Issue 20

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MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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19th MARCH 2018 / LAST ISSUE

Revealed: Students’ Poo-nion Outgoing General Secretary says the smell “does keep us on our toes, as you never know where the smell is going to strike next” Kirstie O’Mahony Editor-in-Chief The Mancunion can reveal why the Students’ Union building has been smelling of faeces for the past three months.

Outgoing General Secretary, Alex Tayler, told The Mancunion that it’s being caused by the new heating and cooling system that has been installed as part of the ongoing refurbishments.

He explained: “we have had a drainage company come on-site to inspect the sub-duct (trust me, that is as nice as it sounds) below the building in various locations, and as a result of this inspection they’ve identified a number of areas where there are caps missing (which would keep the smell in the drains) to the main drain.”

He added that the work to replace the caps would take place over the Easter Break, so as to cause minimal disruption to students.

When asked if staff were aware of the smell, he insisted that they very much were. As are students; second year Law student Mark Gibbons told The Mancunion, “I’ve noticed the smell as you come right in… I’ve grown accustomed to it though.”

Fatima Abid, incoming General Secretary of the Students’ Union, found it a bit more invasive.

“I’ve noticed it, and I don’t feel good about it. I tend to avoid certain places, like usually I would avoid this place [Biko Street]… but yeah, it’s really bad”.

When asked if other people had mentioned it to her too, she said that whenever she asked people to meet her at the Union, they would respond by saying “oh but it smells!”

She also said that she was put off from eating there whilst using the building for her volunteering projects, When her predecessor Alex was asked what he personally thought of the smell, he conceded that it is clearly “unpleasant”.

He continued: “it does keep us on our toes, as you never

Bin to be named after Sir Nick Clegg

University of Manchester not ruling out exam disruption The official strike timetable for the new wave of industrial action is set to be announced on the week commencing Monday the 19th of March Cameron Broome Head News Editor

know where the smell is going to strike next.”

He also mentioned that the SU have so far been unwilling to invest in measures to mask the smell. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 states that persisting bad odours constitutes a statutory nuisance and is punishable by a fine of up to £500 a day.

When asked why the Union had not yet made any efforts to mask the smell, a spokesperson told The Mancunion that, “some of the smells have been easier to tackle and the vast majority of them have now been removed by the new, more efficient extraction system. The remaining smells can only be dealt with whist the building is in less use over the Easter Holidays as it will require us to close large portions of the basement floor and Club Academy.”

Alex Tayler said that whilst they hadn’t done anything up until now, “if the smell persists then we will consider mitigating action particularly as we move into the warmer months.”

On a more optimistic note, he also said that the Union is “looking forward to welcoming students back into what should be a slightly less smelly building in April.”

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In conversation with Brian Cox

The University of Manchester has not ruled out disruption to summer exams after University and College Union (UCU) and Universities UK (UUK) failed to come to an agreement in the ongoing pensions dispute.

“Detailed preparations” are being made for 14 days of strikes to be held during the exam period of May and June, according to union leaders.

On Thursday the 15th of March, University College and Union called for members who currently hold external examiner positions at the 65 institutions involved in strike action to resign and not accept any new posts until the dispute is resolved.

A University spokesperson said: “We expect all eligible students to be able to graduate or progress to the next year of study as planned. We will continue to review the situation as it develops.”

UCU said external examiners resigning would cause universities a number of specific problems around the setting and marking of exams.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said:

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“We are calling on external examiners to resign their positions at those universities in dispute over plans to slash staff pensions. External examiners ensure the rigorous quality standards in our universities, which must be upheld.

“No student or university will want the quality of their degree called into question, so we advise universities’ representatives to get back round the table with us as soon as possible to get this dispute resolved.”

External examiners agree the setting of questions, moderate exam results and ensure that institutions’ assessment procedures are rigorous.

The union has issued guidance and a template resignation letter for members and said they must provide the relevant institution with due notice of termination, as specified under the terms of their contract.

The dispute centres on UUK’s proposals to slash the benefits of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension scheme, which UCU claim leave a typical lecturer almost £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than under the current setup. continued on page 2...

Mansplainers are intellectually crippled

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ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Disabled students forced to queue for exam support

Incoming Education Officer says students “shouldn’t have to choose between education and support”

Music p14 ‘Goodbye my lover’: the 2017/18 Editorial team’s favourite songs

Games p15 Interview: Manchesterbased White Paper Games

Image: PublicDomainPictures @ Pixabay

Hana Jafar Senior News Reporter Students needing exam support have allegedly been told by the Disability service that they will have to queue to receive support on a “first-come-first-serve” basis.

Olivia Meisl, incoming Students’ Union Education Officer and final year student registered with the service claimed that she had a “needlessly distressing interaction” with support staff. Meisl was told verbally that due to three members of staff being absent, and two others on strike, students would have to physically queue up in order to secure exam support.

According to their website, exam support provided by the Disability, Advisory and Support Service (DASS) is given to students who register by the given deadlines before each exam period in January, May, and August. For exams in May, this deadline is

Editors’ style guide

Striking lecturers host teach-outs in the ‘Great USS Pensions Strike of 2018’ Over the four weeks of strikes against the actions on pensions, some staff and students have taken it upon themselves to fill the gap in engagement

Photo: Jasmine Ketch-Neumann

Hana Jafar Senior News Reporter Staff across schools at the University of Manchester have launched a series of public teach-outs taking place throughout the weeks of industrial strike action, as part of a protest against the USS pension scheme.

The informal talks are not intended to replace missed course material, but as an alternative form of teaching and learning

to encourage discourse, often with a socio-political focus. They may address the marketisation of higher education, or explore the historical context of past protest movements.

A recent teach-out hosted by the English Literature and American Studies department was held on Thursday the 8th of March in a packed room at the Students’ Union, with almost forty students and academics sitting, standing, and kneeling

Thousands of students across the country have signed petitions demanding compensation for the loss of teaching.

Many have also begun to e-mail University management teams to express concerns about the impact the disruption will have on their grades and have made inquiries about mitigating circumstances requests.

In a response given to various students through e-mail, Michael Greenhalgh, Director of Communications and Marketing at the University of Manchester, said: “I appreciate and understand your concern about the potential impact of industrial action on your studies.

“As you are aware UCU and UUK are now

Cameron Broome Head News Editor

Editor-in-Chief: Kirstie O’Mahony editor@mancunion.com Deputy Editor: Tristan Parsons deputyed@mancunion.com News Editor: Cameron Broome Deputy Editors: Rosa Simonet and Amy Wei E: news@mancunion.com Science & Technology Editor: Aliyah Ismangil E: science@mancunion.com Features Editor: Catherine Bray Deputy Editor: Raine Beckford E: features@mancunion.com Opinion Editor: Jacklin Kwan E: opinion@mancunion.com

Photo: Kirstie O’Mahony

Film Editor: Eloise Wright Deputy Editor: Jamie McEvoy E: film@mancunion.com @MancunionFilm Fashion and Beauty Editor: Talia Lee-Skudder Deputy Editors: Amy Nguyen and Sophie Alexandra-Walsh E: fashion@mancunion.com @MancunionFash

Games Editor: Jeremy Bijl E: games@mancunion.com Food & Drink Editor: Anokhi Shah Deputy Editor: Daisy Tolcher E: foodanddrink@mancunion.com Arts Editor: Cicely Ryder-Belson E: arts@mancunion.com Theatre Editor: Sophie Graci E: theatre@mancunion.com

Music Editor: Hannah Brierley Deputy Editor: Yasmin Duggal E: music@mancunion.com @MancunionMusic

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Fuels.

Ella Aurora, a second year student in attendance spoke to The Mancunion about how the teach-outs created “a sense of a community of people who share a love for academia and a desire to defend it [sic]”.

Other teach-outs are scheduled to take place during strike days in cafes, bars, and inns. These are not limited just to talks, but poetry readings, discussions, and historical walking tours.

