Issue4

6th OCT 2014/ ISSUE 04 FREE University of Manchester

Halls “too expensive”

MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Manchester Mythbusters

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WWW.MANCUNION.COM

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Is consumerism consuming our souls?

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19-year-old sexually assaulted after leaving Pangaea

Lauren Gorton News Editor

Greater Manchester Police have issued a press release calling for witnesses after a 19-year-old girl was sexually assaulted after leaving the Students’ Union’s Pangaea event.

The girl, believed to be a Manchester student, left Pangaea in the early hours of the morning on Sunday 21st September to find a taxi. She approached a car outside The Holy Name Church on Oxford Road across from the Student’s Union building.

After the man claimed to be a taxi driver, she entered the car and was driven to an unknown location where he sexually assaulted her. The girl was then dropped off in the Fallowfield area.

The car has been described as a dark coloured saloon type vehicle driven by a man who is described as being mixed race, aged in his 30s, thin with short shaved hair and wearing sunglasses.

In a Greater Manchester Police press release Detective Constable Elizabeth Howe said, “this was understandably very distressing for this young woman and she is being fully supported by specially trained officers.

“We would also like to remind the public to use licensed taxi companies by either pre-booking or going to a designated taxi rank. Stay together on a night out, and never get into an unknown car without checking it is a licensed taxi first. If unsure, go to a taxi rank particularly if you are on your own”.

Women’s Officer Jess Lishak has also released a statement on the incident in which she too has

commented on the safety in using licensed taxis such as those involved in the Safe Taxi Scheme run by the Students’ Union.

However unlike GMP, Lishak further stressed the need to also tackle such issues through educating men to not sexually assault women, as opposed to only warning women to consider the danger of such incidents occurring.

“The fact that our streets are still not safe for women to walk down free from being targeted, sexually harassed and assaulted, and that this story, whilst being horrific and very saddening, is not shocking, is absolutely disgusting.

“Our society often teaches women to consider the possibility of being harassed, assaulted and raped when travelling, particularly at night and particularly alone, before it teaches men to not harass, assault and rape women and that is utterly wrong.

“It is vital that we work to make our society safe for women to act however and wherever they please, whether reclaiming spaces by tackling harassment and assault on our campus, on the buses, in our bars and clubs, in taxis or by marching to reclaim the streets of Manchester.”

However in light of the news of the sexual assault after Pangaea, the Student’s Union will also be releasing a statement calling for victims of drink spiking to come forward and report their stories after a series of complaints have already been made about drink spiking at the event.

So far there have been five reports of drink spiking at the Student Union’s “Rumble in the Jungle” Pangaea event, however only one official report has been made through the Student Union.

In speaking to The Mancunion Lishak has made a plea for any further students who believe to

have been victims of drink spiking to come forward and make an official complaint so that the matter can be investigated seriously through questioning witnesses and checking CCTV surveillance of the night.

“Putting drugs or unrequested alcohol in someone else’s drink constitutes drink spiking and if someone is found to be spiking drinks at the Students’ Union, we will report them to the police and bar them from the SU. “Unfortunately, while it is not often reported or discussed, drink spiking is not a rare occurrence and is indicative of a society that glorifies manipulating and taking advantage of people in perceived vulnerable situations.”

An online scheme is currently being worked on for reporting incidents of harassment, bullying and discrimination which Lishak has stated could also be used in instances of reporting drink spiking. Further posters will soon be revealed around the SU building specifically warning drink spikers, rather than putting the onus on potential victims.

Greater Manchester Police are now appealing for information and witnesses regarding the sexual assault of the 19 year old student.

Anyone with information on the assault should call the police on 0161 856 4146 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Anyone who believes to have been a victim of drink spiking at Pangaea or knows any information in regards to the issue is encouraged to email Womens Officer Jess Lishak at jess.lishak@manchester.ac.uk.

Photo: Norbert Blech @Flickr

02 : NEWS

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Highlights

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The Music Interview – These Ghosts

Last Friday saw a baloon launch at Owens Park to mark the start of mental health awareness week. Photos - Lauren Gorton

Pictures of the week – “lifting our spirits”

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Manchester students stand Man attacked in solidarity with Hong Kong at Shell Garage Fashion – Review: The Student Lock in

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Arts - How did the First World War shape art?

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- Students from the University of Manchester came together in Piccadilly Gardens in a show of solidarity with the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Marina Garvey Birch News Reporter Over 300 students joined together in Piccadilly Gardens on Wednesday evening in solidarity with the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong. The event was organised by Louis Yuen and five other second year students at the University of Manchester and UoM Business School.

The aim of the protests in Hong Kong is for China to withdraw plans to decide on candidates for the next Hong Kong leadership election in 2017. Beijing opted last month that Hong Kong people could elect their next leader with the compromise that the candidates would be screened by a pro-Beijing committee based in China.

Beijing does not want to escalate the protests in Hong Kong with a strong response, worry-

ing what the effect could be on Mainland China. In Hong Kong, however, police responded to the protests on the weekend with tear gas and pepper spray, although since Monday the police have stopped using forceful action and the protests remain peaceful.

The Occupy Central Movement aims to achieve universal suffrage: genuine political rights with no unreasonable limitations. It has been argued that back door diplomacy may have been a better option but the students have taken to the streets to express their views.

The UoM students orchestrated the event in Piccadilly Gardens as an evening of speeches and singing, including Les Miserables’ Do You Hear The People Sing?, and they provided

yellow ribbons and banners to all attendees.

Yuen has not told her family in Hong Kong about this event because they are pro-Beijing, but this did not distract her focus for the evening: “The people in Hong Kong are suffering from the pepper spray and tear gas… so we wanted to get all the people together to speak out and show support for Hong Kong democracy.

“I think the government have to listen, because we are not going to give up this time, because for Hong Kong people we all think it’s the last time to strive for democracy.”

Sub-Editors: Morgan Hollet,James Jackman & Charlotte Pangraz.

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A man is in serious condition after being attacked outside the Shell Garage on Wilmslow Road in the early hours of last Tuesday morning.

The 51-year old cycled to the garage to buy some cigarettes and was approached by another man who took his bike from him. He was then punched several times and pulled to the ground where he was kicked in the head.

The cyclist was left with serious head injuries and is currently in a stable condition in hospital.

Detective Inspector Adrian Gallagher from Greater Manchester Police said: “At this stage, it appears there was an argument over the ownership of the bicycle which has resulted in a nasty assault.

“The man is very poorly in hospital and is currently receiving treatment for a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain.

“We have already spoken to a number of witnesses who were at the Shell Garage at the time of the offence, but there were others who we have not yet identified.

“We are urging anyone who witnessed this attack to come forward to police and tell us what you saw.”

A 46-year old man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and remains in custody.

Greater Manchester Police are appealing for witnesses of this attack and anyone with information should call the police on 0161 856 4973 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NEWS : 03

Manchester halls are “too expensive” Marcus Johns News Editor A recent poll by the Students’ Union decided that the University of Manchester’s halls of residence are too expensive, with an overwhelming majority of 92 per cent.

Only 1 per cent of respondents believed that the average rent of uncatered halls, which currently stands at £120 per week, was cheap; a mere 7 per cent thought it reasonable.

The Mancunion spoke with Ellen McLaughlin, Community Officer of the Students’ Union.

She said, “I’m surprised it was so excessively in favour of halls being too expensive. I thought that it would be the outcome but I was not expecting the support to be so high.”

In response, a University of Manchester spokesman said, ““Rental costs for University of Manchester halls of residence are set annually and are comparable to those charged by other universities, both locally and nationally.”

Ellen added, “I think it’s too expensive and I have spent a lot of time researching the provision of university accommodation. I have the same concerns as the NUS.” The NUS has recently published The Accommodation Costs Survey (2012/13). Within this report the delegate made a series of observations and recommendations.

According to the report, since 2009/10 lower cost rooms at halls of residences have had their rent increased by 23 per cent.

The average weekly rent has also risen in the past 5

years by 25 per cent. The report attributes this to rising rents and the rising demand for luxury accommodation including en suite facilities.

A University of Manchester spokesman added, “The University offers a wide variety of accommodation across its provision of 8,000 bedrooms, including standard and en suite, catered and non-catered, giving students an extensive choice to suit varying budgets and residential preferences.”

The climbing rents have not been matched by increased financial support. The Student Loans Company for England’s financial assistance rises by less than inflation year on year, which compounds the difficulty of rising rents.

Because of these financial pressures, the report states that one fifth of students nationally are working more than 20 hours per week in order to support themselves during their studies.

Ellen added, “I am concerned about halls of residence becoming inaccessible to students who need more financial support than is currently available.”

With the redevelopment of halls of residence in Fallowfield expected to begin next September and increased demand for luxury facilities it is expected that the accommodation constructed will exceed the 2013/14 price of £88 per week for a room in Oak House.

The report also recommends that universities should take note of students’ choices; indeed, Oak House was the most popular first, second, and third

Rents are climbing even before the Fallowfield campus regeneration. They can only increase further. Photo: The Mancunion preference amongst this year’s first-years.

Oak House is the university’s cheapest accommodation and would suggest a higher demand for cheaper accommodation than for luxury facilities.

The NUS report further endorsed the suggestion that 25 per cent of rents should be affordable, which the report defines as being in the bottom or lower quartile.

“They told me they are going to benchmark the prices against the hall of residence provision nationwide,” added Ellen.

Whilst the NUS report states that student representatives should be actively engaged

University Unions threaten a further marking boycott Charlie Spargo Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Lecturers from a total of 67 universities across the country, including all 24 members of the Russell Group, are threatening industrial action in response to a proposed pension cut.

Academics may boycott the marking of students’ courseworks and exams, causing a large amount of disruption, after proposals by universities which would affect the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

This proposal involves forcing lecturers to pay more into a pension fund, a £40000 salary cap on benefit entitlements, and an end to final salary pension schemes.

Models show that the proposed pension shakeup would cause

up to £20000 per year knocked off academics’ pensions.

The union estimates the changes would affect a 40-yearold professor on £75000 per year to lose out on £230000—the worst affected individual, facing a total of a 27 per cent cut.

The University and College Union is now asking members to support a marking boycott in response to this. The ballot opened on the 1st October and runs until the 20th. According to the UCU, “the action would stop students being set coursework or receiving formal marks and feedback, as well as halting exams.”

However, universities see this move as rash, since talks about the changes have not yet started.

Similar industrial action was proposed earlier in 2014 in response to a level of pay that had, in fact,

seen a 13 per cent fall in real income since 2009. This failed to materialise after successful talks between universities and academics.

However, lecturers staged six one-day walkouts over the dispute earlier in the year and in 2013. The UCU has not ruled out further strikes and boycotts in the future in response to unfair pay.

General secretary of the union, Sally Hunt, said, “if members back industrial action, and there is no negotiated solution, we will be looking to quickly move to an assessment and exam boycott.

“Staff see their pension as deferred pay and are understandably angry.”

and consulted during the rent setting process and planning for future development, Ellen added “I have had a poor response from the university; it’s all confidential, they say.”

“I have raised concerns to the senior management about the lack of provision of cheaper accommodation. I am really worried about a two tiered student experience.

“I fear that one group of students who can afford halls will have access to the pastoral care, events, and other benefits that come with living in university accommodation.

“The other group will be forced into private accommodation

that is much cheaper, and they will be open to the private system and its associated issues, which will be less safe.”

“The possibility of higher rents may put students off of the University of Manchester, and they may choose to study elsewhere.”

The redevelopment of the Fallowfield campus is expected to be part-owned by the university and part-owned by a private company. Potentially this could lead to profit being made by a private sector from University of Manchester students.

The Mancunion has seen the summary report authored

by Ellen, which she will send to the university’s senior management.

“The findings of the poll support the concerns I have raised to the university,” she said.

The Mancunion is investigating the price of university accommodation at universities across the nation and has reached out to all of the Russell Group universities for information regarding their average rents; apart from the University of Manchester they have all yet to comment.

Survey suggests 19 per cent of freshers have tried ‘legal highs’ Aileen Duffy News Reporter A new study published by the Angelus Foundation last week claims that one out of every five freshers has admitted to taking a legal high.

The study found that 19% of new students admitted to trying the legal. The study also found that 36% of students questioned said to have been offered legal highs, with 61% claiming a friend had taken them.

The Angelus Foundation is currently the only British charity dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of legal highs, founded by Maryon Stewart in 2009 following the death of her daughter due to the use of a legal high, GBL, which is now established as an illegal Class B drug.

The study conducted by the Foundation found that 19% of

new students admitted to trying the legal. The study also found that 36% of students questioned said to have been offered legal highs, with 61% claiming a friend had taken them.

Legal highs can be brought in shops and online as long as they are labelled “not for human consumption”, but the products are being marketed in such a way that suggests they can be ingested as a recreational drug, despite carrying the warning.

They hold similar properties to drugs that are classified as illegal, but are formed of different compounds and therefore considered exempt from the law.

They have been linked to heart attacks, strokes, organ damage through overheating, psychosis and deaths.

In a recent interview with the Independent, Maryon Stewart said, “These substances can have highly unpredictable effects and

are marketed with little regard for the serious damage they may inflict.”

Last week in Yeovil, Sergeant Pete Paskin of Yeovil Police Station publicly spoke out against the use of legal highs, explaining: “These drugs are not safe for people to take. A lot of them are sold as plant food and they must not be sold for human consumption.

“We have recently had two young adults in Yeovil who have had to be taken to A & E after taking them.

“People think because its legal it is okay. But these are mind altering drugs which can make you do very silly things - we had one chap who was found to have climbed up on a roof and nearly fell off it, and recently a young man who was putting a tube of hair gel onto his face to try and prevent the Government getting into his head.”

04 : News

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Students challenge myth that Arts Shaman crowned degrees are unaffordable luxuries King of the Jungle - A student-led Manchester branch of The Arts Emergency Service plans to work with Manchester secondary schools to increase interest and excitement about arts and humanities subjects Jenny Sterne News Editor A Student-led branch of the Arts Emergency Service aims to encourage arts and humanities subjects as degree options for Manchester students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The Arts Emergency Service, co-founded by the comedian Josie Long and campaigner Neil Griffiths, is a charity set up in response to increasing tuition fees and the abolition of public funding of arts subjects in British universities.

Stewart Lee, comedian and writer, says of the charity, “Arts Emergency are highlighting the reversal of decades’ of social access to the arts, and by association the possible disappearance of whole strands of discourse and the loss of educational enfranchisement to future generations.

Save the thinker!”

Arts Emergency Manchester is a student branch of the Arts Emergency charity, working to encourage arts and humanities subjects as future options for pupils from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, through mentoring in schools.

The Manchester branch is in the process of creating a ten-week volunteering

program which will begin in schools early next year.

They are looking for mentors in many different subject areas such as; Sociology, Criminology, American Studies, Journalism, Politics, Economics, Philosophy, Social Anthropology and History of Art. The student volunteers plan to teach and encourage interest and excitement around subjects like Criminology and Philosophy which the students probably haven’t encountered before.

Joanna Harris, co-founder of the Manchester student branch said of the project “Arts Emergency Manchester came about as a reaction to the increasing marketisation of higher education. Education should be a right for all, not a preserve of the privileged.

“We want to show that the arts should not be viewed as luxuries that only few can afford to study. These subjects are intrinsically important in their encouragement of critical and analytical thinking, and allow students invaluable insight into society and the world. The idea that arts and humanities subjects do not lead to jobs is a myth.”

Earlier this year, Arthur Baker, founder of the society, wrote an article in The Man-

cunion explaining why he believed in the importance of promoting arts and humanities subjects.

Baker wrote, “more and more, a university education is seen as a commodity to be bought and sold. The government has axed teaching grants and trebled fees, imposing a free market system on our universities. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged to choose a degree based simply on how clear the career path from it is, and to see Arts and Humanities degrees as a luxury they cannot afford.”

Baker added that a university education “should be about widening your horizons, developing as a person, and studying something you love. We chose our degrees largely because they interested us, and we think everybody should be able to do that.

Education for its own sake shouldn’t simply be the preserve of the rich.”

If you would like to help with the project, get in touch or come along to the next meeting. You can also visit their Facebook group, Arts Emergency Manchester, for more information.

For more information on the Arts Emergency Charity see their website http:// www.arts-emergency.org/.

Arts Emergency MCR plans to encourage students to not ignore arts and humanities degree options. Photo: Students’ Union

The Giving Games: may the audience be in your favour Lauren Gorton News Editor

The Students’ Union hosted one of its first charity events last Monday in association with the Giving What We Can: Manchester Society. “The Giving Game”, saw Cancer Research UK head off against the AntiMalaria Foundation to compete for the votes of the audience and £490 in donations.

The Society, founded last year by Sam Dumitriu, is Manchester’s local chapter of the international society Giving What We Can, and is dedicated to eliminating extreme poverty around the world. Members of the society pledge to donate at least 10 per cent of their annual incomes to go towards relieving suffering caused by extreme poverty.

Unlike most other charitable organisations, however, the society donates to only the most effective charities in an attempt to ensure that donations have

the greatest possible impact.

As such, the Giving Games aim to make the audience use their initiative to judge with both their hearts and their heads what charities can actually make a difference.

At last week’s Giving Game event society members Andrew Pearson and Pete Werner competed against one another to convince the audience that their organisation was the best equipped to make donations go further, representing Cancer Research UK and the Anti-Malaria Foundation respectively.

For each audience member’s vote £10 was donated, courtesy of a grant applied for from the Frederick Mulder Trust, for the overall winner. By a margin of just 14 votes the Anti-Malaria Foundation won the night with an overall 31 votes.

Speaking to The Mancunion, Sam Dumitriu, the founder and Chair of Giving What We Can: Manchester, commented

on the benefits of The Giving Game and Giving What We Can International society.

“Giving Games are a great way to get people to think about where is the best place to donate. There are numerous causes and charities worthy of our support, but our limited resources of time and money can only stretch so far.

“Some charities are a thousand times more effective than others and so it is vital that we think carefully about where to give. I encourage people to look at charity evaluators like GiveWell and Giving What We Can online and combine the heart with the head.”

Three further events are scheduled to occur in association with the Giving What We Can: Manchester Society; Taking Charity Seriously on November 7th, Giving and Happiness on November 11th, and 80000 Hours—an ethical career talk on November 22nd.

Lauren Gorton and Anna Phillips News Editors

Photo: The Mancunion

After the success of Pangaea’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ last month, The Mancunion launched its first ever fancy dress competition in partnership with the Student Union to find our Pangaea King or Queen.

We took hundreds of pictures of costumes throughout the evening, put together a list of the ten best outfits of the night, and asked readers to vote for their favourite online.

Voting closed on Thursday, and we have since counted up the votes and can reveal that the winner of Pangaea’s fancy dress competition is: ‘Shaman’ AKA Oli Cutter with over 25% of the vote.

Oli has won two guest-list tickets for Pangaea’s next event in January, details of which will be released in The Mancunion.

Our runners up were: Second place: Flower, AKA Amy Howard Third place: Ooga Booga, AKA mystery Crash Bandicoot fan Fourth place: Crocodile Dundee AKA Abid Khan All the photographs we took during the evening can be seen on The Mancunion Facebook page, as well as photos of the winners and the runners up.

Girl Gang jailed for student attacks Deepanshi Dhiman News Reporter A gang of teenage girls have been jailed for terrorising young female students around the Wilmslow Road and Fallowfield area of Manchester in a series of physical assaults and violent robberies.

A Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing was told, “female revellers and university students were targeted in nighttime street attacks on Wilmslow Road and its outskirts during the gang’s seven-month crime spree.”

In a string of attacks from September 2013 to April 2014, the gang followed its victims on the Wilmslow Road late at night and brutally assaulted them in isolated areas, after binging on vodka.

In one of their many confrontations, five women in Fallowfield were followed, grabbed by their hair and dragged to their knees before being repeatedly punched and

kicked by Margaret Grey and Zara Hussain.

On the same night, three hours later, another female was targeted in the same area when the gang charged at her and stole her phone, ripping her earring out and left her covered in blood in the street.

While on bail two-and-ahalf months later, Margaret Grey, Daniella Hodge and Chloe Minchion attacked another group of University of Manchester students, before escaping with one of their bags into Victoria Park.

Four months after their last violent robbery, Grey and Hussain, once again on bail, were involved in a hit-and-run incident against a shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper later told the police that he was “terrified” of the pair, who punched him ten times and directed racial slurs at him.

Margaret Grey, 18, from Meade Grove, Longsight, has been jailed for 32 months and barred from seeing the other three girls

after admitting two robberies, two attempted robberies, and racially aggravated assault. Zara Hussain, 20, from Burnage, was served to a 20-month sentence after admitting robbery and attempted robbery. Daniella Hodge, 18, from Openshaw, was given a two-year community order with supervision and a requirement to attend a probation service programme for robbery and attempted robbery.

