11TH MAR 2013/ ISSUE 17 FREE
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MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Bogle’s car crash hero
P3
Election special
P7
Interview: Levi Roots
P22
Manchester’s “outrageous” inflation-busting accommodation costs
The cost of accommodation has risen dramatically at the University of Manchester, with Vice Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell saying that even she “would have a hard time justifying” rent increases of nearly 20 percent in four years. Popular halls such as Whitworth Park, Owens Park and Woolton Hall have seen dramatic rises; with the cost of rent jumping by close to 5 percent from 2011/12 to 2012/13 and almost 20 percent in the period 2009/10 to 2012/13. The cost of a standard room with a basin at Oak House jumped by 21.6 percent from 2009/10 to 2012/13, rising from £80 pw to £97 pw. John Leech, Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester Withington, called the rent increases “outrageous”; stating that they would “discourage working class students” from going to university.
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“When everyone is facing cut backs, it is outrageous that the University is putting up rents by double the rate of inflation,” he said in a statement to The Mancunion. “The reason I opposed the introduction of tuition fees is because increased costs discourage poor and working class students, and so do above inflation rent increases. I get the feeling the University is charging what they think they can get away with, not what is reasonable.” The University of Manchester prides itself on having the largest number of places in universityowned accommodation in the UK, with places for more than 9,200 students in halls of residence.
Continued on page 8
02 : NEWS
Highlights
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
The University of Manchester Islamic Society abseiling down University Place for the charity After Adoption. Photo: Luchia Houghton-Lloyd
Manchester Debating Union boycotts Glasgow after sexist heckling News, page 4
Picture of the week
Spring Awakening Special Fashion, pages 16-17
Book club is back! Books, page 21
Alumus donates £1.33m to university Mariana Cerqueira Reporter
A leading philanthropist and Manchester alumnus has donated £1.33m for poverty research at the University of Manchester. Dr Rory Brooks and his wife made the donation to the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI), of which they are the principal benefactors. “This is far-sighted, generous and sustained philanthropy of the highest order,” Preident and ViceChancellor of the University Dame Nancy Rothwell said. “This milestone is to be celebrated with warm thanks to all of our donors, at all levels, and from all parts of the world. “We can do a lot alone, but a great deal more together.” According to the University, donations are used in
variety of ways, which include funding scholarships for disadvantaged students and funding research on issues such as poverty and cancer. The money donated by the Rory & Elizabeth Brooks Foundation will fund research on poverty, helping to gather and share knowledge on poverty that will later help shape policies. BWPI, which holds the largest concentration of poverty researchers in Europe, also engages with activists such as non-governmental organisation BRAC, formerly known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. The NGO, started in Bangladesh as a relief operation, is now the largest development organisation worldwide - using tools such as microfinance and education to empower poor communities. The recent endowment
Games, page 28
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Students in Cardiff could find themselves with a new yellow wristband when they wake up the morning after the night before, asking: “How did you get home last night?” The scheme is co-run by the city’s universities and local police authority, and offers free lifts to students who’ve had a bit too much to drink, allowing them to get home safely. It hopes to highlight the risks posed by too much alcohol. A police officer and a small group of student volunteers drive around the city in a minibus each night and stop to help anyone they see in trouble. Recipients of this service have bright yellow bands slipped around their wrists saying “How did you get home? Safely, thanks to the Student Safety Bus”, reminding them the next morning that there was someone caring for them when they were a little worse for wear. It is hoped that students who are driven home will think-again how much they drink the next time that they go out. Emma Robson, the universities’ joint student liaison officer said: “In the morning [the wristbands
will] hopefully encourage the wearers to think a bit more about how they came to have it in the first place. “We were concerned that we can take people out of danger, but that when they wake up in the morning they underestimate just how vulnerable they were. Sometimes they’ve even forgotten altogether how they got home, and just shrug and laugh the whole thing off. “The yellow wristbands are slipped on, but in the morning they’ll hopefully encourage the wearers to think a bit more about how they came to have it in the first place,” she said. Third year Chemistry Student Becky Pyke told the Mancunion that she did not think that a free mini bus would necessarily be a good idea. Asked if she thought it would dissuade students from drinking excessively, she said: “I don’t think it would at all – it would have the opposite effect. People will think ‘well if I do get really drunk, I’ll have a free lift home.” Another student agreed that the yellow bands may not have the desired effect: “They’d be badges of honour to some people. If I had one though, I wouldn’t care – I’d just cut it off as soon as I woke up in the morning.”
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means the foundation have donated £4m to the University since 2004 – and brings the total private donations received by the University to £100m since its foundation just over nine years ago. Dr Brooks, who graduated from UMIST in 1975, is co-founder of international private equity firm MML Capital. The Independent newspaper in 2008 ranked him 25th in Britain’s leading philanthropists. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2010, and is chairman of the institution’s Global Leadership Board. Students told The Mancunion that although poverty is an important issue, they felt some of the money should be used for helping disadvantaged students at the University.
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NEWS : 03
Bogle runner misses out on record after ‘heroic’ car crash rescue “Hero” Bogle runner sacrifices lead in 55-mile race to rescue woman from car crash Anthony Organ News Editor
The leading runner in this year’s Bogle Stroll dramatically sacrificed his victory to rescue a woman from an overturned, petrol-leaking car. Tom Connell was in firstplace for the majority of the 55-mile non-stop run but ended up finishing second by just four minutes. “Around the middle point of the race I was running up the road and a lady came around a sharp corner too fast,” he said. “Her car was heading towards me and I was pretty shocked at the time but she hit a barrier and the car flipped on its side. “I spent about ten minutes getting her out of her car and checking she was alright until the police arrived. “It wasn’t burning, but there was petrol on the floor so I was worried that it could catch fire.” Tom, who graduated from the University of Manchester with a medical degree in August, currently works as a Junior Doctor at a Blackburn hospital. He did not originally intend to save a life during the run: “I imagined a nice relaxing evening away from medicine to be honest but it follows you everywhere!” The Bogle is a long-distance endurance event around Greater Manchester. 279 people took part in the 55-mile Stroll and 26-mile Ramble on foot, and
the 78-mile Roll on bicycles. This year’s event has raised over £27,500 so far for a variety of local, national and international charities, with one month left to collect money. Over 80 per cent of participants completed the event, when previous years have seen only 55 per cent finish it. Tom ran the 55 miles in 9 hours 43 minutes, but 44-yearold Steve Judd was four minutes faster. The organisers have awarded them a joint victory, making them the fastest to complete the course since Benj Ellerby ran it in 8 hours 17 minutes in 2003. “I think Tom absolutely deserved to win,” said Steve. “I finished first but I can’t compete with a hero like that, I feel absolutely dreadful.” Though Steve’s run didn’t feature any major drama, he recalled almost being struck by lightning last year. “It had been stormy all day,” he said, “and as I was running through some woodland it touched down about 5 metres away from me. It scared the living Bejesus out of me!” The Bogle Stroll began in 1961 when a group of UMIST lecturers missed the last bus home from Lancaster and walked the 55 miles back to Manchester. Some of the group started to hallucinate and saw an imp, known as a Bogle. It taunted the walkers, willing them to give up, and so the goal of the event is to defeat the Bogle. Now organised by volunteers
Absent Exec Officer drops out of Gen Sec race Jonathan Breen News Editor The current Students’ Union Diversity Officer has pulled out of the running for General Secretary after becoming stuck abroad. The Mancunion reported last week that University of Manchester Students’ Union Exec member Saad Wahid had been absent for over five weeks due to passport issues. After initially taking three weeks leave at the end of January to visit his family in his native Pakistan, Mr Wahid
was unable to return because he was not in possession of his passport, having handed over to the British High Commission in the country in an effort to obtain British visas for his entire family. “I didn’t realise that it would take such a long time for visa to be processed and now I am stuck,” Mr Wahid told The Mancunion last week. Subsequently, Mr Wahid has withdrawn his name from the candidacy for General Secretary of the Students’ Union. The race for Gen Sec now
Tom Connell stopped racing to rescue a woman from this overturned, petrol-leaking car. Photo: Tom Connell
at Manchester RAG, the event has run every year since 1961 and is the longest running sponsored event in the North West. “I’m very glad it’s over, but in a good way,” said Claire Smith, who co-ordinated the event with Alex Crabtree. “I’ve only had two hours sleep in a week but I’m very proud of how it went. “It was a calmer, more streamlined experience than it has been in the past. Everyone
includes four candidates, Choudhry Haziq, Colin Cortbus, James Johnson, and Grace Skelton. The latter has the support of current General Secretary Nick Pringle, both of who are members of Manchester Labour Students, and current Women’s Officer Tabz O’Brien-Butcher. “We deserve a Gen Sec who will continue Manchester’s journey forward, passionate, experienced and principled, Grace will deliver amazing things for students,” Miss O’Brien-Butcher is quoted as saying in Miss Skelton’s manifesto. Mr Wahid was also last week shortlisted for the NUS International Student Officer of the Year, one of five candidates chosen from universities around the country. The award went to University of Liverpool’s Chidinma Chi-Chi Nwokoro.
has praised the 300 volunteers who helped, we couldn’t have done it without them. “Nothing went wrong, no-one was injured, it was great!” Richard Heathcote, a 50-yearold who completed the 78-mile Bogle Roll, said: “I feel on Saturday I saw the very best of Manchester University and its students. What a great event. “The folk at the Union and the people I cycled with could not have been friendlier and more encouraging. The vol-
unteers at each control point were amazing. “There was a lot of smiling and laughter amongst the agony and the blisters.” Asked whether he will return for next year’s Bogle, Tom said: “Yeah, I think so. I came second by such a fine margin that I sort of have to. “I grew up in the countryside in Cornwall so I was always outdoors as a child, running and climbing trees. I’m aiming to run 100 miles non-stop next
All lectures to be podcasted by next year Kyriaki Levendi Reporter The University is undertaking a podcasting programme, aiming to provide automated lecture capture facilities in all university lecture theatres by September 2013. The project has been trialled in 10 university locations over the past two years but will be expanded to 100 locations including 74 lecture theatres and 26 seminar rooms. During the trial around 5,000 students made use of the system, downloading 163,000 podcasts. The most popular lecture series created over 13,000 downloads. The reaction from students who
have been using the podcasts has been positive, with a survey finding that over 99% stated that they believed having access to podcasts would improve their examination results. 88% felt that their unit satisfaction had improved and 94% wished to see the technology used on a greater scale. Talking to the Mancunion, Stuart Phillips, Media Technologies Co-ordinator at the University and part of the project board wanted to enforce the ethos of the project: “the podcasts are an additional tool for students to revisit content rather than a replacement for lecture attendance.” “We measured lecture
year.” Determined to beat Tom again, Steve said: “This July I’m going to run 250 miles nonstop, which will take about 72 hours. I’m mad!”
attendance during our pilot programme and found that as few as 6% of students were willing to use podcasting as an alternative to experiencing a live classroom session. Interestingly, an independent study by EPS came to the same conclusion, measuring a 6% change in attendance for podcasted lectures,” he added. University Education Officer Luke Newton agreed: “There is loads of research that has gone into it and statistics from the university show that students actually do still attend lectures.” “You get more out of a lecture by actually being there than relistening, but podcasting is a useful revision tool to go over everything.” Vanshika Gupta, a third year Economics student who has been using the podcasts said: “Though podcasts don’t give you the same experience as lectures, it is very essential to review what you have learned in class.”
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
04 : News
Debating Union boycotts Glasgow after sexist heckling Event at Glasgow University Union marred by heckles and comments on women’s chestsize
Ellen Conlon News Editor
Manchester Debating Union have passed a motion to boycott Glasgow University Union after two speakers at a competition held at GUU were subjected to sexist heckling. MDU will send no members to GUU unless it fully condemns the people who behaved inappropriately and ensures it never happens again. Students from Glasgow are alleged to have called out “Shame woman” and made derogatory comments about the chest-size, clothes and general level of attractiveness of the two female debaters, Marlena Valles and Rebecca Meredith. One man reportedly said: “Get that woman out of my chamber.” Emma Bean, Manchester Debating Union Treasurer said: “The MDU cannot support a Union that does not deal with these such serious issues. We shall boycott their competition until we are satisfied that they have taken action to solve the issue of sexism and misogyny in the GUU.” Valles has been named the best speaker in Scotland at this year’s Scottish National debating championship and Meredith has been ranked amongst the top twenty speakers in the world. The pair had reached the final of the inter-varsity tournament
and were speaking about feminism during a debate titled ‘This House Regrets the Centralization of Religion.’ Kitty Parker-Brooks, a judge at the competition, said she overheard male members from the GUU making derogatory comments about the speakers appearances: “They were physically picking them apart,” she said. I ‘shushed’ them and then one of them called me a frigid bitch,’ she added. The pair tried to complain to the competition organisers but they were told that the booing was “to be expected” and that they had “brought it on themselves by choosing to stand in the final.” GUU was founded in 1885 but only allowed women to become members in 1980. The Union still hosts an annual traditional “Last All Make Board” (LAMB) dinner, to “commemorate” the last allmale board of management, after females were admitted. Cambridge Union were the first to respond to the incident, sending an open letter to the President of the GUU, boycotting all future events and withdrawing their reciprocal membership. Glasgow students are now boycotting their own union after deeming its response to the incident as ineffective and inappropriate. Several university societies have publically disaffiliated
Social Junkies ‘make light of alcoholism’ Michael Williams News Editor
A Social Junkies flyer which “glamourises drunkenness” has led to action from Manchester City Council. The flyer, advertising the Wednesday night event ‘Rehab’ at The Birdcage venue, bore the slogan ‘Fit Alcoholics #CheckIn’. Flyers were distributed through doors of student accommodation, and feature the logos of both Social Junkies and The Birdcage. Home Office rules, as per the Mandatory Licensing Conditions of April 2010, state that promoters “cannot use materials or signs
on or near to [their] premises to advertise promotions there if they condone, encourage or glamorise anti-social behaviour or refer to getting drunk in any positive way.” Cllr Nigel Murphy, Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, said: “We are concerned by any promotions in the city that might seek to glamourise drunkenness. “All licensed premises in Manchester have to meet a requirement that there shall be no irresponsible promotions of alcohol.” “We will now be discussing the contents of this flyer with the licence holder at The Birdcage to
Manchester Debating Union have decided to boycott Glasgow University Union after a debate event saw sexists heckles from audience members. Photo: Finlay McWalter
themselves from the student’s union, saying its response “does not go far enough to reassure us – given the seriousness of the situation.” Both Valles and Meredith have posted statements on their Facebook pages expressing their horror at the incidents. Valles wrote: “We both realised why we were being booed - it was because we were advocating for women’s rights, speaking in the GU. I understand the way that the GUU ‘bear pit’ chamber works,
am fine with speaking to the gallery and having audience members clap when they like a point and even say ‘shame’ when they don’t. What I am not okay with is people interrupting speeches to be misogynistic. “It is difficult to speak confidently to an audience that is booing you for the sole reason that you are a woman in a dress talking about women’s rights, especially when you are the only girls in the final.” Meredith wrote: “Sexism is not just something we talk
ensure they are complying with this.” When contacted via telephone, a Social Junkies spokesman refused to comment and hung up the phone. As well as potentially falling foul of the law, the promotion also offended students. One student, who asked not to be named, told The Mancunion that he felt the marketing campaign “made light of alcoholism”. “My family have had to deal with issues with alcohol in the past,” the student said, “and it’s the worst thing you can imagine.” “I get so annoyed when I see people take the piss like this.” “People don’t understand it’s a disease,” they continued. “You wouldn’t see flyers making light of cancer, but why is it okay when it’s about alcoholism?”
Andrew Misell, Manager of charity Alcohol Concern, told The Mancunion that event organisers and promoters should “give some thought to sensitivities around alcohol addiction.” “Anyone who’s experienced alcoholism amongst their family or friends is unlikely to consider it a suitable way to market a drinking event,” he added. Last month, The Mancunion reported how The Birdcage lost its weeknight license after a fight at the ‘Rehab’ event, during which a knife was used, left four injured. The club later regained their weekday license after a review hearing. ‘Rehab’ returned to the venue on the 27th February. The Birdcage were unavailable for comment.
about – it is something real people experience every day. After complaining, we were told by several GUU debaters that it was “par for the course” and “to be expected” that female speakers in the Glasgow debating chamber would be booed.” “I have been told as a female debater that I should be careful not to sound ‘hysterical’ as a female speaker, I have been told to defer to my male partner on analysis and economics because male debaters are ‘more convincing’, but never
have I been openly disparaged in a final merely for being a women.” David Lockhart, President of the GUU said: “GUU is now investigating the incident and will take disciplinary action against any member whose conduct was found to be improper. “While GUU encourages heckling at its debates, we strongly condemn sexism.”
The controversial flyer is said to “make light of alcoholism”. Photo: Social Junkies
ISSUE 17 / 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 05
Bowling alley, cinema and sleeping pods: future features of the SU?
The Students’ Union is awarded £4mil for re-development Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs
Student consultation for proposed re-development of Students’ Union produces some outlandish suggestions Lisa Murgatroyd News Editor The Students’ Union has conducted research in to building re-development after being assigned £4 million within the University of Manchester’s estate strategy. Students were asked to make suggestions for what their ideal Students’ Union would contain, “if money were no object”. The final project could include an added floor to increase capacity. The most frequent responses referred to ‘no pressure seating’ (i.e. seating and space without any commercial pressure), improved café and bar, and society
space. Other popular answers were to provide spaces for a nap, games rooms with xbox and ps3, and a swimming pool. “Also a full 3D IMAX cinema with exclusive student prices on film releases … Apart from that, the SU has pretty much everything else.” A majority of the open text responses to the survey frequently referred to services already available within the SU, such as an advice centre, water drinking fountains, a bike rental scheme, and pool tables. Others would struggle to gain approval, namely “strippers and poledancers” or “a slide from the roof ”. In line with plans to centralise all facilities on one campus,
MMU pole-vaulter leaps to gold at Euro Champs Defending champion pipped by Britain’s first Euro gold medallist Jonathan Breen News Editor A Manchester Metropolitan University student won a gold medal after taking a gamble at the European Indoor Championships last week. Holly Bleasdale, who studies at the University’s Cheshire campus, took gold in pole vault at the event in Gothenburg after being tied for first place with her Polish opponent Anna
Rogowska. The 21-year-old Sports Science student had the opportunity to share the medal with Rogowska after both failed to clear the height of 4.72 metres – or jump again. She chose the latter and became Britain’s first Euro gold medallist in the sport with a vault of 4.67 metres. “I was in the moment and I felt really good and thought if I got my jump together I could clear the bar easily,” Bleasdale said. “I thought instead of sharing gold,
the Students’ Union building in North Campus will be closed by 2017. The space provided in the Barnes Wallis Building and that of the former post-grad bar in the Schunck building which was closed last year due to accessibility issues must also be incorporated in to any proposed re-development of the Students’ Union building on Oxford Road. Half of respondents in the student consultation indicated that they use the Union building once a week or more, for society activities or a place to meet friends casually. A student spoke about their difficulty as a wheelchair user in the Students’ Union. “I don’t really know enough about the current Students’ Union to comment on, as every time I have entered it has been difficult from the start. The ramp is a mile long
why not get it for myself and I’m glad I did that. “If most people had the option to do that, I would have thought they would do it. “I feel so confident in my ability and I was really positive, so thought why not take the risk.” Bleasdale’s previous career high was winning the world indoor bronze medal. Rogowska, with 10 years more experience in the sport, was the defending European championship. Early in the competition Bleasdale sat in fourth and came dangerously close to missing out on a medal, only clearing the initial 4.67 metre jump after her third attempt. She 2has also previously held the title of Under-23 European Champion, and in January 2012 set a personal best of 4.87 metres.
… inside the walking spaces are too narrow for me to pass people, so it’s a game of dodgem’s, which I hate.” “The Union should be fully accessible with furniture at different heights for different sized people in wheelchairs, as even when a DDA compliant sized wheelchair is being used, people still sit at different heights. It feels quite excluding when you’re stuck at the edge of a table as you don’t fit under it and have to eat from the tray or hold your drink as you can’t reach the table, you miss out on conversation also.“ At least half of the proposed budget, £2million, will be reserved for addressing accessibility issues such as the ramp and the lift shaft. Creative outlets were rated highly, calling for places to prac-
tice music or dance, and a space for art exhibitions. One student suggested “An art room where you could paint and draw, and where the whole room would be decorated and painted by students. A music room where you could either borrow different instruments, and maybe a room where you could book to practice with your band or dance group.” More practical ideas included “a hole in the wall for cash”, short term locker hire facilities, and an IT service shop or help desk with trusted sales people and student prices for laptop repairs/help. Concern for medical provisions was also raised by students, calling for a walk-in emergency centre, dentists, and somewhere to get emergency contraception – one student talked of how the pharmacist in Fallowfield only provides this service one day a week, and that there can be long waiting times. The most adventurous suggestion was for “a series of gladiatorial challenges”. Similar to that of the Gladiator programme from the 90’s, people would enter their student ID and chosen name (e.g. The Wolf ) and would then complete a string of challenges. “Such challenges may include an air tunnel with items being hurled at you, a paintball arena (last man standing wins), the big red balls from Wipeout etc. If they succeeded and came out the other end they would receive that which students hold most dearly... free food and drink. They may then move to the bouncy castle room, swim in the chocolate pool, sit by the beer fountain and dip their tailor made tankards in copiously.”
MMU Sports Science student lept to pole-vault gold in European Indoor Championships last week. Photo: Emerson Utracik @flickr
Manchester ranked in top 50 world institutions Anthony Organ News Editor
The University of Manchester is one of the world’s top 50 institutions, according to academics from across the globe. The University is ranked 47th in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, which asks academics to suggest the best institutions in the world in their field. This year’s rankings are based on responses from 16,639 academics spanning 144 countries. Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings, said: “A university’s reputation is subjective, but it matters deeply in today’s highly competitive global marketplace. “It has serious real-world impact - helping to attract top student and academic talent, and encouraging industrial investment and benefactions.” Only the top 50 institutions are individually ranked, with the universities in the second half of the table being listed in groups of ten. Manchester has shown consistent improvement since the rankings were introduced in 2011. That year it was ranked in the 61-70 band and in 2012 was in the 51-60 band, before breaking into the top 50 this year. But Manchester is one of only nine UK universities in the top 100, three fewer than in 2011. Mr Baty suggested that this is “perhaps an indication of how the world has perceived the country’s radical funding reforms and visa clampdown”. Harvard University took the top position on the list, with US universities dominating it. Seven of the top ten universities are American. Scholars were asked not to rank institutions but to simply name up to 15 that they believe to be the best, based on their own experience. Only experienced, published scholars were invited to respond. The University refused to comment on these rankings, but a spokesperson said: “There are numerous University league tables, and each are calculated using different methodologies. “Since 2004, continued improvement in the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities has been one of the main ways we measure our success. The University of Manchester has made steady progress in these rankings, from 78th in 2004 to the current ranking of 40th.”