Many other Universities are following the same practice, with the likes of Cambridge, UCL, Oxford, Leeds, and Cardiff University hosting teach-outs alongside the National four week staff walk outs. With recent negotiations between Universities UK (UUK) and The University and Colleges Union (UCU) resulting in a continued strike, students across 61 Universities in the UK are increasingly worried about the impact of industrial action on their education.

Striking staff are not allowed to answer e-mails during strike days, teach course material, or assist with any course related queries. Some lecturers and tutors are allegedly making appearances at recruitment panels, rearranging missed lectures, or releasing podcasts. However, the majority of striking faculty members are refusing to reschedule missed lectures, maintaining their stance on pensions and industrial action.

Also proposed for the March Senate is a restructure of The Mancunion

meeting with ACAS. UUK has offered to meet at any time and it was agreed at the meeting on the 6th March that USS would need to cost the latest UCU proposals.

“As a University we would be prepared to consider an increase to the already very significant employers’ contribution as part of an agreed solution, although we realise that this could be difficult for some other universities.

“I can assure you that we want to see a resolution to this difficult situation and as was stated publicly on Friday 2 March, the President will do everything she can to protect the interests of all current and future generations of staff and students.”

@MancunionOp

wherever space was available. Talks covered a myriad of subjects from grime rap in the courtroom to the politics of sugary desserts in literature.

Eithne Quinn, one of the academics contributing to the teach-out called it a “special event” offering a chance for “powerful political critique”.

Noelle Gallagher, head of the English Literature department delivered a talk called “Why study Literature of the Past?”.

She commented that teach-outs were about making research work “visible and explicit” and highlighted the pressure that academics often faced in having to prove that their work was ‘relevant’ in the increasing marketisation of education.

Her talk argued that perceived “cultural capital” posed a risk of “forgetting” important issues, using the example of Jane Austen’s ‘photoshopped’ image on the ten pound note to illustrate the glamorisation of figures in Literature.

Academics were not the only speakers.

Two final year students also played a video of University of Manchester Chancellor Lemn Sissay performing his poem ‘Making A Difference’ which was released at the Social Responsibility Awards in May. Their commentary of the poem emphasised the supposedly ironic nature of the poem, in light of increasing marketisation of education, and the University of Manchester’s refusal to divest from Fossil

Bin to be named after Sir Nick Clegg

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4PM on Thursday the 22nd of March.

Over 4,300 students (more than 11 per cent of the student population) are registered with the Disability, Advisory and Support Service (DASS), for physical disabilities, mental illnesses, sensory impairments and learning difficulties. DASS provides many of these students with additional support during exams, like rest breaks, assistive software, and extra time.

Meisl claimed that she was directed to a formal complaints procedure, and received a response explaining that students who do not get an exam support appointment by the deadline can submit a case to DASS. Invalid cases would be only given the option to submit mitigating circumstances to their school. This was at odds with what Meisl was told, and she told The Mancunion: “Even if this is a miscommunication from

an individual team member at DASS, it is not acceptable that they haven’t received full training and aren’t aware of how the disability service works when they are working with some of the university’s most vulnerable students. [sic]”, adding that it was also unacceptable to ask disabled students to queue when they had other commitments. Meisl stressed that “students with disabilities should not be fighting for the support they are entitled to.”

Dorian Gordon, part-time disabled students’ officer echoed this sentiment, commenting that forcing students to queue “pits one student against another for essential support”. Gordon added that they believed DASS needed to be “entirely restructured” and given more financial support from the University.

According to a University spokesperson, The DASS website emphasises that disabled students should contact them early for exam support, as the service often gets busy close to exam time.

Former disabled students’ officer and Neuroscience PhD student Nayab Begum stressed that DASS “should be more flexible with deadlines”, explaining that, especially during a strike, when students’ learning is being disrupted, support deadlines should be extended.

Begum added that there should be contingencies in place to cover for staff in the event of absences, and that exam support should be automatic. Instead of having to apply for support, Begum suggested that students should be given the option to “opt out” if they didn’t feel that they needed the support.

She also commented on the fact that the University needed to step in and support DASS, and that DASS needed to be direct and transparent about their shortfalls. “The higher up you take things, the more that they listen,” Begum said, concluding that she believed that there should be a local forum for disability support services and that the increased collaboration would strengthen support.

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ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

@mancunion_sport Chief Subeditor: Jack Casey Subeditors: Joal Ansbro, Daniel O’Byrne, Ciara Gartshore, David Cheetham, Murphy Mortier, Isaac Kay-Lavelle Letters & Complaints: complaints@ mancunion.com Legal: legal@mancunion.com Advertising: Paul Parkes E: paul.parkes@manchester.ac.uk Phone: 0161 275 2942 The Mancunion @themancunion Photo: Liberal Democrats @ Flickr

A bin in the Students’ Union building could be named after former Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg.

A motion has been proposed for the SU Senate on the 22nd of March to name a rubbish bin on the ground floor of SU building after the former Liberal Democrat leader.

The number of rooms available in the SU building to name after important figures is decreasing, the motion claims, following the re-naming of Academy 2 to Academy X at a Senate earlier in the year as a tribute to human rights activist Malcolm X. The policy proposal reads: “Sir Nick Clegg’s actions have caused significant impact on the students of Manchester.

He helped usher in £9000 tuition fees which has helped us to focus our minds on us being consumers of a product, the “student experience”, “employ-ability” and seeing higher education as a marketplace where unprofitable courses, or those teaching ideas not necessary for the marketplace are closed and those who teach them sacked.

“Sir Nick Clegg’s actions have caused significant impact on the political landscape of Manchester. Before he was Deputy PM, the Liberal democrats had 1 MP in Manchester and a third of the councillors. Now they have 1 councillor.

“This Union believes...naming a rubbish bin after Sir Nick Clegg would be a suitable tribute to his impact on the student experience.”

Nick Clegg has so far not responded to requests for comment.

Two other motions have been proposed for the upcoming Senate.

One motion has been proposed to that states that “Fuse FM should have a dedicated space at every Pangaea festival.”

The proposal argues that this was a past successful policy and that it would continue to strengthen the bond between the Students’ Union and student media.

It notes: “Their theme for the room, will, like everything else, go through the Pangaea committee for approval. However, they will be in charge of the musical offering and decoration.

This would ensure that current students at this university get a prime space to demonstrate their skills and dedication to Union media.

“UMSU has given priority to external groups and promoters in the past, to the detriment of current students.”

The other motion relates to The Mancunion and proposes created a separate dedicated team to focus on print and online respectively.

The online team will work on a day-to-day basis creating and uploading content for The Mancunion website, whereas the print team will design the paper at the end of the week.

The proposal argues that “ The Mancunion’ s current working structure is outdated and not fit for purpose.”

It notes: “At the moment we are struggling to keep up with our competitors, such as The Tab and the MEN as our news cycle does not always allow for an immediate response.

“As a publication, we should be responsive to news and events and give updates to students in a timely fashion. Working week by week currently does not allow us to do that.

“We also believe that The Mancunion should be modern and accessible for all students. Lastly, we think that this restructure will encourage more contributors to join, particularly those interested in design and news.

“The final product will largely remain unchanged, in that we will have 20 issues a year with 32 pages in each issue. However, the proposed restructure will allow the quality and quantity of content to drastically improve, thereby giving our readers improved value.”

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ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Brian Cox: abolish first-year exams

The professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester said he doesn’t care if his first-year students pass their exams

Photo: FuseTV

Amy Wei Deputy News Editor Brian Cox has stated that he wants to abolish first-year exams at the University of Manchester.

Cox, a professor of particle physics at the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said that professors “talk about it quite a lot”.

The University of Middlesex became the

first university to abolish first-year exams in 2004, after first-year drop-out rates rose to 25 per cent.

“That would be something I would like to see,” Cox told The Mancunion in an interview.

Professor Brian Cox told The Mancunion that he supports the scrapping of exams “because I want students to come to university and be faced with an existential crisis, which is like:

‘why am I here?’ Because I’m not here to pass the exam, because there isn’t one.”

“So therefore, what am I doing? And of course, physics students are here to learn about nature — that’s actually what you’re here to do. You’re not here to pass the exam.

“I actually don’t care if my first-year students pass the exam or not.