Chloe Minchion, who recently gave birth, is wanted by police after her absence at the Manchester Crown Court for her involvement in the crimes.

Crown Court Judge Robert Atherton dismissed their insistence of regret, saying: “The victims of all those robberies were young women going about enjoying themselves and minding their own business.

You fall into that group of people who go out, get drunk, misbehave, and say ‘I’m terribly sorry, I was drunk, I’ve had a bad upbringing, I didn’t mean it.’”

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

NEWS : 05

Let’s talk about... Mental Health!

Helen Chapman News Editor Friday 3rd October saw the balloon launch at Fallowfield’s Owens Park— an event launching Mental Health Awareness Week in Manchester. This week, the Students’ Union will host a range of events to encourage students to feel more comfortable with talking about emotional wellbeing.

Rosie Dammers, Wellbeing Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, said “Mental Health Awareness Week is a week to kick off a campaign to tackle the stigma and discrimination around mental health and increase the accessibility of support services.”

In an interview with The Mancunion, Project Manager of the balloon launch, Hannah Jewell, said “the balloon launch aims to get people talking about experiences.” Kelly Dalton, Publicity Manager of the balloon launch, also added that “the best thing to do for mental health is to talk about it.”

“Mental health is not discussed enough so we

want students to feel more comfortable about discussing these issues” said Hannah.

“This is especially important for university, where peoples’ safety net is first taken away.”

The balloon launch ran in connection with Nightline, a confidential and non judgemental service offering someone to talk to about any worries or anxieties. Their number can be found on the back of your student card and they run from 8pm to 8am.

Hannah said that the hardest thing about mental health issues is approaching friends and peers about the issue, underlining the balloon launch’s catchphrase “when will you ask?”

“Asking someone if they are OK could even change their life” explains Hannah. “People may not recognise when there is a need to ask, which the balloon launch aims to raise awareness of.”

Speaking to The Mancunion, Rosie Dammers also stressed the importance of MHAW. She pointed out that “the numbers of students with depression and other serious mental health

Photo: Leo Raynolds @Flickr

needs is dramatically on the rise.”

“An NUS research conducted last year found that of 1,200 higher education students surveyed, 20 per cent consider themselves to have a mental health problem, while 13 per

cent have suicidal thoughts.

“92 per cent of respondents identified as having had feeling of mental distress, which often includes feeling down, stressed and demotivated.

On average, respondents who experience feelings of mental

distress experience them once a month or more (74 per cent), and almost one third suffered distress every week.”

Rosie added further “the main causes of this were found to be course work for 65 per cent of respondents, exams and studies were a cause for over half (54 per cent), with almost as many citing financial difficulty (47 per cent).

“These problems are on our own campus”, Rosie concluded, “effecting students here at Manchester; the on-campus counselling service had a 30 per cent increase in the amount of people requesting appointments last year.”

Events mapped out for MHAW include yoga sessions, free massages and manicures, arts and crafts, film screenings and discussions. MHAW will also have stalls from PAPYRUS suicide prevention charity, the Students’ Union Advice Service and a session from Student Minds. The full schedule can be found on the Facebook page; Rosie says that MHAW aims

“to make sure students’ mental health and wellbeing is at the top of the university’s agenda and that its support services cater to students’ needs.”

Rosie hopes that mental health awareness won’t just be dedicated to one week but will carry on as a yearlong project, ideally even longer; “We need a big awareness raising campaign to let students know they are not alone. We need to create safe spaces for students to talk about their experiences, and we need to campaign to improve the professional support available to students, on and off campus.”

If you are a student looking for support then you can contact our Students’ Union Advice Service. Three expert advisors work Monday to Friday to help students and defend their interests. Appointments are free and confidential; book one by email – advice.su@ manchester.ac.uk – or drop in to the centre which is located on the ground floor of the Students’ Union.

Conditional discharge for Manchester City Centre shampoo attacker Charlie Spargo Deputy Editor-in-Chief

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A woman has been handed a three-year conditional discharge by Manchester Magistrates court after attacking a paramedic with a shampoo bottle.

The emergency services attended the city centre earlier this month after reports that Leyla Fletcher was having a fit.

However, after determining that she was, in fact, not fitting, she lashed out, hurling a bottle of shampoo at paramedic Philip Ogden’s head, before kicking him in the shin. She was then arrested by the police.

She pleaded guilty of assault before Manchester Magistrates court. However, in the circumstances, she was instead told to pay £310 compensation and costs, and

given a conditional discharge for three years, within which she must not commit any more offences or face further punishment.

Fletcher has been attempting to undergo gender reassignment for 12 years now.

Her defence, Lyndsey Brown, described her experiences of abuse by people from her community and ostracism by her mother after attempting to transition to a woman as “a hard time,” assuring magistrates she “will never be before the court again.”

Fletcher had also turned to heavy drinking in response to harsh treatment and her mother casting her out.

The chairman of the bench said the offence would “normally carry a community order.

“However, given [her] personal difficulties and everything [she] has been through… we are going to impose a conditional discharge.”

The emergency services have taken a dim view of this verdict, however.

Derek Cartwright, Director of Emergency Service for the North West, said, “the trust is extremely disappointed with the sentence given.

“We will always push for those who assault crews to receive the maximum sentence allowed.”

06 : News

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Combining cancer treatments could improve survival rates in patients - A study by University of Manchester scientists reveals that treating patients with both radiotherapy and immunotherapy at the same time could prevent cancerous cells from becoming resistant to treatment Andy van den Bent-Kelly Science and Technology Editor A new treatment developed by scientists at the University of Manchester could seriously improve the survival rates for patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment for cancer.

By treating patients with both radiotherapy and immunotherapy, the risk of cancerous cells becoming resistant to treatment could be eliminated.

The researchers found that combining the two treatments helped the immune system to track down and kill cancerous cells that survived the first bout of radiotherapy. The test subjects were mice suffering from cancer of the breast, skin and bowel.

Radiotherapy is a well-known method of killing or controlling malignant cells. More than half of all cancer patients undergo the treatment. For many types of cancer it is very successful, but any cancer cells that it fails to kill can become resistant to it.

The treatment can switch on a ‘flag’ on the surface of an unaffected cell, called PD-L1. This tricks the body into thinking that the cancerous cells are harmless.

Immunotherapy works by injecting an antibody into the blood stream, which blocks the ‘flags’ and alerts the body to the danger posed by the cells.

The immune system then kicks into play and destroys them. In this series of experiments, it was found that the combination of the treatments protected the mice from the possibility of the disease returning.

The lead researcher, Dr Simon Dovedi, who is also a member of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, said, “Using the body’s own defences to treat cancers has huge potential with early phase clinical trials demonstrating exciting patient benefit. But we are still at the early stages of understanding how best to use these types of treatments.

“Combining certain immunotherapies with radiotherapy could make them even more effective and we’re now looking to test this in clinical trial to see just how much of a difference it could make.”

The chief clinician of Cancer Research UK, Professor Nic Jones, said, “Around half of all cancer patients are given radiotherapy and it has been at the heart of helping improve survival

rates so that today one in two cancer patients will survive for at least ten years.

“Doctors and researchers are constantly looking for ways to improve treatments and this approach could open the door to a whole new way of giving radiotherapy.”

The work undertaken by the researchers was funded by MedImmune, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca specialising in biotechnology.

The Director of Oncology Research at the company, Dr Robert Wilkinson, said, “MedImmune is committed to developing strong science led collaborations, and supporting research that helps further advance our scientific understanding in the important area of immunotherapy.”

He added further, “The findings described in the recent study with Cancer Research UK are extremely encouraging.”

The Manchester Cancer Research Centre was formed in 2006 as a joint collaboration between the University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK and the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite being a successful and common treatment for cancer, radiotherapy does not kill all cancerous cells. Photo: thomas23 @Flickr

HOMESICK?

OVERWHELMED? LIKE YOU’VE NOT SETTLED IN?

You’re not alone! The Students’ Union advice service have got loads of hints and tips to help you feel more at home in Manchester. They can also offer a friendly and sympathetic ear.

For practical advice on settling in at uni visit manchesterstudentsunion.com/adviceservice

University of Manchester Students’ Union Black and Minority Ethnic Students’ Campaign Presents

facebook.com/BMEMCR

08 : Feature

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Photo: Ropiku2003@Flickr

Investigation: University of Manchester Mythbusters

- The University of Manchester is subject to many rumours, some that needed to be repeatedly busted or proved due to first years arriving every year. We examined three of the biggest.....

Roberta Rofman & Haider Saleem Features Editors

Rumours are inevitable in a university as big as the University of Manchester, and quite a few have floated around over the year and with freshers entering the university every year, they never seem to die out.

Fallowfield Sainsbury’s: The one that is most likely to believed is based in the heart of student living, Fallowfield.

Walking into the massive supermarket for the first time, my flatmates said ‘did you know that this Sainsbury’s is the most expensive in the country?’

Having limited knowledge about Manchester, it made sense and is still believed by some students. The supermarket has a large student customer base and is located in a very convenient location for students who do live in Fallowfield, being huge and selling pretty much everything

and anything a student could need. There are many discount stores like Lidl and Aldi dotted around the place that can save you quite a bit of money but effort is something a lot of people think about first, so even if Fallowfield’s Sainsbury’s is the most expensive out of the country, it’s not going to scare off customers, especially students. The idea of paying £1 for ice-cream doesn’t seem that horrible when you compare it to taking a ten minute bus journey to Lidl.

Fortunately for Fallowfield residents, this is false. Legality is probably to thank due to national pricing policies, where the same price has to be enforced nationwide. So, having the same price everywhere else bar one store located in a student area is more than a little bit dodgy. In 2011, Tesco also faced controversy when they were accused of selling some products for less in Scotland

than everywhere else. In 2012, The Mancunion found that, on the contrary, Fallowfield’s Sainsbury’s wasn’t the most expensive supermarket in the area, with Tesco reaching a slightly higher overall price total.

Furthermore, The Mancunion bought Sainsbury’s goods online and compared them to the Fallowfield store, finding that the price was in fact the same.

Rumour busted.

Oxford Road Bus Corridor: There’s also the rumour that Oxford/Wilmslow Road corridor is the busiest bus route in Europe. This can easily be believed, as the wait for a bus isn’t usually that long, and when a bus does turn up, it’s leading a line of four more buses, resulting in a road that’s rarely empty.

On occasion, bus drivers with just-about empty buses don’t even bother stopping for a muddled line of students as they probably realise that

another bus will turn up in 15 seconds. Despite all this making the rumour believable, it is something that, most likely, can’t be proved.

The initial issue is that there isn’t really any way of comparing the bus frequency on different routes throughout Europe. The number of buses going down a road change depending on the time of day and while the wait for a bus is often not that long, with one usually turning up every minute, on some occasions it can frustratingly long. Also, buses at night time are far less frequent than those during the day.

However, the fact the Manchester runs night buses may give it an edge.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Transport in 2006 had described Wilmslow Road corridor as “chaos” and “overcrowded to the point of congestion” due to the competitiveness of the two main bus companies, Stagecoach and

First Greater Manchester. While it’s not the most far-fetched rumour, there’s no way of really confirming it.

Stopford Building Zoo: The medical building, Stopford, has also been in the spotlight of university gossip. It’s a slightly more doubtful rumour but still exists. The fourth floor of Stopford harbours a lot of mystery. Restricted to staff, a big sign displaying such a warning rests on the walls of the stairs leading up to he forbidden corridor.

After asking some medic students, a Starbucks is apparently located on the fourth floor, but no-one is ever able to get up there - not the best business strategy. But that’s not too exciting, hardly a rumour that’s going to spread around campus like wildfire. The real gossip comes from word that animals occupy the fourth floor and have made quite a

ISSUE 4/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Feature : 09

H ave more r umou rs a b out t he u n ive rs ity or ge ne ra l ide a s for t he M a nc u nion?

Contributors a re a lways we lcome.

Photo: Elliott Brown@Flickr

a comfortable home up there.

Not solely lab-type animals like rats and frogs but even monkeys. After asking staff at the front desk, we were told that as fun as this would be, the fourth floor does not have an array of animals that would put the African plains to shame; although apparently an ostrich did overstay its welcome there once.

Spooky Sackville Street: There has also been the rumour that the buildings on the Northern campus of he university are haunted. After asking some people, while this is believed to be true by some, this is not a common rumour. On whether this is true, the issue of ghosts is still a mystery so this one remains unsolved.

Things that you didn’t know about Fallowfield

Fallowfield McDonalds: The McDonalds in Fallowfield is also always talked about as being the first Drive-Thru restaurant in the UK. But did one of the biggest corporations in the world really open their first Drive-Thru in the heart of South Manchester? A quick search online is filled with the same stories, but nothing official confirming it. However, we reached out to McDonalds

and they did confirm to us that the Fallowfield restaurant on Wilmslow Road opened on 15th September 1986 and was their first Drive-Thru restaurant in the UK. History right in the heart of Fallowfield.

S e nd you r ide a s to fe at u re s @ m a n c u n i o n .co m or come to cont r i butors me e ti ng s at 5 pm , f i rst f lo or of t he st ude nt s u n ion .

- Fallowfield, the student suburb of Manchester, has been the subject of many stories over the years, but some that have never seen the light of day.

Haider Saleem Features Editors

Fallowfield is a big love of a lot of Manchester students. It is arguably the hub of student life in Manchester. There are facts that have accumulated over the years, making Fallowfield a really interesting place to live in. Having everything you could possibly want, it’s assumed that there isn’t anything that is unknown about Fallowfield. But here are some things that you may not have heard before.

One for the football fans, Fallowfield was the host of the 1893 FA Cup final.

The 1893 FA Cup final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton was hosted in the old Fallowfield Stadium (now Richmond Park), with just one goal scored by Wolverhampton making them the winners.

Having a capacity of 15,000, the attendance of 45,000 meant the

majority of spectators had no view of the match. In addition, the stadium also hosted the 1899 FA Cup semi-final between Sheffield United and Liverpool. The match had to be abandoned due to a crush in the crowd.

The Chemical Brothers’ first gig was also at BOP. BOP is now renowned for cheesy music and, apparently, being the ‘easiest place to pull in Manchester’, but it once was so much more than that.

With free entry, cheap drinks and a good location, BOP was once the most popular student night at the University, quite a shock given how it’s seen by a lot of students today.

Held in Owens Park tower ballroom every Friday, it is widely rumoured that the Chemical Brothers who met whilst studying history here in Manchester, played their first gig at this notorious night.

Coming back to Manchester for Warehouse Project will probably be a nice change.

The tower is also a place that

Photo: Mikey@Flickr

has held a lot of notoriety always held a lot of notoriety. From the tower challenge to grimey rooms and scary lifts, one that is less well known is the tale that someone let off every alarm in the Tower.

All 18 floors were set off and the perpetrator someone managed to avoid getting caught as there aren’t cameras there. So they could have been a student or a wanderer of the street, or a gang of vigilantes, we’ll never know and the mystery lives on.

After talking to some people

who didn’t stay in Fallowfield in first year but moved there later on, I was surprised to hear that they were not aware of who the Magic Bus Lady was. Appearing out of nowhere, very few people every really see her move. She is usually surrounded by many suitcases and plastic bags full of mysterious objects, and hands out flyers containing her life stories and generally what’s on her mind.

No one really knows what she is ranting about. What we do know is that her dad has apparently

obtained around seven degrees and is the king of a country somewhere.

There are probably loads more things that are not yet known, still there are plenty of years to create new facts.

10

Opinion

Editors’ Foreword Marcus Johns and Morris Seifert

This week we’ve had excellent contributions about consumerism and gluttony in the modern world.

This week’s articles are thought very thought-provoking and ask some important questions about the society in which we live.

Disagree with something that’s been said? Tweet us with your thoughts and comments: @MancunionOp. If you would like to contribute tweet us or like our page on Facebook at facebook.com/ MancunionOp and drop us a post.

Next week we will be featuring articles about political conflict in today’s world.

Stop Buying Crap Morris Seifert Civilization is consumerism, civilization dictates our lives. I challenge you to look around and find something that doesn’t have a monetary value. But don’t limit yourself to objects. Look at that couple walking hand in hand out of Vivienne Westwood and ask yourself why, laden down with bags, she gazes into his eyes at that moment with pure longing–they will have great sex that night.

Buying things makes us happy and we are happy to buy things; we are all inexorably bound by a de facto desire to spend and consume. It is not my place in this small column to sway you in favour or against this, for that look to the right, but I will use it to suggest that you interact in a society that cheapens everything to a number with some dignity.

We all go to great lengths to look purposeful and content, we strive to be perceived as that which we aspire to be, but we are often so caught up in this that we cannot see the dark and brutal shadow of those who stand out of the light. Those who will only ever experience apple as a fruit, those who call the backstreets their home, those who lie awake clutching their beads and praying that Ebola will not afflict them or their family.

For all its debated ills, consumerism gives us the power to help these people. Consumerism attaches a monetary value to everything up to and including life itself. It gives those with ample the direct means to help those with less.

We are consciously misled in our definition of the term ‘consumerism’, we are taught by advertising that our money should be spent on things we can touch and feel – but our pounds can go so much further than an identical jumper with a different symbol on the chest.

Will Self coined the term ‘Prozac Economy’, a place where even happiness can be bought and sold. We have been bestowed this great blessing and the curse to, with our wallets, mediate our lives and, a fact less touted, the lives of those around us. I challenge you to ponder this, accept graciously the enormous power that consumerism has given you and treat someone else to the greatest gift you can give them, generosity.

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

@MancunionOp

Is consumerism consuming our souls?

As Lauren Wills contends that we must walk away from consumerism, Marina Iskander argues that it’s the very thing that facilitates our humanity.

Yes

Lauren Wills

I want the iPhone 6+. The screen is 100 times more likely to crack than the Nokia 3210, the anodised aluminium build of the smartphone means it might bend in my pocket, and the phone’s changes are relatively slim in comparison to its previous model (not to mention it may cost me a kidney if I want to survive past reading week.) But it’s worth it. I’m worth it.

“Consumerism gives us a non-attainable perfectionist view of what our lives should look like.”

We are slaves to consumerism.

At the outset, I am not suggesting that it’s practical to live minimalist lifestyles and refrain from buying anything. We are all consumers to an extent; we have to be in order to survive.

However, there’s a point when we abandon the realm of what we need and venture into the excess. This has astounding negative individual, collective, cultural and commercial implications that we simply choose to ignore on a daily basis.

Advertising is everywhere we go. We can’t escape the lure of luxuries, whether it is gadgets, holidays, consumables, clothes or other products. The danger-

ous thing about consumerism today is that it goes beyond wanting a particular product for its merits; it’s about the status it gives us as individuals.

It doesn’t matter if the food we’re eating is from Asda or Waitrose, the only difference is the packaging. Nobody can tell if someone is wearing Primark rather than River Island.

But if we had the choice on which products we’d rather choose, 90 per cent of us would choose the more prestigious brands. We’re obsessed with image, and despite this being a cultural issue in itself, its commercial implications are even more worrying.

When the key market players get hold of us, it’s a struggle to break free. Because we all buy into advertising, corporations can increase their prices and make poor quality products.

Despite it inconveniencing us because of our ever-tightening budgets we still make sure we have the money to purchase the said product.

We tell ourselves it’s a priority.

It will enrich our lives. It is worth the money. It will improve our home. It will make our children happier. We never question the profit margins of huge companies, or whether it’s necessary to be spending such extortionate amounts of money on products that will be forgotten in six months’ time.

Companies also take advantage of our lack of knowledge in specific fields. For example, certain skincare products cost hundreds of pounds because of their special formulas that possess anti-aging qualities. The average consumer possesses barely any knowledge of the specific minerals used in the product and whether they are guaranteed to

Photo: mewroh@Flickr

be effective.

Yet seeing Julia Roberts with flawless skin on an advertisement is enough evidence for us to buy in. Through lack of questioning and the consistent buying of products we haven’t researched, we allow corporations to gain monopoly power which could eventually eliminate any trace of ethical, honest business practice.

If these commercial problems weren’t bad enough, consumerism poses the question of where our individual priorities truly lie.

Many people in modern-day society believe that recycling and environmental protection is a good cause. However, despite uttering how important it is to save the planet, as Max An comments

in his article The Rise of Consumerism, “We all say we want to go green and yet we waste so many resources on luxurious mild advancements in the technology we own.” Even when we stand up for the most worthy causes, we are not prepared to prioritise them over the need for the most popular gadgets or clothes or consumables.

The very personal problem with consumerism is that the ideal it encourages is an idealistic lifestyle that we can never attain.

When will we be truly satisfied with what we have? There will be an iPhone 7 and 8 and 9.

