23RD SEP 2013/ ISSUE 02 FREE
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
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Students’ Union label Armed Forces societies “unwelcoming”
• Exec team boot University Royal Navy Unit from outside Students’ Union • University Armed Forces - ‘no different from a society’, yet feel “ostracized” • “A military presence is not appropriate”, says Campaigns Officer Michael Williams News Editor The Students’ Union Exec Team have been slammed as “anti-military” after claiming that the armed forces are “not appropriate” for Welcome Week and make the campus “seem unwelcoming to students”. The sentiments were released in a statement posted on Facebook, explain-
ing the Exec Team’s decision to move the Manchester University Royal Navy Unit (URNU) stall away from the Union building during Welcome Week. The decision to move the URNU was made despite the fact that a motion to ban the armed forces from freshers’ and recruitment fairs was voted against in 2010. Then-campaigns officer Andy Cunningham was quoted as saying “usually we don’t like the military on campus”. In a further comment on Facebook,
current Campaigns and Citizenship Officer Clifford Fleming wrote that “Welcome Week is not an appropriate time to be recruiting for the military. “University of Manchester Students’ Union takes pride in being an inclusive space for those from different backgrounds and cultures”, Fleming contined. “A military presence directly outside of our building is not appropriate and may make some students feel uncomfortable, especially on Welcome Week where
many students have only just started and many have only just moved to the UK from elsewhere.” Lieutenant Commander Louis Gardner, of the Royal Navy, told The Mancunion that the fears expressed in the statement are “not the case at all”. “We’re a complete equal opportunities society,” he said. “We take from across all races and genders. Okay, we wear a uniform, but actually what we find is that most people say
they feel safer when people in uniform are around. “We’re not here to intimidate people. In the same way that any other society wears a branded hoodie or a t-shirt, ours just happens to be in the same format as a Royal Navy uniform.”
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02 : NEWS
ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Highlights
Feature: Is it time to end Page 3?
Thousands of students descended on the Students’ Union on Saturday to celebrate the ‘Circle of Life’ at the first Freshers’ Week Pangaea.
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Picture of the week
Film, Review: ‘Rush’ Page 19
Food, Feature: The Veggie Cafe Page 23
continued from page one... “We’re not here to intimidate people. In the same way that any other society wears a branded hoodie or a t-shirt, ours just happens to be in the same format as a Royal Navy uniform.” The three branches of the armed forces were represented outside the Union during Welcome Week by The Manchester URNU, Manchester and Salford Universities Air Squadron (MASUAS), and the Manchester and Salford University Officer Training Corps (MSUOTC). While these organisations are funded by the armed forces, they are ran in conjunction with the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford. “We’re not recruiting to the armed forces at all. That is not my remit”, said Lieutenant Commander Gardner. “There is no commitment to join the armed forces or the reserve forces, and we are totally made up of university undergraduates. The unit is run by them, they run their own committee, in the same way that any society does.” “We’re completely backed by the University. We operate under the same charter that any other University society does.” Members of the URNU have expressed feelings that the current rules regarding their organization may add to the accusations of “making students feel un-
comfortable”. Rob Anthony, a fourth year aerospace engineering student and URNU member, said, “A lot of people who find us intimidating don’t quite understand who we are. Seonaid Ferguson, a third year Psychology student and also a member of the URNU, said, “We’re more externalized [than other societies]. He also suggested that this is “reinforced” by Union rules on the Welcome Fair. “If we were allowed in the Welcome Fair with the other societies, students would think we’re a society,” she said. “Because we’re outside the Union, that shows that we’re kind of ostracized.” Dan Cunningham, a third year business student and URNU member, said they only experience problems at Manhcester and Man Met Students’ Unions. “We’re received quite well at Salford – it’s just the exec at University of Manchester and Man Met who are very anti-military,” he said. “Fine if you don’t want to promote the military, but to be against students that have chosen this to go alongside university is wrong.” A spokesperson for the Armed Forces said in a statement to The Mancunion, “the Armed Forces are an integral part of society and fulfil an important, highly valued public service.
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“The University Officer Training Corps, University Royal Navy Units and the Royal Air Force University Air Squadrons provide those at University who are considering a career in the regular or reserve forces valuable skills and experience, and provide a positive influence for all others as they embark on their civilian careers, enabling them to fulfil their individual potential through continuous, world class training and development.” In an email to a student who contacted Clifford Fleming about the statement, forwarded to The Mancunion, Fleming said that “there are numerous reasons why students could feel uncomfortable with the armed forces directly outside the Students’ Union, and we did receive messages from students expressing such concerns.” When asked what the armed forces were doing to prevent the Union being an “inclusive” space, Fleming responded, “There is not one blanket answer to your question as many students will have different perceptions and experiences of the armed forces.”
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ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 03
“Unwelcoming” navy had council permission to be outside Union - URNU paid £300 for permit - then moved on by Students’ Union Exec team Michael Williams News Editor Manchester University Royal Navy Unit had Council permission to occupy the space they were ejected from during Welcome Week, it has emerged. Manchester City Council issued two permits – a council parking dispensation and a council parking suspension – to the Manchester University Royal Navy Unit (URNU). The passes cost the URNU £300 - £30 per day for each pass across the five days of Welcome Week – September 16 to 20. Parking dispensations and suspensions allow vehicles to park in areas where they otherwise would not have been permitted. Part of the conditions of the passes being issued was the understanding that the URNU van would be parked as close to the Union building as possible, a council spokesperson told The Mancunion. This was to ensure foot traffic in the area – where Oxford Road joins Lime Grove – was not blocked. But, as The Mancunion reported last week, the Students’ Union Exec Team asked the URNU to move their van away from the Students’ Union building on Monday
morning. The URNU eventually relocated to outside University Place, Oxford Road. “We had been to the council planning enforcement officer months ago and asked permission,” said Lieutenant Commander Louis Gardner of the Royal Navy. “We asked exactly who owned that little spot of land, the council stated that they owned it, and we actually paid the council a considerable amount of money to park there.” The URNU were in possession of the valid paperwork on Monday morning – but were still asked to move. Lieutenant Commander Gardner said, “Initially, what looked like an undergraduate who worked for the Union came out, and then I showed my pass - that I had a permit to actually be there. “She went away and got the Union Operations Director, who came out and said that everything the council said was wrong.” Grace Skelton, General Secretary for the Students’ Union Exec Team, told The Mancunion, “there was a large Royal Navy mobile unit on Union property. It is the norm for external organisations to pay the Union a sum of money to operate on its premises, this hadn’t been the case.”
University Royal Navy Unit’s mobile unit at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Freshers’ Fair, last week Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs
After being approached by the Union Operations Director, Lieutenant Commander Gardner then tried to reach the parking council official via telephone, but found she was on leave. The decision to move was made “to keep peace with the Union”, he said.
Gardner added, “I said ‘look, we’re not here to annoy anyone at all, that’s not what we’re here for.’ “The union say that they own it, but the council say that they pay for that area of land to be paved in the same manner as the rest of the pavement because they own it.” The Students’ Union Exec Team
Survey suggests students work harder under 9k fees Sean Doherty News Editor Students paying £9k fees are working harder and partying less, according to a new study The National Student Housing Survey 2013, which polled over 20,000 students from across the UK, found the number of students who said they enjoyed socialising in their halls of residence, fell to 54 per cent from 62 per cent last year. Furthermore, just 63 per cent of students claimed they managed to form close friendships in halls compared
with 67 per cent in 2012, while only 36 per cent said there was a strong sense of community among students – down from 43 per cent last year. This latest shift in student opinion seems to be supportive of the theory that under the new fee regime, students appear to be taking their studies much more seriously. “What we’re seeing is an acceleration of a trend that began a few years ago, where students prioritise study over the social aspects of university,” said Tim Daplyn,
the author of the study, and chief executive of Red Brick Research.. The study also suggests that students are becoming increasingly concerned with the quality of accommodation, and value for money. The number of students living in student halls who felt “very satisfied” with their accommodation fell from 32 to 26 per cent. The figure fell by 3 per cent to 29 per cent for private halls and 9 per cent to 24 per cent for the private rental sector. Despite the evidence
presented by the study, some Manchester students are highly sceptical that paying higher fees makes a difference to their work ethic. Callum Hunt, second year engineering, does not see the cost of a degree is not a motivating factor. “For me, it’s the rewards at the end which really matter” Greg Francini, second year economics, went as far to describe the study’s suggestions as “misleading”, adding further that the fees hike “made no difference to how much work I did in first year”.
caused controversy in Freshers’ Week after they labelled Armed Forces societies who were outside the SU building “unwelcoming”. In a statement to The Mancunion, the Exec, “It was felt by the exec team that the highly visible presence of the armed forces large mobile unit directly outside
the Students’ Union, may look like an affiliation and would make some students feel uncomfortable. “They were therefore asked to move from directly outside the Students’ Union and were subsequently relocated on the main University campus.”
Mysterious break in at University of SalfordFallowfield Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter A catering storeroom at the University of Salford has been broken into. Police say that no stock appears to have been taken, although there was some property damage. The burglary occurred in the Chapman Building between 7.30 and 11.30 on Wednesday 11 September on University Road. The burglars left the building through a back entrance, setting off the fire alarm in the process. Police have released CCTV footage which show two men at the site of the crime, who are wanted for question-
ing in relation to the burglary. Police are appealing to the general public to come forward if they witnessed anything or have any information . Detective Constable Paul Reynolds said, “It is believed the offenders had hidden inside the building prior to it being locked up before getting into the storeroom. If you recognise either of these men we’d very much like to hear from you. “Alternatively, if you were in the area that evening and remember seeing anything unusual which may be related please call police.” Individuals who have any information
are encouraged to contact the police on 0161 856 5252, or alternatively to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A spokesperson for the University added that they “are liaising with the police over the incident.” According to the UK Crime Statistics website, there were 700 recorded crimes at the University of Salford in July 2013 alone. 40% of the crimes reported were incidences of antisocial behaviour. A similar incident at the University of Salford occurred earlier this year, when thieves broke into University House building.
ISSUE 02 / 23trd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
04 : News
Students spend loan in less than two months
- Alcohol is one of the highest expenditures - Londoners stretch loan the most Gawain Owen News Reporter
Loans are in, the bank balance is looking healthy, but how to approach this new found wealth? Is it a chance to budget and be an independent individual? Or to immediately put down the deposit for a holiday and head out to buy GTA V? Evidence suggests few people manage to stretch their student loan a single semester. Maintenance loans on average last just seven and a half weeks, figures from a recent survey by vouchercodes.co.uk show. This is despite the first term of university lasting 13 weeks. The research, published earlier this month, attempts to show a break down of how students spend the money they get from the government, and how this varies from region to region in England. The award for most frugal goes falls to Londoners, who manage to make their loan last a eight and a half weeks out of the 13. While students in the North East make the call to the bank to extend their overdraft after only six. Excluding rent, alcohol comes in at number one on the list of expenditures, closely followed by food shopping with books coming in third. The survey suggests students spend on average £84 per month on alcohol, out of a £475 budget. But, for the majority of students being away from
A survey of student spending shows on average maintenanceloans last seven and a half weeks Photo: Chris Cotterman @Flickr home is a new experience and a big step into the unknown. So it is to be expected that this newly granted freedom will be exploited on occasion. But what is true for all students is that university does not last forever. It is important to make the most of the time you have here. Perhaps this is why alcohol takes priority in the majority of students budgets. The research also revealed that women spend on average £483 while men only spend £464. The results for the survey are calculated averages taken
Doctors stress students should sign up with GP Gawain Owen News Reporter Doctors and health workers have urged students to register with a local GP at the start of this semester. The call is partly to help decrease the number of admittance’s to A&E over illnesses which could be treated by GP’s. Manchester has the largest student population in Europe, and sees an influx of over 100,000 students in September, which requires certain public services to brace them-
selves. For this reason, GP’s situated in student areas are fitted with the resources to deal with the surge of applicants. Most people who attend university are temporary residents in the city, and so many do not use local GP’s, rather using A&E at the first sight of illness. “It’s very important that students don’t forget their health needs and that they make registering with a GP in Manchester a priority,” said Dr Helen Hosker, GP and lead for urgent care at Central Man-
chester Clinical Commissioning Groups, in an article on website Mancunian Matters. Due to the lifestyles students often lead, general health and well being are commonly neglected. Hangovers and cold houses create a recipe for flu and
other illnesses. And it is these health issues GP’s are tailored to deal with. Registration is a straight forward process and with a practice in Owens Park, attending the GP is often more convenient than making the trip to A&E. GP’s offer a wide range of services which could be invaluable for some students. Dr Helen Hosker also said some students can be more “vulnerable to depression or anxiety”, through the pressures and stresses of stepping blind into a new and often alien city.
from a sample of 750 students across the country. The financial environment for students has changed a lot in recent years. Advances in internet and mobile banking allow us to keep track of our finances and make the whole process of budgeting much more painless. University of Manchester student Ewan Hamilton told The Mancunion he found mobile banking helped him. “Downloading a mobile banking app on my phone has really helped me keep to a budget,” he said.
This appears to be the way in which student finance is heading with smart phones creating new and innovative ways to help you stay on top of your money. Hamilton also suggested such tips as preparing meals in advance and doing one big weekly food shop. By doing this and cutting out daily trips to Sainsbury’s you do not only save money, but have more to spend on the more enjoyable things in life.
Salford students convicted of drug dealing Sean Doherty News Editor
Two Salford Universit y students found guilt y of dealing drugs have been sentenced to t wo years each in young offender’s institutions. First year student Cara Donnison, 20, and her boyfriend, gap -year student Daniel Campbell, 20 were c aught with over £2,500 wor th of class A , B and C drugs after police searched Donnison’s room last December. Police found the drugs in the room after following up c alls complaining of disruptive behaviour and drug use. After seeing
c annabi s and white powder on the bed, as well as digit al weighing sc ales, they searched the room. The search revealed a haul which consi sted of ec st ac y worth £1,092, 120 grams of c annabi s worth £1, 206, 8.95 grams of ket amine worth £179, a bag of coc aine worth £40, as well as t wo bags of ket amine and coc aine worth £36. They also found £170 of c ash along with a collec tion of plastic snap -bags. While Campbell transported the drugs into Salford, they were kept in Donni son’s universit y halls room in Castle Isle Student Village, a halls of
residence which i s home to over 1,000 Salford students and loc ated a mile from the Allerton c ampus. The pair, neither of whom have any previous convic tions, pleaded guilt y to three counts of possession with intent to supply as well as one count of possession. Re garding their sentences, Judge David Hernandez said, “I apprec iate that thi s i s going to have a di sruptive effec t on your lives and I keep the sentences as short as I possibly c an”, however he added that their ac tions meant that , “ There has to be a custodial sentence.” The prosecuting attorney said, about Daniel Campbell, ”He said he knew what he was doing was wrong but he got c arried away due to the money that he was making from drugs.”
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 05
Afghan teen refugee awarded scholarship
The University has fallen to a five-year low according to one ranking system Photo: University of Manchester
- Refugee nearly died when travelling in the hull boat that nearly sinked Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter An 18 year old who survived a perilous European trek is starting his degree at the University of Manchester this year. BA Politics and Philosophy student Gulwali Passarlay, who was awarded a scholarship to the University, spoke to The Mancunion about his struggle to make it to the United Kingdom. Gulwali’s journey began in his
home country of Afghanistan. He fled from his home province of Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan and began a year long journey spanning 10 countries. Living in the shadow of the Taliban, Gulwali’s mother made the decision to send him outside Afghanistan’s borders. “I didn’t really understand at the time. I thought we might be coming back, but then we went forever. So I had to make myself stronger and keep telling myself
‘You can do it. You have left Afghanistan, you can’t go back.’ As an Afghan you have to have this dignity, this self- determination,” he said. Upon arriving in Bulgaria, Gulwali was sent back to Turkey and had to hike through kilometres of snowy mountains. After this, he was also arrested when entering Greece. He said, “They told me that I had to leave Greece within a month or I would have faced deportation back to Afghanistan. “In all the countries I’ve been to, they’ve arrested me and put me in jail, even though I was
1000s to demonstrate Manchester NHS cuts Conor McGurran Contributor
NHS cuts and increased privatisation. Frances O’Grady, General
“The NHS is one of Britain’s finest achievements and we will not allow ministers to destroy,
Students plan to demonstrate against cuts to the NHS and the government’s austerity programme next week.
Secretary of the TUC said: “This September’s march and rally will allow thousands of ordinary people to show the
through cuts and privatisation, what has taken generations to build.” Both the University’s Save Our
Around 30,000 people are expected to turn out to protest at the Conservative Party Conference which will take place in Manchester this year. The rally was called by the Trade Union Congress to raise awareness of
government exactly what they think of their policies.” “Austerity is having a devastating effect on our communities and services, with 21,000 NHS jobs lost over the last three months alone.
NHS society and the Student’s Union are supporting the demonstration. Ellen Mclaughlin, co-chair of the Save Our NHS society said: “It is crucial that we send a message to the Tories that we will
only 13. But I had no choice, I had to make it to my destination, of getting somewhere safe.” For Gulwali, the most difficult moment was being trapped in the hull of a boat that was making the crossing between Turkey and Greece, “There were a hundred people in a small boat for nearly 50 hours. “We did not have access to food or drink, nowhere to go to the toilet. The ship was about to sink, water came in. If the police had not come, we would have sunk within seconds. “I thought I was gone. The only thing I was worried about was that my family would not find my body, I would be somewhere in the sea.” Gulwali’s arrival in England was the start of his involvement in a number of panels and organisations. He was a member of the Youth Consul and is now the representative of the NorthWest in the National Scrutiny Group. He is also the Ambassador for Refugees and Asylum Seekers as well as shouldering other positions of responsibility. “ I do as much as I can because I think it is the time for me to get involved and make a difference, not only because this country has given so much and I want to give back to society, but also because I want to put this to use in Afghanistan. Hopefully it will be relevant and help me and my people,” he said. Speaking no English when he first arrived, Gulwali went on to achieve 10 GCSEs. He then applied for the Manchester Access Programme (MAP) and was one of the 500 students awarded
a place. He had to integrate his A- Levels with university workshops and seminars several times a month, all the while learning English. “I got into MAP, I fulfilled all the requirements. I am very grateful to the University. They gave me the chance. I made the impossible possible. I still can’t believe that I’m here. Having this wonderful opportunity and facilities in this great institution, people need not take it for granted. We’re the future and we should be preparing for this future,” he said. Despite what he has been through, Gulwali’s desire to return to his home country is strong. “Even if I had very little, I would still appreciate to be there with my family.” He added, “even if young people leave, it’s because they have no choice. If they join the Taliban, they will be killed. If they join the government, they will be killed - either case, they go out in the morning and there is no guarantee they will return home alive.” Gulwali said he wants to one day return to a safer Afghanistan, “My hope is to support my people, my nation. I hope to go back and see my family and take care of them and to get involved with the Afghan peace process. “My ultimate goal is to be in a position where I can change things.”
defend our NHS against cuts, closures and privatisation.” “We have seen thousands of nurses sacked across the country, and many of our NHS contracts sold off to the highest bidder, rather than the best quality provider- and this is just the beginning.” “It is important to show the government that young people value their NHS and won’t sit quietly whilst it is ripped apart. We therefore encourage any student who cares for their health service to join us at the demo!” Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has stood by the government’s
savings or risk facing a bleak future. He has also argued that increased competition within the NHS for contracts will result in improved standards of care. The Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who is to speak at the rally, has condemned NHS job cuts in his blog. “It is clear that the NHS simply cannot continue to take nursing cuts on this scale and maintain standards of patient care,” he said. “David Cameron must urgently intervene to ensure safe staffing levels in our hospitals. These dangerous cuts show that you can’t trust the Tories
re-organisation of the NHS, suggesting that the health service needs to make efficiency
with the NHS.”
Police raid Curry Mile illegal electricity supplies Sean Doherty News Editor Five restaurants and bars on the Curry Mile had their electricity meters removed or mains supplies cut off following a raid by the police last week. The establishments in question were Marmara Shisha Lounge, Marmara Grill, Rajas Pizza Bar and Grill, Friends Restaurant & Takeaway and Steak ‘N’ Grill. The raid came as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal electricity supplies. The Greater Manchester Police are currently working alongside the energy company Electricity North West to investigate any similar potential law-breaking. The councillor for Rusholme, Rabnawaz Akbar, praised the co-operation between the two organisations, calling it an “excellent partnership”. “We recently removed several private meters and disconnected the mains supply for safety reasons at a property on Wilmslow Road,” said revenue protection manager Karen Ainsworth, “Not only is tampering with electricity meters extremely dangerous, but it is a criminal offence and we will always work with the authorities to detect and prevent it. I encourage anyone who suspects electricity theft to contact us.” Chief Inspector Dave Gilbride stated, “By bypassing the mains meters, people are put at risk of electrocution and explosion. There are also associated fire risks. “Abstracting electricity and theft of gas are criminal offences. Several premises have had their supplies cut off and had closure notices issued due to fire risks. “The police and partner agencies are reviewing evidence of licence breaches and criminal offences, and will be taking appropriate action. Further visits will be conducted to ensure the safety of employees, customers and residents, and offenders may also face closure orders, financial penalties and criminal prosecution.” At the time of going to press, the establishments named were not open for business.