“I mean, I know that it’s a mechanism by which if you really fail, you get thrown out. But I don’t really care about that. I care about people enjoying the act of learning and understanding, because that’s what you really need to do well.”

Some Russell group universities, including Birmingham and York, have already abolished exam assessments from entire courses.

Hundreds of courses at newer universities have also abandoned examinations.

Earlier this academic year, Cambridge University announced they are seeking to scrap all written exams across all their courses.

Critics have warned the decline of exams in UK universities was “dumbing down” degrees, and could result in an increase in academic plagiarism.

When asked if he was worried that abolishing exams would cause first-year students to slack off, Cox dismissed the fear.

“I don’t worry about that, because there might be a small minority, but […] I came here to learn about stuff! You know, I didn’t come here to pass exams, I wanted to know about astronomy. So I think most people are like that, especially at a university like Manchester.

“There’s quite a selection effect operating, you’ve obviously done well, you are good enough to be here when you’re here. So there’s not a problem with your intellectual capability, so if there’s a problem with your motivation, that’s something that’s going to

stay with you, actually. It’s going to cause you problems later in life.

“If you have this opportunity to come to a university like this, and be exposed to so many ideas and have so many opportunities, and you choose to spend it all in the bar, then I think that you’ve got some other problems.

“So, I think actually being given that responsibility and freedom is probably a more important gift than continuing along the line that you had at school. Which is: why are you at school? To pass the exam. Why are you at university? Not to pass the exam, actually — to learn about stuff.”

With a laugh, the professor clarified: “I’m not saying get a third.”

A second-year undergraduate at the University of Manchester expressed doubts to The Mancunion about the idea: “I think [exams] are a good practice so you know what’s coming in second year.”

Laura Swain, an English Literature undergraduate, agreed: “I do feel they perhaps help in giving you the experience of what to expect from an exam at university, so you are not completely oblivious when you have exams that actually count towards your degree in second year.”

This discussion comes after the Universities and Colleges Union’s (UCU) announcement on Tuesday, the 13th of March, that they intend to escalate USS strikes to potentially disrupt May exam season across Russell group universities in the UK. Brian Cox himself is participating in the strike.

Sally Hunt, the Union’s general secretary, said: “The strike action for this week remains on and we will now make detailed preparations for strikes over the assessment and exam period.

“We want urgent talks with the universities’ representatives to try and find a way to get this dispute resolved.”

Degrees to be rated gold, silver and bronze in new scheme “You can’t measure education like this”, says outgoing Education Officer Emma Atkins Nicole Wootton-Cane Senior Main Campus Reporter The government is proposing to introduce a new system that will see degree courses rated gold, silver, and bronze by quality.

The scheme will rate courses subject by subject and builds on the Teaching Excellence Framework ranking that announced its first results in June.

The new scheme is to be piloted with 50 universities, but the results will not be live for students to consult until 2020.

Universities Minister Sam Gyimah told the BBC that under the system “universities will no longer be able to hide if their teaching quality is not up to the world-class standard that we expect”.

However, the National Union of Students (NUS) are anxious about the scheme’s link to the TEF and said: “Unfortunately the Teaching Excellence Framework does little to measure teaching excellence and extending it to subject level won’t solve the problem”.

The announcement comes after thousands of students plan to boycott the National Student

Photo: Johannessorger @ Wikimedia Commons

Survey (NSS) for a second year running due to its links to the TEF. The TEF’s initial aim was to grade universities and Bronze, Silver or Gold based on the quality of teaching. Following this, TEF was to link Gold and Silver status with raising tuition fees.

However, after strong student opposition from the first NSS boycott, the House of Lords demanded that the link between the TEF and tuition fees should be severed.

Currently, the link still exists but has been delayed until 2020 when tuition fees could be unfrozen.

The TEF is currently under an independent review.

Education officer Emma Atkins called the new system ‘subjectlevel TEF’ and told The Mancunion: “You can’t measure education like this, it shouldn’t ever be linked to fees and you can’t put all the complexities of education into 3 boxes”.

The government has launched a consultation into the way the new system will operate, which is expected to last 10 weeks.

The University of Manchester has been contacted for comment.

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Open Mind Manchester launch peer mentor scheme Photo: Open Mind Manchester

The student society has set up a new scheme that aims to provide a supplementary support system to those already in place at the University Aliya Ismangil Science and Technology Editor Open Mind Manchester, a student society set up last year, have recently launched a new Peer Mentor Scheme which aims to provide students with extra peer-to-peer mental health support.

The scheme is open to any who feel they may benefit and is designed to be a supplementary support system alongside the University’s Counselling Service and other external health services.

When asked why the scheme is important for students, Lauren Goodfellow, Communications Officer of the society, told The Mancunion, “whilst the uni excels in providing academic peer support, the emotional support can be lacking. It can be difficult for students to get a Counselling Service appointment, and the NHS waiting lists are drastically long due to underfunding.

“With this scheme, we hope to be able to support students from a relatable place and facilitate them in seeking professional help either through Uni or through other avenues.”

Though this scheme is in no way a replacement for the University of Manchester Counselling Service or other professional services, Open Mind have worked closely with the Service and the mental health charity, Manchester Mind, to develop the scheme. “[The Counselling Service] were really supportive of the scheme, offered me some training in managing groups,” said Caitlin McWilliams, a coordinator of the Open Mind. “I was aware that because we wanted to support students around their mental health, we would need the Mentors to have training in supportive techniques specific to mental health issues.

“Open Mind was then able to commission some Peer Mentor training from Manchester Mind. I am proud to say that we now have a fabulous group of

Open Mind Mentors who are ready to be matched [with] any current student who would benefit from some peer support or guidance.”

A recent report by the Higher Education Statistics Agency has revealed that University dropout rates in the UK have risen for the third year in a row.

Figures show that 6.4 per cent of students who started university in 2015, didn’t make it to the end of their second year, an increase from the 5.7 per cent in the year before. Among the worst affected universities, up to one in five students drop out before their second year.

Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank, suspects that these rising rates could be due to the increase of in the intake of students from underrepresented groups that may not be getting the extra support they need. A peer to peer scheme like this one could be the missing link.

Lauren Goodfellow said: “pressure, loneliness and isolation are key factors for students dropping out of University. Hopefully, the programme will support students who have these feelings and the Mentor will be able to alleviate some of these factors.

“In my own experience, just having someone listen to you can be extremely helpful when it comes to mental health. We want to be there to listen to students.”

Jessica Hill, also coordinator of the Peer Mentor scheme, shares some optimistic sentiments over the scheme’s launch: “it’s so exciting to see everything coming together in this scheme! We have a great team of volunteer mentors and couldn’t have asked for a better level of enthusiasm and passion for the scheme. I cannot wait to see it grow and develop and I believe it’s going to be great!”

If you’d like to become an Open Mind mentor for the next academic year, you can email your interest to outreachmcr@openmindnetwork.co.uk.

Image: University of Manchester

UoM alumna gets certificate 80 years after graduation

Centenarian receives her University of Manchester graduation certificate for her 101st birthday Michael Bahrami-Hessari Reporter Catherine Palmer (née Bolton) has finally obtained her University of Manchester graduate certificate, 80 years after graduating.

The document was officially presented to her during her 101st birthday. Her daughter Alison arranged the surprise for her.

Catherine, from Southport, was born in 1917 and entered the Victoria University in Manchester in 1935. As a student, she resided at the Ashburne Hall in Fallowfield and was quite active in University organizations. She sang in the choir and was part of the fencing and athletics clubs.

Upon graduation in 1938, she received a first class degree in English, and attended the graduation ceremonies but never

received her certificate. The impending war also meant she also had to immediately move to Glasgow for wartime placements.

After the war, she taught English at the NW Polytechnic in London (now the University of London) and in grammar schools. She had numerous international students among them a future president of the University of Bristol’s student union and a government minister of St. Lucia in the Caribbean.

She had a long and fulfilling teaching career and has three children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A true outdoorswoman, she embarked on a trekking and whitewater rafting adventure in the Himalayas when she was 75. Today, she walks her dog everyday and lives a very independent life.