Consumerism gives us a nonattainable perfectionist view of what our lives should look like.

Ironically, the closer we get, the

No

to criticize is the belief that it has increased exponentially in recent times, particularly with new technological advancements and the ability to address hundreds of thousands of people that did not exist a few decades ago.

However, an American bankruptcy law expert and Harvard Law School Professor named Elizabeth Warren explains in her paper, The Over-Consumption Myth, that people are actually spending less than they used to. She has shown that Americans are spending 21 per cent less on clothes, 22 per cent less on food and 44 per cent less on appliances now than they were in the 1970s.

Marina Iskander

We feast. We feast on ideas, material products, people, praise; we feast to survive. Survival is for the fittest, and the fittest are those who fit in.

Whether you believe in evolution or not, our main goal in life is demonstrably to survive. It is encrypted in our genes to live and for as long as possible. But in order to survive, one must adapt to this ever-changing world.

This adaptation has manifested itself as spending our time and money on consuming what we desire. We celebrate by spending–Christmas gifts, New Year’s-themed parties, and Easter bunnies galore. We consume ideas presented in the media: what type of music to listen to, what to criticize, what to support. It seems that it’s ‘in’ to complain about flashy advertisements and catchy commercials, but the common hipster has failed to recognize that by criticizing consumerism they’re just like the rest of us; trying to fit in. In reality we are all on the same bandwagon, one headed towards social acceptance.

“There is no shame in our need to spend” As humans, we have the need to categorize everything. We like to neatly divide people into little boxes in order to simplify the complexity that is man. More

further away our ideal becomes, as the key market players are a step ahead of us and are already developing the next product we need to purchase in order to look good.

If the solution isn’t in consumption, it must require us to utilise our self-control and question our priorities. Do I really need this luxury? And more importantly in reality, is it a luxury? We’ve been incessantly sprinting to find the pot of gold, only to realise that the end of the rainbow doesn’t exist. The only thing left to do is to walk away while we still have the chance.

“Over-priced pants and overrated laptops are essential to our survival as social ...animals”

Photo: rhk313 @Flickr

importantly, we have a need to fit in and be socially accepted.

Our consumerism makes it possible for this classification to exist. Over-priced pants and overrated laptops are essential to our survival as social animals in a meritocratic society that rewards success and encourages progress.

There are those who spend their money on technology but are moderate on the fashion

side. There are some who would spend hundreds of pounds on cosmetics but do not care about what car they drive. What you choose to pour your money into shows what kind of person you are. It puts you in a group with like-minded people, snug in the security of fitting in. Being human, one will subconsciously judge and be judged by people based on what they own and what they choose to consume.

This is no new phenomenon; we are not becoming shallower or more ignorant. Instead, we are practicing what makes us human, we are adapting.

There is no shame in our need to spend and there is nothing wrong with corporations and advertising companies simply using human nature in a way that benefits us all.

One of the main aspects of consumerism that people tend

We ensure a healthy survival by trying to fit in and looking for like-minded people to associate with. As cold and heartless as it may sound, we simply need this reassurance that we are ‘normal’. Normal in the sense that whatever you choose to believe in, whatever you choose to buy, and whatever your sexual orientation is, that there are other people there who feel the same way.

We’re desperate; we are hungry, needy creatures who must blend in and constantly change colour, no matter how dry that may run our wallets.

Can’t stop ranting to your housemates?

Opinion

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11

Dying for Democracy Joe Evans Contributor As thousands take to the streets in Hong Kong, campaigning for their say in a twisted system of democracy, one can’t help but feel similar levels of action would be impossible in Britain. In Hong Kong the outrage and dissatisfaction is palpable, exploding in scenes dominating the world media.

Political engagement in Hong Kong, it would appear, is alive and well. However, with just 44% of 18 to 24 year olds turning out to vote in the 2010 general election the same cannot be said of Britain. Surely we should be learning from their determination to achieve democracy to engage with, rather than ignore, our own politics.

Joshua Wong, the seventeen year old public face of the Hong Kong student occupation, is a level- headed figure. His public persona is calm, he does not disrupt or incite violent, his education shows. His lawyer, called in to represent him following anti-democratic attempts to silence him, described him as ‘measured beyond his years.’

“While our system may be flawed, our right to democratic representation is leaps ahead of such a Hong Kong’s institution of government.”

The campaign in Hong Kong is focused on achieving full democracy, the choice to elect their own Chief Executive, the head of the Hong Kong government, rather than be stuck with a government crony. The campaign has called for the current leader, Leung Chun-ying to step down. Elected with support from just 689 voters from the electoral of just 1,200, he has been heavily rebuked for prioritising China over Hong Kong in an attempt to appease his support base of oligarchs and pro-Being tycoons.

When in Hong Kong the right to simply vote is a contentious issue, the huge political power each and every one of us possess in comparison is highlighted.

While our system may be flawed, our right to democratic representation is leaps ahead of such a Hong Kong’s institution of government.

As I previously mentioned the turnout for 18 to 24 year olds in Britain was just 44% in the 2010 general election. Democracy then is wasted on a depressing 56% of legally voting, young people. If they felt shafted by the system then they have themselves to blame. They shafted themselves through a complete lack of engagement. Voting isn’t joining the system.

Voting is how to change the system and is what the young Hong Kong people are fighting for.

In Hong Kong it is taking a young politically engaged activist to educate the masses. He is preaching how, “The Hong Kong people should pay more attention to politics” and that ordinary life is intimately and indelibly linked to the political process. Young people in Hong Kong know that if they hate the influx new Chinese money, amongst other things, then they should stand alongside the thousands of others who agree in protesting for a vote and being heard rather than remaining passive.

Not since the mining strikes of the 1980s have the British public shown such a level of political engagement. Like the student lead protests in Hong Kong, the miners strikes, whether you agree with them or not, epitomised people unifying with a collective objective. The UK has not seen kind of mass scale activism driving for a real objective for decades - the Hong Kong movement has just this impetus.

Real political drive centred in the engagement of the people.

Young Britain on the whole lacks political engagement. The truth is that for British politicians there is no conflict because the youth don’t offer any. There is a clear difference between choosing to rebuke the system whilst showing complete apathy and choosing to offer genuine, considered threat to

Photo: adamscotti @Flickr

the establishment.

In Hong Kong, to vote in a democratic system isn’t an option. Any candidate will serve as a perpetuation of power for the same establishment that has misled its population. In Britain, you have to walk less that ten minutes to a primary school and tick a box.

If you want political conflict in the name of change, then cause some, political conflict matters in ways indifference can never fathom. Get up and have your voice heard. Tick the box, whichever box you tick, but don’t soil the ballot or waste a right that people in Hong Kong are facing the batons for.

When others have to cause conflict simply to have the right to be heard, it hammers home that to vote in a democracy is a duty over a choice.

The system will roll on regardless of whether you decide to engage with it or not, you will simply not be a part of if you don’t. You may as well make it difficult for those in power if you disagree with the system.

Cause a conflict. Disregard the negative connotations and start something amazing.

A revolution of the heart and the mind Haughty ideals are only half a revolution, Marina Iskander argues the most permeating revolutions come from the heart There were songs, chants, flags, fireworks - our favorite street had suddenly transformed into a platform for celebration. Twenty-four hours earlier, it had been bombarded by cameras from international stations reporting on the “chaos” in Egypt. Two years earlier, the world watched as Egyptians chanted and fought for a new government. There was blood and there were tears, but at the same time there was a budding hope that the world could not see. In the words of the great Shakespeare: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”

Having only been here for a month, I have already been asked dozens of times if it’s really dangerous in Egypt. Aside from the occasional exaggeration or bias of the media, one of its unavoidable fallouts is that it can never truly convey the underlying effects of huge political changes.

“Egyptians are mad; they are madly filled with love and dreams for their nation, and it is this methodical madness that is protecting Egypt today.”

On January 25, 2011, the Arab Spring reached Egypt, leading the young, the old, the poor, and the rich to protest for the ousting of then-president, Hosny Mubarak. After he stepped down, members of different political parties nominated themselves; the winner being Mohammed Morsy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In June 2013, Egyptians protested once again for secularism through the removal of the new ruler. Although a new president was elected a year later, these three years have not Mondays 5pm first floor of the Students’ Union.

Photo: Muhammad Ghafari @Flickr

been easy. The world has done enough reporting and analyzing of the political situation in Egypt, and has not focused nearly enough on the emotional and social effects of the revolution.

It is easy to complain about Egypt; it’s hot, loud and can get pretty crowded. But then there were songs, a huge number of songs written about how beautiful Egypt is. However, when January 2011 rolled about everyone suddenly became a patriot.

The radio and the TV screens sang about Egypt’s warm streets and its sparkling Nile, flags hung from windows and alongside buildings and danced to the gentle breeze. One really does need to lose something in order to know what it’s worth – and

it took us hundreds of lives, thousands of injuries, and years of protests to realize how much Egypt is worth.

Suddenly, everyone became a politician. Prior to 2011, no one cared much about discussing politics. After realizing that our voices could actually be heard, however, avidly bickering about current events has become a vital aspect of every gathering. It doesn’t matter how much you know – everyone has something to say. Egypt’s history can easily be divided into revolutionary eras that start with a protest and end with a change in government or constitution. It is as if every once in a while we need to look back and realize that it

is time for change. It was an awakening, a sudden realization that every voice mattered, and it made the biggest difference.

We united. In January of 2011 there were nights when the streets were too much for the police too handle, so the men of each neighborhood would gather at the gates of buildings or houses to guard their loved ones. People from different backgrounds and histories would gather every night in fear and bravery to do anything they could to help.

The two dominant religious groups, Muslims and Christians, the latter composing an obvious minority, had in the past faced conflicts or disagreements. However, these problems melted away as everyone united for a bigger purpose.

Even today, we pride ourselves on the fact that Christians would gather around the Muslims to protect them as they prayed; or that the Muslims stood outside churches during services to avoid any unwelcomed trouble.

Today, Egypt is peacefully easing into new changes, which include a new president. Unlike neighboring countries, however, Egypt has not faced extremist groups like ISIS. Left delicate and healing from its wounds, Egypt would have been an easy target to terrorists or extremists. However, it is what the media doesn’t show, the emotions, the patriotism, and the hope, that has protected Egypt from foreign intervention.

The media could report and write and photograph, but they would never be able to capture the fire that has grown inside every Egyptian’s heart.

Egyptians are mad; they are madly filled with love and dreams for their nation, and it is this methodical madness that is protecting Egypt today.

Music

12

Editors: Patrick Hinton, Lowell Clarke

Samuel Ward, Dan Whiteley

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Interview

Feature

theOpinion Can you fully appreciate a song without understanding the lyrics?

Elizabeth Gibson As a languages student who keeps a music blog, I have naturally come across plenty of foreign-language songs. Many of my favourite songs are not sung in English. Some I adored before I had any idea what they meant. That got me thinking— just how important is it that we understand a song’s lyrics? An instrumental piece is beautiful without words because that’s how it was designed to be. But if a writer chooses to have lyrics, must we understand them to really connect with the song?

My first experience with foreign music was listening to French club songs when I was little. Whereas we were supposed to listen to the songs one by one, as we studied the relevant vocab, my brother and I listened to the entire CD over and over. We understood some of the lyrics but certainly not all of them. That didn’t matter.

It was all about the music— and I think we also liked the sound of the French words, even without knowing their meaning.

At college I would listen to pop and rock songs in a wide range of languages, some of which I couldn’t understand a word of. I never felt deprived.

I sometimes wondered what the lyrics meant and would look them up but mainly I was happy to just enjoy the song.

Once I found the English lyrics to a song sung in Hebrew that I liked. I was glad I found them because they were beautiful.

However, listening to the song afterwards, I wouldn’t hear the English lyrics in my head,

and if I tried to overlay them it felt false. It was as though the lyrics and the rest of the song had come apart in my head and were wonderful as separate entities but just didn’t go together. And that kind of makes sense—why should English translation lyrics go with a non-English original song? It wasn’t intended to be in English.

I have realised that the number one factor in enjoying a song for me is not the music and is not the lyrics.

There is a third element: the performance. I loved French ballads by Jean-Jacques Goldman before I could fully understand them because I was so touched by the love with which he sang. I enjoyed Spanish protest songs because I could hear the anger and determination as clearly as if they were in English. I love Chinese music. My Chinese isn’t fluent but the Chinese are so expressive—a happy song will be performed with real joy, a sad song with heart-aching longing. A love song with tangible desire.

In reflection, I think it is perfectly possible to understand and appreciate a song without understanding its lyrics—if the performer really means what they sing. Honesty and raw emotion do not need translating, and they are what really shapes a performance, in the studio or live. I look forward to discovering many new songs from all around the world.

Jean-Jacques Goldman. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Press shot

the MUSIC INTERVIEW

These Ghosts

Dan Whiteley speaks to These Ghosts about refreshing iTunes, Radiohead comparisons and their musical influences Dan Whiteley Music Editor Norfolk-based indietronica trio These Ghosts are finally heading back on the road again, after spending the last few years taking their time with the recording of their long awaited second album. Still the Waves, which was released a fortnight ago, is already garnering critical praise, and went straight into the iTunes Electronica Top 10. Ahead of their first ever Manchester show supporting Tall Ships next week, The Mancunion spoke to drummer Harry Hall.

“We can’t believe it, really. It’s been a long time coming; we’ve been working on it for over two years while we’ve been at university, and so for it to come out and go straight into the iTunes at number 6 is kind of mental,” Hall says, “it was a crazy day, just refreshing that and watching it go higher and higher!

People are really enjoying it, and that’s really important to us.” By all initial accounts, Still the Waves has been worth the wait, building on their electronic rock formula with increasingly intricate arrangements and polished production values. Hall states this is due in part to the time the band spent away from each other. “We went to three different universities—Exeter, Reading and London— and so we were far away, basically. So we used the holidays that we had, which everyone knows are very long at university, to go into the studio with Johnny [Cole], our long term producer. We’d take ideas we thought of at uni, and Callum [Duncan, vocalist] would share a lot of stuff on WhatsApp or Skype or whatever, and pass around all these ideas, and it just meant because we were apart for

It was a crazy day, just refreshing iTunes and watching it go higher and higher! so long that we had way more time to reflect on the stuff that we’d done. So I think this album, we all agree, is far more thought out than anything we’ve ever done before, and that’s why the process was so long, but also why we’re all so proud of it.”

With their soaring falsetto vocals, complex drum rhythms and rich guitar/synthesizer interplay, Radiohead are a band often touted as an influence on These Ghosts’ music, though Hall says they don’t mind these constant comparisons. “We’re incredibly flattered to be constantly compared to people of that kind of scale and quality, and we’re really grateful that people think we’re capable of carrying that sound.” He is quick to note, however, that the band’s list of influences runs deeper than the Oxford legends: “We’re also into things like Jon Hopkins, and a lot of dance stuff—Callum’s just got back from a festival and said that he didn’t actually watch many bands there; he was really engaged in all these electronic artists, which is really great. Also Mount Kimbie and The Invisible, who are close to us because Matthew Herbert [Still the Waves’ co-producer] produced their first record.

And just a whole load of eclectic stuff really, our tastes are so varied in the sense that we’re constantly listening to different things.

There’ll be Sigur Rós on at one point, dance music on at another, electronic music or something really abstract. It’s really eclectic, which is definitely exciting.”

‘Coat of Feathers’, the first single taken from the record, exemplifies the band’s ethereal, otherworldly sound. Describing how that track came about, he explains, “we built it up in the process, so Callum brought the melody, and the guitar line, and this really haunting vocal—which is one of my favourite vocals on the record actually—it’s got this weird kind of lullaby, drone-y effect that a lot of people have picked up on. It’s haunting while also quite driving. In terms of percussion, we didn’t really think it needed much. It’s quite a subtle number, it’s very simple. It’s three parts.

We stuck on this kind of four-to-the-floor bass drum effect just to really drive the track and to keep it moving, which I think works.”

With such a complex, layered sound, These Ghosts’ music is not the type you would think easy to replicate in a live setting, though they seem unfazed. “We really enjoy that challenge, actually. We’re big fans of being able to say “OK, that’s the recorded version, let’s do a live version, let’s mix it up,” and it’s enjoyable to be able to make changes and stuff, trying to duplicate it live and adding other sections, working on intro pieces and interludes. We love taking things from studio to the stage.”

These Ghosts will play at Soup Kitchen on 8th October.

Top 5

TOP 5

Songs you can “feel” without understanding the lyrics Elizabeth Gibson

1. Jean-Jacques Goldman – On Ira

2. Sofia Jannok – Liekkas

3. Rádio Macau – O Anzol

4. Mana – Lluvia al corazón

5. Faye Wong – Dan yuan ren chang jiu

The lyrics of this French ballad are gorgeous; however, it is the unmistakable love and tenderness in Goldman’s voice that define this song.

Performed in Sami, a Northern European minority language, this song’s title of “warm” is very apt. The delicate chords spirit you to a cosy fireside.

This song’s Portuguese lyrics tell a grim tale but the tune is upbeat and incorporates brilliant harmonica work and a beautiful and unique voice.

The angst and adoration are clear in this Mexican rock track—even if you don’t speak Spanish, it is impossible not to sing along.

I first encountered this Chinese love song in Beijing and it still never fails to move me. Simple but sublimely beautiful, as well as haunting.

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

@ MancunionMusic / TheMancunionMusicSection

CLUB

The Warehouse Project Returns Home

Store Street - 27th September 2014 Patrick Hinton Music Editor “Welcome Home” is the message emblazoned in light across the wall of Store Street upon entry. The smaller venue is a marked improvement on Victoria: the queue lasted a matter of seconds; there’s no one-way system making you feel like herded cattle; and, considering the top to bottom strength of all WHP bills, only having to choose between two rooms is almost a saving grace.

Jackmaster is tasked with opening the night and season, commitments in London forcing the often peak-time party DJ into an unusually early slot. The Glaswegian does a fine warm up job as the room gradually fills. Selections such as Ricardo Villalobos’s ‘Enfants (Chants)’ set a euphoric tone

Music

13

Photo: Warehouse Project

8/10

Warehouse Project presents, Welcome to the Warehouse for the night, and the airing of a rare James Brown white label edit—‘Tell Me (Blue Boy Edit)’—is a particular treat. By the time he closes on Prince’s ‘Controversy’ there’s a sizable crowd in attendance and the party atmosphere is in full swing.

Leon Vynehall steps up next and spins a set of soulful house—aurally delighting, whilst retaining a strong sense of danceability. Opting to play Four Tet’s ‘KHLHI’, with its chopping between thumping percussion and rich vocal samples, being a prime example. It’s a style that Vynehall has honed well in his own productions, a number of which he seamlessly blends into the mix. The lush orchestration of ‘Butterflies’ and swelling synths of ‘It’s Just (House of Dupree)’ provide set high points.

As the doors close at 10:30pm and the room hits full capacity, Vynehall really pulls it out of the bag. In his final half-hour he drops one of my all-time favourite tracks, ‘OAR003-B’, before closing triumphantly on Floating Points’s future classic ‘Vacuum Boogie’.

Carl Craig ups the intensity considerably as he takes to the booth. His set is characterised by moments of clarity emerging from a wall of ferocious percussion.

Whoops ring out and fists pump as the Detroit techno is pounded out forcefully: Jeff Mills’ ‘The Bells’, Craig’s own remix of ‘Use Me Again’ and Floorplan’s ‘Never Grow Old (Re-plant)’ all cause chaos in the main room.

Next up, Tale Of Us provide the only disappointment of

the night. Their formulaic set of intricate melodies layered over repetitive build and release basslines quickly grows wearisome, feeling particularly insubstantial after the vigour of Carl Craig. Fortunately, respite is readily available in Room 2 where Harri & Domenic are throwing down house classic such as Inner City’s ‘Good Life’.

It’s there that Ben UFO b2b Pearson Sound close the night.

The Hessle Audio honchos share the decks expertly, kicking the room into action early on with Barnt’s ‘Chapell’— the siren-esque synths acting like a warning to strap yourself in before the hammering percussion is unleashed. The pair then plot a course through unrivalled cuts of house, techno, garage and bass; ghetto Bok

Bok & Tom Trago collaboration ‘Pussy Trak’ is one of many highlights.

The Warehouse Project certainly does feel right at

home at Store Street, and they deserve credit for returning to the smaller, undoubtedly less profitable venue. Don’t miss out on this one-season event.

Want to Write for us?

Free Tickets, Monday 13th Oct, 5:30pm Interviews & Albums Student Activities Office, 1st Floor Students Union Live

Live

Silverclub

Lauryn Hill Manchester Apollo - 26th September 2014 Gwynne George What happens when you take an enthusiastic crowd, leave them waiting around for three hours and then refuse to sing anything they’re waiting for? Answer: the Lauryn Hill (pardon me: Ms. Hill) show.