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ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
NEWS : 07
Researchers Scientists find faster diagnosis win at UK for cataracts in awards Inez Dawoodjee News Reporter Two scientists from the University of Manchester have won a prestigious award for their work in biology. Developmental Biology PhD student Rebecca Williams and Dr Sheena Cruickshank won prizes in the Society of Biology Science Communication Awards, which focus on work that informs and engages the public in Biology. Applicants for the awards could undertake a range of possible projects, from writing articles to public exhibitions. The projects had to fulfil the criteria of conveying science to non-academics in
an engaging manner. Williams - a demonstrator at the Manchester Museum and a Widening Participation Fellow at the University - won the New Researcher prize. She is the founder of Fastbleep Biology, an organisation that arranges biology workshops for schools around Manchester. “I feel absolutely honoured to be given this award for science communication. I love science, and I find that talking to young people and the public about the work that scientists do here at the University of Manchester is incredibly rewarding,” she said. Dr Cruickshank, a Faculty of Life Sciences Lecturer, was awarded the Established Researcher
Prize. She is one of the developers of ‘ Worm Wagon’, an interactive program which merges art and activities to promote awareness of global health matters. The program also targets groups of migrant women from India and Africa and enables them to understand the adverse effects of parasitic worms in their countries of origin. “I am incredibly honoured to win this award. It acknowledges the work done by the whole Manchester Immunology Group who carry out world-leading research and work tirelessly at so many events to help highlight the significance of worm infections and neglected tropical disease
in the world,” she said. Chief Executive of the Society of Biology, Dr Mark Downs commented, “it is essential that scientists share their research with members of the public so that we can all explore the ethical implications of our advances in knowledge.” “I am pleased to see the entrants to our Science Communication Awards sharing their research in such engaging ways. They are also helping to inspire our next generation of scientists!” Winners will be presented with their prizes at the Society’s Annual Award Ceremony on Thursday 17th October during Biology Week 2013.
children Sean Doherty News Editor
Fight for Sight. Genetic mutations are estimated to be the cause of half of the 200,000 cases of congenital cataracts. It is hoped that such research may help increase the accuracy of doctor’s prognoses regarding how the condition may develop in individuals and how successful surgery may be. Previous tests have required consecutive testing of each different gene. Mutations which have the potential to cause congenital cataracts exist in over 100 genes, meaning
Researchers from the University of Manchester believe they have developed a test which will allow for faster diagnoses of children born with cataracts. The group, from the Centre for Genomic Medicine, worked to develop a single blood sample test which checks all genes known to cause congenital cataracts, the largest cause of blindness in children. They received funding for the research from SRE13.SEP.STAND.MANC.QUART.pdf
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that the methods of testing currently in use are both slow and expensive. With a single screening for one gene taking four weeks, diagnosis using conventional means can sometimes take years. As well as helping to find which genes cause congenital cataracts, genetic testing can also help to reveal conditions which would otherwise go undiagnosed. Rachel Gillespie, developer of the test, said that “In some cases, we have identified that the cataracts
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aren’t just a standalone problem, but a symptom of a more complex syndrome. This includes Warburg micro syndrome and galactokinase deficiency, both rare conditions that are probably under-diagnosed, as warning signs in children can be subtle.” The tests are currently being validated by the team from the University of Manchester and Central Manchester NHS foundation Trust. They plan to make them available on the NHS this December.
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Venue: Council Chambers, University of Manchester Students’ Union Time: 6.30pm The launch event of Activist Academy. Building skills for making change. Guest speakers to be announced. www.manchesterstudentsunion.com/activistacademy www.facebook.com/Activistacademy Follow us on Twitter @ActivismAcademy
9th September - 4th October Nominations are now open for liberation reps, faculty reps and international group action chair.
08 : Feature
ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
“The last bastion of Seventies Sexism” Is it time to end Page 3? The No More Page 3 campaign has reached national prominence, Sam Dumitriu speaks to campaigners and asks is Page 3’s time up? Sam Dumitriu Features Editor
L
ucy Anne-Holmes launched the No More Page 3 campaign in 2012 after buying a copy of The Sun the day after Jessica Ennis’ impressive heptathlon win. Reading it she was pleasantly surprised noticing that the usual Page 3 model had given way to extra coverage of Britain’s success in the Olympics. Any hope that The Sun had taken topless women out of the paper soon faded. They had just shifted it to page 13. On a day when female athletes like Jessica Ennis inspired the nation, the biggest picture of a woman in the country’s most widely read newspaper was a young woman in her knickers. Starting with just an online petition, the No More Page 3 campaign has grown to become one of the nation’s most influential. They have built support along the way from major youth organisations including the Girl Guides and the British Youth Council. Stunts such as Green MP Caroline Lucas’ wearing of a No More
Speaking from experience I don’t think parents should buy the sun or have it in the house. Many parents believe it’s harmless but it sends a harmful message for girls growing into women
Newspapers under fire for promoting sexism. PHOTO: Wikimedia Common
No More Page 3’s Stephanie Davies-Arai speaks to the Mancunion. PHOTO: Cil Barnett-Neefs Page 3 t-shirt and subsequent breach of parliamentary dress code has kept the campaign in the public eye. I spoke to No More Page Three campaign team member Stephanie Davies-Arai about the success of the campaign and her response to the campaign’s criticisms. Davies-Arai was motivated to campaign against Page 3 after her personal experience of growing up in a Sun reading household. “I know the impact it had on me growing from a young girl into a woman. I’d like to protect teenage girls from seeing their dad opening the paper and looking at breasts every day.” She spoke of feeling humiliated when men would look at Page 3 in her company and the mix of contempt and lust men would hold for the women in these images. “I felt put down. I felt I had to be like that; the message I got was that was she was the ideal. Not just ideal in how she looked but in how she behaved, being sexually open and sharing it around. It put a lot of pressure on me as a young woman to be sexually active before I was ready.” “It’s taken me a lifetime to understand just how it affected me; It made me feel excruciatingly humiliated, when I saw it. It’s not how I wanted my gender to be represented, I wanted a newspaper to treat me with respect, not to expose me or treat me as a piece of meat.”
With this in mind, is buying The Sun an act of bad parenting? “Speaking from experience I don’t think parents should buy the sun or have it in the house. A lot of parents believe it’s harmless but it sends a harmful message for girls growing into women.” She stressed multiple times that the No More Page 3 campaign was not pushing for censorship. “It’s a petition asking the Editor of The Sun, David Dinsmore very politely to drop the on-going feature.” Davies-Arai believed censorship would ultimately be ineffective at achieving the wider aims of the campaign. “I don’t think bans work, you change some things but you don’t change people’s hearts and minds. With the campaign as it is people are becoming more aware of Page 3. They are saying “Hang on, this isn’t ok anymore.” Considering that there is a wide variety of ways in which the media promotes sexism, why should we focus on Page 3? “Page 3 is iconic. What The Sun did when they launched it in 1970 was they brought the top shelf into the newspaper and called it glamour. The fact that it’s in a newspaper makes it culturally acceptable. It gives it society’s stamp of approval. That Page 3 is a naked woman doing nothing except presenting herself as sexually available in her
facial expression and pose makes it problematic. It is the most sexualised image we will see in the public space and that gives it so much power. The iconography is also important, if Page 3 goes it will be symbolic as the last bastion of the sexist seventies. If Page 3 falls, other things will go to.” I suggested that there might be an issue with a feminist campaign focused on a lowbrow mass-market paper aimed at the working class. The Daily Telegraph’s Brendan O’Neill argues that what motivates the campaign is a class-based prejudice towards the sort of people who read The Sun. “These people are presumed to be so ill-educated, so incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy, that if they gawp at Page 3 for long enough they will automatically turn into sexist beasts who believe that every woman is like Chloe, 21, from Essex: saucy and sexually available.” Davies-Arai rejects these allegations. “We’ve got Unison, Britain’s largest trade union, supporting us. The Sun tries to portray critics as Guardian reading middle class whingers. But I’m working class that was why I saw the Sun in my home when I was young. It’s not a class issue; it’s a gender issue.” How did The Sun’s many readers respond to the criticisms of Page 3? “Some Sun readers have come forward supporting getting rid of Page 3, they believed it was disrespectful.”
ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
This doesn’t represent the majority of Sun readers though as a YouGov poll suggests that 61% of Sun readers would like Page 3 to stay where it is. Davies-Arai is confident, however, that if the poll were rerun today Sun readers would be more open to ditching Page 3. “Organisations such as the Girl Guides, and the four major teaching unions have come out in support. This suggests experts in working with young people believe that Page 3 is harmful.” I asked whether she canvassed the views of Page 3 models and whether they were resistant to the campaign. It seemed she did not make a particular effort to engage with glamour models. However, there had been some communication over social media between her and Page 3 model turned bodybuilder Jodie Marsh. “They [glamour models] tend to say Women’s mags are worse, that we’ll put Page 3 models out of a job. We make it clear that we’re not against glamour models, if you want to do that job; it’s fine to do it. It’s about having the choice to see it in private, and having the choice to not see it in public.” Perhaps glamour models feel threatened by claims that their work demeans others, when many are in fact proud of their work. “They may feel judged by us, but we take a lot of care to make sure that anyone who says something against glamour models on their page. It’s not my job, but we don’t have any judgement about doing that job. It might be empowering for them, but it’s not empowering for other women. I think women should have choice, but people should have choice in public not to see it.” David Cameron in response to the campaign suggested it is up to parents to turn the page, rather than for the Sun to self-censor. Davies-Arai questions whether this is a solution at all? “You can’t turn the page when it’s someone sitting next to you on the train” She can find support for that claim from The Mancunion’s magazine editor Harriet Hill-Payne. “One of my housemates asked about the reach of The Mancunion the other day - I gave the figures, then explained that due to the paper being abandoned on the bus, lying around the SU, copies left behind in the library, the reach of a paper is often far beyond the original consumer. Those who say that ‘everyone who buys The Sun knows what they’re getting’ - while the person who purchased it might have, anyone, specifically kids, picking it up will be confronted with the famous ‘news in briefs’ section on Page 3.” This leads me to the most common criticism levelled at the campaign. If they do not like the content of The Sun, no one is forcing them to read it. In short if they don’t like it, don’t
Feature : 09
Stephanie Davies-Arai speaks to feminist activist in the SU. buy it. “I’ve seen The Sun so many times without buying it; it is left in takeaways, on trains, on buses. You never see copies of The Guardian lying around, it is always The Sun.” Inevitably, as with everything from Coca-Cola to Blurred Lines, the question of whether the Students’ Union should boycott it has come up. Student Harriet Hill-Payne supports a boycott. “The Sun should not be printing this material as ‘news’, such overt and corrosive sexism should not be on general display, and our Student’s Union certainly should not be, by selling it, endorsing the product.” Manchester Students’ Union Women’s officer was also supportive. “The Sun defends Page 3 as ‘free choice’ for the women involved and yet led this week with a racist front page pushing to ban Muslim women from wearing the niqab. Within this hypocrisy they highlight how they perpetuate a very specific ideal of what women should and shouldn’t look like, of how they should act and what makes them of value. Getting rid of Page 3 isn’t the be all and end all in campaigning for women’s rights but I am glad to see students setting up a campaign around this and raising awareness of women’s treatment in our national media.” The No More Page 3 campaign supports boycotts arguing “Having an image of a topless woman on the
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PHOTO: Cil Barnett-Neefs
wall at work is recognised as a form of sexual harassment enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010. Whether on the wall, on the table, or being passed around, it is still an image that demeans and puts women in their place. It is important in terms of equality that woman should not have to feel like that in their workplace or in their place of study.” Boycotts of The Sun have not been without problems. When the London School of Economics’ Students’ Union banned The Sun last year, it sparked controversy as the Women’s officer criticised the decision for ignoring other forms of sexism within the media. Students opposed to the boycott staged a protest handing out copies of The Sun for free however they were attacked and their stand was vandalised. Sheffield University didn’t have much better luck with a largely critical response from the student body after the executive decided a referendum would disrupt the Women’s officer elections. Former Mancunion Editor Richard Crook was scathing. “It’s ok for our shop to sell cigarettes, a product which literally kills students, but it’s beyond the pale to sell the nation’s highest selling newspaper because it features a topless woman. You could say the Mail vilifies some students and violates “safe space” policy, so why not ban that too? And you could say the Mirror uses
It’s okay for our shop to sell cigarettes, a product which literally kill people, but it’s beyond the pale to sell the nation’s top selling paper because it features a topless woman
dead website “liberate yourself ”, I suspect this makes zero difference to 99% of students, but serves as great pontificating fodder and top profiling to get some nonsense NUS position” If the Manchester Students’ Union were to boycott The Sun it’s hard to imagine what it would achieve. Bare boobs are not exactly regularly on display in the SU as it currently stands. Students who wanted to read The Sun could buy it elsewhere and bring it in to the SU. It could set a dangerous precedent, leading to calls for even more boycotts on women’s magazines like Vogue or it may further weaken support for the highly inconsistent boycotts the union currently runs. Speaking with No More Page 3, I was struck by how modest their demands are. It probably is part of the reason why they have been able to draw support from so many moderate British institutions. Ultimately, these are not strident Andrea Dworkinesque anti-porn feminists. They are a group making the modest demand that The Sun should consign a sleazy feature from the less politically correct Seventies to the history books.
all but naked women to sell papers, so why not chuck them out? Are we still selling The Star? Is it only damaging objectification if nipples are showing? The possibilities are endless. Just like the welfare officer two years ago, who started the now
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Opinion
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
‘A Princess is Made not Born’, as France moves to ban ‘Mini-Miss’ pageants, how long until Britain follows?
Mini-Miss pageant star Honey Boo Boo Photo: Lwp Kommunikacio @Flickr
This week the upper house of the French parliament passed a piece of legislation aimed at criminalising children’s beauty pageants, so called ‘Mini-Miss’ competitions on the grounds that they are responsible for the hypersexualisation of girls under the age of sixteen. The policy specifically targets the organisers of child beauty pageants, who may face a jail term of up to two years and a fine of 30,000 euros if the ban passes into law. (Honey Boo Boo competing. Picture sourced from ‘The Berry’ (Blog)) Despite being initiated by a politician on the centre-right, Ms Chantal Jouanno, a senator and former sports minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, the measure has considerable cross-party support and whilst the legislation still has to be approved by the National Assembly to become law, it is expected to pass through with a relatively small number of amendments. At first glance the penalties may seem extreme for what most people perceive as a
relatively harmless competition for young children. They may also be called reactionary, especially since they come off the back of uproar caused by a controversial spread in Vogue in 2010 which featured ten year old girls dressed in make-up and high-heels, supposedly emulating their mothers. However if you’ve ever seen a clip of the American reality series, ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’, centering around a seven-year old pageant monster called Alana Thompson, then these reforms appear long overdue in stopping one of the creepiest industries in mainstream Western culture. Pageants are perceived as being wholly within the domain of the USA, and as a result their spread across the globe has gone almost unnoticed. Aware as we are of pageants like Miss Universe, Miss America and Miss GB, ‘Mini-Miss’ competitions take place under the radar in this country. Perhaps because they operate in such a niche market, only concerning parents and girls of a certain age and attitude, they are not particularly evident in the
public consciousness, and we don’t generally associate them as part of British culture. Even with films like Little Miss Sunshine casting light on the dubious ethics of child beauty competitions, we have yet to collectively realise that there is something fundamentally wrong with judging a six-year old girl on her appearance. Whilst the industry is nothing like as large as it is in the US, Britain has numerous beauty pageants aimed at children and ‘tweens’. One competition, Miss Mini Princess, claims to be ‘Uk’s prestige Princess Pageant’, a ‘USA style beauty pageant with a British attitude’ and features the tagline “A Princess is Made not Born”. There are five age categories, Baby Princess (Under 1), Tiny Princess (1 -2 year olds), Little Princess (3-5 year olds), Petite Princess (6-9 year olds) and Little Miss Princess (10-12 year olds). Types of rounds include modelling swimwear and evening dress, as well as exhibiting talent and beauty. The Anglo-Saxon West condemns childbrides, child pornography and under-age sex. How then does it permit an entire industry to be based on parading children dressed as adults performing adult-style glamour modelling? There has already been a crackdown on suggestive or inappropriate clothing designed for children, such as padded bras for ten-year old girls and croptops that bear the slogan ‘future porn star’. In 2011 a Government-commissioned review into the sexualisation of children by Reg Bailey, head of the Mothers’ Union led to a ban on sexually-suggestive clothes for children. Most criticism was targeted at bikinis and bras marketed at under-16s that enhanced and sexualised the wearer’s breasts and body. Ironically the Daily Mail has been at the forefront of the press campaign to prevent the sexualisation of children, despite their own dubious descriptions of young girls and women; anyone remember the comments about the ‘blossoming’ Obama daughters? Will Britain follow in France’s footsteps? It does seem odd to think that while Operation Yewtree rages on, we are not yet turning an eye towards the other end of the problem; towards the sexualisation of children and the pressures surrounding adolescence image. The current attitude towards ‘Mini-Miss’ pageants in this country is one of laissez faire, that parents know what is best for their children and will act accordingly. Of course this is simply not true. If it was there wouldn’t be a market for crop-tops for fiveyear olds with ‘future porn star’ splashed across them. It’s an easy leap to presume that these are the same parents who think that dressing their daughters as living barbies and persuading them to prance around a stage for sixty seconds in a baby-bikini is beneficial to their development. Not only does it create an entirely false conception of what the child has to offer the world (i.e, her body and looks), but it brings a self-consciousness that is entirely out of place within a child’s mentality. Extreme youth contains the most blissful ignorance of snap-judgements and instant rejection, and to take that away is frankly abhorrent. Its true children can be cruel, but so can adults, and they can do it better and more exploitatively. France is finally making a stand, and we should stand with them. Charlotte Green
Peter Tatchell Photo: Peter Birkinshaw @Flickr
My Political Hero... Peter Tatchell I first came across political activist Peter Tatchell shortly after the equal marriage bill passed in parliament a few months ago. Anxiously watching the debate live on my tiny laptop screen in my not-much-bigger room in halls (the only time I broke the TV licensing laws) I saw Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP, demanding that the Minister for Women and Equalities deny the rumours that Tatchell was puppeteering David Cameron’s stance on same-sex marriage. In the end, it transpired that these rumours were false – he had very little influence on the Prime Minister. Instead, he had set his sights on the Mayor of London. When Boris Johnson lead the London Pride march in 2010, in the infamous pink and sequined cowboy hat, Tatchell jumped in front of him, on camera, and asked Johnson whether he would support a same-sex marriage bill. The mayor stumbled for a few moments, until he realized that speaking against same sex marriage while leading a gay pride march would be political suicide. It was the first time that one of the traditional Tories had made a statement in support of the idea, and it made it suddenly acceptable, if not even fashionable, for a hardcore Conservative to be positive about marriage equality. Without this, it is unlikely that Cameron would have been able to subsequently suggest the bill. Tatchell has campaigned for LGBTQ rights for a long time, without any potential benefit to himself, as although he is gay, his 14-16 hour, seven day week work schedule does not allow him any time for a relationship. His selfless lifestyle does not end there – he only began paying himself a £29,000 salary from the donations to the Peter Tatchell Foundation last year – a pound or two less than the national minimum wage. He also does not limit himself only to LGBTQ issues, and instead stands against anything he believes to be an injustice. An example of this was the event that changed his standing within the media, from being condemned as a “gay terrorist” to being hailed as a “hero”. On discovering that the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, known for abusing the human rights of his citizens, would be visiting Brussels, Tatchell travelled there, found out Mugabe’s itinerary, and preceded to attempt to put him under house arrest. He stepped out in front of the President and said, “I am putting you under arrest on charges of torture under the United Nations Convention Against Torture 1984”. Mugabe’s bodyguards took Tatchell into the corner and severely beat him, including several blows to the head. He reports that since the attack, his “memory, concentration, balance and co-ordination have been adversely affected”. Despite this, he attempted to approach Mugabe another three times that day. According to Tatchell, he was first pulled away by the Belgian secret police and handed over to two more of Mugabe’s men. He managed to duck away while they were distracted by journalists, and ran to stand in front of Mugabe’s car, where a bodyguard got out and knocked him unconscious. As soon as he came round, he attempted to enter the building that Mugabe had gone to, the home of the Belgian Prime Minister, where he was informed that Mugabe’s men had guns. Only when he saw one of them reach into his jacket did he run. However, the thing that really strikes me about Tatchell is not just his bravery and selflessness. There have definitely been braver – Emily Davidson, the suffragette who ran in front of the king’s horse and was killed, for example. Tatchell’s real skill is his ability to be in the right place, at the right time, and say the right thing. Instead of simply protesting Robert Mugabe he found a United Nations convention that he was in breach of, and without being a bully, he still managed to back Boris Johnson into a corner, giving equal marriage a chance to actually become a reality. Max Abendstern
Opinion
ISSUE 02/ 23th SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
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To veil or not to veil?