A year in review

Why are students disinterested in the Students’ Union?

Unsuccessful Activities and Development Officer candidate, Ant Menezes, says there is a growing divide between students and Exec Officers Lucinda Obank News Contributor Student voting remained low for this year’s Students’ Union Executive Officer elections, with a turnout of just 19.8 per cent. Although higher than last year’s 16 per cent, it was a lot lower than 2015’s peak turnout of 34.4 per cent.

Yet, these statistics don’t seem reflective of the volume of students concerned by recent issues across campus and student areas of the city that SU officers are positioned to address.

During a semester which has seen students riled by the disruption of the UCU strikes, the closure of Antwerp Mansion, ongoing safety concerns in Fallowfield, and thousands taking to the streets of the university campaigning against sexual violence and gender discrimination, what is preventing students from voting in the elections where candidates have explicitly outlined their proposals to confront these issues?

After speaking to students, there seems to be a general lack in understanding about the role the Students’ Union plays and its power as an institution to impose change on

campus. Despite being the largest Students’ Union in the country, many I spoke to admitted to only entering the the Students’ Union building for a coffee or a slice of cake, or not at all.

Many remain blissfully unaware of the services it offers: a platform for creating campaigns and funding opportunities, student media outlets, advice on academia/ finance/housing/wellbeing, supporting the wide range of societies on campus, volunteering and charity work, a resource hub providing training from finance to fundraising, an Insight Department conducting research related to students and lots more. This may be a vital reason for poor voter turnout, as many students remain disengaged in the functioning of the Students’ Union.

Students also expressed doubt in the Exec officers’ ability to make a difference, and believed the painfully slow process of changing things at university made voting “pointless.” As many students feel little has been done recently in relation to the strikes they have started to question their capacity to intervene. Third year student Rebecca Neary commented that changes will be

made long after they have left so voting won’t make any difference to their life at university.

Another belief expressed was that the members of the Exec team are unrelatable — that they are too broad in their plans, and the ways they will go about issues are unclear.

Anthony Menezes ran for Activities and Development Officer, but lost to Lizzy Haughton by 20 votes. He told The Mancunion : “students are completely indifferent to who wins the annual exec elections. This is because there is a growing divide between officers and students students don’t feel like they can easily communicate with an officer if they have an issue. There aren’t enough opportunities for the students and officers to mingle.”

During the campaign, he said he tried to remain approachable and emphasised he would remain so if successful.

When speaking to students who did vote, the majority did so because they knew a friend campaigning and so voted for them, not necessarily because of their plans when running.

Student Hattie Willicombe said, “I voted because they were giving out free lollypops”,

and Saskia Casanova added: “I voted because I got a free cupcake”. When talking further to these students they revealed that their voting was random and they only did so because of the free food.

However, they did express an interest in the elections but felt it was difficult to find information on the candidates and suggested that perhaps a campaign video would be useful to watch which goes through the candidates individually. They felt that coming in during lectures and shouting information was not effective in trying to gain votes.

Alex Tayler, the outgoing General Secretary, told The Mancunion after this year’s election that he was impressed with the results, despite the turnout percentage not matching up to other universities.

“Given the issues around the building works, strike action, and terrible weather, I think it’s impressive that we’ve managed to increase on last year.”

He added that another factor may have been that “some people were put off by the crap that comes with student politics”.

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Science and Tech

ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Manchester river has world’s highest level of microplastics

This study is the first of its kind and has left Manchester researchers calling for tighter regulations on urban water waste management

Preview: Street Drugs in the Northern Powerhouse The University of Manchester is to hold a symposium to discuss current recreational drug policies Niall Johnston Science and Technology Reporter

Photo: University of Manchester

Meredith Sherock Science and Technology Reporter Researchers from the University of Manchester’s Department of Geography recently measured the world’s highest microplastic pollution in Manchester’s Tame river. These pollutants, they argue, were flushed from urban rivers into nearby oceans after major flooding events.

Microplastics include small plastic debris, such as microbeads, microfibres, and plastic fragments. They are derived from various sources – including certain cosmetics, clothing, and industrial waste. Once these microplastics enter ecosystems, they can transfer harmful chemicals into the food chain.

“If the bed sediment matrix is contaminated with microplastics, it poses a significant threat to the health of the entire riverine ecosystem,” the research team — Rachel Hurley, Jamie Woodward, and James Rothwell — explained.

Until now, microplastic contamination has only been tied to land sources. This study is the first to consider the roles of water storage and movement. Professor Jamie Woodward, head of the Department of Geography, states: “Microplastics in the ocean have recently attracted a lot of attention, but until now science knew little about the

Machine learning improves simulated chimpanzee movement

major sources of this pollution and the transport process involved.”

After sampling 40 sites across Greater Manchester, the team found substantial plastic contamination in all but one location. These areas included all types of sites, from seemingly safe rural headwaters to urban rivers in city centres.

The researchers also analysed how floods affect microplastic movement. They sampled these sites before and after the major flooding events of 2015-2016, which included the largest recorded regional flood during Boxing Day that winter. They found that the floods removed 70 per cent of plastics from riverbeds and totally eradicated plastic pollution in seven sites.

But where did these microplastics go? The team discovered that when microbeads are flushed from rivers during flooding, they move into nearby oceans. Here in northwest England, river channels drain into the Irish Sea. This study links microplastics from urban river channels to growing oceanic pollution. With this new knowledge at hand, the team called for stronger regulations on urban water waste management.

This study adds another perspective to discussions on plastic policy. The UK recently passed restrictions on microbeads this year, the US put these restrictions in place in 2015. Such proposals are currently pending in Canada, Australian, and across the EU.

Photo: University of Manchester

University of Manchester researchers use CT scan of a chimpanzee to improve a computer system model of the primates’ walk Fiona Batchelor Science and Technology Reporter Scientists at The University of Manchester are using a scan of a real chimpanzee to improve a computer’s ability to simulate the primate’s walk.

Computer-generated animal simulations can be greatly improved by a few simple changes, in this case from the information provided by a CT scan of an adult male chimp.

In research being published in Royal Society Open Science Journal, the researchers are utilising machine learning, an artificial intelligence application whereby a system learns to carry out a task through experience, rather than being explicitly programmed.

The machine learning algorithm has previously used knowledge of the animal skeleton to reconstruct the ‘gait’ of the animal, the way in which an animal moves on foot. The previous computer system produced models that closely resembled the movement of a chimpanzee, but they were not yet perfect.

Using the additional information from a CT scan, the researchers have been able to map out not only the skeleton of the chimpanzee, but the skin, joints and muscle paths. Providing the computer system with this information allows it to learn and produce a much more realistic simulation of the chimpanzee’s gait.

The new simulation has also shed light on an interesting development in the understanding of how animals walk, the study of which is part of evolutionary biomechanics. It has previously been thought that animals

evolved to travel in the way that is the most energy efficient.

However, the researchers from the University of Manchester are using the new chimpanzee model to demonstrate that this is not always the case. When ‘lateral stability’ was increased in their computer simulation, it made the chimpanzee’s gait less energy efficient but resulted in greater realism and accuracy of the chimpanzee’s movement.

The scientists believe this may be explained by the importance of primates’ stability when moving through the trees - many primates have a similarly ‘curious’ gait to chimpanzees when walking on the ground.

Professor Bill Sellers, from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, explains: “The realism of the gait produced by the chimpanzee model is considerably enhanced by including a lateral stability and it is highly likely that this is an important evolutionary development.

This enhanced lateral stability comes at a moderate energetic cost however, and this cost would need to be outweighed by other adaptive advantages.”

“As technology has advanced and with musculoskeletal models becoming increasingly sophisticated, previous simulation models are becoming extremely unrealistic in relation to gait patterns so we have to adapt the way we think and research” This research is not only aiding scientists in understanding how our evolutionary relatives — the primates — have adapted to walk, run, and swing from the trees. It is also increasing our understanding of how the technology itself works, and what capacity it might have.

