school, care-home or other workplace and deserves to be celebrated.” Deborah is the head of Ashburne Hall’s Food in Residence, and provides two meals a day to the 180 residents of the hall. As well as providing
breakfast and dinner for the students, Kermath has worked with organisations to create opportunities for local producers and growers to sell their produce. Deborah said she was “tremendously honoured to be nominated for this prestigious award.” “The inclusion of high quality sustainable products on my freshly-prepared menu from local growers and farms is
undoubtedly a fundamental passion of mine and it is fantastic that my students can celebrate such good food every day!” The finalists for the eight categories were announced at the end of February and appeared on a special episode of Radio 4’s Food Programme on Sunday. Winners of each category will be announced at an awards ceremony held in Bristol on the 1st May 2014.
The winners of two further categories—the Derek Cooper Lifetime achievement award, which goes to an individual or organisation who has changed our relationship with food, and Food Personality of the Year 2014—will be announced at this ceremony.
Top Siemens boss awarded Student banned from university computers for ‘mining’ Dogecoin honorary professorship Aidan Gregory News Editor
Juergen Maier, Managing Director of Siemens UK and Ireland Industry Sector and a member of the Siemens UK Executive Management Board, has been awarded an honorary professorship by the University of Manchester. Maier, an outspoken advocate of industry in the UK economy, is due to take up the five year post within the faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Born in Germany, Maier moved to the UK with his family at the age of ten. He went to school in Leeds before going to Nottingham Trent University to study a Siemens sponsored degree in production engineering. After graduating, Maier immediately began his career
with the company at the awardwinning Drives Factory in Congleton, Cheshire. He then held posts in Germany and the UK, rising through the ranks to become Director of Industrial Controls, Divisional Managing Director, and most recently Managing Director of Siemens UK and Ireland Industry Sector. In a statement to the university, Maier said, “I am delighted to be awarded a professorship with The University of Manchester. It will be a privilege to be directly involved in the education of our next generation of highly skilled engineers. Critically, this builds on the relationship Siemens shares with the University as a strategic partner, further embedding our commitment to share resources and knowledge. “Together, we will work on promoting the benefits of a career in high value
manufacturing and green engineering, which of course can only be enhanced by the excellent R&D reputation the University holds.” Professor Colin Bailey, Vice-President and Dean of the University’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said: “We are very pleased that Juergen has accepted an Honorary Chair at the University. His knowledge of the engineering and manufacturing sector will support us in the education of the next generation of engineers to ensure that they have the required skills to address the challenges facing society now and in the future.” Siemens are one of the world’s leading engineering and manufacturing companies. Based in Munich, Germany, they employ around 13,500 people in the UK alone.
Anna Phillips News Reporter A student at London’s Imperial College has been banned from use of all computing facilities after using the university’s computers to mine 30,000 ‘Dogecoin’. The anonymous student has been accessing Imperial College’s computer lab at night and leaving them to run, using their corepower and resources as part of an operation to mine the online currency. The student told online forum Coindesk, “It seems they don’t have anything set up to bring attention to the fact I’m maxing out the CPUs, which is nice.” The joke-alternative currency derived from the ‘Doge’ internet meme has also been the source
of a similar incident at Harvard University in February. An Ivy League student has been permanently banned from access to all of his university’s research computing facilities after similarly using them to mine Dogecoins. Harvard’s prestigious supercomputing system had been scheduled by the student to be used for the mining operation, and was reported to university administrators after unusual activity was discovered. An internal e-mail from the institution, which was posted
group of supporters raised $250,000 in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, in order to help the Jamaican bobsleigh team to enter the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Similarly, a burger stand in EastLondon’s Brick Lane has also become one of the first places in Britain to accept the Dogecoin virtual currency. This increasing popularity for cryptocurrencies has led to a demand for computer systems to engage in mining operations to bring Dogecoin into existence. Harvard University, upon banning the student from all
on Reddit reads: “Any activities using our shared resources for any non-scientific purpose that results or does not actually result in personal gain are also clearly and explicitly denied.” An article in the Guardian earlier this year revealed how a
research facilities have said the student’s actions were “strictly prohibited for fairly obvious reasons.”
ISSUE 17 / 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 07
Vice-Chancellor joins Students storm Willetts on Asia tour University of London
Haider Saleem News Reporter
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and ViceChancellor of The University of Manchester, last week accompanied David Willetts MP, Minister of State for Universities and Science in a visit to Singapore to promote UK higher education taking in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. The Ministerial visit included meetings with a wide range of government offices and institutions in Singapore, many of which Dame Nancy visited during her personal visit to Singapore in January 2013. A notable part of their agenda was the signing of an agreement between The University of Manchester and A*STAR (Graduate Academy) for joint engagement in A*STAR’s Research Attachment Programme (ARAP). The University-wide agreement will extend the current engagement which began with the Faculty of Life Sciences. Students are registered in the Faculty and spend two years in Manchester, funded by the Faculty, and two years in a
Singapore Research Institute, funded by A*STAR. David Willetts was appointed Minister for Universities and Science in May 2010. He is the Conservative MP for Havant in Hampshire. Although Willetts relations with University officials may be sweet, recent events show us how bitter they are with students. He had a blunt welcome return by student protestors earlier on in November at Oxford University where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics – to which he was confronted by a banner reading “F*** you David
Willetts” The banner also read “and Made in Chelsea is s*** too”, in reference to the fact that Spencer Matthews, a castmember on Channel 4’s reality TV show Made in Chelsea, was speaking for the opposition to the motion. Recently Willetts was also forced to pull out of a guest lecture at the University of Sussex where students were planning to protest against his appearance. The Conservative MP apologised, claiming he was required to vote in the Commons.
Dame Nancy has signed an agreement which will create greater cooperation between the Univetity and A*STAR graduate academy in Singapore. Photo : University of Manchester
as protests continue Aidan Gregory News Editor
In a display of upheaval against the metropolitan police and management of the students’ union, dozens of students stormed the University of London. The demonstrators called for the resignation of Adrian Smith, the University of London’s vice chancellor. There were no police in attendance, and James Pestell, a spokesperson for the University of London has confirmed that “No significant damage was done, although some confidential files were thrown into the street below”. Students walked into Smith’s office and left a letter which read, “Please resign immediately. Give us our union back. Pay all your staff and get the cops off campus. Thanks very much. From London students” This disturbance is the latest in a series of protests which began at the end of last year. University of London Students’ Union president, Michael Chessum, reflecting on the latest disturbance at the university, has warned of an “end game”, which
might bring with it more “militant” protests and occupations. Chessum has however called for negotiations with the university, saying that “the ball is in the university’s court” He added further that “This wasn’t a ULU demo. It’s much more hectic and superfluously all over the place.” In response to Chessum’s remarks, Pestell said “Michael Chessum has regular meetings in the diary with senior University staff and if he turns up to them he’ll be welcome.” The protest comes in the same week
as the “chalking incident”, where a student was fined £1,010 for scrawling protest slogans on university property. The troubles started last December when more than a thousand students marched through the streets of London in a demo which led to a police van being attacked and vandalised. At the same time, the University of London took out an injunction preventing “violent and intimidating” protests on its premises.
Since the end of last year the University of London has been troubled with protests. Photo - Sven Loach @Flickr
QS World Rankings Exeter students to fund Manchester agree tuition fees Buisness School may have to rise scholarships Dan Harold News Reporter
Quacquarelli Symonds, the education information and services company which publishes annual world university rankings, has announced that they are to fund two scholarships at Manchester Business School, the largest constituent department of the University of Manchester. The two scholarships, which are being offered in partnership with QS’s World Grad School Tour, are will be worth 50 per cent of the tuition fees for any masters program at MBS. Rachel Tufft, head of postgraduate marketing at MBS, said the school’s mission was to “give everyone the opportunity to transform their lives and, in doing so, help them transform the
organizations they work for and the wider communities in which they live. “We will be looking for students who can contribute original thought and enrich the diverse academic and cultural profile of the master’s class. “We understand the financial strain that students face when considering further study and do not want this to be a barrier to applicants.”
To meet the criteria for the scholarship any candidate will have to have attended the QS World Grad School Tour and be predicted to achieve at least a 2:1 in their undergraduate degree. The University of Manchester was ranked as being the 33rd best in the world and the 8th best in the UK in the rankings most recently published by QS.
The two scholarships will be worth50 per cent of tuition fees for any masters program at MBS Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Anna Phillips News Reporter
Exeter University’s vice-chancellor announced that ‘tuition fees may have to rise again’, in a debate held by Exeter University’s debating society last Tuesday. Sir Steve Smith went head-tohead with Toni Pearce, president of National Union of Students in a debate over contentious student issues; including tuition fees and the recent privatisation of the student loan book. However, Smith managed to convince the student audience to vote in favour of the view that tuition fees would eventually need to increase. In 2010, the coalition government was met with overwhelm-
ing student protests throughout the country after the motion to triple existing tuition fees from £3,000 to up to £9,000 was passed. Yet despite an initial overwhelming response in favour of ‘This House Believes Tuition Fees Should Not Increase’, the debate at Exeter resulted in the motion’s defeat. The vice-chancellor defended his position by pointing to the need for increased funding, and suggested his main priority was to increase the standards of the university. He then proceeded to reveal that: ‘My personal preference would be for income tax to pay for university fees [but] it is unrealistic to hope for the public
to pay.’ NUS president Toni Pearce spoke
against Sir Steve Smith, drawing some of her argument from the recent Parliamentary report in which it was revealed that the government was underestimating the future debt of unpaid student loans. Pearce highlighted fears that students will have to pay more due to the potentially crippling value of outstanding loans, which in the report has been estimated to have increased from £46 billion in 2013 to £200 billion by 2042. An article in the Independent explained how students within Exeter’s society are advised to vote ‘on the merits of the arguments they have heard’, which may pose as an explanation for the debate’s outcome.
08 : Feature
ISSUE 17 / 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Revolt on the Right: Manchester Academic on the rise of UKIP
Manchester Politics Lecturer Rob Ford speaks to Sam Dumitriu about the rise of UKIP as a force in British politics Sam Dumitriu Features Editor
H
ello Rob, what is your new book Revolt on the Right about? Revolt on the right is a book coming out next month, which is the first proper academic analysis of the UKIP phenomenon. Who’s voting for them and why? How has the party evolved? How are they changing their appeal to the electorate? and what can the emergence of UKIP tell us about the state British politics and British society more generally? What is the main reason people choose to vote or join UKIP for? Voting for UKIP and joining UKIP are very different things. But in terms of voting for UKIP, there is quite a range of motives - these voters tend to be very disaffected with politics, they tend to have lost faith in the ability of politicians to represent their everyday concerns, they also tend to be very anti-immigration and they also tend to be very anti-EU. What we tend to find is a kind of dual dynamic - you are never going to vote for UKIP unless you are against the EU but being anti-UKIP is unlikely to be enough to make someone a UKIP voter. They tend to also be anti-immigration and anti-system. It’s a populist antiEU, anti-immigration party. How big is their appeal? Does it stretch far beyond Nigel Farage as he dominates the media perception? What they are tapping in to is a set of concerns within the British Electorate and a set of problems in British society, that go back twenty or thirty years, so well before he was leader. This is not a case of people saying - ‘Nigel Farage, he’s a bit of a laugh, I’ll vote UKIP’ - this is people who for the best part of twenty years have said ‘I don’t like politics, politicians can’t solve my problems, my life is not going very well’ and UKIP have become a very effective outlet for that disaffection. Where Nigel Farage is very useful, is that he can portray the case that UKIP appeals on very strongly, is very popular with the media and other politicians, and thus is able to get the message out. Does the constant stream of bad
Rob Ford has studied the rise of UKIP and is an expert on public opinion Photo: University of Manchester
In the long-run if you’re Labour, I would be worried for the 2020 General Election, this chunk of your traditional electorate may be very consolidated behind UKIP. publicity UKIP receive from people doing Nazi salutes, blaming the weather on gay marriage, etc. affect the UKIP vote at all? Firstly, it’s misleading to think that the publicity UKIP gets is largely negative. Obviously there are certain sections of the media, particularly the Guardian, that don’t like UKIP and will run these stories incessantly. But there are other sections of the media, with incidentally much larger readerships, that give UKIP pretty much constant positive publicity. Even on the BBC, you have Nigel Farage on the Daily Politics doing spoof weather forecasts. So it isn’t even the case that they’re coverage is broadly negative. But when they have these scandals; the Godfrey Bloom, the ‘God’s punishing the gays’ councillor, and so on. Does it harm them? Well no, not really. The kind of people who look at that and say ‘UKIP, what a waste of time!’ wouldn’t consider voting for UKIP anyway. For the kind of voters
that do vote for UKIP generally the party will spin it as ‘This is just another case of mainstream politicians and the mainstream media refusing to take us seriously, not focusing on the real issues and focusing on silly little things like this.’ The other thing is that because so many UKIP activists come from the Conservatives, the anti-Gay weather guy was actually an ex-Tory councillor for twenty years. UKIP can point out quite credibly that no one gave a damn about his views when he was a Tory councillor for so long, and he wasn’t shy about offering his views then, so it’s a double standard. Which party do UKIP pose the biggest threat to? It kind of depends how you think about the issue. In terms of people who voted for them in the last election, they draw most of their support from the Conservatives. But they also draw significant chunks from the Lib Dems and Labour too. If you’re wearing your sociological hat, it’s a bit more complicated. UKIP has a very clear sociological profile, it’s old, white, working class blue-collar voters and if you go back twenty to thirty years, these would be core Labour voters. These were voters who lost faith with Labour over the last government, moved over to the Conservatives and now are deserting the Conservatives because they are angry over austerity, angry over the situation on immigration, but they are not considering going back to Labour, they’ve abandoned Labour entirely. In the short-run it’s bad for the Tories, but in the long-run if you’re Labour, I would be worried for the 2020 General Election, this chunk of your traditional electorate may be very consolidated behind UKIP. Does UKIP have to juggle being a lot of things to a lot of people? How do you appeal to both old, working class voters in the North as well as middle class voters in the South? For example, you have Nigel Farage advocating a very extreme form of austerity, while they run in Wythenshawe and Sale on an antiausterity line.
They couldn’t maintain this, if they had to govern, but they don’t and they’re not likely to anytime soon. This is a common pattern with radical right parties, they can be all things to all men, partly because their appeal is more emotional than policy-based. So when people say ‘Oh, Nigel you’re saying that you’re going to cut taxes for everybody and increase spending, and say that you’re pro-austerity. It doesn’t add up.’ The average UKIP voter doesn’t care, because that’s not the reason they are voting UKIP anyway. But also they never have to follow through on this stuff. Farage can go to Wythenshawe and say ‘I’ll give you all council housing and more money and so on’. No one will ever hold them to account for this because they are never going to be in the position to make those kinds of decision. UKIP are getting very good at coming second in by-elections, can they actually win a seat though? Well, they won 130 council seats last year, but council elections are obviously in smaller districts than General Election constituencies. It is very difficult for a party of UKIP’s kind because in the First Past The Post voting system you have to come top locally, there’s no prize for second place. Unlike in Europe where you have various kinds of proportional systems, and you can a number of seats in Parliament, even if you come second, third or fourth. It is difficult for them because their appeal is very defined and limited, the working class older pensioners. Middle-class degree holders, younger voters, don’t tend to vote for them in significant numbers at all. But in order, to get a seat in Parliament they have to really widen their appeal. Even if you take a really blue collar seat like South Shields, where they got 25%. To actually go top, they have to reach out to a wider range of voters and at the moment they’re struggling with that. How do UKIP compare to other radical right movements in Europe? You’re seeing these parties pop up in lots of European countries, all the
Nordic countries have one, Belgium has one, The Netherlands has one, France has one, Austria has a very large one. They do share a number of common characteristics. They all tend to have older white blue collar electorates, they all tend to be anti-EU, anti-immigration and antiestablishment. That pattern is as true of UKIP as it is of other parties, what we do seem to be seeing is that this is just another expression of what is now quite a general cultural-social value divide in European politics, we live in societies that are dominated by university educated, cosmopolitan, middle class people. These voters don’t look anything like that, and don’t necessarily regard a society that is dominated by such people as a good thing. Just as if we were to wind back the clock fifty or sixty years, we’d have a divide between the working class and middle class over economics, now in some respects we have a similar divide but it’s over value. Is it possible for the Conservatives to win back the UKIP vote? The Conservatives have been more active than any government in the last 30 years on immigration, they’ve passed a huge number of restrictive reforms, and in that amount of time the number of voters who think they’re doing a good job on immigration has halved. So it’s not working with any voters. People think that immigration is increasing, that the government don’t have control, and if that’s the case with the average voter, it’s going to be even harder to win over the UKIP voter. The UKIP voter starts from a position of deep distrust in politicians. He expects the politicians to break their promises and sell him down the river. Without some sort of dramatic and incontestable collapse in immigration inflows, the average UKIP voter will not be convinced. Besides, there is no policy which a government can pursue that would deliver that. I don’t see how on immigration that can produce something that would satisfy the average UKIP voter. Nor can they on the EU, because the only thing that would satisfy...
ISSUE 16/ 23rd FEBRUARY 2015 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
extraordinary work in the exhibition. I made word portraits of Kevin and Camille ‘Dreaming Voices 1 and 2’ which were made up from their own words when describing the ‘internal voices that they hear. Has it been something you’ve worked on for quite a while? I started making the work for the exhibition in 2011. I was lucky enough to work with the legendary lithographer Stanley Jones who invited me to work with him on the 12 lithographs you see in Reassembling the Self. These are aggressive and difficult works. The reassembled anatomy is a metaphor for the pain and difficulty of having schizophrenic when you can feel that your self is being stolen away from you by your own anatomy. The relationship between the physical brain and your sense of self in this context is very complicated. Did you find it hard or easy to depict it in an artistic way? It was very challenging. I didn’t want to make any statement myself about what schizophrenia might or might not be. I wanted to make work which invited the audience to experience an alienation from their sense of Self. So, the Reassembling the Self lithographs are formal portraits of Schizophrenia itself. The idea is simple. A body attacks itself – and this is represented by a reassembled anatomy where huge ear bones and a hip bone become the shoulders bones, where a large pair of ears form an arse. A distorted anatomy as a visual equivalent of distortions to ones sense of Self which can happen in schizophrenia. These prints also show the extraordinary technical versatility of lithography as a form. These are plate lithographs. Seamlessly I was able to mix digital photography, ancient anatomical illustrations with drawn marks and a painterly quality. Colour is subtle. I can’t think of any other technique which would have let me do this. I also used eye tracking technology to make a self-portrait called Self 2. It was an interesting experiment to draw with one’s eyes rather than one’s hand. The process exposed the way one looks at things rather than the way one draws. It also might tell us something about the way an individual perceives the world. Do you think there is a general misconception about people with schizophrenia? People with schizophrenia are often treated appallingly in the press. There is a huge amount of ignorance and mythology around the condition. This ‘bad press’ can lead to people feeling socially isolated. But like all conditions, it is on a spectrum… and not very different from being me or being you. What do you hope the ‘Reassembling the Self’ project will do to Schizophrenia, if anything? I hope that the exhibition and the project will open up wider discussion about the experience of schizophrenia. And maybe help to explode some of the stigma surrounding the condition. This is the third time we have shown this exhibition in the UK, and each time it has attracted an interested and diverse audience. There is a symposium about schizophrenia organized by Manchester University, open to all, at Waterside Arts Centre
on May 13th. We hope to bring together under one roof many different people, from varied backgrounds, academic and nonacademic, people affected by and dealing with schizophrenia including clinicians, mental health professionals, artists and interested people to explore many aspects of living with, and treating schizophrenia. It promises to be a very special day. All welcome but you need to register. Did the use of different materials (e.g. etching and lithograph) intend on sending out a different message in your art? Same with the use of colour contrasts e.g. black and white. As I described I worked with Stanley Jones at the Curwen Studio to make the lithographs. The etchings were commissioned by the Arts Council last year to add to the exhibition as it toured the UK. I wanted to make work which explored the fragility of human identity. How a stroke, or a brain injury or illness can fundamentally change who we are. I am a hairdresser’s daughter, and have always been fascinated by hair. Hair is about lots of lines working together on your head. It is also very near to the brain – hair grows from the skull. I wanted to use human hair to draw with, and I worked with master printer Nigel Oxley to make The Entangled Self suite of etchings you can see in the exhibition. The etchings continue my interest in making work printing with marks taken directly from the human body in an exploration of human identity and portraiture. Hair produces extremely fragile lines at the limit of what you can capture on an etching plate. These prints are a reflection on how fragile our sense of who we are really is. In the film Memoirs, how did you go about making it and why did you use and what was the significance of the dancing figures? My film ‘Memoirs’ was based on an extraordinary account by Daniel Paul Schreber in 1895 of his descent into psychosis. ‘Can there be any prospect more terrible for a human being …than the prospect of losing one’s reason ‘, Daniel Paul Schreber, Memoirs of My Nervous Illness 1895 I worked with the animator and composer Barney Quinton. We collage together archive film footage from the Welcome Film Library, working from the images that Schreber described in his book. Schreber reveals how he “considered himself chosen to redeem the world, and to restore to it the lost state of Blessedness. This, however, he could only do by first being transformed from a man into a woman....” and the dancing figures represent his wish to become a woman.