In the wake of national controversy over the veil, Alice Rigby discusses the issues surrounding the headdress worn by Muslim women... A single human rights issue has come to the fore in every public institution over the last week. From hospitals, to the courtroom, to schools the wearing of the niqab, or full-face veil, by some Islamic women has become a zenith of controversy. On Question Time the issue of veils being worn by staff in hospitals was the first to be debated, by a panel that was notably absent of any Islamic women. Earlier this week, the leader of one of the major teaching unions suggested that veils worn by students in class inhibited their learning. Birmingham Metropolitan College notably banned the niqab completely, a decision that has now been reversed. Judge Peter Murphy arguably made the most significant decision regarding the niqab, when he negotiated with a defendant and her counsel to allow her to wear her niqab for the entirety of her trial with the exception of when she was giving evidence. The niqab is clearly issue of the day. There are two distinctive sides to the niqab debate; one centres around the pragmatic requirements of institutions,
while the other concerns the individual liberty of the wearers of the niqab. Pragmatically, it is argued, with the face fully covered the ability to communicate is significantly reduced, preventing patients from understanding their treatment fully, teachers from monitoring the progress of their students in class and a jury from making a value judgement on the evidence presented to them. However, the freedom to wear what one chooses is a fundamental human right. Whilst some choices are deemed offensive or potentially damaging to those around the wearer, such as nudity or images of oppression, it is generally accepted that the niqab does not fall into this category. As such, what is a relatively intuitive and straightforward debate nonetheless seems hard to reconcile. However, the debate has been marred by the sensitivities involved on all sides. The most evident of these is the religious tension involved. For those caught up in a wave of anti Islamism this is an outward depiction of a religion they despise. While this is obviously a distasteful
and unacceptable point of view, the force of the reaction against it could prevent the niqab from being banned in limited circumstances due to a fear of appearing to fall into the category of religious or racial prejudice. Equally, the Islamic community understandably views the failure of western communities to appreciate the role of the niqab as frustrating and bigoted. Particularly, many leaders have highlighted that only a very small minority of women choose to wear the full niqab. As such, its affect seems marginal and the choice of the media to turn the issue into headline news seems unreasonable - they see evidence of a subtle attack against outward symbols of Islamism as a whole. Most potently, the debate has turned to the ever-present issues surrounding western criticism of the role of women in Islam. Many people have said that they dislike the niqab due to its perceived role in oppressing women, with the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston deeming the veil ‘offensive’. The home secretary Theresa May has contrasted
this view, suggesting that to her mind a woman should be able to choose to wear the veil should they wish. Despite these being opposing opinions they mark what has become a turning point in the debate; the discussion has moved from the practical implications of the veil to a moral analysis of its role in ‘oppressing’ women. This damages the arguments of those simply trying to improve communication in public situations and can expose them to accusations of being morally against the niqab, a position which did not play a role in their initial suggestions. There has been one group clearly missing from all of these discussions. Women who wear the niqab themselves have rarely been drawn on for their opinions on its use in public circumstances or their personal motivations for wearing it. In The Indpendent, Sahar Al Faifi has written a compelling article about her own choices when it comes to the niqab, highlighting her successful career in molecular genetics and her own parents arguments against her wearing the veil.
The simple narrative that has pervaded the debate over the niqab, accusing all niqab wearers of simply complying with external pressures is clearly not as compelling as has been suggested. The views of Islamic women must enter the arena of this debate before we can draw any meaningful conclusions. What is most evident from the debate over the niqab is the ease with which a discussion about practicality can descend into a debate about moral right. As much as possible, when considering the niqab we must separate practical requirements from religious and moral emotion. Judge Peter Murphy showed that in the case of practical necessity solutions can be found for the niqab ‘problem’. However, he never suggested that the niqab in itself was an issue. Those who hijack these debates for their own moral programme only damage the useful discussion between each side of the pragmatic debate over the application of the strictures of Islam to the necessities of western society.
Why censorship is not OK Alice Rigby discusses the issue of censorship and the image of a pornstar Manchester Debating Union were banned from using to promote a debate... Freedom of speech is always a hot topic. There is an incredibly fine balance between protecting free expression and preventing offence or harm through censorship. It is almost impossible to create universal rules as to what should be deemed offensive and what should not. Therefore, any decision taken to censor material on the grounds of its apparently damaging nature is often met with marked opposition. In the past week, both the Manchester Debating Union and The Mancunion have been censored. Both were asked to remove a photo from physical material deemed offensive by the union executive. The photo in question was an image of porn star Sasha Grey, in underwear, in the kind of image oft featured on the cover of ‘lads mags’. The physical material on which the image was intended to appear were promotional flyers for a debate concerning the role of women in porn and the printed edition of The Mancunion. The exec explained their decision, suggesting that the image objectified women, citing a vaguely worded clause in the union constitution. However, while the union executive is designed to protect the welfare of students and was acting within this remit, they seem to have fallen into two common pitfalls in this case of censorship: context and scope. The context in which potentially offensive material is published is clearly the dividing line between an oppressive society and an anarchic one. If context is not taken into account when censorship occurs then any discussion of issues within society will be severely limited. How can we discuss racism if racist material is always deemed offensive and we are therefore banned from even providing it as evidence of the continuation of racism? There have in fact been cases of overzealous censorship that that discussion has been damage by. With regards to the image of Sasha, the context is clear; an intellectual debate is clearly not the kind of arena that is designed to reinforce the status quo. In fact by using the image of Sasha, MDU illustrated the
Students’ Union Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs
issue at the centre of their debate clearly. By the fact that they were debating it, they illustrated that the issue of the plight of women in porn is important and does need to be debated. By censoring the image the union deemed both Manchester students too under developed intellectually to grasp the free discussion of a vital issue it was promoting and the fair use of a shocking image to draw attention to such a debate. While the exec may still be able to accuse the MDU of objectifying Ms Grey by using her semi nude image to promote their own ends, the censorship of The
Mancunion is both illogical and unnecessary. The image would have been used to directly illustrate a developing issue. The role of news agencies is to reflect what is happening in the world around them. Blanket censorship of controversial images only undermines this process. Furthermore, the scope of the images at hand was not taken into consideration. The arena in which the image was to be circulated for either debate promotion or news purposes was solely the university itself. The vast majority of those consuming
the image through either of these two media would have been students or other members of the university community. A university by definition is a community of learned, learning and educating individuals. It is not unreasonable for MDU or The Mancunion to assume that this group can ascertain the reasonable justification for the use of the image for themselves and to not draw offence from this due to its being used in an intellectual context to illustrate the issue at hand. As such, a blanket censorship is almost patronising on the part of the executive. However, the most evident problem with this particular instance of censorship is, again, one common to many instances of a similar kind. There is an evident tone of nimbyism in the ban. Pornography exists and if, as many studies have found, 100% of men and around 70% of women view it then the vast majority of the university community must do. To censor an image associated with porn in light of this is near pointless. One member of the exec explained that while Sasha may have chosen to participate in the image, the nature of the image in itself is objectifying her. The use of the image to promote an event only furthers this objectification. The issue here is that, although the use of the image may have been planned to incite shock, discussion and attention for the debate, none of those things is necessarily bad. While it is good to see the question of ‘Does Porn Empower Women?’ visible around the union at all, it would inevitably have got more attention with the image at hand, particularly from groups in the university community who may not have previously considered this question worthy. This is the issue with blanket censorship of a single image in student media; while bans that are designed to prevent damage on the small scale continue, the big ideas that could tackle these issues on the big scale will continue to be silenced.
ISSUE 02/23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Phoebe Clarke, Patrick Hinton, Tom Ingham Interview
Opinion
theOpinion Looking Beyond Warehouse Sam Bartram With the The Warehouse Project season due to start in the coming weeks there is a conspicuous whiff of ecstasy amongst students and party goers alike. It’s common knowledge by now that The Warehouse Project has flooded Manchester’s underground music market, yet whether this is beneficial or not is up for debate. Admittedly, you can’t argue against the consistent quality of their bills - fuck it, at the risk of sounding massively contradictory, I’ve already bought three tickets and intend to go to more nights. However, one of The Warehouse Project’s greatest appeals, its sheer scale, is also its largest downfall as competitors struggle to swim against the huge wave that The Warehouse Project brand has created. The most obvious evidence of this battle was the recent closure of one of Manchester’s most recognisable clubs in Sankeys, the venue that was described as Manchester’s original ‘superclub’. Sankeys’ downfall may not have been entirely down to The Warehouse Project but the level of competition over bookings and punters inevitably took its toll. Indeed, it seems for many that it has become hard to look past The Warehouse Project for a student-loan-blowing night out and this, for me at least, is a shame in a city of such broad and passionate musical history. Take nights such as Meandyou or Chow Down that have both worked hard to provide intimate, original and creative nights that are always
bound with an interest for underground music rather than profit. Certainly, the presence of The Warehouse Project has created a mindset that dictates that more is better when in reality seeing the likes of Ben UFO or Plastician in a closer environment can be just as, if not more, gratifying than going to a twenty headliner strong Warehouse night. Indeed, this argument can be cast off as mere opinion but the underlying repercussions of The Warehouse Project’s dominance is clear as limitations over bookings make it hard for new nights to come to fruition. Admittedly this is not an entirely new concern but with the growth of The Warehouse Project continuing to surge, the question of smaller nights vulnerability is noticeable. From Soup Kitchen to Mint Lounge, music is always going to remain at the fore of a clubber’s itinerary, but what can make a city’s electronic music scene great is diversity between venues, DJ’s and promoters. If there is a danger of The Warehouse Project controlling any more of the market, then the risk of Manchester’s entire scene being saturated into a single brand could spell the end to the cities once diverse musical movements. So next time you’re debating over Modeselektion or Annie Mac Presents, spare a thought for a lesser night that could turn out to be more.
the MUSIC INTERVIEW
The Orb
Dr. Alex Paterson chats Miss World, experimental chill out rooms and why Nile Rodgers should be embarrased by Daft Punk with The Mancunion. Thomas Ingham Music Editor “If it wasn’t for The Orb I would have burned out on that tour.” The Orb co-founder Dr. Alex Paterson reflects on his first experiences of life on the road. “I remember having to forfeit my Kraftwerk ticket because I was roadying for Killing Joke at the time, why I didn’t take the day off sick I don’t know.” Growing up in the excess of the guitar worshiping, Rick Wakeman loving 1970’s, it was near impossible to hear house DJ’s on British radio. “I wanted something different; cassettes were getting sent over from New York and I knew people up North were getting into it with influences from Dance and Disco music - it was about hearing proper DJ’s like Tony Humphries, that’s what really got me into house music.” “I had this girl in New York who’d record one of Tony’s shows in the morning, this is back in 1987, me and Youth who were sharing a flat at the time were like “What’s this shit here, it’s brilliant!” What we would now call sitar house I guess. That was our introduction to these sounds, they did this version of ‘Blue Monday’ and I’d never heard a version like it before, or since – it’s a gem.” Paterson is regarded as one of the pioneers of ambient house music, a feat that becomes even more impressive when you consider the nature of his upbringing and school days. “I went to a boarding school and we were only allowed to watch two programmes a week, so we had a voting system - Miss World was always chosen, and then we had TOTP. That was in the weird days of T-Rex, I didn’t get all the bisexual stuff when I was 10 but I had an older brother who’d pump me full of what he thought was ‘good music’. I remember him giving me a Bob Dylan double album and it was God damn awful. He used to palm loads
This is how weird it was in boarding school; to meet a girl you had to go to a fucking prayer meetingon a sunday if you ever wanted to see a bird, apart from the barnyard dances at the end of termbut that’s another story. of stuff off on me, but I knew what was shit and I knew that Transformer was an amazing album.” “It wasn’t till I was 15 or 16 that I got the Bowie stuff; I went from being locked away in a boarding school to going to an art school in Bromley that was full of punks in 1976. Welcome to the new world, that’s all I can say - It was three girls to one boy. This is how weird it was in boarding school; to meet a girl you had to go to a fucking prayer meeting on a Sunday if you ever wanted to see a bird, apart from the barn dances at the end of term but that’s a another story (he laughs).” The Orb and artists like Bomb the Bass were often criticised for their use of sampling to create music. “I think it’s totally misunderstood, it depends whose sampling and how they go about it. If you do it in such a way that no one knows you’re doing it and then you tell them ten years down the line,
like the saxophone from ‘Higher Than the Sun’ with Primal scream – we just detuned it.” “No-one else had contemplated doing this chill out music to mad sweaty kids in dance clubs who are gagging for a bit of a sit down every now and then. Doing live sampling and mixing in an experimental chill out lounge is creative, if you just take one little sample and you take it as a big chunk, like a Chemical ‘Sisters’ kind of tune, it’s not.” Over the years Paterson has worked with everyone from Depeche Mode to David Gilmour, and more recently collaborated with reggae producer Lee ‘scratch’ Perry whose unique approach to writing gave birth to mind enriching tracks like ‘Fussball’. “We all watched a game of football in the studio, he wasn’t really taking part in anything and he watched it for a bit and then when he left and came back he was singing ‘Fussball’, so we though let’s record it. There were times when I wish we were recording him, one particular occasion when he was using his Bible and calling out his Facebook – crazy shit, the one that got away (he laughs).” Dance and Disco were essential influences on The Orb, and ones that Alex looks back fondly on, however the recent Daft Punk Disco revival isn’t cutting the mustard with the doc. “I think Nile Rodgers is a bit embarrassed by it all, I imagine. I don’t think he realised what he wasn’t getting himself in for. Chic are way above what Daft Punk could ever achieve, Chic are like Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, they reached out with a whole new sound.” “Nile and Bernie Edwards were prolific, they were always on the decks with killing Joke – it was almost like the Giorgio Moroder German stuff, very precise. For me to talk about Chic and Sister Sledge and then Daft Punk is, I’m sorry, but ‘does not compute’.” Full interview: www.mancunion,com/music
Pangea Special: What’s on
TOP5
Songs
about Alcohol Thomas Ingham Music Editor
1. Thin Lizzy - Whiskey In the Jar
2. Bowling For Soup Hooray For Beer
This song has been covered by everyone from The Dubliners to Metallica, and is the perfect way to get any old session started. Let’s all raise a glass to this one!
A particular favourite of George Best I think, Bowling for soup have got it bang on here, Beer is a great social leveller and the saviour of humanity, so yes Hooray for beer!
3. Psychostick - Beer On hearing this track one may wonder if they’ve been spiked, but worry not this charming little tune explains perfectly why we all dig alcohol.
4. The Dubliners - A Pub With No Beer
5. Bruce Springsteen Sherry Darling
I don’t think I can sum up the despair better than the boys did themselves “But there’s nothing so lonesome, so dull or so drear, Than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.”
Not strictly a drinking song, but The Boss does delivery one of my favourite romantic boozy lines “I got some beer and the highways free, and I got you and baby you got me” - aw.
ISSUE 2/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
: @MancunionMusic : / TheMancunionMusicSection
Music
13
Feature: Opinion
the
MUSIC OPINION
Giving Classical a Chance Phoebe Clarke Music Editor Birthplace of the rave revolution, there’s no denying Manchester is widely celebrated for its music scene. Whilst the city hosted the first ever UK premiere of Puccini’s revolutionary La bohème in the 19th Century, bands such as the Happy Mondays, Oasis and The Smiths have secured the city in Pop Music history for it’s legendary ‘Madchester’ scene. Why then, when you ask the average ManUni student about the music in Manchester, do they reply solely naming clubs such as Deaf Institute, the Warehouse Project and Sankeys (RIP). Where I ask, is the mention of institutes equally as legendary the Bridgewater Hall and The Lowry, where the vibrancy of Manchester’s classical scene is almost unparalleled? My opinion is that young people in Manchester don’t give Classical music a chance. As a Music student of predominantly Classical here at Manchester, I also consider myself a lover of Techno, Drum and Bass and just about every other musical genre that has come into being, (with the exception of Heavy Metal). I listen to the Ministry of Sound compilations as passionately as I would my
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favourite Italian opera. Therefore, it really pains me to see rows of empty seats in Manchester’s Classical venues. Especially after having seen hundreds of the uni’s most passionate music lovers at Warehouse Project the night before. Why do Manchester’s students so passionately engage with one music scene but not the other? Outside gigs and clubs, the choice is enormous and there are plenty of ways to experience and appreciate alternative forms of music. The gleaming glass of the Bridgewater Hall hosts a phenomenal concert series, where contemporary international superstars rub shoulders with the Manchesterbased Hallé and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. Similarly, if you prefer Les Misérables to Mozart, a range of show-stopping musicals can be found at the Palace Theatre and operas at Opera North, based at The Lowry. Contrary to popular belief, these events have regular student discounts and are no more expensive than your average Pop or Rock gig. In fact, Manchester Uni itself hosts a free lunchtime concert every Thursday, fully paid for and marketed by the University that features the world renowned Danel Quartet. Therefore, the problem obviously lies not in the marketing, quality or pricing of
Classical events. It all ties in to music and sub-culture. Popular music in all it’s strands has deep-seated sub-culture in fashion and society. Just as this sub-culture leads to the average hipster annoyingly explaining how he’s “always loved Deep House” before it’s recent popularity, Classical music has been written off by today’s youth for it’s lack of underground associations. In other words, it’s not “cool” to like Beethoven. Now, I’m not saying that all students go to concerts for the underground culture or that none go to Classical events as many of my fellow music
students do. However, I do believe that love for music should always come for music’s sake and the majority of Manchester’s students have been too narrow-minded to embrass the Classical scene that incorporates just as many varying strands as the Popular Music scene today. If you love Techno independent of the rave culture, why not try some Minimalism? Not only will you experience something new but you may find something you like. And if you’re not up to the challenge of trying, you’re not a true music lover at all.
Mancunion Music Recruits Thursday 26th Sept, 5pm
Student Activities Office, 1st Floor of SU
Live
Dimensions Festival
Beacons Festival
Fort Punta Christo, Pula - 5th - 9th September 2013 Dimensions,, sister festival from the team behind Outlook, returns to the beautiful setting of Fort Punta Christo to deliver one of the most impressive house and techno driven line ups in the world. The locations of luxurious beaches and an abandoned fort provided the perfect backdrop to the summery house and darker techno music on display. Highlight of the first night is Move D who spins a masterful set of euphoria inducing tunes such as ‘Want You In My Soul’
and Armand Van Helden’s club classic ‘You Don’t Know Me’. The German’s enthusiasm is infectious and the crowd mirrors his joyous, prancing stage presence. Another Thursday highlight is Innervisions honcho Dixon who treats the crowd to a full 3 hours of blissful house in the sunrise slot. Friday’s beach parties see Manchester’s own Hoya:Hoya residents deploy setting appropriate disco led sets on the coast. In stark contrast, the
9/10
evening show is stolen by the pounding techno of Surgeon and Blawan in The Moat. The 30-metre deep stage intensifies the wall of sound each DJ creates to mind-blowing effect. A notable moment elsewhere occurs when Jimmy Edgar drops Aphex Twin’s unparalleled banger ‘Windowlicker’. Across Saturday and Sunday the intensity doesn’t let up; ‘Bring’ by Randomer establishes itself as song of the festival as multiple DJs, including Pariah, draw for it as a mid-set highlight. Only one disaster arises when Omar S’ set time is changed at the last minute meaning I miss him. However, Martyn proves to be a fine alternative with his slowed down version of ‘Hackney Parrot (Special Request VIP)’ sending a bassy wave rippling through the assembled revellers. Detroit super-collective 3 Chairs, comprised of Moodymann, Rick Wilhite, Marcellus Pittman and Theo Parrish, close the festival in style. The threatened storms hold off and the light drizzle that does descend only heightens the elation of those left standing at 6am Monday morning. Patrick Hinton
Heslaker Farm, Skipton - 16th - 18th August, 2013 Beacons Festival returns to Funkirk Estate, a quaint farm near the Yorkshire Dales. In its second year, an impressive line up has expanded its capacity and reputation. Though described as an ‘art and music’ event, the site feels drab and uninspired. Some effort has been made to make the main arena- a field- feel like a festival, but more than the odd art installation is required. A ‘popup’ Urban Outfitters doesn’t help. Aren’t festivals an escape from such high-street normality? The painfully homogeneous crowd- students- only reinforces that feeling. Thankfully, the music in the Resident Advisor tent goes a good way to make up for this. New York hotshot Anthony Naples kicks off Friday’s antics, making a strong selection of gritty, grooving tunes. Move D follows with a three-hour master class possible of only a true veteran. John Talabot’s closing set keeps the crowd moving until the fun is stopped by the far-tooearly 2am curfew. No sunrise raving at Beacons. Saturday’s highlights are houserevivalists Bicep and Hessle Audio big man Ben UFO. In a
trademark stompy set, Bicep find the time to drop Scuba’s ravepastiche anthem ‘NE1BUTU’. It goes off. Ben UFO’s darker cuts make for a fascinating change of tone and as the crowd lap up every pounding kick drum, there’s no need for sing-a-longs here. Andres and Theo Parrish embark upon a five hour journey through only the most soulful hip-hop, house and techno to close the festival on Sunday. For a very different ride, James
6/10
Holden delivers his euphoric, trance-influenced progression outside on the RBMA stage. Finding an act to provide that weekend climax any better would be near impossible. It’s clear Beacons has the music side of things sorted, but a truly great festival is a lot more than this. Bring on the day this twigs with the organisers.