It was hard to tell who had a rougher time at her gig at the O2 Apollo Thursday night: the crowd, or Ms Hill herself. By the time she came out—three hours late, to mass boos and a very unimpressed crowd—it was obvious that neither party was over the moon to be there.

The evening was centered round three main questions: (1) Where the hell is she? (2) Now that she’s here, what the hell is she doing? and finally (3) How has she not noticed that she doesn’t have one true friend in her band or entourage?

Inexplicably, Ms Hill took it upon herself to act as sound engineer and lighting technician as well as star: she kept turning back to her drummers and guitarists midsong, barking orders at them to stop playing or to play louder; between songs, she eschewed any interaction with the crowd to cuss out her band members for not standing where she wanted them; and

she kept motioning offstage where the lights should be shining. Why nobody told her that this kind of thing could be sorted out with a quick sound check and rehearsal before the show, nobody knows.

On paper, the show’s setlist would have made any R&B/hip hop fan weep with joy—but the show didn’t take place on paper; it instead came from some deep recess of Ms. Hill’s mind, where she thought “remixing” her beloved songs beyond recognition would be a good idea. The lush melodies of 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill were transformed into bizarre dubstep/indie cover band hybrids; her empowering rap lyrics were spat out at such velocity and with such little care that they were unintelligible.

As the butchering of her songs went on, the booing got louder and eventually resulted in Ms. Hill stopping the show to ask the “dissenters” what their problem was. She berated fans for cheering or shouting messages of support, telling them they had no manners (I promise I’m not making this up).

3/10

Deaf Institute - 26th September 2014 Samuel Ward Music Editor

Photo: g-rock @flickr

Towards the show’s end, she briefly won back the crowd’s favour with a slick run through of the Fugees’ greatest hits, including a gorgeous rendition of ‘Killing Me Softly’, and closed the evening with a nostalgic performance of ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’—but even that turned into a tuneless, dirgy “remix” by verse two. The crowd wildly lapped both songs up, but maybe as a direct result of her dissatisfaction with their earlier reaction she cut them both short, offering a brief glimpse of what the gig might have been.

Frustrating and fascinating in equal measure, the whole evening was an exercise in how to destroy your fans’ decadespanning goodwill in a matter of hours. Her voice was strong, she looked incredible—but Ms. Hill’s tardiness, attitude and misplaced “artistic vision” left much to be desired.

After a brief “hello and thanks for coming,” everyone in the room is aboard the Silverclub train. It’s a train with zero stops and zero fucks given, and the small yet mighty audience instantly gets their groove on.

It’s easy to lose yourself, as animation resonates from the band who themselves weave in between a construction of synths, drums, cowbells and laptops as each track seamlessly flies by. I’m already thinking these guys could easily slide themselves into a line-up of DJ’s.

The pace is frantic and relentless; at times it can feel a bit rushed, as if the band is desperate to reach something.

But that doesn’t stop people losing their grip on the performance, which is now swollen with huge bass lines and swings about like

a rabid elephant hanging from a disco ball.

The synth lines and hi-ends get a bit murky at points, but this miraculously clears when the huge dancefloor smasher ‘Gravity’ hops into place. The neat production on the new EP makes itself known in the set’s spouts of ultra-fresh clarity and makes the impression that Silverclub’s future live shows could be sonically incredible.

As the set somehow continues to gain momentum, the band launches into the title track of their new EP Back to the Start.

It’s glamorous and immersive,

6.5/10

with waves of piano keys flying out of the Deaf Institute’s sound system, which copes surprisingly well. To smooth it all off, the band throws themselves and the crowd into the instant live classic/ acid house banger ‘Your Headphones’.

Whilst following a path which started with acid house, bedroom mixing and guitar bands, it’s clear that the Silverclub locomotive is on track to reaching a new musical world, one which Manchester itself should aspire to be the home of.

Photo: Deaf Institute

14

Music

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

The Mancunion Recommends

Aphex Twin – Syro Warp; September 2014

8.5/10

Patrick Hinton Music Editor He has returned.

Richard D. James has been releasing music since 2001’s Drukqs: there was the Analord series as AFX; The Tuss project; and the surfacing of the Caustic Window LP earlier this year. However, Syro marks his first outing as Aphex Twin in 13 years. There’s a whole lot more expectation and attention given to a record released under one of the most renowned names in electronic music.

The cult of Aphex Twin was fortified with the monster hype campaign prior to the release of Syro—blimps over London; graffiti’d paving slabs worldwide; a deep web site. By the time I got my hands on a copy my expectations had been ramped up to mythical proportions. Surely RDJ’s comeback under this moniker must be because he’s unearthed some mindblowing spark of creative genius, I thought, a completely game changing release sounding like no other.

It’s an odd feeling expecting something to blow your mind—somewhat paradoxical. Pressing play for the first time, was Syro ever going to meet these wild expectations?

The answer is no, but this is not a condemnation.

Settling into opener ‘minipops 67 [120.2][source field music]’ is when Syro stopped being a myth and became a reality; All the hype and fuss was forgotten and just the music was relevant. That’s when the true brilliance of Syro was made apparent.

The opening drumbeat is augmented by flittering acidic tones and eerie synths, an unintelligible vocoder voice penetrates, signalling a rush of new textures—the track feels like it’s pulsating with the range of ideas

Photo: Album artwork

working through it. The amount of layers present throughout the album is staggering, the sheer number of influences at play astounding.

James has not created an entirely new sound or genre, but he has managed to weave sounds together in a way no other could. He’s human, but he’s like no other human.

‘XMAS_EVET10 [120][thanaton3 mix]’ incorporates funk, acid, soul, ambient and more. It throbs in and out of these, building to euphoric climaxes that are clipped with dark, squelching undertones.

The incorporation of varying genres into a coherent whole is exquisite. Syro is not a new dawn for electronic music, it’s not an otherworldly work of genius, but it is an album no one else could have made. The sound is unmistakably Aphex Twin, and that’s all I truly wanted.

Interpol – El Pintor Matador; September 2014

6/10

Zakk Brown Following the poorly received self-titled 2010 album and the departure of bassist Carlos Dengler, Interpol went under the radar for four years, returning with El Pintor, their first album as a three-piece.

The pressure on Interpol to create a worthy successor to their debut and magnum opus Turn on the Bright Lights (released in 2002), has been heavy. Although this is the best we’ve heard of the New York post-punk rockers since 2007, the struggle to deliver original material under pressure, added to by the loss of the talented Carlos D’s bass, is clear. By no means is this a “bad” album, and it has strengths in songs like the single ‘All the Rage Back Home’, which shows there is still some creativity left in the tank with Kessler’s ethereal echo-y guitar twangs and Paul Banks’s driving, fast paced punk bass. Banks also employs a falsetto in his vocals which surprisingly works in tracks like ‘My Blue Supreme’ to create a soft melodic tone, and is a nice sigh of relief of his heavy baritone drone, found on tracks like ‘Ancient Ways’.

Other highlights include Banks showing his chops at bass in ‘Everything is Wrong’ in an infectious opening riff similar to that of Evil from their sophomore album Antics, the complimentary bass and guitar swirls of ‘Tidal Wave’, and the emotion of Banks’ wounded moans in ‘Twice as Hard’.

However, Interpol are, at the same time, trapped in a form of limbo—between trying to recapture the old sound but without Carlos D’s bass (‘My

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Desire’ sounds eerily similar to Our Love to Admire’s ‘All Fired Up’) and evolving to create a new sound without becoming a bland and insignificant band, which would be a massive letdown following such a promising start to their career.

El Pintor does have some good moments, however it is clear that the band is desperately clutching on to their past success and seems too stubborn to let go. I pray that the trio use El Pintor as a transitional album into whatever new sound they come up with, as there are some genuinely good ideas to be found on the album. Yet there are still signs of the band trying to ride on the success of the first album and need to instead evolve and progress as a new-born three piece.

Games

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

15

Editors: James Thursfield, Matthew Cole

Feature My Double Life Online

Matthew Cole puts a romantic spin on the act of befriending clammy freaks on the web I am a savagely dysfunctional man.

Unless a friend accompanies me on my journey to university, I shamble along Oxford Road with my head bowed desperately trying to remain invisible until I reach my destination, which is usually a quiet corner of a lecture theatre or library. I dread encounters with acquaintances to the point where every single person starts to resemble one. It’s a grotesque paranoia. I convince myself that these people, with their homogeneous faces, voices, and hairstyles, are trying to scare me into thinking they’re David or Sarah from that module I took way back when, those decent fellows who I chummed up with for one semester but felt apathetic about reconvening with thereafter. It’s not that I’m a particularly aloof or unforthcoming sort of person, I just find humans to be very draining. It’s easier to drift by.

The way I see it, no matter how many friends you make in Manchester, and no matter how many gatherings you attend, the party will always be raging on elsewhere.

This rotten attitude of mine hatched in secondary school. For me, school was a largely joyless enterprise weighed down by tedious goons who were hell-bent on disrupting the show all the time. By becoming a member of an online gaming forum, a community conveniently set aside from physical reality, I was able to connect with people who shared my interests and, importantly, connect with them through the written word. My decision to join in a sense stemmed from a verbal spat I had with an idiot in year seven. He was a red-eyed little skinhead fellow who

could incite hatred in the most shy and benevolent of people; the kind of person who resents thought. We were debating (perhaps that’s too generous) the merit of two games.

I was advocating the brilliance of Metroid Prime—subject of last week’s Retro Corner—a groundbreaking firstperson sci-fi game rich in detail and

isn’t a selling point on its own, but the key takeaway is that you can have a sustained conversation with multiple users without it devolving into conjecture over the relative promiscuity of each other’s mums.

The forum also allows you to obscure your personal life and construct a new identity for yourself. It might

Photo: Terra Nova @Flickr

atmosphere, while he grunted back about the thrill of a generic WW2 shooter totally bereft of the subtlety and imagination evident in my choice. When I’d finished mounting a cogent case against him, he bellowed an obscenity, spat at my feet, and then loped off to bother his next victim.

Miffed at the calibre of argument and eager to find others who were passionate about games, I searched online and discovered a small forum, the same forum I’d be contributing to 10 years later.

What’s the draw? Well, for one, the forumers I meet are generally intelligent across the board, and they’re far more tolerant than the morons you’ll find lurking in the mires of YouTube. Granted, that

come as a surprise, but this facility doesn’t result in a clique of pretend sexually proficient superheroes and Mafia dons who just happen to bond over Mario Kart, but rather it establishes a small community of real people who are invigorated with a confidence to talk about anything, when previously they might have opted for silence.

Over the years, the forum has been a great outlet for me to experiment with my opinions; it has prompted untapped aspects of my personality to spill out over innumerable, longburied web pages, and it has probably sharpened my critical faculties to a level beyond anything my school could have achieved with me. It’s odd to think that so many of my past

Moments: Adrenaline Rush

selves lie composting in the virtual universe—old, naïve, terrifically embarrassing versions of me which nevertheless represent a true, if exaggerated snapshot of who I was and who I am now. If the FBI felt like dicking around for an hour I’m sure they could track down my forum profile and procure some devastating information about me from aeons ago—things I’d posted, biography details and all that jazz. The dossier would be a career-ender but, gladly, despite being publicly available, all the information is tucked away in the dark recesses of the internet and the pages remain pretty much unvisited, partly because nobody in their right mind would care about them. Even so, the fact remains that I have shared fragments of myself with people I’ve never met, including personal information I’ve never revealed to people I spend a lot of time with, and doing so has rarely felt unnatural.

It isn’t a misnomer to call the forum a community, by the way. There are sprawling networks of users who know and familiarise with others to varying extents; there are subcommunities, friendship triangles, and niche interest circles where transactions take place almost privately. Many forumers have stayed active since the dawn of the website, so there is a very real history at work as people reproduce inside jokes that make sense to veterans but which are lost on newcomers.

Sometimes new users will find this intimidating because they can’t get a handle on the group dynamics.

Think of The League of Gentleman’s ‘are you local?’ sketch and you have a fair idea.

But the history is what makes the forum so rewarding. Any gaming news, reviews, memes, or opinions can be tailored for specific groups or individuals. You can discuss subjects safe in the knowledge that someone will be receptive to them, and if they lead to arguments they can sometimes help you to tease out exactly what your position is. I won’t go as far to say that the forum represents a Socratic utopia, but at their best the debates can be ferociously fun and irreverent, even when they’re pointless.

It was on a glorious summer’s day in London that I finally met up with a bunch of members in person. Some were geeky and awkward, some were suave and outgoing, but all were super sound people. It was a surreal experience speaking with them, having known them for half my life in a solely online context, and yet at the same time it didn’t feel weird at all. We addressed each other by our usernames as if we’d been doing so since childhood. And everybody was exactly who they’d claimed to be. On the face of it, it is very easy to sniff at a group of gamers who lead double lives online, but upon deeper meditation you might well reconsider. Online communities furnish us forumers with a canvas on which to scribble away harmlessly, in an abstract zone removed from the seriousness of human responsibility.

We are like forgotten graffiti artists; always active in the subways, always inhabiting public space, but never noticed.

James Thursfield cacks his pants in Gears of War

For a moment that got my blood

franchise as the Berserker proceeded

your scent, it charges. After positioning

combination of tension, focus and fear.

motivation of Augustus Cole that kept

pumping, I can look no further than the

to maul one of my screaming squad-

yourself at the right angle, you have to

Marcus Fenix’s decapitated corpse was

me going—“Get back in the game!”

original Gears of War.

mates to pieces.

dive away at the last second, sending

slowly being embedded into my brain

Finally, after many many deaths, I

the Berserker crashing through the

as I repeatedly misjudged my rolls with

managed to get the brute outside. I took

rock.

outrageously bloody consequences.

out my Hammer of Dawn and aimed.

It

To my immense satisfaction, the

To put my reactions into perspective,

To those not in the know, the

I must have been around 13 years old.

Berserker is a huge mutated creature,

Apparently, my parents had no qualms

immune to bullets, grenades and any

This proved to be an extremely

with letting their child play a gory 18+

ordinary weapon the player might

difficult and nerve-racking procedure.

Berserker sizzled from the scorching

game and because of this, I have clearly

have at their disposal. The only viable

Stone columns in the area obstruct

god rays I sent its way. With the massive

suffered severe emotional trauma. As

strategy in the level is to run and evade

the player’s movement, but not the

weapon in my grip, I lumbered closer

part of my professional therapy I have

the creature before it decimates you

Berserker’s, creating an asymmetric

and closer to the monster, enjoying the

been told to recount my moments of

in a single hit, but actually eliminating

situation

a

increased intensity at which it burned.

horror in an attempt to gain closure

the thing requires you to lure it outside

disadvantage as it brushes through

Revenge was tasting good. Finally,

from the experience.

where a satellite-powered weapon

the support structures towards your

just as I come within a few feet of the

resides specifically for incineration

incredulous face. Furthermore, you are

monster, ready to cast him down, my

Fenix) and my other steroid-powered

purposes.

the

required to undergo frequent rescue

weapon malfunctions and rapidly

comrades had just retreated inside a

developers decided to block off all the

missions while this pandemonium

peters out. At this amateur stage I’m

tomb. Baird, a spiky haired technician,

paths to get there.

unfolds

sodding

apparently unfamiliar with a key video

Me (playing the character of Marcus

Unfortunately,

which

because

puts

you

your

at

was

only

the

Shakespearean

wisely remarks, “we sure as shit cannot

The goal, then, is to fashion an escape

computer-controlled companions lack

game convention—powerful weapons

stay here.” Predictably, the echoing

route by tricking the monster into

the ability to avoid the boss, which

have cool-downs.

screech of the Berserker is soon heard.

smashing through the tomb’s walls.

means they’re constantly in need of

In the next scene, the naïve thirteen-

Since the creature is half-deaf, this

reviving.

year-old me quickly learned the

involves getting perilously close to it

I remember my adolescent self

excessively violent nature of the Gears

so as to attract its attention. Once it has

sitting, drenched in sweat from a

Moments later, I was once again limbless.

Photo: Puffer Photography @Flickr

ISSUE 04/ 6TH OCTOBER2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/TheMancunion: Fashion & Beauty

Aimée Grant Cumberbatch, Gráinne Morrison, Nikki Patel (Beauty)

@MancunionFash

Review

Feature

Student Lock-In

Photo:Josepha Griffin-Parry

Kathryn Murray reviews Tuesday’s shopping extravaganzas Tuesday 30th September saw the students of Manchester take over the city for an evening of shopping, music and fashion. This is the eleventh year in a row that the student shopping night has taken place. With over 130 exclusive discounts available to students and thousands of bargains to be had, the turnout was bigger than ever. Shops including Selfridges, All Saints, Adidas, Levi’s and Urban Outfitters offered up to 30% discount to student shoppers.

The student takeover was not just a shopping experience; fashion writers had the chance to sign up for a workshop and Q&A session hosted by some of the North West’s most prolific bloggers. Model scouts from Cliché also attended. Even Instagram It Girl Millie Mackintosh made an appearance at House of Fraser to launch her new collection. After this event, and the massive 15,000 turnout at Intu Trafford’s student night, Manchester will surely have some of the best dressed students in the country.

What are you saying?

Statement fashion: It’s an overused word, statement shoes, statement bag, statement jewellery. And a marketing ploy we know well: buy these acid green stilettos and they’ll tell the world what you think about you. Fashion is an expressive form; it’s a means of communicating ideas, emotions and inspiration. But if clothes are a language, what are we saying? Once upon a time it might have been ‘I’m a punk’ or ‘Two fingers to Thatcher’ but these days it’s arguably more like ‘Look how much money I have’ or ‘I don’t want anyone to know how much I care’.

Earlier this week at the Chanel Spring/Summer 2015 show, as good a stage to shock as any, Karl Lagerfeld made his version of a feminist statement. Stalking down the runway with quilted leather megaphones and bearing billboards which shouted slogans like ‘Ladies first’ and ‘Feminist but Feminine’, his models were styled as suffragettes for the 21st century.

As with all major design houses, the showcasing of a collection is now about much more than the clothes, but this is especially true when it comes to Chanel. Set against a corner shop backdrop, last season’s show was a supermarket sweep that had the media asking all kinds of questions from ‘Is it a comment on consumerism’ to ‘Should this even be allowed?’. Arguably the most interesting aspect of Lagerfeld’s catwalk shows is less their ability to provoke inquiry, but more their inability to answer it. Do any of us really believe that after incidents such as labelling Adele too fat for fashion that the designer is really a feminist? Feminism is in fashion and Lagerfeld cleverly has tapped into the zeitgeist with his tongue firmly in his cheek.

We don’t know what he really thinks, and he doesn’t want us to. His supposed statements are fairly inscrutable, neither celebration nor condemnation. This makes good economic sense and of course, keeps us guessing, which is crucial in an industry that likes to always be one step ahead.

What fashion doesn’t like is when the consumer gets too clever.

We all bore witness to how the street style phenomenon, which began as a means of celebrating the statement-making power of the fashion everyman, quickly turned into a circus of carefully calculated flamboyancy. Is it still a statement, if all you’re saying is ‘Look at me!’? The industry seems to have decided not. Yet Lagerfeld’s own cynical and business-like approach to statements won’t be making

the history books either. So perhaps then they are a perfect symbol for the sartorial times we’re living in. What books will be written about the trends of the ‘00s and ‘10s, which riff endlessly on the clothing iconography of decades gone by? Who will write about university halls full of hipsters, who are only in it for the edge?

Maybe it’s time to relegate the ‘statement’ pieces to the back of the wardrobe and wear something that’s really worth talking about.

Photo: bryanboy.com

‘Fashion is an expressive form; it’s a means of communicating ideas, emotions and inspiration’

Statement fashion in 2014 Laura Springer asks if statement fashion is easier to achieve now than it was in the past.

It is easier than ever to achieve a statement look that stands out from the crowd.

Keeping Up With Throwback fashion Emma Victoria Orgill explains why it is more than The Kontroversy okay to say yes to a little blast from fashion’s past Ellie Howe reports on the darker statements the fashion world perpetrates

There’s no denying that Kendall Jenner has firmly stamped her mark across the fashion world this season, appearing in a multitude of high-profile shows. Despite gracing the catwalks for major fashion houses such as Chanel and Balmain, Kendall has faced harsh criticism in recent weeks over her weight and apparent cellulite on the backs of her thighs whilst walking for Tommy Hilfiger, bringing to light the issues associated with ‘fat-shaming’ across the media—the idea that it’s OK to discriminate and stereotype over someone’s weight.