ISSUE 17 / 11th MARCH 2012 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 07
‘Sack half the exec’, says Gen Sec candidate
Photo Caption: Blah blah blah
- Candidate pledges to cut exec team from eight to four at election hustings - Voting open until Thursday, 6pm Andrew Williams Features Editor One of the four candidates hoping to become the next General Secretary of the University of Manchester Students’ Union has sparked controversy amongst union hacks by pledging to cut the executive team by half if elected. Colin Cortbus, a first year Middle Eastern Studies student, wants to remove four positions from the eightstrong executive team in a bid
to save £66,000 per year. The proposal is part of a drive to “bring about an end to Union waste.” Positions including Campaigns, Community, Women’s and Wellbeing would all be cut, to be replaced by Housing and Academic Affairs officers. The redundant positions would instead by covered by a sixteen-person committee of student volunteers, each earning £1,000. But the policy attracted criticism as three of the four candidates for Gen Sec took
part in a lively debate last Thursday evening. Grace Skelton, the sole female candidate, expressed concern at removing the role of Women’s Officer. “The Women’s Officer performs a vital role at the University of Manchester. One in four women suffers sexual harassment at university and women are still underrepresented in public and academic life,” Skelton said, “Until this changes the Women’s Officer is absolutely necessary.”
Cortbus responded that he would “make welfare issues central to every executive position.” Last week saw the Students’ Union host hustings featuring the candidates for each of the eight executive positions. All were asked which role, if any, they would scrap; whilst the majority of candidates argued that the composition of the exec should remained unchanged, Cortbus was not the only one to come under fire for proposing changes. Raj Singh, standing for Activities Officer, questioned the need for both a Diversity Officer and a Women’s Officer. “Women are important and they don’t need to be in any way undermined, but what about men. Who do they go
to?” he said. Singh reiterated that he is “not at all against women’s rights.” Five members of the current executive turned out to hear the candidates for General Secretary discuss many other issues. James Johnson argued in favour of “a radical change in the relationship that the Union has with the student body,” telling voters, “it is time to stop impressing beliefs on people.” He also advocated an end to the Union’s ‘no platform policy,’ in contrast to his fellow candidates. But James tripped up by saying the exec were “wasting their time” focusing on the Coca-Cola ban. Grace reminded him that the ban was the result of a referendum put forward by a student. Meanwhile, Grace Skelton was forced to respond to claims from The Mancunion that her commitment to discounted Academy tickets for University of Manchester students is “impossible.” Asked if she had discussed the issue with promoters, she admitted she had only spoken to students. The candidates also disagreed on the reinstatement of a full-time, paid editor for this newspaper. Johnson said the paper was “doing fine as it is”; Skelton suggested putting the issue to a referendum, saying that she would vote for the return of the role in the event of a vote. Voting in the Students’ Union elections opened at 10am on Friday morning, and will remain open until 6pm on Thursday. The results are due later that evening, and will be liveblogged at www. mancunion.com.
Students’ Union Elections 2013 candidate list Activities & Development Officer Hissan Iqbal Liam Mayet Lin Shitong (Leon) Nicolette Yim Raj Singh Shahneela Shehereen
Sophie Slater
Campaigns & Citizenship Officer Clifford Fleming Isobella Stainsbury - withdrawn Jack Mellish Philippa Hughes Taz Ranjha
Education Officer Abdullah Shaikh Bilal Kazim Butt Chabula Chilombo - withdrawn Christina Taylor - withdrawn Edmund Bannister Megan Gurney Nicholas Miller Rosie Dammers Samuel Blackledge Myonoway Angeline Toles
Community Officer Alexander Maxia Charlotte Cook Josh Rowan Khaldoon Khan Michael Williams Natalie Chard
Diversity Officer Ali Khalid Marijn Ceelen Omar Aljuhani Vipin Mony Suraja Thirumala
General Secretary Choudhry Haziq
Colin Cedric Cortbus Grace Skelton James Johnson Saad Wahid - withdrawn Wellbeing Officer Clare McCullagh Fred Lowther Harris - withdrawn Ellie Bradbury Jonny Rowe Kazi Tawseef Lily Risby Raiha Aftab - withdrawn Women’s Officer Sravanti Peri Arooha Hijazi Nanon Lingwood Susi Law Tabz O’Brien-Butcher
Hustings round-up
General Secretary: The big one. Highlights include discussion of the NUS, with Colin Cortbus calling it “one of the most ineffective institutions one can imagine, and the issue of Coke not being sold in the Union shop was raised. Choudhry Haziq was the only no show. Activities: Perhaps the liveliest debate, topics included society funding, making societies more inclusive, and making Pangaea more inclusive. For the latter, suggestions included a non-drinking element to Pangaea. Hissan Iqbal and Leon Shitong were no shows. Campaigns: Campaigning propositions included from Clifford Flemming the issue of more accessible water-coolers in University buildings. Discussion also covered whether it was good the Union no longer campaigns on Palestine. The consensus was; it is a good thing. Only Taz Ranjha was absent. Women’s: Discussion ranged from whether men should be allowed to vote on the position, to the emphasis on politics over societies. Current Women’s Officer Tabz O’Brien-Butcher, running again this year, said she would lobby the Students’ Union not to work with promoters Social Junkies. Arooha Hijazi and Sravanti Peri didn’t show. Diversity: Topics included Exec member’s £16,600 salary, and the creation of a Diversity Awareness Week. Responses were mixed to the question of current Diversity Officer Saad Wahid’s performance. Vipin Mony Suraja Thirumala called Saad “a real professional,” Marijn Ceelen said Saad “missed out” on LGBTQ and disabled students. A no show from Ali Khalid. Education: Discussion focused on the futility of campaigning against £9,000 tuition fees. Megan Gurney said she would not stop the fight against fees just because it might be “impossible”, Rosie Dammers said she would not “waste time” fighting fees. Edmund Bannister, Nicholas Miller, Bilal Kazim Butt, and Abdullah Sheikh were no where to be seen. Community: Highlights from the night include significant bashing of Social Junkies and the discussion of halls; candidate Josh Rowan promised to lobby the University on the issue of affordable accommodation. Absentees were Khaldoon Khan, Sophie Slater, and Alexander Maxia. Wellbeing: With the position new this year, conversation quickly turned to incumbent officer Catriona Gay. The recent Union homophobia scandal dubbed “hategate” was raised – candidates Ellie Bradbury and Lily Risby both felt the Union should support a “zero tolerance” policy toward homophobia. Just Kazi Tawseef was missing. Jonathan Breen News Editor
08 : Feature
ISSUE 17 / 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Manchester’s “outrageous” inflation-busting accommodation costs
Dalton Ellis Hall, left, where a room with an ensuite showerwould set you back £163pw. Right: Owens Park tower - popular Fallowifeld halls have seen signifiacnt rent increases.
- Some halls see rent jump by 20% since 2009 - Lib Dem MP calls halls costs ‘outraegous’ - Dame Nancy admits she’d ‘have a hard time jusifing’ increases Continued from Front Page When asked to justify why a room in Richmond Park, which had cost a student £106 pw in 2009/10, was now £126 pw at a Q and A session at the Students’ Union two weeks ago, Dame Nancy agreed that those figures represented a significant increase, admitting, “it sounds like I’ll have quite a hard time justifying that!” As well as above inflation rises, there are significant differences in the cost of renting a room within the same hall. At Dalton Ellis, a standard room with no basin would set you back £124 pw in 2012/13, up from £108 pw in 2009/10. This year, a room with an
en-suite shower in the same hall cost £163 pw, up from £138 in 2009/10. The cost of purpose built student accommodation has more than doubled over the last decade, according to the NUS; a development which Pete Mercer, NUS VicePresident (Welfare) called “hugely concerning”. Speaking to The Mancunion earlier this year, NUS President Liam Burns described the rising cost of accommodation as a “massive issue”. “Time and time again we’ve seen inflation-busting increases, and this is at a time when part-time work is much harder to find and parents have less money,” said Burns in October. Burns’ comments illustrate that the
I get the feeling the University is charging what they think they can get away with, not what is reasonable.” John Leech MP
cost of accommodation is an issue that affects students across the country. The University of Bristol is one of a number of institutions which has seen significant rent increases in recent years. Badock Hall has seen a rise of 4.8 percent in just one year for a single room with no basin (from £136.50 in 2011/12 to £143.15 in 2012/13). Alice Peck, Vice President for Community at Bristol Students’ Union said she was worried that poorer students were being priced out of the more popular halls. “Accommodation costs are rising. This would perhaps be acceptable if the maintenance grants available from the government similarly increased. At Bristol we are seeing an
increasing number of students priced out of certain accommodations, often the more popular, traditional halls. Whether this will deter poorer students from applying to university is still to be seen, and something we are monitoring carefully,” she told The Mancunion. The rent increases at Manchester mean that some University owned halls are now comparable with so called “premium” accommodation offered by private providers like Mansion Student Homes. Mansion House, situated at MMU’s All Saints campus, offers rent of £137.50 pw for a classic 3 bed ensuite flat; cheaper than some rooms offered by halls like Dalton Ellis.
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Bills are included in the cost, though the tenancy is 48 weeks, while most University owned accommodation is 40 weeks.
Feature : 09 they didn’t represent good value for money. “I think halls are quite expensive for what you get. They definitely are over-priced judging by
Amy, 19, has secured a place to study Politics and Modern History at the University of Manchester
the facilities I’ve seen in my friends halls,” she said.
in September. She attended an open day last
But Callum Millar, a first year Physics student
month, and was “shocked” to find the University
at Manchester who lives in Canterbury Court,
charging so much for accommodation.
argued that living in halls, while expensive, is a
“I was surprised by the prices, and was even more shocked when I heard about the increases
“When you compare the cost of halls to normal
over the last few years,” she told The Mancunion.
student houses, then you are being ripped off,
“I really want to live in halls for the experience,
to an extent. But a key part of halls is getting to
but the prices are a little scary!”
know your fellow fist years and participating
This isn’t the first time student accommodation
in the activities they offer,” he explained. He
at the University of Manchester has hit the
added that when you consider the fact that your
headlines. Earlier this year we reported that
tenancy is limited to a 40-week contract, and
three residential blocks in Owens Park campus
that bills are included in the cost of rent, the cost
- Little Court, Green Court and The Mall - had
of halls isn’t wholly outrageous.
been left empty with first year students choosing alternative accommodation.
Asked whether, like John Leech MP, he felt that the University are just charging “what they can
For Students’ Union Education Officer Luke
get away with”, Mr Newton said: “I would hope
Newton the increase in fees to £9,000 has
that the University aren’t charging what they
left students more conscious of the financial
think they can get away with. And I would hope
implications of going to University, while he
that the University’s commitment to ensuring an
worries that high rent prices have the potential
excellent student experience would mean that
to price poorer students out of the halls
they aren’t charging levels of fees that they can’t
experience.
justify. I wouldn’t say the University is ripping off
“With the increase in fees to £9,000 we’ve seen an increasing number of students living at home, rather than go in to private or university accommodation.
So
students
Venture Further
key part of the student experience.
are
more
conscious of the financial implications of going to university and they want to make the most of
students, but I think it would be hard for them to justify above inflation rises.” Despite the rising cost, the University of Manchester insisted that it was committed to providing affordable accommodation. A statement read: “The University is committed
their money. High halls prices could discourage
to
from coming to living to live in halls. The danger
accommodation charges. Annual increases allow
is that some students that can’t afford it live at
for inflationary rises and the continued delivery
home and students that can afford it live in halls;
of services to residents. All rents are assessed
there’s potential for creating differences there,”
yearly to ensure they remain competitive, locally
said Mr Newton.
and nationally.”
Sally Hulstone, a 4th year French and Spanish student, decided to stay at home in Stalybridge rather than move into halls, as she believed that
maintaining
affordable
and
diverse
Rent levels for 2013/14 will be announced in May.
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 Friday, 22 March 2013.
“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 /ManchesterEnterpriseCentre
Manchester Enterprise Centre
@MEC_UoM
Original Thinking Applied
Politics & Comment Photo : Flickr user daveblume
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Photo: Wikipedia
Hugo Chavez 1954-2013
Young Brits’ drug use is fuelling organised crime in West Africa Christian Barrow tells us why students need to consider the worldwide impacts of purchasing recreational drugs There’s a disparity between the way we choose what we buy in stores, and what we buy on the streets. As a result, one of the world’s most deprived areas is being plunged further into violence and crime. Despite the world’s gaze being fixed on West Africa due to the Malian conflict, the destruction of that part of the world by the increased flow of narcotics through the area is still not widely known. It’s not hard to understand why an area of ungovernable desert and underfunded governments is a fine breeding ground for cartels to operate. Couple that with the endemic poverty of countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso (where around half of the population live on less than $1.25 per day) and the supply of drug runners who will work for little remuneration is endless. In the last ten years trafficking in the area has boomed. 13% of the world’s cocaine, with a street value of $15-$20 billion, now travels through the region - roughly the same as the entire GDP of Mali or Guinea and twice that of Mauritania, some of the worst affected areas. Naturally, new gangs have formed from Guinea-Bisseau and Guinea right through to the north of the continent; to protect supply lines to the lucrative European market. As with all gangs, tales of organised brutality in the region – one all to familiar with violence – are beginning to surface. As with all drugs gangs, they target the vulnerable young. Yet increasingly, young Brits are providing the demand for this trade. The most recent British Crime Survey revealed that cocaine use had more than trebled among young consumers. Up from 1.3% to 4.2% of the 1624 demographic group were users during
the period 2011/12. However, among student consumers there is little responsibility for the effects of their consumption. The majority of consumers fall into two broad categories. Firstly, there are the apathetic and uninformed who either care little or know nothing of the harms of the trade. Secondly, and increasing in size, there are those who avert the blame; choosing instead to point to the criminal status of cocaine and shirking responsibility to policy makers. They miss the point. Even if it were decriminalised in Britain, it would still be illegal in the more socially conservative African west. It would still cause just as much harm. The current problems only tell half the story. The reason the focus of this piece is West Africa and not Latin America is poverty. The impoverished nature of West Africa means that governments have few resources to fight what are increasingly well-armed and well-funded drugs gangs. Much of South and Central America is mired in conflict arising from the cocaine trade. However, the relatively wealthier nature of the states means that living standards are not as adversely affected despite the all too frequent incidences of brutality. Guinea and Guinea-Bissau which are the main port countries for cocaine arriving from South America are among the world’s poorest countries. Money being spent combating drugs gangs is money desperately needed for infrastructural and education spending. The situation in Mali is dire. Fuelled by demand from Europe, cocaine trafficking is rampant in the Saharan state. Its ungovernable desert borders to the north
make for safe routes for cartels to access North Africa and beyond. Its southern-based central government lacks the capability to mount any sort of response to the vast organised criminal gangs. Factor into this already bleak picture the current conflict that is creating uncertainty and harming investment opportunities, and living standards are plummeting. That young people – often ardent when demonstrating their conscientiously liberal political beliefs – are so complicit in driving this harmful industry is saddening. In recent years we have seen student activism on the streets of London demanding cheaper education. We have witnessed laudable opposition to the rise of Islamophobic populism. But whilst defending cheaper tuition fees and opposing the far right are commendable, the instance of cocaine consumption seems to be anything but a cause to celebrate. The notion that we ought not to buy things produced or transported by dubious means has been around for centuries. From the boycotts of sugar picked by slaves in the late eighteenth century, to more modern practices such as the refusal to buy products made in sweatshops, or those that have been tested on animals. Young people and students have often been the standard bearers for conscientious consumption. There is however one outlier. Worryingly, many who wouldn’t dream of lining their coats with fur all to keenly line their nostrils with cocaine, one of the most damaging industries. One that is destabilising a part of the world which can ill-afford it.
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, President of Venezuela from 1999 and leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), died from cancer on the 5th of March 2013 in Caracas; he was 58 years old. Born on 28 July 1954, in the village of Sabanetas, Chávez was born to a lower middle class family. The second of seven children, Chávez was raised mainly by his grandmother Rosa Inés, a devout Catholic. The poverty he experienced during his childhood made him committed to social justice from an early age. At 17 he entered the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in Caracas, and following his graduation, he joined the military. During this period he read the works of Karl Marx, Lenin and Ché Guevara, and became interested in the figure of 19th-century Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, among others. In 1982 he founded the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200), a secretive cell within the army that rejected both neoliberalism (at the time widely applied in Latin America) and Soviet communism. On 4 February 1992, the MBR-200, led by Chávez, attempted a coup d’état known as Operation Zamora against the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez, shortly after the Caracazo massacre (when hundreds of people protesting against Pérez’s neoliberal reforms were killed by the military). The coup failed, ending with Chávez giving a speech on national television: “Comrades: unfortunately, for now, the objectives we had set for ourselves were not achieved in the capital city... Where you are, you have performed very well, but now is the time for a reflection. New opportunities will arise and the country has to head definitively toward a better future”. His statement that he had failed ‘for now’ was widely remarked, and he became a popular idol, especially for the lower classes. He and other members of the MBR-200 were sent to prison, and released in 1994. After being released, Chávez went on a 100-day tour around the country to promote his social cause, gaining support from local-based newspapers and media. In 1997 he created the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), with which he ran up for the 1998 Venezuelan presidential election, which he won with more than 55% of the votes. Chavez’s election was the starting point for a wave of left wing governments in Latin America (the so-called ‘pink tide’). During his years in office, he passed a new Constitution that included rights for the indigenous people and women, environmental protection and public access to education, health, housing and food. He opposed US foreign policy, supported the Palestinian cause and established strong links with Cuba (describing Fidel Castro as being like a father to him). Other South American countries with left-wing governments, and some controversial Arab leaders, made him become quite a contentious political figure. Chávez’s government suffered a failed coup d’état attempt in 2002. Chávez had great impact on the political structures of South America, with Venezuela playing a key role in the creation of the ALBA alliance of Latin American nations, the Bank of the South and the television network TeleSUR. During Chávez’s government, poverty and illiteracy were significantly reduced, according to statistics by the UN and UNESCO. Despite several criticisms by the political opposition in Venezuela and different international organisations, Chávez passed away after winning with absolute majority all four presidential elections he ran up for. Seven days of mourning have been announced in Venezuela, and a state funeral will be held in Caracas on 8 March.
Andres Porras Chaves
Comment
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Eastleigh by-election: a student’s view from the front line Physics student and Liberal Democrat Sarah Harding recounts a very long week, as she left her lectures behind to campaign in Eastleigh For the Liberal Democrats, the Eastleigh by-election began under dark circumstances. A guilty plea to perverting the course of justice and poll numbers in single figures aren’t the best environment for a resounding victory. But the Liberal Democrats did what we do best – rallied round and descended on the residents of Eastleigh, armed with leaflets, enthusiasm and anoraks in case of rain. We knew we had to hold Eastleigh, that this byelection was make it or break it time for the party, we had to win. And that’s why I left my lectures behind and joined the hundreds of volunteers showing up every day. Within days we had found ourselves a giant warehouse to run the operation out of, raised tens of thousands of pounds online and encouraged volunteers from Orkney to Newquay to set up volunteer phone banks. Despite hundreds of people turning up every day to go door-knocking, deliver leaflets or stuff letters into envelopes, we knew our task was immense. Every person passing through the building knew losing wasn’t an option. Local Councillor Mike Thornton was selected as the candidate for the Liberal Democrats. He had lived in the area for nineteen years and knew the constituency
back to front. Against a Tory whose party wouldn’t let her speak to the media (see the YouTube video of her leaving the count) and a Labour candidate whose own book told people to vote Liberal Democrat tactically, the race heated up quite nicely. With UKIP also pouring huge resources into Eastleigh, we soon found ourselves in a four-way battle. The key rule of by-elections is to do more than your competitors – if they put out a constituencywide leaflet every day, so must you. If they knock on 5000 doors a day, you knock on 6000, for every £10 they raise online, you must raise £20. With this ever-deepening spiral of leaflet delivery comes an increased media frenzy. Whether it was journalists pretending to be activists to catch someone unawares, turning up with eight cameras or forming a human wall outside HQ to catch the Nick Clegg rally, the media took a particular interest in this election. And of course, not all of it is positive coverage. The collapse of the Vicky Pryce trial, continuing Chris Huhne coverage and allegations regarding Lord Rennard kept the by-election firmly in the spotlight. But Liberal Democrats are nothing if not resilient, and volunteer numbers kept on rising day by day as we churned out hundreds of thousands of
Lib Dems campaigning in Eastleigh. Photo: Eastleigh Lib Dems (@Flickr)
pieces of paper. Polling Day was a masterpiece. From opening the office at 3.45am until the polls closed we worked every minute out of six offices across the constituency to get our vote to the polls – including at 9.54pm finding a woman who’d given birth that morning and wanted to vote! Hearing Mike declared the winner was truly an amazing moment – surrounded by hundreds of friends old and new, it was a moment I’ll never forget and was worth every blister, paper-cut and sleepless night for. As good as our night turned out, Labour and the Conservatives must have felt quite differently. Labour were squeezed into fourth and the Tories third – the first time those two parties have both been outside the top two since 1950. Liberal Democrats are historically the party of by-elections, for 30 years they’ve taken
seats against Labour and the Conservatives, shocking the establishment and often coming out of nowhere to take the seat. Except, as a young Liberal Democrat, these by-election victories are just stories – the last seats taken by the party were Dunfermline and West Fife in 2005, or Brent East in 2004, when most young activists were barely out of primary school. So to actually see a real Lib Dem by-election machine was an honour and a privilege – I watched as myth became reality in front of my eyes. The strength of the individuals who gave so much to keep Eastleigh yellow was inspiring, and those people who just kept doing one more street – despite it being the hundredth of the day – are heroes. Our team became a family – supporting each other with cake and passion to win. So don’t count the Lib Dems out quite yet, because we’re not going anywhere.