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Self Portrait: Kevin Mitchinson
Reassembling the Self is a free exhibit at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale and is running until Saturday 30th May 2015.
Mandala: Camille Ormston
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Opinion
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Sex trafficking is still thriving in the UK The sex trade is flourishing across the country; including in Manchester. Lauren Wills argues that we need to act now to win the fight against slavery Photo: Wikimedia Commons
My Political Villain... Mitt Romney
Photo: Flickr@dualdflipflop You may not know that the awardwinning action-thriller “Taken” is closer to fact than fiction. We watch it and find it utterly terrifying, but perhaps subconsciously see it as a fairy story. It is, however, a startlingly similar representation of reality - women in our cities are living in the nightmare that is the sex trade. They are tricked, manipulated, beaten, sold and raped for profit - and it’s happening here in Manchester. There are over 27 million slaves in the world today; that’s more in the world than ever before, despite the majority of people believing slavery was eliminated years ago by the 13th amendment to American constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The National Crime Agency actually reported last week that child sex trafficking in the UK is second only to Vietnam - perhaps an astonishing statistic for a crime so unheard of in modern-day society. As stated by the Manchester Evening News, government figures estimate there are 5,000 women in the UK who have been trafficked for sex – but those working to battle the trade in Manchester believe this figure is ‘the tip of the iceberg’. February 27th saw the beginning of the #Enditmovement ‘Shine a Light on Slavery Day’ - a worldwide campaign to raise awareness to end human trafficking. Raising awareness is so important, as this is an issue we perhaps associate with foreign countries, but never our own. I began to research trafficking after reading the autobiography “Slave Girl’ in which a regular girl from Newcastle was offered a job in Amsterdam as a nursery teacher. There were various formalities; paperwork, background records and multiple interviews, just like a regular job application. However, upon arrival, through a number of circumstances she was horrifically sold and forced to work the Red Light District.
Unfortunately this is true for so many women who are trafficked both from and to the United Kingdom. In her article “Legalizing Pimping, Dutch Style”, Marie-Victoire Louis writes, that “80 per cent of prostitutes in Amsterdam are foreigners and 70 per cent have no immigration papers”, heavily suggesting that they are trafficked. The reality is that women are raped for profit and robbed of their dignity multiple times a day for years upon end. This puts a ‘harmless’ trip to Amsterdam in another light. Funding a weekend with the best
We a s s o c i a t e the sex trade w i t h f o re i g n countries, b u t n e ve r o u r ow n of intentions could actually be fuelling this poisonous trade. Unquestionably this is also going on closer to home. The M.E.N reported last year that Medaille Trust’s safe-house is a Manchester-based charity working to rescue women. The charity comments “Men who are paying for sex with trafficked women also need to use their own moral compass. It will be obvious from the language barrier, a person’s body language, if they are there willingly. These women are someone’s sister or mother who are being forced to have sex”. In a growing age of clubbing and drinking culture, internet pornography, and prostitutes readily available for
relatively little cash, we can be falsely led to think there is no danger in paying into this system. Furthermore, reading the chilling story of Benjamin Skinner, an individual who spent four years researching modern-day slavery by posing as a buyer at illegal brothels on several continents is utterly sickening and would cause most people to question their sexual integrity. On one occasion, the individual was offered a young girl with Down’s Syndrome in return for an old, used car in Romania. Raising awareness about the reality of trafficking is so important and necessary, although it cannot end the problem instantaneously, it will inevitably lead to a more informed society when it comes to sex and prostitution. Organisations such as Hope for Justice exist to help bring an end to Human Trafficking. Based in Manchester, their aim is to “uncover and abolish” the hidden crime of modern-day slavery. As a non-governmental organisation, they are involved with gathering intelligence and they assist in the process of removing victims from exploitation within the UK. The charity said, “Human trafficking is not someone else’s problem, it’s happening in our communities, in our neighbourhoods, in our country. Hope for Justice was created to be the practical solution to human trafficking with four areas of operation”. Indeed, Hope for Justice have been actively involved in a number of cases involving rescuing women and children from this horrific trade as well as raising awareness on it. You can be part of the rescue mission; you can volunteer, raise awareness, campaign, and give financially. There is much more going on behind closed doors in our cities than we think. Help join the fight to end slavery. To get involved and help end sex trafficking in the UK and worldwide, visit hopeforjustice. org.uk
The Republican Party do not fare well in my political opinions and values, so you’d think that any individual representing them would be a political villain for me. However, it is Mitt Romney in particular who stood out in the 2012 US Presidential Election as an incredibly frustrating and contradictory candidate. His habit of flipflopping and voicing of extreme views makes him my political villain. The Republican Party in general were notoriously stubborn with their attempts to derail Obamacare, a piece of legislation designed to insure those who can’t afford healthcare, and to lower costs for middle class families (how can that be a bad thing?). However, Romney was one of the most hypocritical opponents. Having signed a very similar piece of healthcare reform as Governor of Massachusetts, declaring “the President’s copying that idea, I’m glad to hear that”, Romney later declared Obamacare “bad news” and threatened to repeal it “on day one” if elected President. Not only did Romney oppose a landmark bill designed to help the most vulnerable in society, he “invented Obamacare before he was against it” as Jay Leno humorously summed up. Healthcare wasn’t the only inconsistency. Leading up to 2012, Mitt Romney had flip-flopped on almost every major issue, highlighted by Romney contradicting himself at different points in time over issues such as healthcare, abortion, economic stimulus and women’s rights. It wasn’t a case of him simply changing his mind; he was willing to become the “Massachusetts moderate” to be Governor of a liberal state, yet “severely conservative” (both labels are attributed to Romney himself ) to gain Tea Party support and the Republican nomination in 2012. If we are to take one side of his flip-flops, he has (at some point) held prochoice views on abortion, supported economic stimulus and pledged to support the auto-industry (which he later wished to “go bankrupt”). However, Romney lurched towards the right and was secretly videotaped accusing 47 per cent of Americans as government-dependents who will always vote Democrat. His choice of Paul Ryan as running mate, a darling of the Tea Party with an aggressively conservative budget plan, further underlined his determination to appeal to anyone whom he thought could propel him to the White House. It clinched the Republican nomination, but not the Presidency. On the rare occasions that Romney started to develop more convictions, they were often of an uncaring nature. Not only did he want a multi-trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and a return to Bush’s trickle-down economics, but he cheerfully noted ”I like to fire people” and ”I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there”. To counter a question on pay equity, he crudely stated that he had had “binders full of women”, and the secret video tape of a fundraiser speech led to this shocking outburst; “there are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the President [Obama] no matter what...who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them...My job is not to worry about those people”. Mitt Romney is not my political villain just because he lurched to the right. I’m not a fan of Mrs Thatcher, but she was a conviction politician, and her stances were always unequivocal. Perhaps we can best sum up Mitt Romney with a quote from himself, “I’m not familiar precisely with what I said, but I’ll stand by what I said, whatever it was.” Ben Fearn
Opinion
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
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Students’ union elections are facing a crisis of apathy The student elections are in crisis. As The Mancunion reported last week, few students stood for executive positions this year, with many roles remaining uncontested until the closing moments of the nominations period. While a concerted effort by the current exec team and students’ union staff to encourage nominations did eventually rectify the problem, the techniques used by the SU to promote the elections were, at times, questionable. But, University of Manchester students’ disinterest in elections is no new thing – and the apathy is only growing. Some of the blame must lie with the current executive, and those that preceded them over recent years. Many students would barely recognise them walking around the Union, never mind down the street. This is partially because we only ever see them flyering us in a beguiling array of costumes, or plastered across a wall in a dim corner of the Union. Furthermore, few of us know what the members of the exec actually do. It’s easy to put this down to inaction. However, if it’s not, as they have often countered, then their PR is absolutely abysmal. Many of the
Photo: Manchesterstudentunion.com issues they raise seem unrelated to the real concerns of the student body. Their decision to attend protests about issues such as ATOS could, arguably, be examples of this. Even though there were compelling reasons to attend a protest like this, the importance of the protest and these compelling reasons weren’t communicated to students with any degree of success. This is crushingly disappointing when you consider how easy it would be for the exec to communicate with the student body. Next week, they’re hosting a BBQ where they’ll provide that ultimate kryptonite for students,
free food, while meeting the very people who supposedly elected them. Yet, while events such as these are easy for the exec to instigate and could provide a viable channel for conversation, there has not been enough of them. As a group elected to represent students, they seem little inclined to mix with their electorate, an attitude that doesn’t go unnoticed by the general student body. This is reflective of one of the major problems confronting our student elections. The exec can’t really claim a mandate from students. So few of us vote – last year the turnout was around 7.5 per cent for most roles and
much lower for some – that the elected candidates can’t legitimately represent most of the students they come across. This year, many of the nominees for the executive roles were nominated as a joke, revealing the contempt that the elections are held in. True, this is the ultimate chicken and egg situation. But, while voting rates remain so low, the executive should be trying to engage with students even more than if it were higher, both to encourage voting and to renew a mandate that barely existed in the first place. In promoting the elections, this year’s exec may be facing the steepest uphill battle yet.
The financial difficulties of the union are no secret. For the incoming exec in June, the prospect of a year with cut services won’t be an entirely palatable one. Even some of the decisions that were popularly mandated by the student body, such as a paid editor for this newspaper, have been revoked, further discrediting both the importance and viability of the executive and student involvement. I was personally recommended as general secretary and was horrified by the prospect of filling a role with so much negativity and political infighting facing it. All of this is tragic because student politics has been one of
the defining features of university life for decades. For many of us, student politics is our first direct brush with democracy and offers us an insight into the possibilities, particularly for change, that politics can provide. The current state of student elections at UMSU casts a dim light on this, with change an apparent enigma. The opportunity to affect the lives of students is overshadowed by a system that is elusive and apparently inactive. At Manchester, we need a reinvigoration of the student electoral system, to make us really believe in our executive and union. We need candidates elected not along political lines but because of their desire to make change. While the student elections may not currently be occupied by the kind of radical thinking and galvanised action that many of us seek in them, it is only the students voting for and running in these elections that can make these changes. If previous executives are a bad example, it is time to learn from them. Look in next week’s edition of The Mancunion for the Exec’s response to this article. Alice Rigby
Tuition fees aren’t the only reason students are stripping According to a new a study conducted by the British Journal of Sociology of Education almost a third of women working in the stripping industry are also students studying at university. Nearly two hundred dancers were interviewed by Leeds University academics, with 29 per cent stating they were in some form of education. This group cited the high cost of higher education, lack of availability of loans and a general lack of support for vocational courses as the main reasons for entering the profession. The flexibility and profitable nature of the business also attracted students, drawn to the prospect of supporting themselves whilst balancing their educational workload. The study reports that some participants began stripping even before beginning their courses in order to offset the “high cost of education”. Interestingly, the study added that there was “definite tension
between the ‘old school’ dancers who were there to earn good money and the new, inexperienced younger women who had a range of motives for entering stripping”. Overall, the study produces conflicting results, and raises questions about the motivations of young people entering the stripping industry. On the one hand the report seems to suggest that young people are being coerced by decreasing financial support for higher education into more sexually provocative work, but it then proceeds to refer to the allure and “initial excitement of engaging in a transgressive world”, with the prospect of being paid “cash in hand” at the end of the night perceived as an added bonus. In the Times Higher Education magazine sociologist Teela Sanders argued that “selling striptease had become more palatable and socially acceptable”, and was not necessarily regarded as sex work. He also added
Photo: Flickr@SeanMacEntee that involvement in the stripping industry was not always a product of financial circumstances, “many of these dancers are from middle-class backgrounds - they are not coming from families where money is a big issue”. It’s hard to know what to make of these findings. Yes, young people are considering more adventurous and risky avenues of employment as the means to fund education, but can we say that they are being coerced? Some may argue that students
are expanding their own ideas of what an acceptable form of part-time work is, or using financial strain as an excuse to become involved in more risqué occupations. Burlesque and cabaret have been experiencing a resurgence in popular culture, and many Universities - including University of Manchester - have pole-dancing societies that emphasise the fitness benefits of the activity, and its role in sexual empowerment. Reports recently found that ‘Sugar
daddy’ websites have record numbers of prospective ‘sugar babies’ who are also in higher education seeking a ‘mutually beneficial arrangement’, i.e. young women seeking financially rewarding relationships with wealthy older men. It’s easy when confronted with these stories to focus on the exploitative aspects of the industry, and condemn the tuition fee hike as the underlying cause for the rise of students involved in stripping and sex work but this response can be dangerously paternal and overtly moralistic. Attributing life choices down to economic need not only devalues women’s decisions to sexually empower themselves, but also undermines the whole idea of female selfdetermination. Stripping is not something I would feel comfortable engaging in, but I can’t say the prospect of getting paid £20 to dance on a table for three minutes isn’t tempting, especially as I do the same thing
(albeit with clothes on) most Saturday nights. At the very least it puts the minimum wage I get at my part-time job into perspective. I think it takes a vast amount of confidence to be able to perform a professional strip tease and regardless of its lack of appeal for me; I’ve huge respect for those young women who voluntarily enter into it. I believe that it’s important to crack down on exploitative practices in both stripping and sex-work, and that studies such as the one conducted by Leeds add a new perspective on how reduced financial support for education is impacting on young people. However we should be careful not to use financial disadvantage or societal coercion as the only explanation for young women’s participation in provocative occupations. Doing so only serves to devalue women’s choices and signals a return of Victorian attitudes towards female sexuality. Charlotte Green
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Phoebe Clarke, Patrick Hinton, Tom Ingham Interview
Opinion
theMUSIC OPINION: Should venues be just as crazy as the performers?
After catching most of Prince’s very rock-and-roll “gig” the other week, it got me thinking – can music venues be just as mental? The first example that comes to mind is, of course, the Haçienda (FAC51). Widely regarded as the catalyst for the development of the Madchester scene here in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the Haçienda was arguably the most influential nightclub in the world. But could the explosion of the MDMA-fuelled raves and acid house nights have happened if the club didn’t have the accolades of being a financial train wreck and having questionable drugs policies? A similar story is that of the 100 Club in London which held the 100 Club Punk Special (the first ever international punk festival) in 1976 featuring the biggest names in the genre at the time – Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned, The Clash, The Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks. Despite the venue usually holding jazz bands, it began throwing regular punk club nights which became a breeding ground for the early movement before releasing it into the mainstream. The nights were pretty wild, with moshing, po-going and spitting into people’s faces being heavily encouraged. During the Punk Special, Sid Vicious was arrested after throwing a glass bottle at The Damned and instead hitting a girl in the eye. Events like this spread the sub-culture all over the news and took it on a wild ride to its doom. But the real question is, are there any such venues capable
of creating entire sub-cultures in the country now? I’d say my new favourite venue is probably the Albert Hall on Deansgate. The place feels untouched since its opening in 1910 and is a very eclectic choice for a live venue. Without the threat of becoming WHP’s new mule, the hall has so much potential, especially in the hands of the fully-capable Trof. Yes WHP is really great, but it’s nothing fresh; the lineup is the only interesting thing about it and this is about the same every year. Anyway, there’s no doubt that the place is pretty special and it would be a shame to let its charm go to waste. Although their definition of waste probably differs to mine. Antwerp mansion is also a favourite, brimming with character and also having held nights with on-going cult followings, such as Rum and Bass. The place definitely has the perfect open-mindedness too. All that’s needed is common ground for the punters, a mutual feeling of suppression or freedom which will spark something. This, for me, is one of the biggest reasons to leave one’s night time routine every now and again. Stumbling upon a pioneering event is probably one of the most exciting things I could imagine, along with the fact that anyone could potentially contribute to starting it. However, all this is only possible if the right spaces are provided. So venues, go crazy. Samuel Ward
the MUSIC INTERVIEW:Ella Eyre Phoebe Clarke caught up with the BRIT-award winner and upcoming songwriter Ella Eyre to discuss Musical Theatre and dramatic relationships. Ella Eyre is the name on everyone’s lips at the moment. Having established herself as an outstanding vocalist on Naughty Boy collaboration ‘Think About It’ and coined her first number one with Rudimental’s ‘Waiting All Night’, she released her solo debut the ‘Deeper EP’ in December to much critical acclaim. I caught up with Ella amidst the madness to hear about her aspirations for the future and upcoming show at Manchester’s Gorilla. Considering her fast rise to fame, I’m immediately taken aback by Ella’s humility and grace in reflecting on her recent success. This ethos was learnt during her attendance at performing arts institution/pop-artist conveyer belt, the BRIT school. “The most important thing I learnt there wasn’t anything about the Industry, but a lesson that no-one’s going to do anything for you in life. You have to do it yourself. It was the best character building lesson I could learn in the pursuit of a solo career.” Her schooling did however, provide her with an unusual background in Musical Theatre. “It taught me to be dramatic, although theatre didn’t allow me to be creative enough. I found that playing a different role, someone else’s character, didn’t allow me full freedom of expression although it taught me how to bring passion to onstage performance” - a theatricality that allowed her to steal the show at the BRIT Awards this February. She comments “neither of my parents come from a musical background and so I only first started experimenting with my own artistic style in my last year of school.” I ask her if this was behind the decision to use the artist name Ella
...Deeper is based on a past relationship where he dropped the three word bombshell... Eyre, as opposed to her real surname of McMahon. She explained “apart from the fact that McMahon is a horrendous surname, I wanted something with a ring to it. My nan had told me at the time that Eyre is a surname somewhere in my family heritage so I went with that... no offence dad!” Ella continues to describe her style as “ultimately Soul Music with hints of R&B and an underline of pop. I wouldn’t put it in one particular genre as I like to experiment but Deeper was deliberately a short EP so that I could establish myself as a solo artist before a full album release.” In fact, all of the tracks on the EP are based on personal experience. “Deeper was based on a past awkward scenario in which I was seeing someone and they dropped the three word bombshell.” Although drawing on
personal experience helped rather than hindered the creative process. “All the tracks are based on my past and ‘Love Me Like You’ references a recent relationship, I don’t find writing songs hard as I write them quite a while after the experience. In fact, I don’t think there was anything hard about producing that EP. Having toured with Rudimental as their vocalist for 7 months prior, I was itching to produce music at the time. The EP was produced by Two Inch Punch who really understood what I was trying to achieve. It was mainly a vibe. In fact I didn’t intend on doing an EP until we’d written Deeper and we realised we had to release it straight away!” Referencing childhood heroes Basement Jaxx, (her cover of “Good Luck” showcases her incredible ability as a vocalist), Ella has big aspirations. “It’d be a dream to one day work with my childhood heroes such as Basement Jaxx and even further in the future, with someone like Pharrell. That’s the big dream.” Closer in the future however, Ella graciously explains her desire to reward the fans that have so far supported her so far. “The show at Gorilla is going to be intimate but it’s certainly not going to be timid. I love getting the audience involved and am really looking forward to spending time with the people who went out of their way to get tickets so early on in my career”. We’re sure it’ll be a show to remember.
Phoebe Clarke Music Editor
Top 5: by Thomas Ingham, Music Editor
TOP 5
SONGS:
That make me laugh
1. Blue - One Love Ok, not an obvious choice but hearing Lee, Duncan, Simon and Antony Costa belt out “one love for the hip hop beats” gets me every time. RIP Tupac.
2. Frank Zappa - Bobby Brown Does comedy belong in music? Frank thinks so, “She had my balls in a vice, but she left the dick,I guess it’s still hooked on, but now it shoots too quick”. A bit extreme perhaps, but with such slap stick backing, you can’t help but laugh.
3. Heavy D & The Boyz - Now That We Found Love Get straight on to You Tube for the gold in this one. Great song, but the track suits in this video are off the chain. There’s only one video with more swag than this, and that videois ...