Machine learning is increasingly being applied to a range of scientific disciplines, a may have huge potential in other biological fields beyond the evolutionary biomechanics featured in this research.

Conversations about the use and regulation of recreational drugs have always been wrought with controversy. The dominant narrative in the mainstream media and from the government is one of protecting the public through stricter legislation on drug users and suppliers.

The argument goes that these substances cause harm to the body and society. But an upcoming symposium at the University of Manchester aims to look at such drugs in a totally different way, which could provide benefits that are currently inconceivable.

The symposium, being held on the 28th March, invites you to rethink ‘street’ drugs and explore their use in the medical setting. Hosted by the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health in collaboration with the British Association of Psychopharmacology, ‘Street Drugs in the Northern Powerhouse: Perspective and Policy’, will bring together leading experts in drug research and policy for a day of talks, discussions and Q and As. The event will brief the audience on the clinical benefits of ‘street’ drugs such as cannabis and psilocybin, the active chemical in LSD and magic mushrooms, which have increasingly come under the lens of scientific study. Through the work of scientists like Professor Val Curran, who will be at the symposium, these drugs or their derivatives have been found to be effective against a range of diseases and conditions from depression to chronic pain.

Current drug laws, however, mean it is hard to envisage medicines containing these drugs becoming accessible to patients anytime soon. In 2016 the Psychoactive Substances Act put a blanket ban on any substance said to have a stimulatory or depressive effect on an individual.

This event will look closely at ramifications of legislating against drugs and explore the interaction of prohibition with their risks and potential benefits. Andrew Costello of the Greater Manchester Police and Neil Woods, a former undercover drugs officer and chair of LEAP, both have frontline experience of putting drug legislation into practice and will be speaking at the event.

A high profile speaker also on the line-up is Professor David Nutt who currently works at University College London. Professor Nutt is a wellknown figure in drug debates, famously highlighting statistics that show horse riding to be more dangerous than taking ecstasy to advocate for a more scientifically driven drug policy, the topic of his talk.

This event is poignant as it comes amidst a wave of legalisations for the medical use of cannabis in countries such as Canada, Australia and several states in the US. Although the UK is very far from such legislation at the moment, this symposium reflects a growing number of voices calling for a different approach to drug policy in the UK. This event will take place on Wednesday, 28 March 2018 in Roscoe Building, from 9.30am to 16.30pm and provides a unique opportunity to hear from leading experts on this controversial and very important topic.

Tickets (£10 for students, £15 for others) and a more information can be found on the e-store website: estore.manchester.ac.uk

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Science and Tech

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Muscle loss in old age brief history of linked to damaged nerves A Stephen Hawking

Researchers find weaker nerve signals are associated with muscle loss but regular exercise delay such effects Michael Bahrami-Hessari Science and Technology Reporter Academics from the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Waterloo in Canada recently have uncovered that sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, is caused by the destruction of nerves.

Motor nerves are essential to bodily movement because they serve as passages for the electrical signals that control muscle contraction.

In a recently published paper, the group looked at 143 men of varying ages and measured the size of their quadricep (thigh) muscles using MRI scans.

Following this, electromyography was done to measure the electrical activity and size of surviving nerves. Results show that by the age of 75, nerve loss can be as high as 30-50%.

Unsurprisingly, people that suffered from sarcopenia had the least number of functional nerves.

However, the group also discovered that to compensate for the diminished number of nerves, the surviving ones could branch out and rescue the muscle fibres that had lost nervous connection.

This process, called motor unit remodelling occurs relatively early in the ageing process and may slow down or even prevent sarcopenia.

This phenomenon was observed more in older men who are more active than those who were more sedentary. This finding has been taken as further evidence of the benefits

of being physically active at an early age.

The study also discovered that young men had higher numbers of motor units than active, pre-sarcopenic and sarcopenic older men. A motor unit is made up of a nerve cell (neuron) and the muscle it stimulates. A group of motor units work together to move one muscle fibre.

However, active and pre-sarcopenic older men had larger but fewer motor units, which suggests muscle fibres are being salvaged through motor unit remodelling.

Scientists are yet to find out why nerve damage occurs with age, but it seems the effects of such damage can be slowed with regular exercise.

Another recently published study by researchers at King’s College London and the University of Birmingham also find that seniors who cycled regularly had greater muscle mass and strength than those who did not engage in such physical activity.

Active cyclists also had lower blood cholesterol levels and higher testosterone values. But perhaps most surprisingly, these individuals had immune systems comparable to people 30 years younger as revealed by their high T-cell counts.

T-cells are specialized immune cells that help fight off infections and are produced by the thymus. As we age, the thymus shrinks, and fewer T-cells are produced.

These two studies provide further evidence of the seemingly innumerable benefits of regular physical activity, especially for an ageing population.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet” Professor Stephen Hawking

Jordan Ross Science and Technology Reporter

On the morning of 14th March, Professor Stephen Hawking, a prominent theoretical Physicist and cultural icon, died peacefully, at home, aged 76.

At 21, Hawking was diagnosed with the fatal degenerative motor neurone disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Although this rendered him permanently severely paralysed, he outlived doctors’ initial 2-year life expectancy prediction by 53 years, refusing to allow his physical ailments impair his scientific endeavours.

Through this fierce and relentless rebuttal, Hawking transcended the ‘rational’ and ‘plausible’ to defiantly achieve scientific greatness. In doing so, he showcased the enormous capability of the human mind and inspired millions.

The former Cambridge Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a role also previously held

by Sir Issac Newton, authored the bestseller ‘A Brief History of Time’ and has penned many scientific theories and discoveries in his time, including ‘Hawking Radiation’, where black holes leak energy. This phenomenon occurs

close to the edge of the black hole, in an area called the event horizon and is caused by quantum interference. Hawking, along with Roger Penrose, also showed that if the ‘Big Bang’ occurred, it would have originated from an infinitely tiny point known as a ‘singularity’.

He theorised ‘mini-black holes’, which form during the ‘Big Bang’ and eventually lose mass and disappear in an energy-releasing blast. He became embroiled in a disagreement with Leonard Susskind known as the ‘information paradox’. Hawking argued ‘information’ pulled inside a black hole such as particles or light is forever lost if that black hole is destroyed. But eventually, Hawking accepted that information was not permanently lost.

University of Manchester Professor Brian Cox said: “He (was) a truly brilliant scientist and also a brilliant communicator.”

So farewell Professor Hawking, you are a real inspiration and an irreplaceable loss to the planet. In the words of Barack Obama: “Have fun out there among the stars.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Science and tech news around the world...

Sophie Boyd reports on key science stories from around the globe this week

Alien atmospheres created on Earth Scientists have recreated the chemistry of atmospheres on distant planets. They found that the hazes that cover Saturn’s moon, Titan, can be produced on a group of exoplanets known as super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Exoplanets orbit stars that are not the Sun. A John Hopkins University team replicated the atmospheres of nine potential planets to study the atmospheric chemistry. It showed that exoplanets may be capable of creating the foundations of life.

Future missions include the James Webb Space Telescope, due to launch next year, which will look more closely at exoplanets’ atmospheres and can hunt for signs of life.

World Health Organisation fear ‘Disease X’ could lead to a global pandemic The WHO has added ‘Disease X’ to a list of feared viruses that could cause a pandemic in the future. Others on the list include Ebola, Zika, Lassa fever and Sars which have already seen outbreaks.

However, Disease X differs from others on the list as it is a hypothetical virus which could potentially emerge in the future.

As a result, healthcare officials are planning for this unidentified threat with research and development preparedness.

Scientific advisor to the WHO committee, Mr Rottingen, said that Disease X could come from a variety of sources but would mostly be transmitted from an animal to humans.

‘Boaty McBoatface’ submarine survives Antarctic mission The nation’s most famous yellow submarine returned safely from a mission to swim under a 600m thick ice shelf in the Antarctic over a 48 hour period. Due to the nature of the environment, this was a high-risk mission.

This is an important step in exploring cavities beneath ice shelves as Boaty measured temperature, salinity, and mixing.

The submarine’s name was chosen after the most popular choice from an online poll to decide what to call the UK’s next ship, now the RRS Sir David Attenborough, was deemed inappropriate for the ship but allowed for this vessel.