Ben Glover
14
Music
ISSUE 02/23RD SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Mancunion Recommends
Book now: 0161 832 1111
Now: Drake- Nothing Was the Same OVO Sound. Release Date; 24th September 2013
Patrick Hinton Music Editor “Comin’ off the last record, I’m getting 20 million on the last record” is the unsubtle brag that opens Nothing Was The Same. Drake is one of the biggest players in hip-hop and he makes sure everyone knows. ‘Started From The Bottom’ recalls his rise to stardom from humble beginnings, achieved through hard-work and talent. “I wear every single chain, even when I’m in the house” he proclaims showing he has no plans to stop his ascent anytime soon either. Judging by this album, that doesn’t seem likely. Love, with its peaks and troughs, is the main focus of the album’s lyrical content. ‘From Time’ details
8/10
the reunion of two former lovers, featuring a guest vocal from Jhene Aiko, soulfully singing “I love me, I love me enough for the both of us” on top of a dulcet piano melody. On ‘Connect’ Hudson Mohawke continues his hot streak of hip-hop production laying down a spaced out beat for Drake to bitch about the extracoital activities involved in relationships, “She just wanna run around the city and make memories that she can barely remember / And I’d allow her, talk about pussy power” he sighs; it’s a hard life. Sampha appears on ‘Too Much’ which proves to be the standout track of the album. Drake is revealing of his concerns and personal issues whilst on the chorus Sampha urges him “Don’t think about it too much”, creating a compelling look at how Drake perseveres through his own anxieties to attain his goals. Not all the features are so strong unfortunately, one low point of the album occurs with Jay-Z’s guest spot on ‘Pound Cake’ in which he continues to ‘phone it in’. The verse feels like it exists purely to have Jay-Z on the album rather than to enhance the musical quality. The Toronto born artist has produced a more constant rap effort than perhaps expected with Nothing Was The Same and the album does slightly suffer from the lack of his more RnB styled tracks. Drake is often at his best with songs fitting that genre, for example back catalogue highlights ‘Fireworks’ and ‘Take Care’. Yet Drake is an outstanding rapper and Nothing Was The Same has all the components an excellent hip-hop album requires: slick rhymes, a number of good guest features and a great deal of bragging.
Then: Neutral Milk Hotel - In theAeroplane Over the Sea Domino; 1998 “Two-headed boy, With pulleys and weights, Creating a radio played just for two, In the parlour with a moon across her face - Got it? In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is Neutral Milk Hotel’s second and last album, straight from the witch’s cauldron that resides within Jeff Mangum’s head. Following the bands debut On Avery Island, Mangum told reporters that he had become overcome by sadness and grief, brought on by Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl. No one’s disputing the grave account told in the diary, however it seems a tad odd, to put it mildly, that a story known on such a universal level should affect anyone, never mind a rock musician in such a way. The result of this and Jeff ’s own childhood experiences culminate in a record brimming with joy, trauma and bizarre, slightly perverted sexual imagery “now how I remember you, how I would push my fingers through your mouth, to make those muscles move”. But not only is it a near impossible task to make sense of the lyrical content, it’s one that also detracts from the bewildered charm that this album oozes. Musically the transition from Avery to Aeroplane isn’t a huge one, but it’s the later that has a more cohesive feeling missing from the bands debut. Although the record has strong stand alone tracks like ‘King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt.1’ and ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ the full satisfaction lies within the piece as a whole. Jeff Mangum’s vocals are often the cause of debate; occasionally slightly off pitch, but unlike Ke$ha it’s served up to us straight, with extra hot sauce – and that’s just
the way I like it baby. Horns, accordions and Jeff ’s brash acoustic are at the heart of the sound; underpinned by a warm fuzzy bass tone that counteracts the more grandiose elements of the record perfectly. The arrangement is bang on the money, releasing the vast array of instrumentation in a dimmer switch fashion, allowing the sounds to wrap the listener up in a soft, fluffy blanket rather than bombarding them with an overwhelming wall of noise. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea tempts its listener to explore and dissect, but ultimately the beauty lies within the mystery. Dig it, love it and listen - just don’t lose any sleep over it. Tom Ingham, Music Editor
For full listings visit:
manchesteracademy.net SEPTEMBER Charlotte Church Monday 23rd Y & T Tuesday 24th Art Brut Tuesday 24th The Duckworth Lewis Method Thursday 26th Evile Saturday 28th The Lurkers Saturday 28th CocoRosie Sunday 29th The Twang Monday 30th
OCTOBER Reckless Love Tuesday 1st Airborne Toxic Event Wednesday 2nd Hip Hop Shakespeare: Richard II Wednesday 2nd Fat Freddy’s Drop Friday 4th Kids In Glass Houses Friday 4th Wheatus Friday 4th Black Spiders Friday 4th Funeral For A Friend Saturday 5th Miles & Erica (of The Wonder Stuff) Saturday 5th Manc Floyd Saturday 5th Mac Miller Sunday 6th Bootleg Festival Sunday 6th Glasvegas Monday 7th Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit Monday 7th Ryan Keen Wednesday 9th Kacey Musgraves Thursday 10th Johnny Marr Saturday 12th The Orb + System 7 Saturday 12th Turisas Saturday 12th The South Sunday 13th Children Of Bodom Monday 14th The Devil Wears Prada Monday 14th The Quireboys Tuesday 15th Sebadoh Tuesday 15th Goo Goo Dolls Wednesday 16th The Answer Thursday 17th Volbeat Friday 18th Kate Nash Saturday 19th UK Foo Fighters Saturday 19th Orange Sunday 20th Toyah Saturday 19th AlunaGeorge Monday 21st Baroness Tuesday 22nd Roachford Tuesday 22nd The Feeling Wednesday 23rd Skid Row/Ugly Kid Joe Thursday 24th Markey Ramone’s Blitzkrieg with Andrew WK Thursday 24th HIM Thursday 24th The Cult – Electric 13 Friday 25th The Pigeon Detectives Friday 25th John Power (Cast) Friday 25th Real Radio XS Saturday 26th North Mississippi Allstars Saturday 26th The Blackout Saturday 26th Lissie Sunday 27th
Academy.Gig.Ladder.Iss01.indd 1
Warpaint Tuesday 29th Birdy Wednesday 30th Tyler Hilton Wednesday 30th Wiley and Dappy Thursday 31st
NOVEMBER Boomtown Rats Friday 1st IllumiNaughty Saturday 2nd 10pm – 5.30am Deserts Xuan Saturday 2nd Blood On The Dancefloor Sunday 3rd Bring Me The Horizon Monday 4th Watsky Tuesday 5th Deap Vally Tuesday 5th Dillinger Escape Plan Wednesday 6th 36 Crazyfists Thursday 7th Marillion Friday 8th The Union Friday 8th Whole Lotta Led Saturday 9th Satyricon Sunday 10th Defenders Of The Faith ft Amon Amarth Wednesday 13th The Wonder Years Wednesday 13th Stephen Lynch Live Thursday 14th Gary Numan Thursday 14th Laura Veirs Friday 15th Naughty Boy Saturday 16th Mallory Knox Sunday 17th Television Sunday 17th Blue October Monday 18th Hayseed Dixie Tuesday 19th They Might Be Giants Wednesday 20th The Rifles Thursday 21st The Virginmarys Friday 22nd The Temperance Movement Friday 22nd Absolute Bowie Saturday 23rd Lee Nelson Saturday 23rd MSMR Sunday 24th Barenaked Ladies Monday 25th The Fratellis Wednesday 27th Dan Baird Friday 29th Flux Pavilion Saturday 30th The Complete Stone Roses Saturday 30th
DECEMBER Capercaille Sunday 1st Papa Roach Thursday 5th Watain Thursday 5th White Lies Friday 6th Electric Six Friday 6th Dutch Uncles Friday 6th For Those About To Rock Saturday 7th The Word Alive Sunday 6th Alabama 3 Friday 13th Kurt Vile Saturday 14th Gogol Bordello Saturday 14th Primal Scream Sunday 15th Levellers Friday 20th
JANUARY 2014 The 1975 Tuesday 7th Lamb of God Sunday 19th London Grammar Wednesday 29th
18/09/2013 15:40
Games
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
15
Editor: Alasdair Preson Review
Retro Corner
review:GTA V Tom Cottrell takes on a life of crime in the year’s most hotly anticipated title
Alasdair Preston makes the case for Sonic’s best 3D outing
Rockstar North • Rockstar games • RRP: £44.99 • Available on PS3, & 360 If you’ve seen a bus, a billboard, watched TV, listened to the radio or ventured onto the internet at any time over the last month, you’ve noticed that this launch was big. And there is good reason for the fuss, GTA holds a special place among games. The series is as famous as Mario (even your gran knows that you can get your money back from hookers if you kill them afterwards), and infamous as proof that not all games are for kids. But was the most expensive game ever made worth its $170 million budget? After the five year wait since GTA IV, fans might be barely able to wait another moment to dive back into this world of violence and mayhem. They will have to contain themselves a little longer, as the mandatory 8GB will delay them by around a quarter of an hour. It would be wise to use this time to load up on snacks to sustain you for the next few days because, once you get underway, you will be loath to put your controller down for any length of time. Right off the bat two things become clear. Firstly, that Rockstar Games are still in the business of telling engaging, character driven and morally complex stories. Secondly, that this game is even more about freedom than previous titles. This freedom stems not only from the open world nature of the game that we have come to expect of the franchise, but also from the ability to switch between multiple playable characters. This mechanic is introduced very early on and is as intuitive and as well executed as you could hope and you will use it often. Sometimes, because the complicated and intertwined story that the characters are experiencing demands that you see events from a range of perspectives. Other times because in the middle of a mission you may find it useful to switch to another character to provide cover for the first. Occasionally, even because you have gotten carried away exploring the vast map and want to cause havoc in the city immediately without driving (or flying) all the way home.
Characters also have their own unique ability that can be activated for short periods to get you out of a tight spot. For instance, the streetwise Franklin finds himself able to turn sharp corners at 90 miles per hour to evade police, whereas the more professional Michael can use bullet time much like Max Payne. More reason why the ability to instantly switch characters improves the experience and the gameplay. Freedom is also a key part of the events of the game. Rockstar have taken certain events from recent history to the extreme that you would expect of GTA to ask questions about the role of liberty in Western and, in particular, American society. The Los Santos setting lends immediate rise to Hollywood parallels, and fun is poked at the excesses and hypocrisies of people with the financial freedom to do more or less as they please. However there are other pertinent questions asked that aren’t a laughing matter. One scene in particular most would find distasteful, bordering on shocking. It pushes the envelope for even a game famous partly for its highly adult content (you’ll know that bit when you see it). All of which could leave the game as an overly gritty, self-serious affair if not for the important inclusion of some elements that are downright zany. The recently introduced right to smoke marijuana in parts of America makes an appearance in Los Santos, leading to some psychedelic side missions that are a light-hearted and funny diversion from the heavier plot material. We also see the return of a levelling mechanic, whereby each character begins with different starting stats (for instance Franklin is good at driving whereas Michael is better at shooting), which can then be improved fairly quickly through gunfights, driving, tennis or plain brawling. Given the estimated 100+ hours it takes to play the whole of the missions alone most can expect to see their character improve without any need for grinding. Missions have a degree of replay value for those perfectionists who
want to not only complete every mission, but also achieve every sub-objective on offer. The mini-games are fun and accessible, and games like tennis and golf are much more substantial than just a 10 minute diversion. The old pastime of causing trouble until the police finally catch up to your maxed-out wanted level is still well suited to the world of Los Santos. Rockstar have here constructed a complete, vibrant world that is richly populated and seems to exist when the player isn’t looking just as much as when they are. When changing to a new character we are given a glimpse of what the character was doing unsupervised before the change in control, there is a stock market running in the background and radio stations run as many stories that are nothing to do with your antics as ones that are. The world is also fleshed out by the addition of random encounters a la Red Dead Redemption, where an exploration of the city is met with the optional, welcome interruption of a small side mission that could offer anything from a gunfight to more character exposition. GTA 5 is a culmination of Rockstar’s talents, the finer elements of their previous titles combined with fresh ideas that shake up the open-world format, and the game is all the better for it. They have proven here that they are the best at what they do, and what they do isn’t always very nice.
Before hating 3D Sonic games was cool, there was Sonic Adventure 2. First appearing on Dreamcast, then Gamecube and later even on the XBL Marketplace and PSN Store, SA2 has been around for over 12 years. The game was from a time before length of the game was sacrificed for the bigger budget, shorter single player modes came into fashion and came with days worth of missions, side missions and other activities. The main game told a surprisingly detailed story (for a Sonic game) from both the ‘hero’ and ‘dark’ perspectives. No guesses for working out which sides Sonic and Dr Robotnik (pardon me, “Eggman”) were on. It also introduced a handful of new characters, one of which being Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow divided fans into those that hated him and those that loved him, although the latter group may well just contain myself. His ill-fated spin-off game did little to convert any of the haters. After beating both sides of the story, a secret “Last” section opens up in which all the characters band together in a race to save the planet. This featured one of the hardest Sonic bosses of all-time, and a Super Sonic/Super Shadow finale set to an excellent Crush 40 soundtrack. By far, the most time I spent with the game was raising the adorable tamagotchi-type creatures known as Chao’s (see what they did there?). These little guys could be trained, customised and used to compete in several levels of race and sports events. They could even go to school for the day, often coming back with adorable new tricks such as trying to play a trumpet. Depending on which character you visited them with, and how you treated them, they would switch allegiances between the hero, dark and normal types. Many, many hours were spent trawling through levels to collect the pickups needed to raise a particular chao’s stats, or give it those cool bird wings it so desperately needed to complete the outfit. Heartbreakingly, the chao’s could eventually die. Although they had the potential to come back as a child, this was never a certainty, which made the animation in-between a bit nervy. While some may look back and regret spending so much time on a 3D Sonic outing, I can’t help but see it on the XBL marketplace and seriously consider doing it all again.
Alasdair Preston
News
GTA: Grand Torrent Auto
Best of indie for bargain price
Last week’s hotly anticipated launch of the ambitious Grand Theft Auto V was slightly upstaged as the game leaked online four days before the September 17th release date. Savvy internet pirates managed to acquire the Xbox 360 version of the game in it’s entirety and share it via popular torrenting site, The Pirate Bay. Despite Rockstar’s best efforts to keep the title under wraps, videos and images of the game in play have been surfacing from all corners of the internet. The guilty parties are having their accounts banned and all content pulled as quickly as possible by Microsoft.
Just in time to save freshers from spending huge quantities of their student loan on games, Humbe Bundle Inc. have released the ninth Humble Indie Bundle. The concept of the bundle is to sell a set of four games and allow the buyer to name their price. If you should pay more than the average spent, six bonus games are unlocked. At time of writing, the average price paid was $4.61 or £2.87. Soundtracks for all of the games are also included.
Further problems arose when Amazon mistakenly shipped the game a day early to many customers who had preordered, an embarrassing and possibly costly mistake on their
part. Some have suggested strict policy on people posting that this may have been a pre- game content and spoilers to emptive move aimed at beating their website. any work action taken by Royal Mail. Alasdair Preston Rockstar shouldn’t worry, as best estimates place the total number of pre-orders at around 2.5 million and Forbes has predicted launch day sales to reach 6.5 million units. The game cost around £170 million to make, more expensive than nearly every Hollywood blockbuster, and is expected to be wildly popular in the coming weeks. GTA V was produced by Rockstar North, the Edinburgh based studio responsible for much of the GTA series, including III and IV. Days before, Rockstar warned gamers against the “inevitable game info and asset leaks” and made a point of outlining a
Included in the latest Humble Bundle is Brütal Legend, the action adventure game starring Jack Black as a Nathan Explosion-esque roadie who finds himself in a fantasy world that echoes the artwork of his favourite artists. Paying more than the average also gives you FTL:
Faster Than Light and Fez, both of which are outstanding titles. Fez is a mind-bending platformer that has seen successful releases on PC and consoles. Also included are the critically acclaimed games Limbo and Bastion. After agreeing to pay, you can also allocate your money exactly as you see fit, dividing between the developers, charities and Humble Bundle Inc. themselves. The promotion supports several good causes, all game related in nature. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is aimed specifically at defending the rights of the people in digital matters in courtrooms and beyond. Another supported charity is Watsi, a website similar to Kickstarter in design that allows people to browse profiles of others
around the world desperately in need of medical care and fund them directly, with 100% of the donations going to those in need. Childs Play also benefits, and they aim to bring gaming to unfortunate children in hospitals in the form of games and consoles. Humble Bundle Inc. also runs a weekly bundle that is worth keeping an eye on as it usually features some top quality titles for low cost. All games in the bundles are for PC, and often support OS X. Purchase also comes with keys to activate the games on Steam, or you can download them directly. The Humble Bundle can be bought online at www.humblebundle.com. Act fast though, as this offer expires on Wednesday.
Alasdair Preston
ISSUE 02/23RD SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
/TheMancunion: Lifestyle
Editors: Susie Coen, Marie ClareYates, Halee Wells (Beauty) Top 5
the fashion editors’
TOP
5
Early lecture starts, hangover hair and once elegant make-up all over your face - if there is one accessory that will stand by your side like a trusty companion and scream to the world - ‘Hey! I can be on trend when I want to!’ – then it is the bag. Take a look at Marie Clare Yates’ 5 chosen lecture bests, because no matter how rough you’re feeling, your bag is always there to state otherwise. Pink block square tote bag Black and whites are transitioning from this Autumn/Winter onto the catwalks of this Spring/Summer and this season you’ll find some hues of pink too. A playful pink and black exterior, this tote bag may be your key accessory piece over the coming months. With the dimensions: H:31cm, W:40cm, this River Island piece is practical and the perfect size for all of your lecture essentials. Complete with adjustable strap and a flip-lock fastening, at £45, be sure to invest in this eye-catching addition. Topshop plated holdall I’m really a fan of the muted colour palette and I especially love this powder blue. Teamed with dark clothing, this bag will brighten up any outfit or give a subtle contrast accordingly. Although maybe not quite big enough for folders and laptops (H:25cm W:44cm), this plated holdall is a classy addition to any outfit that can also make appearance to more sophisticated events. Costing only £40 (and that’s without student discount!) this cute and simple sky-blue bag will instantly become your number one accessory whether it is to accompany you in the lecture theatres or to Font for cocktails. Quilted Tote Bag Red is hot this season. Cherry and berry colours donned the catwalk on skirts and suits, so what’s better than having this sensuous colour on your arm too? Made from a leather look fabric, (Polyurethane to be exact) you won’t have to worry about getting caught out in the rainy Manchester weather! Zipped interior compartments, lining and a spacious inner room (H: 28cm W: 40cm) this bag is definitely one of my favourite pieces. Costing £45, this River Island tote bag is available on ASOS with free delivery and if you prefer something other than red, you also have the option of having this bag in black and cream.
@MancunionLife
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Feature
The Fashionista in An eye for an eye, an eye the City for a lens Marie Clare Yates presents to you ways in which you can fuel your fashion fix as an unfamiliar fresher in the fabulous city of Manchester The Manchester Gallery of Costume will walk you through the sparkling steps of fashion since the 17th century to present day trends. It treats you to items that showcase not only the high fashion of the time but also to the garments of the working class people in Britain. There is currently an exhibition illustrating Christian Dior’s iconic ‘New Look’ collection from 1947, which finishes 12th January 2014. Some of the items displayed include garments from his highly celebrated ‘Corolle’ Collection and a beautiful black ribbed silk cocktail dress, worn by Wallis Simpson in 1949. You’ll find this gem near Plattfields Park near Rusholme; is free entry and is open Monday-Friday: 1-5pm, Saturday and Sunday: 10am-5pm. If your agenda is in need of even more shopping (because I know you’ve check out all of my favourite vintage stores from issue one) then let me bring your attention to The Trafford Centre. I’m sure you’ve already heard of it but if you haven’t been then I command you to immediately cancel any weekend plans and dedicate it to this glittering emporium. With its Roman Empire exterior, Titanic themed food
ers, exciting cocktails and Manchester’s finest Chinese food and I personally cannot wait! This exciting event takes place at the Hervia Design Emporium, 40 Spring Gardens between 18:0021:00, register interest on the Hervia’s facebook page. Not only does Manchester offer you countless ways for you to spend your money, it enlightens you on how you can earn it back too. On Wednesday 2nd October there are free fashion career fairs and talks on how to ‘makeit’ in the industry. Go with you CV and/or portfolio and speak to industry professionals. Talks on how to make it as a buyer, stylist, merchandiser, journalist or designer (plus more) are also offered. See event times on www. manchesterfashion.com
hall and an abundance of stores to explore this really is the perfect fashionista’s day out. Travel to and from The Trafford Centre is easy – just buy a tram ticket from Piccadilly to The Trafford Centre, get off at Stretford and a
bus will take you directly there. A return ticket costs around £5.10. One of UK’s biggest fashion festivals: Vogue’s Fashion Day out is coming to Manchester. On the 10th October attendees will experience international design-
Photo: Pauls Imaging, Creative Commons
Loving & Loathing
Aztec, animal, arty, you name it, this season has it. Gone are the super cool muted summer basics and pastel shades. Fussy prints have splattered themselves onto the high street this autumn, with bright oriental blazers, and coloured paisley bottoms, no wardrobe can ignore this season’s bold prints. This versatile £40 kimono from River Island is a gorgeous must-have piece, perfect for night or day.