Disagree? Tweet us @mancuniondebate, or email us at comment@mancunion.com
What does the rise of UKIP mean for those with disabilities? After the news that UKIP beat Labour and the Conservatives to take 2nd place in the Eastleigh byelection, Arun Mehta looks at the party and members attitudes towards disability As a young disabled person, and with friends and family members who also have different physical and mental disabilities, I’m always tremendously interested how these issues fit into the UK political narrative. After the shock result in the Eastleigh byelection last week, it appears that the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) could be a force to be reckoned with come the next general election. They didn’t win and some detractors may have brushed this away as a one off during a government mid-term; but the feeling among some of the electorate cannot be ignored. They are floating away from the major parties and are landing their X’s on alternatives on the ballot paper. The current trend of former major party voters wanting to give the current political establishment a kicking seems to be gaining some kind of traction. It has yet to fully take a formidable shape. However, that could all change if this trend remains the status quo UKIP put in its election arsenal the promises of an in/out EU referendum, less immigration to the United Kingdom and a clamp down on so-called “political correctness.” These are all cheap but alluring buzzwords that currently strike a tone with some of the general public. There is an appetite for these political issues, and Nigel Farage appears to be satisfying many hungers by serving them with this large, three course banquet. This emergence of the UKIP narrative has me very concerned. Forget the half-truths used to promote an EU referendum, the demonization of immigrants, the occasional denial of climate change, telling women how to dress and the other things that would go the right-winger’s guide to politics; it’s what’s not being talked about that currently concerns me. After browsing through the UKIP web site, I have not found anything really of substance in regards to the caring for the disabled people
Photo: Flickr user Jennifer Jane Mills
in our society. There is one line from the policy of benefit reform. Under UKIP policy, the party would support the morphing together of Jobseekers Allowance ( JSA), Student Maintenance and Incapacity Benefit payments. I feel this reform is far too simplified, because you are asking a government department to deal with three completely different topics here; education, unemployment and disabilities. How is it manageable to give these individually
specialized domains to a government office for them to juggle? It’s far too much workload, and I don’t see that office coping well with all the individual demands they bring. Another alarming indication from UKIP’s stance towards the disabled were the personal comments of former UKIP candidate Geoffrey Clark. He stated there should be “a compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, spina bifida or a similar syndrome,
which if it is born, could render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family.” - While some disabilities are severe, it’s not impossible live a fulfilling life while suffering from a condition. Disabled charities across the board including Mencap were appalled at these suggestions given by the candidate. To be fair, UKIP Head Office did distance themselves from Mr Clark’s abhorrent views, and eventually suspended him. Rightly so, because these points of views shouldn’t be accepted in modern day Britain; but then UKIP responded with the following: “As in any party, our members have a range of views and opinions which may not always accord with party policy. Geoff makes clear that this is a personal manifesto, not a party document.” This individual case does show complete disconnections between grassroots supporters of the party, and the higher-ups supposedly running it. Surely it should be hammered in to all your candidates that these sorts of views are deplorable. I have to say, if some UKIP candidates aren’t going to put up with unborn disabled children, I shudder to think what they would do with the already living. It leaves me wondering how UKIP supporters really feel about the rights of disabled people and if they even recognised the conditions such as autism and dyslexia. Both of which I have to deal with on a daily basis. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not ready to slam my front door on a UKIP candidate just yet. What I would like from UKIP and from Nigel Farage is a bit of reassurance; that the most vulnerable members of our society are not forsaken. Because after so much progress has been made over the last few years to put the wellbeing of the mentally and physically challenged on the political agenda. This purple and yellow coloured party with its silence on the issue appears, for me, to be a massive step backwards.
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Giving cocaine to students? Fine, if it’s for science Aida Fatemi argues King’s College, London was right to use students for their research into the effects of cocaine, writes Aida Fatemi Let’s face it, many of us know people who have taken recreational drugs, be it something less serious like cannabis all the way up to Class A drugs like cocaine. Despite all the warning signs from the government preaching about the dangers of these drugs, they don’t seem to be in decline. One of the main reasons for this is the mere fact that talking about drugs in any great depth - be it on television, or radio, by the government or the NHS - is taboo. All we really hear is just how they are awful, and that they could kill you with just one snort, pill or shot. This kind of wording may have worked on some, but for others it has done little to deter them and more to attract them to the allure of forbidden substances. It has drawn them into an edgy, risky, notorious world that they think is exclusively theirs, and out of the law’s control - it makes them feel cool and rebellious. As sad as this notion is, it is true for many people. Moreover, it’s not just their social circles that encourage the substance abuse but - paradoxically - our modern day culture. Many people who may have dabbled in the odd ecstasy pill or weed smoking at university move into fast-paced, high pressured industries like banks, law firms, television companies, and other large corporations. No doubt, they will come across recreational drugs again. However, worse still, working people will have more pressurising jobs than students and more cash to burn. So, the cycle begins again - their social circles at work will be using cocaine as a drug to keep them working through
the long, anti-social hours, and maybe even to help them unwind and party hard; hence the drug use will restart and become more intense. However, no-one in these environments ever seems to mind. People who enter these industries, whether they partake in the drug use or not, just accept this drug culture as the norm. So clearly the adverts to deter drug use, even of Class A, isn’t working. What is the next option? Firstly, we need to dispense with this ridiculous notion that discussing details of Class A drugs on TV and radio is wrong and encourages drug use. Young people are already drawn in by the allure of recreational drugs being forbidden, so that idea is already thrown out the window. Instead, we need to replace the taboo with scientific research, like the one being undertaken at King’s College London, in order to truly understand what happens to someone’s body when experiencing a ‘high’ or a ‘come down’. We have already seen some signs of intensive research done on Channel 4’s show ‘Drugs Live: Ecstasy Trial’. It was a ground-breaking idea - to allow the channel to film people high on a Class A drug. Personally, it really made me question how dangerous these drugs actually were. It led me to speak to people who have taken ecstasy and in reality all of them said they never experienced a bad come down. In this instance, I actually lost more faith in the adverts that warned: ‘One single pill will ruin your life’. Clearly, that is a false statement, as many people were fine after taking it, if
Photo: D. Sinclair Terrasidius @Flickr anything it made me more curious to understand more about the drug. That is why I completely condone using medical research for cocaine; the more experiments we can have on Class A drugs, the more we can understand exactly what its side effects are. So instead of the outlandish notion that people die from one take, the government should not patronise young people; they should instead talk about the exact effects and therefore allow them to understand exactly what
they will be doing to themselves when they choose to take the drug. It’s about time, as young adults living or working around people who take drugs, that we got an honest explanation from science and the government about how dangerous these drugs really are. We could go as far as to say, that the results of scientific research may justify legalising drugs like cannabis in order to regulate the distribution and ensure they are as safe as they can be, just like we did with
cigarettes. Now, I don’t think that people will be necessarily deterred from taking drugs as a result of scientific research, however it certainly would make people less curious to try it. If we show a detailed analysis of what the effects of the drugs actually are, then the ‘let’s risk it and see’ approach looks a lot less alluring for people. We need to stop being scared to explore the use of Class A drugs if we’re going to tackle the drug culture in our society head on.
Lessons from misogyny Will Stobart, committee member of Manchester Debating Union, comments on the sexism scandal at Glasgow University Union It’s a rare occasion when student debating, a large society within our own union, garners the attention of the national media. Outside of the few times when debating unions decide to invite particularly controversial or prominent guests to speak in public debates, university debating doesn’t spend much time in the limelight. Those in charge of national competitions and setting debates are broadly liberal and fair-minded people, many of the topics are set with the specific aim of making sure that nobody accidentally offends anyone, and people are constantly reminded to be nice to each other, even within a competitive context. But this week, debate has been all over the national press, following a competition at Glasgow University Union (GUU). The Mail and Telegraph characterised the incident as two female debaters who couldn’t deal with heckling from the floor (which is a standard practice at the GUU). This could not be further from the truth. Both of the women in question are some of the hardest and most strong-minded people I know, they know how
to deal with a bit of heckling, and have done so in the past. What was upsetting were the cries of ‘Shame, woman’, the demeaning language used towards the competitors for being female, and the response from other GUU members when complaints were made, telling the Chief Adjudicator team (the talented debaters who set debate motions at competitions) to ‘leave it alone’ and ‘that’s just how they are’. Since debating is past-time which places great emphasis on being openminded and tolerant, such an attitude has caused a great deal of introspection on the part of many. There is no lack of excellent female debaters in Britain or internationally. Female speakers have been amongst the very best at the World University Debating Championship this year, while all-female teams have excelled at Glasgow and Edinburgh. All female teams have recently won competitions in Manchester, Nottingham, Warwick and York. At both the World and European Championships, the top speakers were women. More frequently we’re seeing majority female judging panels, with well-respected judges on
them. And the teams who run both the Oxford and Cambridge competitions were entirely made up of hard-working women. And yet, while there has been a lot of movement at the top of the circuit, it must be kept in mind that the ample representation of women is not reflected in the rest of the circuit. There are a lot of great women speakers who, it might be argued, act as role models, yet there are a great many individual debates at competitions which are still 100% male. A similar phenomenon is observable in our debating union in Manchester, where there are a lot of male members, but it is the female ones who make up the majority of the Executive of our committee, who take on the most onerous tasks, and who rise to the top. It is good to have parity at the top, but it is the inequality further down the scale which causes the problem we observed in Glasgow: that many male debaters still live in a male debater’s world. Why is this important? It is important because very similar phenomena arguably occur in every other profession or walk of life where female
Photo: Jon Lee
rolemodels exist, but the effect doesn’t trickle down to the grass-roots of the movement. I was active in politics for many years, where the imposition of female quotas by the top of the party often caused a lot of resentment amongst the mainly male grassroots. It is arguable that such resentment does little to foster a tolerant attitude towards gender equality. Instead of relying on quotas for women in the boardroom, in parliament, or the Students’ Union, we might contemplate that rolemodels cannot be effective without the
liberal consent of the society which carries the quotas. What the events of last weekend showed was that there’s still a very long way to go until any gender equality is realistic. If relatively liberal student societies can contain people who are sexist and misogynist, or people who are apologists for these people, then wider society doesn’t really bear thinking about. There has been a lot of soul searching on the debating circuit in response to the events, and a lot of new policies, including the
institution of a women’s officer, have been proposed. Hopefully, the long-term impact of the event will be that everyone acts in a more vigilant manner towards potentially offensive comments, and that we lose the complacent attitude that comes with having some women represented at the top. In the meanwhile, I will stand against Manchester Debating Union sending any members to events or competitions of the GUU until they have provided sufficient proof that the issue has been addressed.
Societies
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Women for Women International Women for Women International partners women of war with individuals across the globe to teach them skills, rights and health education as well as many other things. Women for Women International is an established charity which works with eight war-torn countries. It betters the lives of women in these countries by partnering them up with people globally to sponsor them on a year long program to teach them skills, rights and health education as well as many other things. Many of these women have lost everything due to war, their families and their livelihoods. The partnering scheme is not only successful on a practical level, but also offers emotional support and hope for these women at a time when they are surrounded by death and violence every day. Last week Women for Women International held a screening of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo. This documentary was created by Lisa F. Jackson, who herself is a victim of rape, from Washington. This caused her to voice the trauma of women in the Congo where rape is used on a daily basis as a weapon of war. The documentary was a real eye-opener to the effects rape has not only on the women affected, but their families and the community. It really showed how successful this weapon of war is at tearing an already fragile country apart. I spoke to the Chair Rawnak Jassm, who explains why this charity is so important and why she wanted to get involved. ‘I simply fell in love with the way the charity gives women of war a second chance. It educates them, teaches them about their rights in society, provides them with skills that allow them to become financially independ-
ent and allows them to become socially active. This charity does not merely hand over money or a bag of rice to a woman to sustain her for a month or so, but the money raised is an investment into a woman’s life, as well as her family’s, and the economy as a whole. This society aims to raise awareness for the charity, as well as raising money offering students an opportunity to support this worthwhile cause. They organise many different events in order to raise money. These include their weekly Zumba session, bake sales, and barbeques. Also, there’s the possibility of them holding an educational event to portray global issues surrounding women after war. This society was only started in 2012, and as a new society has been very successful. However their main problem is that having ‘women’ in the name of the society twice means they do not have many male participants. In the future they want to advertise this society is for everyone and not just for women. With 25 members at the moment, they are hoping to expand in the future, especially as this society deals with such current global issues offering support in a unique way. ‘There is always space on the committee for those that feel like they have something to offer- everyone is welcome to either commit to a role or just volunteer occasionally- everything is pretty casual and the results are always rewarding. Events and fundraisers are open to everyone and you can keep up to date by subscribing to our
The Hiking Society
Organising regular day and weekend trips
The The Hiking Hiking Society Society taking taking a a break break in in Borrowdale. Borrowdale. Photo: Photo: Transport Transport Sec Sec,Min Min Most weekends the University of Manchester Hiking Club heads out to a scenic part of the country to wander up a hill or two, with the added bonus of ending up at the pub afterwards. I spoke to Publicity and Merchandise Secretary Sam Winkler to find out more about the trips they organise. The club caters for hikers of all abilities, from those who wish to climb as many peaks as possible, to those who prefer to take their time and have plenty of breaks. ‘We have a wide variety of people coming to our hikes and it’s always interesting to meet new people as well as old friends.’ Each trip offers several routes of varying length and intensity to choose from. ‘Typically, we run 4 different hikes, and we make sure no one falls behind if they do find themselves struggling. Hiking is mostly about having fun.’ Recent trips have seen the Hiking Club brave snow and impromptu snowball fights as nearby as the Peak District and as far away as Scotland, and they have also recently visited Grasmere and its
Societies
Events
famous gingerbread shop. Upcoming destinations include the Lake District, Scotland and Wales. Both single day trips and longer weekend trips are run during term time, so there are a variety of experiences available. In addition to their usual weekly trips, there is also a longer trip to Scotland coming up during the Easter break. At £10 for member and £14 for non-members (membership itself is another £10) the day trips are an inexpensive day out and no gear is required other than walking boots, although it is suggested you check the website to find out what kind of attire is recommended and why jeans are banned. The Hiking Club can be found in the Activities office in the Student Union from 12:30 to 13:30 every week day if you have any queries or would like to sign-up, or you can find out more on their website http:// www.umhc.org.uk/ .
emails, Facebook or twitter. It would be lovely to meet anyone that is interested in the cause or would like to learn more.
For more details you can contact them on wwi.manchester@gmail.com www.facebook.com/wfwi.manchester Follow us on twitter: @WFWI_Manchester
The Irish Society
Hosting St Patrick’s Day at Jabez Clegg The Irish Society is open to anyone and everyone who has an interest in the Irish culture. The main aim of the society is for both Irish and non-Irish students to come together for events including socials, sports, music sessions, concerts and trips away. It originally started in 2009 due to the growing number of Irish students in Manchester. I spoke to the Chair Roisin Farrell, who told me more about the society and about their plans for St. Patrick’s Day. ‘Our main aim is to provide a warm welcome for new Irish students in Manchester to help them find their feet in their new city. It can always be daunting starting off in a new place let alone a new country.’ Roisin first got involved with the society after attending the St. Patrick’s Day event back in 2011, and just kept attending socials ever since. ‘Socials are at the centre of our society and this year we have organised a number of different events. We had a very successful Christmas ball in Waxy O’Connors in the Printworks this year. We work with various Irish bars in Manchester such as O’Sheas, Waxy O’Connors and St. Kentigens where we hold events ranging from watching sports, open mic nights and the occasional ceilidh.’
The main event in the society’s calendar is St. Patrick’s Day. In previous years the society has celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in various clubs around Manchester including Factory which was a complete sell-out. ‘This year, we are holding a massive event in Jabez Clegg in association with RAG and the Manchester Ceilidh society, called ‘Manchester’s 50 shades of Green’. The night will start off with a live music ceilidh followed by a DJ playing all the classic Irish party tunes. It is a fancy dress event and there will be prizes on the night for the best dressed. We are focusing on making it even more traditional. We are aiming to give both Irish and non-Irish students a taste of traditional Paddy’s day celebrations, prom-
Monday 11th March
Tuesday 12th March
Wednesday 13th March
Thursday 14th March
JUDO TRAINING
MANCHESTER ART GROUP
MUGSS CREW MEETING
Raw Manchester Rocks Society
Armitage Conference Room
Sandbar, 120 Grosvenor Street, Manchester, M1 7HL
The Arch - outside Barnes Wallis building, North Campus
Hardy Wells - Rusholme
5pm - 6pm
8 30pm- 9 30pm
7pm-8 30pm
8pm-9pm
ising a great night for all. People all over Manchester and the whole country will be joinging together to celebrate. There will be the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the 17th March, along with other events, so make sure you don’t miss out. Tickets are available for St. Paddy’s Day party ‘Manchester’s 50 Shades of green’ For tickets text 07808224714. tickets are £5 with some of the proceeds going to Manchester RAG. For more information on St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and other socials you can email Roisin at roisin.farrell@student.manchester.ac.uk
For more events, visit the societies page on The Mancunion website: www.mancunion.com
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Film
TOP
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Recurring Film Couples 5. Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore
They warmed our hearts in 1998’s The Wedding Singer and floored us again in 2004’s equally syrupy 50 First Dates. Sandler’s gauche charm and Barrymore’s debonair spirit brews a perfect chemistry for these bouncy rom-coms.
4. Richard Gere & Julia Roberts The story of unexpected love between a callous businessman and a vulnerable prostitute in Pretty Woman (1990) was an instant hit thanks to its captivating leads. With another successful collaboration under their belts in the form of Runaway Bride, Gere and Roberts definitely go down as one of Hollywood’s most coveted pairs.
3. Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor These two timeless cinema legends earned themselves a reputation as tempestuous lovers not only on-screen but offscreen as well. They have shared fiery chemistry in as many as eleven movies, including Cleopatra and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter Eccentric film-maker Tim Burton loves bringing his life partner and best friend together on celluloid which is fortunate because we love seeing what strange and twisted affair they portray next, from the bittersweet Corpse Bride to the sinister Sweeney Todd. Who doesn’t love this team?
1. Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet
These two didn’t leave a single dry eye in the house as the ill-fated lovers Jack and Rose that meet on board the Titanic, creating an iconic romantic pairing that we have cherished for many years. So when Sam Mendes reunited them in 2009’s Revolutionary Road it was bound to make buzz. Poles apart from their former venture, this twosome still managed to break our hearts a second time. Parizad Mangi
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
The casting vote: an interview with Nina Gold Sophie James quizzes casting director Nina Gold on ‘Les Mis’, the film industry and the next Bond thoughts on foreign actors playing English roles?
Awards season may be over but we’re all still talking about who won what. Yet one role in the filmmaking process that deserves a lot more recognition at the award ceremonies is that of the Casting Director. Sophie James talks to Emmy-winning casting director Nina Gold – whose work includes The King’s Speech, The Iron Lady, Nowhere Boy and Les Misérables – about the growing importance of the casting director, making Colin Firth King of England, and Eddie Redmayne’s amazing voice!
I think if they are really good, then it’s fine and one needs to have an open mind and remember that the world is a lot smaller than it used to be. But they really do have to be good, and the fear of a Dick Van Dyke moment in film is always very frightening. What else do you have coming up for 2013? The Counselor by Ridley Scott and written by Cormac McCarthy, which is a very dark and wonderful film. A Long Way Down - directed by a great French director, Pascal Chaumeuil, from a Nick Hornby novel. World’s End, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost again. Rush, directed by Ron Howard, about James Hunt and Nikki Lauder, I thought I wouldn’t be particularly interested in it but it is brilliant, even for someone with as little interest in formula one as me. And Don Hemingway, a very black comedy about an ex-con’s return to life outside prison, starring Jude Law in a complete transformation from his normal self.
I was blown away by Les Misérables, which you cast. How difficult was it to find actors who could sing? Or did you have actors lining up at your door? We really did have actors lining up at the door – everyone wanted to be in it, including big movie stars who wanted to show that they had the musical skills. In any other circumstances, movie stars would never audition, but with musicals they have to, and everyone did, and it was fascinating. It became instantly obvious that some people have a natural affinity for the medium and are very at home telling the story through music and song, and we were lucky enough to get our first choice for every part, and that is incredibly unusual.
And a few random questions…. Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Marius was a highlight of the film for me. There must have been plenty of actors after that role. What made you think of him? I’ve seen all his work and think he is an absolutely brilliant actor, and had the romantic quality for Marius. I’ve cast him in other stuff and then, when he sent a clip of himself singing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ that he made with his iPhone and it turned out he could sing it, it was obvious it had to be him. In his acceptance speech at the 2012 BAFTA’s for The King’s Speech, which you cast, Tom Hooper suggested the role of casting director deserved official recognition by having its own award category. Do you think the role of the casting director has grown in importance in recent years? In the old days of filmmaking there wasn’t a casting director – I’m not sure who did it, but no one is credited on early Hollywood films. It is a big and difficult job and getting it right is essential to making a good film, and also very collaborative –
the relationship between the director and casting director is key. I really think we should get awards…but then, I would! Films like Les Mis and The King’s Speech must have been interesting from a casting perspective – do you prefer films that present new challenges? It’s never easy, I have to confess. Les Misérables was fantastic fun to cast because of the singing. I had only ever done one thing that involved singing before, Topsy-Turvy by Mike Leigh, and that was also absolutely wonderful. What is the extent of the casting director’s role – where does it begin and end? It begins with the script, sometimes long before there is any money raised to make the film and sometimes ends with the last piece of casting, and sometimes lasts as long as giving one’s opinion during the edit, in the cases where I have a very close and long lasting relationship with
the director.
If they remade Gone With the Wind, who would you like to see play Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara?
Does it require a different approach when casting real life roles such as George VI, John Lennon in Nowhere Boy or Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady? Does it add more pressure to get it right?
Hmmm – I guess it would have to be George Clooney wouldn’t it? How about Jennifer Lawrence? But maybe they aren’t the right age for each other. I’m very relieved that I don’t have to find the solution to that problem today!
I suppose it does – especially when they are still alive! You do need to make a decent stab at making them a bit similar to the real person. Though it can be quite a lot to do with capturing the essence rather than a lookalike approach. In fact, Colin Firth looks nothing like the real Bertie and is much taller and was older than he was supposed to be, but in the end, he was so brilliant that one doesn’t even think about that, and he certainly made the role his own.
Who could be the next Bond?
You cast Australian actress Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre and Irish/ German actor Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester in Cary Fukanaga’s 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre. What are your
Sophie James Film Editor
I’m Sorry But...
Idris Elba? That would be good. Is there a literary or historical figure that you would like to see on the screen and who would you cast to play them? At the moment I am casting a television project about the Vatican and am trying to cast the Pope which is particularly interesting at this moment.
There are few ‘worse things I could do’ than watch Grease It’s the cheesiness of Grease I can’t bear. The entire hour and 50 minutes is thickly coated with an overwhelming stench of cliché and stereotypes. What’s worse is Grease has found the perfect balance of not being so cheesy that it becomes absurdly funny, but cheesy enough to be frustrating and annoying! To add to this, its quick dialogue becomes pretentious from its poor attempts at paying homage to the golden age of music from the ’50s, while representing the earlier half of the ’70s. Grease certainly earns its name, but more with regards to its attempts at innuendo. Constant attempts to capture the sexual curiosity of the young teenage characters is cringe worthy, especially when these kids are supposed to be 16, and yet some of them look old enough to be the parents of 16 year olds! It makes
me shudder to see middle-aged looking men giggling about brushing past some boobs or talking about willies. As a musical, Grease really doesn’t have the prestige of other musicals like Moulin Rouge! and Singin’ in the Rain. It was based on a Broadway musical which was subject to mediocre reviews, and this 1978 film is no different; not surprising with the half arsed attempt at a Western style “riding into the sunset” ending! Suraj Vara
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Film
: @mancunionfilm : /MancunionFilm
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Previews
Oblivion
Year In Film 1999
Director: Joseph Kosinski • Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman This April Oblivion will hit cinema-screens across the UK. Director Joseph Kosinski has assembled an A-list cast including Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman in an attempt to win over sceptics of this genre, much like he did with the largely successful TRON: Legacy. Oblivion is based on a Graphic Novel written by Kosinski himself and is set on a dystopian planet Earth. Cruise plays a former marine by the name of Jack Harper, one of the last drone repairman left on earth. The planet has been left on its knees by an Alien race, simply known as Scavs, following an invasion some 50 years previous. In a perhaps all too familiar postapocalyptic nuance Harper is part of an operation to extract the remaining resources from earth. He lives in an airborne town and life is predictably tough for those who have stayed behind on the gruelling mission. The real ‘Hollywoodelement’ of the film rears its familiar head when, in the closing stages of his mission Harper is inclined to save a pilot from a crashed spacecraft.