4. Oran “Juice’” Jones The Rain The Juice. A song about his woman playing him for a fool, little does she know that the Juice is on her tail, with some sage advice too “Tricks are made for kids, don’t you know that? You without me: like cornflake without the milk”. Amen.
5. Barry from EastEnders - Something Inside So Strong Barry (aka Shaun Williamson) belts out this poignant classic at the World Indoor Bowls Championship in Great Yarmouth - spectacular.
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
: @MancunionMusic : / TheMancunionMusicSection
Music
13
Interview
Alexander Nut
Phoebe Clarke, Music Editor
In the run up to the Soundwave Festival Launch Party, Alex Nut talks eclecticism and the sounds of 2040. Eglo Records boss Alexander Nut is one of Rinse FM’s most diverse selectors as well as a top class artist in his own right. Truly a man of eclectic tastes, Nut can be found spinning anything from Curtis Mayfield to the latest Juke and Footwork to have come out of Chicago. “Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Otis Reading, Sade, The Beatles…. they where the artists I was most attracted to out of my parents record collection and had a massive influence on me. It was really only when I was 11 or 12 that I then got turned on top Hip-hop, and the rest followed.” This explains the eclecticism of tracks that make up his weekly slot on Rinse. He explains “I’m digging out music every day, so come Friday night i usually have a fresh selection, different from the week before. That’s what you get served up on Saturday.” His choices are driven by whatever trend to have recently taken his fancy. “On Rinse I usually play just what I’m listening too, straight up. If I’ve been off on a mad Afro-beat excursion that week, then that’s what you hear in the show. My style’s a
bit weird, I can’t quite put my finger on it myself… but at the same time, I’m not really trying to.” Not to be mistaken as odd however, this assorted, slightly nutty selection (if you’ll excuse the pun) makes a cracking show. “I wouldn’t want to limit myself. I like soulful stuff, music that sings the blues, something with substance and roots but when I play in clubs I wanna make the dance floor work.” The similar ethos of “no bullshit” drives the running of Eglo and sister label HoTep. “I put a lot of time into development and working with Eglo artists individually, to help build something much bigger than 1 record” he comments, although the project is a labor of love. “Running it with Sam/Floating Points, means that Eglo is a partnership. With HoTep however, it’s more of a personal experiment. I’ts just me, releasing dope music that i don’t have to continue to work on or follow up. It’s just cool little ‘under the counter’ experiments where Eglo is a full time movement.” It’s really Nut’s live sets however, that have established his reputation as the infamous Cashew Kid. He remarks, more casually than I’ve ever seen anyone before, “I DJ’d for Prince before,
that was pretty crazy”, and you can’t help but admire his ability to adapt to changing trends. “My style has definitely become of a more 4×4, House/ Disco mixing style as before I was coming more from the perspective of a Hiphop/Soul/Scratch DJ… but overall the aim is still to get people sweaty on the dance floor”. Sweaty is what those attending his upcoming set at the Roadhouse on the 14th March should expect as Nut will be joining the So Flute residents as part of the Soundwave launch party line-up. “It’ll be a night that’s hot, sticky and fun” he remarks.”So Flute nights are wicked and in Manchester, people know how to get down properly”. Meanwhile for Eglo Records, it’s set to be a busy year. “Fatima is about to drop her debut album called ‘Yellow Memories’ which sounds amazing. We have a new signing from Melbourne, Australia called Kirkis, he’s a bass player and has a really dope band, very much on a Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Frank Zappa kind of vibe… but in a 2040 contemporary style…” “We also have an album coming from Shafiq Husayn of SA-RA Creative Partners, which features some amazing guests and I can confirm there also new music on the way from Floating Points too… it’s going to be hectic!”
Mancunion Music Show! Every Thursday, 5:00pm
Listen online at www.fusefm.co.uk Review
Review
Clark / Shed / Clouds Bonobo Gorilla - 1st March 2014 After having my ID scanned by what looked like an old arcade machine, I was startled to then see a large image of my face appear on the screen above. On witnessing technology you might expect at a border, I felt sure that a rubber-gloved cavity search would be coming my way. But, I was wrong. After the rather extreme seeming security precautions, I was free to wander in. To my surprise, the crowd were incredibly good natured. Compared with nights such as WHP, it felt like an extremely welcoming atmosphere. I even got a hug after accidentally elbowing someone in the head. Mile wide grins were everywhere. I suspect the lax security measures may have had something to do with it. As the night got under way, the young Scottish duo Clouds’ thrashed out a chest pounding two hours of techno, with nuanced transitions keeping the momentum and the crowd moving. Chris Clark, of Warp Records
fame, has become a somewhat reclusive live act. But his enigmatic evolution has paid off: the live drummer of the Body Riddle era has been spurned for a darker, more intense electronic based sound. Clark’s performance at Gorilla featured his new Phosphor audio/visual show in collaboration with Vincent Oliver. A projected oscilloscope provided flickering green spaghetti-like visuals, setting a sinister mood and complementing Clark’s matured sound. Early in the set, he dropped the gritty ‘Growls Garden’, one of his few vocal
9/10 tracks, and later followed with older classics such as the choppy barage of sound ‘Truncation Horn’ from 2008’s Turning Dragon. Shed (AKA Rene Pawlowitz) brought the night to a close with an hour of darkly relentless beats and brought down the curtain on a extremely wellreceived third installment of Selective Hearing’s fourth birthday celebrations.
Tim Harcourt-Powell
The Albert Hall - 28th February 2014 What was the last gig you went to that left you genuinely speechless? For a band to balance a set perfectly in every way is an incredibly impressive feat, especially because I mean it was absolutely perfect. As the delicate “Cirrus” begins to enter, the place erupts with cheers before instantly being absorbed by the hypnotic rhythm – no time is needed to acquaint. Excitement is filling the hall; everyone I look at is smiling. Simon Green gently guides the room into “Sapphire”, upping the tempo and intricacy before welcoming the rest of the band on stage. A string section and brass/woodwind section all join to construct the delicate layers of each track beautifully. There isn’t a note I can’t hear. Pitch-perfect vocals are provided throughout the set by Szjerdene along with a guest appearance by Grey Reverend. Her rhythm and delivery is subtle but intimately gripping. Green’s band are well connected to the set and mirror the music,
flowing from ambience to hard-hitting with members unnoticeably exiting/entering the stage; the constant line-up change means each part of the set has its own identity and feels carefully crafted. As a result, the walls between tracks disappear and the set becomes a journey. Intricacy and simplicity are used imaginatively, along with volume, pace and emotion. “Pieces” and “Stay the Same” are utterly tender whilst “We Could Forever”, “Kong” and
9.5/10
an impressive drum solo completely set the room off. Sonically, the set was without compromise and nothing felt out of place or unnecessary. All of this is complimented by the amazing surroundings of the Albert Hall. Bonobo’s set represented everything a live band should aspire to create.
Samuel Ward
Music
14
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Mancunion Recommends
Book now: 0161 832 1111
Now: Metronomy- Love Letters Because Music. Release Date - 10th March 2014
For full listings visit:
manchesteracademy.net
5/10
an unexpected banger of a trumpet solo. One let-
MARCH
down for this first portion of the album, though,
Sex Pistols Experience Saturday 15th
is the lyrics. Lines like “bits of yellow paper from
Space & Republica Thursday 20th
you to me” don’t seem that bad on paper, but in the context of the song ‘Love Letters’ it just seems unimaginative.
Unfortunately, the rest of the record
is underwhelming after this. Although track 5,
NMEAwardstour2014withAustin,Texas: Interpol + Temples + Royal Blood + Circa Waves Thursday 20th
vibe to bring down the intensity, and the next,
Ian Prowse & Amsterdam Friday 21st
‘Boy Racers’ is a by no means bad, funky, dancey
Quadrophenia Night Friday 21st
instrumental, there is nothing much to write
Heaven’s Basement Saturday 22nd
‘Month Of Sundays’, has a cool spacy kraut rock
home about. The final track, ‘Never Wanted’ is boring, aimless and self-pitying, and was such a chore to listen to that it left a sour taste at the end
Transmission - The Sounds of Joy Division Saturday 22nd
of the album, fully living up to its name.
Azealia Banks Wednesday 26th
This is Metronomy’s fourth album, however it
Bonafide Wednesday 26th
doesn’t seem like they’ve progressed much over
album, however, is Joseph Mount’s singing. His
the years. But then, Love Letters was never going
high falsetto is vaguely pathetic and just doesn’t
to sound like anything other than the indie-
sound nice. He criminally overuses this sort of
electronic music that Metronomy have been
singing, something which I would maintain about
making since their 2006 debut, Pip Paine (Pay
Metronomy’s previous work too, and in my view it
Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank (TGT) Friday 28th
The £5000 You Owe). That isn’t to say that there
has a detrimental effect on the music.
The Stranglers Saturday 29th
aren’t good songs on the album; Metronomy have
always managed to get a few catchy choruses onto
means that despite the hopeful positives of Love
The Lox (D-Block) Saturday 29th
their albums.
Letters, it remains a middle of the road electronic
indie album.
The eponymous fourth track, ‘Love
The main bone to pick with this
This, combined with other detractors,
Letters’, is definitely the highlight in this sense. Sounding like a classic four-to-the-floor northern
Alex Daniel
soul number, this song contrasts sharply to the other songs in the best possible way, finishing with
Then: Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues Sire Records -
music around in the 70’s, the Talking Heads provided
Loveable Rogues Friday 28th
APRIL Hopsin Tuesday 1st The Robert Glasper Experiment Wednesday 2nd Emblem3 Thursday 3rd Therapy? Troublegum 20th Anniversary Thursday 3rd Mentallica vs Megadeth UK Saturday 5th Bipolar Sunshine Saturday 5th Deaf Havana Saturday 5th
May 1983
In contrast to some of the decadent rock and roll
Jack Savoretti Thursday 27th
space jam thanks to the flamboyant guitar solo by David.
State Of Quo Saturday 5th Riverside Sunday 6th Devildriver Wednesday 9th
an alternative option with a smarter quirkier way of
After fooling around throughout the album, the
doing things. They lead the way in visual art rock
last song ‘This must be the place’ sits a long side
The Wildhearts Thursday 10th
changing the way bands approached their live
efforts like Heaven as another beautiful ballad
shows and music videos. After their collaboration
crafted by the group. It consists of a slow building
Johnette Napolitano (Of Concrete Blonde) Thursday 10th
with Brian Eno that spawned three albums, amongst
rhythm from Chris Frantz and a squeaky synth
them ‘Remain in Light’ (which many consider to be
that helps to create a joyous melody. David Byrne’s
the group’s piece de resistance) David Byrne and co
vocals are heartier and provide a sweeter sound
came back with Speak in Tongues.
compared to the jerky nature of his voice in other
UB40 Saturday 12th
songs.
Penetration Saturday 12th
Released in 1983 via record label Sire, Speaking in
Hue & Cry Thursday 10th Memphis May Fire Friday 11th
Tongues is a heart warming effort where the Talking
It’s a somewhat reflective end to a playful album
Heads moved past the darker territory they delved
that’s touted with the notion that we’ve all got
into with Brian Eno and came back in a more playful
plenty of time to feel at home and comfortable
mood ready to make everyone groove. This record
with ourselves. What is clear though is that when
The Summer Set Thursday 17th
is inundated with instant hits such as ‘Girlfriend is
the Talking Heads released this album, they were
Berlin Berlin Saturday 19th
better’ and ‘Burning down the House’ -they were
certainly comfortable in their own shoes musically
awarded their first top ten hit for the latter.
and nothing is better than that.
Kvelertak Monday 21st
The song ‘Girlfriend is Better’ is synonymous with David Byrne’s gigantic suit in the Stop Making Sense Live recording and during the song he yelps “As we get older we stop making sense”- a prime example of the simple but memorable lines that resonate with you throughout this record. David’s in a boastful mood about his great girlfriend but it seems getting older complicates matters when other people get involved. On ‘Flippy Floppy’ the scratchy guitars combine with an infectious bass line from long standing bassist Tina Weymouth, to give the song a bounce and verve that transcends into a warped kind of
Matthew Byrne
Gallon Drunk Tuesday 15th Augustines Wednesday 16th
Brody Dalle Tuesday 22nd
Blood Red Shoes Monday 28th
MAY De La Soul Friday 2nd Northside Saturday 3rd Neon Trees Monday 5th Janelle Monae Wednesday 7th Clean Bandit Wednesday 7th Martin Stephenson & The Daintees Thursday 8th Jagwar Ma Saturday 10th The Clone Roses Saturday 10th Action Bronson Monday 12th Pentatonix Tuesday 13th Lit Wednesday 14th Embrace Saturday 17th CASH – The No.1 Johnny Cash Tribute Saturday 17th Capone-N-Noreaga&Onyx Saturday17th Fishbone Wednesday 21st Goldfinger/Zebrahead Thursday 22nd Swans 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 The Three Johns Wednesday 28th AWOLNATION Thursday 29th Francis Dunnery Band Friday 30th
JUNE Schoolboy Q Sunday 1st Gary Clark Jr Tuesday 3rd The Polyphonic Spree Saturday 7th Pond Monday 9th Andy Jordan Wednesday 18th Jurassic 5 Thursday 19th
REST OF 2014 Extreme – Pornograffitti Live Tour Friday 4th July Ska Face Saturday 5th July Anberlin Thursday 7th August AxisOfAwesome Monday22ndSeptember Vance Joy Thursday 25th September Evile (Album Launch Show) Saturday 27th September Miles & Erica Saturday 11th October Anti-Nowhere League Thursday 16th October
The Temperance Movement Wednesday 23rd
The Orb Saturday 18th October
Uncle Acid &The Deadbeats Thursday 24th
Asking Alexandria Friday 31st October
Patent Pending & People On Vacation Friday 25th
Lindsey Stirling Friday 7th November
Clutch Thursday 24th Jace Everett with band Friday 25th The Smiths Ltd Saturday 26th John Butler Trio Sunday 27th
Katy B Saturday 25th October Cockney Rejects Thursday 6th November Dan Baird & Homemade Sin Friday 21st November New Found Glory Friday 21st November LimehouseLizzy Saturday22ndNovember Mostly Autumn Friday 5th December
Games
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
15
Editor: Alasdair Preson Extra Life
Extra Life: Square Enix • RRP: £34.99 • Out now on PC, PS3 • Available 14th April on PS4
Retro Corner
Final Fantasy XIV Damien Trinh investigates the revival of the troubled MMO
The massively multiplayer online game Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) was released back in September 2010, brought to us by Square Enix. For all those that played it, there was only one word in which it could be described: unplayable. It tainted the coveted Final Fantasy series before it; from the highly regarded FF7 to the monstrosity that was FFXIV. From its poor user interface to the unfathomable overworld which made it impossible to get anywhere, FFXIV failed to immerse players into a magical world steeped with legend and mystery that you’d expect from the Final Fantasy series. Not to mention that this was subscription fee based, the players were angry and rightly so. Square Enix messed up. They soon realised that the only way they could win back the trust of players and regain their reputation was to redo the game. Just over 1 year later in October 2011 they announced version 2.0, FFXIV: A Realm Reborn (ARR), concluding version 1 with an extinction event in game. FFXIV: ARR continues 5 years after the end of version 1, with the extinction event known as “the Calamity”. Available since the end of August 2013, this was a vast improvement and was what the game players had been expecting 3 years prior. Square Enix completely revamped the game engine, interface and added more content amongst other things. The game now actually feels more like an offline Final Fantasy game, but adapted well for an MMO. Right at the outset of your journey to the super end game period, FFXIV: ARR manages to keep
you immersed as a Final Fantasy game should. From 4 player dungeons to 24 player raids, there’s little chance of you running out of things to do if you want to get the end game gear. There are 8 classes to start with, split into 2 disciplines. The Disciples of War include the gladiators and archers etc., while the Disciples of Magic include the conjurers and thaumaturges. Each one has their own unique skills and traits, from your usual tanking characters to the damage dealing and healing classes. From these classes, each one has a further job which you can specialise into, including the Warrior and the White and Black Mages. Doing this requires you to further level up a secondary class, ensuring you get involved with some of the other options. You’re not tied to one class or job either. Switching classes is as easy as changing your main weapon, allowing you to level up all classes and jobs without tears. Not only that, these are just the combat classes. There are a further 11 crafting and gathering classes, such as fishing and carpentry. This game truly allows you to branch out and gives you the freedom to do so. As it stands, the PvP is a little disappointing, shown by the
lack of content and players. However, Square Enix hasn’t left this game to its own devices, as they regularly bring patches with more upcoming large content updates. Even at the end game, you’ll find yourself with more things to do with each major upgrade. FFXIV: ARR is a good game with a tainted past. For those who didn’t play version 1, FFXIV: ARR is an immersive game with great things to come. For the unlucky few who were subject to the torture that was version 1, you still have a good game. The failings of version 1 shouldn’t detract from version 2.0. Treat it as a different game and what you’re left with is a solid MMO that is just as addictive as any other.
News
Manchester hosts UK’s biggest student gaming tournament Become King of the North, hopefully without the disastrous consequences, on March 19th In March, Manchester will play host to the UK’s biggest student-run gaming event. The King of the North tournament has been meticulously put together by our very own eSports society to allow universities from Northern England and Wales to contend in games of DotA 2, League of Legends and Starcraft 2, all three of which have a fierce competitive scene. 32 teams challenged in each competition, and fought their way through the brackets to reach the live finals on the
19th, with at least one local Manchester team taking part in the League of Legends final and Manchester student RobbyG competing at Starcraft 2. Beyond the key matches, the day-long event will offer attendees console gaming through the UoM Gaming Society, tabletop games courtesy of Games Workshop and a cosplay tournament complete with prizes, as well as all the usual cheap food and drink perks of being located in the Union. The tournament has attracted the
attentions of several major sponsors, including MSi Notebooks, CoolerMaster and Twitch, and some of these will have a presence on the day. Fraggers Gaming café are providing top-of-therange PCs for all the finalists to use. Riot games, the guys behind the smash-hit League of Legends, are sending their own representatives in the form of their European Programs and English Community Managers. Tickets to the finals are priced at a bargainous £2 and are available online and on the door. The tournament takes place on the 19th of March at Academy 2.
Alasdair Preston
Image: ToTheGame
Tom Bruce describes the Star Wars game most worthy of a comeback Fearless. Ruthless. Relentless. For the Galaxy’s most wanted... there is no place to hide’. Lucas Arts’ mercilessly addictive Star Wars: Bounty Hunter blasted onto GameCube and PS2 in 2002, and twelve years on is still just as fun. You control Jango Fett, father of Boba (plus roughly a billion storm troopers), and the best damn bounty hunter in the business. In vivid thirdperson mode, you traverse the universe in pursuit of your targets, fighting fierce and taking – provided you play correctly – quite a few prisoners. The events of Bounty Hunter transpire during the Phantom Menace/ Attack of the Clones interim, and your main aim is the termination of a saber-toothed sithling named Komari Vosa. Besides the primary target, there are plenty of death stick dealers and cyborg ex-cons to keep you busy along the way. With an arsenal that includes dual pistols, rockets, poison darts, flame throwers and, um, a lasso, you can dispatch Jango’s marks with delightful diversity...once you get a handle on the infuriating control system, that is. Bounty Hunter scores big on the re-playability factor; utilising Jango’s jetpack transportation unit and unparalleled acrobatics, there’s always some hidden token or route to be found. The stunning level designs - from lushly realised nexu-infected jungles to multilevel droid factories and Coruscant high rises - add to the thrill. For those
players willing to slave(1) away and nab all the collectibles, there’s bounteous bonus material too. Machinima were contracted to create the raucous blooper reel, which includes a scene in which Jango and some Gamorreon go-go girls gyrate for Jabba’s soggy amusement. These can all be found on YouTube of course, as can a feature length edit of the games charming cutscenes. Bounty Hunter’s soundtrack is an absolute romp, while the voice acting is world class. Tough guy Temeura Morrison reprises his role as Jango from the films, imbuing the creditcrazed hitman with his trademark Kiwi grit. Keep an ear out also for Oscar winner Tom Kane as Droid M.C Longo Two-Guns AND Male Civilian #2. In this writer’s opinion, Bounty Hunter is up there with Battlefront II as one of the best Star Wars games ever made, and fully deserves a Halo: Anniversary style re-release – how’s Jango: Unchained for a working title? Better still, how about a Boba Fett sequel for the Xbox One/ PS4? If clonely!