While most of us admired Kendall’s figure, which she attributes to regular exercise and healthy eating, an Australian gossip magazine reported that she was required to lose eight kilograms if she hoped to remain a big name in the fashion world and further her career. As a member of the infamous Kardashian family, Kendall has worked hard to make her own way in the fashion world, and as a result has a respected role as a model for huge industry names—a role which has clearly not been respected by some parts of the media that would rather focus on a potential sighting of body fat.

The major issue behind the ‘fat-shaming’ of Kendall is the negative body image it promotes to her millions of fans and the idea that it’s acceptable to criticise people based on their weight. Rather than congratulating Kendall on her hard work and ambition, the focus turned to whether or not she was thin enough to be considered a successful model. This leads to unnecessary comparisons and leaves readers with the idea that there is a ‘perfect’ female body type, which is slim-

mer than Kendall’s and has no cellulite.

Kendall’s body type should not define her success nor our perceptions of her achievement; we should not put celebrities under any more strain than we would people on the street. This particular story is one of many that highlight the growing debates surrounding the fashion industry’s acceptance of a range of body types, which will only occur if ‘fat-shaming’ and judgement over body type and weight stop.

Photo: likeabalalaika @Flickr

Photo: favim.com

It is safe to say that fashion throughout the late 20th century has been rather entertaining. Whether it’s Britney and Justin’s denim duo or Twiggy’s iconic ‘60s style that has remained imprinted in your mind, the influences of previous fashion have impacted us all at some stage.

Without the knowledge of social media channels, blogs, trend reports and articles directing us to the latest season’s hottest trends, previous generations relied upon traditional socio-cultural sources of inspiration guiding them as to how to best fill their wardrobe.

Fashion evidently expresses affiliation and identity, and this notion has never changed. However, the methods by which people have been influenced have. Unlike today, the trends seemed to have a longer duration, therefore the mid-twentieth century can be typified by each dec-

Statement fashion in 2014 can be achieved in many simple ways, allowing you to put your own stamp on many different outfits without breaking the bank. Forget having to spend money on bold pieces of clothing that may catch your eye in the shop and fill you with optimism about having the capability to change your look. They will never get worn. They simply become dust collectors that are destined for the local charity shops.

Here are our top 5 statement buys:

ade’s general fashion movement. Let’s relive them for oldtime’s sake.

With music being one of the few sources of viral entertainment in the late 20th century, it was looked upon as being an important part of social culture, therefore providing a great platform to gain fashion inspiration. The mid-60s displayed Top of the Pops, which was classed as the predominant form of social culture and musical entertainment. Hippies were out in their hundreds as bold prints and flared trousers were all the rage. With the ‘80s seeing a rise in the purchase of denim, it was almost illegal in the fashion world if you didn’t have a number of denim garments prominently featuring in your wardrobe.

Even though music culture still plays a significant part in the fashion industry, it’s importance in the second half of the 20th century is known as being most influential.

With the musical influences of bands such as The Beatles providing menswear inspiration and the popularity of heavy metal, the ‘Grunge’ trend emerged as being a popular movement in the ‘90s. However, music and fashion were not the only elements that were inextricably connected. Political happenings also played an important role in the way the fashion industry progressed, with the liberation of women during the rise of Margaret Thatcher beginning in the late ‘70s. And yes ladies—I bet even The Spice Girls have been a form of inspiration growing up (we know you all loved at least one of their iconic numbers!)

If you’re anything like me, then your favourite way to embrace the topic of history is through vintage clothing classics. So, I say embrace the recycling of the late 20th century’s memorable fashions and enjoy trends that aren’t strictly about following the high-street crowd. If we can’t be reborn as our favourite ‘90s fashion icon, then the second best option is to pretend to be them. I’m all for giving it a go—anyone with me?

Let us know your favourite part of fashion’s history

by Tweeting us at @MancunionFash—or, snap your favourite 90s throwback purchase and tag us on Instagram @mancunionfashionandbeauty

Competition

Henry Holland

Trend

What comes to mind when you think of statement fashion: crazy hairstyles, killer heels or just generally dressing like Lady Gaga? Not anymore! In 2014 it is easier than ever to achieve a statement look that stands out from the crowd with the help of something as simple as a bold accessory.

Forget having to assemble a completely eccentric outfit in order to make your statement. Now, style icons such as Olivia Palermo are simply adding a chunky necklace to a plain outfit creating a look that appears original and sophisticated.

What’s the best thing about this new fashion craze? It costs a fraction of the price and can transform almost any outfit from day to night.

However as we are moving into autumn, why not brave the iconically British bowler hat to add an essence of boho to your look whilst keeping you warm at the same time?

Alternatively, if you’re more of a makeup muse, take inspiration from celebrities such as Lily Collins that have popularised the bold, berry lip which is also an easy way to automatically give any look that desired autumnal feel.

17

Feature

Aimée Grant Cumberbatch asks ‘is fashion simply about making a statement?’

Students flock to Urban Outfitters for a much needed retail fix.

Fashion

Henry Holland Spring/ Summer ‘15

#allinformcr competition Fashion Editor Gráinne Morrison on the must-enter competition taking campus by storm.

Chloe Collingwood on the newest collection from Manchester’s very own Henry Holland.

Photo:Asos Hot Pink clutch, £35, Asos.com Photo:Asos Revlon Black Cherry, £7.49, Superdrug

Photo: Topshop Floppy hat, £35, Topshop

Photo:Boohoo Statement necklace, £8, Boohoo.com

Photo: Zara Leopard print boots, £89.99, Zara

Photo: Louis Staples

This A/W we saw a hard-hitting mashup of statement styles; from intergalactic metallics by Marc Jacobs to psychedelic urban prints by Christopher Kane, it seemed there was no stone left unturned in this season of standout innovative designs. However, we could not help but think—could Henry Holland be crowned the King of Statement with his showstopping collection? Subtle is not the word that springs to mind when looking at the House of Holland A/W 14 collection. With a dash of the 60s and a hint of the 70s, House of Holland took indulgent retro to a whole new level using high necks, oversized collars, A-line dresses and vintage flocked curtain prints… Bet you never thought your old aunt’s 70s decor would ever seem so trendy!

Henry put this together with unusual contrasting colours, with grungy emerald green and candy-popping pink having a strong presence throughout the collection. Another feature of House of Holland’s collection was the use of shearling on a variety of pieces, adding a broad structure to coats, and a luxe trimming to skirts and blouses. Henry made shearling extravagant and bold by layering upon it sparkling sequins and shimmering silk. We also saw a hint of chic sportswear in the House of Holland collection: with the opening model at his London Fashion Week catwalk show rocking a ‘rich bitch’ tee upon metallic tracksuit bottoms, here we can see the designer bring his trademark urban edge to his elaborate designs. And what more to love about Henry—he’s from Manchester! The now London-based designer has risen rapidly through the ranks, launching his brand House of Holland only six years ago, and now, with every new season collection, we simply love it more and more.

Photo: Adidas As I like to point out as often as possible, Manchester is a stylish city— whether it’s in the library, on the Magic Bus or getting low at Murkage, we’re pretty much all style icons. Here at The Mancunion, we think it’s about time we were rewarded for our sartorial savvy and that’s why we’re all over Adidas’ new street style competition. You may have spotted the Adidas brand ambassadors running around campus holding cut out Instagram frames but if not, pay attention to what you’re about to read. You have until the 17th October 2014 to upload a photo of yourself in your most street style worthy garments and use the caption ‘@adidasUK Instaframe competition #allinformcr’. The winner will receive a whole new wardrobe of Adidas Originals garments worth a heart-stopping £600 and the five runners up will win a whole Adidas Originals outfit. No, your eyes do not deceive you: A WHOLE WARDROBE OF CLOTHES. FOR FREE. We’re part of the judging panel and we want to be wowed. Go, make us proud.

18

Film

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM Editors: Tom Bruce, Andriana Hambi, James Moules, Martin Solibakke

Top Five

Feature

TVs on, feet up, and enjoy the show...

Top Five: Musicians Making Movies Sarah Wolff sings the praises of her favourite multi-talented celebrities, ‘note’able not only for their music but also their on screen compos(e)ure.

5) Eminem Putting his story on 8mm in 8 Mile, the Pope of White hip-hop proved more than capable of broadening his horizons onto the big screen, which resulted in the ultimate biopic of our early teen years.

4) Justin Timberlake Since rocking matching denim with ex-girlfriend Britney in the 90s and Bodies in the 00s, Justin Timberlake has come a long way. The former boyband sweetheart recently silenced remaining critics with noteworthy performances in a number of major productions, most notably as Napster founder Sean Parker in The Social Network.

3) Björk Casting Icelandic singer Björk as the female lead of his musical drama Dancer in the Dark was Lars von Trier’s ultimate moment of genius: at Cannes 2000 the film secured him his first and only Palme D’Or while Björk’s outstanding performance won her the Best Actress Award.

...that you definitely didn’t torrent, of course.

Editor Andriana Hambi tells us what we should look out for on the small screen this year.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The leaves are not yet brown, the pumpkins are not yet ripened, the fun sized Mars bars are not yet half price. Oh yes, you guessed it, it’s TV premier season. It’s been a long dry summer without regular instalments of the lives of characters my subconscious considers real acquaintances, and with only Orange is the New Black to tide us over until the Autumn, the reappearance of all these shows is a sight for painfully weary eyes.

The drama staples have come out of the gate very strong. The Good Wife has returned for what feels to me like the beginning of the end for Alicia Florrick and her rag-tag team of lawyers who just can’t seem to make it work. After last season’s complete upheaval, the story and character going forward is really working with fertile ground. The Emmys awarded Julianna Margulies Best Actress for her role, and rightly so. There is no other show on right now that marries high intensity drama and comedy so well. As far as writing and layers go, The Good Wife can’t be beat. The similar, yet inferior, Scandal has also returned with what looks to be an exciting season, filled with distant looks and fast-talking women in suits. Comedy wise, I don’t think the good stuff kicks in until January, so for now, we have Big Bang and Brooklyn Nine-Nine to keep us warm in these cold months. It’s going to be a long winter.

There are some interesting pilots set for the coming weeks, with some cool names popping up. Bad Judge seems like it could be an intriguing adventure with the fiery haired Kate Walsh, and with a producing team of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, this could be one of the new favourites. Speaking of fiery haired mavericks, Debra Messing stars as a tightly strung detective that gets the job done in time for the school run in

The Mysteries of Laura. This seems less promising to me. What piqued my interested the most is something that’s been referred to for a while as ‘The Untitled Tina Fey-Ellie Kemper Comedy’. Everything about this

them a female Secretary of State and I’m sold! I clearly have high hopes for the Morgan Freeman produced Madame Secretary.

Maverick women in positions of power seems to be a touchstone for this season of pilots, and I’m sure as hell not complaining.

We’ve lost a lot of good shows over the last two years. Let us take a minute to remember those dear friends: Breaking Bad—it lived a good full life, loved and missed by those who knew it well. It took some perseverance, it was well worth it in the end. 30 Rock— ah! So misunderstood. You Photo: CBS Productions really had to give it a good chance, but once it got in your soul, there was no letting go. title represents what is good in the world.

Dexter—never was there such a kind and Tina Fey? Ellie Kemper? Untitled? What sensitive serial killer, truly one in a million. a combination. Now rebranded, perhaps The Office—probably the saddest loss of wisely, as The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, all, and those final days were a struggle for this show could turn out to be a pretty us all, but oh the laughs, our one true soup decent 30 Rock replacement, with its bizarre snake. Thank you, and now a song from U2. cast and deep New York roots. Some of you Basically, the TV landscape is looking a bit comedy nerds with a keen eye will probably rocky right now, but there are some gems be familiar with Casey Wilson, best known in there. And with this being the last season for Happy Endings aka the less popular of Parks and Recreation, there’s a big gap in New Girl. She’s starring with Ken Marino in the network sitcom market. There has to be Romantic comedy Marry Me. I give it one an NBC show waiting in the wings ready to season. take over or, more likely, to have low ratings On the drama front, Vince Gilligan’s new for 3 seasons and then consistently medium detective show Battle Creek is inevitably ratings for its final 5. going to face Breaking Bad comparisons, and So maybe give some of these a go if they will most likely not match it, but I’m willing to take your fancy. There’s got to be a diamond start a new adventure with Vince. He seems in the rough, and you could be that guy who like a guy who knows where he’s going. If “watched it before everyone else”. Congrats. there’s only one thing that people say about me, it’s that I love a good maverick. Make

Classic Review Photo: NY Daily News

2) Frank Sinatra This list wouldn’t be complete without Frank Sinatra, presumably the most successful musician and actor on it. With an Academy Award on his records and a legacy reaching from here to eternity, there’s only one slightly stupid thing left to say: Frank, we love you.

1) David Bowie Obvious number one is the master of reinvention, excelling in a role that would have been Rock ’n’ Roll suicide for anyone else, in the 1986 cult classic Labyrinth. David Bowie made us all heroes back in 1977 and recently saved the United Kingdom from demolition (Yes, Scotland stayed with us because he asked them to), he thus remains undisputed (Goblin) King.

Photo: Lucasfilm

Persona Harry Daniels What do an erect phallus, a cartoon girl washing in a river upside down, the blood of a lamb, a tarantula, and a hand being nailed to the table have in common? The opening sequence of images of Ingmar Bergman’s modernist masterpiece Persona (1966) holds you in both pity and fear from the very first. Set in the confines of a mental hospital cell and then a lonely seaside retreat, a knowingly inexperienced nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson) is employed to look after actress Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) who has suddenly become mute, the cause of which is unknown but suspected to be voluntary. It’s revealed that Elisabet had been performing Electra when she had suddenly fallen silent momentarily and looked searchingly from the stage, only to then excuse herself by saying she had forgotten her lines.

From their disjointed first meeting, the relationship between the two deepens and deteriorates simultaneously into what can be best described as psychological-tortureporn and melodrama. Alma uneasily and

Director: Ingmar Bergman Starring: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullman, Margaretha Krook Released: 1966

necessarily has to fill the void that Elisabet faces her with in her silence and she does this through constant babbling. But Alma’s at first innocuous trivial chat eventually descends into dark, personal confession of partaking in a ménage à quatre with her

Photo: AB Svensk Filmindustri

best friend and two young boys on a beach.

Alma’s monologue unravels like a report of an offstage horror in a bloody Senecan tragedy, and is one of the most unsettling, memorable scenes of the film.

All the world of Persona is, in the most horrifying sense, a stage. Elisabet’s profession before her muteness is central to the film’s concerns with authenticity and identity. The more intense the two characters’ relationship

becomes the more ambiguous their individual identities become. By the end of the film both seem to be a different face of the same coin; one of mauvaise foi and aberration from traditional femininity and womanliness.

The breakdown in identity culminates in the jarring scene where Elisabet’s husband appears to mistake Alma for his wife and attempts to reconcile her with him. An unsettling consequences from this ensues.

The nightmare of world history also runs parallel to the characters’ dark pasts within the film, and always through vessels usually associated with entertainment. In a memorable scene Elisabet is excruciated by a video of a Tibetan monk burning himself in protest on television, and a photograph from the holocaust appears in a book.

The viewers who will get most out of this Bergman classic, who are not familiar with the deeper cuts of art film, will be those who love contemporary directors like David Lynch and Lars Von Trier who are undoubtedly indebted to the director.

Film 19

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/MancunionFilm @mancunionfilm

Review

TV Guide

The Equalizer

TV

Alice Williams says that Denzel’s new movie is just another action film. But with Denzel.

The Equalizer is mindless but enticing, exploiting the audience’s appetite for mysterious male leads and unapologetic gore. Few cinema goers will be aware of the Edward Woodward 80s TV programme that gave rise to The Equalizer. But if it even comes close to the stereotypes on display in this blockbuster then it’s safe to take a wild stab at an overlyclichéd ode to justice.

Washington plays Bob MacCall, a quiet and seemingly unassuming man who ostensibly lives a simple monk-like life and works in the American equivalent of B&Q. This is a far cry from his last joint venture with director Antoine Fuqua in his Oscar-winning 2001 Training Day role. Don’t expect anything melodramtic here—Washington is a calm and collected senior citizen, albeit with an unusual knack with a well-placed corkscrew.

Fuqua seems to revel in overzealous and opulent violence scenes, often with the accompanying motif of flowing water—a strange addition that slightly detracts from the gravitas of the violence but one that is visually slick all the same.

Richard Wenk’s script serves its purpose but is unadventurous, instead allowing lingering camera angles to do the talking in the former part of the film, emphasizing menial tasks that Washington’s character takes strange pleasure in, such as folding a tea bag into a napkin to transport to his local greasy spoon (don’t ask). At this point, you could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps you have wandered into the wrong cinema screen and are in fact viewing a docu-

mentary on the trials of living with severe OCD. Fear not, as enter stage left ‘the baddies.’ They certainly could not be mistaken; they’re standard Russian Mafia casting. The motley bunch is led by Marton Csokas, a Kiwi-Hungarian actor lending nothing new to what is a familiar villainous role, getting sufficiently

underused as the catalytic wronged prostitute) in this one-man personification of justice. The plot drags when you least expect it, and just when it seems all too clear how the film will conclude, we find ourselves dumped at the door of a country house, in a plot saunter which, while seemingly attempting to add depth to the background of Washington’s Invisible Man, leaves us with no more empathy towards his beige character.

The whole film finally comes to deliver the classic showdown scene of justice triumphing against wrongdoing, although kudos to the filmmakers for their originality with the use of power tools. Never before has an electric drill been used to dispatch bearded Russian mobsters. While the whole premise of a murderous gang careening down the aisles of Home Depot seems utterly ridiculous, it’s strangely cathartic in its ludicrous nature. And as Midnight Train to Georgia filters through the sound system in a slick reference to a prior Washington quip, Photo: Columbia Pictures there’s a strange satisfaction to pure bloodlust played out to old school soul, reminding the audience of that ear scene from Tarantino’s trigger-happy with disposable characters whilst on Reservoir Dogs. a rampant, all consuming hunt to find Washington.

Simply put, The Equalizer is a standard replay of His generic character is unbalanced against Washcomic-book avenger, seeking out those wrong doers ington’s protagonist and the role would have benwithin society and ending their lives in a satisfyingly efitted from a big name, perhaps Javier Bardem or bloody manner.

Kevin Spacey, to give more weight to the antagonist.

The fact that the whole film hangs off Washington is indeed the biggest issue here. Other characters fall by the wayside (Chloe Moretz appears briefly and is

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week

You Can’t Handle the Truth!

Maps to the Stars

Nothing can beat New Girl

Eleanor Stead emerged pleased with Cronenberg’s vicious satire of Hollywood.

Photo: SBS Productions

At a first glance, David Cronenberg’s latest film would appear to have little in common with his earlier films which made his name synonymous with the genre of ‘body horror.’ However, Maps to the Stars shares with them a fascination with the degeneration of the body, specifically in relation to the fetishistic intensity with which the celebrity body is targeted.

The film follows gawky teenager Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) into the outwardly pristine world of Hollywood celebrity, as she is employed as a ‘chore whore’ by aging ex-soap star Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore).

Both women are plagued by mental instability, stemming from issues of parental rejection, and by physical defects, Havana being labelled ‘menopausal’ by the new generation of stars, and Agatha having sustained facial and bodily burn scarring.

This bonds the two women in a co-dependant yet unaffectionate relationship, with Havana’s mother having died years before. Havana is determined to win the starring role in the remake of the film which made her mother famous, but is constantly tormented by visions of her. The theme of the unhealthy compulsion to rework old and irrelevant ideas is a reoccurring

one, and is presumably intended as a comment on the current state of the film industry, hence the inclusion of Paul Éluard’s poem ‘Liberté’, which is employed as a mantra by several of the characters as a plea for freedom from the ghosts of their pasts.

Other narrative strands involve Agatha’s relationship with chauffeur and fellow celebrity worshipper Jerome (Robert Pattinson), who is considering converting to Scientology to help kickstart his career. He is also a comical self-help ‘expert’ and therapist, whose preferred method of counselling is a rather shouty form of semi-naked massage. Havana believes this is the solution to her mommy issues. This man is Stafford Weiss (John Cusack), the son of whom, Benjie Weiss (Evan Bird) is a particularly repellent child star with the dress sense of Justin Bieber and smug self-assuredness of Will Smith’s offspring.

The amorality of the characters is addressed by Cronenberg with his typical attitude of clinical detachment, and the film’s humour is too bitter for comfort. However, the use of violence is well-timed and executed to genuinely shocking effect, culminating in an unnerving and vaguely apocalyptic conclusion. The end, although not particularly satisfying, leaves one with an intense impression of the full destructive capabilities of celebrity— an exclusive community bonded by the shared diseases of dysfunction, neurosis and incest, both literal and creative.

Martin Solibakke thinks that New Girl is the best sitcom this side of Friends.