By saving his new lady-friend, Harper triggers a chain of events that turn this postapocalyptic nightmare upside down. He begins to question everything he has been told regarding how the war started with the Scavs and why things had turned out so badly for the humans. Oblivion feels a bit like Total Recall and looks like the video-game Fallout 3 - a tasty combination. And with a calibre of cast to rival its main mid-Spring competitor Iron Man 3, Oblivion should attract audiences of all ages and fans from a variety of genres. Once we get into its gritty side,
Oblivion looks like it will show both a political and fantastical edge that blockbusters have been guilty of lacking in recent years. If Kosinski can pull all the factors of the storyline together, then Oblivion will be an early contender for the surprisepackage of 2013. Daft Punk will add some gloss to the movie by making a return alongside Kosinski for the soundtrack and Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough round off an impressive cast. Jack Crutcher
In the world of film, response to the upcoming, new millennium was tumultuous. The representation of culture was revolutionised, seemingly predicting a futuristic 2000s. A diverse mix of genres filled the box office in apparent indecision; every filmmaker had a different interpretation of the current big question of life and the future. Many films earned acclaim from audiences for the revitalised film techniques and themes. Today, the list of 1999 releases can be recognised as a lot of people’s favourite films. A filmic revolution had risen. Storming the Oscars was Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, gaining Best Film and Best Actor for Kevin Spacey. The film’s themes of redemption and beauty in suburbia offered a lifeaffirming, hopeful introduction to the 2000s, while The Matrix, contrastingly, portrayed humanity unknowingly trapped in a dystopian dream world. Charlie Kaufman was introduced to mainstream filmmaking with his Being John Malkovich screenplay, developing modern film with his surreal and basically weird ideas of a portal on floor 7½ leading into John Malkovich’s mind. Fight Club, now named the
10th Greatest Film of All Time by Empire magazine, similarly to the other films, portrays the chance for change in a stagnated life. The ensemble production of Magnolia epitomised humanity in a day, reflecting the bonds between members of society, while the ending, with its religious connotations, asserts desire for life and Tom Cruise as a sex self-help guru cannot be missed. The Blair Witch Project, one of the most successful independent films ever made, horrified audiences on its release with its hand-held footage, causing the public to actually believe it to be real. Sequels of popular films such as Toy Story 2 and the Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace
were the top grossing films of the year. American Pie also debuted, its most recent sequel released only last year, reminding us of our nostalgia for 90s high school with a school reunion. 1999 epitomised high school flicks with 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s All That, idealising proms where everyone knew the same dance routine. These films barely scratch the surface of the mighty year of 1999. The Sixth Sense, Notting Hill, The Mummy, Girl Interrupted are only a selection of other immense successes defining the end of the millennium as a brilliant finale. Ally Mitchell
Where has everybody gone? CORNERHOUSE Mark McGrath looks at why directors are leaving Hollywood behind In the ongoing battle between the big and the small screen, it appears that television is winning. In an unprecedented move, the movie-on-demand juggernaut Netflix made its first foray into TV with the up-front commissioning and filming of the first season of House of Cards, a Kevin Spacey star-vehicle which has all 13 episodes of its first season available to watch now. The man behind it all? David Fincher, the director of acclaimed films such as The Social Network and Se7en. This is not a unique occurrence. Fincher joins a long list of directors who have made the the switch to TV: Martin Scorsese executive produces and directed the pilot episode of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire; Frank Darabont occupied a similar position on The Walking Dead and Steven Spielberg is possibly the most prolific of them all thanks to miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific. It is rumoured that he has another similar project in the pipeline. What is it about TV that is so attractive to these directors? Or what is it about the film-making process that is pushing them away? It can be said that television allows directors and writers much more creative freedom. Programmes such as Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad are pushing the boundaries in terms of creativity as well as explicit violence and sex. Contrast this with the Hollywood Studio System which is becoming ever-reliant on safe bets. Studio executives are, now more than ever, less likely to risk their investments on unique and original projects than they are on sequels and summer blockbusters. Editors are required to ruthlessly cut their films to secure the coveted PG-13 or 12A rating with the sole purpose of making the project profitable. All decisions are now business decisions. Steven Soderbergh is the most recent director to fall foul of the film studios. Unable
To The Wonder Director: Terrence Malick Language: English Runs: 112 mins
Terrence Malik has a reputation amongst actors for paying almost more attention to the landscape around them than to their own performances, and his keen eye for the beauty of nature is certainly apparent in To The Wonder. The film is stunningly shot, showing the splendour in even the most mundane suburban and industrial landscapes. However in places the film does begin to take on the quality of a particularly beautiful perfume advert, as the camera follows the actors dancing across fields to softly spoken voice overs addressing the nature of their love.
to find funding for his biopic of Liberace, Soderbergh found a home for the project at the cable channel HBO. As TV networks have relatively small budgets compared to film studios, they have to ignore the expensive CGI and instead focus on writing intelligent scripts and creating interesting characters. Length is a factor too: 13 or even 22-episode series give directors and writers the opportunity to create depth and intricacy. Compare this to a two hour stint at the cinema and films can seem relatively shallow. TV land isn’t as liberated as you may think, however. Every year, dozens of projects are cancelled with little or no warning if they fail to bring in the desired number of viewers, creating an unpredictable workflow for actors and directors alike. In the 1990s, David Lynch
began working on a TV pilot with ABC before it was abandoned for being too weird. Instead of forgetting about the whole project, Lynch transformed the episode into a feature film: Mulholland Drive became an award-winning cult classic, proving that there is still a place in Hollywood for originality. With 2012 having offered up a diverse and exciting selection of films, it does seem possible that studio executives are waking up to the idea that audiences enjoy films that challenge them just as much as those that are simply there to entertain. As long as it can still provide an outlet for inventive story-telling, then cinema will continue to attract a range of talented directors. Maybe it’s time creativity was given the green-light.
The story follows an American who, whilst on a trip to France, falls in love with a European woman and brings her and her daughter back to the US where the relationship begins to strain. Ben Affleck’s quiet and steady presence contrasts well with the sensual and lithe energy of Olga Kurylenko as his lover, and the performance of her young daughter stands out as Malik manages to capture her youthful exuberance with a rare sense of honesty. Javier Bardem’s role as the priest searching for reaffirmation of his faith helps give the story definition, although the intertwining storylines occasionally felt overly subtle. Nonetheless To The Wonder is a beautiful and thought-provoking study on the possibilities and fragilities of love. Lucy Gooder
Fashion
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
This week: Spring Awakening
Fashion Week Roundup
Gráinne Morrison reports on what we’ll all be wearing in A/W13
Week and an H&M show in Paris, fashion has never been more accessible – making the impact of the major fashion weeks relevant to buyers of all budgets. And, if the well-received Topshop Unique show is anything to go by, what we have access to is fun fashion in the form of pink shearling coats and pleated skirts. A standout look at many Paris shows was sophisticated monochrome, most notably at the Viktor & Rolf and the Balenciaga shows. With simplicity in terms of colours, this means the onus is on smart, structured shapes next season to complete the look. In Milan, the effect of Chanel’s amazing December show in Scotland was rife, with D&G, Moschino and Alberta Ferretti all professing a penchant for tartan. So for those of you without a clan tartan, you can just fake a little highland heritage next season (I won’t tell, promise). Great news for all you leather lovers out there, your beloved material will still be making waves next season, but you may have to branch out from black – candy colours may seem out-there, but Prada does know best. So whilst I have only skimmed the surface of the numerous trends making waves in the fashion world, you now have no excuse to feign ignorance when everyone’s wearing tartan and you’re still in khaki. No excuse. Although Spring/Summer 2013 may now be upon us (even if Manchester’s bizarre microclimate tells us otherwise), complacency in fashion is never an option. With Paris fashion week having just ended, one must begin looking forward to the next Autumn/Winter collections so as not to fall behind (as if ). So what will we be coveting, and hopefully wearing, come Fresher’s Week 2013? In London, Burberry Prorsum, known for influencing trends year after year, debuted sharp ensembles embellished with animal prints and stripes; with the classic trench appearing in wet-look and even in transparent rubber (sexy yet classy, always a favourite). Roksanda Illinic wowed the front row in London with a daring palette of various colours (a rarity at A/W shows), hinting that, this autumn, pastels and mint green will be brightening up our wardrobes. For the less adventurous, luckily a key colour to invest in this year will be grey, which proved a hit in New York at shows such as Caroline Herrerra and Vera Wang. Fur, not surprisingly, was everywhere in New York with mink and fox fur making a massive appearance throughout the week ( Jason Wu was a personal favourite). And if, like me, you’re somewhat adverse to wearing animals, faux fur versions will no doubt come our way. With high street chains such as Topshop being given prominence at London Fashion
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ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Spring Forward: S/S 13
Fashion
Resurrect your wardrobe in time for Easter with our top Spring trends has versatility in abundance: whether thrown under a big jumper on a grey and drizzly Manchester morning for comfort that looks as cool as it is cosy, or worn with a crop top and a playful flash of midriff (à la Rihanna at the Victoria Secret Show) for a subtle and sexy look. The pencil skirt slunk down almost every SS13 runway, and, from what I’ve seen of the AW13/14 catwalks, they’ve carved (or should I say curved) themselves a niche that they’re reluctant to let go of. Camouflage: This returned to prominence in the last quarters of 2012. Like
Style Renovations
Remember Victoria in hot pants and push-up bras when touring the world as Posh Spice back in the ’90s? Now, Beckham is nothing but sophisticated in her tight, just-below-the-kneelength dresses and nine-inch heels. She really has reinvented herself from Spice Girl WAG to universal A-list fashionista.
Ex-overweight, long-haired, heroin addict, I think it’s safe to say that Marc Jacobs has definitely taken a turn for the better. Since his second stint of rehab in 2007, Marc has buffed up, cut his hair and continued to showcase fabulous and innovative garments for us to gaze at on the catwalk.
3. Lana Del Rey
of the year. Four Big Fashion Weeks: If Pitti Uomo is the Jamie Farr character in the M*A*S*H unit of fashion shows, then the ‘Big Four’ definitely represent Col. Potter: you take them seriously. Much like the nature of completely irrelevant 1980s television references, London, New York, Paris, and Milan turned up some classic shows this year. One particularly prominent (read: mental) highlight was Berluti’s winter-wonderland, inter-species display at Le Musée Nationale d’Histoire Naturelle. The Year of Street Style: More a prediction than a summation of facts: I think it’s safe to assume we will see street style continue to develop alongside social networking. The first few months of 2013 have offered up some real gems both in male and female style. With a growing webbased audience, it’s really interesting to see how completely candid moments are becoming as sartorially informed as any catwalk. It isn’t as if street style is anything new, but it is pleasing to see street etiquette continue to materialise as a standalone creative endeavour. 2013 promises to be a great year for male style; if fashion season is anything to go by it is going to be a cavalcade of great sunglasses and strong dogtooth. For now, things are returning to normality: The Fashion weeks were a success, street style’s game was up, and God Wooster is still a total mensch. If you’re interested, GQ is running a really interesting article about him right now; it should be on my history… Actually, I’ll find it.
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Beauty
How to: Colour Pop
Halee Wells decides whether this season’s guilty pleasure makeup trend is wearable or downright unbearable
1. Victoria Beckham
2. Marc Jacobs
Playing Catch-Up
As a rule, there are only two things I hope never to have to share with other people: bespoke clothing, and my browser history. Between Pitti Uomo and the ‘Big Four’ Fashion weeks, I feel safe in breaking this cardinal rule by divulging that my Chrome history is, in fact, now filled with search results for bespoke clothing. With every new year, the gentle rustling of well-kept beards and Harris Tweed begins to emanate from the fringes of the male fashion world. The ensuing parade of menswear makes the Six Nations February’s second most manly endeavour. Moreover, the annual spate of fashion shows represents a coagulation of a year’s hard work on the part of over 200 designers, millions of dollars spent, and Tumblr-fodder for the next six months. Happily, to save yourselves the Sisyphean task of catching up on everything you have missed, I have compiled this handy roundup of all the events of the past two months. Pitti Uomo is Still Awesome: Combining some great presentations with sweet, sweet street style, the Florence-based trade show kicked off the year in terrific form. The presentations included some classic offerings from Boglioli, Isaia, and special guest Kenzo. Attendees were even treated to a rare display from Japanese techwear producers, White Mountaineering. The show marked a departure from the brand’s habitual Japan-based presentations that occur at completely random times
TOP
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If you went to New York music show The Variety Box in 2009, you would have seen blonde-haired Lizzie Grant with her strong voice but shy persona. After a failed album, a name change and rumours of plastic surgery, Grant transformed herself into the woman we now know as Lana Del Rey – current hot US songstress.
Sex in the Sixties: I’m delighted that the SS13 catwalks had a sexy ‘60s spring in their step. It’s bringing back the long left-out polo-neck. Yes, they were done to death in the early noughties, (just watch Love Actually if you don’t believe me, the film is pretty much a roll-neck revolution: there’s one in every scene) but the ‘60s inspired polo-neck is something different all together. Snug around the neck, and almost everywhere else, they’re sexy especially when worn with arguably the chic-est item of the season: the black leather mini, tell me I’m wrong? Moving downstairs, trousers are cropped, tight and straight which means we can all stay snugly zipped into our skinnies, guilt-free for a few more months! If in need of style inspiration look no further than Alexa Chung, a true ‘60s siren for our times. Here she is (above left) at J.W. Anderson’s LFW show rocking a grown-up 1960s look and somehow simultaneously managing to triumph with one of spring’s trickiest trends, All White, without looking washed out. Just look at that artful contrast of textures! Bikers vs. Bombers: The presence of the bomber jacket on the SS13 catwalks was a controlled explosion; skillfully detonated with just a dash of danger. They were indeed everywhere and in myriad form, whether picking up the leather trend in matte black or temptingly embellished with spring’s inevitable florals woken up with an unexpected 3D twist. There was some competition however from its more streamlined cousin: the biker jacket, which reinvented itself in unusual fabrics and colours. So, if you’re going to go biker, why not break away from black? It’s been done and done and unless you’re Kate Moss it’s a tad yawn-some. Instead shake things up a little
most menswear trends this one found its foul origins in womenswear. As you might have already gleaned, I am not a fan. Camouflage is something you expect to see on a 6-10 year old going through an Action Man phase, not an 18-24 year old pegged to be among the nation’s brightest. As reasonable and rational men we must band together in defiance of this plague on all good taste and sense. The fashion world may attempt to sway you with
Just about every bold makeup colour under the sun graced the Spring 2013 catwalks last year. From bright blue smudged eyeliner to brave magenta mascaras, a spectrum of colour swept across backstage at almost every show. But how can we incorporate this trend into our typical neutral palettes, and pull this look off without appearing too Lil Kim/90s Xtina? Let’s start with eyes. I absolutely loved the Moschino Spring 2013 look, a swipe of aqua on the eyes and a sun kissed nude complexion. But can we make this look wearable for the Wednesday afternoon beer garden this Spring or should it stay on the catwalks? To recreate this look, I used Barry M Super Soft Eye Crayon in Matte Turquoise, which is the perfect match to the Moschino
shade. I drew a line along my lash line, water line and one below the lower lashes, blending it in with an eye shadow brush. I then used a shimmery eye shadow in the inner corner to flatter the eyes, before adding two coats of mascara. Donna Karan models wore hot pink eyeliner and bright fuchsia mascara. Even as a pink obsessive, this look was a little too ‘child-let-loose-with-crayons’ for me. Can we tone
4. Madonna The Queen of reinvention. In 1984 she was pictured sporting the grunge look: ripped tights, studded accessories and exposed midriff. Since then, she has experimented with numerous profiles: disco diva, dominatrix, hippy chick; but no matter what look she opts for, she has always kept nice and toned.
descriptions like retro-chic and effortlessly cool but the devil is a liar. They are not your friends. What good is a trend that has no staying power? If you must do it, go for the least obvious camo you can find and pray it works. Stripes: Spring is undoubtedly the stripiest time of the year. Every year some version of the stripe finds its way to prominence on the high street.
5. Kate Middleton Before the Royal Wedding, Kate was plain and dressed for a woman that could have been twice her age. But a year after she became Duchess, Kate has transformed into an international style icon. With her elegant dresses, princess charm and her style being documented on the internet daily, Kate is now a fashion figure for women all over the world.
Marie Clare Yates
with some spring shades and playful textures. Both jackets are a fantastic way to weather the unpredictable British seasons, but which will you choose? Cara Delevingne loves her a bit of both: she’s been spotted in silk bombers, Letterman jackets galore and, of course, her staple textured black biker. Pencil this in your diary: The pencil skirt is a daunting garment. Hollywood would have us accessorise it with a Marilyn-worthy wiggle and the world of work has deceived us into believing that under no circumstances may it be worn with flats, but the pencil skirt is actually far more wearable than you might think. Although not so handy when running for the bus (they do inhibit your stride somewhat), a black pencil skirt is simplicity at its best. It
This year for perhaps the first time in history vertical and horizontal stripes seem to be on trend at the same time! At least Tommy Hilfiger thinks so. His spring ‘Bon Voyage’ campaign is so full of nautical inspired wonders that I haven’t had the gumption to visit the Tommy Hilfiger website lest I lose the greater part of my student loan in the pursuit of the preppy, fun and effortlessly cool. Bright Colours: As the temperature rises into the double digits, there is no need to stick with the dreary and dull brown, grey and black. We must embrace the more optimistic lemon zest, nectarine and dusk blue. It is my guess that the fruitier the colour sounds the more on trend it is. Embrace your inner “rah rah” “gap yah” boy and pick up a pair of poppy-red trousers, or embrace your inner hippy and purchase a tie-dye t-shirt. It is wise to note that these things are often best done with a smidgen of moderation, but apart from this there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be your brightest, dandiest self this spring. Everyone else is.
Aimée Grant Cumberbatch and Damilola Ade-Odiachi
this down to everyday wear or is it just too much for the girl next door type? I chose Barry M Dazzle Dust in Neon Pink to brush across Sophie’s lids and under the lower lash line. This eye shadow is very pigmented so only a small amount is needed. I added highlight to the inner corners of the eyes and applied two coats of mascara. And now for the perfect neon pout. Yes, this lipstick is by Nicki Minaj who is infamous for her clown-esque brights, but you can achieve an on-trend look with a minimal eye and this gorgeous shade of pink. MAC Viva Glam Nicki, with its satin formula, provides the perfect coral pink shade to glide you through the sunny months. Tan optional. Verdict: Attempting these looks was fun to say the least. I think this trend can be beautifully achieved with a strong eye and nude lip, or bare eyes and a bold pout. Resist adding harsh dark colours and keep the eye products to a minimum to avoid looking too drag queen. I for one cannot wait to experiment with more colours as the season commences – now let’s just pray for some sun!
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Music
ISSUE 18/ 18th MARCH 2013
Interview
Editor’s Column
Talk about, Pop Music Tom Ingham Music Editor Pop is one of the most productive nouns in music, but perhaps the most misunderstood. Would anyone describe themselves as a ‘pop’ fan? You’ve got rock, metal, jazz, dance, folk fans – but rarely would someone label themselves as an out and out pop fan. The term originated in the 1920s as an abbreviation of the word ‘popular’, reflecting what the mainstream was at the time, but pop as we know it (from the late 50s/early 60s onwards) isn’t necessarily befitting of this title. Starting out as a single’s game, pop songs squeezed themselves onto 45s and were intended to provide three minutes of non-stop satisfaction. Dusty Springfield, Buddy Holly and Elvis all enjoyed success with the single, however nailing them down to a particular album isn’t easy. By 1968 album sales overtook singles as more bands began to experiment with the pop album. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds showed that an album could have more than 2 singles and a load of filler; this was a sophisticated record for the maturing market. Those early records at the dawn of the sexual revolution provided as many life lessons as any novel could. Pop, albeit three minutes at the max, played the soundtrack to pivotal moments along the great journey of growing up, the effervescent excitement of She loves you could enthral the young romantic whilst Roy Orbison was there for those harder moments. To say pop was mainstream and popular back in the ‘60s and
early ‘70s isn’t completely true. It was still something affiliated with rebellion; the sight of Ziggy Stardust was something a lot of parents found shocking. But was Ziggy pop? To most he’s a symbol of the Glam Rock genre, but there’s no getting away from the pop values of a song like Changes. Carole Kay, a prolific ‘60s session bassist, talked about making a song ‘pop’, and any band could do this, regardless of genre. Pop in the 21st century has lost a little of its excitement for me, and it’s nothing to do with the songs as Carly Rae Jepsen and Taylor Swift prove. Unfortunately we’re victims of technology; the 24hour nature of music was something that just didn’t exist back when TOTP was the only music programme for teenagers. Pop isn’t something to cherish anymore, the average nonmuso iTunes reads like one long compilation CD. Pop can be applied to those early rock n roll bands like The Beatles, to the Soul stars like The Ronettes and all the way to the New Romantics of the 1980s. It’s a matter of art, not enterprise – being popular has nothing to do with it. Currently pop is being mixed up with dance music, the like of LMFAO just isn’t pop – yes it’s danceable, but that’s all it is. Despite being a somewhat unsavoury term for artists, the label is not as shallow as we make out. A three minute single can teach us about life and love, Phil Spector described them as a “little symphony for the kids” – this Party Rock Anthem is most certainly not.
5 SONGS
Little Green Bag – George Baker Selection
2. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Nancy Sinatra
3. Rabbia e Tarentella – Ennio Morricone
4. Stuck in the Middle with You – Stealers Wheel
5. Chuck Berry – You Never Can Tell
The concept of being genuinely cool is hard to come by, but the opening credits of Reservoir Dogs, coupled with ‘Little Green Bag’ must surely come close. A smooth bass line forms the foundation of a slick choice of song from Tarantino. Six men in suits never looked so suave.
Overdub the introduction of Kill Bill with Nancy Sinatra and you know Tarantino means business. Fine vocals, timely guitar and a subtle melancholy are well suited to the tale of vengeance. ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’, reads the opening of Kill Bill – How fitting.
A reference to Tarantino’s musical taste could not be complete without paying homage to Ennio Morricone. Tarantino frequently exploits Morricone’s talent as a composer and Inglorious Basterds is no different. Well experienced from his spaghetti westerns, Morricone creates a befitting track for the Basterds.
Imagine being tortured. Then imagine your ear being cut off with a razor. Then imagine your torturer sadistically dancing to the radio. An ugly torture scene should by no means detract from the quality of ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’, but now whenever I hear it I can’t help but think of the warehouse scene.
Chuck Berry undoubtedly put much of the swing into rock n roll and Pulp Fiction’s timeless scene between Thurman and Travolta revitalised the track. With a rolling piano fuelling the classic, Travolta reminded the world he could still dance. ‘C’est La Vie’.