Kimono, River Island, £40
Across the ages, some of the greatest eyes ever to see the light of day have been aided in their pursuit of 20/20 vision. From Gok to Gandhi, high profile personages have donned the classic frame/ lens combo, but there is a new wave of bespectacled beauties sweeping the nation. Spectacle searching students wishing to get ahead of the game shouldn’t be sent cross-eyed by the potentially daunting range of options. It’s true the prospect of taking the four-eyed plunge and buying your first pair can be scary, but that’s why we’re here to ‘lens’ you a hand and guide you through the best specs on the market. Hopefully you will thank us for being able to aid your treacherous venture, assistance that will be sure to leave you ‘seeing’ your way through the present semester without being subjected to the slightly irksome label “speccy twat” on campus grounds. Luckily you are choosing the right time to start your search. Surely even Etta James would rather not go blind in this fashion-filled epoch. Glasses today are a fashion statement in themselves, with hipsters choosing to join the four-eyed pack, donning lensless glasses just to fit in. With options ranging from frames in bright day-glow colours to the renewed trend for cat-eye glasses to the subtler look modelled by
celebrities such as Jennifer Garner in semi-rimless frames. You can get the look from Glasses Direct who offer a similar pair for an ex-spec-tional sale price of £20. Even the most short sighted must have noticed the now ubiquitous thick frames, sometimes termed “geek glasses” which until recently were considered to have been con-
youASK
signed to the sixties and associated more with Buddy Holly than celebs snapped by the Daily Mail. With celebrities such as Alexa Chung on board this look is clearly here to stay. To avoid the agonising “hard gok life” and be able to squeeze into the elite niche of “stylish glasses” wearers, one must first learn the art of avoiding opticians that feature
MANCHESTER’S we ANSWER FINEST INDEPENDENT SHOPS: PART 2
Daring Prints RiRi for River Island
With multiple compartments, fastens and zips, this bag is practical and super cute! The use of neutral colours mean that this backpack will go with any outfit while the layers of the contrasting colours keep it away from boring. The inside of the bag has a small zip pocket which is perfect for keeping anything small from your keys, phone or uni-rider pass an it has front and back pockets too which allows for extra storage and accessibility. You can buy this rucksack from Accessorize for £35 and the dimensions measure: H: 35CM, W:40CM.
Theo Jolliffe talks glasses and ‘specs’ appeal glasses priced as thick as their lenses. Opting for Harry Potter style round frame could also be a total ‘diglasster’ - square is definitely the frame right now! But how can you be sure to purchase only the most fantastic frames at affordable prices? You could take a risk on the wild card of opticians - Vision Express. They claim they’ll ‘see you right’. The slightly threatening tone to their slogan may be contributing to their apparent struggle against Specsavers for market dominance. I spent the best part of an hour scouring their website in attempt to demystify the enigma of the highstreet store, yet VE remains a riddle. You could, however, play it simple. Mega-Opticians Specsavers offers a no thrills service, but great value for money. If your research skills are any better than your eyesight you’ve probably noticed their two-for-one offer on glasses costing over £69 (better than a poke in the eye?). Now I challenge you to find a better deal on glasses, and an article with cornea jokes.
Photo: Theo Jollife
You Ask/We Answer
Loving & LOATHING
Square Rucksack
H&M Black Handbag Black is classic and chic and can collaborate with any other colour. This bag contrasts the leather-look with fake fur and the optional gold studded strap creates a ‘rock chic’ aesthetic. Dimensions measure: H: 31cm, W: 31cm and there are 2 handles, zipped pockets and three inner compartments so there are loads of storage to keep all of your goodies safe. The dark colour won’t show up marks that arise from a combination of Magic Bus travel and Manchester weather so you won’t have to worry about this bag not looking so fabulous over time. Finally, as it costs just £29.99 from H&M this is my cheapest favourite shopper!
Fashion
Yes, we have ranted about this before. Yes, we are going to again. Riri is back for round two at RiverIsland, and as if it couldn’t get any worse, it has. Her autumn collection has hit stores once more and boy does it disappoint. With overpriced tacky camouflage prints and baggy jerseys, fashion is certainly not, and never will be, her forte. Perhaps she could take this £40 bin liner she has produced and throw the rest of the collection in there. G4Life? No.
with Marie Clare Yates
Quirky boutiques and vintage treasure troves are never in short supply in Manchester - just walk through the Northern Quarter and you will find yourself surrounded by an array of thrifty gems. Fashion Editor Marie Clare Yates has scoured the streets of Manchester and presents to you the best six independent stores for you to explore…
HALEE’S
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Beauty Editor Halee Wells advises on what to spend, how to wear & how to apply
ESSENTIALS
I for one never really liked school uniform. Cardboard blazers and pleated skirts were nothing to be desired, but luckily this season, a blast from the past isn’t always a bad thing. The tartan trend has exploded onto the high street for autumn/winter. We can now find this nostalgic pattern in just about every type of clothing, whether it’s vibrant reds or dark blue hues, it’s a must for any wardrobe this fall. I like to pair my favourite tartan collared blouse with skinny black trousers and leather boots, and when it’s a bit chilly up in Manchester, throw on a leather jacket for a bit of added grunge. But as tartan is so versatile and can be worn in so many different ways, I thought I would check out how the girls of Instagram are styling the pattern of the season. I couldn’t help but notice Instagram user michellefranky’s gorgeous Topshop tartan leggings. Certainly not for the fainthearted, but paired with a plain vest or super cool tee, these pants scream fashion expert! Georgia_e_m also pulls off the flattering pants with a baggy black jumper and grungy black boots. One girl who can certainly rock this trend is Instagram user naomirowland. She aces this trend, not once, not twice but four times on her rather quirky page. Look at how she uses one pinafore, and styles it two completely different ways.
1. RETRO REHAB 2.MOCKINGBIRDS 3.JUNK
Shorts, Rhianna for River Island, £40
A compact aqua-blue vintage delight and by far my favourite vintage boutique. Retro Rehab stands out loud and clear with its turquoise frontage - just this is surely enough to cue your curiosity, no? Well, it worked for me. Unlike your usual vintage store: messy, muddled, musty, Retro Rehab merchandise is clean, categorised, uncluttered. Garments are ordered by colour, stock ordered by genre; allowing for easy and swift navigation. Unfortunately for the boys, it seems that they’re not a market that Retro Rehab caters for, however girls, please feel free to indulge yourself. Highly desirable and very, very cute dresses – peter pan collars, embroidered hems, maxi lengths, floral patterns; the range is extensive, inexpensive but above all; wearable. There are so many stores on the vintage scene that sell lovely items, that’s is; lovely unwearable items (at large) but, luckily for us, Retro Rehab is not one of them. As mentioned above, having a cheeky occasional indulge is not going to break the bank either; dresses are priced at around £20 while tops and jewellery are at around £10. Oh, and, when you do visit be sure to know about the buy one get one free sales - this place just can’t stop treating us.
Located in Manchester’s second student village of Withington, ladies this boutique is well worth the visit. Mockingbirds is the cutest little boutique, glowing between the newsagents, drycleaners and the meat shops. The shop sells an array of the usual female clothing items however; their details and designs are yet to be discovered in the franchises. It sells the sort of clothes that when you see something you like, you realise that you’ve wanted it forever and that you must have it immediately if not sooner. Aside from the cute and quirky clothing are the fun and artsy accessories: Aztec and bohemian necklaces; recycled vintage cuffs; handmade fabric collars along with bags; hats and an extensive earring collection. If you venture to the back of the shop you will find gorgeous vintage treasures - collected overtime by the owner of the shop, these genuine gems are something to be admired. Mockingbirds is truly a store that mixes the old with the new. The average price of a dress is around £30 and accessories costing around £15; you can dress without fear that someone else is wearing the same thing and without breaking the bank. What’s more Mockingbirds has fairly regular sales too!
The thing that sets Junk apart from the rest is that it has it’s own labels. Allow me to introduce you to: Made In The Mill, Jumble and Label of Love and they’re allllll made locally in Manchester. Junk collaborates with up-and-coming designers, providing sustainable, multi-cultural fashion at affordable prices; dresses are at around £30, chiffon tops £10, male t-shirts £15 and jewellery around £15. It offers a range of unique clothing items for men and women, cute jewellery pieces, all from fresh local designers. But Junk offers more than just local independent labels, the team also offers classes on how to make your own clothes, male tailoring and shirt making all at £120 a hit. Although this tuition is likely to exceed the average student budget, I would still encourage anyone interested in garment production to visit Junk - even if only to admire the store, completely furnished from recycled materials!
(2 pics of naomirowland pinafore)
Still not sold? I can see how tartan certainly isn’t for everyone, so how about trying a bit of nail art! Kat3101_posh perfects this look with stunning black glossy talons and splashes of tartan. Perhaps a little fiddly for the nail amateurs like myself, but try experimenting with a friend to see what you can come up with.
Tar-tar for now!
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Sophie James, Robbie Davidson, Angus Harrison Top 5
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EVIL BLONDES
You might be under the impression that blondes have the most fun. Well, whilst they might be having the most fun, Cinema also indicates they often cause the most trouble.Forget Thor and Luke Skywalker. From slimy Slytherins to homoerotic Dench-killers, slick golden locks can mean trouble....
5. Silva - Skyfall (2012) I was one of the few unimpressed by Javier Bardem’s caricaturish portrayal of a Bond villain. He seemed as though all he needed was a little persuasion and he would have abandoned his evil plan. His blonde wig was the most villainous thing about him. 4. Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter (2001-2011) Not in any way inherently evil. He shouldn’t even be on this list, but it would not be complete without him. Magic or not, Draco is your stereotypical high school bully who dabbles in the dark arts. Who doesn’t love a good bully? He’s the magic version of Karate Kid’s blonde villain Johnny Lawrence; a true case for nature vs. nurture.
the FEATURE:
On Your Bike! Saudi Arabian Cinema Flexes Our Critical Gaze Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of Middle Eastern cinema that flips the lens onto the female subject, powerfully conveying the positions that women hold… Wadjda hit British cinemas in July 2013 and marks a watershed moment, producing the first ever Saudi film directed by a woman – Haifaa Al-Mansour. In subtle and unlabored terms, Wadjda exposes patriarchal values that underpin female disempowerment. We see Saudi culture through the eyes of Wadjda (Waad Mohammed), a ten-year-old girl whose all-female school exhibits a globe at the back of her classroom, highlighting that as a young Saudi woman even Wadjda’s ability to move around her hometown is limited. Wadjda makes some headway towards achieving small personal freedoms. She takes pride in wearing Converse trainers under her burqa which pierce the uniformity of her appearance. This seemingly insignificant win, for which she must assert herself in the face of vigilant female elders who police other women’s appearances, prompts Wadjda to act on individual thought and desire as we follow her onto her next venture to acquire a bicycle. Central to the narrative is a broader comment on women’s freedom of movement in Saudi Arabia. Even if Wadjda is able to defeat convention and ride a bike, as a Saudi woman she will not be allowed to eventually upgrade to a car, limiting her agency to the confines of the domestic sphere. Wadjda’s determination is moving but holds tragic implications when considered in relation to her mother who relies on male drivers and suffers her husband’s abandonment. In a final shot where Wadjda cycles down a road which meets a highway in the distance, the film points to the fickle nature of Wadjda’s achievements which delude her into thinking she may continue to strive towards achieving her goals. When censorship rules loosened in the West in the
thePREVIEW: ‘FILTH’
Of all movie serial killers you could be imprisoned by, he might just be the worst. You can’t be a serial killer without a sufficient level of creepiness, and this guys got it in abundance. 2. Debbie ‘Black Widow’ Jellinsky - The Addams Family Values (1993) Gold digger, murderer; call her what you want. She is pure, meaningless evil in the form of Joan Cusack. If you haven’t seen this film in a long time re-watch it and you’ll be amazed at how funny it is.
1. Alex Forrest - Fatal Attraction (1987)
Andriana Hambi
early sixties, Hollywood placed the female form at the centre of its gaze, fetishizing women’s bodies to the extent that a woman’s image can barely exist on screen without being sexualized. Filmmaker Peter Gidal refuses to show images of women in his films, stating: ‘I do not see much hope for representations of women’ as he cannot see how ‘there is any possibility of using [...] any image of a woman other than in an absolutely sexist and politically repressive patriarchal way’ – The Cinematic Apparatus. Contrary to Gidal’s position, Wadjda – together with other Middle Eastern films like A Separation (2011) – situate women at the centre of the narrative, presenting a heightened mirror of our own gender constructs. Al-Mansour’s stark depiction of patriarchal privilege raises awareness about women’s rights in the Middle East but, equally, she grants the Western viewer the opportunity to develop a critical lens towards the oppressive images that dictate our value systems and produce gender inequality in less obvious ways, such as in the ubiquitous Bond films. In the opening scene of Skyfall (2012), for example, the female heroine drives Bond out of a sticky situation and brings him to safety. Compared to Wadjda’s mother, this is a woman with serious agency. But while some women may sit snugly at the wheel, others are subjugated to male will as Bond’s
other lady-interest is a powerless sex slave and an object of exchange between men. Like most boxoffice hits, Bond films are packed with fast-moving action whereas Wadjda is pared down and takes a slower pace. With an uncluttered window into a young girl’s life in Saudi Arabia, Al-Mansour equips her audience with practical ways to pin down patriarchy and – for the sake of the next generation – to ramp our critical faculties up a gear. Jessie Cohen
Preview
3. Buffalo Bill – The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
She takes the phrase ‘bitches be crazy’ to a whole new level. In probably the most effective anti-adultery campaign ever launched, Glenn Close plays an obsessive, determined mistress, who’ll stop at no lengths to get her man. Under different circumstances, this might have made a good romantic comedy. Perhaps without the bunny boiling.
Jessie Cohen explores the dawn of female-led Middle Eastern Cineam and the film that is setting the trend - ‘Wadjda’
Filth is the movie that critics are calling ‘A career best performance by James McAvoy’ and ‘the most original movie … of the year,’ and why shouldn’t they be? It has the backbone written by Irvine Welsh, the writer of Trainspotting, which grew to international success in 1996, and is often cited as one of the best British films of our time. Filth promises to be everything
Director: John S. Baird • Starring: James McAvoy, Imogen Poots, Jamie Bell Released: 4 October
Trainspotting was, and more; iconic, gritty, funny, and dark, with a great British cast and crew. The film follows Bruce Robertson ( James McAvoy), a down n’ dirty Detective Sergeant, in the heart of Edinburgh. But this is no Bad Lieutenant, Robertson makes Harvey Keitel’s character look like Mickey Mouse, in this twisted tale of crime, madness, sex and abuse. The film also stars Jamie Bell, as Bruce’s colleague, Ray Lennox, and Eddie Marston, as Bruce’s ‘so-called’ friend, Clifford Blades. The writer and director, John S. Baird, has promised that fans of Welsh’s novel will not be disappointed by his adaptation. It was Irvine Welsh, on Twitter, that quoted: ‘I was very proud of the book, but the film might even be better.’ He has also compared McAvoy’s performance to Robert De Niro’s role as
Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, saying it is one of the best he’s seen, and went on to say ‘Trainspotting v Filth, that is the question everybody will be asking come October.’ We can presume that Filth will not be one for the faint hearted. In Baird’s adaptation, we can expect to see McAvoy drink himself half to death, snort cocaine off the dashboard, have perverted sex with colleagues, manipulate friends, beat the living daylights out of girlfriends, and so much more, and this is only the stuff we can see of the jam-packed, wickedly filthy, two minute-trailer available on YouTube. We can see by the Red Band trailers, that Filth is a film bound to live up to its name, with more cocaine use than an after-party gig with Pete Doherty, and enough bad language to make Gordon Ramsay blush. But this is an Irvine Welsh adaptation … You don’t go to a Metallica gig, and beg they turn their guitars down, do you?
Jake Cochrane
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Film
/TheMancunion: Film @MancunionFilm
Review
the REVIEW: ‘RUSH’
Director: Ron Howard • Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde Released: 13 September
Film Editor Angus Harrison says the F1 thriller engages both on and off the racetrack “Men love women, but what men really love...is cars.” This is surely a sentiment that only the most fervent Top Gear fan could sympathise with. Many certainly won’t identify with these words and during the blistering opening stretch of this movie, it would be easy to switch off. Yet, anticipating a shiny, hyper-masculine love letter to the fast cars and loose women of the 1970s formula one circuit would be a mistake. This is a film about death. Genre hopping director Ron Howard manages to convert what could easily be mid-life crisis porn, into a genuinely exhilarating and emotionally engaging motion picture. The narrative focus of the film is the 1976 World Championship races; during which the rivalry between British playboy James Hunt and the studious, precise Austrian Niki Lauda, was at its height. Importantly, however, Howard spends the first bulk of the film less on racing and more on the strengths, flaws and vices of the two rivals. Chris Hemsworth brings his Godlike qualities, fresh from Thor, to James Hunt. He constructs, at first, an invincibly cool womaniser but then
gradually laces him with vulnerability - most notably by vomiting before every race. Contrastingly Daniel Brühl’s Niki Lauda is unflinching in his focus and rigor, yet he softens as he meets and falls in love with Marlene Knaus, played by Alexandra Maria Lara. By giving the audience the breathing space to invest in the fragility of these two men the stakes are insurmountably high during the subsequent racing scenes. In many ways Rush has achieved what so many blockbusters have failed to this summer. Yes it is cheesy and occasionally relies on some dated cinematic tropes - blurry POV shots of a drinking binge? However it realises the full potential of character investment. This enables race scenes that don’t rely on CGI or even soundtrack to achieve maximum adrenalin. Rather the audience is truly convinced of the peril. We are behind the wheel as well and it is truly terrifying. It would be wrong to say that Rush is the best film this year, however it is surely one of the most solidly enjoyable efforts. Howard’s direction is magnificent, purely down to how
seamless it is. He soaks the film in glorious ‘70s nostalgia that gives the film the same sort of glow that Spielberg managed with 2002’s Catch Me If You Can. It is glossy to a point, it recycles many biopic clichés and the dialogue is corny at the best of times. Nevertheless, this is a film with pure
adrenalin rushing through it’s veins. Angus Harrison
CATCH TV UP Welcome to the new Mancunion TV Catch up where we tell you all the best things you missed from the last week to watch online in your downtime. A Single Man: In the year before Colin Firth won worldwide acclaim and an Oscar in the The King’s Speech, he starred in Tom Ford’s directorial debut as a bereaved English professor in 1960s Los Angeles. A quieter performance from Firth but no less deserving of praise. (Available on BBC iPlayer) Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: If you like Piers Morgan and his sycophantic interviewing then you’ll likely want to catch up on his new series of Life Stories. His first interview is with Coronation Street actress, Julie Goodyear, which should give you some idea of the level of ‘celebrity’ on offer. (Available on ITV Player) The Newsroom: If you’ve been watching Aaron Sorkin’s recent return to television then you’re likely as conflicted as this writer is. You may love it, you’ll probably hate parts of it, but you still don’t want to miss it. Stay tuned for an in depth look in a future issue, but in the meantime you can catch up on Sky Player. Robbie Davidson
Contrary Corner
Cornerhouse Pick of the Week
‘Mister John’
Battfleck
Film Editor Sophie James considers the Singapore drama
Jackson Ball says we have nothing to fear with Ben Affleck as the new Dark Knight
There’s a lot on at The Cornerhouse this week, with a screening of Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944) to continue its ‘My Noir’ season, as well as the much-anticipated release of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. But our Cornerhouse Pick of the Week Mister John is a definite diamond in the rough and not to be missed! Mister John tells the tale of Irishman Gerry Devine who, struggling with his own marital difficulties, receives news of his brother’s sudden death. Grieving, he flees his own problems and flies to the home of his brother in Singapore, but his trip evolves into something much more than a flying visit as he explores Singapore and delves deeper into the life and character of his late brother in the process. Having dropped his own life in London to live in Singapore as ‘Mister John’ – his late brother’s alter-ego - Gerry has to face the inevitable question: should he stay or should he go?! It is the latest film by husband and wife directing/editing/writing duo Joe
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Lawlor and Christine Molloy. Whilst they may appear to be a Jack (and Jill) of all trades, the trademark of this husband and wife combo is the sheer beauty of the films they produce. Their last film Helen (2008) won the award for Best Cinematography at the 2009 Durban International Film Festival (as well as bagging a nomination for Best Film at the 2010 Evening Standard British Film Awards) and it looks like their latest venture is going to be just as successful. Mister John wowed audiences at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, particularly impressing with its first class cinematography despite low-key production costs. Understated yet classy – this should be on everyone’s watch list as an education in top-notch filmmaking. Be sure to look out for an equally brilliant performance from The Wire’s Aidan Gillen as the lead. Calling all you aspiring filmmakers, actors and film buffs! Get yourselves to the Cornerhouse to see Mister John – it’s out Friday 27th September. Sophie James
license to some degree of creative input. Perfecting a Batman vs. Superman script is a tremendous task, so having a proven writer of Affleck’s calibre in the team is a real asset. It is the story that can ruin this film, not whoever’s behind the cowl. Of all the Affleck-hate that has been spewed up since the announcement, the most-infuriating has to be, “They should have cast Christian Bale again!” Ignoring the fact that Bale didn’t want to do it, no good would have come from his recasting. The Dark Knight Trilogy is over. It was a story with a beginning, middle and a very clear end. To take Bale’s Bruce Wayne out of retirement and throw him into the Man of Steel sequel would have undermined the entire trilogy. If you want to know what happens when actor’s reprise beloved roles for a half-hearted victory lap, ask Harrison Ford about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Ben Affleck casting will prove itself to be a masterstroke, earning him a well-deserved place in fan’s hearts and the Batman archives. Still not convinced? Well, let’s remind ourselves of the last time Batman “fans” were up-in-arms over a casting decision. The Anti-Affleck campaigns are nothing compared to the outrage towards Heath Ledger’s casting as The Joker… Look how that turned out.