Photo: University of Manchester

Read more online at mancunion.com...

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Features

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The raw deal

In conversation with:

Meet the creators of the beautiful, poignant and at many times tenacious queer and minority magazine: Raw Forms Kizzy Bray Head Features Editor Sam and Cal, the students behind the release of the queer and minority perspective magazine Raw Forms meet me in Foundation Coffee House in central Manchester. The café, where Cal works, has been host to the launch party for the first issue, and have helped the pair out a few times for a space to explore their new found venture.

It all began last summer. After having written for other magazines before, they both felt stifled by their editors, “we were sick of other people editing our work” Cal explains, “it got to the point where it wasn’t really our work anymore.” What they really wanted was a space of their own, to write what they wanted and to really have a voice. “We just thought, well, why don’t we do it? It was sort of on a whim.

“When I first moved to Manchester” Sam thinks, “well, it’s not like there wasn’t a critical queer community, but I found it completely inaccessible. There was just no wide variation of people that could all come together, to contribute to and to be critical in a way that other people can appreciate who are on the same wavelength.”

Setting up your own magazine is no simple task. Both Sam and Cal are in their third years of their respective university courses, Sam studies Economics at The University of Manchester, Cal studies International Fashion Promotion at Manchester Metropolitan University. Sam and Cal’s passion project began to take shape in July last year, and it took around six months to finish the first issue. Cal put this down to other commitments: “what with final year, and being so busy”. However, when you see what the guys have created through their hard work, dedication and a well needed bit of gusto, six months seems like a completely reasonable time-frame.

The magazine is a completely grassroots project. Cal does the photography, Sam and Cal both write and edit, and the contributors they have on board are mostly talented, creative and smart friends in their circles, who they knew would have something important to say.

“We have incredible friends, everyone who has contributed is so close to us but everything is publishable. We were really lucky I think because we could draw on them so much at the start.”

Keen not to replicate their previous editor’s over-editing, Sam adds: “Cal’s a photographer and I’m a musician. We were kind of like, okay, what can we do to have an excuse to explore more of these things” and by exploring their own creativity, this helps them explore others along the way. “Part of that has definitely been adopting an editing process that’s more working with people to help them create their own content rather than saying “do it this way”.

The first issue of Raw Forms they’ve titled ‘Spaces’. According to Cal, “we want our contributors to talk about whatever they want to talk about”, and the interpretation of the word ‘spaces’ was open.

Whatever that word resonated in the creators, be that ideas of “mental space, physical space and digital spaces”, was free for them to explore.

“It’s kind of like an anthology” Sam explains.

The pair rave about the cover girl for the first issue: Banji Chona.

“Her piece is about her dysphoria with living here and being afrocaribbean” Cal recalls. “Just the way she wrote it was so beautiful.”

“She’s an incredible human” Sam adds.

The first issue also includes a piece by Jamaal Monarch, a queer man in hip-hop. “Without even writing anything that’s so interesting.

He spoke about how certain music in hip-hop helped him come out” Sam reflects: “that’s not something you ever hear.”

Sam is adamant that, for now, the future of Raw Forms will stay in the city it was made for. “I would feel really sad if we were to make this in Manchester and then move straight away. To just move it to London is an insult to Manchester. If we were to effectively exploit Manchester’s queers scene and then just to be like “okay, we’ve got a brand now let’s move to London and make loads of money”, no, neither of us have thought of doing that”.

And anyway, Manchester has so much to give. With a bubbling work and social life of self-made opportunities by so many students, I asked Raw Forms if they had thought about who they’d love to work with if they got the chance.

Brian Cox

Professor Brian Cox reveals why he supports the UCU strikes and believes science is the antidote to authoritarianism He began with Richard Feynman, a great hero of his. “A Nobel cosmology and physics, of course, because that’s what I’m Amy Wei Deputy News Editor

Banji Chona for Raw Forms Photo: Cal McIntyre “Love For The Streets is one” Sam nods. “The homelessness charity.

It’s brilliant what they’ve done. But other than a few small NGOs not really. Working with the people we knew has been so much more fun than looking for big partnerships”.

“We don’t want to sell out” Cal adds.

“It’s time to not be vapid anymore and to put purpose into what you are doing. If everyone did it, the world would be an infinitely better place” Sam states, rather poetically. I can’t help but agree.

Purchase ‘Spaces’, the first issue of Raw Forms at: www.rawformsmagazine.com

An interview withWakelet: a more human media platform

An Interview with Jamil Khalil, Founder and CEO of Wakelet, a new media platform that offers people the ability to curate and organise the world’s information Felix-Hanif Banks Contributor If I had to picture the office of a tech start-up, Wakelet would fit the bill exactly. The beanbags, the fresh enthusiastic faces, and the whiteboard covered in words I had no hope of understanding. All of it made me feel I was amongst people who knew who they were, and what they were about. I sat down with Jamil Khalil, Wakelet’s Founder and CEO, and discussed how it all began, where it’s all

“It’s that which defines Wakelet, the organisation of a vast array of information, all contained in very easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing interface” headed, and what sets Wakelet apart from the pack.

“It’s not a social media platform,” Jamil was intent to reassure me, running me through the many ways his users have utilised Wakelet’s functionality.

What, then, is Wakelet? Essentially it allows users to take any sort of media, be that links, images, text, videos, and seamlessly assemble them as they wish on their Wakelet page. Comparisons to sites like Pinterest are obvious, and the implementation of LinkedIn-esque networking features seems possible, but the site’s selling point is undoubtedly the user’s ability to curate and organise.

Talking to me about the birth of Wakelet, Jamil, or Jammy as his motivational desktop background refers to him as, explains that being able to store and categorise a range of different media sources wasn’t something available anywhere else. His previous job at Airbus saw him trawling through information with no easy way to present it. “I had hundreds and thousands of results and I spent a lot of time searching through the different pages and assembling links, and over a period of time it began to grow, getting

bigger and bigger.”

After searching for an internal solution and running into similar issues showing off his travels and at university, Jamil decided he could take matters into his own hands. “That’s where the idea came, how can we allow people to not just find the world’s information, but also allow them to organise the world’s information.” It’s that which defines Wakelet, the organisation of a vast array of information, all contained in very easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing interface.

Jamil’s student experiences have also played a part in shaping what Wakelet is today, and as an educational tool it can be used in a multitude of ways, something Jamil wanted so that users didn’t have to face the same struggles he did. “At university I used to bookmark loads, but I could never find them, I could never get back to them”. He sees Wakelet as a platform for organisation of ideas and uses a PhD student’s thesis on food waste to prove it. The student’s research has been grouped together by topic, his progress laid out in a timeline, and all of this is accessible through a handful of clicks on the defined boxes of Wakelet’s interface.

After seeing Wakelet in action it fits its purpose extremely well.

Running through a range of different pages, Jamil took me into collections detailing current scientific research, the discographies of singers, even artists’ portfolios. The applicability and diversity of Wakelet is certainly apparent from the start, and that seems to be growing.

“The users are quite vocal, we like speaking to them and we engage with them frequently”, Jamil explains. His belief that communication with users is important certainly aligns with the concept of Wakelet as a whole. “We have guys up until 3am working support, talking to

Features 9

ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

“Are you on strike right now?” I asked Professor Brian Cox in the midst of conversation on a couch, in a VitaStudent penthouse overlooking views of the Canal Street skyline.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, worried that I had overstepped.

“Yes,” Brian Cox said with an incredulous laugh, “with everybody else.”

He was going to give a talk in VitaStudent’s event hall in half an hour. He wore a loose blue jersey and jeans, and leaned sideways without concern for the FuseTV camera setup in front of us.

Upon mention of the UCU strikes, the professor animated: “It’s a very complex problem. You know, if you want a really good overview of it…”

Brian explained, with wide hand gestures, that pension cuts for academic staff were just one dangerous component of wider societal problems, which he believed are being stored up for the future.