IN THE FIELD OF... Tarantino Alex Fenton
Hurts Manchester’s own synthpop revivalists talk Nine Inch Nails, the Brits and the distinct lack of glamour at Sainbury’s in Fallowfield Joe Goggins Music Editor “This is the best album you’ll hear all year that was written and recorded on the curry mile.” Theo Hutchcraft is in buoyant mood; Hurts’ second record, Exile, finally saw the light of day this week, and he tells me that it’s already “in the top ten in 23 countries.” Not bad for a couple of guys who met outside 42s whilst their friends were engaged in a drunken brawl. “We were pretty nervous about how it was going to be received, actually. We wanted to do something different on this album, so we felt like we were starting again in a lot of ways.” Hurts’ debut, Happiness, was one of 2010s biggest crossover successes, landing at number four in the album chart and spawning two singles that seldom seemed to be off the radio, ‘Better Than Love’ and ‘Wonderful Life’. “We kept the same producer, but we definitely wanted to push ourselves in a new direction.” Whilst a move towards a different sound was key, the actual process of making the record, in keeping with the retention of Jonas Quant behind the production desk, was largely the same as with Happiness. “It seemed logical to write Exile in the same place we had before, which was actually just opposite Hardy’s Well. We knew we’d be comfortable there, and it seemed like it was the only place where we’d be able to get some perspective and focus properly after the whirlwind of promoting the first record.” It was a decision, Theo claims, which paid clear dividends. “We were much more prolific this time, we got a lot more written,” he says. “That meant we could experiment more; we had the time to try new things. We’re definitely better at what we do now than three years ago.” It wasn’t until six or seven months into making the album that the change of scenery
became crucial. “After a while, a bit of a cloud descended. You know, when you’re wandering around Sainsbury’s in Fallowfield, it’s easy to forget anything glamorous ever happened to you,” he laughs. “We were definitely ready to get away from Manchester by the end, things were getting a little bit tough. We met up with Jonas in Gothenburg and finished the record there.” The band have cited a wide range of influences their entire career, and Exile is no exception, although anyone who heard Happiness will be surprised to hear that Nine Inch Nails weighed particularly heavily on the new record; Hurts are hardly the world’s noisiest band, nor are guitars a major feature in their work thus far. “You know, that wasn’t exactly a direct musical influence; it was more in terms of the tone of the music Nine Inch Nails have made. We wanted to make a darker record, and I think they helped us figure out exactly how to progress in that direction. Some of the songs did come out sounding quite industrial initially, but the more obvious influences are still there too – you can still hear Depeche Mode in there.” Hurts’ striking visual style – sharp suits and slicked-back hair being de rigueur – makes them one of the more recognisable bands around today, and it’s an aesthetic that seems to permeate every aspect of the band; their music videos and live shows, the latter often complete with dancers, have proven similarly visceral. “It’s just another way of expressing ourselves, but we know full well how important it can be; it was our first video (for ‘Wonderful Life’) that got us signed.” The band made one of their first appearances on the promotional circuit for Exile at the Brit Awards, albeit only from the sidelines. With this year’s ceremony coming in for more stick than usual, I was intrigued to hear the opinion of a band who have successfully crossed over to the mainstream
in the past. “All the Brit Awards do is reflect what’s popular; if you don’t like what’s in the charts, you probably shouldn’t be watching. You can’t expect to turn it on and have it be like it used to be, with Blur and Oasis winning everything; those days might come back, but for now, why complain about it?” The success of Happiness in the UK was eclipsed elsewhere in Europe, with Germany and parts of Eastern Europe receiving the record particularly rapturously. Have the band figured out why their music has proved more popular overseas than at home? “We’ve honestly no idea, although by this stage we see the UK as just another country. It’s nice to have different challenges in different places though; in some countries we’re virtually unknown, and in others we’re headlining festivals. We’ve got a good balance there, I think.” Some of today’s more successful Manchester bands don’t seem quite as characteristically Mancunian as some of their predecessors; whether it was Morrissey’s northern humour in The Smiths or the obvious link between Joy Division’s industrial sound and the city’s history, the traditional ‘Manchester band’ usually had some musical feature that served as a geographic indicator of where they were from, but try finding anything on Everything Everything or Dutch Uncles’ records that plainly marks out that they hail from these parts. The influence of New Order on Hurts is unmistakeable, but do they feel like the tag really applies to them? “I think it does, less in a musical fashion and more in the approach that we take to our band. We might not sound anything like Oasis, but we definitely admire their ambition, the scale on which they did things. We definitely wouldn’t want to distance ourselves from home,” he says. “Manchester’s one of the greatest places in the world. We spread that word wherever we go.”
Music
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
19
Live
The Foals Joe Goggins reviews last week’s Manchester Academy performance Reviews of Foals’ latest record, Holy Fire, have been largely underscored by constant reference to progression and maturity, so it’s perhaps a little surprising to see them playing the Academy tonight, a venue they’ve sold out with ease twice before; the first time I saw them was here, way back in 2008, towards the back end of their commitments for Antidotes. That isn’t to say, though, that there aren’t obvious signs of development elsewhere. The signature instrumental opener is present and correct, but tonight’s is a different beast entirely from their Antidotes-era intro, ‘XXXXX’; if the intention is to draw the crowd into a frenzy, then ‘Prelude’ aims for controlled chaos, with a hypnotic groove building gradually, carefully, towards a climactic clash of guitars. It serves nicely as a microcosm of the sonic road the band have been moving down 2010’s Total Life Forever, the title track of which swiftly follows; a rhythmically choppy number with a chant-along bridge, “let’s take life slow”, that offers another insight into the Foals mindset post-Antidotes. I mention their first record because I’m of the generally unpopular opinion that Antidotes is Foals’ masterpiece; like some of their contemporaries’ debut efforts - Franz Ferdinand and Vampire Weekend spring to mind - it’s an album that they’ll likely spend the rest of their careers trying to top.
Media coverage of Holy Fire widely suggests that the band have capitalised on the promise displayed on Total Life Forever, with their debut paid little heed and often dismissed as uneven, or weak outwith the singles; it’s a view that makes the mind boggle on tonight’s evidence, where Antidotes provides a slew of set highlights. The urgent opening of ‘Balloons’, drums racing over interlocking guitar lines that tick like time bombs, remains one of the most thrilling weapons in the Foals arsenal, whilst ‘Olympic Airways’ proves that raucous singlaongs can still be atmospheric. ‘Electric Bloom’ makes for a memorable set closer; it’s the perfect platform for Yannis Phillippakis to prove why he’s fast becoming one of rock’s most engaging frontmen, howling the track’s refrain as he less plays a floor tom than brutally assaults it. I still haven’t mentioned ‘Red Socks Pugie’, a song frequently singled out by the band as the one they’re most proud of; desolate verses, driven by little more than vocals and drums, explode into a full-throated roar of a chorus, with the band eschewing the recorded version’s gradual fade out in favour of a rollicking instrumental outro. It’s not difficult, then, to understand why Foals aren’t quite as frenetic a live force as they were back when those songs were all they had to offer; Total Life Forever moved into more expansive
territory, with mixed results. ‘Spanish Sahara’ is unquestionably the band’s lighters-aloft moment, and has all the anthemic properties required to work perfectly in the live environment. ‘After Glow’ on the other hand, is turgid, uninspired and disastrously-placed in the thick of a number of similarly-downtempo numbers, including the vastly superior ‘Late Night’, which is abound with something I felt Total Life Forever, for the most part, lacked: atmosphere. There’s obvious ambition in the decision to include the more reflective likes of ‘Milk and Black Spiders’ and ‘Moon’ tonight, but the predictably-boisterous Saturday night crowd don’t really give them a chance. Foals’ finer points on the last two records have come when they’ve embraced their funkier side; ‘Miami’ and ‘My Number’ are taken from different records, but clearly born of the same influence they’re perfectly-constructed, hook-driven pop
stompers, showcasing the band’s sharp ear for combining melody and groove and providing the evening’s most irresistibly danceable moments. Foals are at a crossroads. Never more popular and never more ambitious, bigger venues than the Academies they’re frequenting on this current jaunt are now less calling their name than they are screaming it. When they finally get there, starting with a couple of shows at the Royal Albert Hall later this month, they’ll have a precarious balance to strike; the newer material is bound to sound huge, but they can ill afford to lose any more of what once made their live shows genuinely thrilling; if they can bring both the rawness of Antidotes and the sheen of Holy Fire to the inevitable two-night stand at the Apollo later in the year, they could represent one of the most potent live propositions you’ll find anywhere.
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Live
Sigur Rós
The Darkness
Manchester O2 Apollo - 3rd March 2013 The bleak Ardwick suburb couldn’t be further from the ethereal beauty of Iceland’s Nordic landscapes. Yet, as Sigur Rós take to the stage to rapturous applause, the art-deco walls of the Apollo are washed away in a sea of mountains and glaciers. A thin veil obscures the band for opener ‘Yfirborð’, adding to the aura of mystery that Jónsi’s lyrics bring. Sung in both Icelandic and the madeup Vonlenska language, the illegibility of Birgisson’s vocals simply becomes another instrument in itself. The enigmatic frontman cuts a dramatic figure, silhouetted against the screen, playing guitar with a cello bow. Jónsi’s falsetto vocals are delivered beautifully in ‘Vaka’, a slow number accompanied with haunting images of gas maskclad children playing in a postapocalyptic world, black ash falling from the sky like snow. It’s a far cry from the uplifting ‘Hoppípolla’, The only appearance of their latest album, Valtari, comes in the form of ‘Varúð’, a song that begins with ambient strings but builds up pace and intensity before exploding into a breath-
taking crescendo. New songs are peppered throughout the set, offering a rare glimpse into the future of a band who are notoriously secretive. ‘Brennisteinn’ sees them explore largely-unfamiliar territory. Jónsi’s bowed guitar groans in an almost-mournful way, and a thumping, distorted bassline reveals a much darker side to their sound. Never one to shy away from longer songs, the band’s two-
9/10
track encore lasts half an hour and occupies both ends of their musical spectrum. ‘Svefng-englar’ is performed with a delicacy that leaves the crowd awe-struck, before they unleash ‘Popplagið’, its brutal outro delivered with real ferocity and power, leaving attendees physically exhausted by the end. What more could you want? George Bailey
Manchester O2 Apollo - 2nd March 2013 When I was 12, I used to take my CD Walkman into the garden and listen to The Darkness’ debut album whilst I jumped on the trampoline. Now, this wasn’t as carefree and cool as it obviously sounds – not only was jumping in time with the beat a continually failed ambition, but I had to hold the CD player flat as I bounced so the songs didn’t skip. Whilst all my friends were saving to see the Trousersnake perform his Justified tour at the O2 arena, I was scrimping for The Darkness posters and a Discman with ‘anti-skip’. It’s been ten years since the release of the quadruple platinum selling Permission to Land brought semi-parodying 70s rock to the Brit Awards but the band look exactly as they did a decade ago – a svelte front man shows no sign of the 5 stone he supposedly gained when off the road, and brother and guitarist Dan Hawkins still looks as dreamy as I remember (in a Carol King in flares kind of way). As the band launch into Hot Cakes’ disappointing opening track ‘Every Inch of You’ the wonderfully varied audience
begin to display their inevitable rock signs in approval, yet I am hopeful that further underwhelming tracks from later albums haven’t made the set list. Luckily, my rock prayers are answered and dud tracks from both, One Way Ticket to Hell… And Back and Hot Cakes are pared down to a minimum. Justin Hawkins hasn’t lost his implausible falsetto either, managing the anthemic “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”
7/10
and “Love is Only a Feeling” with ease and melodic finesse. I realise quite how marvellously ridiculous the whole affair really is as a headstand, staring contest, and piggy-back through the crowd, round off what has been an exhausting wonder to behold. But, at least, I feel like I’ve satisfied the 12 year old trampolinist in me. Finally. Sophie Donovan Editor
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Music
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Now then, now then
NOW: Theme Park - Theme Park Transgressive Records - 2013
Rachel Bolland
There’s not a huge amount to be said for January and February. In January there’s the exam period and the fact that the cold weather is still with us but without the excitement of Christmas to take the edge off. And then in February, if you’re single there’s the inevitability of everyone and their mother making you incredibly aware of that fact when Valentine’s Day rolls around. Therefore people can be forgiven for looking ahead to the summer, eagerly awaiting festival line-up announcements and dreaming of a time when there might actually be a little bit of warmth in the air. If it’s warmth you’re after then Theme Park’s eponymous debut album won’t fail you. From its opener, ‘Big Dream’, the record’s synths and syncopated drums conjure up images of
9/10
sunshine, cold beer and a life free from the day-to-day drudgery of the winter months. It’s an undeniably catchy album, full of guitar riffs that will lodge themselves in your head for days. One of the standout songs, ‘Wax’ is particularly good (or bad) for getting stuck in the brain. It’s arguably more sophisticated than some of the other tracks on the record with the almost irritatingly catchy riff perfectly capturing the youthful hope of the lyrics, with a chorus that begins “We got the love/We got the night”, encapsulating that feeling of summer’s nights spent behaving badly. There are times on the record, however, when it feels like this is a band that isn’t one hundred per cent sure what it wants to be. It is easy to draw parallels from stalwarts of the indie-dance scene such as Friendly Fires, Foals and earlier Maccabees material. These comparisons are perfectly justified on songs like ‘Blind’ but there are other songs that seem to borrow from the bad side of pop. For example, some of the backing vocals on new single ‘Tonight’ wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the singles being released by bands on The Big Reunion at the height of their ‘90s pop stardom. Thankfully, however, these moments are rare and for the most part the pop element is incorporated with style, as early singles ‘Jamaica’ and ‘Two Hours’ showcase brilliantly. Theme Park is, by and large, an incredibly strong debut. It’s a wonderfully optimistic record that sets down some very promising elements for the band’s future. It’s not going to break any records but it’s ridiculously fun and it has made the last few days of February just that little bit more bearable.
From the vault: Metallica - Kill ‘Em All Megaforce - July 1983 James Birtles
Given a choice, most people would say 1986’s Master of Puppets or 1991’s Metallica (more commonly known as The Black Album) is the band’s magnum opus, and has been their definitive thrash metal record. However, many forget about Kill ‘Em All, which includes some of their best songs, including ‘Seek and Destroy’ and ‘Hit the Lights’. Where might the band have ended up without this record? Would Dave Mustaine (now frontman of Megadeth) have been kicked out of the band and replaced by Kirk Hammett? Would the late Cliff Burton still be the inspiration to bassists that he is today? More importantly, would Metallica, along with Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer, be part of the Big Four of Thrash? While Hetfield and Ulrich were on good terms during the recording of Kill ‘Em All, bigger problems came from Dave Mustaine through drink and drugs, which peaked when he almost killed bassist Ron McGovney by pouring beer in his bass pickups and electrocuting him. Mustaine did help write ‘The Four Horsemen’, ‘Jump in the Fire’, ‘Phantom Lord’ and ‘Metal Militia’, but was fired before the recording sessions. ‘The Four Horsemen’ was lyrically rewritten by Hetfield and the original version can be heard on Megadeth’s debut album Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good. The album saw the birth, in Hetfield and Ulrich, of one of the best writing partnerships in the history of rock music, standing alongside Jagger and Richards or Lennon and McCartney. ‘Seek
and Destroy’ and ‘Hit the Lights’ are easily the record’s best-known tracks, but ‘Anesthesia – Pulling Teeth’, written by the late Cliff Burton, is a bass solo that unusually utilised a wah-wah pedal, immediately drawing Hetfield’s attention to his talent, leading to his recruitment for the band. While Kill ‘Em All may never be as well-known as Master of Puppets or as critically revered as The Black Album, without this record, heavy metal and thrash metal would definitely not be what it is today. Many fans, critics and other bands have Metallica and Kill ‘Em All to thank for laying the genre’s foundations.
BOOK NOW: 0161 832 1111 www.manchesteracademy.net Live Music and Clubs at the University of Manchester Students’ Union
MARCH
James Blake Wednesday 10th April - £12.50
Cancer Bats
Peace
Wednesday 13th March - £10
Friday 12th April - £8
Claudia Brucken
Emmure
Friday 15th March- £18.50
Saturday 13th April - £13
The Alarm
Naymedici
Saturday 16th March - £17.50
Saturday 13th April - £8
Brantley Gilbert
Sonata Arctica
Saturday 16th March - £12.50
Monday 15th April - £17
Eels Sunday 17th March - £23.50
SOLD OUT
Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls
The Brew + Federal Charm + The Jokers
Wednesday 17th April - £18.50
Sunday 17th March - £12
Lower Than Atlantis
SOLD OUT
+ Dinosaur Pile Up + Blitz Kids
FM
Thursday 18th April - £12.50
Thursday 21st March - £16.50
Patent Pending + Erik Chandler
Frankie Cocozza
(of Bowling For Soup)
Thursday 21st March - £10
Thursday 18th April - £10
Skunk Anansie Friday 22nd March - £24
And You Will know Us By The Trail Of Dead
The Black Crowes
Friday 19th April - £12.50
Sunday 24th March - £33.50
The Feeling
Kodaline
Saturday 20th April - £18.50
Tuesday 26th March - £10
And So I Watch You From Afar
The Gaslight Anthem
Saturday 20th April - £9
Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March - £21.50
Atonement Fest 2012 Saturday 20th April - £10
Everclear
KMFDM + Sheep On Drugs + Resist + Deadfilmstar
Wednesday 27th March - £16.50
FutureProof
Sunday 21st April - £15
Thursday 28th March - £10
Mallory Knox
Steve Harris British Lion
Monday 22nd April - £9
+ Zico Chain
Hadouken
Saturday 30th March - £16
Wednesday 24th April - £12.50
The Stranglers
Bleed From Within + Heart Of A
Saturday 30th March - £23
Coward + Silent Screams
Wednesday 24th April - £7.50
Hurts Monday 1st April - £15
SOLD OUT
The Wildhearts – Earth Versus The
Wildhearts 20th Anniversary Tour + Eureka Mahines + Baby Godzilla Friday 5th April - £20
Bluey Robinson Friday 5th April - £8.50
Imagine Dragons Monday 8th April - £11
COMA UK 2013 Thursady 25th April - £18
Rudimental Friday 26th April - £11
Moved from Gorilla. Original tickets remain valid
The Clone Roses & Clint Boon Saturday 27th April - £12 facebook.com/manchesteracademy Twitter @MancAcademy
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Books
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
21
Book Club is back! Surprise and delight at The Harriet Hill-Payne, The Mancunion’s own Arts editor, talks to Books about Great Expectations Hi Harriet, how are you? Hello! I’m drowning in essays and trying to ignore looming deadlines. What are you reading? What’s it about? What are the characters called? Do you like them? I’m reading Great Expectations, by Dickens. So far we have Pip, Magwitch, Mr and Mrs Joe Gargery, Estella and Miss Havisham, amongst others, all carefully drawn, nuanced characters which have somehow, I think, crept into our cultural consciousness – Miss Havisham and her burning wedding dress, Magwitch suddenly coming into focus in the marshes…the images are quite haunting and don’t leave the mind easily. Is it great, just good, or not worth the trees? Pretty good effort from Dickens I’d say… It’s fantastic – the scope of the plot is extraordinary, chronicling the growing-up of the protagonist, Pip, and his relationship with Estella, the adopted daughter of the now-iconic Miss Havisham of Statis House, but that doesn’t inhibit the detail with which motivations are discussed, secrets revealed and identities developed. Do you generally go in for plot driven page-turners or word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence thrills? I like word-by-word thrills I think. I don’t think that much has to really happen in order for there to be something interesting to say about it. I was having a conversation with someone the other day about whether students read or not – I felt they didn’t (in general) and didn’t buy books, but the person said that if they (the students) do read they’re likely to read quite a lot, and buy all the books that they want to read. Do you feel that these types hold up? Which are you? Or alternatively, just tell us about your reading/book buying habits:
Castle Hotel
Bad Language’s spoken word event takes an evening in the pub into a realm of uncertainty and suprise BadLanguageisaliteraryorganisation based in Manchester that holds a free evening of spoken word performances every month at The Castle Hotel on Oldham Street. When I walked into the small pub on February’s evening last week, I asked the bartender where ‘bad language’ was and she must have misheard me because she directed me to the toilets. The actual room was small high ceilinged and low-lit, with chairs lined neatly in rows. I sat next to a young woman who offered me a cheese and onion crisp (I accepted) and told me about the novel she has been writing from her mother’s house in the middle of nowhere (Exton). Look out for a novel by Charlotte Haines! There were a lot of different acts: a mixture of first-timers and regulars, poetry and prose pieces, and one short play/dialogue at the end. Mostly I preferred the poetry, it was snappy and funny – such as Fat Roland reading a poem from his book HEY
I think the book industry works as a business like any other – they have to shift copies to stay alive and if that means reprints of classics enable the publishing houses to keep supporting emerging writers, or rediscovering lost ones, then that’s fine by me. I do also think that we should value our classics, because so often newer books have been influenced by old stories or old styles of writing, and it’s interesting to get a sense of what a modern authors influences might have been, and how well they reimagine old texts, or reinvent old styles, for themselves. How do you choose your next book? Are you more likely to take a friend’s advice or a ‘professional’s’ (critic, journalist, lecturer…) in terms of recommendations? I try and mix between those – I read on friends and lecturers recommendation, and pick things up in bookshops a lot – I’m easily swayed by a nice cover. The Penguin English Library has made a lot of money out of me recently, from some nice cover art. If you could have written one book (that someone else has written) what would it be? The Tiger Who Came to Tea – Judith Kerr. Phoebe Chambre
David Judge performs, Photo: @dancarpenter85
to theirs, as a ‘show’ where you don’t have to spend money, can decide to go to an hour before, sit in any seat, and have the surprising of having no idea what you are going to hear or see that evening. Annie Muir
Profile
Jeffrey Eugenides’ flawless prose A profile of the author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex
I think some students don’t and some do much in the same way some people don’t and some do – I don’t think there is anything about students that makes them any more or less likely to read, if they have always read then they will continue to do so. I read a lot for my course, but I still don’t get through everything – I think you have to pick your battles to an extent. I buy a lot of books – I like the physicality of them and I like having books which have been well used and scribbled in, I think you get a very different reading experience from a Kindle or an iPad, even though both are useful for some things. There’s been a spate of literary anniversaries recently – Pride and Prejudice turned 200, 50 years since Sylvia Plath’s death – and more to come later in the year. How cynical do you feel about these, is it any excuse (and any arbitrary years since….) to squeeze some more publicity and more sales for already published books, or should we take the time to celebrate great writers and great books of the past?