Image: ToTheGame
Preview
Preview:
Child of Light
Ubisoft Montreal • Ubisoft • Out April 30th • Available on Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3 & PC
Tao Duan introduces us to the surprising new game from the creators of Far Cry 3
Child of Light is the newest upcoming game from Ubisoft Montreal, the creative team behind Far Cry 3. It features a fairy tale world of Lemuria and the adventure of Princess Aurora to recover the sun, moon and stars stolen by the Black Queen. It is more a story of Aurora herself; her development as a character and her quest to return to her father. Incredible as it is, Child of Light is deemed by the developers as their love letter to the traditional J-RPG fans. It’s gameplay utilises turn-based combat and side-scrolling platformer sections. In other words, Child of Light is what happens when Final Fantasy meets Rayman Legends. Aurora will meet several characters in her journey that will join your party to battle the various monsters in Lemuria. She is also accompanied by a blue soul, called Igniculus. Players can switch between Aurora and Igniculus in game, or a second
player can control Igniculus alongside player one. He is an important character, storywise and gameplay-wise, as he is crucial in solving puzzles and very helpful in battle. Other traditional features such as a skills system and weapon upgrades are also present. The game is created with UbiArt, the engine that gave us the two wonderful Rayman games. It allows the creators to put the concept arts directly into the game, building a mythically gorgeous world that is a feast for the eyes. Sure, Child of Light does look like a Disney movie, but expect to witness a much darker
theme that should not be taken too light-heartedly. The writers claimed a lot of their inspiration came from adult fairy tales, the ones that do not hesitate to reveal the many dark sides of the world. Everything introduced in Child of Light until now, from the picturesque landscapes and beautiful character design to the poetic writing and interesting gameplay, is a joy to behold. Child of Light might be another excellent example of how games can also be art. It is a must-try not only for Rayman and Final Fantasy fans, but also anyone who loves a good fairy tale.
Image: Ubisoft
ISSUE 17/ 23rd FEBRUARY 2015 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Aimée Grant Cumberbatch, Gráinne Morrison, Nikki Patel
/TheMancunion: Fashion & Beauty
Top 5
@MancunionFash
Agony Aunt
Beauty
Beauty fixes: the fitness edit your body, meaning that you’re probably dehydrated. Bump Activity: Swimming, Mare: Itchy skin
up the water intake and tone down your coffee and alcohol
Activity: Spinning, Mare: Rogue tendrils
Diving into chlorinated water without some form of
consumption (apologies) to hydrate from the inside out.
Despite our greatest efforts, that pre-workout bun/
dermo-protectant is a skin sin so think twice before you
Breathing through your mouth and licking your lips during
ponytail of steel never seems to behave, meaning a
hit the Aquatics Centre. There are loads of ‘skin-shields’
your session also dramatically dries them out so try to tweak
quick, extremely fuzzy sprint out of the gym doors
out there for avid swimmers, but coconut oil slathered
your technique. Failing that, a good slick of Burt’s Bees Pink
and onto the Magic Bus. The Goody Simple Style
on the skin and hair works just as well due to its acidity.
Grapefruit Lip balm, £3.69 before and after your workout
Spin Pin, £5.49 grabs your hair from underneath for
A post-dip shower is essential, as is nourishing your skin
will soften any flakes and leave them feeling supple.
a tight hold and a flawless sporty finish as you spin
while it’s still damp. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, £4.15, has never failed me.
to victory.
Whether you spin, lift or Zumba your way to fitness, the athletic lifestyle can take it’s toll on your beauty regime. With a few simple tweaks
Activity: Aerobics, Mare: Dry, over washed hair If you’re an avid hairwasher because you can’t stand
nothing will ever get in the way of your workout sesh again. Nikki Patel
leaving the house with sweaty hair it’s important to
Activity: Yoga, Mare: Frizz mat can leave your previously sleek ponytail in disarray. To avoid any hair mares, be sure to mist Batiste Dry Shampoo, £2,99 along your hairline and the nape of your
Elixir Ultime Huile Lavante Bain, £16.00 is worth
neck as these are most fuzz-prone areas. Combing in a
splashing out for to save your precious tendrils from
leave-in serum is also a good idea and means that you can
overdrying and split ends. A weekly nourishing mask
go from the gym to uni without the trauma of brushing it
such as Kerastase Masque Nutri-Thermique, £21.00, is
through afterwards.
also vital as it gives our chance a hair to recover from
Top tip: rub handcream onto your lips before applying lip balm for full hydration and protection against the elements.
extremely admirable active lifestyle.
Guide
Trend
As the AW15 runway shows take place across the fashion
trainer at affordable prices: Zara has a flatform style
capitals of the world, it is time to take our attention
similar to that on the DKNY catwalk, while River Island
back to the here and now – SS15. The classic themes of
has most styles of trainer all at more affordable prices
summer bohemian and nautical were present in many
than their designer inspirations.
a catwalk show, but so too was the recent favourite sports luxe. It is a trend that has been growing for a few
Dear Adrienne, I’m all for living a healthy life-style: eating five portions of fruit and veg a day, raising my heart rate to the recommended intensity at least three times a week, drinking two litres of water daily and sometimes even getting the recommended hours of sleep a night. But the stress of second semester has meant that I spend more and more time on campus completing assignments than usual. It’s bad enough having to lug around my gym gear along with a laptop and several books. Never mind that everyone can tell I’ve been sweating it out on the treadmill—never a great look. How do you suggest I balance my newfound healthy lifestyle without compromising my style credentials?
1. Depending on what type of training you are doing, gym trainers can be replaced with casual trainers that can also be worn throughout the rest of the day. Take care when making this decision, as going on a treadmill with trainers that offer no sole support is not recommended. But for weight and mat training, these trainers will do just fine. 2. Avoid unnecessary layers in the gym and opt for a sports bra and a thin t-shirt instead. You should be getting hot anyway! More layers equal more luggage. 3. If you’re going from the gym to class, keep your outfit simple to ensure that you can get dressed quickly. Who wants to spend more time than necessary in the gym changing rooms? 4. For me, gym days are usually make-up free, so bring face wash and moisturiser in small containers to leave your skin feeling fresh with a post-workout glow. Stick to concealer and mascara, as you may be rushing. Doing a full face with unfamiliar lighting could be a mare. Good luck with your fitness pursuit. Adrienne xxx
Kathryn Murray lends a helping hand to those left confused about where and when sportswear is appropriate
In life there are rules. To save some confusion, I am going to write down a few guidelines on how to style sportswear. You might think it is a good idea to go out in your gym kit but is it really? Think about it.
Readers respond
Skirting around the issue “We Adrienne Galloway on tennis’ soft spot for skirts
jackets, mesh with chiffon, neon highlights, streamlined accessories. If you style yourself well: sleek hair, high heels, racing stripe allin-one, then you JUST MIGHT be dressed to Grammy standard. Maybe.
on classic shapes with a modern edge. Alexander Wang showcased a multitude of sportsinspired pieces in his SS15 runway show, including neon scuba dresses, heeled trainers and sports mesh fabrics interlaced with sleek tailoring. At Topshop Unique they
“I won’t enter the gym unless my sports bra coordinates with my yoga pants. Look good, gym good” Rachel Claire Learmonth
Places where it is not appropriate to be gym ready: 1. An interview - dress to impress, not to show your commitment to exercise 2. Formal occasions such as the Grammy Awards ( Helen Lasichanh take note) 3. Meetings with academic advisors or seminar leaders 4. Nights out - if you need a sports bra for support, you might be dancing a bit too hard 5. Restaurants, although sometimes leggings are needed for buffet-style events
Proving that the sport trend can be worn with anything; androgynous or feminine, day or night – this is an easy trend for everyone. On the DKNY runway sports mesh fabrics breathed a youthful edge into fifties inspired midi dresses, crop tops and midi skirts, with bomber jackets and flatform trainers amping up the show’s athletic edge. Akris also utilised the sporting accessory, with models strutting down the runway wearing visors in an array of colours. For students, the sporty accessory may be one of the easiest routes into the trend. Trainers have become frequent visitors on the catwalk over the last few seasons; the practical, comfortable shoe has been used as an alternative to the high heel and has become a favourite with street style stars. Across the high street there are various interpretations of the new fashion
Photo: alifeinlouboutins.blogspot.com
Are you still feeling a bit unsure? Don’t worry, most people are. As long as you know your limits, you will be ok. Although, swimsuits on the street will never happen. And if you are really struggling to keep pace with this sports-wear as day-wear trend, try to aim for a more luxe look. Less goingto-a-spinning-class and more just-off-therunway. Simple, yet effective. Think slouchy
Did you know?
“Blood, sweat and tears is the only look I’m going for” Marie Louise Brown
styled the models in scuba dresses and retro inspired cycling jumpers with flippy skirts, hot pants or trousers.
Ask You Answer ”
Fun fact
Last week we asked you: “Does it matter what you look like when you work out?”
Places where you can go with your running leggings on: 1. Lectures, because who really cares? 2. The gym, because duh 3. Sainsbury’s Fallowfield, even pyjamas are acceptable here 4. Around the house, or someone else’s house 5. Wherever you are immediately before the gym
seasons, but SS15 witnessed the sports luxe trend take
Clockwise from top left: Blue ribbed jumper, Topshop, £38; Sports bra, New Look, £9.99; Backpack, Herschel, £60; Nike Air Zoom Elite 7, £90; Citrus Zinger infusion water bottle, Debenhams, £15; Leggings, Adidas, £36
Firstly, I would personally like to take the time to congratulate you on your pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. I think we can all agree that making it this far is an achievement in itself. This dilemma is not an uncommon one for the residents of Fallowfield I’m sure; being torn between neglecting the gym altogether or enduring the bus ride home to pick up your stuff only to get there and end up napping instead. Like your gym bag, this guilt weighs you down. Here are a few suggestions that may help:
Features
Where to wear: athletic Spotlight on sports luxe apparel Sarah Kilcourse on how to add a sporty edge to your wardrobe this season
We’ve picked our fail-safe fitness buys, for easy gym to class transition
All of that twisting, turning and grinding on your yoga
invest in a silicone-free hydrating shampoo. Kerastase
the heat, sweat and over washing that comes with your
Look good, gym good
This week, resident style guru Adrienne Galloway tackles a fitness fashion conundrum
Activity: Jogging, Mare: Chapped lips
17
Shopping guide
Ask Adrienne
Dry, chapped lips are often a sign of what’s going on inside
Fashion
“What do you mean ‘work out’?” Dan Lausanne
Photo:giz-img.blogspot.com This month Serena Williams won the Australian Open for the 6th time and it had nothing to do with her skirt
Photo: bethanyatalya.blogspot.com
Helen Lasichanh and Pharrell Williams at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Hmm...
The ‘This Girl Can’ ad campaign by Sport England aims to show that all types of women can participate in sports, and is a celebration of active females all across the UK. Interestingly, this example of empowerment in sport features a glimpse of a netball match in which a small minority of players are wearing netball skirts. The debate about women in sports is ongoing, but what part does dress code have to play? Female athletes on the world stage such as Venus and Serena Williams have been seen wearing some outrageous outfits on court over the years, but this doesn’t detract from the fact that they are extremely talented tennis players. Although there is no overarching rule in tennis regarding skirts, a lot of players choose to wear skirts or dresses – and get plenty of endorsements for doing so. However, when female boxing was finally declared an Olympic sport in 2009, it was proposed that female boxers wear skirts to
allow the spectators to distinguish them from men. Although this campaign gained a lot of support, after receiving criticism from boxers and the wider public it was scrapped. There are many other ways to distinguish a boxer than by a skirt: their face, their team colours, or simply by looking at the names of the players competing. Years ago, women had to wear corsets whilst playing tennis; this was later abandoned because of the obvious restriction on physical activity. I personally believe that if the outfit allows you to be comfortable then go for it, but when it is unnecessarily forced then it becomes a tad ridiculous. Aimée Grant Cumberbatch reminisces about P.E. in secondary school, lamenting the stupidity of dress code rules, saying: “We used to be made to wear netball skirts over our tracksuit bottoms.” Seem a bit pointless to you?
“People who care about their appearance while working out are just vain. you’re there to get fit not look fit” Debbie Patel
Photo: adidas.com
The Stade Français rugby jersey is a perfect example of what happens when fashion and sport collide. Known for more than being third in the 2014-15 Top 14, thanks to their eye-catching kit. Club president Guazzini first introduced a pink jersey in
“Stop asking such stupid questions” Anjana Selvanathan
2005 as the colour was rarely used in rugby and assured the team stood out from the crowd. It successfully created the buzz
“My neon lycra meggings leave nothing to the imagination, no false advertising here” Phil Shuttleworth
Guazzini wanted and the team haven’t looked back. However, in 2006 before a match against red jersey-wearing Toulouse,
“Make gains, get girls. That’s my mantra” Ben Murphy
the referee banned Stade Français from wearing the jerseys, citing the age old fashion commandment to never mix pink and red.
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Robbie Davidson, Sophie James and Angus Harrison Top 5
TOP
Cleain ing Scenes
5
George Bellamy takes us through the cleanest scenes in cinema history 5. American Hustle (2013) The art of the effective cleaning scene is to imbue the mundane tasks of the everyday with a cinematic flair which evokes such actions as the most exciting thing possible. Jennifer Lawrence, hypnotically head-banging her hair with heart sings along to Live And Let Die in a fashion many would hope reflects their own domestic glamour.
4. Mary Poppins (1964) American culture has a long history dolling out catchy hymns used to motivate and seduce their soldiers, athletes, and congregations. Disney, with A Spoonful Of Sugar marks a very “English” anthem for domestic discipline. Sing it to your lazy flatmate and you may just find yourself with an energized teammate. Or an insulted one, it depends on their hangover.
3. Enchanted (2007) Applying the magic of a Disney princess’s communion with nature to the location of Manhattan, the cuteness normally associated with the Disney world is stretched to surreal extremes as rats, cockroaches, and pigeons assist in harmonious unison in the great cleanup of a bachelor pad.
2. Mrs Doubtfire (1993) Recreating this scene in full dress immediately ensures housekeeping is ten times more fun. However, it also makes it ten times more ineffective, as Robin Williams may hoover that one strip of carpet with style, but there’s a dangerous dearth of efficiency to his techniques.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994) If you can associate with this scene – the old “oops I accidently shot someone in the face, and now I have to clean my car before the police see” - then you certainly have a more interesting life than I. Tarantino’s guidance however, does have its bizarre authenticity, since through the instruction of Mr Wolf, we all have the necessary information to get ourselves out of this possible mess. Thank you Tarantino, always the mentor.
Feature
the FEATURE:
Death of the multi-cam
From George Costanza to Michael Scott, Adriana Hambi charts a seismic shift in television comedy: the death of studio sitcoms at the hands of a single camera According to everyone, were in a ‘Golden Age’ of TV, whatever that means. Go into any smoking area sober and you’ll overhear at least 3 conversations about Breaking Bad. The last 5 years has seen a shift in quality from film to TV, represented most by the amount of movie actors and directors being involved in TV. Shows like Boardwalk Empire, The Wire and The Sopranos have turned many a film snob into a TV enthusiast. The ‘death of multi-cam’ could be blamed on a lot of things. Writing, the internet, Obama; in the end people don’t have the patience for digital laughter and jokes about aeroplane food. The biggest upheaval in a genre definitely has to be in sitcoms. The half hour comedy landscape is completely unrecognisable to what it was 15 years ago. Shows like Cheers and Seinfeld would feel out of place in todays line-ups but why is it that a live studio audience makes the viewer shrivel in embarrassment and shame for the people on screen? Perhaps the audience is getting smarter, and are less forgiving. Despite being a remake, The Office was an undeniably ground-breaking show. It led the way for the many mockumentary style programs that cause cult-like followings. The internet is a fertile breeding ground for groups of people who’re prepared to verbally abuse you until you agree that Parks and Recreation is better than all other shows ever created. It’s categorically incorrect to say that multicamera shows (like Friends, Will & Grace) are inherently unfunny. These are the shows that made the way for the slicker, more subtle landscape we have today. A lot of the old sitcoms were fronted by stand-up comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, in Seinfeld or Ray Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond. This might be where the stigma of quick one-liners came about. The problem with the shows of today is that
Preview
the PREVIEW:
due the character development nature of it, it’s difficult to appreciate a show from watching one episode. There’s always a pre-curser of “you have to watch the whole first season, honestly it’s really funny, trust me.” But this character focus has made way for all kinds of actors to shine through on TV, without having to be overtly funny. Someone like
Steve Carell would have been lost in big show like Frasier, but the subtle, quietness of The Office meant that he could have his moments of pure genius. Equally, there are some real multi-cam stinkers being made right now. The Big Bang Theory endures a lot of abuse, and I’ve defended it for a while, but as the series seems to be drawing to a close, the same joke is starting to wear out. The winding down of How I Met Your Mother in the spring has come as a relief to many fans, as were all thinking, but not really saying, how downhill it’s gone. One of the worst offenders is 2 Broke Girls, a show that knows
Godzilla
Since his first roarcous outing in 1954, Godzilla (aka Gojira) has continued to grow in both size and popularity. This year the rampant reptile makes his 29th movie appearance in Legendary Studios’ Godzilla remake, directed by Welshman Gareth Edwards. This will be the most immense Godzilla movie yet, and Edwards is an intriguing choice as its helmsman. In 2010, debut director Edwards released his ethereal road movie Monsters, a landmark in well-crafted low budget sci-fi and the antithesis of Hollywood event movies like War of the Worlds and Cloverfield. Edwards not only scripted and shot the film, he also created the convincing and hauntingly beautiful CGI elements. Monsters dealt with alien invasion on an entirely new and thought provoking spectrum – hopefully Edwards’ new monster is given the same treatment. Aside from the main, massive attraction (at over 100m high, this Godzilla is the biggest ever) there’s an astounding array of acting talent too. Starlet Elizabeth Olsen is top billed, and she’s really going places; look out for her turn as ‘Scarlet Witch’ in next years Avengers: Age of Ultron. Perhaps a better known face is that of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the ass kicker of Kick-Ass, who plays a marine toughie charged with
it’s falling but doesn’t know how to stop. I feel embarrassed just watching. It’s hard to tell whether the writing is bad or the format is bad, but these shows are really bringing down the reputation of multi-camera and ruining it for all the others. But this is not to say that all single-camera sitcoms are made equal. Many of the more recent single camera shows are just as cheap and dull as their counterparts. Shows like New Girl and The Mindy Project aren’t doing ‘woman-friendly’ comedy justice, and lack a lot of character jokes that are needed in lieu of oneliners. The cult surrounding these shows through a strong online following means that they might float along for a while, but what impact will they have on anything? The worst offender these days is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With an undeserving Best Actor Golden Globe for Andy Samberg, this show is achieving success beyond its quality. I could be elitist and say that multi-camera sitcoms are a meaningless, mass produced opiate of the masses. The Costco to single camera’s Waitrose. Stupid people TV. This could be evidenced by the fact that the top rated show in America right now is The Big Bang Theory. But I won’t. I think it’s safe to say that for now multicamera is dead, but I have strong feeling the cost and ease of it will bring about its resurrection very soon, and just like the trendy single-cam shows of the right now, we’ll soon be overanalysing and religiously following the multi-cam again. Andriana Hambi
Director: Gareth Edwards Starring: Bryan Cranston, Aaron TaylorJohnson and Elizabeth Olsen Released: 16th May 2014
bringing down the scaly beast before it T-wrecks the Eastern seaboard. Most exciting of all, however, is the brilliant casting of Bryan Cranston. Hot off his world-wowing run as Walter White in Breaking Bad, Cranston will be kicking off his chemist’s hazmat
against the system, slowly attempting to uncover the truth about Godzilla and the conspiracy that’s kept it hidden in the murky depths. The origins of the atomic amphibian are more profound than many people realise. It’s not just about a digitised dinosaur wreaking unstoppable havoc for the audience’s amusement, it’s a representation of America’s nuclear attacks on Japan. As Gareth Edwards says, the 1954 original was like ‘therapy for a nation’, a fantasy through which they processed the unthinkable atrocities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Unlike the disgracefully shoddy Roland Emmerich/ Matthew Broderick version, Gareth Edward’s take will be much more respectful to the lore of the kaiju king. The new ‘Zilla is absolutely huge (twice the size of the 1998 model) and certainly too large to clamber about a city skyline, so there’ll be no Jurassic parkour nonsense either. For a taste of the epic scale of the film, check out the darkly astounding international trailer, which features Bryan Cranston running around San Francisco as well as some really massive explosions. Godzilla crashes into cinemas on May 16th of this year.
suit for a role that’s a little more, well, physical (he’s playing a physicist). Cranston’s scientist is the man
Tom Bruce
/filmmancunion @mancunionfilm
Film
19
Review
theREVIEW: The Book Thief
Brian Percival’s first feature film brings Markus Kusak’s ‘The Book Thief’ to the big screen with stunning cinematography and superb acting
The Book Thief is undeniably Oscar bait but arguably fails by trying too hard to land its prize. Adapted from Markus Kusaks’ book of the same name, the story follows the titular book thief through her travails during and after the Second World War. Liesel Meminger, played with affecting gusto by Sophie Nélisse is given into foster care after the death of her brother. Waiting to receive her is Emily Watson’s frumpy and stern Rosa Huberman and her husband Hans, played by Geoffrey Rush. Hans is as much a twinkling, idealised father figure as Rosa is a shrewd Roald Dahlesque harpy but the two veterans give an endearing performance. Liesel’s youthful naivety leaves her somewhat oblivious to the politics of Hitler’s Germany so when her new parents harbour a Jewish fugitive, tensions rise. To offset a coming-of-age story against the horrors of the holocaust doubtless works well in written form but it risks being manipulative in the limited time available on screen. The subplot in which Liesel becomes the book thief is barely present
and feels deliberately excised to reduce running time. That said; it is effective at stimulating an emotional reaction as even the
horrible repercussions to strike Liesel and her new family, the eventual conclusion is both relieving and cruelly fitting. I
savvy moviegoer will be possessed with a feeling of foreboding almost from the outset at the treasonous actions of the characters. After spending three quarters of the film in a state of dread, expecting
challenge you not to breathe a sigh of relief swiftly followed by an “oh, you bastard” aimed towards the silky, well-spoken narration of Roger Allam. The visuals are often stunning
Cornerhouse Pick of the Week
Director: Brian Percival Starring: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson Released: 26th February
with the most striking image being that of a steam train belching smoke across a snow topped landscape. The supressed colour palette of whites, greys and browns is punctuated by unnerving flashes of red in the form of Nazi swastikas. Liesel’s dictionary wall in the basement also strikes as a dream den for any book obsessed adolescent. Accents are affected mostly successfully but English translations are distractingly interspersed with German interjections. English and German text is used interchangeably and subtitles are employed seemingly at random. To repeat, The Book Thief is undoubtedly Oscar bait, its setting and subject matter seem tailor made to earn Rush another shot at best supporting actor. Somewhat strange it is then that John Williams’ so-so score is all that’s up for recognition. As young adult novel adaptations go, The Book Thief is pretty good, certainly better and more worthy of adaptation than most but it’s in this awards baiting worthiness that the film finds fault.