“Financial insecurity in general, obviously, is not only a problem for the individual, it’s a problem for society. We’ve seen that. If you have widespread loss of opportunity and financial insecurity, then in democracy you can make bad decisions as a country, so I think it’s a much wider problem, and a complicated problem.”

As well as being a professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, Brian Cox has received many awards for his educational science programming and accessible books. He told me to read what he called “a brilliant blog post” by his friend, UCL professor and TV chemist Andrea Sella. It detailed, he said, precisely his fears and concerns for the future of pensions.

The blog post is nearly 3,000 words long. It breaks down the history of pensions, and censures the transformation of universities into businesses.

Sella wrote against privatisation policies which grant “the freedom to make bad decisions, decisions that can cost decades of poverty.”

When Brian Cox spoke about politics, he sat up straighter on the couch and gesticulated more. The author, TV presenter, and professor both started the interview and closed his talk by expounding the role of scientific principles in resisting authoritarian rule.

Prize-winning physicist,” Brian pointed at me with raised eyebrows, “who wrote a brilliant essay — it was actually a speech that he gave that he turned into an article called The Value of Science, contemplating: what is the most valuable thing about science?

“He said the most valuable thing is the way of thinking. He defined science as a ‘satisfactory philosophy of ignorance’, which is the idea that you are usually wrong.”

Brian laughed, “Almost always, you’re wrong in science. If whatever you said disagrees with nature then you are wrong.

And being wrong, and changing your mind, and being open to new evidence, and changing your position constantly — which is absolutely critical to science — is the most valuable gift that science can give to society.

“So it’s the way of thinking,” Brian leaned in, smiling as he spoke, gesturing with his left hand as he clutched the microphone in his right. “He even goes as far, actually, to say that science is the foundation of democracy.”

His smile broke into a laugh again, “Now you know, many historians would argue about that, but what he means is that democracy is the recognition that you don’t know how to run a country. Therefore, you change every five years or so.”

I mused, and with another chuckle, he continued: “It’s the opposite of saying, ‘I know how to do it, and so I will do it, for as long as I live I will run this country.’ It’s the opposite of that, and in that sense it’s the more scientific way of running the country.”

At the end of his talk, later in the evening, the professor and presenter of Stargazing Live told the same story. Then he added “Donald Trump, who’s so sure, can never change.”

During that talk, in front of an audience of students from the private VitaStudent Circle Square accommodation hall, Brian said that he had been politically galvanised when he worked on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, as a post-doctorate.

Funding had been cut for post-doctorates on the project, and from then on Brian worked to “make science politically important by making it popular.”

Brian Cox is now well-known across Britain for his BBC scientific documentaries, such as Wonders of the Solar System, Wonders of Life, and Stargazing Live.

He had been invited to VitaStudent, he told me, to talk about his career. It didn’t really end up like that.

He told me beforehand “I’m going to be talking a lot about

interested in and what I do.”

Diverging from discussing himself, he went on to discuss the Hubble Deep Fields, gauge bosons, and neutron star collisions.

He became on stage the Brian Cox I recognised from Wonders of the Solar System — an assured speaker, a scientific educator, telling stories about the universe.

“When I asked him at the end of the interview what he thought the next big thing in science was going to be, he didn’t hesitate... It was space travel” Astronomy was where his heart was, and he couldn’t discuss himself without talking about space. When I asked him at the end of the interview what he thought the next big thing in science was going to be, he didn’t hesitate. It was not, he said, artificial intelligence or blockchain. It was space travel.

“Just in the next ten years, we’re going to see that revolution,” he envisioned, “We are seeing the beginnings of industrialisation and accommodation of the earth’s orbit. It’s already industrialised a bit, we’ve got a lot of communication satellites up there and all that stuff. There’s already billions of dollars worth of stuff that we use every day, but the actual living and working there is going to be transformed by reusable rockets.

“I think reusable rockets are the enabler, to enable us to start working in earth’s orbit.”

I knew reusable rockets were a particular interest of the Mancunion photographer present, so I let him jump in at this point, to conclude the conversation.

Professor Brian Cox lit up at the photographer’s enthusiasm, and stood up to hold a zealous discussion about the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch while FuseTV packed away the cameras.

The cost of space exploration, Brian said, had been cut by 90 per cent.

“So you know,” he finished enthusiastically, “the future — it’s now!”

The Creative Space Leisure Theory

The final Creative Space winners for this academic year are Leisure Theory, their sound having been described as “if New Order had hopped in a time machine to 2018” Ellie Tivey Contributor

Photo: Wakelet Website users in America, and we actually implement a lot of the features they suggest.”

That idea of a connected user base is what seems to set Wakelet apart from other media platforms. The company is a large proponent of the idea that the internet needs to be put back into the hands of people, rather than complex algorithms that deliver content to people.

Wakelet offers people a chance to take what’s important to them and organise it for the world (or just them if they’d rather) to see.

With the expansive nature of Wakelet, and the open-minded approach to its development, the future seems bright for what proves to be a tech start-up with a difference, and one with a very human touch.

Given that this was my first time interviewing a band, it seems only right that it was set against the backdrop of one of Manchester’s innumerable ‘hipster’ bars. Complete with exposed wooden floor and wonderfully moustachioed bartender, the effortlessly cool aesthetic Leisure Theory present was complete.

Comprised of students Jake Smith, Tom Wynne, and Quentin Wylie, Leisure Theory are tackling the Manchester music scene with an entirely new approach.

Jake Smith, who Wylie describes as the “brainchild” behind Leisure Theory, has spent the last two and a half years writing their music in his bedroom. After meeting at an Everything Everything gig in Manchester last year, Smith and Wynne bonded over their shared music taste and decided to start a band.

In their search for a frontman and lyricist, they came across Wylie, who grew up in the same Irish town as Smith. Having come from a more folk/acoustic background, Wylie was allowed to put his own stamp on Smith’s music. “It was pretty intimidating”, he says, “Jake’s music was so good, I really didn’t want to step on his toes!”

As they stated, music in Manchester can get quite ‘clique-y’ depending on the genre of the artists. Leisure Theory are selfproclaimed outliers, “we don’t really know what genre we are”.

From left to right: Jake Smith, Quentin Wylie, Tom Wynne. Photo: Ellie Tivey

They present a refreshing combination of 80s inspired tracks mixed with folk-esque lyrics resulting in what Smith describes as “if New Order had hopped in a time machine to 2018”.

They decided to release their music before immersing themselves in live gigs so they could approach Manchester’s music community with a “fully established” sound. “If you go to most gigs these days they can sometimes get a bit boring”, says Wylie. “The Courteeners, Oasis”, agrees Smith, “there are so many bands like that, we wanted to bring something new”.

With Wynne as a student of Popular Music at Salford University, the boys have had unfettered access to Salford’s fully kitted out recording and rehearsing studios. Smith remembers his wonder when first in the studio, having exclusively used his eight-track recorder to create up until then.

“He gets pretty excited around the kit”, says Wynne, “at one point I left him alone for a couple of minutes, when I came back he’d accidentally deleted a couple of songs!” Overcoming their inter-uni conflicting schedules, the boys get together to rehearse as much as possible. “I can’t stop smiling when we rehearse”, says Smith, “I just can’t believe it all started in my bedroom!”

Leisure Theory’s debut single, Gambler, goes out on all major online music platforms on 30th March, so keep an eye out for them. And, as Wynne said, they have a ‘back catalogue of music’ just waiting to be released, so they’re not going anywhere anytime soon!

Opinion

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The phenomenon of ‘mansplaining’ was originally identified in an essay by journalist Rebecca Solnit, titled ‘Men Explain Things to Me’. Solnit recounts instances where men have attempted to give her lessons on her areas of expertise, despite only possessing cursory knowledge of the subject themselves. When the term took off, it soon became clear how ubiquitous Solnit’s experience was.

Since then, a nebulous fog has fallen over the topic again. Two great misconceptions arose about mansplaining: the first, that it was an issue of men talking too much, resulting in an onslaught of male backlash squawking about women talking more than men. But talking too much was never the complaint — the complaint was a lack of pro-social conversation. The mansplain is not discourse. It’s an exclusionary lecture.