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY, and a confident first-timer reading his poem about porn. Sometimes when someone reads out prose in a crowded dark room it’s all too easy to switch off for a second and miss something vital to the plot. This was not the case, though, when, for the headline prose act, Sarah Butler read from her debut novel Ten Things I Hate About Love. I was sceptical when I heard the book’s title, but she read it as if it was poetry, full of pauses and internal rhymes, so that – despite the microphone problems that made it sound like she was beatboxing when she said any word beginning with ‘p’ or ‘b’- it was very enjoyable to listen to. I had passed the mass of people going into the Palace Theatre to see The Lion King on my way there, and I saw them flood out on my way back. I felt my evening compared favourably
“Jeffrey Eugenides’ writing is flawless.” When I opened up the Word document to begin writing this article that was my first sentence. And I believe it. But if a humanities degree has taught me anything, it’s that no piece of writing is ever perfect, so let me start again: Jeffrey Eugenides’ writing is beautiful. It’s just beautiful. Eugenides published his luminous, melancholic debut twenty years ago, and The Virgin Suicides has since been translated into over 15 languages, and feted by critics as a modern American classic. Deep in the haze of ‘70s suburbia, the ethereal Lisbon sisters kill themselves one by one. Years later, the boys who worshipped the girls as teenagers gather together in an attempt to make sense of the tragedy. The boys’ collective, anonymous narrative functions like a Greek chorus, reporting the action but remaining at a distance, and it is this sense of impenetrable space (the space between the sisters) that makes the novel so heartbreaking. Nothing is certain in The Virgin
Suicides; it’s all dreamy conjecture, theories strung together from high school memories and old diary entries. It’s not a story about teen suicide, not really. It’s a story about the sorrow of nostalgia, the mystery of youth, about how the most magical things are the ones we can’t understand. The Pulitzer-winning Middlesex (2002) seems worlds apart from Eugenides’ first novel, but there are glimmers of continuity. Like Suicides, it’s something of an elegy to suburban Detroit (where Eugenides grew up), and it’s also a work of sparkling romance and awful tragedy. Middlesex’s unusual narrator is Cal Stephanides, who is – to use the un-PC term the novel employs – an hermaphrodite. The novel locates the source of the mutated gene that caused Cal’s intersexuality and traces it down through three generations beginning in the 1920s with Cal’s Greek grandparents fleeing the Balkan War, and ending with Cal living as a man in modern Berlin. The novel gracefully addresses immigration and the American Dream, the Vietnam War, the Nation of Islam, the Detroit riots of 1967 and the “white flight” of middle-class families to suburbia, gender psychology, and the San Francisco LGBT scene (yes, all that). But Eugenides grounds the hugeness of this story with experiences
close to him; he has explained, “Because the story is so far from my own experience, I had to use a lot of details from my own life to ground it in reality.” He does so successfully: despite its ambitious premise and scope, this sprawling family saga never loses its generous, human heart. Next, and most recent: The Marriage Plot (2011), which, despite its serious themes – manic depression, religion, love, literature – is Eugenides’ most light-hearted and gossipy novel. It has also (perhaps not coincidentally) been his most commercially successful. It was on bestseller lists across America. A postmodern college-kids love triangle set in the ‘80s, The Marriage Plot tracks the lives of 3 Brown University students grappling with their academic, moral and romantic aspirations. It’s wryly self-referential – while Madeleine plans a thesis on the marriage plots of 19th century novels, her own marriage plot unfolds around her – but never smug. And as a student, The Marriage Plot’s nods to university life are delicious: the smug twat in your seminar who thinks he knows everything about everything, the horrified realisation of the morning after the night before, the threat of “real life” that lurks on the horizon. It’s all here. Eugenides is not the most prolific of authors. His track record suggests that it’ll be 2020 until he releases another novel into the wild. I have no doubt it’ll be worth it.
Moya Crockett
Food & Drink The Good, Interview: Levi Roots the Bad and
22
the Krunchy
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
We caught up with Levi Roots over a bottle of Caribbean Crush to talk about his popular line of food and drink products.
As he nears the end of his degree, Jamie Ross looks back on three years of fast food (through haiku). STORY THE FIRST – KRUNCHY FRIED CHICKEN – FALLOWFIELD – PREFERRED MEAL – NUMBER 4 (with a drink)
Almost Famous
Fillet burger meal,
Emily Clark Food & Drink Editor
Almost Famous is a burger restaurant in the Northern Quarter that claims not to welcome bloggers, photographers or any media attention. To respect their wishes, I have written a poem for them that is a mere artistic representation of my experience dining with them. Like much modern poetry, this won’t rhyme, nor conform to a metric structure.
Or possibly a snack box, I would die for you.
STORY THE SECOND – SPICE KITCHEN – CURRY MILE – PREFERRED MEAL – £2 DONNER Whenever I’m drunk, Two pounds for meat, salad, bread, Value tastes so good.
STORY THE THIRD – DIXY CHICKEN – FALLOWFIELD – PREFERRED MEAL – JUST CHIPS Chicken can’t compete,
Roots wants to see more Caribbean flavours in everyday British cooking. Photo: John Ferguson @Flickr Emily Clark & Jessica Hardiman Food & Drink Editors
Levi Roots, legendary creator of Reggae Reggae sauce, shot to fame in 2007 after impressing both Peter Jones and the nation on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. Six years on, he is keen to spread the word that others can also enjoy such success, and that young people should be encouraged to achieve their goals.
Not awful, but not unique, Get me to Krunchy.
STORY THE FOURTH – TJ’S FAST FOOD – PICCADILLY – PREFERRED MEAL – ANYTHING FROM A BIN I came to you once, Watery fish and raw chips, I’ll never again.
STORY THE FINAL – SANGAM’S – CURRY MILE – PREFERRED MEAL – CHEESY CHIPS WITH MANGO SAUCE
Emily Clark: As students, we can be very lazy cooks and we don’t always get the best cuts of meat – what kind of easy recipes would you suggest with your sauces? Absolutely anything. I think I created this sauce because of that purpose. I wanted to have something for people who didn’t really have the time to create flavours. Flavours are really difficult to create, especially if you’re doing something specific. You can’t just chuck anything in as most people think; you’ve got to build on flavours. So I wanted something to help people that didn’t have the time – they just want to rush in, get a few things and something to pour in that will do that for them. I think I’ve done that with the sauce. It’s not a hot pepper sauce, instead I think it’s a flavour enhancer. Jessica Hardiman: So it acts as a good base for anything?
cooking? LR: Yes, absolutely. One of the most exciting things that we have at the moment is called Rasta Pasta. It’s my idea of merging Caribbean food or Caribbean flavours with other cuisines – like how Indian food got through. If you go to Mumbai and you ask for a chicken tikka masala, they’d probably ask you what the hell it is, because the cuisine had to be remodelled here, and that was created in Bradford. I was hoping to do that with Caribbean flavours. It might not be exactly what you would get in Jamaica or the Caribbean, but it’s our version. EC: Did you ever imagine you would be so big? You’re now a household name! LR: Yes, I did. I always knew that my passion would get me wherever, but I didn’t think the scale of it would have been as big as it’s been. I mean, it’s a mainstream brand; it’s not a localised brand. I didn’t expect it to be as massive as this, but I knew it was going to be a success because I knew the sauce was good, and all you need is a good product. But, at the end of the day, that would have probably only lasted me a year after Dragon’s Den. People would have seen beyond it and think, ‘He doesn’t really have anything much to say, but he’s a nice guy.’ But I think six years on, the brand has just really gone from strength to strength. JH: Because now you do ready meals, pasties…
The staple of youth,
Yes. When you cook, you can still keep the flavours that you’ve put with it, but it just adds a little bit more to it.
Better kebabs than Abdul’s, Cheesy chips, divine.
EC: Does our British take on Caribbean food have anything on the real stuff ? Are you trying to bring over the real flavour?
LR: We do pasties, we do cakes, we do snacks, we do ready meals, we’ve got a range of teas and coffees coming out, we’ve got soups. We’ve got over 50 products on the brand! JH: Any advice to young people who want to follow in your footsteps to success?
LR: Yeah, definitely. I think it’s important for me to big up Caribbean food, which is what I’ve been doing – and not just with the sauce. I’ve written eight books, and all eight books have been no. 1 bestsellers. It’s been fantastic that people have accepted it as Caribbean food because it’s a way for me to promote the whole cuisine, as opposed to saying it’s all about Levi, Levi, Levi. This is about Caribbean food and this is really authentic Caribbean flavours. I grew up in this country being used to shepherd’s pie and all that. In my book, I have a recipe for shepherd’s pie, and it’s about adding flavours in there that people are not used to having – the Caribbean flavours.
LR: I wrote my book You Can Get It If You Really Want because I wanted to tell the eternal message that, if Levi Roots can do it, anyone can do it. Even though I’ve written seven cookery books, I think my most important is this book. I think that all you need is a really good plan in your head. You need to be able to focus on that plan and get yourself a mentor – somebody that will help you to put things in the right place, just like how Peter Jones invested in me and made that crucial phone call to Sainsbury’s saying, ‘Look I’ve got this fabulicious guy here, you need to have that sauce in the store.’ And they said yes!
JH: So it’s applicable and adaptable to British
Thank you very much, Levi!
Waited in the queue, no reservations kinda place. Managed to queue-skip past several pairs of couples, wonder why... Led up some stairs, reluctantly excited. The stairs smelled of sweet stale beer like the morning after a house party. ...four of us sat at a table clearly for two people. The table was huddled in the corner next to the disabled lift door. Got handed two more stools, with a nonsincere apology. ‘It’s the kind of vibe of the place’ said the waiter, with no sense of irony. We didn’t actually mind. We salivated over the burger toppings - candied bacon, ‘slut sauce’, BBQ rib meat. Ordered a burger and fries each. Really appreciated how the burgers were only £6-£7. Read the Charlie Sheen rant on the wall, obviously this is ‘the kind of vibe of the place’. Really hated the pictures nailed wonkily on the walls. Felt a bit like we were paying to join in with the in-jokes of the cool kids at school. It took an hour for our food to come, guess ‘it’s the kind of vibe of the place’. The food was incredible. My favourite burger was the Triple Nom despite despising its name. BBQ rib meat on top of a burger is the best idea. Had ‘trailer trash’ fries, like fries but with loads of sauce, get the plain ones next time. BBQ and suicide sauces are free in bottles anyway. No mayonnaise in this joint. The fries were made from sweet potato and ordinary potato. Incredible. Go on, I’ll say it’s probably best burger I’ve ever had. There’s kitchen roll to mop your face because ‘it’s the kind of vibe of the place’. Music from Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, revisiting our teen years. Tap water was served in jars, don’t know why, this isn’t impoverished Ireland 70 years ago. Would love to go back for another one of those burgers.
Food & Drink
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
23
Simon Rogan comes to Manchester Emily Clark reviews Rogan’s Cumbrian restaurant L’Enclume and Maddy Hubbard previews his forthcoming venture Rogan’s food is inspired by natural, English produce; one of the better results of the foraging trend. There were 17 courses, but the running theme of nature bound the whole menu and experience together - although the theme got a little trying when it ran over to the décor of driftwood candleholders and arbitrary pebbles, one of which my Dad almost mistook as the first course. The refreshing menu layout, introducing dishes by just naming ingredients, meant that the cooking processes and presentation were all completely unexpected. Eating at this restaurant was a real privilege. I’ve annotated the menu below to try and impart some sense of the meal. Starters Oyster pebbles These were little meringues filled with oyster emulsion, melted in the mouth. Cockle, seaweed and horseradish Smoked eel with ham fat Strongly smoked eel was incredible, encased in crispy tempura. Lichen, frozen ox, sour cream Kohlrabi, eggs, truffle Kohlrabi purée was served in ceramic pouches and had an odd foamy texture. Mains Cod ‘yolk’, sage cream, pea shoots salt and vinegar This was my favourite course, cod cream encased in saffron gel, salt and vinegar were perfect seasoning, served with crispy rehydrated rice . Westcombe dumpling, vegetable broth, beetroot and winter shoots Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel Venison tartare, with smoky, aniseed oil encased in balls of sugar Valley mushrooms, yellow pea and lettuce, smoked marrow and stonecrop The mushrooms tasted a lot like bacon! Really meaty.
Manchester is incredibly lucky to be attracting a chef of the calibre of Rogan – he is one of a group of chefs who is currently working to revive and redefine modern British food. At L’Enclume, his 2 Michelin star flagship restaurant in Cumbria, Rogan has combined a strong sense of place and connection to his environment with beautiful presentation and inventive flavours. A meal there is guaranteed to include many ingredients and herbs you have never heard of, combined in such a way that each component is allowed to shine. His food is so much more than the sum of its parts, and is made more special by its beautiful Cumbrian location, surrounded by his farms which supply the restaurant with interesting and rare produce. It has become something of a foodie pilgrimage destination, and people are willing to travel vast distances to eat there. Rogan has already branched out to other parts of England, and in London opened a two year ‘popup’ called Roganic. I ate there last September, and was blown away by the amazing succession of tiny, perfectly-formed courses. The food was incredible, and the staff seemed almost like members of the cult of Rogan, they were so passionate about what they were serving and the ethos behind the meal. Nevertheless, they were willing to admit that for the full experience you needed to go to Cumbria and eat at L’Enclume. As brilliant as it was, Roganic -was never going to be more than a spin-off, a reflection of Rogan’s talent but without the other
elements that are so central to the experience of his food. So what does this mean for Manchester? Rogan is opening two restaurants in the Midland Hotel, which has recently had a £400k makeover. The French will have 50 covers and is likely to be similar to Roganic, keeping true to the style of food at L’Enclume with many tiny and beautifully formed courses. Despite the name, it will serve exclusively British and local produce in a distinctively modern British style, and shows an exciting new direction in the Manchester food scene. I have written before questioning if Manchester is really an appropriate setting for Michelin-standard fussiness, but the French will certainly be a step in that direction, and is sure to be excellent. The other restaurant will be a 150-seater that will be serving more casual, and not exclusively British, food. This will certainly be more affordable, but one wonders if Rogan’s style will translate, or if this will be more of a hotel restaurant capitalising on his celebrity. As of the 12th March Manchester will have two restaurants run by one of the best chefs in the country, and time will tell if Rogan will succeed in recreating the brilliance of his flagship restaurant, or if some part of the magic gets lost in translation. Maddy Hubbard
Mussels in their own juice, cabbage and leek Artichokes with goats cheese, tarragon, malt Turbot, grilled carrots, smoked scallop and celadine Still not completely convinced by the combination of what was essentially fish and carrot. Reg’s Guinea Hen, turnip shoots, Potato, offal, scurvy grass Desserts Sea buckthorn, buttermilk, liquorice and butternut Rhubarb with brown butter, wild sorrel, apple Apple crumble in disguise, but by far the best one I’ve ever had. Honeycomb, quince, chestnut and perilla Pear, sweet cheese and parsnip Three tiny ice-cream cones filled with each flavour. Sweet parsnip is amazing!
Midland Hotel, home to Rogan’s two new restaurants. Photo: Gene Hunt @Flickr
Student recipe favourites
Courgette falafel
Cocoa bars
Eve Commander
For the sauce
Joanna Fox
I really went off courgette fritters when my Dad made courgette and sweetcorn ones all the time; we had an allotment and courgettes were abundant. However, this recipe put them right back up there. These crisp yet filling falafel-esque courgette balls covered in creamy tomato sauce ranks in my top curry recipes - meat included. Make no mistake: this dish is a centre piece, not a veg accompaniment. Rice, naan and a fresh salad will complement its luxurious sauce nicely. I make double the amount of courgette and the original amount of sauce. I give the recipe in the original quantities. If you find you have too much you can enjoy it with something else the next day when it’s even better!
2 onions, chopped 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 teaspoon ground cumin Cayenne to taste at least ½ teaspoon 2 teaspoons ground coriander A tin of tomatoes 150ml double cream ½ teaspoon garam marsala Salt
Cocoa bars represent ideal student cuisine: they are cheap, easy, require no specialist equipment and - perhaps most importantly - create very little washing-up.
Grate the courgettes and put them in a colander with ½ teaspoon salt and let them drain for 30 mins. Then squeeze out as much water as you can, saving the water for the sauce. Fry up the onions, taking out the amount for the balls once soft but keep frying the ones for the sauce until they have a bit of colour. Then add the turmeric, cumin cayenne and coriander followed by the tomatoes and 250 mls of courgette juice. Simmer for 15 mins. Add cream and garam masala then season with salt. For the balls; mix the courgette with the ginger, chilli, coriander and gram flour and season. Make into little balls and fry until brown all over. Add to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes or so to finish cooking.
Ingredients
For the courgette falafel 3 tablespoons chopped onion Oil 500g grated courgette 1 green chilli finely chopped 1 teaspoon grated ginger 2 tablespoons parseley or fresh coriander 45g gram chickpea flour (Sainsbury’s sells it!)
If you don’t get the quantities right, they simply don’t work, or at least they didn’t when we convinced ourselves we could make them from memory in halls!
and gently press the mixture against the edges. Leave to set in the fridge. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate (again, either in the microwave or on the hob) and then pour on top of the base. Put back into the fridge to set. When ready, cut into bars.
140g Milky Way bars 15ml golden syrup 50g butter 125g cocoa puffs 50g raisins (optional) 150g chocolate Method Melt the Milky Way bars, golden syrup and butter together. You can either do this in the microwave or on the hob in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Mix in the cocoa puffs and the raisins if you are using them. Pour into a 20cm cake tin lined with cling-film
Add toppings like pretzels before leaving in the fridge to set. Photo: number657 @ Flickr
24
Arts & Culture @EDAnalysis
The Assassination of J D. Salinger by the Coward Richard Prince
©Wikimedia Commons
Richard Prince’s The Catcher in the Rye is a facsimile of the first edition of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, except it has Prince’s name in place of Salinger’s, and is thus a work of ‘appropriation art’ billed as a ‘sculpture book’. The appropriateness of such appropriation is uncontested if the bill can be footed for any legal infringement protestation, of course. Is this what Barthes had in mind when he foresaw ‘the death of the author’, or what Foucault envisaged the disappearance of the ‘author function’ looking like, at the end of ‘What is an Author?’ The very opposite. Roland Barthes’ manifestoed summative statement in ‘The Death of the Author’ is: ‘the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author’. The author of The Catcher in the Rye may well be dead, but the notion of authoriality Prince sees it appropriate to force to remain obscenely and tortuously alive, and this at the cost of an abortion of the reader. This ‘sculpture book’ – which, incidentally, was ironically promoted by James Frey, a master of appropriation ex nihilo – may as well be as unread by Prince (and its $40 purchasers) as the authorfunction is made undead by him. There’s something ‘fascististic’ – to coin a word – about the ‘work’: its implications of a moneyed lack of work (l’absence d’œuvre); its murder of the author, and subsequent disavowist, fraudulent identity-theft of the authored material. It fails as art precisely due to its disallowance of dialecticality; it represents a ‘self-alienation [that] has reached the point where it can experience its own’ – and not only its own, but the enforcement of others’ – ‘annihilation as a supreme aesthetic pleasure’, to put it in the words Benjamin uses at the end of ‘The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproducibility’. And this failure occurs in Prince’s piece in precisely the way it doesn’t in Banksy’s ‘Stolen Picasso Quote’.
Everyday Analysis
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2012 WWW.MANCUNION.COM /TheMancunionArtsCulture @ArtsMancunion
Interview
The Interview: the life model ’I understand the way in which the body is looked at. It’s seen as a shape, something aesthetic to be drawn in a mathematical way’ We’ve all experienced the
confidence.” I tell her I imagine
same nightmare, standing in a
it to be quite an empowering
room full of strangers realising
experience
you are stripped naked, baring
“life drawing is a practice that
all to a scrutinising audience,
has an established historical
but for Olive* this is how she
basis and having tried it myself
spent one afternoon on a stage
I understand the way in which
in the union for a bit of extra
the body is looked at. It’s seen
cash.
as a shape, something aesthetic
and
she
agrees,
After attending the MUSEA’s
to be drawn in a mathematical
fortnightly life drawing class I
way; it’s important that the
was intrigued to find out how it
proportions are accurate to get
feels to submit yourself to such
it right.”
intimate examination for ninety
After the interview she had not
minutes, all in the name of art.
only laid herself bare physically
“It’s actually quite meditative,”
for the sake of art but she had
Olive*
the
divulged her personal thoughts
initial moment I have a lot
explains,
“after
as a life model too, thoughts
going around my head, mainly
that usually remain hidden even
worried that I’ll see someone I
while her body is completely
know, but watching the crowd
exposed, and for that reason
and the rhythmic sea-wave of
I think we could all use a bit of
heads going up and down by the
her courage. Nevertheless, it
end my mind goes quiet.”
seems anonymity is key as when
I point out that there are other
I tell her one of the drawings will
ways to make money and they
be printed next to the article she
don’t necessarily involve taking
cries “as long as you can’t tell it’s
your clothes off, she laughs and
me!”
says “I love to do things that
Annabel Herrick
scare me and I’ve always had a strange relationship with my body, in fact it was a boost of
*Name has been changed © Annabel Herrick
Must see
THIS WEEK 11-17 MARCH
Callum Innes
Mark Titchner
Raqib Shaw
Rosa Barba
Callum Innes is one of Britain’s best known absrtact painters. ‘His constartly evolving practice is as much about un-painting as painting.’ Catch the un-painting at the Whitworth.
Talk and Live performance at the Pavement Gallery at MMU, 14th March: ‘The World isn’t Working.’
As reviewed in the Mancunion, enter the magical world of the Indian-born, London-based. internationally renowned artist, famed for seductive, vibrant and unsettling images .
Last chance to catch ‘Subject to Concious Change’ at Corhernouse, a major new solo exhibition and a unique collaboation between CH and the Turner Contemporary.
Surviving ‘DADA doesn’t speak. DADA has no fixed idea’
Trisan Tzara
DADA
SUPPER: with
LUCY J
INTRODUCION & BACKGROUND Dada was an early 20th century avant-garde movement that was originated in Zurich in 1916 by a group of artists associated with Hugo Ball’s Cabaret Voltaire. Dada was anti-war, anti-art and against Bourgeois society which resulted in irrational, autonomous and sometimes outright ludicrous artworks, performances, essays, poems and manifestoes being created. For example in Tristan Tzara’s Dada manifesto he states, ‘DADA doesn’t speak. DADA has no fixed idea’ and he declares that ‘the Holy Virgin was already a Dadaist’. This being said it was an incredibly influential movement that can be seen as the forerunner to conceptual, abstract and performance art despite the fact that the movement itself was more of a ‘meta-movement’. Dada was suspicious of the hierarchies of art and the unity of movements such as cubism and futurism. The Dadaists spread their manifestations around Europe via a series of art journals and magazines and the title of the original magazine by Tristan Tzara called ‘Dada’ gave the group their name.
STYLE & SUBJECT MATTER
Marcel Duchamp ‘Fountain’ (©Wikimedia Commons)
Dada rejected the traditions of art and developed artistic techniques aimed at the de-skilling of the artist. These included collage, photomontage, assemblage (a kind of 3D collage) and the use of the readymade. The most famous example of a readymade and one which aptly defines the nature
of Dada art is Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’. Duchamp entered a porcelain urinal into the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917 which he had signed ‘R. Mutt’ and titled ‘Fountain’. He was suggesting that whether the artist had created the object themselves or not, by signing the work, giving it a title and entering it into an exhibition, it could be called art.