Netflix subscribers who are game for a dose of nostalgia will be delighted to discover that Pokémon: Indigo League (the original 1997 series) is now available to stream. While it is arguably no longer the cultural phenomenon it once was, Pokémon still remains a household name – those who grew up with the franchise might be able to touch base with their childhood. Once you hear the theme tune, you won’t be able to resist. As well as this, the Australian legal series Rake has hit Netflix too. Those who don’t see Pokémon as their thing might find this a more attractive proposal. Oh, and those on Netflix who haven’t seen House of Cards Season 2 yet, make it a priority right now! Shame on you even more if you haven’t watched the series at all! Kevin Spacey is a greedy, backstabbing US Representative and Robin Wright is his equally devious wife – one shouldn’t need to sell it any harder. And, of course, we cannot ignore the build up to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. It was announced on Monday that Molly SmittenDownes (a relative unknown compared to past competitors) would be representing the UK this year. Will the UK be in with a chance of winning the competition for the first time since 1997? You’ll have to find out on May 10th. James Moules
Contrary Corner
Nymphomaniac
Best Picture? Not exactly...
Our Cornerhouse Pick of the Week is Lars Von Trier’s latest venture: the controversial two-parter ‘Nymphomaniac’
Leo Mates tells us why he was one of the few to leave the cinema unimpressed after seeing Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning feature
Before I start, let me get rid of the elephant in the room: Sex. We have all had it. There we go. I was introduced to the charmingly controversial Danish art house director Lars Von Trier first through the shocking Antichrist in 2009, before the aesthetically stunning Melancholia two years later which left me feeling both powerful and helpless, empty but fulfilled at the same time. I then quickly realised I had found my favourite director and that I needed a new fix. The natural provocateur and persona non grata at Cannes after he jokingly stated he was a Nazi and “understood Hitler”, has finally returned with the two-part drama Nymphomaniac. The film follows Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who, after being beaten up in an alley, is found by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) who picks her up and invites her in for tea. There, Joe tells him about her childhood and life as a self-loathing sex addict. Stacy Martin makes her acting debut as a young Joe in the flashbacks of Volume I. This volume is centred on Joe’s sexual awakening and experimentation in her teen years and early twenties, with her first love Jerôme (Shia Labeouf ) and dozens more. Volume II mostly focuses on the older Joe, now portrayed by Gainsbourg herself, and sacrifices youthful, quirky experimentation for something darker, as the growingly self-destructive Joe is torn between her insatiable sexual appetite and her duties as a mother and a functioning woman in society. Even though Gainsbourg once again pulls off an impressive performance for Von Trier, it is the beautiful 23-year old Parisian Stacy Martin who steals the show. I have never felt so sure about an actress’ future success since I saw Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone four years ago. Nymphomaniac is, after Antichrist and Melancholia, the final piece of the amazing puzzle unofficially
I was pretty excited to see 12 Years a Slave. The vast amount of hype around it, and the fact that every reviewer from here to Sweden seemed to be saying that it was “the greatest movie ever”, meant that my expectations were pretty high. But to be perfectly honest, in my opinion at least, this was nowhere near as good as everyone’s been making it out to be. The acting’s mostly decent, but most of the characters are basically caricatures. Benedict Cumberbatch as the ‘quite nice but obviously still bad because he owns slaves’ plantation owner is boring, and Michael Fassbender was just cartoonishly villainous as the main bad guy. And honestly, why oh why was Brad Pitt in this film? I mean, I like the guy as an actor, but you can’t turn up in the last five minutes of a film with an Amish beard and call that a good reason to be one of the main features of some of the posters (in Italy at least). Also, I take real issue with the fact that this film seems to have been made entirely for the award season. At the best of times, I dislike the Oscars. They’re a meaningless way
dubbed as The Depression Trilogy. It is truly impressive how Von Trier manages to make the frequent, much-hyped sex scenes feel so irrelevant, as they end up being used as metaphors and merely a lubricant for an intelligent and philosophical discussion between Joe in her pyjamas and Seligman about society-wide problems, religion and humanity as a whole. Though Volume II is somewhat of a step down from the first part, much due to the absence of Stacy Martin’s brilliance, Nymphomaniac never loses its grip and is thought-provoking, fearless, fascinating and taboo-challenging from the opening scene until the last genitalia is shown on the screen. Lars von Trier ends up hitting the G-spot of avantgarde filmmaking with a movie only he could ever make, and gives the open-minded members of the audience one of the most powerful and sensational experiences ever seen in arts. Martin Solibakki
of fetishizing one particular group of people’s view of what films should be that every year causes a seemingly endless stream of mediocre, bland films, intended to play to one part or another of the Academy’s ethos on what films should be. 12 Years a Slave does this and then some. It’s about a controversial subject matter, without actually being controversial in the way that it’s depicting it. But you know what really gets me about this film? The way it’s set itself up in such a way that you can’t be that mean about it, for fear of someone accusing you of racism. I don’t like slavery, it’s bad. But I don’t
like this film either, and for totally different reasons. So there. To be honest, most of these issues for me came around after I watched the film. Immediately after, I just thought ‘meh, that was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be’, but in the time after that, I was consumed by the seething rage about what this film says about the state of the film industry that you’ve seen in this article. So there. Leo Mates
What matters to you in your community? Crime? Housing? Street lighting? What’s the big issue where you live? With council elections taking place in May 2014, we’re keen to know about the issues that matter to you. Help us to tell the council how they can improve the area you live in.
www.manchesterstudentsunion.com/bigask
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/TheMancunion: Books
Editors: Esmé Clifford Astbury, Annie Muir
@MancunionBooks
Books
21
Feature
Traduire c’est trahir: Why things can get lost in translation While no translation is perfect, Oliver Ready attempts to avoid his predecessors’ errors in a new rendering of Crime and Punishment, bringing a more faithful version of Dostoevsky’s celebrated novel to a new generation of readers, says Books Editor Esmé Clifford Astbury
Crime and Punishment (Penguin, 2014)
First published in 1866, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment has spawned no fewer than 11 English translations, the latest of which is by Oliver Ready, Research Fellow and Director of the Russkiy Mir Programme at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. The numerous retranslations of this novel are a testament to its importance in the global canon and to the translators’ belief that they can improve on the work of their predecessors. Crime and Punishment comprises six parts set in Saint Petersburg, a mostly monochrome, rank smelling city beset with poverty, drunkenness and debauchery, and an epilogue, set in Siberia, the scene of the main character’s redemption. At the end of Part I of the
novel, its poverty-stricken protagonist, Raskolnikov, carries out his long-held plan to kill Alyona Ivanovna, a mean old pawnbroker, described in Ready’s translation as “a tiny, dry old thing of about sixty, with sharp, evil little eyes and a small sharp nose.” He compounds his crime by killing her half-sister, a harmless, downtrodden drudge, who appears unexpectedly while Raskolnikov is ransacking the house. Theft is not Raskolnikov’s sole motive for murdering the pawnbroker. He sees himself as a man of action, a superior being who must overcome his fears to fulfil his heroic destiny: “an ‘extraordinary’ person has the right . . . to permit his conscience to step over . . . certain obstacles, but if and only if the fulfilment of his idea (one that may even bring salvation to all humanity) demands it.” In short, for ‘extraordinary’ people, the end justifies the means. Parts II to VI of the novel deal with Raskolnikov’s mental anguish as his belief in the justification of his action does battle with his fear of being caught and his stirring conscience. The novel is populated by memorable characters, including Svidrigaïlov, a nihilist on a par with Shakespeare’s Iago and Edmund, who, when
his advances are spurned by Raskolnikov’s self-sacrificing sister, Dunya, commits suicide. Sonya Marmeladova, driven into prostitution by her indigent stepmother, watches over Raskolnikov on his downward spiral into madness and paranoia and, having fallen in love with him, urges him, and gives him the moral strength he needs, to confess his crime, which he does at the end of Part VI. The epilogue deals with Raskolnikov’s trial, sentencing and imprisonment in Siberia. The denouement, which sees Raskolnikov realise that he is in love with Sonya, undergo a sort of religious conversion and muse about the happy life he will lead with his beloved once he is released from prison, is thought unsatisfactory by some commentators. While the rational, ‘extraordinary’ Raskolnikov is the inspiration for Nietzsche’s Superman and the prototype of the existentialist anti-hero, Dostoevsky’s characters are, in the main, multi-dimensional. The interplay among them, their complex psychology and the many philosophical questions they raise contribute greatly to the novel’s enduring renown. In his ‘Note on the Translation’, Dr. Ready’s answer to the question “Why retranslate the classics?” is
Review
out reams of her marvelous translations from the Russian. She would finish a page, and throw it off on a pile on the floor without looking up, and start a new page. The pile would be this high…really almost up to her knees, and all magical.” While Garnett obviously brought a lot of amateurish enthusiasm to her work and is to be commended on the scope of her oeuvre, she is reputed to have sacrificed stylistic and semantic elements on the altar of readability while simply omitting any unfamiliar word or phrase. David McDuff has translated three novels by Dostoevsky and has won several prizes for his translations of works by Scandinavian writers. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have collaborated on the translation of nine books by Dostoevsky, five by Tolstoy, as well as works by other Russian writers. Their efforts were rewarded in 1990, when they won the PEN/Bookof-the-Month-Club Translation Prize. Even these prizewinners, however, have their detractors. Writing a review of the McDuff and Pevear-Volokhonsky translations of Crime and Punishment in The New York Times on April 26, 1992, author and Moscow Times correspondent Richard Lourie compares the rendering of
a passage that follows the murder: “‘Oh, the vulgarity of it! Oh, the baseness!’ -- if we are to believe Mr. McDuff -- or ‘Oh, triteness! Oh, meanness!’ if we are to credit Mr. Pevear and Ms. Volokhonsky. I cannot imagine a Russian murderer thinking: ‘Oh, triteness! Oh, meanness!’ I cannot imagine anyone thinking it, for that matter. This sort of rendering betrays a lack of skill, ear and editor.” While Lourie reserves his most scathing comments for the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation, McDuff does not escape reprimand: Lourie later observes: “ALL translations of Dostoevsky still seem bedeviled by the ‘devil,’ a word I myself have never heard a living person use as a curse. Mr. Pevear and Ms. Volokhonsky have a peasant exclaim: ‘Ah, go to the hairy devil!’ Mr. McDuff has one character say, in what could be called classic Russian literature translatese: ‘The devil, there’s nothing to be done!’” Clearly, no translation is perfect, and Dr. Ready’s work attempts to avoid any errors his predecessors may have made, while taking advantage of recent progress by Dostoevsky scholars to bring a more faithful version of Crime and Punishment to a new generation of readers.
Review
The Waste Land: The musical Books Editor Annie Muir heads to the Anthony Burgess Foundation for a musical production of T.S. Eliot’s poem At the Anthony Burgess Foundation on Friday I saw a musical production of T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land’, a collaboration between the Foundation and Psappha. It began abruptly; the lights went off and came back on and the narrator was in character (first as Burgess, who wrote the music) describing when he first read the poem when he was fifteen and “didn’t understand it, but recognised that it was important.” So he copied it out and learnt ‘the big railway terminus of a poem’ by heart, which meant that by the time he got to Manchester University he knew the poem better than any of his lecturers. And then he started making musical versions of it. This production had a flute, oboe, piano and cello, as well as the narrator and a soprano singer who wandered around the stage barefoot, singing and looking lost. As well as the music there was a photo slideshow projected onto the brick walls behind the performers. I preferred the more abstract images but couldn’t help sometimes being
“because the translator hopes to offer a closer approximation to his or her experience of the original than is otherwise available.” He goes on to say that: “The most widely read translations of Crime and Punishment have tended, in my view, towards a polish, and therefore tameness, absent from Dostoevsky’s text (effects gained in large part by judicious trimming or padding); or else they have clung so closely to the Russian that the spell cast by the original is periodically broken by jarring literalism, and the author’s peculiarities of style, smoothed over in other translations, are made odder still. In my rendering I have sought to preserve both the novel’s spell and the expressive, jagged concision palpable from the very first sentence.” Dr. Ready’s most successful predecessors are Constance Garnett, David McDuff and husband and wife team Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Constance Garnett translated 71 volumes of Russian literary works, winning praise from authors Joseph Conrad and D. H. Lawrence, scorn from Nabokov and criticism from Joseph Brodsky for making all Russian writers sound alike. Lawrence recalls her “sitting out in the garden turning
Review: The Poetry of Sex
Alex Webb recommends Sophie Hannah’s collection of sex poetry to enthusiasts but advises newcomers to proceed with caution Review However, hope was restored in the second chapter, ‘If you were coming in the fall’, which fitted my expectations a lot more comfortably. The lover’s poem ‘First, I want to make you come in my hand’ conveyed the intimacy of Hakker’s sex life vividly and is one of the best in the collection.
Anthony Burgess’ musical setting of ‘The Wasteland’. Photo: Annie Muir
reminded of those photomontages people sometimes make when they put songs on Youtube. The musical score was fragmented and fickle like the poem itself, which features multiple voices which Martyn Hampton describes as “span[ing] millennia and nations, encompassing the tragedies of classical antiquity, the ritual chants of the Upanishads, and the vernacular of London pubs and typing pools.” The narrator really played with this, sitting at his desk of books and spitting out
cockney and Latin and French and Italian one after the other. The performance made me realize it was a poem that was meant to be heard, and I felt sorry for people all over the world sitting in libraries trying to read it. It seems Burgess believed that all literature was better heard than read: As the evidence in the museum downstairs showed, he had attempted transforming other difficult texts such as Joyce’s Ulysses and his own A Clockwork Orange into musicals too.
I was in Blackwell’s when I saw Sophie Hannah’s collection of sex poetry. Having never read anything like it before, I bought it and entered this strange world. What I expected and what I was greeted with were completely different. The book is divided into vague, seemingly purposeless chapters, and the first, ‘So ask the body’, appeared to be completely devoid of any poems that were actually about sex. While I usually defend abstract poetry, I was surprised that so many were considered sex poems without actually being about sex.
My hope upon buying this anthology was to understand the world of sex poetry, but, having read it, I am not much more enlightened My personal favourite from this chapter was Kaddy Benyon’s ‘Guacamole’ that addresses the inappropriate timings of people’s sexual fantasies: in this case slathering their lover in guacamole. It
presented a crude reality in a light-hearted way, and it was this poem that really pulled me into the collection. The more interesting offerings in the collection were those that used the shock factor without degrading their style. Scott did this best in ‘Sandcastle’ where at one point he plays a pedophile looking at a boy, making me intrigued and disgusted at the same time. A very clever piece is Johnston’s ‘The Wasp Station’, with a twist at the end that completely changes the meaning of the poem; this is a skill that I admire in poets. My hope upon buying this anthology was to understand the world of sex poetry, but, having read it, I am not much more enlightened. While I did enjoy most of the poems in the collection, the structure of the anthology seems nonsensical and often left me feeling lost. I would recommend this book to poetry enthusiasts; but for those who, like me, are new to this style I would say: proceed with caution.
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Ben Walker, Maddy Hubbard
you ASK ...should I give something we ANSWER up for lent?
Photos: Flickr (Ludvajz)
Column
Feature
Victor Croci
&
THE WINE LIST
A teetotal Lent: is it doable?
Victor Croci locks down his wine collection for Lent, depriving himself of the finest Barolo and the basic supermarket plonk.
Traditionally, Lent is a time of year for us to temporarily give up an over-indulgence or a guilty pleasure. Personally, I won’t be giving anything up and if I did I wouldn’t be doing it now. University deadlines can be stressful enough without me suffering withdrawal symptoms from my favourite food. I will give you the example of my friend who very recently discovered she is gluten intolerant... frankly this couldn’t have happened to a worse person. Her favourite foods were granola and cake- this was not going to be easy. Before, her gluten free days were to begin we went to Pizza Express to have ‘the last supper’ only to realise they actually did gluten free pizza! But that didn’t matter she happily ate her pizza and then resigned to a life without gluten. However, this is not the end of the story in fact it was just the start... all she could talk about was gluten, what she could eat; what she couldn’t eat; why she couldn’t eat
it. Although, we joked I did feel sorry for her. It is unbelievable the number of foods that contain gluten, even drinks--be wary of particular vodkas that contain gluten. My friends and I all found this quite distressing and we were still eating the stuff! Meals out were slightly difficult with her as she only had the option of one or two dishes from the menu. Further, she had to bring along her own brownies as she couldn’t eat the sandwiches and cakes we had all made at a friend’s welcome home party.
does mean all you’ll probably think about, crave and annoyingly talk about is cake and chocolate! Also everyone forgets after 40 days when lent has come to an end you can celebrate by munching all the cake and chocolate you’ve missed, undoing all that hard work. Is it really worth it? I think not.
Now the initial withdrawal phase has passed by we no longer take any notice and she no longer misses gluten. In this case my friend was forced to give this up, my argument is if you don’t actually need to give something up then why should we? Restricting your cake allowance or sacrificing chocolate does not make you more virtuous nor does it make you any happier. However, it
Faye Waterhouse
Recipe
our
The collection includes:
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Barolo 1996 (case of 6)—the finest Italian wine on the market today, a personal favourite of Silvio Berlusconi. Note that his current girlfriend was born the same year. I will particularly miss holding this fine bottle in times of stress and when career prospects seem bleaker than ever. Chateauneuf du Pape 1999 (case of 6)—From the wonderful rolling hills of the valley of the Rhone, this majestic wine, which holds the papal seal of His eminence Francis is to be tucked away gently and lovingly. Yes, I can actually afford a case of this fine vintage after re-mortgaging the student house we live in. My fellow house mates aren’t aware of it yet. So don’t let the cat out of the bag! Sainsbury’s table red wine 2014 (9 bottles)—this one and only wine which I will find hard to live without, the one vintage that trumps all the others fair and square—I love it—correction, I adore it. At a mere £3.69 a bottle, this fine wine, made from the wondrously tasty succulent grapes which grow in the green, green fields of Chernobyl, brewed and bottled in the large rusting disused vats of the Tajikistan central industrial complex and shipped to a supermarket aisle near you.