Jackson Ball If you spent much of the last month on Earth, you have probably already heard that Ben Affleck has been cast as the new Batman in the upcoming crossover movie with Superman. As well as this news, you have no doubt heard people complain about the announcement, using phrases like “it’s a travesty,” and, “…the worst thing to happen to Batman since they put nipples on the Bat-suit!” Well it is time someone fought Affleck’s corner, and personally, I can’t fathom what the problem is. Surely people can’t still be questioning his abilities. If this exact announcement had been made ten years ago, I might be able to understand some of the dismay, but in recent years he has proven himself several times over, on both sides of the camera. Affleck’s performances in Argo and The Town are undeniable proof that he’s grown into a fine actor. His technical prowess as a writer/director is not something to be ignored either. In the past, he’s been very particular about his roles and you can guarantee that his contract will give him
MODERN LIVING MANCHESTER X1 CHAPEL STREET X1 Chapel Street situated at the heart of the city’s historic quarter with great links to the University of Salford, Manchester Metropolitan University and The University of Manchester. 109 fully furnished, en suite student rooms.
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11/09/2013 11:31
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Esmé Clifford Astbury, Annie Muir
Books
/TheMancunion: Books @MancunionBooks
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Feature
Taking on the Man Booker Prize Books Editor Esmé Clifford Astbury considers this year’s Booker Prize shortlist and invites readers to take a stab at predicting the winner of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, having had her first success in 2009 with Wolf Hall. Previous debates have included whether the shortlist was ‘literary’ enough or ‘diverse’ enough. The 2013 shortlist seems to have scored all round. It is without a doubt the most diverse that we have seen in years. Robert Macfarlane, the chair of the judges this year, said that the shortlist “is most instantly striking for its global range” and that it “shows the English language novel to be a form of world literature.”
These six superb works of fiction take us from gold-rush New Zealand to revolutionary Calcutta, from modern-day Japan to the Holy Land of the Gospels, and from Zimbabwe to the deep English countryside.
It is Man Booker Prize time again! The longlist has been read and culled, and now we are down to the last six. You really have to be a fan to come back to this prize year after year. But it is a lot of fun, and this year the shortlist is less contentious than in previous years. Last year we had the debate about double winners: Hilary Mantel won for the second time with Bring Up the Bodies, the second part
The shortlist includes only one English writer, Jim Crace, for Harvest. He is joined by a Zimbabwean, NoViolet Bulawayo, for We Need New Names, an Anglo-Indian American, Jhumpa Lahiri, for The Lowland, a New Zealander, Eleanor Catton, for The Luminaries, a Canadian-Japanese American, Ruth Ozeki, for A Tale for the Time Being, and an Irishman, Colm Tóibín, for The Testament of Mary. The Booker Prize is a Commonwealth prize and all the novels on the shortlist are in English. As Fintan O’Toole pointed out in a recent piece in The Observer, we used to believe that “subject peoples could never throw off the yoke of empire unless they abandoned the language of the imperial oppressor”. But here we have the English language used in so many different and rich ways.
Review
The diversity of the authors goes beyond their nationalities. While Crace, the oldest author on the list, is 67, Catton is only 28, making her the youngest ever shortlistee. While Tóibín is a prolific author with more than 15 titles to his name, The Luminaries is Catton’s second novel. Macfarlane said: “These six superb works of fiction take us from gold-rush New Zealand to revolutionary Calcutta, from modern-day Japan to the Holy Land of the Gospels, and from Zimbabwe to the deep English countryside. World-spanning in their concerns, and ambitious in their techniques, they remind us of the possibilities and power of the novel as a form.” Despite its diversity, there is a certain cohesiveness to the shortlist. “What connects them is connection,” said Macfarlane, “they are all about ways of connecting: technological, familial, emotional and in one case elemental.” “They are also inevitably about connections in reverse: loss, grief, separation, exile and dispossession,” he added. We want to approach the Booker Prize in a new way this year at The Mancunion. We are looking for six intrepid book reviewers who will each take one of the shortlisted books and tell our readers why it should win the Man Booker Prize 2013. We will feature the reviews, run a poll to allow you to vote for your favourite and see how close Manchester students’ views are to the Booker judges’. The winner will be announced on October 15 so we need to get these reviews in fast.
If you are interested in reviewing a book from the shortlist, please email us at books@mancunion.com.
Review
The Manchester Anthology The Booker of Bookers New writers makes their mark in The Manchester Anthology The Manchester Anthology 2013 was recently launched at The John Rylands Library. It contains highlights from the work produced by the University of Manchester’s Creative Writing MA students over the past year. The event consisted of recitations by the students, including poetry, short fiction and novel extracts, and concluded with the editor, Natasha Smith, paying homage to the late Seamus Heaney. The University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing plays host to some of Britain’s most prestigious programmes, with students flocking from far and wide to attend its courses in Creative Writing and in Contemporary Literature and Culture. Its members of staff include Geoff Ryman, John McAuliffe and Jeanette Winterson, who was appointed as Professor of Creative Writing last year. With such literary giants giving workshops and seminars, it is no wonder that students of the Centre for New Writing produce the sort of work seen in The Manchester Anthology. The Centre runs a host of exciting events throughout the year. ‘Literature Live’, for example, is a series of oncampus readings, with past authors including Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan and Will Self. This September, the Centre held the third British and Irish Contemporary Poetry Conference. However, the students themselves must surely take the lion’s share of the
Books Editor Annie Muir looks back at the ultimate Booker Prize winner, Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie is a British Indian novelist and essayist, born in Bombay in June 1947, the same year as Saleem Sinai, the fascinating protagonist of Midnight’s Children. The novel was written whilst Rushdie was a copywriter for an advertising company, and then in 1981 the Man Booker Prize brought him to fame.
credit for The Manchester Anthology’s success. The extraordinary range of genres that the students can handle is immediately noticeable. The various novel extracts leave you wanting to read the completed masterpiece, whether they be comic, historical or fantasy. On the other hand, the short stories seem like finished jewels. Lu Croft’s ‘Ellie’s Lump’ looks at how women do (or do not) deal with having a mastectomy. Though the story is little more than a page long, it successfully addresses this sensitive issue; it is intense but not overwhelming.
With such literary giants giving workshops and seminars, it is no wonder that students of the Centre for New Writing produce the sort of work seen in The Manchester Anthology.
The students who contributed to The Manchester Anthology are of all ages and backgrounds, and the subjects they tackle reflect this. While Croft’s piece deals with breast cancer, Helen Isserlis’ poems are clearly written from a younger woman’s perspective: I grew up with Britpop, the Walkman,/ the Gameboy, episodes of friends/ (the first time round) and Disney/ while Walt was still alive; his obituary,/ a double spread in The Young Telegraph;/ had a picture of him with his dogs. With a foreword by Jeanette Winterson and assembling the work of 28 promising new writers from the University of Manchester, The Manchester Anthology is certainly worth a read.
Elizabeth Mitchell
The book screams like a baby when you put it down, each sentence exploding inside your head with images and colours but then leaving it plagued with questions and confusion. The narrator describes the life of a child, or Children, born at midnight on August 15th, 1947 - the exact moment that India gained Independence from British Rule - and the story is set in context of the historical events surrounding that night. The story is told in first person by Saleem, who constantly addresses the fact that he is telling his own story rather than the story of his country; however it becomes clear throughout the novel that the two births cannot be neatly separated. At one point Saleem realises an error in his own chronology of historic events and asks: “Am I so far gone, in my desperate need for meaning, that I’m prepared to
distort everything – to re-write the whole history of my times purely in order to place myself in a central role?” The narrator dips backwards and forwards into past and present and past again, between memory and history and fiction. The book screams like a baby when you put it down, each sentence exploding inside your head with images and colours but then leaving it plagued with questions and confusion. Unlike a history textbook, Saleem does not ask to be trusted, and using historical
Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
facts and events Rushdie masterfully sets up a story of magic and wonder which is both fictitious, truthful and symbolic depending on who is reading. In 2003 the prize celebrated its 25th anniversary by appointing a group of three previous judges to select the best novel out of all the winners: Rushdie’s novel won. And for the prize’s 40th anniversary in 2008 the novel’s glory was revived by a public vote naming the novel, again, the ‘Booker of Bookers’.
ISSUE 02/23RD SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Ben Walker, Maddy Hubbard Recipe of the Week
OF THE recipe WEEK
Whether you are a little homesick
for Mum’s homemade food or just need something to soak up all that alcohol, we have you covered with these two easy classics
Shepherd’s Pie 2 sticks of celery 1 carrot 1 clove of garlic Rosemary (fresh or dried) 500g of minced lamb 1 x 400ml of chopped tomatoes 250ml of lamb or veg stock 4 large potatoes Oil Salt and pepper Soften, for about 10 minutes, two sticks of celery, one carrot, finely chopped a clove of garlic, a teaspoon of rosemary, and a red onion in a generous glug of olive oil. Once softened, remove from the pan and brown 500g of lamb mince. Add everything together in the pan and add one 400g tin of chopped tomatoes and 250ml of Lamb or Vegetable stock, season and stir well. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat to a simmer, partly cover and leave for an hour. With 15 minutes to go, boil your potatoes until tender, drain, mash with butter to create a creamy texture and flavour. Pour the filling into a large oven proof dish and top with the mash. Smooth the potato topping then scour with a fork so there are pointy ridges which will drown and crisp in the oven. Heat in a hot oven until the top starts to brown.
Flapjack Flapjacks are one of the easiest things to make – great for first-time bakers building up their confidence, and they always go down very well with friends. Another plus is how cheap the ingredients are, and how easy they are to customise. Once you’ve got the hang of the basics you can fill them with different combinations of nuts and seeds, drizzle them in chocolate and generally go to town with making them your own. 175g butter 175g sugar (preferably golden brown, but any will do) 3tbsp golden syrup 350g oats Any nuts, seeds, dried fruit or chocolate chips you have to hand – the more the merrier! Preheat the oven to 180C Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together until bubbling very slightly. Stir in the oats and any other fillings such as nuts and seeds, and when combined press the mixture into a baking tin. Bake for 20-25 mins, cut into squares then leave to cool in the tin before you eat them.
Food and Drink Restaurant Review
Nido still has a long way to go Food & Drink Editor Ben Walker tries out the new tapas venture in Didsbury, hoping to find a new feather in the cap of the restaurant landscape, but is still to be convinced Tapas Bars are really taking Manchester by storm; those little dishes of delight are the in thing, the cool cuisine. The small snack sized portions allows the diner and their companions to sample a whole host of different meats, vegetables, and sauces all in one sitting—variety being the spice of life really has caused Tapas to take off.
I too admit I ventured for a second, and third. Chorizo is a beautiful thing, meaty, smoky, spicy heaven. On offer here was a solitary slim finger of sausages riding lonely and looking somewhat lost upon his slice of baguette. This was a shame as the Chorizo was tasty enough, if lacking a bit of pimenton oomph.
You can eat Tapas to your hearts content in the Northern Quarter, on or just off Deansgate, in Chorlton, West and East Didsbury, so can the restaurant landscape really cope with another Tapas Bar, are we not at saturation? We’d soon find out.
Two plates of Paella arrived at the table, possibly the most iconic Spanish dish, eaten and loved the world over. That rainy Sunday afternoon, a little piece of Spain died. Paella
So as we marched, heads bowed against the lashing, sideways rain we approached a new Tapas venture, a Gastro-Tapas Bar, Nido, in East Didsbury. The exterior was more like a Rusholme Curry House than a competitor to Casa Tapas, only up the road. Yet a book must not be judged…lest we forget El Rincon, my favourite local Tapas has an exterior of a back street garage offering dodgy MOT services. We entered to a very warm welcome of hand shakes and rather good Sangria. We were shown the bar area which is separated from the dining space by the entrance area that is directly in front of the open view kitchen. Chef’s chopping, sautéing, caramelising everywhere, indeed when fully staffed the kitchen boasts six members, including head chef Pablo, a Spanish born chef who has trained in a myriad of top restaurants on the Iberian Peninsular, before moving the UK to forge his own culinary reputation. We are shown to a table and then to the buffet style lay out of various tapas to tempt us into a gorging frenzy. Yet the food was unimaginatively presented on plates arranged like the spots on a ‘six domino’. My heart had yet to be stolen, but the proof would be in the pudding—and in the savoury dishes. I first reached for the Spanish Omelette, deep and with potatoes, which was seasoned beautifully. I could see this dish being served with a crisp salad and being a rather nice lunch. Everything we sampled from the table was ‘Montado’, a flavourful topping riding on a slice of bread. The tuna-vegetable topping could be replicated at home better. The Croquetas de Jamón received thoroughly positive feedback from my companion, and
Getting involved If you fancy your hand at food and drink journalism, whether it be interviews, recipes, reviews, or some interesting culinary anecdotes, email us (information online) or get in touch via Facebook.
should be served in a bowl, it should be oozing with flavoursome sea food and chorizo, well spiced and asking to be devoured. All these things were absent from our ‘paella’, it came in a tower shape, was bereft of succulent meaty content, and was presented with a fashionable smear of aioli which blew my ears off it was so pungent with raw garlic. Dessert was a signature dish. Torrija was brought to us, with a selection of a miniature crème brulee and ice cream sat atop crisp biscuit. Torrija is a bit like French toast, it is bread soaked in milk, honey, spices, and egg then pan fried. It was crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, and thoroughly ‘cinnamony’, a good dessert indeed—but worth a visit just for that may be a stretch. The brulee was deep vanilla with a brittle caramel top and the ice cream too was vanilla. If you do eat here, do save room for a dessert as it is one of the best things on offer. Now sure ‘gastro’ has been a fashionable word for eateries for a long time, it infers a superiority over those places that have not deemed themselves worthy of this prefix, yet I feel Nido still has a way to go before deserving the prefix. The prices were not cheap enough to pull in hoards of students, but the quality was not high enough to trump their competitors, and nowadays with student food interest, quality is an essential prerequisite for a restaurant hoping to benefit form student trade. We left a little disappointed with the food as a whole, but there were good points. The service and staff were wonderfully friendly, but doesn’t cover up the fact this place has a good few creases to iron out before it can rightfully join the legion of Manchester’s established Tapas Bars.
>Journalism experience >CV enhancement >Opportunities for editorship >Wine and dine around Manchester.
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Food & Drink 23
Feature
Veggie Cafe: Politics aside, let’s talk food While our beloved Veggie Cafe has been frequently mentioned recently, we haven’t really been talking about what they actully make. Food & Drink Editor Ben Walker reports Specials are made daily. On the day Ben Walker went to find out what is behind the wonderful food at the Veggie Cafe, Hot Pot was being served up, with a green and coucous salad and homemade mustard dressing Resplendent with quirky art and green gingham table clothes, alive with the sound of content diners tucking into their lunch, cake and coffee; the Veggie Café is a rare jewel in the otherwise relatively barren campus culinary landscape. Proprietor Leslie Brown has run a café in the Pankhurst Building, the Contact Theatre, and has now been located in the Schunk Building since 1999. For well over a decade the Veggie Café has been serving food with locally sourced ingredients, including what Brown says is the secret, “TLC”. The intricate knowledge of each dish by the fulltime staff of five means that a whole range of dietary needs can be met because, according to Brown, “we know exactly what is in everything, as it’s all made here”. To announce your suppliers is to express a pride in what you produce. The bread is sourced from Brown’s local bakery near Saddleworth, the vegetables are from her local green grocer in the village of Greenfield, again local to Brown. The herb garden outside the window of the café is a delightfully renewable source of intense natural flavours that are found throughout the menu. The stock, the base of the all the soup, which is
possibly the most popular dish on the menu, is sourced from Kent, a very rare stock, well worth the extra transportation as Brown exclaims it is the “best on the market”. There is no doubt that the homemade lasagne, quiche, soups, and daily specials are an absolute treat every time. Served with a green and a second salad of often either couscous or potatoes, the customer always leaves full, satisfied, and keen to return. And indeed the customers here are a cross section of the immense cultural diversity that exists at Manchester; plus the popularity amongst academic staff, this canteen is a social leveller like no-other outlet on campus. Yet this is not just an eatery per se; it is a local joint where people come to seek comfort and friendliness, a warm welcome and a little piece of calm way from the hegemonic march of the soulless Food on Campus juggernaut. The Veggie Café has a sense of history, a unique charm that can only occur from years of dedication and quality service. Brown and her team clearly understand what it is to contribute to a successful student experience, just go and see the queues at brunch, lunch, and afternoon coffee time, this place achieves student satisfaction, and for that reason Brown is contributing to the University in her own, individual, and wonderful way.
Feature
Fuel Cafe, Withington - not just for veggies! Maddy Hubbard As a committed carnivore, Fuel Café was always going to have to work a little harder to please. I had heard vegetarian and vegan friends rave about the warm atmosphere and great food, particularly their veggie and vegan fry-ups, but I’d never made the effort to visit until I spotted the cafe when walking along Oxford Road in Withington on a drizzly and dark evening. The bright lights of Fuel drew us in, and we decided to give temporary vegetarianism a chance. It’s definitely a cosy place to spend the evening, with cushy sofas and bright murals decorating the space, and the staff are friendly if slightly lackadaisical - expect a nice chat as you order rather than super-fast service The food is innovative in its use of ingredients to create relatively standard dishes (burgers, wraps, salads etc.) but that have been given a twist to combine interesting flavours in new ways that don’t leave you dreaming of their meaty equivalent. My friend’s butternut squash, feta and olive bruschetta (£6) was tasty and filling, a generous portion that satisfied while tasting healthy and fresh. Another had The Triple But it feels harsh to criticise when the overall experience was once of tasty, filling and Decker (£5.50) which is a Fuel classic – a club sandwich combinwholesome food in warm and cosy surroundings. Another attraction for visitors, their food ing halloumi, hummus and roasted vegetables. To be honest it was preferences aside, is the truly excellent range of beers available. Fuel definitely stocks the nothing hugely innovative or special, but it was tasty, the portion was largest selection of beers and ales for miles, you’d probably have to travel to Deaf Institute generous and included chips and some interesting salads, so for the to better it, and it’s worth a visit for that alone if you fancy a relaxed evening trying out new price it made a good meal. I had the dish of the day (£6), a salad of and interesting beers. Overall Fuel feels like a community hub, drawing people together for goats cheese, roasted vegetables and walnuts, served with pittas. The everything from open mike nights to quizzes to craft circles, and the food is so affordable combination was delicious, and for once I didn’t find myself thinking and the welcome so genuine that you forgive some elements of amateurishness. Fuel might that it could have been improved with the addition of bacon (some- even win me round to the idea of a vegetarian fry-up, although at the moment I remain thing that I personally think is the case with most meals), but little unconvinced that a hangovecan be cured by anything other than bacon. But if anyone can things highlighted the cheap and cheerful nature of the café. Putting change my mind, it will be them. hot cheese and roasted veg onto lettuce was always going to make it wilt, and eating cold cucumber and hot courgette in the same mouth- Atmosphere **** Service *** Food *** ful was quite odd.
weASK
you ANSWER So, what has everyone been drinking recently? This time of the year sees the return of the population of Fallowfield, empty during summer, absolutely crazy come September and alive with alcohol fueled activity. These lairy antics will become the stuff of reminiscence in years to come. Though most of the hangovers will be caused by none descript liquids consumed due to their low cost and at-hand availability, has there been any shift in student drinking patterns in this first wild binge of the University year? To answerer simply, no. However I wish to answer superfluously. Halls of residence are strewn with the remnants of vessels that once carried their intoxicating bounty, now well drained of contents much to the delight and consequent misery of the over enthusiastic indulger. I have seen Yorkie mugs host basics white rum and a brand of cola I have never encountered. The range of energy drinks available seems to be greater than ever as psychedelic cans of mysterious sugary substance have no doubt made the rancid Everyday Value Vodka just about palatable, having been decanted and mixed in those ‘I love water bottles’ supplied by Halls. Carling and Strongbow seem the lager beer and cider dominating to scene right now. The so-called premier lagers such as Becks and San Miguel have been cast to the wind— the talk of Peroni is discarded quicker than those free Domino vouchers are redeemed. Yet there is more to report, just yesterday a young man was weighed down by a Green King selection box of ales, I even saw someone contemplating over the imported bottle beer section in the supermarket. A glimmer of hope indeed and there’s more; UoM now have a Cheese and Wine Society, a group half dedicated (well maybe two thirds dedicated) to wine is good news to the more discernable drinker. Gin guns and green monster aside, I have no doubt that there are substantial pockets of resistance throughout our corner of Manchester, drinking merrily through beer, wine, and spirits that are made with an appreciation for quality, flavour, and savouring. Dare I even suggest that as Welcome Week took its toll, people even considered flicking the kettle on for a cup of tea in substitute of Lambrini?