There are so many things in life I am simply incapable of understanding.

Why some young men wear tank tops in public, why Smells Like Teen Spirit is regarded as a brilliant song and why people care so much about what the Kardashians are doing.

The list is endless; I could go on for hours.

But one thing that makes me want to both laugh and cry at the same time is how people of my generation are too busy worshipping the pseudointellectual, unfunny The Big Bang Theory to realise another show currently in its fourth season is easily the greatest sitcom since Friends. I could go even further, but I am afraid of death threats from Team Aniston. I am talking about New Girl.

It is obviously important to acknowledge that most sitcoms today, New Girl included, would not have existed if it wasn’t for Friends and its impact on television. But New Girl was such a quirky breath of fresh air when it first premiered. The show is simply about Jess, portrayed by the beautiful Zooey Deschanel, who decides to move into an apartment with three strangers after her boyfriend cheated on her.

Deschanel is talented, famous and very pretty, so she should be the star here, right?

Well, she’s not. The future Academy Award-winner Max Greenfield runs the show from the very first episode.

He portrays Schmidt, a highly quotable Jewish narcissistic womaniser with

Photo: Fox

OCD, who in the hotter months orders personalised citrus-flavoured condoms for a more ‘refreshing summer experience’. It took Barney Stinson seven seasons in How I Met Your Mother to become what Schmidt was from the start—a solid, three-dimensional character. I could write a book about Schmidt, his driving moccasins, and his croquet cleats. Yet Greenfield’s character isn’t the only reason why New Girl is the funniest, most quotable show on television these days. One episode is simply about how everyone lost their virginities, and Winston, a black puzzle enthusiast and ex-basketball player in Latvia also living in the same apartment, realises his first lover was a prostitute.

Visibly traumatised and in the foetal position, he delivers the best quote of the show yet, asking the room: “Was Mysteria even her real name?’

New Girl’s screenplay is unique and charmingly hilarious, and I am certain that the show, in a few years time, will get the recognition it deserves.

PARKOUR!

GUIDE The anticipation is almost unbearable.

You could cut the tension with a knife.

A word from the wise suggests you should take care of your pleasantries, pop the kettle on at ten to the hour and settle down with your slippers and dressing gown on in front of the television. Of course, such levels of preparation can mean only one thing. At 8 o’clock on Wednesday 8th October, battle will commence. And this is no ordinary battle; indeed, this is no ordinary bake off—this is The Great British Bake Off... and it’s the final!

Photo: BBC One

Bake Off is more than a competition.

It marks a change in mood—a quasipolitical statement; a time where outdated stereotypes no longer take the floor. Men need no longer feel emasculated by indulging in some sugary goodness as a hobby. The kitchen is a unisex office. Across the country, millions of impassioned British men and women will watch delightfully-skilled bakers come to blows. Tears will undoubtedly be shed and the final decision will almost certainly split the nation. This is bakery, and it’s highly charged.

If you just can’t stand the heat, don’t be ashamed. Many a heart has been melted by the show that strikes to the core of quintessential Britishness. Mel and Sue, Berry and Hollywood have brought us one hell of a rollercoaster series. Controversy has consumed us ever since an unset Baked Alaska graced the bottom of a bin bag. There were cries of sabotage and conspiracy.

“Bingate” shook the nation. That should give you an idea about just how much is at stake. I’m sure the final will live up to the billing.

Photo: Channel 4

If you can muster the confidence, I implore you (and your palette) to tune-in. You won’t be disappointed!

From this point on, with the series coming to a conclusion, Wednesdays will only be worse off. But for now, fear not. Grab a massive wedge of cake and flick over to Channel 4 at 9pm for Grand Designs—a more than apt dessert to satisfy your hunger pangs.

Sonny Flood

20

Books

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/TheMancunion: Books @MancunionBooks

Editors: Leonie Dunn, Ali Pearson

Profile

A Biography of James Joyce

Reporter Harry Daniels discusses the astounding life of the literary hero that is James Joyce, through his life of works.

James Joyce, a spectre of difficulty and contrariness in our cultural conscience, does occasionally throw his readers an oar to row with.

One of these such oars appears in the ninth chapter of his masterpiece Ulysses (1922), which reflects upon the biographical reduction of an author’s work by readers and critics. The author under examination in the chapter, set in Dublin’s National Library, is that of William Shakespeare, the holiest of cows.

In this scene Stephen, penniless young scholar of the book, attempts to espouse a biographical reading of the works of Shakespeare based on the names of his characters and what little is known or guessed about his life. This task—the main aim of which being to squeeze money out of the established Dublin literati—is presented as near grotesque in its compression of the beautiful nuances that are actually in Shakespeare’s works, and ultimately arbitrary. The language Stephen’s theory is constructed with constantly reaches back out to the original text of the plays themselves through repeated quotation and allusion, which ultimately reminds a reader that the plays themselves are far more meaningful than any silly reduction that attempts to compress them. Stephen himself even admits to not being convinced by his

own theory.

Let us, as readers of Joyce, thus approach his life in the spirit of his work—with interest but not keysearching investment. James Augustine Joyce was born in 1882 in a city that was going to haunt and inspire him for the whole of his creative career, that of ‘dear, dirty Dublin’. He was born in the midst of the Parnellist cause for Home Rule, which his middle-class Catholic family had much emotional and social investment in. When times were good Joyce was sent to Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school which is the setting of his first major work, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

Things first began to sour for the family when a scandal broke out concerning Parnell’s involvement in an adulterous relationship that disgraced him in many minds of the public. The tensions and disappointment that resulted from the affair in Joyce’s own family are dramatised in Portrait. The fall and decline of their financial stability added to the family’s sorrows and lead to Joyce not returning to his boarding school after recuperating from illness. The Joyces too had to move to a far less desirable area of Dublin as an eventual result of this.

A later light in the darkness for Joyce was

meeting the love of his life, Nora Barnacle, who impressed him with her sexual openness by giving him a handjob while out walking on their first date.

Joyce even set Ulysses on the anniversary of this date as a kind of ode to Nora. The pair eventually fell in love despite different worldviews and went on a self-imposed exile from Ireland and lived in various cities on the continent. They later had two children together.

Joyce struggled against censorship his whole life, and even struggled against publishers’ prudery with the work that now seems the most tame to a modern audience: Dubliners (1914). Ulysses itself was banned in the United Kingdom, and in the United States culminated in an culturally important District Court case that lead the way for sexual themes in art and literature to be regarded differently to pornography.

In later life Joyce was again struck with tragedy.

His daughter Lucia had to be treated for mental illness and he himself began to go blind. Joyce sadly passed away on the 13th January 1941 after stomach pains that he had struggled with for his whole life. Yet this was only after creating one of the most original of literary legacies.

Joyce’s work has continuing brilliance and relevance for a contemporary audience and will

Feature

do for years to come due to his near-encyclopaedic encompassment of both cultural and personal histories, and the idiosyncratic, ever-new way in which he presented them.

Photo: zen_warden @ Flickr

Comment

Literary Hero: Hubert Selby Jr. The Kindle – to Books Editor Alister Pearson tells you why Hubert Selby is his literary hero after reading Last Exit to Brooklyn.

Photo: frnksmth @ Flickr

The aspect of Hubert Selby Jr. that I most appreciate is that he was not destined to be a writer, and did not expect to live for long after his diagnosis of advanced tuberculosis in 1947. He was predicted by doctors to only live for one year, and for this reason his 1964 novel Last Exit to Brooklyn is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read.

There is one thing about Selby’s writing in The Last Exit to Brooklyn that should be pointed out: he doesnt use proper grammar or punctuation as Ive tried to illustrate here. His work is similar to that of Jack Kerouac/s in the sense that it has a fast, stream-of-consciousness style. I think it works well with what he tried to set out and create a vividly real portrait of 1950s New York. Annuva characteristic of Selby/s writing is that he will incorporate words joined together like ta getthehell out and yuhgoddamn

yankee and he never uses speech marks although much of the novel is of characters speaking to one another and you may think this would be difficult to read but you sorta just get the hangofit and then you dont even notice that the sentence youre reading has been goin on for pages and pages but when you do start to notice the tension builds up like in the story Tralala the ending is just one long sentence that stretches out for pages and pages but you find yaself reading it faster and faster as it gets more and more intense as a fifteen-year-old girl is gang raped by fifty plus men for you see Selby/s work is some of the most graphic pieces of work you will read and he doesnt hold back with the language or the imagery with stories about transvestites or queens as he calls them and hard drug abuse and gangs beating tha crap outta people because Selby

wants to portray the real side of Brooklyn in those times much like Lou Reed did in his music making it no surprise that Selby/s book was a big inspiration for him but I personally think Selby had little choice but to write like he did in this book as he had no qualifications and was quite unwell due to the tuberculosis making any job he could get extremely difficult so writing was a last resort for him but he was spurred on by the fact that he knew he was living a finite life and he didnt wantto look back on it and regret it and I hope he did look back on his life and feel proud cause Last Exit to Brooklyn was such a fascinating portrayal of a New York to read that not many know about and although it is brutal, it is not the case that Selby has no sympathy for his characters as there are moments when the reader feels great sympathy like when Georgette gets beat up by her brother for dressing in drag or when Harry loses his job at the union and thus, in my opinion, Selby earns the right to be mentioned alongside the great Beat writers like Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg who actually praised the book but unfortunately this didnt stop the book from being temporarily banned in Great Britain and Italy due to its extremely graphic images but after help from Anthony Burgess who suffered similar problems with his novel Clockwork Orange the decision was reversed.

Selby wrote many more books until his death in 2006, most notably Requiem For A Dream, which was made into a film starring Jared Leto in 2000. However, it is Last Exit to Brooklyn that stands out for me as one of the best books written in the 20th Century if only for the fact that it dares to depict a sinisterly real New York.

buy, or not to buy?

Books Editor Alister Pearson provides a response to Leonie Dunn’s debate in favour of the Kindle over the book.

Photo: Amazon.co.uk

In Issue 2 of The Mancunion, my co-editor set out her views of the Kindle comparing those who bought one to turning to the “dark side.”

Though I will admit there may be a conflict between the book and the Kindle, I don’t believe the two groups are exclusive and we can partake in book buying as well as Kindle downloading.

The best similarity to this would be music. Sure the vast majority of us mainly listen to music on Spotify or download tracks through iTunes but when we really enjoy the music we shall endeavour to go out and buy a physical copy.

It is also important to consider the debate from the side of the authors, and I believe the Kindle is a force for good. The new non-material format of books has brought the cost of

publishing down leading to more self-published authors, which can only be a good thing. More and more upcoming writers can now easily release their works to the world.

You may argue that these writers are hardly going to make a decent living like this but I respond by asking: what author writes to make money as opposed to writing out of passion?

I finish by reiterating a point you rapidly went over—the room saving compatibility of the Kindle. In front of me I have the complete works of Dostoevsky, and Edgar Allen Poe as well as Homer’s Odyssey, which I can fit in my pocket, which I still find amazing. So go out and buy a Kindle before reaping the benefits of the miraculous device.

Societies

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editor: Evie Hull

Black History Month A team of students are heading up Black History Month celebrations; here’s how you can get involved.

Over the next few weeks, we will be highlighting Black History Month through engagement with BME Student Officer Tanisha Douglas and a small team of contributors.

The theme for the year is empowering, enlightening and celebrating BME cultures. You can find out more on Twitter (@bmemcr) or on Facebook ( face b o ok .com / B M E MC R ) or by attending one of their many events, details of which are all available online.

“At first, Black History Month didn’t have much significance to me as an individual.

“I never participated in any

of the activities organised by the school and it wasn’t because I had anything against it, but it did not appeal to me, nor made me understand why we had to learn about the same people every year.

“Growing up, I have realised that Black History Month is more than just repetitively looking at great people that have made history. It is a time to reflect on how their braveness have shaped the identity of being part of a black community. It gives us the opportunity to see how one ‘race’ participated in making Britain, most importantly Man-

chester, a multicultural place.

“Black History Month is warmly welcomed in Manchester, which is very positive because it shows that other ‘races’ are willing to learn more about one another and that effort as well as positivity could result to a healthy multicultural society where there is less racism and stereotypes of each other.

“I think by far Black History Months (BHM) succeeds in widening participation as it doesn’t restrict participation to race, profession nor age group but it invites everyone and anyone to use history has

a tool to engage, empower, unite and create a better multicultural Manchester.”

Article kindly provided by Diana Khasa.

Manchester Chinese Business Society Manchester Chinese Business Society could be the gateway to finding your perfect business partner.

What does Manchester Chinese Business Society do?

Manchester Chinese Business Society is the unique business non-profit society for Chinese students. We are concentrating on providing the opportunities for Chinese students getting into social business environment. The society is under the guidance and control of University of Manchester Students Union.

There are almost 2000 followers in our wechat platforms already.

We will make the best use of the network of students who graduated from University of Manchester and other resources to deliver presentations, workshops and operate gatherings regarding to business and career topics.

We will also invite successful businessmen and excellent entrepreneurs who contribute a lot in business industry to share their experience. The main goal for our presentation is to help Chinese students to apply our knowledge in practical business environment and

Photo: Silverback40 @Flickr

inspire Chinese students to start their new business in the United Kingdom or China.

The workshop is a platform for our members to discuss and share the latest business topics. (such as e-business and e-market, or political impacts on Chinese business). Each

21

Spotlight on

Manchester University Technical Theatre Manchester University Technical Theatre Society have the equipment and know-how to take your event up to 11!

Manchester Universities Technical Theatre Society is the society where anyone interested in Technical Theatre can go to experience what it’s like helping to be a part of the backstage crew and working with societies to help turn their production ideas into reality in the UK’s largest students union.

Technical Theatre Society provides hire and consultancy to all student (and non-student) societies within the union for assistance with running their event: whether it’s a stage production or a graduation ball, they have the technical equipment and knowledge to make sure your event is a success!

Previous events/societies worked with include: Campus Comedy Club, Musical Theatre Society, Drama Society, Gilbert & Sullivan Society and RAG to name a few!

All of the societies funding goes towards buying new equipment to ensure that the student experience is improved for both those putting on a show, and for MUTTS’s members!

The more societies use them, the better the equipment, thus the better everyones shows!

It’s a win win! The Technical Theatre society welcome anyone that is interested in working behind the scenes, regardless of experience!

Never fear, because although societies like this may seem anti-social, Technical Theatre Society is anything but! They hold frequent pub meets, including pub crawls, and hold an annual PAT Test Party where all of the electrical equipment is tested!

Contact us by sending an email to committee@mutts.org.uk to find out more, including meeting times (which are irregular) and dates!

Article kindly provided by Kris Peacock.

Photo: Manchester Technical Theatre Society

gathering is a opportunity for you to know people have the same interest with you in business and expand your network - not only in university but also in future career. If you need any advice or inspiration in business, join our workshop and gathering. Your future busi-

ness partner may simply be found in Manchester Business Society! This is a perfect opportunity for you to know your potential ability in business and increase awareness.

To find out more information, please look for us in Facebook: Manchester Chinese Business Society and wechat: uomnews. If you are interested in doing business in China and corporate with Chinese people, please email us: uommcb.info@gmail.com.

Article kindly provided by Lina Chi.

Photo: stuckincustoms @Flickr

Write for us or promote your society by emailing societies@mancunion.com

22

Food & Drink

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editors: Ellie Gibbs, Adam Fearn

Review: Rudy’s Pizza

Hester Lonergan visits Rudy’s Pizza, a pop up in Manchester’s Northern Quarter Rudy’s is a pop-up pizza phenomenon.

Situated in the beer garden of Bar Fringe in the Northern Quarter, owners Kate and Jim can be found topping, cooking and serving pizzas from 4pm onwards on Fridays and Saturdays. Arriving at about 7:30 on a Friday night, the place was packed. The pub had a great atmosphere, as post-work colleagues and locals alike had found themselves starting the weekend there. The premises themselves are really cool—vintage and foreign beer ads line the walls, which also highlight the extensive list of artisan and continental beverages on offer.

We headed straight out into the garden to meet the chefs, who greeted us warmly and immediately introduced us to the company’s namesake, Rudy The Dog (apparently a pizza connoisseur). After some cooing, we perused the menu; short but sweet, with a weekly special, Jim later explained that the concise nature of their offerings comes from their firm belief in sourcing and serving only the best ingredients. The flour they use comes from a specific mill in Italy; their tomatoes and salamis are precisely chosen for flavour; their mozzarella is always fresh.

Anyway, it makes sense not to overload the customer with options. When you’re relaxing with a well-deserved pint, a nofuss, good quality pizza that promises to

deliver on flavour and won’t break the bank sounds about right.

I went for the special: sausage, caramelised onions and chilli oil, and my companion chose ‘The Copper’. I am a very annoying eater, with a variety of dietary quirks which mean that unfortunately for me, a conventional crust is a nogo. While Rudy’s Pizza is looking into developing their own alternative, they offered to top any base I brought in. So after a bit of research, I fashioned myself one out of gram flour (chickpea) and sheepishly handed it over the counter.

After a brief interval of reclining on the chaise longue we found in a warmly-lit corner of the pub, Kate brought our pizzas over, freshly sliced and served on brown paper bags with a napkin for mopping up. This straightforward way of serving blended really well with both the relaxed surroundings and Rudy’s Pizza’s qualitydirected ethos.

It may be a risky business to lay a product so bare, but with the culinary world’s ever increasing use of gimmicks and props, the honesty of this venture is wholly refreshing. What’s more, the pizzas were damn good. Deep, rich tomato and oozing cheese was complemented—in my case—perfectly by the meaty sausage, sweet-yet-tart onion and delicate hint of chilli. Jim has a family history of baking,

and it is evident that both passion and skill has been passed onto him. My companion informed me that the base was really well balanced—pillowy yet thin and crisp at the same time. I wish I could say the same for my chickpea substitute, but I can’t. It was weird; cakey and cloying and overwhelmingly chickpeaflavoured. Jim came over to check it out, and judging by the look of sheer repulsion on his face (despite a friendly attempt at congratulations), he will not be taking any notes from me.

Rudy’s Pizza at Bar Fringe does exactly what it intends to: serve simple but accomplished pizza that is fast, affordable and accessible. Crusts cleared away and faces wiped down, we enjoyed another drink—a German Weissbier and a local cider—and watched the weekend unfold.

Rudy’s Pizza at Bar Fringe, 8 Swan St, Manchester, M4 5JN

Photo: The Mancunion

Dinner: Gourmet Pizzas On a student budget? Here’s a recipe for you to try at home, as a cheaper alternative to eating out. Making pizzas at home is one of the easiest things to do as a group and you can have fun at the same time.

Ellie Gibbs Food Editor Pizza Dough - 15g packet dry active yeast - 250ml lukewarm water - pinch of sugar - tsp salt - 350–400g strong white bread flour

Photo: The Mancunion

Place the yeast and lukewarm water in a mixing bowl, stir in the sugar with a fork and let stand for about 7 minutes, until the yeast has dispersed and started to foam. Spoon in the salt and 1/3 of the flour until it becomes dough-like and starts to peal away from the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle some of the flour onto a clean work surface and knead for around 10 mins, working in the remaining

flour bit by bit. This dough cannot be overworked, so it’s a good idea to let everyone have a go at the kneading part. It can be quite fun to relieve any underlying anger by violently punching the dough, picking it up and throwing it at the counter.

When the dough is elastic and smooth, form into a ball and place into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, drape a moist cloth over the top and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place. I sometimes heat the oven then turn it off and leave it in there, or quickly turn all the hobs on high for a minute then turn off and leave on there. You don’t want the dough to start cooking, so careful that the place is not too hot. To test if the dough is proved, poke fingers into it and if the indentations remain, it’s ready. Stretch the dough as thinly as pos-

sible into four pizza shapes, and ease into a clean roasting tin. The bases are now ready to be topped.

Topping Ideas: - Peppers, onion, olives and fresh mozzarella topped with basil leaves.

- Vine tomatoes, spinach & ricotta pesto blobs, fresh mozzarella, and a cracked egg.

- Anchovy base with sliced & fried garlic mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves.

- Caramelised onions, goats’ cheese and fresh mozzarella.

For a passata recipe, head to the website: http://mancunion.com/2014/09/30/recipegourmet-pizzas/

Cocktail: Gin and Earl Grey Fizz Claire Cottis gives insight on how to create the Gin and Earl Grey Fizz, a truly British (…and easy to mix!) cocktail Taste doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive when it comes to homemade cocktails. You can throw this impressive ‘best of British’ combo together with a couple of everyday ingredients lying around your kitchen. The aromatic blend of Earl Grey and gin is fresh and summery, enjoy it on a rainy autumn evening to brighten up any postsummer blues.