Lamb Kofta
The aromatic spices lift the lamb into heavenly realms. These koftas are so simple and thus perfect for entertaining, but also satisfying enough for a meal for one. An ideal accompaniment would be a Tabbouleh or couscous salad—something you can make beforehand and keep in the fridge. Just bring the hot lamb koftas to the table and allow your guests to assemble their mountain of Middle Eastern delight.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Grate the onions, and squeeze out most of the liquid through a sieve. Put in a large bowl. Finely chop the parsley and mint, and add. Mix in the meat, spices and salt until thoroughly combined and shape into fingers or patties. Heat a frying pan or a griddle pan greased with a little oil. Cook the kebabs until golden brown on all sides, and cooked through to your liking. On the table have a stack of warmed flat breads, cool yoghurt (mixed with a little oil and salt, mint and parsley, some shredded gem lettuce for texture, and for an extra touch of luxury some toasted and chopped pine nuts.
Photo: Ben Walker
• INGREDIENTS 2 small onions 1 small bunch of mint, leaves only 750g lamb shoulder, finely minced 1½ tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp of ground cumin seeds 1½ tsp ground allspice A pinch of chilli flakes 1½ tsp black pepper 1½ tsp salt Oil, to grease
Welcome back and a very happy Easter to our loyal readership! This week our eclectic little wine column is being hijacked by the festive seasonal atmosphere and spirit of lent. In accordance with the completely pointless tradition of surrendering something for forty days and forty nights, I have decided to give up, temporarily, my red wine collection. For Lent, I promise, I will not tap into my store. My incredible collection of wine, carefully stored under the creaky floorboards of my bedroom is to be momentarily surrendered for the period of lent.
•
TIME 30 minutes Serves 6
•
It pales all other wines available in the country. A single sip will take you back to those distant Ukrainian fields as you feel the mellow mixture swirl in your stomach. After a second slurp you should start getting a taste for it, soon to be intoxicated in its heavenly aroma. The hangover form a bottle or two is a stinging and pounding pain of descending into hell, but if you can handle that, then you’ll be a man my son. Or so wrote Kipling a hundred years ago. I’m going to be giving that mighty collection up for forty days and forty nights. From the luxurious nectar of gods to the pig swill, goodbye my beautiful wine, for now.
/TheMancunion: Food & Drink @maddylaura
Food & Drink 23
Feature
The Mancunion vs Food When Maddy Hubbard tried to take on a challenge to eat a burger twice the size of her head, food most definitely won... Along with most of the student population, Adam Richman’s Man vs Food is one of my favourite guilty pleasures. Watching a likeable man consume obscene quantities of food is weirdly riveting, and I watch from my sofa fascinated, trying to imagine what it feels like for him. Funnily enough I’ve never been one of those people convinced that “I could do that!” I know my limits, and they definitely fall far short of a 22inch pizza. So when we get an email from the lovely people at Southern Eleven, a BBQ restaurant in Spinningfields, inviting us to take on their ‘Manchester vs Food’ challenge the general response of my friends is to laugh at me. I have a friend who constantly insists that the point of making a nice meal is to “eat until you feel sick, push through the barrier and then keep on eating.” Weirdly I find myself wishing I had taken his advice on occasion to train myself up for this. The consensus is that people should say their goodbyes before I set off for town. The challenge consists of a 20oz burger covered in cheese in a bun
the size of a seat cushion, 10 of the biggest wings I have ever seen coated in their ‘suicide’ hot sauce and a sea of skinny fries to round out the platter the size of a bin lid. I arrived both hungry and scared. In order to have someone else to share in my victory/ epic failure I bring along my friend Rob, who was convinced he had a good shot at it. He’s the kind of person who can go without eating for a few days and then will have a single mammoth meal, so to be honest I reckon that our best hopes for success lie with him. We’d both been reading up on the best way to go about the challenge. In preparation, neither of us had had much dinner the night before, or any breakfast. I’d read that you should stretch out your stomach with lots of liquid (a lovely image), so had downed 4 cups of tea and a pint of water before heading out. I was also feeling pretty hungover thanks to a night fuelled by Lidl gin which always helps. For me the effects of a hangover seem to be that I can eat as much as I want and still never feel full. For once I was feeling grateful for this. The restaurant itself was really lovely, its front windows festooned with fairy lights and the back wall decorated with mirrors, bottles and ornaments. We sat ourselves down in a cosy leather booth and chatted to some of the staff. It turns out no one has yet managed to complete the challenge, although a lad of 15 or 16 managed to down the burger before coming unstuck with the wings. I am not filled with confidence. Shortly our meal arrives, and the waiter is barely able to support the weight of the two mountains of food. We look at each other and it starts to hit us quite what we’re about to do to our bodies. Is eating
this much food even ethical? It dawns on me that the whole concept of ‘competitive eating’ is a disgusting Western invention for which I really can’t think of any moral justification. Is this seriously something they consider a ‘sport’ in the States? On top of that is the thought of my health. Forget calories, you could measure this meal in terms of the number of days’ worth of food it represents! Even Adam Richman has quit doing food challenges, recently explaining “I didn’t like my doughy face” and that he thought he had reached “the size of a Smart car”. According to the Huffington Post he now lives off almonds, greek yoghurt and salmon. This is clearly not something we should start making a habit of doing. But I am called away from this inner turmoil as the waiter returns to set the timer. I decide to leave the soul searching for later and concentrate on not embarrassing myself. I freely admit that I am an obscenely competitive person, and while Rob might talk the talk I think he is underestimating my stubbornness. The next 45 minutes will be a battle between me and my stomach, and I’m going to do my best to win. The timer starts and we begin. My friend Abi who has come along to laugh at us and take horribly unattractive photos catches the first moments of the challenge. We look happy and relatively optimistic – we’re both starving, after all. You never know, could we be the first people to actually beat the challenge? I decide to start off with the chicken wings. I reckon carbs are my enemy at this point, and will fill me up too quickly. The food is genuinely delicious. I guess I’d been thinking so much about the quantity that I hadn’t considered that I could be in for a treat with the quality and taste of the food as well. The wings are supposed to be horribly spicy but I enjoy the tingle in my mouth as I shove them in my face. I find that I don’t need the glass of milk our lovely waiter brought me, and in no time at all I am halfway through the chicken. Me and Rob are beginning to think we might stand a chance… At this point he made the fatal error of beginning on the burger, bun and all. The brioche is very nice, but utterly enormous. The combination of carbs, fat and endless meat begins to get to him, and the meat sweats begin. I am hoping that by leaving it until last I can trick my body into not realising it is full for as long as possible. But meanwhile I am slowing down with my chicken wings. I’ve
reached the point where if this was a normal meal I would stop. Happily satisfied, the food is starting to lose its appeal a little. Unperturbed, I shove a handful of chips in my mouth and keep going. At this point the delicious Southern Eleven sauces come in handy - a squirt of cherry bourbon BBQ sauce later and my palate is revived. I finish them around the 20 minute mark, and a graveyard of chicken bones is left on one side of my platter. I move on to the burger. Interspersed with chips I start with just the patty, and again it is truly delicious, covered in a blanket of melted cheese and laid upon a token bed of salad. I am beginning to reach a stage of fullness where my stomach is hurting a little – I think this is what is known as ‘The Wall’. But mind prevails over matter and I soldier on, bravely ignoring the pleas of my stomach for me to stop. My parents would be so proud if they could see me now with hot sauce, burger grease and mayo smeared across my face. A couple of the other customers drop by to see how we are doing. Everyone is very supportive, some seeming positively in awe of the feat we are attempting. The also cheer us on. The waitress looks horrified at the prospect when I ask if she’d ever give the challenge a go,
while another waiter admits that when he tried it the chicken wings had him in tears because of the chilli heat within a few minutes. This makes me feel pretty good about my efforts so far, and I polish off the rest of the chips before taking a breather for a few minutes. On the other side of the table Rob is seriously struggling. He considers going out for a cigarette to give himself a second wind but with only 12 minutes left is worried about wasting potential eating time. On the home straight, we have both slowed down almost to a standstill. Abi continues taking photos of our now defeated looking and bloated faces. I look at the food in front of me and the thought of eating another mouthful fills me with horror. How can such delicious food lose all appeal? Through sheer stubbornness I keep eating until the timer goes off. 45 minutes are up and our plates are clear evidence of our failure. But while we might have failed I don’t feel humiliated. The chefs are pretty impressed with our efforts, and I reckon I have far exceeded people’s expectations given my size and normal healthy eating habits. I mean, I’ve never even had a big mac and I just ate half a 10oz burger, I reckon that’s pretty good going! The best part of the experience is that I well and truly beat Rob. While all of my fries, wings and almost half the burger are gone he is left with 4 of the wings and a mound of chips as well as at least half of his burger too. We ask for our leftover meat boxed up (waste not want not), and on weighing them at home my 460g pales into comparison compared to his 800g of leftovers. You can see the evidence of our failure in the photos at the bottom (mine is the one on the right). It’s probably hard to imagine quite how much food we ate that lunchtime, but those leftovers give some sort of sense of the scale of the challenge. I left feeling a mixture of pride and disgust in myself. While it’s not something I have any intention of doing again I feel pretty good about my showing. One piece of advice if you try and take this on – don’t whatever you do cycle home. I almost puked about twice (lovely, right?) The challenge is open to anyone who fancies giving it a go, and is totally free if you succeed. It’s the kind of thing that lots of people think they’d be able to do easily until they actually try it. Rob is already planning to return with some friends for another shot. I hate to think what all that meat, cheese, bread and chips has done to my insides but the first thing I did on getting home was to get into pyjamas (my waistband had definitely not been elasticated enough), crawl into bed and have a long nap. I still haven’t felt hungry since the challenge, and I have definitely been craving salad. When I can think about food again I definitely plan on coming back to Southern Eleven. I really loved the place, and the menu looked interesting and well-priced. All the meat is grass fed and locally sourced, another factor making me feel slightly better about my morals in taking on the challenge. Even if you weren’t copying our attempts, the food is delicious enough to inspire gluttony. In fact, they provide the perfect opportunity for that every Tuesday where for only £14.95 you get all you can eat ribs, chicken, sides and beer, which sounds pretty much like food heaven. In terms of trying something new this is definitely up there with the most ridiculous things I have ever done, but I actually had a really good time. And the perverse sense of achievement I now feel is more than worth the calories.
(Photos: Abi Carter)
24
Arts & Culture
ISSUE 17/ 10th March 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Abbie Roberts, Matilda Roberts
Feature
In this world of selfies, groupies, hashtag and yolo, how is traditional photography placed amidst it all? As photography becomes the most accessible form of art in our ever-progressing world of technology and social media, is it being enriched or undermined by our incessant documenting and uploading of our experiences? Arts Editor Abbie Roberts isn’t sure... Recently I tuned into a radio interview with Annie Clark (stage name – St. Vincent), an America singersongwriter soon to release a self titled album, whose songs were inspired by – in her words – “our obsession with documenting experience rather than actually experiencing”. She spoke of how we – and she confessed to including herself in the pot – in today’s world where technology and social media play such a large role in our lives, love to photograph our experiences. We love to tweet them, snapchat them, upload them, share them with our peers, providing evidence of our experiences and turning them into permanent documents of our lives. Undoubtedly this phenomenon is interesting subject matter for art and music and it’s being addressed more and more by artists and musicians such as herself, but what I immediately began to reflect on while listening to Annie Clark’s insights was this current phenomenon’s impact on art, and particularly photography, as we know it. Is there valid art and creativity amidst the plethora of albums clogging up our newsfeeds? Or is it simply just “I just made beans on toast. lol”. Snap. Post.
the DSLR, aperture and depth of field, capturing some astonishing shots, a world seldom associated with snapchat, so does the way we use our everprogressing technology undermine this skill involved in the photographs you’d typically see at a gallery? In the Annie Clark interview, despite the accompanying music video to her upcoming album where she imagines a dystopian world of social conformity, it still seemed to me that she wasn’t wholly concerned by the phenomenon of incessant documenting, but instead seemed inspired by it, explaining her love of including aspects of the mundane in her lyrics and juxtaposing them with upbeat sounds. This then made me think of how, because of the vast amount of banal images being fed to us online, people are becoming more creative when One the one hand, the use of camera phones and apps like Instagram are making photography more accessible than ever and surely it can only be good that more and more people are developing keen eyes for an interesting scene, face or object, regardless of whether you have to trawl through endless albums to find that one little gem. Why not enjoy and share what’s caught our eyes? On the other hand, I can’t help but thinking, if we just tried to keep our cameras and phones tucked away in our pockets until they’re really needed, we’ll be able to really find out what our imagination can do when all it’s got is a mental photograph to remember our experiences.
WEEK
Culture Club Meeting fortnightly at Solomon Grundy in Withington, Culture Club is a chance for students full of creativity but lacking motivation or inspiration to meet and share ideas. We set themes to which people can artistically react, and bring along responses to the next meeting where we appreciate and critique each other’s work. It gives students the chance to collaborate with each other and help each other build on ideas with a view to eventually putting on regular collaborative exhibitions. No artistic experience is needed to join in; stick drawing, interpretative dance, music and writing are all valid. No snobbish judgement is allowed, the greater the variety the better. So far bath tub installations, pieces of music, poetry, photography and an architectural piece have all been discussed and worked on as reactions to this project. For more information look up the Manchester Art Group on Facebook and you will find a link to Culture Club on our page. Alternatively get in touch with Arts Editor Matilda Roberts at matilda. roberts@student.manchester.ac.uk. (a website will hopefully be running soon)
11th March
14th March
15th March
16th March
16th March
Knit and Natter Workshop
Women’s History Gallery Tour
Saturday Science Event
Wicked Women in Spanish Cinema – Talk
Free Entry
People’s History Museum 1.15 – 2 pm Free Entry (booking advised)
“Manchester First in the Fight” – Votes for Women (1866 – 1928) Walk
A series of performances, exhibitions, tours and workshops throughout March John Ryland Library celebrating women in history. 2 – 4 pm
this
get
snapping seemingly mundane scenes, often adding an amusing story or witty remark, providing for entertaining viewing. A good example of this is Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind the Humans of New York photoblog project: Brandon has taken over 5,000 photographs of everyday people in everyday New York scenes – the images alone are often of normal people we see everyday walking through the streets of Manchester or on our Facebook newsfeeds (Although there are a fair few flamboyant eye-catching characters), but it’s his captions - often quotes from the people themselves or his descriptions of how he encountered them - that make his work so interesting and often very touching.
On the one hand, if you google the most influential or famous photographers of all time, you’re presented with endless lists of renowned names captioned ‘documentary photographer’, ‘chronicler’ or ‘observer of everyday life’ - but surely that’s what we’re doing now even more than ever? In this world of selfies, groupies, hashtag and yolo, how is traditional photography placed amidst it all? Do our own profile pics and holiday shots make the cut?. Of course there’s also the matter of photography skills when it comes to the traditional form, there are those who put a lot of time into understanding
WONDER WOMEN
TO INVOLVED
HOW
A Chromatic Revolution: The search for affordable colour in 19th century British book illustration Manchester Metropolitan University 20 January 2014 - 16 May 2014 This exhibition highlights some of the key technical innovations that made ubiquity of colour in the print world possible, from hand-coloured wood-block printing to the lush brilliance of chromolithography. It also introduces some of the fascinating individuals that drove the search for affordable colour.
Aftermath The John Rylands Library 07 February - 29 June 2014 A thought provoking exhibition that brings together stories of people and places forever changed by conflict. Highlights include letters written from the battlefields of World War One, shown alongside new artworks created in response to these moving testaments
MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) 1.30 am – 3.30 pm Free Entry
Jamie Shovlin: Hiker Meat Cornerhouse 18 January 2014 - 21 April 2014 An exploitation film that never actually existed, Hiker Meat has been imagined by Jamie Shovlin as an archetype of this often maligned style. Set in a US summer camp in the 1970s it embraces familiar slasher tropes, from a hitchhiking heroine and a charismatic commune leader to a disappearing group of teens. The exhibition captures the genesis of the Hiker Meat project, and the collaborative nature of its delivery.
Meet at Friend’s Meeting House, Mount Street - 11am £6/5 (Booking Required)
Joana Vasconcelos: Time Machine Manchester Art Gallery 15 February - 01 June 2014 Fresh from her success representing Portugal at the 55th Venice Biennale, Joana Vasconcelos brings her seductive, subversive large-scale sculptures to Manchester for her most ambitious UK exhibition to date.
Northern Exposure 2014 Portico Library 04 March 2014 29 March 2014 Northern Exposure showcases the skills of photographers based in the North of England and this year brings together the work of eight from the region.
Cornerhouse 5.15-6.15pm £4/3 (Booking Required) Last Chance Coral: Something Rich and Strange Manchester Museum 29 November 2013 - 16 March 2014 Explore the enduring fascination with coral as a material, symbol and inspiration for artists, cultures and societies across the centuries. Coral: Something Rich and Strange is a major new temporary exhibition which will provide a plethora of fascinating and beautiful objects, telling a story about biodiversity and the importance of marine environments today.
Theatre
ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editor: Stephanie Scott Review
What’s on
The Seagull As a self-confessed Chekhov megafan, I have seen my fair share of different productions of The Seagull. As I’m sure you can imagine, this production had a lot to live up to. I can safely say after watching it, that the Library Theatre Company’s new production did not fail to deliver. The play looks at familial relations amongst the creative bourgeois. There are several protagonists in the play; Nina, a naïve young girl with a difficult home-life, who dreams of becoming an actress; Nina’s admiring lover and aspiring writer, Konstantin, who unhappily struggles in convincing the world of his ‘new literary forms’; Konstantin’s actress-mother, Arkadina, whose GertrudeHamlet-esque relationship with her son is one of the play’s most fascinating filiations. The play follows these, along with many other characters, in their slow and tragic journey through life, unrequited love and theatre. Anya Reiss’ new version of Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ breathed new life into a play whose previous translations have often felt clunky and dated. Setting the play in modern Britain, Chekhov’s horses are now jeeps and his Moscow is now London. In addition, the characters have mobile phones which they often check. At first, I wasn’t
Josephine Lane reviews The Library Theatre Company’s revitalisation of Checkov’s The Seagull
The Contact Theatre hosts some of the newest and most exciting theatrical pieces all year round - but in March it is solo performances that take centre stage. From discussions of the most basic and intrinsic human emotions, such as fear, desire and compulsion, to discussion of comedy and even a one-on-one phone call piece around the city centre, Flying Solo Festival has something exciting for everyone.
31: Sophie Robinson (Nina) in The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, directed by Chris Honer (The Library Theatre Company) Photo by Jonathan Keenan
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Sam Ebner-Landy reviews Shakespeare’s classic comedy, produce by Propeller Theatre Company at The Lowry key overriding themes, utilising a multitude of different theatrical techniques in order to fully bring out a combination of the two in the audience’s response. Elements of farce, physical theatre and Commedia dell’arte were used across almost the entire ensemble in order to effectively bring the Shakespearian comedy into the modern age. This was perhaps most pertinent in Jospeh Chance’s portrayal of Robin Goodfellow (the Puck). Chance used an exaggerated physicality, to great effect, as a means of highlighting the character’s mischief and the control he has over the quarrelling lovers. The modern theatrical style, more often associated with companies like Kneehigh or DV8, rather than Shakespeare, proved an inspired directorial decision; Edward Hall allowed his actors to seamlessly blend a number of techniques, so that the desired audience response could be furthered. This is also seen late on, during the mechanicals’ performance of “Pyramus and Thisbe”. In this climactic scene, famous for its riotous comedy, elements of farce and physical theatre were added in order to allow the mechanicals’ play to develop into an utter travesty, where Thisbe (Flute – played by Alasdair Craig) is seen throwing a
thisWEEK Flying Solo Festival
sure about this new, modern setting. However, very quickly, I understood why Anya Reiss might have found reason to set a play, in which none of the characters are ever listening to each other, in a time where people’s attention spans are so limited, they hardly listen to each other at all. The best performance of the night has to be Sophie Robinson, who played Nina. Robinson demonstrated Nina’s journey from a blissfully innocent and happy girl, to a woman who has undergone the cruelest of emotional hardships. By the end of the play, Nina is tragically unstable but confident that she has discovered the meaning of life: endurance. This message of just keeping on in a world of meaningless existence really resonated throughout. The lethargic slump of rural life was captured by the rest of the cast’s increasing levels of weariness throughout the play, but they never faltered in their energy and commitment. The Seagull is clever, thoughtful, bittersweet and very funny.