THE KEY PLAYERS Due to the all-inclusive and non-hierachical nature of the Dada movement there were many figures who considered themselves Dadaists and Tristan Tzara stated that ‘all members of the Dada movement are presidents’. There are certain artists though who contributed more significantly with artworks, manifestos, poems or edited the various Dadaist publications and these include: Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Francis Picabia and Andre Breton.
MANIFESTOS & WORKS Tristan Tzara’s DADA manifesto (Paris, January 12th 1921) DADA Magazine (7 issues) Fountain - Marcel Duchamp 1917 L. H. O. O. Q. – Marcel Duchamp 1919
Theatre
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
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Review
What’s On To Kill a Mockingbird 11-18 MARCH Royal Exchange • Runs from 20th February - 30th March
Robbie Davidson
The Beginning/Debut This comprises two plays. The Beginning is the second in a trilogy inspired by Shakespearean stage directions which question what it means to begin. Debut is a performance from BA Contemporary Theatre Practice students from the university of Salford students in which they reflect upon their first performances. Runs 15th March at the Lowry. Tickets £9.
Digging Deep: The Adventures of Sky the Reluctant Hero A ‘beautiful immersive adventure’, according to the Contact theatre, which deals with the nature of mental health. The performance boasts incredible sound and animation. Runs 13th - 16th March at the Contact. Tickets £5.
Nigel Cooke as Atticus Finch and Okezei Morro as Tom Robinson. photo: Jonathan Keenan It’d been a number of years since I last read Harper Lee’s groundbreaking novel, but Christopher Sergel’s adaption has maintained all the poetry and poignancy of the 1960 classic. The beauty of Lee’s novel was that it explored the potent theme of racism in the Deep South through the prism of the bright-eyed naivety of children. The task to transport this unique viewpoint onto stage is a challenging one but one which Sergel and director, Max Webster, rise to magnificently. Webster has cast three ‘child’ leads who
perfectly balance the rambunctious and indignation needed to play Scout, Jem and Dill. In particular, Shannon Tarbet delivers an endearing and energetic performance as Scout, capably handling the scenes of both humour and pathos. Tarbet is supported by the excellent Rupert Simonian and James McConville as Jem, Scout’s protective big brother, and Dill as their friend who stays with them during Tom Robinson’s trial and whose character was rumoured to be based on a young Truman Capote.
Webster and co have also found themselves a fantastic Atticus in Nigel Cooke. Cooke captures all the meek and mild-manners of Atticus which make him such a beloved but frustrating hero. Cooke also benefits from a great physical resemblance to Gregory Peck’s Atticus from 1962 film which adds to the gravitas of the production. James Cotterill’s set is functional but effective but adds nothing of particular interest to the production. The most interesting stage choice the producers have made is instead of having actors play the jury during Tom Robinson’s trial, they have the audience themselves stand in as the jury. This means Atticus’ wonderful closing statement to the court is said directly to the audience. An original and provocative choice given that the one thing both the jury and the audience shared was that they were both almost entirely white. If there are any aspects of the play which falter then the decision to have the actors break character and read extracts from the original novel is a curious and distracting one. It has the unfortunate effect of diluting the intensity of the scenes and becomes quite jarring. The three man band which played during scene changes also struck a slightly bemusing note as their role in the play was never clear and I felt their removal would have been no great loss. However this problem is minor and does little to detract from what is a terrific staging of Lee’s seminal masterpiece bolstered by some inspired lead performances.
Review
The Maenad - MIFTAs review Ben Marshall reviews the third performance of the MIFTAs season up this theory of her controversial nature. Other notable performances came from Remi Lagache and Andrew Dixon’s dim-witted personalities of ‘Man 1’ and ‘Man 2’ respectively, which provided the humorous bone of the play.
Leela Carr-Bond in the MIFTAs performance of The Maenad. photo: Oliver Walton Entering the theatre for a play whose title is a relatively unknown word is always fascinating. Audience members possess a sense of openmindedness and intrigue of the spectacle they’re about to witness – and Hugo Timbrell’s “The Maenad” is a fine example of this. With its Ancient Greek setting, tone and ideas, the production was an entry in this year’s Miftas. It did deal with a theme (gender) that has already been thoroughly explored in theatre, but despite this, some very impressive performances were demonstrated, with interesting visual and sound techniques, which made for a strong overall delivery. For the uninitiated, the Maenads were the mythical, female worshippers of Ancient Greek figure ‘Dionysus’, the God of wine, pleasure and ecstasy. Timbrell’s plot presents us with the Maenad, a frustrated female in a male-dominated world where women are merely sex-slaves. Through a chain of sexual encounters with misogynistic men, the Maenad demonstrates her ability to manipulate males and achieve her goal
of redemption for women. Daisy Church, with her powerful, attention-demanding voice, shone a ray of mystery on the Maenad and managed to attribute to her a degree of masculine-style control, which was essential in showing how she was able to defeat the men. Church’s character was also key in showing some themes of this play; frequent but gentle physical contact exerted on the Girl (Leela Carr-Bond) awoke touching connotations of a mother teaching her daughter the ways of the world, and its dangers. The beautiful white dresses worn by the two further emphasised their similarity and also a supposed purity and innocence of the female kind. However, in a bizarre u-turn, the final scene has the Maenad extracting the heart of her young companion in an unnerving ritual; indeed Maenads themselves are often perceived as drunk, overexcitable beings, and this final act questions the true intentions of this character and the disturbing methods of escaping a world of female suppression. Slow, almost-sinister piano music and a bright red, lustful curtain serving as the backdrop backed
“
some very impressive performances ... made for a strong overall delivery
Lagache was definitely the crazier of the two, with his creepy gestures, stooped posture and unhealthy obsession with sex, while Man 2 was infinitesimally more controlled, but still laughable in his failed attempts to guide his stupid partner. A slight niggle for this reviewer is that there was an air of familiarity with key ideas and characters of this play, with various aspects strongly resembling Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, an Ancient Greek sex
comedy, which also has a central female figure hitting out against the males. Theatre-lovers may notice these, and possibly more similarities that at times seemed a little too coincidental. Of course only the playwright can state the true extent to which ideas have been borrowed from other works. Aside from this, the main questions the playwright addressed (‘What makes a man?’, and ‘What makes a woman?’) are treated well, and it takes a subjective analysis of the action to come up with the answers. Indeed, the men and women take it in turns to be oppressors and the oppressed in this work, and the dim stage lighting put an omnipresent mood of evilness around all the characters. This ultimately means the true positions of each gender in society are down to the individual viewer’s decision, and a good play definitely gives this level of freedom for the audience to decide.
TThe Maenad. photo: Oliver Walton
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Lifestyle
Interview: Jason Manford Beth Currall talks to ‘seedy’ comedian Jason Manford after a surprise performance at Retro Bar
Page 9 of The Sun features Lifestyle Editor, Beth Currall
Students at a charity comedy event were shocked when a ‘surprise headliner’ turned out to be none other than Jason Manford. Equally, Lifestyle were shocked when they ended up on page 9 of The Sun after interviewing the funnyman himself. Our very own Beth Currall was included in a ‘gaggle of girl fans’ with whom ‘seedy comic’ Manford was pictured, after recently being involved in an alleged sex scandal. Despite this putting a negative spin on his performance, Jason was in Manchester to support the children’s charity After Adoption. This is what he had to say:
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Mum’s the word
Beth Currall and Dana Fowles on what we students have our mums to thank for this Mother’s Day Beth: It’s only been since I’ve flown the nest and moved myself 100 miles away from my mum for nine months of the year, that I’ve realised the value of her presence in my life. Until I came to university, I had never been subjected to any domestic chores whatsoever. I had never used a vacuum cleaner or a washing machine in my whole, entire life. The most complex meal I had ever cooked was cheese on toast, and the furthest I’d ever taken a ‘financial plan’ was to budget myself £20 for a night out. Suddenly, I was thrown into what all condescending adults like to call ‘the real world’- a daily grind of feeding myself without burning any of the food or causing a fire, running frantically around Sainsbury’s trying to find every Basics product in stock, and ensuring that I set around fourteen alarms every morning so I get out of bed and make it to lectures on time. Without having my mum on the other end of the phone, I think I may well have managed to throw myself under the 142 before Christmas. I recently endeavoured to cook a Sunday roast for myself and two flat mates. It has to be said that I emerged from the ordeal highly stressed, sweaty and with a new found hatred of Yorkshire Puddings (who knew that they took so long to rise?) I called my mum to vent my frustrations and realised that this is what
she does every Sunday. I have come to a similar conclusion about many of the ‘real world’ events I have experienced over the last few months. It has made me realise that I take the little things that my mum does for granted. They have left a big ‘Mum-shaped’ hole in my life since I’ve moved away. This Mother’s Day, I will be showing true appreciation to my mum for everything she does, big and small. I encourage you, fellow students, to do the same because it’s the one day of the year that can really show a bit of love and gratitude to the women that gave us life. And then we can go straight back to being argumentative, stroppy young adults for the remaining 364 days, of course. Dana: I am 20 years old. My mum is 40 years old. By the time she was my age she had left education, got a full time job, met my dad, moved in with him and given birth to her first baby (me). Fast forward two decades later and here I am, single, childless, studying at university and still wondering how on earth the dress I have been ironing for about an hour has managed to become more creased than when I started. When I first came to university in September 2011, I was under the illusion that it would all be one big party. I never imagined quite how
It’s...
Blind Date James, 1st year, Ancient History
Jason, when did you decide that stand-up comedy was the career path for you?
First impressions? She seemed like a decent girl from the offset; she was very friendly, bubbly and chatty. Pretty, too.
I was thinking about this today actually, funnily enough. I’ve basically been doing this my whole life: I started when I was sixteen and didn’t get paid for a while [laughs], but I always knew that I wanted to be an entertainer. Stand-up became the one thing I was really good at, you know; it’s sort of like singing or dancing, you just discover it.
Did the date get off to a flying start? Well it wasn’t awkward if that’s what you mean. She kept the conversation going which was good, and she has a really good sense of humour- for a girl [laughs]. Best features? Eyes, and she has a great figure too. She was showing off her ‘muscles’ from the gym! Any awkward moments? Apart from when she showed me her nonexistent muscles? None,really. Did you have many things in common? Yeah we have mutual friends here which we didn’t know about, and obviously with us both being Freshers, we spoke quite a bit about our first year experiences so far. What’s the weirdest thing she told you? She has a spending addiction, and has to hide her shopping purchases from her flat mates so that they don’t find out she’s been blowing her student loan again. What happened after you finished your meal? We just walked back to halls together and said bye at Owen’s Park. How did you say goodbye? Yeah this was an awkward moment actually because I wasn’t sure what to go for - a hug, a kiss on the cheek, a wave? I went for the hug in the end; it was like the middle ground. Kiss? Nope. Any potential plans for the future? She was a lovely girl and I think she’d be a right laugh on a night out, so hopefully we can stay in touch and arrange to go out with our mutual friends.
So you have no formal training in the field? No, I went to university and did media courses, but you can’t really teach stand-up. It’s a natural sort of talent really; you can’t tell someone how to make others laugh. That’s true! So what kind of crowd do you like to perform for the most? [Pauses to think] Well, obviously big shows are good because the people who are there already like you! You don’t even have to convince them that you’re funny. Playing at places like the O2 [arena] and at the Royal Variety Show are very exciting; people have travelled from all over the country to see you, it’s a big honour. But when I have the time, it is always good to perform in front of smaller crowds and do charity appearances like this. Do you do a lot of work for charities? I try to do as best as I can with charities. If I agreed to do every charity gig I was asked to do, I could probably do one every night, so it becomes tricky deciding which charities to perform for. I often agree to perform for children’s charities, such as this one [Jason performed at a fundraising event in aid of After Adoption] because it’s a cause close to my heart, having children myself. Finally, any exciting plans for this year ahead? Quite a few: I go back on tour in May, through until January, which I’m really looking forward to. I also have a couple of pilot sitcoms out - the gates are really opening for me in TV, and I’m hoping that one of those will take off.
Jason supported the children’s charity After Adoption, raising money to provide support for families involved in the adoption process. If you would like to find out more information about the charity or donate, visit www.afteradoption.org.uk.
much I would miss my family and my faraway hometown of Plymouth. Despite meeting my lovely now-housemates, it took a whole lot of crying down the phone before I truly began to enjoy myself. Even then, I was often counting down the days until I would be met with a great big mummy cuddle at the train station. The truth is that I was (and still am) a baby – just quite a big one. If it was still socially acceptable for me to hold my mum’s hand in public, I probably would. I always have and always will be a mummy’s girl. So, like Beth, I have realised just how much we students have our mums to thank for this Mother’s Day. My mum has been behind every single one of my achievements – from learning how to walk, read and write, to passing my A-Levels and getting into university. She played Barbies with me when I was four. She told me that it was all going to be okay when I was dumped for the first time aged 16. She put me to bed when I was 17 and too drunk to stand. She waved me off in Manchester when I was 18 and she will be here again to see me graduate next year. We may joke about the cleaning, the cooking and the ironing, but it is the words of encouragement, the instilling of confidence and the unconditional love and support of our mums that have led us to where we are today. And they will lead us to where we are tomorrow, too.
Jame s&
Charlotte, 1st year, Psychology First impressions? He looked nice and easy to get on with; he has one of those friendly faces! I also liked the clothes he was wearing. Did the date get off to a flying start? Yeah, we had quite a lot of things to talk about which surprised me. I thought it would be really awkward but it was a bit like Freshers - getting to know someone you’ve never met, but obviously it was a bit more intense as it was a date! Best features? Smile, definitely! He also has a good personality and is really easy to talk to. Any awkward moments? Erm, no, none that I can think of anyway. There were a couple of slightly awkward silences but that’s normal on a blind date, right? Did you have many things in common? A bit yeah; we have mutual friends at uni so we mostly talked about them.
Cha rlotte
What’s the weirdest thing he told you? He didn’t say anything weird - you shouldn’t say anything weird on a blind date, should you? What happened after you finished your meal? We walked back to Owen’s Park together and then went our separate ways. How did you say goodbye? A friendly hug. Kiss? [Shakes head] Nooo!
Any potential plans for the future? He was lovely and we hang around in similar circles, so it would be great to go on a night out with him. But other than that, probably not.
Thanks to Trof and all the staff at Trof Fallowfield. If you would like to get involved please send your name and course details to Beth Currall at bethcurrall@hotmail. com Beth Currall & Lauren Arthur
Lifestyle
ISSUE 17/ 11TH MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Travel
Croatia: the ‘it’ destination Faye Parr on Croatia: the festival fan’s summer must-visit Croatia is fast becoming the ‘it’ place for summer getaways. This beautiful island is perfect for students who are looking for something more than the standard drunken holiday to Kavos or Ayia Napa. Playing host to numerous festivals and with music to suit every taste, Croatia gives travellers a taste of the party atmosphere, but is also a cultural hotspot too. Why not treat yourself once your exams have finished? Here are two of this summer’s up and coming events: In-Music Festival: 24th – 26th June The In-Music festival offers the perfect opportunity to combine a cultural city break with a European music festival. It is located at the idyllic Lake Juran, with the Croatian capital
of Zagreb easily reachable by public transport, and past artists have included Jamiroquai, Arcade Fire, The Streets and Franz Ferdinand. What’s not to like? A win-win situation, I am sure you will agree. Flights from London to Zagreb take just two hour and cost about £130. You can camp on site at the festival for a bargain at £65 a ticket. If you would prefer to take advantage of some of the accommodation Zagreb boasts, a ticket will cost just £48 and hostels can be booked for as little as £15 a night and can be found on booking.com. Hideout Festival: 3rd – 5th July Located on the Island of Pag, which is well known for its lively night life, this festival
has been a huge success since its launch in 2011. With boat parties galore and plenty of stunning beaches to choose from, you won’t be disappointed. There are no camping facilities at this festival, but this is not a problem, as the island offers plenty of accommodation options. Those looking for a 24 hour party should head to Novalja on Zrce beach. Novalja is the liveliest part of the island and is just a short bus ride to the festival location. If you fancy something a little quieter, try the quaint fishing village of Madre, which has been voted the most beautiful place in Croatia. The best bit of news yet? Croatia is cheaper than a lot of its European neighbours, so this little trip will fit in nicely with your student budget. Flights take around two and a half hours from London and cost £250. Tickets for Hideout Festival cost £109 for three days, with headlining acts including Chase and Status, Pendulum, Rudimental and Jamie Jones. Hostels or budget hotels in both Novalja and Madre are reasonably priced at around £45 per night, and can be found on booking.com.
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Lent: the half-way mark Dana Fowles reaches day 20 of her dry spell Today marks the third week of Lent and therefore my third week of being a teetotal student (a species unheard of until now). That’s right ladies and gentlemen; I Dana Fowles have not touched a single drop of alcohol for 21 days. Pinky promise. As expected, the journey to the halfway point has not been easy. I have encountered several temptations, which I have just about managed to overcome. I must admit that passing through Sainsbury’s everyday has resulted in wistful browsing of the wine displays every now and again. In my desperation to have a glass of something nice with tea (or dinner to those in the other camp), I have found myself contemplating whether Bucks Fizz really counts as alcohol. However, as it clearly lists ‘white wine’ as an ingredient on the label, I have had to force myself to be strong and relocate to the fruit juices. A low point, it is time to confess, has been playing pretend by drinking the aforementioned fruit juices out of wine glasses and even champagne flutes. It has been a difficult time, not helped by one particular housemate. Jake (whom you may recognise as the fashion editor) has taken on the role of the serpent in the Garden of Eden on more than one occasion. Before going to a house party, he recently slithered into my room with ‘water’ (vodka) and encouraged me to have a sip. What’s more, last week at the Unity charity fashion show (unfortunately held at 256), he said and I quote: ‘Just have a glass of wine. You without a glass of wine in your hand is like me suddenly not caring about what I wear anymore - unnatural.’ Again I managed to resist and enquired as to whether the girl at the bar could make me a non-alcoholic cocktail (which was actually pretty nice in all honesty). Although I have missed being able to have a drink at times, I am not sorry to have left behind the hangovers from hell. It turns out that there are some benefits to going teetotal. For one, I feel a lot more organised. Whereas I would have wasted a day here and there in order to nurse myself back to health after a heavy night, I am now making the most of every 24 hours. I feel more active; I haven’t eaten a single takeaway since I embarked on the challenge and I have started going swimming regularly, as well as getting up early on weekends to crack on with the never ending pile of books to read and essays to write. I may have spoken too soon, however. The biggest temptation yet still awaits me. My best friend from home and one of her housemates are due to visit in two days time. This could spell the end of my nonalcoholic cocktail drinking days, only time will tell.
Advice
Deadline day diet
The art of dating
Lauren Arthur on how to combat all-nighter snacking
Molly Allen on the awkwardness of dating
My approach to essays is hardly one that I’d shout from the rooftops: I vaguely become aware of a looming deadline, chill; realise said looming deadline is in fact this week, chill with a slight hint of guilt; deadline is no longer looming and is in fact tomorrow, eat. ‘Night before’ essay writing is mine, and I’m sure many others’, forte. There are the people who post statuses claiming not to have started an essay, whilst they are actually sitting in front of a perfectly planned 2000 words. Then there are those of us who truly have not begun. Whether you spend your last precious hours in the comfort of your flat or in the learning commons amongst fellow disorganised souls, food remains a necessity. Whilst my undying love for McVitie’s chocolate digestives will never fade, it’s come to my attention (rather depressingly) that these half coated, circular delights are pretty bad for me. Especially at three in the morning. So what should we be snacking on instead when desperate times call for desperate measures? Why not try sugar free jelly, a surprisingly satisfying sweet treat? Or berries? Unfortunately, buying them fresh you mean
you will probably rack up a total rivalling the price of a Parklife ticket. Head to the frozen aisle instead (making sure to avoid eye contact with Ben and Jerry) and pick up a pack of Sainsbury’s Basics Berry Mix to store in your freezer. The classic carrot and houmous pairing is another tast and healthy snack. Crunchy foods are also said to help the stress subside by ridding you of jaw tension, so take that Plato.
If the aforementioned options aren’t taking your fancy, there is always homemade popcorn. Stock up on brown paper bags (Amazon) and some kernels (good old Sainsbury’s); microwave until the popping stops and you’re reading to face a long gruelling night. So, while I’m cursing myself the night before a deadline yet again, at least I can nibble without completely ruling out hopes of a summer bikini body.
outside on the grass, just talking for ages. There was none of the ‘who pays for what?’ palaver and there was no need to put on a front. Contrary to the classic first date of dinner and a movie, I see nothing wrong with a casual cup of tea (not coffee, don’t risk the bad coffee breath). There is the opportunity for tea to turn into lunch and you can take things from there. Ultimately, the most important thing to keep in mind when dating is to be you. Yes – the real snorting, cackling you, with your own opinions and all of your insanity. If the date is subsequently a terrible train wreck, then not to worry; there are plenty more hotties (and potential ‘dates’) lurking around various corners of campus.
When it comes to dating I am your typical British girl. The thought of going on a date grips me with an insurmountable fear. Thus I only went on my first ‘proper’ date aged 19, with a guy who I had been ‘seeing’ (but not ‘dating’) for a couple of weeks. After revealing my dating virginity to said guy, he insisted that we go out for dinner. I immediately panicked about what we were going to talk about and how I was supposed to behave. How on earth was I going to manage to hide my insanity and control my unattractive habits of snorting and cackling? The truth is though, that dating doesn’t have to be all that scary. Try to ignore the pressure of the ‘date’ label and concentrate on using it as an opportunity to really get to know the person. My first ‘date’ with a previous boyfriend was spent sitting
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Games
ISSUE 17/ 11th March 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Review: Tomb Raider Tekken 3
Looking back on the 17 year old super franchise, Lara Croft has always been a contention point in the discussion about video games. She simultaneously holds the title of sex symbol, and icon for women in video games at the same time. She appeared as a premiere female super hero in the ‘90s and was one of the few of the kind at the time and an important step, but married with the skimpy outfit and an exaggerated bust she is still dismissed by some to be derogatory. Over the years she has moved further away from the stereotype, but limited by her static 2D persona, she lagged behind as better female leads developed. Since a revival of “old” Lara wasn’t viable, the only route left for Crystal Dynamics was a reboot. A dozen plus releases and two films after the first game, the twin pistol toting, superhero, sex icon has had a major “reinvention” and Tomb Raider takes it in its stride. The story begins when a recently graduated Lara is mysteriously shipwrecked on an expedition to Japan with her friends. Lara grows as she learns to traverse rooftops and scale mountains from one brilliant set piece to another to escape the island and uncover its secrets. Lara’s emotional arc has twists and turns that guide her from a morose but driven student, to victim, murderer, and finally hero. Camilla Luddington’s stellar voice acting and
animation capture delivers this fantastic emotional rollercoaster despite relying heavily upon exposition. You will be tearing up at one point and cursing the next. However the same could not be said for any of the other characters. They’re not terrible, but when compared to how much you see and feel of Lara, they simply don’t match her depth. Although there are some debatable choices, such as relying on quick time events, the clean UI and simplified controls are the most noticeable. There is no crouch, nor cover button. When you get into the vicinity of an enemy Lara crouches to tell the player that she’s in danger. In this mode, she automatically takes cover and then leans out to shoot at your command and thanks to the third person viewpoint it isn’t as clumsy as FPSs. The climbing is smooth and easy to manage, and as such every time I missed a jump I was to blame and not the game. All this combines into a neat and fluid movement system and small things like reacting to her environment really help the immersion. Accompanied with a simple level up mechanic and neat combat design that balances stealth, and close and long range combat, and outsmarting your enemies feels slick and rewarding every time. Exploring the island is a treat. The game is beautifully rendered and the island has some of the most breath-taking vistas. From
parachuting to climbing, each set piece is exciting and gloriously pretty. Whilst it suffered for demoting puzzle elements to optional secret tombs that have no consequences on the plot, it successfully carries on the tradition of epic adventures that has been a hallmark for Tomb Raider games. Extra credit has to be given to the effort they put into Lara’s hair, which flows naturally strand by strand, making Lara even more believable whilst my PC screams in pain. The music isn’t stellar, but it adds to the gravity of each emotional moment. Although the gunfire lacks impact, the ambient sound from wildlife and the environment are excellent and bring the world to life. The multiplayer feels forced. It isn’t bad and utilises all the mechanics in the game, but pales in comparison to the single player. It was hard to find a server, not because there was bad matchmaking, but because there was no one playing it. It’s best to ignore the multiplayer and focus on the story. All in all this game is fantastic for anyone, fan or not, who wants an immersive adventure with a compelling lead character and a wonderful world to explore; this game is a shining example of how reboots are done.