Ingredients: – 75cl boiling water – 6 Earl Grey tea bags – 3 or 4 tablespoons of sugar, to taste – 1 lemon – A few slices of cucumber – Lemonade – Ice – As much gin as desired!

Method: Pour the boiling water over the tea bags into a large jug and leave it for 20 minutes. Once cooled, remove the tea bags and squeeze in the juice of half the lemon and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add a few handfuls of ice, the other half of the lemon sliced along with the cucumber and then fill the jug 3/4 full with lemonade. Finally, pour in as much gin as you want (Aldi’s own brand is personal favourite), stir and serve!

Stuck for something to do this weekend? Have a night in with friends and try out these recipes! We’d love to hear how you get on, so leave a comment on the website!

Photo: The Mancunion

If you fancy your hand at food and drink journalism, whether it be interviews, recipes, reviews, or some interesting culinary anecdotes, email us at food.mancunion@outlook.com or get in touch via Facebook.

/TheMancunion: Food & Drink @MancunionFood

Food & Drink 23

Dessert: Rocky Road Bars Review

Ingredients:

Ellie Gibbs Food Editor

As probably one of the easiest sweet treats to make, rocky road bars are a fail-safe party showstopper. The basic recipe is to grab everything unhealthy, smash it all to bits, cover it with gooey melted chocolate and refrigerate.

This recipe is just a combination of everything I had in, so be creative—add different nuts, fruit, cereal maybe? Granola would probably work. Most of all, enjoy.

- 200g Galaxy - 100g Bourneville - 100g Dairy Milk whole nut - 70g butter - 2 tsp golden syrup - 150g chopped marshmallows - Pack of hobnobs - Almost a box of maltesers - 100g chocolate chips - 75g mixed dried fruit

Let us know if you have a recipe that rivals this one.

Construction: Melt chocolate, butter and syrup in a saucepan on low til runny and smooth. Separately, crush the biscuits—I do this by whacking the full packet on the sides of a large bowl until it bursts, then jabbing at the crumbs with a rolling pin—add all the other dry ingredients, mix, and cover with the cooled chocolate. Press into a greased and lined rectangular tin. I think this made about 24 large ones, which could be halved again. If you want to make it look a bit more special you can dust with icing sugar, but I don’t bother, I think there’s already enough sugar in these mini heart attacks.

Photo: The Mancunion

Reviews

Photo: The Mancunion

Have you eaten somewhere nice recently? We want to know!

Tell us about it at food.mancunion@outlook.com

Saif Rehan documents his first taste of Japanese James Jackman visits Albert Square to sample cuisine at Wagamama the delights on offer at the Manchester Food Wagamama is a worldwide Japanese restaurant offering a new twist to dining. Fresh food in a friendly, and Drink Festival

vibrant setting is exactly what I look for.

I am not one who dares to dine at posh, expensive places and, from the outside, that’s what Wagamama appears to be. Intrigued by the temptation of Japanese cuisine, I decided to brave it, and found myself pleasantly surprised by the establishment’s atmosphere; the waiters were all wearing jeans and a Wagamama t-shirt and the restaurant buzzed with activity and bustle, creating a stark contrast from the overly formal and regulated feel that I was anticipating.

We were greeted warmly and given the menu.

At first I didn’t know how to react, or even what to order? Japanese food is quite abstract compared to the Pakistani cuisine I am used to.

I decided to play it safe and ordered a Sprite and jug of Water.

At first, I struggled to decide on what to over (I didn’t even how to pronounce the names of many of the dishes!) Thankfully, the waiting staff were patient and helpful, helping me to decide on which starter would best suit my tastes.

In the end, I decided to set myself a rule: choose anything that sounds unique and hopefully it tastes as nice as the name!

The starters that we ordered—the Lollipop Prawn Kushiyaki, Chilli Squid and Yasai Gyoza, turned up within ten minutes of us placing our order. The portions weren’t too big, serving as finger food before the more filling main dishes.

However, I could have sat there for hours on end eating the Chilli Squid—they were as nice as chips! (Don’t worry I know what you’re thinking – I was with a friend: I couldn’t possibly eat three starters and a main dish all on my own!)

For the main course, I decided to order a big, filling, main dish (which the waiter recommended), which was the Teriyaki Salmon Soba. This was simply a grilled piece of salmon (healthy), topped with soba noodles and vegetables.

It was delicious, not to spicy and not to tangy.

The salmon split in half with minimal effort using my fork and was cooked very well.

Unlike the starters we received, the main courses were huge and definitely hit my appetite well. I can proudly say my friend and I finished exactly what we ordered (even though the portion sizes were massive!) I could clearly taste the Japanese influences in my food.

I would highly recommend this restaurant as a place to go with friends and family.The establishment is suitable for many occasions, from evening meals with friends and family to lunch snacks.

Our full meal cost us £50, which seems to be quite reasonable in the busy end of Manchester.

The waiters are all extremely friendly and helpful.

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival returned this year for its 17th incarnation, bringing with it all of the worldly delicacies and tipples that you would expect from the nationally renowned event.

Taking place over 10 days, the festival sprawled over the city centre and into Greater Manchester, with events taking place in the Northern Quarter, Heaton Park and Chorlton alike. Fancying a break from textbooks and lecture notes, I visited the Festival Hub, located in Albert Square.

Packed tightly in front of the Town Hall, the Festival Hub contained everything needed to satisfy any possible cravings.

With street food vendors galore, all serving up delicious treats that you couldn’t even fathom making at home, my stomach immediately overtook any logical reasoning and my combined with my heart to lead me on a taste adventure.

Photos: The Mancunion

For more information on Wagamama, visit their website: www.wagamama.com 1 Spinningfields Square, Manchester, M3 3AP Photo: The Mancunion

With so much choice, I have to admit it took a while to decide. In the end I was torn between an American chilli-dog or a Malaysian curry dish.

Putting all other reason aside, a coin flip decided that the chilli-dog would be mine.

Ordering the “Chilli Con Kanye Dog” from the

Piggie Smalls stand, I was quickly served the behemoth that was my meal.

The beast consisted of a hot dog slathered with chipotle mayo, beef chilli, kidney beans, sprinkled with tortilla chips and held together in a white bread baton.

Upon the first bite I knew I had made the right decision, the featherblade beef was tender, while the mixture of the chipotle mayo and the chilli sauce provided a kick you weren’t going to forget.

I was initially concerned with the tortilla chips on top, however my fears swiftly subsided. Their salty crunch provided a springboard for the savoury flavours of the beef and sausage, meaning you could didn’t miss a single note of the meaty melody you were tucking in to.

The festival also contained a very impressive drinks tent, with over 100 different types of beer and cider being served.

Tasting notes were present for every drink, meaning you could take your time to make sure you ordered the right one for your meal. With live music playing as well, there was everything needed for you to discover your inner glutton and to leave as a satisfied customer.

24

Arts & Culture

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM /TheMancunionArtsCulture @ArtsMancunion

Editor: Holly Smith Feature

100 years on: how did the First World War shape art?

Arts editor Holly Smith asks: if one colossal event could change the world so vastly, surely it must have had an enormous impact on our art, 100 years on?

British soldiers marching to Somme. Photo: Anders @Flickr

Two shots were all it took for Europe to descend into chaos.

For four gruelling years, the world as it was known was turned upside down in a conflict so large that it ranks among the deadliest in human history.

The First World War transformed world politics.

With young innocent men flocking to enrolment centres across the country, hungry to sign up and fight for country and land, it’s easy to look past the people who went onto the front line not to fight, but to capture the devastating, albeit heroic scenes of the battlefields.

Filled with new found nationalism and intrigue, artists were, unknowingly to the world, about to reshape the notion of what art was.

Expressionism, realism and the newly founded cubism were three very separate art movements around at the beginning of the 20h century, all three eventually merging into a new modernism era after the war. This new style was being explored well before war broke out, however, it didn’t gather momentum until after, when many new and prolific artists produced

Feature

Prolific artists such as John Singer Sargent responded confidently to this new art movement. One of the leading portrait painters throughout the Edwardian era, Singer Sargent went from producing art works of various aristocracies in luxurious clothing and setting, to one of the most famous war paintings created. Gassed shows a line of wounded soldiers limping towards a dressing station with numerous bodies in the foreground and background.

He was commissioned by The British War Memorials Committee to document the war and he visited the Western Front in the summer of 1918.

The stark contrast of this work compared with his others, shows that the art movement was most certainly changing.

Cubism was another variation on the new art scene to emerge. Arguably one of the most authoritative utterances on the war in the history of painting is by British futurist artist Christopher R.W. Nevison.

He used his experiences from the Royal Army Medical Corps to produce La Mitraileuse, a cubist painting depicting three angular and grey soldiers appearing

almost as though they are the machine gun which they are crowded around. Cubism came to be one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century after the war had made it so famous.

The varied perspectives and art movements represented in the First World War art show us that there was not one single uniform war experience for Britons. From expressionism, to cubism, to realism, each artist witnessed, experienced and depicted very different wars even though only one conflict is recorded in history. The introduction of modernism included a mix of all three movements after the changes they saw during the war. The speed at which artists changed the many social and cultural traditions that survived the nineteenth century relating to popular culture, is enormous.

The conflict’s vast scale and brutality fascinated many artists and produced the new modernist movement and created a world where the older expressive forms and techniques no longer seemed adequate, suitable, or compelling.

Photo of the Week

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Picasso How much do you actually know about the person behind the canvas?

1) Picasso’s real name contains 23 words. He was baptized Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso.

These are all taken from various saints and relatives.

2) When he was born, the midwife thought that he was stillborn, so she left him on a table and attended to his mother. It was his uncle that saved him.

3) On August 21st 1911, someone stole da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and someone told the Police that Picasso was the culprit. However, he was taken in for questioning and was released straight away.

The real criminal was found two years later; however some people still believe that Picasso had something to do with it.

4) According to his mother, Picasso’s first word was ‘Piz, Piz’, a shortening of the Spanish word “Lapiz”

some of the most well known works of the century.

The expressionist movement was developed as an avantgarde style before the war, depicting emotional experience rather than reality, inspired by the iconic The Scream by Edvard Munch. The complex brush strokes and dehumanisation making up Munch’s work developed into the First World War as artists devising wobbly, chopped-up perspectives and nightmarish visions of fractured human bodies.

The downwards spiral of moral chaos in broken societies became a figure point for artists such as Max Beckmann and his famous canvas, The Night, an expressionist painting depicting three men invading a room, where they terrorise the scene. The subject matter is chaotic, with vibrant colours echoing death and destruction lying in the war’s wake.

Also at the core of art throughout the First World War were academic and realist artists who continued to produce new work side by side the terror on the front line. As their work developed, the reinvention of traditional art values occurred.

meaning pencil.

5) From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting.

6) He finished his first major painting at the age of 15. It is entitled First Communion and depicts his mother, father and younger sister at an altar.

7) Picasso had a great love affair while married to ballerina Olga Khokhlova.

Marie-Thérèse was his mistress (she was 17 while he was 45). Some of his most acclaimed art work was inspired by Marie-Thérèse and they even had a daughter together.

8) He wasn’t just a painter, but also a poet and playwright, although his writing career never took off, especially with words such as “the smell of bread crusts marinating in urine.”

9) When living in Paris in 1900, he was forced to burn some of his paintings to

Photo of the Week

Do you have a photo that you want to share? Each week we will print a different photograph. It does not matter if you’re an amateur or professional, we want to see what you photos you can capture.. Email us at mancunion. arts@gmail.com

keep warm due to financial problems.

10) In 1909, Picasso cofounded the art-movement known as Cubism with his friend Georges Braque.

by Holly Smith

Photo: Holly Smith Pablo Picasso. Photo: marie-ll @Flickr

““This is a small shop I found in Valencia while I spent two months there au pairing. I thought it was really retro and so unusual for a shop so I took a quick photo.”

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/mancuniontheatre @themanctheatre

Theatre 25

Review

What’s On Hamlet 6 October – 13 October

6 – 18 October, O2 Apollo £38 He’s walked on water, levitated above the Shard, walked down the LA Times Building, predicted the World Cup outcome and taken a trip on the side of a bus but today (Mon), Dynamo announces his biggest challenge to date as the renowned street magician will take to the stage as he embarks on his first ever live tour.

Early One Morning 9 Oct – 11 Nov, Octagon Theatre Bolton £9 Continuing the Octagon’s commemoration of the anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, Early One Morning tells the true story of 26-year-old soldier James Smith from Bolton., who for three years has been fighting in some of the fiercest battles of the First World War. He has been wounded, received two Good Conduct Medals, and been promoted. He is now on trial for his life.

Little Women 9 – 11 October, Salford Arts Theatre £8 / £6.50 A re-telling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic tale of adolescence sees the March sisters struggling to find their place in an England at war.

With their beloved father away fighting in the German trenches the girls are encouraged to discover the world by a mother with unwavering strength – starkly different from one another though an unbreakable bond exists between them and keeps the girls close - even when they’re far.

Word War One 7 October, Three Minute Theatre £3 / free entry for Poetry Slammers Poets will battle it out for the chance to win £20 and a place in Decembers final where they can win £100 and the coveted Word War One Trophy AND a guest slot at the first Evidently of 2015!

“The world insists on our womanhood and fails to ignore it at every turn. The fact that I am a woman keeps bouncing back; as a question mark, a fascinating fact about me and something that ought to be talked about” spoke Erica Whyman, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s deputy artistic director, at last week’s Advance Symposium on theatrical gender equality.

Whyman’s statement can be fundamentally applied to the critical discourse surrounding Sarah Frankom’s production of Hamlet, at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, with Maxine Peake as Hamlet.

As a major production’s first female Hamlet since 1979, there has been emphasis on this event as a milestone performance for women as Hamlet, and there is no denying this. However, the production as a whole is uneven and filled with disparate ideas that become ultimately confusing - with no secure conceptual framework under which to be guided, the piece was more frustrating than stimulating.

To begin, Lee Curran’s design of hanging lights overwhelm the audience, seemingly presenting Hamlet’s father as a supernatural, unseen presence and his meeting with Hamlet a near-alien communication. But having John Shrapnel, also playing Claudius, appear as the Ghost’s white-dressed physical form neuters all idea of the ghost being a vision - Hamlet even hugs him.

The stark idea of the Ghost presented as a representative metaphor is lost, which could have been a defining departure for this production. Furthermore, Yorick’s famed skull needs no physical doppelganger to a presumed form - only a hat. This encapsulates the entire production’s lack of consistent dramaturgical logic, where melding together inconsistent ideas is preferable to interrogating their purpose.

The Trial

Photo: The Lowry

Another idea, having both young children and the Royal Exchange’s Young Company perform the play within a play, loses that scene’s meaning - and ironically ignores the fact that in the original text, Rosencrantz stated that this group of players have to compete with ‘child actors’. Instead of developing insight, this appears instead to be a self-congratulatory choice to highlight the work of the theatre’s Youth Theatre - of which Peake was once a part - and indeed, there is a major feature on their involvement alongside donation-begging for the Young Company in the programme.

As Hamlet, Peake’s immensely fragile portrayal was refreshing. Her androgynous appearance, of boyish blond hair on heeled boots, was reminiscent of an outcast David Bowie figure, and in his opening scene, I have never seen a Hamlet so restrained and timid in retorts to Claudius. But her waspish and weak voice skipped over verse, leaving many words to the imagination of the audience, and her sometimes bombastic gesturing meant much subtlety was lost.

Photo: Royal Exchange Theatre

Amy Barker

A Taste of Ballet “Oh, I’m going to the ballet on Saturday night!” isn’t a phrase that you’ll hear a lot of university students uttering in Manchester.

Ballets conjure images of posh frocks and confused plot-lines; they can be expensive, and there are better things to do on a Saturday night. Or maybe, like myself, it’s simply out of circumstance: I had never been to the ballet before for no reason other than I simply hadn’t had the chance.

Six months ago I saw Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Beauty and the Beast being advertised on The Lowry website, and I felt hugely excited! Beauty and the Beast has an excellent, magical storyline, and perhaps it would make a good first ballet. Seats in the Upper Circle were priced at around £16 each, which was fine by me – lots of students spend more on a night out.

In the weeks before the show, it occurred to me that ballet may well be making a resurgence in the modern day: the advertising campaign for Beauty and the Beast was huge,

Weary, if profitable, this overwrought production does not compliment Maxine Peake’s unique, genderless frailty as Hamlet.

Royal Exchange Theatre • Runs from 11th September - 25th October

From magic shows to poetry slams, there’s more than Oktoberfest

Dynamo Live Tour

Benjamin Monk

It is not for everyone, but definitely worth a try - a first time experience of Ballet at the Lowry.

with posters on buses all around the city and with flyers in every other performance- related venue. But perhaps it is popular with a specific audience: on the night there were plenty of families with young children, some who had even dressed up in their fanciest clothes, groups of chatty ladies in their early 30s and some older couples too. However, the appearance of adults in their early 20s seemed to be rather scarce.

The ballet itself was magnificent. I really didn’t know what to expect beforehand, but the stagecraft they employed was truly excellent – giant pieces of moving set were forming gates, forests and the mansion hall.

Stuffed birds of prey were ‘coming to life’, jugs were pouring themselves and candles were bursting into flames.

Although I already knew the plot of Beauty and the Beast, it was really easy to understand: contrary to what I thought, the dancing wasn’t just artistic – there was plenty of pointing and stomping and, on the side

of Beauty’s sisters, one-upmanship in dance moves. The most enchanting point of the evening was when Beauty and the Beast first danced together; it was melancholic and sorrowful, but achingly heartfelt and so beautiful.

That dance for me was the point of the ballet: conveying such rich emotion between two characters through how they acted with each other. It’s true that ballet is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’ve ever had a fleeting thought, wondering what it might be like, I would say it’s well worth a try.

With tickets at only £16 for what’s still a fantastic view of the whole stage, you’d hardly be taking out a loan to cover it. Next time the Birmingham Royal Ballet come in to town, maybe you’ll be there? I know I will.

Birmingham Royal Ballet will return to The Lowry with Coppélia in Spring 2015 with the story of a magical toymaker who turns his mechanical ballerina into a real woman.

The naivety of this Hamlet, and his erratic emotional development, raised conflicts and questions - how would this initially unrebellious Hamlet be old friends with a cocaine-sucking Rosencrantz? And wouldn’t Rosencrantz be too anti-establishment to help spy on Hamlet for Claudius? But most notably, on Hamlet’s demand to see his father’s ghost, Peake here produced a gun, disrupting the power-dynamics of the entire play. For a Hamlet so child-like at the beginning of this production, why would he have wanted or needed it at this stage? The gun conflictingly implies that the only way this ‘unmanly’, transgender Hamlet can get what he wants throughout is not through words, but through violent threats, with this directorial decision unnatural to Hamlet’s textual character progression. This is later reaffirmed with Hamlet shooting Polonia (née Polonius) seemingly on purpose, instead of the accidental curtain-stab traditional to the piece.

Other performances were mixed - the standouts were Gertrude (Barbara Marten), who morphed from stoicism to grief with consummate ease, whilst Laertes, played

by Ashley Zhangazha, became a forceful, dominating presence both physically and emotionally in the climactic final scenes. Overall though, the gender-led debate isn’t just the fault of critical chatter - the programme describes a detailed history of ‘Women as Hamlet’, with a discussion event on the issue to take place.

As Peake and Francom have finally disrupted this constellation of male, starry Hamlets over past few years, it is hopeful that with other female pairs the gender binary will be less of a ‘fascinating fact’. Peake is successful in establishing a unique interpretation, but compared to other earlier dramatisations, the greatest Hamlets performed in the strongest productions. A more idea-balanced theatrical partner could have helped place Peake amongst them - but, in this case, it is not to be.

Get on Board

Nicole Tamer

Panto Society

Founded in 1995, the Panto Society is renowned for being crazy, funny, and more than a little inappropriate. The society is still a hidden gem, although the performances are quickly sold out and they were voted Arts and Media Society of the year 2012/13. I asked the social secretary some questions about the society and I was especially curious about the claim of inappropriateness.

How many members were active last year?

Altogether, there were 33 active members. We were a very tight knit group as we spent so much time together during rehearsals, and every single person was necessary to make the show as fantastic as it was.

How would you describe the people who are part of the society and what sort of people are you looking for?

Pantomimes aren’t musical showcases in the traditional sense; we just have a load of fun putting together a hilarious show. We don’t take ourselves seriously, so as long as you’re looking to make friends and have a laugh, you’re a panto person! Some of our main roles last year were played by people who had never performed on stage before! The show is a massive confidence boost and if you feel nervous about performing, you’ll change your mind when you meet everyone and see what it’s really like!

It also helps if you’re not offended by crass adult humour and dildos.

What has been the most inappropriate occurrence so far?