Review
As I began my journey towards the Lowry on a bitterly cold winter’s evening, I confess, heretical though this may be, that I was not filled with excitement at the prospect of revisiting William Shakespeare’s comedy of lovers, magic and mechanicals; A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Having seen Bristol Old Vic’s accomplished performance of the play in London, as recently as early February, the thought of witnessing another modern interpretation did not particularly whet my theatrical appetite. I went into Propeller’s wonderful adaptation of the 16th century text feeling tired, dispirited and altogether apprehensive. I left, however, feeling utterly enthralled by the veritable cooking pot of theatrical, comical and Shakespearian techniques that I bore witness to, during Propeller’s ingenious interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Propeller achieved a rarity within the world of Shakespeare. They managed to fully uphold the integrity of the Bard’s text, whilst altering and amending aspects of the aesthetic side of the performance, based on a clear understanding of how the play would have originally been received. The all-male theatre company concentrated on comedy and mysticism as
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momentous tantrum, his blonde wig flying across the panic-stricken stage as he beats his fellow actors with an effeminate scarf. It seemed as though every aspect of this intelligent performance had been constructed with the highest level of attention to detail. Even in lighting, Ben Omerod took precautions in order to use light as a means of distinguishing the tales being told. Instances of dramatic state shifts meant that the barrier between the mortal and the mystical world could remain clear as the stories were being set in motion, before being blurred as the stories collide. Edward Hall’s direction was masterful; pre-existing subtexts came alive under his (and designer Michael Pavelka’s) control of staging, costume and set design. It is fair to say that I was stunned by this breathless performance, and though at times I found myself missing a number of the added references or struggling to keep up with the pacing, this was a truly excellent and well-acted interpretation of a powerfully funny Shakespearian masterpiece. You’re lucky if you got to see it.
Runs from the 12th to the 22nd March at The Contact Theatre and other locations
Orlando 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 MIFTAS The Drama society’s MIFTA showcase begins this week. Presenting a variety of student performances, the MIFTAS is an unmissable showcase of talent, and a great opportunity Various locations from the 19th February to the 23rd March
My Favourite Scene
my FAVOURITE SCENE
The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays where does it fit in terms of the classic genres? Combining romance, comedy and supernatural occurences, the tale of young love realised and a family reunited avoids easy classification. In this scene at the end of the play the most supernatural event of the play occurs - a statue of Hermione, the Queen of Sicilia, who has been thought dead for 16 years, becomes reanimated and the Queen steps down to greet her lost daughter. Has she been alive the whole time or is there some magic at play? Shakespeare doesn’t tell us, but think what you will! PAULINA Music, awake her; strike! Music ‘Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach; Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come, I’ll fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away, Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs:
This week, Theatre Editor, Stephanie Scott tells us about her favourite scene from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
HERMIONE comes down
Start not; her actions shall be holy as You hear my spell is lawful: do not shun her Until you see her die again; for then You kill her double. Nay, present your hand: When she was young you woo’d her; now in age Is she become the suitor? LEONTES O, she’s warm! If this be magic, let it be an art Lawful as eating. POLIXENES She embraces him. CAMILLO She hangs about his neck: If she pertain to life let her speak too. POLIXENES Ay, and make’t manifest where she has lived, Or how stolen from the dead.
PAULINA That she is living, Were it but told you, should be hooted at Like an old tale: but it appears she lives, Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while. Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneel And pray your mother’s blessing. Turn, good lady; Our Perdita is found. HERMIONE You gods, look down And from your sacred vials pour your graces Upon my daughter’s head! Tell me, mine own. Where hast thou been preserved? where lived? how found Thy father’s court? for thou shalt hear that I, Knowing by Paulina that the oracle Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved Myself to see the issue.
Evita When Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote Evita, they created a materpiece of musical theatre. The incredibly popular show has been performed worldwide, to high critical aclaim. Following the life of Eva Peron, first lady of Argentina, the musical captures an audience through the story of a girl from the slums, who steals the heart of a nation - and through the musical, the heart of the audience as well. Tuesday 17th to the 22nd March at
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Editors: Lauren Arthur, Moya Crockett, Beth Currall Feature
Travel
HOW TO: Get a seat in the Learning Commons With Julia Gleeson’s top tips, getting that coveted spot in Ali G will be a breeze Exams and deadlines hit hard for all of us. Basic hygiene is thrown out the window, sleep is but a distant memory and access to study space becomes more vital than drinking water. More often than not, the ascension of the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons stairs brings not a sense of achievement but rather extreme disappointment and defeat. Gasping for breath, you scan around for the holy grail of university exam time - the free computer (or in fact any free desk space). Of course there are absolutely none available - something you knew hours before embarking on your study quest, but the 3000 word essay that is due tomorrow has disrupted your reasoning abilities. But never fear: here are some of the most popular methods which have shown successful acquisition of a prime spot in Ali G. The Linger-and-Pounce Risk level: 8 For the brave and foolhardy out there, waiting in one spot for a computer may be the tactic for you. This tends to require experience - knowing who is about to pack up and leave and who is actually just going for a quick coffee is a skill seldom mastered. Do not be put off by the soul-burning glares coming at you from every direction - you must stand your ground. Remember, working students sense fear. Focus on a normal breathing pattern and avoid eye contact at all times. (Top tip: be aware of other like-minded students lurking behind oversized armchairs).
vitamin D deficiency. The Early Bird Risk Level: 2.7 Early birds certainly do catch the worm, and if you arrive at the Learning Commons at 4am you’ll do just that! A favourite technique used by many third years, this allows at least three hours before sunrise to get settled, think about your degree choice, and have a really good cry. Alternative approach “The Night Owl” has similar effects but tends to bring out more erratic behaviour and shouting episodes. The First Year Risk Level: 0 Widely available to all first year students, this is the most simple and effective method yet of avoiding learning commons disappointment. Essentially requiring no effort whatsoever, individuals who wish to give this a go don’t actually have to leave their room - at all! Contrary to unpopular belief, first year doesn’t really count, and so spending as much time as is humanly possible in bed is highly recommended.
let’s visit...
Paris
From Paris with love... Annie Hsu reports back on her short summer stay in the timelessly popular French capital Paris: the capital city of France, the place known as the city of lights, and the destination notorious for its high-class restaurants, charming urban landscape and diverse cultural allures. I visited the city last summer and fell totally in love with it. On the day we arrived, we visited one of the must-see attractions, The Eiffel Tower. Being able to stand on the balcony and overlook the whole city was amazing and allows you to soak up all angles of Paris’ beauty. After seeing the tower lit up - something I’d definitely recommend - we walked up to the plaza and watched a street dance performance to end the night. On the second day we visited the Musée de Louvre. I went straight to find Da Vinci’s masterpiece - Mona Lisa. Located on the first floor, it seemed most people visiting the museum were there for the same reason as me and at least a hundred people were queuing ahead of us as we entered the room, waiting to view this spectacular piece of artwork. Despite the size of the painting being much smaller than I imagined, I’d still definitely recommend a visit. The other artwork on display is also extremely impressive, another stand out piece being The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. We later visited the Notre Dame Cathedral and the popular district of Le Marais. Le Marais boasts an eclectic mix of history and architecture alongside chic restaurants, fashion houses and galleries. For anyone visiting Paris in the coming warmer months, I suggest you grab a cup of decent coffee, sit alongside the Left Bank of the Seine, and spend the whole afternoon watching the world go by with the sun on your face and wind in your hair. Pop along to a Pierre Hermé boutique to sample a treat from Paris’ best dessert shop and complete your lazy afternoon. Whilst short, our trip was most definitely sweet. I wish we could’ve had time to explore further and visit some of the infamous French Michelin restaurants but I suppose that may be reason enough for a return trip to the city. Paris, I will see you soon!
Straight to the Top! Risk level: 6 Are you a high-flying no-messing-about student? Do you have 47 minutes to complete an essay that you’ve been avoiding for 4 weeks? Then this technique is definitely for you. Studies have shown that 80% of students entering the Learning Commons work their way from the bottom floor to the top in their hunt for a seat - being part of the other 20% makes YOU a winner and more likely to come across a free spot. After crossing the barriers, get in the lift and go immediately to the third floor. DO NOT TAKE THE STAIRS. You will need all the energy you can muster once out of the lift to move swiftly between absurd numbers of coffee tables and quite possibly race other students (N.B. suitable running shoes recommended for this). Going Underground Risk Level: 4 The unknowing and inexperienced fear the basement level of the Learning Commons, which has been likened to “the fiery pits of hell” by many. However, most university students tend to exaggerate on average around 37 times a day, so fear not the damp and dismal stenches of the standard basement - this one is relatively pleasant. Lack of sunlight exposure may lead to
Television
from
Photo: University of Manchester Library Photo: Wikimedia Commons
THE VAULT: The Hills
Beth Currall reminisces on the cult MTV show that empowered all teenage and twenty-something females in the western world Back in the day, when the likes of Geordie Shore and The Valleys were merely twinkles in a money-grabbing producer’s eye, MTV made genuine reality shows, that didn’t revolve around sex, binge drinking and finding voyeuristic entertainment in contestants generally being grotesque humans. The ultimate programme for every female aged 13 to 30 (with a Sky connection, natch) was, of course, The Hills; and every week for four blissful years, we would gather around the TV like a loyal congregation waiting to receive sermons from the almighty cast of twenty-somethings with their wise words and their perfect lives. Imagine your own life, with all its dramas and turmoil- but set in Hollywood, with at least five zeros added to the end of your current bank balance, and a gang of models, fashion interns and PR gurus as friends. That’s what made The Hills so great: it was real life drama that we could all relate to, but in a world that we poor English peasants could only dream of experiencing. The Hills followed the lives of Lauren Conrad- who became the most iconic figure for girl power since the Spice Girl- and her friends, Heidi, Audrina, Whitney and Lo. For the girls, not a single item of dirty laundry was spared airing by MTV. You name it; viewers saw it, including cat fights, pregnancy scares and disciplinaries at work. The girls matured and found their way in the world alongside avid spectators, and their lessons in love and friendship remained with fans long after the cameras stopped rolling- you’d be hard pressed to find a woman who hasn’t been tempted to use the famous “I want to forgive you, and I want to forget you” line at least three times in their life. They also became fashion icons in their own right, parading around LA in their low rise jeans and Chanel 2.0s.
We lusted after their wardrobes, jobs and their gorgeous male BFs, especially Brody Jenner, who was the original member of the Jenner/Kardashian clan to become a reality TV star (sorry, Kim). The show brought a real sense of feminism and reinforced the importance of the sisterhood: we cried with Lauren during her break ups, screamed at Heidi and her stupid decisions that involved sacrificing her friends, family and career for a man, and celebrated when Whitney secured her dream job. It showed femininity didn’t necessarily lack power, even if the girls did allow themselves to get screwed over by men from time to time. It was a reality show, after all.
Ultimately, The Hills is the perfect show to whack on during lazy Sundays, or lazy any-days, for us students. Don’t expect to catch any intellectual conversations or to have to deal with any hard-hitting issues during the episodes, but do recognize the parallels we can all so easily draw with our own lives (just without being as pretty or rich, I guess). It’s the place to learn about ‘sucky people’, how to deal with friends that have bad, motorcycle-riding, tattoo-covered boyfriends, and exactly what you have to do when you burn a designer dress on your curling iron an hour before a Paris Fashion Week party- you know, just in case you’re ever caught up in that terrible situation. So grab the box set, sit back, relax, and lose yourself in the wonderful world of The Hills.
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Hills QUOTES
“Every girl wants to be the one girl that can change that guy”- Lauren “Sweet. My answer is get out of my car”- Spencer (on discovering Heidi’s pregnancy test result was negative) “I need my friends back. Like I gave up so much for Spencer, you know? I literally gave up everything for him”- Heidi “Maybe he just wants things from you too that you just don’t know”- Lo Photo: Wikimedia Commons
“Like everyone and trust no one”- Lauren
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Photo: Sarah Kelly (Flickr)
Feature
Idiotic internet trend of the week: McDiving
Joe Anderson investigates yet another student craze for Lifestyle only assume is a mark out of ten as soon as the landing is made. More bouncers arrive, rushing in, carrying the individual out of the arena like a champion boxer; roaring what I assume again can only be encouragement and congratulatory remarks into the ear of the sportsman whilst gloriously lifting the competitor’s arm into the air - usually behind their back. However there is a darker side to the sport (no, this isn’t about the time the official body tried to ban runups of over 3.2 meters), it is instead the group to be avoided by the McDivers at all costs: the ‘staff ’. With a sport involving high speeds and extreme unpredictability, a collision with a staff member can land you a ban from the arena. A recent interview with a worker at McDonald’s described how on Friday nights ‘idiots loitered with intent then proceeded to carry out the Kamikaze attack’. Ridiculous statement, I know. Ignoring said interviewee, if you do plan on trying out the sport: remember to make sure you’re in McDonald’s. A dive over the counter in KFC or any other fast food establishment is frowned upon and considered rather odd.
Photo: Joe Kiel (Flickr)
1. Cha? With my faithful Cath Kidston mug sitting next to me, I’ll begin at the beginning, with tea. Horribly clichéd yet no less true, Brits are highly dependent on the prestigious cup of tea. Whilst the actual drink is enjoyable - warming and reassuring in its familiarity, the concept of tea seems to be as big as or even bigger than the beverage itself. It’s ingrained in our systems that the first step to dealing with a crisis is to click the kettle and reach for our favourite mug. Sitting with our hands wrapped round it does actually bring an odd sense of comfort. And even if you’re not a tea lover (shame on you), I suggest you pretend to be one. Volunteering as tea maker gives you the ability to remove yourself from any awkward British situation that may ensue.
2. Our favourite conversation fall back Like many, I seem to suffer from winter blues, meaning that this country and its dismal weather is probably one of the worst to inhabit. On my daily surveillance of hard hitting journalism last month, I read an article claiming that even the penguins in Scarborough Sea Life Centre suffer from SAD. Despite this, I’d argue that the weather makes us all the more appreciative as beings. When a beautiful sunny day does eventually come along blimey, are we chuffed. This can be a little too much sometimes… no, I will not start defending the middle aged, often overweight skinheads that rid of their tops as soon as we reach 12 degrees but hopefully the sun will partially blind you, allowing you to turn from these ghastly sights and instead ready your picnic basket. 3. Language, darling
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m slightly biased or because I can only speak one language fluently (probably both) but I’d argue us Brits have something about our air and manner that separates us - in a good way. Looking at Americans is a safe bet as I can understand their vocabulary - our lingo. You’d be surprised to hear Americans laughing at themselves as freely as we do. Their confidence is somewhat astounding, probably rivalling UoM’s rugby teams’, and whilst we sometimes look across the pond to admire this self-assurance and brash nature, I think we’re better off without it. We certainly wouldn’t be able to master the art of queuing so well. We have a certain degree of groundedness; albeit if my argument is true, we’re the only ones able to appreciate it; but nonetheless we’re not afraid to admit we’ve failed. We always have our Great British wit to fall back on. Oh, and tea.
4. Rule Britannia! How horrible it must be for Chinese people our age not to have much idea about their national history. We, on the other hand, know our stuff (at least vaguely). We know we haven’t always made the right decisions but we can accept that. Our country is beautiful, full of heritage and something to be proud of.
Photo: Studio Canal
Queue jumping; the illegal use of the pedestrian hard shoulder. Due to the violent resistance to this act, led by aggressive tutting and inward thoughts of hatred, the inevitable destruction of these queue jumpers has led to a survival of the fittest scenario. This is the species now known as ‘McDivers’. As the official sporting body describes: ‘It’s very simple: You visit a McDonald’s and dive over the counter.’ The first ever recorded YouTube dive took place in Leeds, however legend states that it was Ronald McDonald himself who completed the first ever McDive. Some say he flew majestically over the counter, landed in the deep fat fryer and died within seconds. The more popular belief is that he made the perfect McDive and later that evening shouted into a cocktail of vodka and McFlurry “I’d like to see Colonel Sanders or The Burger King do that, I’m f***ing loving it!” The point scoring system is very confusing and may appear non-existent probably due to the lack of event planning. From watching various clips of McDives I’m fairly certain the McDonald’s bouncers are key in the process, shouting into their walkie-talkies what I can
Bored of hearing the constant drone of people moaning about its weather, politics and general attitude, Lauren Arthur tells us why she loves the UK
Photo: Wikimedia
Some seminar leaders try and tackle the unwavering silence as the seconds tick on. Some enforce weekly individual presentations, whilst others diffuse the situation, grouping people up for more concentrated discussions. But when should you stop parenting your seminar, look down at your desk, and force somebody else to engage with the material? Frustratingly, the desire to not leave the seminar leader hanging usually isn’t due to an overflowing bank of knowledge and a particularly eloquent tongue. It’s probably just be because you feel awkward when it’s quiet. If you always end up unintentionally dominating the seminar, try resisting the urge to fill the silence. Be a bit Quentin Tarantino: show that this time, you’re “not biting.”
Photo: The Salvaged Sparrow (Etsy)
If seminars simply aren’t part of your course structure, or you’re lucky enough to be in a seminar with bold and loquacious individuals, the concept of a seminar tumbleweed might be foreign to you. However, doing a degree such as English Literature punishes you with endless reading, both compulsory and noncompulsory (but aggressively and continuously recommended). The Amazon order history of students doing essay-based subjects can read like a bleak restaurant menu, detailing their pathetically expensive literary consumption. When these books arrive, ominously, one by one in Amazon’s slim brown boxes, it can be hard to remember that packages used to be exciting. Once the ordered text has been absorbed, and brownie-point secondary critical readings neatly stowed away in your folder, you enter the seminar room. You might expect a friendly studious buzz – something capable of enticing the prospectus photographer – but in reality, a seminar room can feel palpably desolate. The silent seminar, as the seminar leader desperately tries to engage students and practically pries words out of mouths, is a painful experience quite unique to university life. The feeling of responsibility as the “chatty one” is a bit like having a friend from home to stay. You know it’s your duty to establish connections between your groups of friends. You are a conversational babysitter, until your friend begins to acclimatize. When this “friend” becomes your whole seminar group, and a barren silence falls between seminar leader and students, you can – as a more outspoken individual – find yourself speaking up, out of a feeling of responsibility. Gradually, you come to think of that seminar as the socially awkward friend in a situation full of incompatible individuals. It’s down to you to carry the conversation.
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Reasons to love being British
The awkwardly silent seminar room: we’ve all been there. If you always end up being “the chatty one”, Martha Norman suggests giving yourself a break
Photo: Malias (Flickr)
The seminar tumbleweed
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Photo: Duncan Hull
Advice
Lifestyle
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5. Over to you, Hugh And finally, we should be proud of the people our country has produced. Delivered by one of our most-loved actors and written by a favourite rom com screenwriter: ‘We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, The Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham’s right foot. David Beckham’s left foot, come to that.’ Some total legends have emerged from our little island, quite a few of them actually, and that must mean we’re doing something right.
Students’ Union Students’ Union Awards 2014 Awards 2014 Nominations are now openopen for the Nominations are now for2014 the 2014 Students’ UnionUnion Awards. We’llWe’ll be awarding Students’ Awards. be awarding all of all theofawesome workwork donedone by our the awesome by our students over over the past year,year, so nominate students the past so nominate your your favourite group, society, project project or or student student visiting by by visiting the Students’ Union website.