Jonathan Lee
Sam Dumitriu
News
Preview
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Ubisoft • November 1 • 36o/ PS3 Ubisoft have announced the latest entry in the Assassin’s Creed series Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The trailer shows notorious pirate Blackbeard describing assassin Edward Kenway to a bar full of pirates. Fans of the series will recognise the name Kenway from Assassin’s Creed 3’s protagonist Connor Kenway. Edward is the grandfather of Connor and the first Kenway to join the Assassin’s order. The game is set in 1715 in the last decade of the Golden Age of Piracy in the West Indies. The treaty of Utrecht has ended the war between the major European powers of Spain, France, Portugal, Britain and the Dutch Republic. This left privateers unemployed, and pushed many into Piracy in the Caribbean. It is against this backdrop that the Assassin’s and the Templars continue their battle for the fate of humanity. Black Flag promises to be a huge game, spanning 50 unique locations at land and sea. Action will span from Kingston, Jamaica to the famous pirate base in Nassau, home to legendary pirates
While there have been eight instalments in the Tekken franchise, it’s very likely that your lasting memory will be that of Tekken 3. The PS1’s Tekken 3 is widely considered to be the best title in the series, and one of the best beat ‘em ups of all time. The fighting system had been expanded to include sidesteps, adding a new layer of depth to a previously simplistic fighter. One of the great things about Tekken is how accessible it is for beginners, as a party game it’s hard to top. Characters like Eddy Gordo mean that a button-mashing beginner won’t be absolutely humiliated when a veteran Jin Kazama comes along. Paul Phoenix was always my pick, his gravity defying hair always made the trash talk fun. Other iconic characters include Bruce-Lee-knock-off Marshall (Oh I see what you did there) Law, robot samurai Yoshimitsu, and tiny dinosaur Gon. This was an eclectic cast of characters only matched by Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in terms of memorability. Being so widely played and iconic also lead to it crossing over into popular culture. In a memorable argument between Tim (Simon Pegg) and Daisy ( Jessica Stevenson) on the TV show Spaced, each blow in the argument was matched with a blow on Tekken, when Daisy wins the Tekken voice over announces her victorious and she does the victory pose of Tekken fighter Nina Williams. As a series Tekken is still going strong, with the latest entry Tekken Tag Tournament 2 remaining a popular fixture at arcades. Comparing old and new, one notices that the older Tekken’s feel like they’re taking place in slow motion. While many new characters have come along in the series, players are likely to still pick their favourites from Tekken 3 like Eddy Gordo, Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law.
Blackbeard, Black Sam and Calico Jack. In the main story there will be a 60:40 split between Land based and Naval based mission. You’ll have a customisable boat, the Jackdaw, which through plundering and pillaging allows you to build large galleons, recruit sailors and attack enemy ships. Keeping with the pirate theme, you’ll be able to loot underwater ships, hunt rare animals in untamed jungles and establish a lawless republic in the Bahamas. The weaponry keeps with the theme, as well as the classic hidden
IGN leave e-Sport league in jeopardy Sam Dumitriu
blades, you also carry two cutlass swords and four flintlock pistols. Kenway can run through lush jungles as well as sailing the high seas Black Flag is set for release on all next generation consoles with improved graphics and physics on the current generation release. Ubisoft also intend to create a game with a “single connected player” which hopes to combine the single player experience with the fun of playing with a huge community. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will ship on November 1.
IGN’s Internet Pro League 6 has been cancelled On the 21st of February Ziff Davis, the parent company of IGN, announced in an internal memorandum that they had taken steps to ‘simplify and focus’ their online content. Among the losses for the online consumer are the websites 1UP.com and GameSpy.com. While this may be unwelcome to many, the estimated worth of these websites combined is only $3,240,038, a fraction of IGN.com’s estimated worth of $44,558,047. A lesser-known but potentially
more important loss to the online consumer is in the proposed sale of IGN’s competitive gaming arm: the IGN Pro League or IPL. The league has received acclaim in the competitive gaming (eSports) community for it’s high standard of content; especially in the publication of high level play of Blizzard’s real-time strategy, Starcraft 2. IGN have announced the cancellation of IPL 6, IPL’s large live tournament event. The tournament which was scheduled to be held at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las
Vegas and was one of the world’s largest e-Sports events. This has left gamers who’ve bought plane tickets to Vegas out of pocket. In an attempt to steal some market share, MLG CEO Sundance has offered discounted tickets to MLG Dallas which is taking place the same weekend. By putting IPL up for sale, Ziff Davis are not only casting doubts over the longevity of one of North America’s largest and most respected competitive gaming leagues, but also over the sustainability of one of the giants of gaming media. While international economic difficulties at such a time as this mean that measures to reorganize businesses are not uncommon, this is still far from good news. We can only hope that under their new structure, the staff at Ziff Davis and their subsidiaries will be able to replace what they have lost.
Jacob Harrison
30 : SPORT
ISSUE 17/ 11th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Touch rugby tour hits Manchester in style With the 2013 League and 2015 Union World Cups both being hosted in England, rugby has begun its quest for an Olympic-style legacy
Cal Millar Britain rediscovered its sporting pride last year in quite spectacular fashion with the London Olympics, which Mayor Boris Johnson hailed as the start of “a golden decade of British sport”. While it was hoped that this “decade” would be concluded with a FIFA world cup, England have still won the rights to the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, with several games to be played in Sale, and the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. England will again expect, with the latest odds at the bookies 5/1 in League and 4/1 in Union for them to lift the trophy. But for the Rugby Football Union, the managing body of rugby union in England, the main aim of the event is to create a lasting legacy, promoting the sport in England like it hasn’t been since they brought home the Webb Ellis Cup back in 2003. As part of this drive, they’ve sent a touring party around the country to promote the opening of some seventyfive touch rugby centres by the end of this year, and another hundred the year after. To help them with this, they’ve brought together some rather unique individuals to create an exhibition rugby team, with a twist. Drawn from the realms of parkour and choreography, some of the most skillful athletes and dancers in the country have merged to form rugby’s answer to the
Harlem Globe Trotters: The Untouchables. So it was that on a bitterly cold morning in Albert Square I was to be found at the side of a piece of hallowed Twickenham turf surrounded by inflatable walls, awaiting the arrival of this super team. Already there was England Women’s twenty three times capped Vicky Fleetwood: “Everyone can get involved, all ages, so it’s a really good sport in that respect. It’s great for fitness and skills, and they’re starting to promote it in schools now - it’s getting a lot more promotion, which is great. If you want to get involved, just get in touch with your local club!” As the day progressed, many innocent passers-by were lured onto the pitch to try their hand, all enjoying themselves in the sunshine that eventually showed up around eleven. And then, the perfect promotion opportunity: a school day trip. As a rugby fan it’s always a treat to see enjoyment of the sport in young people, and here were a batch of youngsters eager to learn. The class of year sevens got individual time with the Untouchables who passed on their tips and tricks, which lead to one boy performing a catch behind the back I’m sure I could never have managed. All were given links to the new touch rugby centre and a free O2 water bottle to boot. For the more experienced rugby players, the famed Martin Bayfield challenge from
the BBC Six Nations coverage emerged twice during the dayjust imagine a giant cardboard cut-out of Martin Bayfield and all you have to do is pass the ball through the hole where the hands would have been. After hearing that England scrumhalf Danny Care had only managed one in the allotted sixty seconds, I was feeling confident of impressing. In reality, I got a brutal reminder of why I played in the forwards: par with Care; one clipped in off the lip in the last second. Meanwhile the guy I was lined up against nailed sixteen…or so he said… But the special guest I was keen to meet was Sale Sharks very own Rob Miller. An Under-20s England star, he’s touted as one of the exciting prospects of the future and could perhaps be key to Sale avoiding relegation from the Aviva Premiership this season. As a Sharks fan, and having seen him play live at Salford City Stadium, I hoped he’d be the perfect person to help promote rugby to Manchester. “We’re trying to get as many people involved in the sport as possible, which O2 are doing a great job of- there’s tournaments and prizes to take part in and hopefully we’ll get loads of people playing rugby. Touch is a fantastic and simple way of getting into the game, there’re no line-outs, scrums, and no contact so it’s a safe route for youngsters. The Untouchables with their street-dancing and free-
The O2 Touch Tour visited Albert Square in Manchester
walking skills have a great display of skills with the ball and without so keep an eye out for them on tour! There’s a lot of rugby played in Manchester and in the North West, if you want to get started, the RFU advertises a lot of touch rugby tournaments online in the summer, which is a great way to stay fit in the summer, and
take it from there”. All said, it was a fantastic day of exhibition for the sport and with six legs left of the tour (at the time of printing) I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more youngsters brought into the family of rugby. If the Untouchables can kick on to turn England to the way of the oval ball the RFU will be well
on their way to building that legacy. They resume touring after the conclusion of the Six Nations, with England on course for their first Grand Slam in ten years, which can only help their cause. Manchester: mission accomplished. Next up: Portsmouth - catch them if you can!
Khan seeks redemption on home soil Sheffield to host ‘the Return of the King’ when Khan fights Diaz in April
Alex Underwood It was announced last week that Amir Khan will fight in Britain for the first time since April 2011 when he takes on Julio Diaz in Sheffield on April 27th. But contrary to the fight’s tag-line “Return of the King”, this will be anything but a coronation for a man who is struggling to stamp his authority on the boxing world. Bolton-born boxer Khan has flattered to deceive since he burst onto the scene at the 2004 Olympics. He won a silver medal, Britain’s only boxing medal of the Games, at just 17, and was quickly tipped for big success. But since turning professional in 2008, Khan has been defeated on three separate occasions and has not lived up to the potential he showed from such a young age. Against Colombian Breidis Prescott in August
2008, Khan suffered a shock knockout defeat within 54 seconds. Questions were asked about his brittle defence and inability to withstand a punch. But Khan recovered and by 2011 was the WBA and IBF light-welterweight champion after defeating highly-rated American Zab Judah in Las Vegas. It looked like Khan was on for the big-time, being tipped for mega-fights against Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquaio. The Prescott defeat was consigned to the past, a one-off mistake. Then things started to go wrong. Khan lost, again surprisingly, to Lamont Peterson in Washington DC in 2011, although the defeat was more than a little controversial. Khan was twice docked points for seemingly innocuous offences and video evidence after the fight suggested that a mysterious man at ringside had interfered with the
score-cards; a rematch was scheduled but soon thereafter Peterson tested positive for the banned substance synthetic testosterone. Against Peterson, Khan had been unlucky. But there were no excuses for his next defeat to Danny Garcia. Khan entered the fight as the 1-7 favourite but was caught cold by a searing left-hook that penetrated his defences. It was this third defeat more than anything that left Khan out in the wilderness as he looks to take control of the welterweight division. Since then Khan has made changes. He dispensed with trainer Freddie Roach in favour of Virgil Hunter, who has been tasked with working on Khan’s defensive problems and containing his tendency to react with emotion, rather than the mental awareness to step away, when caught. In none of his three defeats was Khan ever comprehensively out-
boxed; rather he was caught by individual blows that could easily have been avoidable. Khan is already on the comeback trail having defeated Carlos Molina last December. Diaz should not create any major problems for Khan; at 33 he is well past his prime and having fought predominately in the lightweight division he is not naturally a welterweight. But then Peterson, Garcia and Prescott should never have caused Khan a problem either. There is now no room to manoeuvre for Khan. His career is on a knife-edge and, at the age of 27, he cannot afford to be defeated again. He is still a very capable boxer but he has been forced to climb the ladder all over again. Should he miss a rung this time, he may well never get to the top.
Khan’s last fight was a TKO victory over Carlos Molina Photo: Wikimedia Commons
SPORT : 31
ISSUE 16/ 4th MARCH 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM/
Samaggi Games come to Manchester Over 2,000 students from across the country descended on the city for annual Thai sporting event Carissa Sirikitputtisak On Saturday February 23rd 2013, the Thai Society of Manchester (TSM) hosted Samaggi Games at Sportcity sports district. This year over 1,000 Thai athletes from 55 universities came in from across the United Kingdom to participate in the annual Thai sports tournament. The event was sponsored by Samaggi Samagom, the Thai Student Association in the UK, which was founded in 1901 by Thailand’s (then known as Siam) King Rama VI. Another 1,200 Thai students came to cheer on the athletes making this year’s event one of the largest Samaggi Games ever held and marked the first time the games had been hosted in Manchester. The event was organised by Samaggi president Pongnakorn “Tone” Pochakorn and his staff: TSM president, University of Manchester Chemical Engineering PhD candidate Tule “Tyun” Sirikitputtisak, and a group of 60 dedicated TSM volunteers from the Universities of Manchester, Salford, and Manchester Metropolitan. Sports played included men’s and women’s squash, men’s and women’s 4 x 100m relay, mixed 8 x 100m relay, men’s and women’s doubles badminton, mixed doubles badminton, men’s
and women’s doubles tennis, basketball, and football. The event also included cultural play including tug of war, a three-legged race, an eating game, and the Thai games of wing-peaw and chairball. Chairball is a popular Thai sport that resembles basketball or netball. The baskets are held up on each side of the court by a person standing on a chair who can move the basket to catch the ball thrown by their team to score points. Each basket is assigned a blocker from the opposing team who stands in front of the basket holder to block any incoming passes. Similarly to netball, the ball is moved by passing player to player. Running with the ball or dribbling is not allowed. Chairball is predominately a female sport but each team is permitted a maximum of three male players who can play the positions of blocker and basket holder where height is an advantage. The universities were divided into six regions: Upper North, Lower North, Midland, South, West, and London. Manchester competed for Lower North Region along with Leeds, Lancaster, York, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent to take third place overall with two gold medals and four bronze. The Midland
The University of Manchester Thai Society pose for a photo during the games. Photo; University of Manchester Thai Society.
Region came in second place with three gold and seven bronze, and London Region placed first with six gold, six silver, and two bronze. Imperial College London won the trophy for the school with the highest medal count with an impressive three gold, three silver, and one bronze. The Midland Region was awarded the trophy for the best cheering section. Students from the
University of Manchester won two medals at the games. Materials Science PhD student Poonsuk “Nook” Poosimma won a gold medal in Women’s Squash after a 2-0 victory in the finals over the University of Southampton. Badminton Men’s Doubles duo Tanapat “Kan” Wilaingam, a second year Civil Engineering student, and Jirapas “Pao” Tantipiriyakij, a first year Architecture
student, took home the bronze medal after a 21-18 win over the University of East Anglia. In addition to Thai athletes and students, the event also welcomed distinguished visitors from the Royal Thai Embassy in London including the Education Minister from the Office of Educational Affairs, Dr. Piyawat Sivaraks, and the Thai Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, H.E. Mr.
Pasan Teparak, who presided over the opening and closing ceremonies. “[The] Samaggi Games was a great success, thanks to our volunteers and athletes,” posted TSM president Tyun Sirikitputtisak on the society’s facebook page. “Our facilities, organization, volunteers, and attendance have set a very high standard for years to come.”
Beautiful game, ugly fans
Can Football supporters learn lessons from the conduct of Rugby fans? within the vehicle of a group
respectability of these two
genuine football fans. Yet,
rather than by an individual
sports is largely attributable
it cannot be ignored that
alone, I have become oddly
to the men on the pitch and
such conduct means that
suspicious
activity
not between the groups within
supporters must necessarily
rugby has developed as the
where one can hide themselves
the stands. One can look at
be
gentlemen’s game compared
within a crowd and use this
any Six Nations game over the
a couple of hundred seats
to its petulant little brat of
to justify thuggish behaviour.
weekend to see how beautifully
reserved as no man’s land
a
This
painfully
civilised fans of rugby are
between them.
the players in rugby don’t
evident at football grounds
towards each other. The fierce
commonly attempt to feign
up and down the country
passion to spur on their team
optimist’s
injury or dive to gain an
where week in, week out, fans
is not compromised, yet there
can only hope that football
advantage, but that cannot be
gleefully shout expletives at
is
of
fans can take a leaf out of
considered to be the full story
the referee, opposing players
friendly banter between home
supporters of rugby’s book
without at least considering
and, even more disgracefully,
and away as enjoyed over an
and realise that they can
the gulf between supporters
slurs about some of the darkest
ice-cold Tetley’s.
retain commitment to their
of the ‘beautiful game’ and the
days in footballing history such
It must be acknowledged that
team without wanting to
‘gentlemen’s game.’
as the Munich Air Disaster and
it is increasingly becoming
abuse or physically injure
Hillsborough.
the minority of football fans
followers of opposing clubs,
James Thomas
It is interesting to note how
brother,
Since
football.
watching
Sure
Derren
has
of
any
become
general
endorsement
separated;
Although
often
with
perhaps
an
pipedream,
one
Brown’s The Gameshow, built
Taking stock of such conduct,
who participate in the violent
all the while acting behind
on the idea of whether evil
it is difficult to see how the
or
the ugly face of the crowd.
can be harboured more easily
difference
has dented the credibility of
between
the
abusive
culture
which
Spartak Moscow fans clash with police Photo: Wikimedia Commons
SPORT
11TH MAR 2013/ ISSUE 17 FREE : @Mancunion_Sport : /TheMancunion
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Touch rugby tour arrives in Manchester
P30
Birmingham a step too far for UoM squash
Sheffield floored as Manchester reach final
WWW.MANCUNION.COM
P31
BUCS
Rugby Union WOMEN’S NORTHERN 1A P
W
D
L
GD
Pts
Northumbria 1st
11
9
1
1
194
28
Sheffield 1st
10
8
0
2
226
24
Sheff. Hallam 1st
9
6
0
3
242
18
Manchester 1st
9
5
1
3
86
16
York 1st
8
2
0
6
-356
6
MMU Cheshire 1st
9
1
0
8
-204
3
Liverpool JM 1st
8
0
0
8
-188
-9
BUCS TROPHY 2012/13 SEMI FINAL RESULTS: Wednesday 6th March Manchester 1st 24-19 Sheff. Hallam 1st King’s Coll’ge 1st 3-25 Bedford 1st THE FINAL: Sunday 24th March Manchester 1st v Bedford 1st
Manchester, pictured here in their Varsity triumph, stormed into the final. Photo: Lisa Murgatroyd
University of Manchester 1st
24
Sheffield Hallam 1st Andrew Georgeson Manchester women’s rugby team have reached the BUCS Trophy final thanks to a thrilling 24-19 victory over Sheffield Hallam. The hosts entered their semi-final tie one place below them in the league, though they had already beaten them this season. The early stages of the game saw few clear-cut chances for either team, though Manchester came frustratingly close when Hodge’s effort was judged to have been held up on 10 minutes. The Sheffield pack were dominating in the breakdown situation but struggled to deal
19
with Manchester’s backline, with kicks from scrum-half Shutler and fly-half Watson consistently putting pressure on Sheffield’s back three. Manchester finally made this pressure count midway through the first half, exploiting an overlap and allowing Watson to touch down in the corner. Sheffield made an immediate response with their industrious back three gaining ground, but several crunching tackles ensured that the home line held firm, and eventually Sheffield knocked-on to concede a scrum in Manchester’s 22. But the referee then deemed the ball to have been
fed by Manchester, resulting in a free kick. Sheffield wasted no time, playing the ball wide before the Manchester line had a chance to re-set and allowing an easy try for the winger. The conversion was successful, making the score 7-5 to the visitors. If Sheffield’s response to going behind was impressive, Manchester’s was emphatic. Immediately from kick off they received a penalty when Sheffield did not release the ball during a ruck. Scrum half Shutler then took a quick tap before stepping around a majority of the hapless Sheffield defence and touching down a minute before half time. Watson duly added the conversion, making the score 12-7 at the break. Manchester came out of the blocks quickly in the second half. Despite being pinned in their own 22, the
ball was quickly turned over for Manchester’s full-back Lockyer, who then played the ball to centre Dove to score Manchester’s third of the day. Captain Mulqueen conversion made the score 19-7. Heap increased Manchester’s tally only two minutes later. A great line from Hale saw the visitors scrambling, with Hale finding Heap via Davison to allow her to cross. The conversion was unsuccessful making the score 24-7. The game seemed totally out of reach by this point, and Manchester were playing with a confidence epitomised by an audacious backhand pass by the influential Shutler. But Manchester suffered from a touch of complacency, and Sheffield clawed their way back into the game with ten minutes to go. With Manchester failing to secure
possession after a scrum on their own five meter line, Sheffield’s flanker snatched the ball from around the scrum and crossed. The visitors were within two scores of drawing level. The lead still seemed comfortable enough at 2412, but Sheffield’s comeback continued, as their flanker got her second of the game, exploiting a massive overlap on Manchester wing to make the score 24-19 with just five minutes to go. The final moments of the game saw Manchester concede two cheap penalties, allowing Sheffield’s winger to get to the try line, but Heap topped of her immaculate performance by stripping the winger of the ball and playing it into touch, therefore ending the match at 24-19.
BUCS rankings PTS 1
Loughborough University
3324
2
Durham University
2323
3
University of Birmingham
2237
4
University of Bath
2060.75
5
University of Exeter
1918
6
University of Nottingham
1859
7
Leeds Met Carnegie
1823.5
8
University of Manchester
1719.5
9
University of Edinburgh
1617
10
Nottingham Trent
1496
11
Newcastle University
1425.5
12
University of Bristol
1350
13
Oxford University
1282
14
Northumbria University
1272.75
15
University of Leeds
1263.5
16
Cardiff Metropolitan
1251.5
17
Cardiff University
1159.5
18
University of Sheffield
1145
19
University of Warwick
1089
20
Imperial College London
1028.5