24
Arts & Culture
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM /TheMancunionArtsCulture @ArtsMancunion
Editors: Abbie Roberts, Mattie Roberts Exhibition
Do It
Photo by Matilda Roberts
Comment
Goodbye Gallery
Editor Matilda Roberts on the temporary closure of the Whitworth Art Gallery
Editor Matilda Roberts reviews ‘Do It’ 2013
If you get a chance this week do go to the Manchester Art Gallery to see do it 2013. It’s an exhibition consisting of a number of artists’ instructions to exhibition goers collected over twenty years, each interpreted afresh. Conceived in 1993 with contributions by well-known figures in contemporary art as a means of stretching conceptions of what art is, who should enact it, and how. Over the twenty years that followed, instructions from the likes of Richard Hamilton, Ai Weiwei, Tracy Emin and David Lynch were collected. The idea of artists inviting the public to join in the process of making, performing or completing their work is one that greatly appeals. The art world has recently seen a big shift towards presenting art that brings people together, and gets them talking and engaging. This is what I expected to see when I arrived at the Manchester Art Gallery, art taken out of the museum and put into the hands of ordinary The instructions, ranged from matterof-fact, step-by-step recipes, through daft orders to use a bicycle seat to squeeze lemons to emotional directions from Yoko Ono to write down our wishes on little tags and attach them to her Wish Tree. The demands were displayed on all the walls and were, more often than not, impossible to carry out. This made for an
In the Public Eye Whether it’s the great greyness of the North West skies accentuating the vast innercity concrete or simply the stoical British tendency to just get on with the day, even the most local of city-dwellers are prone to leaving our most monumental and dramatic artistic treasures undetected.
If you’ve walked through, or driven past, Whitworth Park on the bus this week, you will most likely have noticed the canopy of umbrellas suspended from the trees. As remnant of the gallery’s closing fair and a quirky reminder of its eventual reopening, they warn us of the gale-force wind and rain Manchester is gearing up to. As whimsical and somewhat amusing forest ornaments, they provoke fantastical thoughts of badly judged Mary Poppins-esque departures and give us something to enjoy while we are unable to experience the wonderful Whitworth. The Whitworth, who has kept Manchester in pioneering exhibitions and public art programmes for the past 125 years, has closed its doors to undergo a £15 million development project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the University of Manchester and Arts Council England. So perfectly placed for students, standing between the University of Manchester and many of its student halls, it will be greatly missed this year. Though temporary absence promises to be a worthwhile sacrifice. Two new wings will be added to extend the 19thcentury gallery into the surrounding Whitworth Park. With plans for an art garden, “café in the trees” and a landscape gallery, the project promises to unite the Whitworth with its garden. The existing space is also set to change: three galleries will be restored to their 1908 barrel-ceiling-ed glory and a refurbished Edwardian staircase that leads to the grand hall will open to visitors for the first time at its reopening in Summer 2014.
This emphasised the range of people that this exhibition has encompassed and its longevity. Whilst being occasionally good fun this exhibition did not succeed in what it set out to achieve. The more philosophical and emotional instructions left little to be interpreted, often telling you how you should think or feel when following it. The more pointless orders possibly can make the visitor question what it is that makes instructions necessary or important, perhaps these strange and impossible orders can make us look closely and question the sense behind those orders we normally follow in our daily lives. Go to it for a bit of fun and to experience a range of media and artists, but don’t expect more. While you are at the Manchester Art Gallery make sure you check out Gallery 9, Radical Figures: Post-war British Figurative Painting. A really small but worthwhile exhibition of art taken from the Whitworth and displayed alongside the galleries own collection. Frank Auerbach’s and Leon Kossoff ’s textural and expressive painting contrast with Lucian Freud’s fine brushwork and attention to detail. Francis Bacon’s grotesque portraiture stands beside the carefully configured compositions of Euan Uglow and David Hockney’s gestural mark making. Do It is on till the 22nd September.
Exhibition
From street art and statues to urban structures and scenery, why does the most overt and observable public art of Manchester so often escape our notice? Abbie Roberts urges us to step back from the rush of the new term and take in the city at face value.
Photo by Ella Milburn
exhibition that involved a lot of reading and not a lot of doing. I loved the simple premise at the core of the exhibition, artists’ written instructions, and the exhibitions embracement of any idea whatsoever, however it could have been presented more successfully and overall failed to deliver quite what it might There were some triumphs though, particularly in video; the artist Leon Golub created a movement against ‘Do It.’ He said ‘Refuse! Don’t do!’ Gilbert & George presented their own Ten Commandments urging that ‘Thou shalt fight conformism’, ‘Thou shalt be the messenger of freedoms’, ‘Thou shalt make use of sex’ and ‘Thou shalt reinvent life’. Two particular highlights were Erwin Wurms video of himself following out his own instruction to ‘Put on a pullover – but don’t stick arms or head through the normal openings – squat down and pull the end of the pullover down over your knees and feet. In this position, endure for 20 seconds’ (one I will definitely be trying at home) and Jonas Mekas’ video of himself holding his index finger out in front of him while moving it up and down and saying ‘no one can distract me from one who is concentrating on his own finger.’ These two daft videos were funny in their absurdity. There was a whole room devoted to artists whose proposals have outlived them.
Not just in our city art galleries and museums do compelling works of art and preserved capsules of history lie, but en route to work and university, integrated within the urban landscape, we, more often than not, unknowingly pass by true artistic gems. Have you observed the Messenger of Peace on your commute through Cooper Street? She herself has looked upon us with her fixed bronze gaze a thousand times as we’ve walked idly by. Have you admired Piccadilly Gardens’ Tree of Remembrance as a place of reflection and contemplation or, like so many of us, rendered it a “pretty realistic fake tree”? Perhaps you’ve possibly, in the fit of joviality that comes with summer exam season’s ever-unexpected heat-wave, observed the facades of Deansgate or Albert Square and given the city some well-deserved and long-awaited praise: “actually, Manchester does look quite nice in the sun”. However, living in one of the UK’s
rainiest cities, we cannot permit ourselves a mere annual appreciation of Manchester’s public art; indeed, we are more inclined to notice architectural veneers, ceremonial statues and restored time-worn buildings when we’re not forever bracing ourselves against gale-force winds, but this is Manchester and as the brief respite of clear Autumn skies rapidly approaches, now is a better time than ever to take an inner-city stroll with your eyes well and truly peeled. From the street art of the Northern Quarter and New Wakefield Street (home to city Font Bar and Sound Control) to the murals celebrating famous Manchester figures and music legends that embellish Afflecks Palace, we’re truly living in and working amongst a city-sized exhibition. It’s not just the traditional artistic methods like paintings, murals and statues either, if you take a step back from the speeding pedestrian traffic and general urban hubbub, whether you live, work or study in this city, if you meander off your usual route your Manchester world will undoubtedly be opened up remarkably. Ever seen the elaborate oriental paifang that welcomes you to China town? Or pondered over The Big Horn of Tib Street in an attempt to identify just what it actually is? The glass and metal exterior of the Lowry is definitely worth a gaze with its impressive reflection of the surrounding landscape that LS Lowry himself one observed. And this is by no means an exhaustive list, there’s Manchester town hall, where it’s difficult not to marvel at the intricately-detailed ceiling as well as the suspended theatre space of the former cotton exchange, The Royal Exchange Theatre, which is another impres-
sive structure right in the heart of town. You may be thinking that as the cold wintry days and dark nights draw nearer, it’s not exactly an ideal time to go treasure-hunting, but the aesthetic value of the city is often at its strongest in the dark when it is ablaze with a kaleidoscope of lights. But if you can’t handle seeking out bird’s-eye view locations or are unlikely to bother with night-time strolls, then instead, when you’re out and about during the day, have a gander at Oldham Street’s extravagant window displays, the pristine transparency of the Urbis or simply savour the nature to be found embedded in the city –Whitworth park or Platt fields, to name just two. Enjoy the natural colours of the changing season because, as we know too well, Autumn is all too brief up North, but beautiful while it lasts.
Bird Photo Street Art Northern Quarter Photo: Ben P @Flickr
What’s on The Lowry, Unseen Lowry: Paintings and Drawings from LS Lowry’s Home, Free Entry
Craft and Design Centre: Forming Words Exhibition, Free Entry
22nd June – 29th September
Scattered across the old poultry market’s open-plan cafe space, working studio boutiques and mini exhibition rooms are words of all kinds displayed: from single letters to lyrics and whole poems, different materials form text to explore interconnectedness between physical and textual structure.
There’s not long left to see the works of beloved Lancashire-born LS Lowry like you’ve never seen him before. Recognised primarily for his distinctive style in documenting the industrial era of the North West, these unseen works display landscape and portrait that you would not typically associate with Lowry.
13th July – 9th November
Theatre
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Jo Lane
Review
Feature
What’s on
Jessica Nightingale reports back on whethe this production really was a magical night
The Theatrics of Music
Wicked is the latest in a series of big shows that have come to Manchester on tour from the West-End. Its fair to say that it lives up to its name and expectations.
Theatre Editor Josephine Lane discusses the theatricality of Roger Waters, discussing the relation between music and spectacle
the THEATRE REVIEW
Wicked It tells the story of how the Glinda the Good and Elphaba the Wicked gained their respective titles in an unusual and often hilarious take on the events in the Wizard of Oz. As retellings of an old story go, I’m not usually the biggest fan, however the fascinating story, heart-warming songs and characters that you can easily to relate to, make Wicked stand out as a must-see musical. The story starts at “Dear Old Shiz” and we see Elphaba and Glinda start to develop into the characters we think we know from story in the Wizard of Oz. The two strike up an unlikely friendship despite social expectations and their initial loathing of one another. Elphaba, the more aware of the two, stands up for the discrimination faced by the talking animal characters. Her outspoken character and fearlessness eventually become her downfall especially after the visit of the Emerald City. What makes Wicked so great is in how the other characters are used to make the plot and characters develop, especially Nessarose and Boq. Fiyero, the love interest has an interesting plot of his own from disillusioned and self-confessed airhead to an astute and devoted hero. The music and songs in Wicked cross into a variety of genres and emotions making it an incredible challenge but amazing to listen to! Nikki Davis-Jones as an experienced Elphaba has a fabulous voice that conveys so much emotion that even the most unlikely audience member gets carried into the story. Elphaba’s numbers I’m Not that Girl’ and ‘Defying Gravity’ really stand
out. Emily Tierney, or Glinda, is a fun character whose beautiful voice and innocence makes her such an compelling actress. The other performers make the musical so fun and visually beautiful to watch with amazing dance sequences especially in ‘Dancing through Life’ and ‘One Short Day’. The music and the theatre kept a packed audience enthralled and gave a standing ovation to the inspiring and emotional performance.
Photo: Nikki Davis-Jones as ‘Elphaba’ in ‘Wicked’ (Matthew Crockett)
Overall, I would definitely recommend going to see Wicked whilst you’re in Manchester if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s funny, beautiful and tells a honest tale of the ups and downs of friendship and love
Last night, I went to see Roger Waters perform his epic masterpiece of an album, The Wall, at the Phones 4 U Arena. Despite my ridiculous pipe dream of the remaining two Floyd members spontaneously joining Roger onstage and announcing that the band are reforming for a night being unfulfilled, it was still literally the night of my life. ‘But why?’ I hear you ask, and more importantly: ‘why are you wasting our theatreloving time? The music section is 3 pages back!’ Well, I’ll tell you. Waters show was quite simply jaw-droppingly spectacular and I put it down to the extreme theatricality of the work: it was a piece of theatre. Waters’ brainchild had an epic set (the wall itself was slowly built up and then was torn down in a furious climax), voiceovers, giant props (helicopters, pigs and giant puppets that would make Artaud himself weep with fear) and most importantly, a narrative arc coupled with a stunning acting (as well as singing) performance from Waters himself. This incredible and immersive experience has got me thinking about music performances and their inextricable link to theatricality. Many music lovers would coin David Bowie as the one the first to bring elements of theatre into his performances. Bowie is known for the creation of alter-egos: Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, amongst other characters, and presening them as onstage characters throughout his gigs. This idea of theatricality seemed to bleed its way into the rest of glam rock after this, with bands like T-Rex and Roxy Music, who used influences
from the pre-war Cabaret era as well as mysticism and mythology in their flamboyant costumes and design. They used these images to subvert traditional gender roles and first bring the concept of gender as performance into the mainstream. Since then, and as technology has allowed for more extremes in musical performance, the theatrical element of music has only expanded. Where would Lady GaGa be today without her hugely elaborate sets and costumes? Not to mention portraying character such as Mary Magdalene in her performances. A huge number of music tours these days seem to have a ‘concept’ behind them, much of which requires on theatrics to be pulled off. Despite the theatrical extravagance with which music comes with today, perhaps the concept of pretending has always been there within music performance. Mick Jagger describes what he does as ‘acting’ and his need to be ‘chameleon-like to preserve [his] own identity’. Perhaps this is what all artists are forced to do, as well as creating music, they are each forced to create a persona to hide behind, perhaps not. Either way, I deem the presence of theatre in music a necessary and positive one and I eagerly await the future that lies ahead for the two in combination, which I’ve no doubt will have the ability to surprise and delight us all beyond belief!
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TOP3
PLAYS TO CATCH
this week
An Inspector Calls J. B Priestley’s classic mystery drama takes place across one night, as the elusive Inspector Goole appears at the Birling family’s engagement party. The death of one seemingly unconnected young woman, reveals truths in all the family that demonstrate the deeply entrenched hypocrisy that lies at the heart of Edwardian society. Runs until the 5th October at the Bolton Octagon
Educating Rita Mancunian treasures the Library Theatre Company return to the Lowry with Willy Russel’s two-handed play. The piece sees straighttalking hairdresser, Rita, return to education to find herself tutored by Frank, an alcohol-fueled, failed poet lecturer. As expected, the unlikely two form a life-changing bond in this touching and life-affirming comedy. Runs from the 26th September to the 12th October at the Quays Theatre, The Lowry
All My Sons Michael Buffong returns to the Royal Exchange to direct Arthur Miller’s first successful plays. All My Sons tells the story of Joe and Kate Keller, an all-American couple dealing trying to deal with their son who, missing in action, is presumed dead by all but his mother. Runs from the 25th September to the 26th October at the Royal Exchange Theatre
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
Editors: Lauren Arthur, Moya Crockett, Beth Currall, Izzy Dann Ask Izzy
Feature
ask
IZZY
Psychic readings: regurgitated rubbish or an individual’s insight? Dana Fowles investigates the highly controversial field of psychic readings
an earnest attempt to cure all your woes. Tweet any burning issues,genital or otherwise, @ izzydann I’m a virgin but desperate not to be now that I’ve started my degree. However, I have trouble meeting anyone I really connect with. Any advice? Lower your standards. Unwilling virgins remain as much for unnecessarily long periods of time due to their innate desire to have sex with someone who is both physically attractive and blessed with a fantastic personality. In reality, society severely lacks such specimens. Consequently, your best option in order to achieve true copulation is to stop being so fussy.
I always wash up after myself but I’m stuck with a flatmate who leaves their dirty plates rotting in the sink for days on end. What’s the best course of action? Bin bag the lot and leave in a grizzly pile outside their bedroom until they get the message that they are being most grim.
My boyfriend and I ended up going to different universities but we’re still committed to each other. How can we stay close and keep things exciting long distance? A little Skype fisting never hurt anyone. Otherwise, make each other feel special by sending texts throughout the day on the general theme of, “I love you!!!xxxxxx”. Follow up with Snapchats of you suitably dressed at various themed nights – a sexy schoolgirl for “Hot Geeks and Sexy Schoolgirls”, a stripper for “Pimps and Strippers”, a seductive pterosaur for “Jurassic”. Carry on until Christmas when you realise that abandoning your Sixth Form boyfriend was inevitable and you find yourself grossly infatuated with your tutor instead.
Do you have a story that you’d like to share? Send them to lifestyle@ mancunion.com
I have always had the psychic bug. That is, I have always wanted to go and see one. I am fascinated by the idea that someone can see into your past, present and future. Recently, I finally plucked up the courage to go and see not one, but two, and compare the readings. Is it simply a case of cold reading as Derren Brown suggests, or is there something more to it? The cold reader, as Derren Brown puts it in his discussion with Richard Dawkins, ‘supplies a lot of words’ which the individual concerned then supplies the meaning to. This is how a complete stranger can ‘seemingly’ tell you ‘everything about yourself without being psychic.’ He describes cold reading as a ‘set of linguistic tricks’ which are ‘very easy to fall for,’ but imply that a complete stranger knows everything about you. Brown also refers to the barnum statement, which allows you ‘to have both sides of the coin in one go.’ He uses the example of telling someone that they have both extrovert and introvert sides. He argues that these traits ‘cancel each other out’ but can be disguised as a personal hit when really, they can be applied to any old Tom, Dick or Harry. The question is did I experience any cold reading when I went to see either psychic? I had not watched the interview or researched cold reading prior to my visits, as I wanted to go in with an open mind. Brown says that how you feel about the accuracy of your reading usually depends on whether you go in as a believer or a sceptic; the believer will do everything they can to grab at what is being said. I went in as a fence sitter; I am aware that some psychics are merely tricksters who ‘comfort’ their clients with lie after lie, encouraging them to part with wads of their hard earned cash. I am also aware that people I know have had psychic predictions come true. Psychic number one was recommended to me by my mum’s friend. I was asked for my first name and star sign. When I turned up I realised that she was the mum of somebody I had gone to primary and secondary school with. She already knew some things about me – a problematic start. She started to talk about my personality, saying that I could be impulsive and outspoken, but although I come across as a very confident and happy person, I am sometimes sad on the inside. She said that people don’t ask how I am because they always assume that I am okay; while some people build walls, I build a ‘wall then a moat then a river’. She said that I needed to stop being one of the lads (true – male friends, I blame you), stop giving mixed signals to guys and not assume that they are all out to hurt me. She then went on to
Photo: Gareth Simpson
remark that I shouldn’t be so trusting of people and that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. Initially, I thought this sounded very much like me, but in hindsight, this appears to be a case of extrovert/introvert. Don’t we all put on fronts from time to time, haven’t we all been hurt and don’t we all experience happiness and sadness? Despite this, she did go on to talk about people and situations in my life that I’m sure she could not have known about. Of course, there were some things which didn’t ring completely true, but there were a lot that did. The thing that I found most intriguing was that these things also cropped up in the second reading. Both of the psychics spoke about a car I was going to buy with money left or given to me, further study, a role in the communications industry, different job opportunities and travel, a particular friend from the past who was going to make a reappearance in my life and moving into my new house, where someone was going to try and take money from me. The second psychic (who didn’t know me and asked only for my first name), gave me instructions as to where to hide my money and most treasured possessions; a thief was going to break into my room. She was able to describe the area that I was moving to and the people in it. In addition, both of the psychics mentioned a young friend or relation who pregnant and were able to tell me things about their future once the baby was born. My younger cousin is due this week. They even agreed on the smaller details, telling me that I would chip or break a tooth and that I needed to get my eyes tested. The second psychic did not tell me anything about my personality, but instead simply told me about my past, present and future. She was able to give the hair colours and initials of the people she was speaking about, as well as their relation to me. She was able to tell me about the men I would encounter in my life, the countries I would visit, the friends I would keep and the new relationships I would form. She told me that she knew I would be making a trip to the North of England soon – low and behold, I’m coming back to Manchester. She knew I was studying without
me having to reveal anything about myself and she told me that I had a talent for language. I’m an English student. She was also able to tell me that I wouldn’t become a journalist; I am an honest person and it would go against my grain to be told to write untruths. She then went on to say that she could envisage me teaching or giving training to a group of people in the future. I was really spun out when she told me about my future husband, giving me his initial, an idea of his profession and talking about our wedding and three (THREE!!!) children. I was also warned that I will have a psychic experience myself later in life. Eery! I am still a fence sitter after my experience; although it seemed positive that both psychics talked about similar things, I will have to see if any of their predictions become true before I can call myself a believer. After child number three, I might be convinced!