Nominations closeclose at midday on 11 Nominations at midday onApril. 11 April.
www.manchesterstudentsunion.com/unionawards www.manchesterstudentsunion.com/unionawards
You can’t appeal your results simply because you’re unhappy with them. If this is the case, you should contact your academic advisor or tutors for detailed feedback. This will ensure that you are well equipped to improve for your next assessment period.
the results, you can submit an academic appeal. Full details on the four appeal grounds can be found on our website. You can also pop into the Student Union manchesterstudentsunion.com/adviceservice
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SPORT
/TheMancunion @Mancunion_Sport
Sports Editors: Andrew Georgeson, Tom Dowler and Thomas Turner
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Contact: sport@mancunion.com
United’s biggest transition will take place in the stands
The red half could take notes from Manchester City in their current plight Thomas Turner Sport Editor
When Manchester City won the Capital One cup at the start of the month, the celebrations it sparked raised a few eyebrows. Mega-millions City, with petro-dollars seeping out of every pore, revelling under the ticker-tape with the much maligned ‘Mickey Mouse’ cup. But only when you consider City’s catapult to the top do you begin to realise why these Wembley finals continue to be held in such regard. In May this year, it will be fifteen years since City played in quite a different Wembley final. On that occasion, accompanied by as many inflatables as fans they prevailed in a game which they frankly should never have won against Gillingham, to win promotion out of English football’s third tier. Their meteoric rise since that day is overwhelmingly due to the inherited billions of a faraway Sheikh, but the red half of Manchester could certainly heed some valuable lessons from their city neighbours about their current plight. Whether you agree with the Premier League project or not, what it has fostered at Old Trafford is a generation of supporters with no recollection of anything other than victory. What started with the class of 92 and continued to the very end of the Fergie era is a sense of entitlement which was always bound to come to a sticky end - and unfortunately for David Moyes, it has coincided with his own
David Moyes has found life tough since his move to Old Trafford. Photo: @BBCSport
appointment. Teams who had suffered at Old Trafford for decades suddenly began to emerge victorious. The chance of a top four finish, for so long a formality, has all but vanished. The Champions League, which for a while provided Moyes’ only solace, has too entered troubled waters after that night in Greece.
Midfielder Tom Cleverley has borne the brunt of fans’ frustration. Photo: @Football__Tweet
United fans were warned to expect a period of transition. But those who accepted it largely did so disingenuously. It was said almost as a precursor in the unlikely event that things went wrong. And now that things have turned sour, the talk has swiftly turned from the bright future ahead to Moyes’ days being numbered. Many have comforted themselves in the knowledge that even Ferguson took time to win a trophy, but to me the fact is irrelevant. If Ferguson had won the treble in his inaugural campaign it wouldn’t justify the bile being heaped on his successor. Even if ‘the chosen one’ never truly adapts to life at Old Trafford, the damage he can do will hardly be irreparable. Bad managerial appointments are part and parcel of English football - just ask anybody who has had the misfortune of seeing Steve Kean, Brian Laws or Iain Dowie prowl their club’s technical area. The impatience shown towards Moyes’ transition is without doubt a consequence of 26 years of uninterrupted Fergie rule. In 1986 United fell well and truly on their feet with that appointment. But with his chosen successor they may well not. In short, anybody who follows football expecting eternal glory ought to find another hobby.
I can’t help but think that those who currently share their misery on Facebook and Twitter every other Saturday are missing out on what makes football so compelling for the other 88 clubs outside of the climes of the top four. It’s because only when you become
accustomed to witnessing shambolic back fours, football devoid of ideas and regular defeat do you truly appreciate the euphoria of that day when it all comes together. That day when, against the odds, you pull a result out of nowhere. And that, in a nutshell, is the reason why for so many football fans this season Manchester United have been the gift which keeps on giving. Seeing the behemoth of their generation fall from grace so quickly provides hope for many that their own club can experience the opposite too. United’s return to prominence will undoubtedly come far sooner than it will for most. Borrowed money will be spent over summer in vast quantities, and soon enough United will again be a safe enough bet on your Saturday coupon. Those most pessimistic about United’s current plight will no doubt be the first to let you know when they are once more basking in the ticker-tape themselves. For United, it wouldn’t be a bad thing at all if those petulant fans took up rugby instead. Those chanting ‘Moyes out’, or the odious ‘Come on David Moyes / Play like Fergie’s boys’ are better off at home watching Premier League Years with a box of Kleenex. It will make the return to prominence that bit sweeter for all of you who took a bad season with good grace. And the longer it takes, the sweeter it will be. Just ask City.
Big money signing Juan Mata will undoubtedly be the first of many in 2014. Photo: @goal_intl
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Bets over Blade-Runner’s bullets
Tom Dowler investigates the controversial bookies’ approach to the athlete’s murder trial The opportunist bookmakers Paddy Power caused outrage last week by taking bets on the outcome of the Oscar Pistorious murder trial. For them moral decency, respect for the judicial process and a lack of awareness about the dangers of promoting violence against women were inconsequential, with the publicity stunt going so far that the Advertising Standards Agency requested its removal. The 27-year-old double Paralympic gold medallist is accused of shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on 14th February 2013, having mistaken her for an intruder. Without contemplating the implications, Paddy Power offered 7/4 for a guilty verdict and 2/5 for not guilty, with a money back offer guaranteed ‘if he walks’. This is arguably one of the most distasteful advertising campaigns in the history of publicity as it shows now concern for the Steenkamp family, no consideration about the wider implications concerning violence towards women and ultimately, it has significant implications for the judicial process – which has already been questioned by some as the media circus descends on South Africa. Social media outrage began
with a vengeance immediately after reports about the scandalous bet filtered over Facebook and Twitter. A Change.org petition was shared rapidly across the internet and a staggering 126,000 signatures were added within a couple of days at the time of printing. This is a clear example of people power working to bring organisations to account. Last week saw a far less useful petition gather momentum – that of England fans begging manager Roy Hodsgon not to pick Tom Cleverley for the World Cup in Brazil, but that is a completely different matter. Thankfully the social media generation saw sense and were horrified with the tasteless Paddy Power publicity stunt and they piled the pressure on the Advertising Standards Agency who in turn forced the Irish bookies’ hand. In response, the ASA made the following statements: “We consider the ad may be seriously prejudicial to the general public on the ground of the likely further serious and/ or widespread offence it may cause.” “We are also concerned that the good reputation of the advertising industry may be further damaged by continued publication of this ad.”
It’s certainly not the first time that Paddy Power has been making headlines for the wrong
we’ve seen them cause offence to: the transgender community with an advert playing spot the
the Last Supper with his disciples and animal rights activists and disability groups were angered
The bookies infamous ad-campaign. Photo: @standardnews
reasons. In fact, they thrive on making headlines, relying on the saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity. In the past
mares from the stallions at the Cheltenham races, the religious community were upset with their depiction of Jesus gambling at
by an advert in which blind footballers mistakenly punt a kitten while playing a game of five-a-side.
Betting on the Pistorious case isn’t the only morbid and judicially troubling publicity stunt the Irish bookmakers have pulled – in President Barack Obama’s first term in office Paddy Power offered odds on whether Mr Obama would be assassinated. As with many of these other cases, half-hearted apologies and a promises to remove the offending adverts allowed the disgraceful marketing department to get away with the most distasteful and disrespectful practices in advertising history. I would advocate three solutions to this shocking publicity stunt: firstly, Paddy Power should wholeheartedly apologise to the Steenkamp family, secondly, they should make a donation to a charity that helps prevent violence against women and thirdly, they should refrain from creating tabloid filling publicity that promotes violence of any kind or any discrimination. These steps would go some way to repairing the damage caused by irresponsible campaigning. If you want to sign the petition go to www.change.org and search ‘Paddy Power.’
Managerial Hunger Games
As touchline tempers flare, Andrew Georgeson asks who is the hardest manager? Andrew Georgeson Sports Editor It’s finally time to organize this. Which manager is really the best? And by best, I obviously mean the hardest. We will only consider Premier League managers, but a few honourable mentions before we begin. First, Neil Lennon, any man who is sent a bullet and then releases his own calendar is a winner in my book. Secondly, there is Roy Keane. Without even discussing how hard he is, his put downs would be enough to make you cower in fear. Finally there is Mancini. Just to have a nice break from the melting pot of the Premier League, and a highly confrontational time at Manchester City, he decided to go to Galatasaray, a team that is renowned world over for its placid fans. This is how it will pan out; first to go would be Tim Sherwood. The arrogant prick would go all guns blazing and hopefully be picked off early enough. (#TEAMAVB). Mark Hughes will be on the same boat. Fulham won’t have a pledge to offer. But if it was still Jol, one would presume he would remain totally ambivalent to the whole situation and, despite lasting an alarmingly long time, would eventually fade away, and no one would be that surprised. Cowering in the corner would be the likes of Solskjær, Moyes, Wenger. The
problem is that despite being district 2 or above, their scripts and fate were already predestined - they are bound to fail. The first has a poor team, only made to seem like they were doing better than they were because of what happened to their previous pledge, one has been sold a mid-table lie, and the other one will probably crack under the pressure. Then you have the tactically inept. Yes they may do well at first, but don’t be fooled, they will soon enough fall by the wayside. I’m talking about the Pardews and Houghtons of this world. Yes, they may land a few blows on their opponents, but just as they are doing well punching with their right hand, they will try kicking with their left foot, and if it doesn’t work? Forget it. We will keep trying until it does. Obviously there needs to be a quota filled for the games to have any sort of semblance of a competition. Therefore, welcome the filler pledges. In Hunger Games these pledges usually come from district 7 or 8 that the camera would never really focus on. Yeah they can be good, perhaps get a decent run going picking off a few lower pledges, but they were never in danger of winning, nor of dying first. In this category we have Steve Bruce, Gus Poyet, Sam Alladyce and Paul Lambert. Basically the teams that you look at and wonder how they are still 13th despite seemingly never winning a match since 2005.
Pelligrini is losing it. His alarmingly mental comments after the match with Barcelona are evidence enough for
2, he knew what he was getting himself into, and he saw what happened to his predecessor.
Alan Pardew has become a cult figure since his infamous headbut, but how would he fair overall Photo: @gallowgateshots
that. He is the one kicking off on top of the cornucopia in the last scenes before being pushed into the wolves. But who has sympathy for him? Just as the volunteer pledges from District 1 &
In comes Jennifer Lawrence. This role, for me, will be played by Brendon Rodgers. Although she is not Scottish, she is as arrogant and generally annoying. ‘Liverpool can’t win the title’
rings the same as ‘I didn’t deserve the Oscar for Silverlinings.’ Both cases are true in my opinion, both shouldn’t happen, but both have either happened or will happen. This is because they are tactically astute, they are also fiercely loyal. Keeping Suarez in the summer is as smart as looking after Peta that is, he always has someone who can pull him out of sticky situations and win him matches he had no right to win. Their goal difference already this season could make a massive difference when the season ends. Finally we have the game maker. Welcome to the stage Jose Mourinho. He will cause problems, play mind games, but he will have the season snatched away from him, and finish second to the formidable Jenifer Lawrence, and although not facing the same fate as previous failed game-makers, he won’t have that many chances to correct his mistakes. That is how the season will unfold. For many of the managers involved the fate of their team was set already writer. Pardew and high team were never going to do anything except balance the books, Moyes and co. were going to struggle. Yet, Rodgers is the true success story. Should he be able to make it through the 20th Annual Premier League games, it will be as unlikely as it was for someone from district 12 to win the Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favour, Brendan.
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ISSUE 17/ 10th MARCH 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM/
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Sale Sharks find some bite at last and circle the top six Callum Millar Sports Reporter Being a Sharks fan has been a testing vocation in the past few years. Stories of magnificent tries and consummate victories have given way far too often to tales of backroom politics, squad turnovers and the enigmatic characters in between. Characters such as Danny Cipriani, whose heralded vision failed to transcend from the rugby pitch to the oncoming number 6 to Holt Park one drunken night, or coach Bryan Redpath arriving in fraught circumstances from Gloucester and lasting a matter of weeks in charge. Throw in John Mitchell, the South African saviour who arrived to take the reins and then disappeared within a month, leaving Steve Diamond to pick up the pieces as the club struggled to avoid relegation in a torrid
12/13 season labelled as a “developmental year” following a perhaps over-utilised transfer season. Having just moved to a brand new 12,000 capacity stadium and promised a return to the premiershipwinning days of 2006 it was looking very grim indeed for the only remaining North West premiership rugby club. However, a late run of form (and some costly administrative errors from their rivals) saved them from the relegation drop and eyes turned to the new seasonand what a season we’ve had. The Sharks now sit 6th in the premiership table, some three wins and 8 table points clear of 7th placed London Wasps, leaving the Salford-based outfit in a very likely position to qualify for the top tier of European club competition next season…whatever that turns out to be when the Unions and TV companies finally agree on the successor of the Heineken Cup! This resurgence is all
the more impressive when you glance down the squad list and very few names jump out at you- only 4-capped Henry Thomas is currently in the England EPS squad. Rather like the Exeter Chiefs, this is a squad built more on collective effort than individual brilliance and contains a swath of home heroes, such as captains past and present Dan Braid and David Seymour or retired England wing Mark Cueto, who currently holds the premiership try-scoring record. While this doggedness has so far failed to produce a win against any of the top four clubs, the Sharks have a chance to put that right as their season draws to a close. In their last six games of the regular premiership season Sale will be welcoming 2nd placed Northampton Saints, 4th placed Leicester Tigers and their closest rivals above them in 5th, the New Harlequins. Having pushed league leaders Saracens to within five points
Sale have leapt up the table this year. Photo: @BigRedRugby
Danny Cipriani is more focused this season for Sale. Photo: @Planet_Rugby
during their recent visit to the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford, they will be confident of giving the big guns a scare and making a late challenge for the coveted play-off places. Sale remind me a little of the current England team when they regenerated in 2012- with a largely overhauled squad and coaching team, initially results were solid, though rarely spectacular, and founded on a powerful, determined defence, yet with a definite air of greater things to come. While they do not wield a chequebook like that owned by Bath, nor their team glitter with stardust like Saracens, there is a collective sense of purpose and a certain knowledge of how to stay in and close out tight games that really impresses. If they can come from relegation fodder to pushing the table
top in 9 months, I’m really excited to see the big scalps roll in next season. And maybe, just maybe, Cipriani will finally fix his defence and pull on an England shirt in time for the World Cup next year! If you’ve never been to watch a rugby match before, with some of England’s best teams arriving in Manchester now’s the perfect time to soak in the unique experience of a rugby crowd and cheer on our local team. I’ve got a very eagerly anticipating (and revision-dodging) eye on the arrival of the Leicester Tigers on the 3rd of May. Let’s push the Sharks into the play-offs- and once you’re into knockout rugby, who knows? March report: Great job Sale, massively heartening improvement. More of the same and a big name to add to the (W) column by the close of business please!
Kabaddi team triumph Nikesh Farmah Sports Reporter
On Saturday 22nd February the University’s Kabaddi squad headed down to Birmingham to compete in the inter-university National sports competition, hosted by NHSF. As regional champions, expectations were high and we didn’t disappoint as the club fought off the other 14 Universities and overcame a gripping finale against Imperial University to come away as champions. In the end we played 5 games and came away unbeaten to claim the first national title in the club’s history. We entered two strong teams, however, the second team were beaten by the reigning champions Aston in the group stages to end their day. The first team narrowly overcame LSE University in the groups stages to see us meet Birmingham in the semi-final. The final was a tale of two halves, with Manchester 5-0 down at half time. An epic team tackle shortly after halftime saw the momentum change in favour of Manchester to see us clinch the victory 11-5.
The Manchester Kabaddi Society are now national champions. Photo: Manchester Kabaddi Society
Manchester Squad 2013-2014: Joyanto Chanda, Raghav Chandegra, Nikesh Farmah, Shrey Patel, Jai Patel, Hersh Thaker, Priyesh Pattni, Ricky Hutchinson, Raj Sehmar, Abdullah Mir, Gagan Thiaara, Akaash Sood, Akaash Shah, Nakul Rajani, Dilan Rabadi, Dhruvesh Ranpura, Rrutuj Patki. What is Kabaddi?
Kabaddi is probably the only sport in the world that requires no equipment to play. Traditionally it was played on clay ground but the development of the sport has led to the introduction of synthetic flooring to reduce potential injuries. The game consists of two 20-minute halves. How many players per side? The game is played with 7 players on
each side. What is the aim of the game? The aim is to cross from your half to the opponents half and gain as many points as you can by tagging members of the opposition team – this is called a “raid”. The raider must chant “Kabaddi” in order to show to the referee that they are holding their breath – this provides
some time limit to each players raid. Once in the opposition half, they can try and stop the raider from returning to their own half by tackling them to the ground and stopping the raider from crossing the half-way line. If the raider tags players and returns to their own half – the raiding team will be awarded that many points and those players who were tagged are eliminated from the game (1 point for each opposition member tagged). If the raider is tackled and stopped from crossing the half way line then the opposing team gets a point, and the raider is eliminated. Eliminated players can be brought back in the game if their team gains a point (whether that be through a raid, or by tackling the opposition – think of the Ben Stiller film “Dodgeball” where players a brought back in if your team “catches a ball”). If a team loses all their players, then the opposition team is awarded 2 additional points and the eliminated team all come back in. The winner is the team with the most points after the time is up. For any that wish to try Kabaddi search on Facebook ‘Manchester Kabaddi Club’. Training takes place every Wednesday at the Sudgen Centre from 7-9pm.
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10th MARCH 2014/ ISSUE 17 FREE
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
United’s plight
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Betting scandal
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WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Kabaddi winners
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Liverpool two much four Manchester The hosts led 2-0 at half time but Liverpool scored four to claim the league title The University of Manchester 2nds 2 The University of Liverpool 1sts 4 Josh Cook Sport Reporter The men’s second 11 football team hoped to spoil Liverpool’s championship winning celebrations for at least another week as they faced off against the league leaders on Wednesday afternoon at the Armitage. A young Manchester side looked in calm spirits during the warm up as the fierce sky blues of Liverpool warmed up in regimented fashion on the other side of the field. The slight wind sweeping across the pitch would mean this could be ‘a game of two halves’ and make it hard for the defending team either side of half time. In the early exchanges the game was tight with neither side wanting to make the opening mistake; however, it was Manchester to threaten first with a neat turn out by Peel on the right hand side leaving the Liverpool left-back left for dead. Peel galloped forward and put in a cross which was scrambled away by a strong visiting back four. Manchester were certainly inspired by this chance and not long after opened the scoring. A bad kick from the away goalkeeper was picked up by Gure 25-yards out. His showed excellent strength in moving into the 18-yard box but couldn’t manage to get a shot on goal. The attempted clearance was lofted into the air and Peel volleyed home for 1-0. Much to the anguish of the home side it was the visitors who reacted better
after the goal, knowing this was the biggest game of their season to date. Throughout the first half Liverpool played neat football, quick passing and had cool heads in possession - they were only lacking the end product. This was largely down to the work of Manchester’s defence; in particular Folkes and Bayley who made sure the strikers never got a sniff on goal.
that included: blazing over, putting the ball straight into the keeper’s hands and clearing every player to send it wide. As Liverpool pushed for the equalizer they were caught napping and the hosts found themselves two in front. A pass that cut the centre backs in half found Gure in what seemed to be an offside position. One on one with the keeper he made no mistake which incensed
few minutes after the second goal as he found himself in the book for consistent fouling, yet, the chance was once more wasted and flew over the bar. As the first 45 minutes were brought to a close Liverpool could rightly feel unlucky to be 2-0 down after having a large part of the possession but failing to do much with it. The Manchester huddle was under no illusions that the
A dejected Manchester 2nd XI after the 4-2 loss to league leaders Liverpool. Photo: @mancunion_sport
Despite the strong defence, constant free-kicks were being conceded as the referee refused to let the game flow during the first half. The set pieces were wasted by the Liverpool taker, who bagged himself a shameful hat-trick
Liverpool who flocked around the referee desperate for him to be judged offside. The goal stood and Manchester were in a hugely commanding position. The free kicks given away earlier in the half would come back to haunt Bayley a
game was already won. The Liverpool side would come out fighting and so they did. With the words of the visiting manager still ringing in their ears a determined Liverpool took to the field with their
minds set on getting back into the game. They started very brightly and didn’t look back as they pushed the home side to the best of their abilities. A slight lack of awareness in the defence was all that was needed for Liverpool to find themselves within touching distance. A ball into the box was met by a swinging boot and the shot bounced over Holman and into the back of the net. Jubilation from the away players alongside the shouts of ‘Get the ball!’ from the coach showed there would be one tactic in mind: score. Manchester now needed to calm the tempo down and begin to play their own game; however, this was not to be the case as a silly foul by left-back Skaros left Liverpool once more in a scoring position. This time the ball in was excellent and a flick on was all that was needed for the teams to be level. Manchester simply couldn’t cope with the savage mentality of the opposition and never threatened massively in the second half. Two late goals sealed the 4-2 win for the visitors and the comeback was complete. The full time whistle brought elation for Liverpool, all but clinching the title, but disappointment for the home side in their last game of the season. One of many positives that can be taken from the performance is that many of the Manchester players are in their first or second year of their degree, meaning the Men’s football team has a promising two years ahead and I look forward to seeing the boys push for a first team spot come September. Starting XI: Holman, Leek, Folkes, Bayley, Skaros, Peel, Murphy, Kerr, Clare, Robertson, Gure.
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