It’s hard to narrow down the many, many, many inappropriate incidents that happened during the show last year (we won’t dare delve into what happened behind the scenes), Captain Hook decide to leave his ship halfway through the scene to grab a pint from the bar, a disgruntled Miley Cyrus knocked over the entire set, and Mr Darling had a heated row with a rather rowdy audience member. That doesn’t even mention the passionate love affairs revealed on stage! To top it all off, we’re still missing a dildo- whoever stashed that in their bag after the show has kept that one quiet…

Do you have regular rehearsal dates?

Tuesdays and Wednesdays at around 6pm, and a few weekend rehearsals in the run up to the show!

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Lifestyle

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Editor: Robert Firth

Feature

Would you be interested in writing for us?

Share your ideas with us: mancunion.life@gmail.com

Briefly exploring...

Withington In the first part of a series exploring areas of Manchester, Robert Firth dares to leave Fallowfield, taking a trip down the road to Withington.

Withington’s eclectic high street.

Photo: raver_mikey @Flickr WNW4.MANC.QUART.pdf 1 01/10/2014

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Sandwiched in between student-central Fallowfield and trendy Didsbury, Withington is an affordable alternative for second year students wanting to remain in the student bubble without being surrounded by freshers.

The high street, located at the latter end of the Oxford/ Wilmslow Road bus corridor is a patch work assortment of bars, pubs, cafes, chain stores and charity shops. Here you’ll find Fuel, undoubtedly one of the trendiest bars south of the Northern Quarter, serving yummy veggie dishes throughout the day whilst at night it hosts a variety of live music events and the weekly ‘Quiz and Chips’ (complimentary chips for all participants). For those with a sweet tooth, Café Swoosh, also on the high street, arguably has the tastiest waffles and most refreshing ice cream outside of the city centre. If you want to get away from other students, there’s The Victoria or The Red Lion, both traditional style pubs serving an assortment of cask ales with funky names.

For a taste of the rest of the world without taking a trip to The Curry Mile, there are a number of restaurants serving mostly Asian cuisine dotted along the high street. Coriander which specialises in Indian and Bengali cuisine has previously won a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence. It’s worth checking out Aladdin Restaurant for a Middle Eastern culinary adventure through the wide selection of appetising dishes – don’t be put off by the much less enticing exterior.

The fact that Withington has normal working people in it also means there’s a selection of shops that you would actually like to visit with the intention of buying something other than two bottles of dubious wine

for £5. As well as the usual convenience stores such as Sainsbury’s Local, there’s a variety of charity shops catering for students and locals (you can usually tell the target demographic by looking at the window display) but the Barnabus and Oxfam shops are a good starting point. Mockingbirds is a fashionable alternative if you’re bored of the high street/rummaging through rails in vintage clothing shops. Tucked just off the high street on Egerton Crescent, Deco has an eclectic collection of vinyl, CDs and DVDs and it’s worth just going when it’s closed to see the grooviest shutters ever.

Withington is like Fallowfield but nicer and with less takeaways and cheaper, better houses. However, most people don’t discover it till the end of their first year, when they’ve already sold their second year away to being pasted on the walls of Fallowfield’s takeaways again. As one girl who works in Withington put it: “You get all the feel of student life, without it. You’re still near Fallowfield and typical student stuff like takeaways but you’re far away enough that you don’t have to hear people screaming all the time, so it helps with the transition from student to adult.”

Next Time: Briefly Exploring... Chorlton Do you have somewhere in Manchester you want Robert to explore?

Email: mancunion.life@gmail.com or tweet us @MancunionLife

To end or not to end?

Moved to university in a relationship? Unsure whether to stay together? Charlotte Wheatcroft gives her verdict.

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So you’ve started University, survived fresher’s week and have been thrust into an environment where it feels like you’re meeting hundreds of new people every day!

Some you have formed friendships with, others you hate and some you may even have formed relationships with.

However life at University for people with partners can prove more difficult than most. You are balancing your lectures, societies, socials, new friends and partner! Life is suddenly very busy. You find it difficult to juggle all the events you want to be a part of and sacrifices are being made.

Your partner is the person who you love and rely on, they are you safety net and will always be there. You have years’ worth of memories with them, they loved you through the hard times and the good. With them you first discovered what love really was, and how to be loved really felt. But is it time to let go?

Countless times I have heard the reasons for a relationship breaking down:

years of your life, you’ve changed. Let go of that security blanket.

You’re in one of the biggest cities in the UK, it’s time to do some exploring.

“It’s just too far away,” “I have feelings for someone else,” “I feel held back,” “I just don’t have the time,” University is about finding yourself, your own self, don’t be the person you came to university as, be the person you want to be. Don’t sacrifice what you enjoy for who you used to be and don’t hold yourself back.

Accept that sometimes, it just doesn’t work. Stop holding on to something that was once the best few

Photo: ionics @flickr

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

/TheMancunion: Lifestyle @MancunionLife Email: mancunion.life@gmail.com

Lifestyle

Why Study Abroad?

Upon returning to Manchester following her year abroad, Kitty Treverton Jones reflects on the benefits of study abroad programs.

If you are a language student, you know from the moment you choose your degree that you will be taking a year abroad.

What many students are unaware of until they arrive at university, however, is the vast amount of study abroad options available to any number of courses. Part of Manchester’s appeal is that is has so many links with universities all over the world.

You can be an Economics student and spend a semester in Sydney, a Geology student and spend a year in California, or a Spanish student and perfect your language in Buenos Aires. Due to exchange programs and partnerships with foreign universities, you can pay the same amount to Manchester and spend time at a partner university.

The Erasmus program means you may even be entitled to reduced or no fees if you stay in Europe while also receiving a grant to help with living costs.Aside from

the character building, the independence, the freedom and the opportunity to travel, it’s great for your CV, employers really value graduates who have studied abroad.

It is certainly not easy to move to another country and begin at another university. Although I have been learning French since I was about eight years old, no amount of lessons could ever have prepared me for constructing a life in France. The first few weeks were difficult in so many ways, from setting up a bank account, to forming a timetable from the haphazard chaos that is the French bureaucracy; however it really is worth all the stress.

Josepha, a final year Geography student who spent a year in Vancouver, spoke to me about the amazing opportunities she had to travel in North America, commenting: “Studying abroad has allowed me to experience so many

different places whilst remaining in, and gaining the perks of being in, full time education.”

As cliché as it sounds, living abroad does open your mind and changes your perception of the world. It is also beneficial to actually live in a different country as opposed to just visiting one: you get to know a culture in a way that you never can from a flying visit. I also found that being away has made me appreciate Manchester and all it has to offer much more than I would have had I simply been transitioning from second to third year, and although it was far from perfect, I’m so glad I had the experience of studying in Toulouse.

Just one of the perks of a year abroad.

5 top tips about the Study China Programme Contributor Josepha Griffin-Parry gives her top tips on completing the Study China Program in Shanghai 1. “Ladies night” happens pretty much every night of the week. This basically means free entry into one of the many swanky bars/clubs Shanghai has to offer AND free champagne all night; what more could you ask for?

Unfortunately this does mean that guys do tend to have to fork out a couple of hundred yuan to get in. Then again beer is only 30p.

2. Unless you’re feeling brave and have an incredibly strong stomach, avoid the street food. If you are daring enough to try some make sure you go to the stall where there are loads of people queuing; this way at least you know it won’t kill you. Oh and make sure you take some Imodiums with you – they’re a necessity here.

hours than most people have for their first semester); but you soon get into the rhythm of things and it is surprisingly fun. Although, you never get used to the temperature changes from the intense humidity outside to the chill of the airconditioned rooms.

5. You may not need malaria tablets during your stay in China, but you will most definitely need insect repellent! If you are unfortunate enough to become acquainted with resident mosquitoes of Shanghai then grab yourself some tiger balm, it does wonders.

Everything is identifiable in this dish...

More info about The University of Manchester’s Study Abroad Programme: http://www.studychina.org.uk/

3. If you’re vegetarian like myself, the good news is you can survive! You just have to be prepared to hunt around for restaurants that serve veggie food. There are lots of dishes with unidentified ‘food’ floating in them, so make sure you have someone who can speak fluent mandarin with you and can double check your order.

The University’s portal for all the information you need to know about the programme. h t t p s : //w w w. f a c e b o o k .c o m / OfficialStudyChina Regular updates and photos from the Programme.

4. As for work, 3 hours of class for 5 days a week for the duration of the programme seems like a lot (a lot more Photo: cherylleong @flickr

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SPORT : 30

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Waldin kicks Manchester to Victory Despite a slow start, Manchester men run out easy victors in the first North West Varsity

University of Manchester University of Liverpool

20 3

Tries: Staunton, Simmonds. Conversions: Waldin x2. Penalties: Waldin x2.

Penalty: Morrisey x 1.

Will Kelly Sport Editor

‘You Scouse Bastard’ riled in the air from the stands as the game got underway. The intensity of such rivalry appeared to grip the players in the early stages of the match as Josh Barton sent in a thumping tackle on the Liverpool centre. It was certainly the battle of the forwards early on as they clashed in the rucks.

Liverpool had the chance to take the lead early on from a penalty just inside Manchester’s half but missed. The fullback was noticeably shaky in the warmup, perhaps the significance of the occasion getting the better of him this time. Sadly Barton suffered a broken ankle and it took a long time for him to receive medical attention much to the annoyance of the crowd.

We wish the very best for Barton in his recovery.

It would be Manchester who would take the lead from a penalty after a fantastic break from James Carding from half way, which Liverpool were penalised for killing the ball, leaving Owen Waldin to slot over.

The speed of the Manchester backs began to take place in full force. After a successful break to the Liverpool 10m line, Manchester shipped it across out wide but unfortunately for Jack Smith, he could not hold on to the ball as it came to him on the try line. It seemed the case of white-line fever.

Such early attacking aggression seemed to displace the Liverpool defence as they appeared to be fatigued from such intensity. After a Manchester line out inside Liverpool’s 22, it originally seemed like Liverpool had defended the lineout very well and were about to win the ball back in the resulting maul.

However Ed Matthews, perhaps unintentionally (he may very argue that he of course meant it!), was able to use the bodies of the Liverpool tacklers as cover and break through the line in the midsts of confusion. Matthews

Photo: Sport Manchester

was tackled on the 5m line where Dan Staunton was able to pick up and bundle over the line for the first try of the game, converted by Waldin.

The game shifted into a more balanced affair with perhaps Manchester looking the more threatening side as they broke the line on several occasions but were just lacking the quality of the final ball for the wide man to score. Owen Waldin scored another penalty to make it 10-0 at half time but they needed to start scoring tries from the pressure they had applied otherwise Liverpool could find themselves coming into the game second half.

This is precisely what Liverpool did as they started shifting the ball amongst the

backs and they managed to score a penalty. Waldin successfully scored another penalty before Manchester gained success from a break on the wing. The ball came back inside and popped on again where Will Simmonds, after fumbling the ball about 3 times, was able to bring it down for a try.

In truth, the second half was disappointing with both sides committing a lot of knock ons.

Liverpool applied significant pressure near the end of the game but the try line defence

by Manchester was superb. A strong start by the Men’s side and we are hoping that they can kick on for this season.

Caught: Streaker Xan Atkins answers our questions Did you enjoy the games?

Yeah I thought they were both fantastic games actually. The atmosphere of Varsity really made it a cracking event.

In regards to your streak, did you actually plan this?

No! It was just coming up to half time and the group of people I was with, thinking I would not do it, said they would pay me £20 if I stripped off and ran across the field and I decided without thinking that I could really do with £20. This could pay for my night out so I took off my clothes, ran across the field in a diagonal direction and did a full on naked streak! I was pretty pleased with the cheer I got.

Have you been paid?

Erm…no. Up to now I have been paid £2.50 so I am still trying to collect that money the bast**ds!

Were there any concerns about your bits?

Yes definitely! ! I did have one hand covering that area for the entire streak which a lot of people then said it didn’t count but in my opinion, it was a good way to start. Maybe next year .

I agree as well, did you pick up any female admirers after that stunt?

(Laughs) it was a pretty good story to use at the after party! There was one girl who even had the video of me running! I was quite happy it gave me a little bit of fame . It is always a great story to tell!

A Campus Celebrity! Thanks for your time.

More of a writer than a player? Come to our contributor meetings on Thursday, 5pm, Student’s Union Second Floor.

Or tweet @mancunion_sport/email sports.mancunion@googlemail.com.

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

SPORT : 31

ISSUE 04/ 6th OCTOBER 2014 WWW.MANCUNION.COM

Everyday I’m Shutler-ing

A Shutler masterclass sees UoM record the largest victory in years University of Manchester University of Liverpool

55 Tries: Shutler x3, Muddiman, Shilladay, Kerins, Webster, Lockyer, unkown. Coversion: Shilladay x 2, Balchin x 3 0

Varsity in numbers 3268

Tickets sold before kick off

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The combined score of UoM’s men’s and women’s team.

0

The number of points Liverpool’s women’s team managed

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Photo: Sport Manchester

2 phases of play, the Liverpool defence

defence but sadly, it came to nothing.

was very difficult to pick the Woman

were unable to realign and Shilladay

It did, however, just allowed Manches-

of the match as everyone put in an

was able to touch down. Manchester

ter to camp out quite literally in Liver-

impressive performance and was

The match was predicted to be a

had blasted the first half with the for-

pool’s half.

influential in such a destructive vic-

close affair by captain Laura Muddi-

wards combining very well with the

The flankers were certainly doing

tory. But certainly plaudits must go to

man after last seasons narrow vic-

backs. Liverpool had not even reached

their job and applying significant

Webster, who was consistently putting

tory in the Christie cup. Rather, it was

Manchester’s 22 and had their backs

pressure to the backs from the scrum.

in the biggest hits of the game whilst

a complete mauling straight from the

against the wall.

Stacey-Jo Webster was particularly

Shutler must get a mention for her hat

kick off. Wearing warrior paint on their

It certainly appeared that they did

outstanding in her tackles, smashing

trick of tries. She was a constant nui-

faces, they pinned down Liverpool

not want to be there as they stumbled

them backwards and demotivating

sance to the Liverpool defence and

deep into their 22, with the forwards

on for the second half.

Liverpool even further and she de-

made some tantalising breaks.

Will Kelly Sport Editor

making it very hard for Liverpool to

Manchester however, held the inten-

served her try 12 minutes in the sec-

deal with as they kept knocking on the

sive “1,2,3 squeeze”, with Captain Mud-

ond half to make it 41-0. Gaps were ap-

ball and inviting more pressure onto

diman demanding the same amount

pearing in the Liverpool defence left,

themselves.

of intensity showed in the first half.

right and centre and it was Shilladay

Miguela Kerins was particularly im-

This certainly relayed into fly-half

who was able to see the gap behind

pressive, putting in some big hits early

Kayleigh Balchin, who put up a stun-

on the right hand side. Beautifully dis-

on. This constant pressure allowed

ning kick off, that Liverpool were un-

patching a teasing kick, this bounced

the first try to be scored on 11 minutes

able to keep in. This already put Man-

into the path of Selena Lockyer who

as scrum half Clair Shutler touched

chester in their 5 metre line where

simply outpaced the Liverpool winger

down, converted by Cassie Shilladay.

they were able to obtain the ball and

to score.

Almost immediately after Liverpool’s restart, Shutler went on a jink-

score within 2 minutes into the second half, making it 29-0.

Webster would be influential in the next try as she made a huge tackle on

ing run inside the Liverpool’s half and

The next try to come reflected the

the Liverpool forward. Dropping the

teed up Muddiman, much to the de-

beautiful ball handling skills that Man-

ball, this left to a break on the left hand

light of the Manchester faithful.

chester had been tearing up Liver-

side of the pitch and made it 3 against

Already 14-0 down, Liverpool just

pool’s back line with. It was great play

1. Shipped through the hands, it was an

couldn’t deal with the intensive phases

by Balchin as she took it past one de-

absolute delight to see Shutler score

of play by Manchester, as the ball was

fender on the Liverpool 10m line, drew

her third try of the game. Converted by

shipped left to right in quick succes-

another and popped it off for Kerins

Balchin, Manchester had made it 55-0.

sion. Liverpool did not have the legs to

to score, with a deserving conversion

In the closing phases it seemed Liv-

cope, and the Shutler was able to shut-

to follow by Balchin making it 36-0.

erpool started to play out of irritation

tle through from half way to score her

This really was a massacre and there

and they managed to reach Manches-

second try of the game. Although the

was still plenty in the game to come.

ter’s 10m line for the first time in the

conversion was missed again, it had

The biggest factor was that Liverpool

game. Limping on, Webster was still

been raining tries for Manchester and

could not get phases of play in their

making the biggest hits of the game

Shilladay scored just before half time

game. In terms of tackling, it appeared

and halting the Liverpool attack. Katy

to make it 24-0. This came after Camil-

they were drained from the Manches-

Mulqueen would make a try saving

la Barlow was able to break through

ter’s intensive attacks as straight from

tackle in the last phase of the game,

the defensive line and power her way

the restart, Rachel Haywood went on a

bringing delight to the watching fans.

through deep into Liverpool’s 22. After

tantalising run through the Liverpool

It was a brilliant performance and it

At Varsity on Wednesday?

Let us know what you thought @Mancunion_Sport

Minutes travelled by away fans.

2

The price in Sterling at the can bar

8

Camera angles covered

by FuseTV.

3

At one point #mancvarsity was the second highest trending Manchester related topic. (Behind City)

1

Yellow card for Liverpool’s Kingsley-Smith.

15

Years of glory for UofM.

55

Points scored by women.

7000+

Estimated beers consumed

SPORT

6th OCTOBER 2014/ ISSUE 04 FREE

MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Men’s Varsity report

P.30

Women’s Varsity report

: @Mancunion_Sport : /TheMancunion

WWW.MANCUNION.COM

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KOP that Liverpool UoM resume business as usual with both teams beating Liverpool

men well ahead on the night, converting two penalties and two conversions just to keep Liverpool out of reach.

The match ended 20-3 to Manchester—a job well done for another year it would seem.

There was some bad news for Manchester on the night with Josh Barton suffering what is suspected to be a broken ankle early on in the match. The centre received a standing ovation from the crowd and UMRFC tweeted ‘Hearts out to [number] 12 Josh Barton who has a suspected broken ankle.

Put in two huge hits in the short time he was on the field #theboycanplay.’

All at Mancunion Sport wish Josh a speedy recovery!

Beyond the match there were the usual hi-jinks of Varsity. Admittedly the chants were muted between the two teams, ‘you Scouse Bastard’ being the most common taunt from the Purple legion who had their ‘red brick’ hymn-book rendered useless.

The atmosphere was by no means flat, however, with both teams banging on the steel tin stands, cheerleaders, flares being set off and the occasional streaker and a fight thrown in for good measure. And of course who can forget the Sale Shark and Bee mascots who had their fair share of fun with the streakers and crowd alike.

Liverpool cannot be overlooked for what they contributed to this Varsity.

With MMU dropping out they were the only real options to play, and they fulfilled the role magnificently. Gracious in defeat in the women’s game, and a testing opponent in the men’s, they created a spectacle that all in the ground enjoyed. They also bought a greater amount of away fans than traditionally expected, despite the 45 minute journey.

So, once again, Manchester didn’t disappoint and the Varsity staked its claim to be one of the top University Sporting events of the year.

Andrew Georgeson Sport Editor Both Manchester teams strolled to victory in the first North-West derby, with UoM picking up from where they left off against Man Met last season.

Pre-game tensions were high with both teams essentially going into the unknown, as the game is not a regular fixture. Manchester men’s last match again Liverpool ended in defeat in the Christie cup.

However, the women’s team set the tone with an emphatic 55-0 score line, the largest in recent years for both men and women, with the men following it up by winning 20-3.

It never really looked in doubt for the Ladies team, by the time Mancunion Sport sorted out technical difficulties with our live blog they found themselves 14-0 up.

Indeed, it took Liverpool until the very closing stages of the game to get into Manchester’s 22, and when they did finally cross the whitewash they were held up by Manchester’s defence Shutler was the stand out performer.

The scrum half racked up a hat trick to make it five tries in the past two varsities.

Stacey-Jo Webster was also a constant presence in the pack, making some tremendous hits throughout the game and turning over possession several times.

The men’s match was a slightly closer affair.

It was a very different looking team to the one fielded last season. Manchester have a new coach in the form of Rick Spencer and Captain Danny Kennedy admitted in the programme notes that the team were unfortunate to lose as many players as they have from last year’s XV. The inexperience showed as it took until nearly a quarter of the way through the first half for Staunton to cross, despite Manchester probably shading the opening exchanges.

It was Mancunion Sport’s man of the match Owen Waldin who kept the

Continue inside for in-depth analysis of the two games.

Photo: Sport Manchester