Health and Wellbeing
the
The Gym Manchester The Gym Manchester, located near Piccadilly, is a popular choice for many students. With memberships starting at only £15.99 a month you can see why it appeals to many. It’s open 24/7 for the insomniacs amongst you and offers free daily classes. Downsides? Being this cheap, The Gym is what it says on the tin: no pool, sauna, steam room or spa. It advertises its memberships as being ‘contract free’ meaning you are able to cancel at any time without being charged. However, if you cancel and rejoin you’ll have to pay £20 joining fee again or alternatively can pay £5 a month to ‘freeze’ your membership (to avoid this cost and keep your place). Sugden Sports Centre Just up the road from Deaf Institute, Sugden is a good choice for those who want to spend an hour between lectures working out. The centre is currently offering nine month memberships for £155 (which works out at £17.22/month) or twelve month memberships for £165 (£13.75/month). Payment is made up front so you need to be committed to going or risk wasting your money. Again, there are no spa facilities or swimming pool but the centre does offer two sports halls, four squash courts and a 5-a-side football pitch (recently used in a Nike advert). Drop in classes are pay-as-you-go and priced at £3.30 for students. Armitage Fitness Suite The Armitage Centre can be found in the Fallowfield campus so is extremely handy for those living in halls. The site offers the same facilities as Sugden. Memberships are also paid in full up front: £150 for nine months peak membership, £155 for twelve and £110 and £120 for off-peak. Drop in classes are also £3.30. Regardless of your year, for those living in Fallowfield/Withington, I would recommend Armitage. Whilst The Gym’s price is tempting, it’s unlikely you’ll make the effort to get to Piccadilly and unless you shower there, you’ll have to get on a Magic Bus looking red and feeling grim. Sugden’s location presents a similar problem unless you really are a lecture/gym hopper. Reasonably priced, well equipped and close to home, Armitage seems to be the best and most popular option. Lauren Arthur
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Lifestyle
27
Horoscopes
Travel
Travel Guide: Barcelona Lifestyle Editor Beth Currall reveals why your next summer break should be in Spain’s second-largest city
Whether it’s sight-seeing that you love, visiting some of the best night clubs in Europe, or chilling out on a sunny Mediterranean beach, Barcelona is the ultimate holiday destination for students. With every nook and cranny of the city filled with architectural wonder and historical anecdotes, there is plenty to explore. Low budget airlines offer return flights starting from as little as £40 meaning this is one trip you can gain invaluable experiences from, without breaking the bank. The city is packed with a wealth of tourist attractions so hop on
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona photo: Ulf Liljankoski @Flickr a tour bus and discover some of the amazing sights that Barcelona has to offer, (trust me, it’s pretty difficult to navigate yourself to the Sagrada Familia when suffering from Barca’s vodka-induced hangover). Be enlightened by Gaudi’s breath-taking architecture, and take a walk around Park Guell where you’ll find some more of his work. Football lovers can get off the bus at the famous Camp Nou and enjoy a tour around the
stadium; alternatively, shopaholics will fall in love with Diagonal Avenue, where the commercial centre comes complete with its very own Primark! However, the best way to get an authentic experience of Barcelona is to stroll around yourself: take to the Gothic Quarter and the neighbourhood of Eixample, or rent a bicycle and make your own way to the beach. Just ensure that you keep all your belongings close by, as pickpocketing in the city is a common crime. Barcelona has possibly the craziest nightlife in Spain, so be sure not to miss out on this during your trip. Port Olympic boasts some of the best night clubs around, especially the likes of Opium Mar and Catwalk. Discover Razzmatazz, named as the only superclub in Barcelona, and one of the best places to party in Europe. One tip would be enough to get you on the guest list or you can find out the door code to bag free entry and save up to €20. So if you want a summer holiday full of memories and experiences that will stay with you forever, forget about Malia or Ibiza, Barcelona is definitely the place to be. If there’s one thing I can guarantee, you won’t have a dull moment there.
Travel
Surviving Week One Amy Bowden’s advice on battling through that first week of lectures
Photo: Cil Barnett-Neefs
So, the summer has been and gone; say farewell to the sun, mum’s homemade dinners and the joys of having time to spare. The first week of Uni is bittersweet: the making or rekindling of friendships, discussions regarding summer holidays, festivals or events. However, it also means it’s time to get our heads down and focus on the academic year looming ahead. Here are some essential tips to help you brave the week we all love to hate… Fresher ‘s flu? We all know the feeling! Excessive drinking and too many hangovers will ruin your immune system, making the journey that 9am lecture feel as though the content of your skull has been removed and replaced with multiple shards of glass. So do try to take a break from the alcohol every now and againthe ‘hair of the dog rule’ doesn’t always work! As student loans have just dropped (hurrah!), we’re all feeling like millionaires at the moment. But consider the amount of cash you will need to pay the rent and eat in a few weeks’ time when you’re about pay out for 20 jagerbombs in Factory. The costs mount up so do try to be sensible! Even though our mothers may have spoilt us with home-cooked meals like the sought-after Sunday dinner, don’t trade good food for a costly night
out. Don’t turn nocturnal! Yes, the summer holiday has toyed with our body clocks once more. No longer are we able to take a nap whenever the feeling strikes- and I’m sorry to say, the lie ins are out. This year, try not to thrown your clock or phone against the bedroom wall when it rings out its torturous chirp, and instead perhaps glare at it for a moment and then, when you feel slightly better, make your way over (on-time!) to that morning lecture. The most important thing is to maintain balance. Have fun but work hard! And most importantly, your first week of Uni.
LIBRA (24 SEPTEMBER 23 OCTOBER) If it’s your birthday this week, you’ll probably spend the day at uni wondering why strangers aren’t being nicer to you. It’s because they don’t know it’s your birthday. Get a big badge. You expect your friends to buy you drinks all night, but it doesn’t quite work out that way.
SCORPIO (24 OCTOBER 22 NOVEMBER) Yours is one of the most sensual and passionate signs of the zodiac. But when you roll in at 4am with some randomer you found in Pout and keep your housemates up all night with your cries of passion, they will talk about you behind your back, and possibly spit in your tea.
SAGITTARIUS (23 NOVEMBER - 21 DECEMBER) Venus starts heading towards Uranus on Wednesday (hehehe), making this a perfect week to make new friends. If you find yourself sitting next to a stranger in a lecture, strike up a conversation! Being British, they will inevitably think you’re insane and avoid you for the rest of the year, but it’s worth a try.
CAPRICORN (22 DECEMBER - 20 JANUARY) You will wake up feeling groggy, nauseous and confused at least three mornings this week.
AQUARIUS (21 JANUARY 19 FEBRUARY) You like to play it cool when it comes to matters of the heart, but be careful. You may believe you’re projecting an aura of mysterious unavailability, but the object of your affections might just think you’re a dick.
PISCES (20 FEBRUARY 20 MARCH) You’ve always found it annoying that the lifestyle you want maybe isn’t– actually, definitely isn’t – the lifestyle you can afford. Don’t worry! You can always extend your overdraft. Or actually, get a job, you bum.
ARIES (21 MARCH - 20 APRIL) Classes start properly this week, and you’ll catch someone’s eye in one of your seminars. Unfortunately, it won’t be the hot, mysterious student who always wears great trainers. It’ll be the weird guy who always puts his hand up and smells of damp.
TAURUS (21 APRIL - 21 MAY) Taureans are often described as being “earthy”, but it is possible to take this too far. Regular showers are a good thing, you know, for you and everyone around you.
GEMINI (22 MAY - 21 JUNE) Mercury is rising in Gemini’s moon this week, which could mean trouble for communication. Calls and texts will dry up. Your hilarious Snapchats will go opened but unanswered. It’s probably down to Mercury. Or it could be that no one really likes you.
CANCER (22 JUNE - 22 JULY) Cancer is one of the more temperamental signs of the zodiac, but you don’t have to be so moody. Stay in high spirits this week by attempting to see daylight, eating lots of fruit and vegetables, calling your parents, stopping to pat friendly cats and dancing to Stevie Wonder in the kitchen.
LEO (23 JULY - 22 AUGUST) You’re rising up. You’re back on the street. You’ve done your time, you took your chances. You went the distance, now you’re back on your feet: just you, and your will to survive. So many times it happens too fast – you change your passion for glory. Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past. You must fight just to keep them alive.
VIRGO (23 AUGUST - 23 SEPTEMBER) Virgos’ colours are greens and brown. Fashioning an outfit out of moss, leaves and bracken will leave you feeling “you”.
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ISSUE 02 / 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM
29
SPORT
/TheMancunion @Mancunion_Sport
Club Profile- Trampolining The Mancunion talks to club co-captain Ruth Shevelan have been crowned BUCS team champions and have also had numerous individual Northern league champions within our ranks. Where and how often do your teams train/play? We train on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8 and 10pm. This is at the Sugden sports centre on Grosvenor street, just off Oxford Road.
Anything else? Contact us at umtconline@gmail. com with any more queries! Want us to feature your club? Email us at sport@mancunion. com for more details!
Club Profile- Gymnastics The Mancunion speaks to Gymnastics club chair and founder Lucy Manifold
What is the social side of the club like? Lisa Murgatroyd, 2012
Why should people join your club? Gymnastics is fun, challenging and improves strength, flexibility, coordination and balance. You can throw yourself at the floor and not hurt yourself. And we have nice leotards. How successful has your club been over the past few seasons? The club only started in January but it has been really popular and is oversubscribed almost every week - so put your name down early! All of our members have really improved and we are hoping to start entering competitions soon.
Club Profile - Pool and Snooker (UMPSC) The Mancunion speaks to UMPSC Chair Catalina Cimpoeru Why should people join your club? For a laugh. The snooker and pool is great, but the real enjoyment comes from sharing experiences with other members and teammates, and many of our members form long lasting friendships. It is this friendly, inclusive atmosphere that all our success has been borne out of Has your team had much success over the past few seasons? In our short history as an AU Club, we have enjoyed tremendous success in all disciplines, becoming one of the more successful clubs in the AU. Highlights include winning the Manchester and District Snooker League, the Sale and Altrincham District Pool league and the UPC Nine-Ball Champi-
Paul Campbell, 2012
onships. At least 30 players have won BUCS medals representing our club and a few have even progressed to play at the BUCS Home Nations Snooker Championships.
Where and how often do your teams play and train? During term time, we usually play pool every Monday night at Rileys in Chorlton. We also run our own 8-ball, 9-ball, and snooker leagues, in addition to competing in 5 national tournaments and running our
own one-day tournaments (also normally at Rileys, Chorlton). Regular updates are posted through our Facebook group for anybody interested! During term time we will usually have at least 5 different events on every week! Do you have to be of a high standard to join the club? Definitely not. Many of our players have played little or no pool before, but several have progressed to take part in national tournaments. The atmosphere in the club is one where we all learn from each other and the only prerequisite needed is enthusiasm. We have been fortunate enough to have a nationally qualified snooker coach help us in the last two seasons, who has been really good at working with players of all abilities.
once a week at Salford Gymnastics club which isn’t too difficult to get to, but I’m looking into running another class for gymnasts interested in doing competitions. There are other adults gymnastics clubs running around Manchester most evenings, so people can train as much or as little as they like! Do you have to be of a high standard to join the club? Not at all. A huge range of abilities attend, both males and females. The coaches are excellent at helping individuals with different capabilities reach their goals.
Where and how often do your teams train/play? At the moment we only train
What is the social side of your club like? As we are a new club we haven’t
What is the social side of your club like? The club has a very laid-back, social atmosphere, particularly evident on Monday evenings when we meet in Charlton for a few frames and a few drinks. However, we also go to the AU
socials, go bowling, play mini golf, organise a Christmas meal and an Awards Night, so the social side of the club has something for everyone. The club is relatively small, so it feels like a large family and many friendships stretch out-
done much yet but some of us are heading to Glasgow for the Glasgow World Cup Gymnastics in December. As the club keeps growing we will hopefully hold a lot more social events. Anything else? Gymnastics is harder than it looks! Search ‘University of Manchester Gymnastics Club’ on Facebook for more info on joining. Each one hour session is £3 on Wednesday afternoons!
Nana Pepera, 2013
How successful has your club been over the past few seasons? Over the past few seasons we
Do you have to be a high standard to join the club? The club is completely nonselective. Anyone can come and give it a go, whether you’re completely new to the sport or have been doing it for years. We cater for all abilities!
We are having a freshers social on the 5th of October, so for more information check out or facebook page or email us on the below address. We also host loads more socials throughout the year including away trips
Nana Pepera, 2013
Why should people join your club? The club is a really friendly environment in which you can learn new tricks, make new friends and keep fit all at the same time!
side of the club. 6. Anything else? Just join - you won’t regret it. We use both Facebook and Twitter, so if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch!
SPORT : 31
ISSUE 02/ 23rd SEPTEMBER 2013 WWW.MANCUNION.COM/
Kings of the comeback looking for varsity crown Will Carter on leaving it late, ticket sales and how to deal with noisy neighbours Tom Turner and Andrew Georgeson Sport Editors That time of year is upon us, the chinos are swapped for the tracksuits and the ticket canopy is erected outside of Owen’s park. It can only mean one thing. The Rugby Union varsity, one of the premier events of the Manchester sporting calendar, is just around the corner. And for Manchester’s men’s team there is only one possible outcome. ‘We have more power up front and more fitness in the backs than Man Met’ said club General Secretary Will Carter. ‘I think that has proved itself in the past few years’ varsity matches.’ The confidence of the general secretary can be backed up in the results of the previous varsities; a 29-11 victory in 2011 followed with a 22-7 victory last year creates the expectation that Manchester will have one hand on the trophy before the match even kicks off. This is heightened by the fact that Manchester finished second in their division, Premier 1A, whereas their opponents are a division below Manchester’s second team. However, as we all know, in local derbies history counts for nothing, and to quote almost every sports pundit in the land, the form book goes out of the window. Previous encounters also prove that this will not be the walkover which you may well expect.The past two years Manchester have found themselves behind at the half time break and it took an incredible 14 point haul from full back Owen Waldon to secure a victory for the purples last time
well saying, ‘we have had a solid 2 to 3 weeks pre-season training at Burnage RFC, and we are now ready and raring to go’. The match will once again take place at Sale FC, and after admittedly slow ticket sales last year, Carter is pleased about the sales so far this year telling Mancunion Sport ‘We’re having a lot of interest this year, and we’re expecting a complete sell out in excess of 3,000 people, so it should once again be a special night.’ ‘As always with varsity games, expect a great atmosphere, friendly banter and a social afterwards that will hopefully be celebrating a victory’. Hopefully, Carter’s defiance will be matched by a strong performance on the night. Keep up to date with both varsity matches by following the Mancunion live blog, and our live updates @Mancunion_Sport, and of coarse match reports in issue 4. When? 2nd October, 2013 How much? £5 (£8 including AU social ticket) Where? Sale Rugby Club, with coaches leaving the Armitage centre at 4pm. out. Carter acknowledged the difficulties of last year saying, ‘last year was a tight game and we were under pressure for a lot of it, but I think our quality shone through and we pulled away to record a comfortable victory come full time.’ As the revolving door of university sports keeps turning, the
line up for this year’s varsity will be missing a few key first team players due to graduation. However, it gives others the opportunity to step up to the challenge of representing their university at the top level. ‘We have had some key players graduate, like the first team captain Peter Rowe’ says Carter, ‘however, we have depth in the
squad with players like our centre Richard Coskie who plays for the England Students squad’. ‘‘We will hopefully un-earth some new talent in the form of this years freshers, and we have a brilliant coach in Thiu Benard’. South-African Bernard has now been with the club for three years, and has seen the squad go from strength to strength under
his tenure. The squad, which currently consists of around 45 players is expected to increase to around 70 once the team trials have concluded in the next few weeks. Due to the new squad, the importance of the match and it’s timing as the first game of the season, preparation is vital and Carter believes that it is going
Andy predicts: Uom 28 - 17 Met. ‘Manchester to be behind at halftime, before a typical second half resurgence’. Tom predicts: Uom 27 - 10 Met. ‘No more first half jitters - just a solid performance to bring home the bragging rights’.
Would you lace up against homophobia? Homophobia in football to be tackled by the introduction of rainbow-coloured laces Jonnie Roberts Reporter The launch of the ‘Right Behind Gay footballers’ campaign by the PFA represents unprecedented action in the fight to accept homosexuality in football. The canpaign sees the introduction of rainbow-coloured laces that intend to act as a visible sign of support against homophobia in football and will come into action for the football league fixtures on September 21 and 22. Although there are 5,000 professional footballers in the
country, not a single player is openly homosexual. This begs the question, is it possible to be a gay footballer? The campaign represents a joint endeavour between Paddy Power and gay rights charity Stonewall, and has already attracted attention from football stars, such as Joey Barton and Hull City midfielder David Meyler. Barton is a strong advocate of the campaign, claiming that ‘Sexuality in sport should not be an issue in the 21st century’. Barton has described the response to the campaign as
‘phenomenal’, tipping it for future success. The campaign leaders have distributed laces to 134 clubs and are determined to give footballers the chance to openly express their sexuality, hoping the laces will encourage this. The campaigners have calculated that the statistical likelihood of there being no gay footballers ‘is over a quadragintillion’, suggesting that the campaign will almost certainly benefit a proportion of professional players and will allow players to ‘come out’ in the future. With campaigns
against racism first being tackled by the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign in the 1990s, it seems it is high time that homophobia was addressed. However, Paddy Power is keen to emphasise that the campaign ‘is not about forcing anyone to come out’. Due to the taboo nature of the subject, it appears an initially delicate approach has been taken by the campaigners in the hope that gradual change will result in serious shifts in attitude. An initiative launched by the FA in February 2013 to tackle homophobia
in football was only supported by 29 out of 92 professional clubs in England, demonstrating the lack of willingness to address the issue. The laces can be purchased from Paddy Power shops and are available to the public. Although the campaign does not specifically target amateur or university sport, popular responses to the campaign on Twitter suggests that the laces could soon be worn in all forms of the game. We could be seeing them at the Armitage sooner than we think.
Timeline: The recent development of homophobia in sport
2009: The Stonewall group names football ‘institutionally homophobic.’ 2012: Quatar wins 2022 FIFA World Cup and when questioned over the problems for homosexuals in a conservative Arabic nation, Blatter comments ‘they should refrain from sex,’ causing international back lash. 2013: FA launches ‘Opening doors and joining in’ campaign. Only 29/92 Football league Clubs sign up. June: Stephen Fry urges GB not to compete in Russia following anti-gay legislation. Many athletes paint their finger nails with colours of the rainbow in support of LGBT athletes. Sep: PFA launch Right Behind Gay Footballers
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SPORT
23rd September 2013/ ISSUE 02 FREE : @Mancunion_Sport : /TheMancunion
MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Varsity Build up
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Barton bootsracism Lace up against bullys away.
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Women looking for victory hat-trick
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Get in touch! Going to Varsity? Share your views and experience with the Mancunion using the hashtag #MancVarsity or handle @mancunion_sport. Not going? Fear not, the Mancunion will have a live blog of both matches from 5pm on Mancunion.com, tweeting major events and both matches will be covered with expert analysis in issue 4!
Your 60 second sporting round-up Lancashire have secured an immediate return to the top flight of the County Championship after promotion from Division 2.
The Women’s Rubgy team will be hoping to build on an impressive season last year. Photo: Lisa Murgatroyd - ‘We have a bigger squad than ever’ - Relishing the challenge of being one of the universities most successful clubs - - ‘This is the most important game of the s season for us’ Andrew Georgeson Sport Editor
This year’s day of rugby union varsity fixtures gets underway with the University of Manchester’s women’s rugby team taking on a combined force of MMU and MMU Cheshire in the early kick off at Sale Rugby Club. The crowds were treated to a master class in the corresponding fixture last season with a 39-7 victory over the combined MMU squad. The result acted as a catalyst
for an extremely successful season seeing the team finish fourth in their respective league as well as winning the BUCS national cup. Despite the recent success, the varsity remains one of the biggest games of the season for both the men and women’s teams. Captain Claire Shutler, who scored in last years demolition of the combined team, is keen to emphasise its significance in Manchester’s sporting calendar saying. ‘The varsity is very important to us as a team. It’s a
great opportunity to showcase our sport and get people involved’. Shutler said ‘the atmosphere is always amazing and it’s a brilliant experience to play in a stadium infront of a big crowd, and of course as the first match of the season, it would be great to start off with a win.’ Showcasing the team is vital for the women’s rugby club as building on the success of last year will be a challenge and require a lot more recruits. However, the pressure of being one of Manchester’s most successful clubs seems to be a challenge that Shutler is relishing, and plans have been put in place in order to fulfil the new found expectation. ‘To build on last year’s success is the main targer and we have been recruiting
at fresher’s fair’. Shutler said ‘there has been lots of interest which is great as we now have more experienced players at the forefront of the game which will help the team develop.’ One of the most significant steps forward for the women’s team is the creation of the second team in the BUCS League. ‘It speaks volumes of the success of the team that we now have a second team in the BUCS league,’ Shutler tells the Mancunion Sport. So as final preparations are made ahead of the inaugural game of the season, and after a self-confessed ‘brutal’ preseason, the women’s team seem to be in excellent form both on and off the pitch, and should put away a side which
they have historically bested a week on Wednesday, to set what will be a tough campaign off to flyer. The women’s rugby match will kick off at 5p.m, with the men’s varsity being played after, and tickets are available from Owen’s Park and the Student Union for £5 and £8 including an after party. Return busses will be available for both matches from the Armitage Centre.
The manager of a Fallowfield under-10s football team is under investigation by the FA after accusations of verbal abuse towards a 15-year-old female referee which left her distraught. The dispute is claimed to be based on a Manchester/ Liverpool rivalry. The charges have been denied.
Acclaimed Extreme sports show ‘Nitro Circus’ has anAndy predicts: UofM 40-10 nounced a UK arena tour Met. The women’s team should once stopping an Manchester’s again have enough to comfortMancunion Predicts: ably defeat the combined squad. Phones4U Arena. Tickets cost Tom predicts: UofM 46-15 Met. between £35-45. TheAndy: squadUofM is by all 40-accounts 0 Met. stronger than ever - I can only 46-15 Met. see Tom: a UomUofM victory.