The second misconception is that women are victims of mansplaining, and so men should make amends for the damage they cause.

Let’s be clear: women aren’t hurt by mansplaining. A man can approach a woman, lecture her about something she already understands, and when he leaves, she can continue unimpeded with her day. She has not lost knowledge; she has not lost dignity.

He, on the other hand, has.

The mansplainer is a distinct type of man. The Dunning-Kruger effect shows how people with low levels of competence have a cognitive bias which gives them high levels of confidence.

People with higher competence levels are less self-assured. These men don’t mansplain. They still explain — but their doubt also opens their minds to listen, and learn from every interaction.

Highly competent men engage in co-productive discourse with their peers. Incompetent men mansplain. They believe their knowledge is more insightful and exclusive than it is — resulting in the painful, pontificating lectures most woman will remember from work socials and break rooms.

What’s unfortunate is that it’s more difficult then for those men to learn, or grow more competent.

Overconfidence traps them under a glass ceiling.

And that ceiling is, unfortunately, gendered.

Men seem to feel a particular need to assert themselves in the presence of women. They feel a This week, education secretary Damian Hinds announced plans to cut teachers workloads in the face of shortages that are leaving schools paying £835m a year on supply agencies to cover lessons. At a conference in Birmingham last week, Hinds stated that long hours and large workloads were exhausting staff and putting potential teachers off the profession, something he cited as being the main reason for schools failing to recruit and retain an adequate number of teachers.

This comes in the wake of the latest Royal College of Nursing survey that paints a picture of nurses that are chronically overworked, with figures showing that many nurses work in wards that are understaffed to the point of compromising patient safety. This is no surprise; with 40,000 nursing vacancies in the UK, many nurses are now working in chronically shortstaffed units, creating an environment in which they receive little support and face an undue amount of responsibility on top of their already excessive workloads.

This kind of exhaustion is unsurprising; the TUC estimated that workers clocked up a whopping £33.6bn worth of unpaid overtime in the last year alone. Nor are these the exclusive epidemics of teaching and nursing; last year, 12.5m working days were lost due to stress, depression, and anxiety, with 44% of all cases being due to workload. High workloads create the chronic stress that has been linked to an increased risk of health issues ranging from high blood pressure to strokes as well as the onset or exacerbation of serious mental health issues.

In an economy built on the backs of a chronically exploited workforce, it’s time to get strict on overtime and give people a working schedule that fits around their lives and not the other way round. How can we do this? The answer: slashing working hours and introducing a four-day working week.

Not only will this alleviate the chronic stress of an overworked population, this solution also addresses both unemployment and underemployment. With over 4% of the population currently unemployed and a further 3.3 million ‘underemployed’ (those not receiving enough hours at work), a four-day week would redistribute hours, taking pressure off those

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particular pressure with the women in their lives to uphold cultural expectations of masculinity, which ask men to not only be impervious emotionally, but also impervious intellectually.

The result of this is a grand act of pea-cocking of which mansplaining is just a by-product.

The peacock’s fuel is a pervasive, unhealthy vision of male-female relationships: that of the knight, and the dame slung over his shoulder. It positions the man as a figure who protects, guides, and teaches the woman. This may be perverse, and may be labelled misogynist, but oftentimes,

Mansplainers are intellectually crippled

Photo: ozz13x @Wikimedia Commons

Mansplainers shouldn’t be punished — they punish themselves enough already

this does not harm the peacock’s subject.

In efforts to fill protective roles and prove their imperviousness, male acquaintances have: deliberately run in front of me to open doors, insisted on carrying my stuff that I was already reaching for, and taken over manual tasks such as opening jars without being asked.

That’s not a problem for me. Honestly — it saves me that extra calorie exertion of turning a door handle. There’s no need to take affront from men playing knight if it makes them happy. They are just coping with their manxiety.

This oppressive pressure damages our peacocks, however, as it erodes their capacity for emotional sensitivity and self-reflectivity, qualities which elasticise minds to change, and intellectual development.

Toxic masculinity, peculiarly, holds emotionally sensitive men in contempt. They’re assigned derogatory, emasculating terms such as ‘cuck’, which are designed to undermine their ability to attract women, or be a traditional man. Selfdoubt becomes a repellent, thoughtfulness a humiliation. Mansplaining manifests in men who lacked female interaction in their formative years, and treat their insecurity through a pea-cocking overboard. Equally, it manifests in men who have always viewed themselves as alpha males, prided themselves in their avoidance of cuckoldry, and developed illusory overconfidence in their abilities.

Mansplaining is a pervasive symptom of a deep-rooted stigma against male learning, and a toxic image of masculinity.

Mansplainers themselves are not threatening.

They’re often decent guys who think they’re playing the role they’re meant to play. Thank them when they hold doors open for you. Listen and nod when they try to teach you something.

Laugh if you have to — I sure do. It won’t do you any harm.

But guys — fight it. Don’t fight mansplaining to help women, fight it to help yourselves.

J.W. von Goethe once wrote: “We know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases.” He was a smart man; he didn’t mansplain. Be like J.W. von Goethe.

Scotland’s Lions After over a decade of mishandling Scotland, the Scottish National Party is inevitably losing their popular base, and it’s about time, argues Contributor Jacob Dunn

Photo: the SNP @ Flickr

Just two years ago, the Scottish National Party seemed unstoppable and unbeatable.

How things have changed. While the SNP is still governing Scotland and remains its largest political party, it faces challenges on every front.

Nicola Sturgeon’s push for a second independence referendum in the aftermath of the UK’s decision to leave the EU backfired, as shown in the 2017 General Election. The SNP lost a third of its seats to resurgent unionist parties, notably the Scottish Conservatives, despite the Conservatives losing their overall

News Editor Amy Wei overworked and giving unemployed and underemployed people more opportunities, and ultimately creating a population with significantly more leisure time.

Not only this, a four-day working week could potentially increase productivity. Studies have shown that working fewer hours encourages greater focus and enhances productivity, meaning that people work better hour for hour.

Less time at work also means less time off work.

As workloads are eased, the pressure taken off workers will benefit health and mean less absence.

It could even be better for the planet. The New Economics Foundation believes that a four-day week could also reduce carbon emissions and ease climate change. The think tank suggested that countries with shorter workings weeks are less likely to produce excessive carbon footprints as the move would reduce gas-guzzling commutes and leave workplaces powered down for an extra day per week.

Despite these evidently rich economic benefits, the true need for and benefit of a reduced working week is for the people. In a corporate climate that increasingly treats people like machines, fighting for a reduction in working hours is essential in order to reclaim the kind of autonomy that defines us as human. A four-day week must be the first step towards reclaiming the time for leisure, rest, and recuperation that is a fundamental prerequisite for good health and sane mind.

Indeed, fighting for the improvement of working conditions and the reduction of working hours was at the very core of the original Labour movement. In the wake of the last year’s elections, which saw an unprecedented amount of support for the labour party under Jeremy Corbyn’s new leadership, it is clear that much of the UK’s population is frustrated by the stagnant political climate and eager for social reform.

Thus, working toward a four-day week must become part of a larger drive for positive, peoplefocused social change, including a push to introduce a Universal Basic Income and shorten the working day. These goals are essential in order to create a society that allows people to flourish as individuals rather than be broken by an economy that saps their life force for profit.

Why Britain desperately needs a 4-day working week People are working too hard for too little

Contributor Holly James

Photo: Dafne Cholet @ Flickr

Opinion 11

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Contributor Aisha Al-Janabi

majority in Westminster.

The SNP, like the Conservative government in Westminster, is a government incapable of governing. After being in power in Scotland for so long, we should prepare ourselves for a Scotland without an SNP government — it is something we should look forward to.

Since coming to power in 2007, the Scottish Nationalists have pushed their proindependence stance at every opportunity rather than actually governing Scotland properly. After 11 years in power, Scotland’s education system is falling in standards, and

the SNP’s reliance on North Sea oil has led to poor economic performance compared to other parts of the United Kingdom.

To put this into perspective, if Scotland were to become independent, it would be in a worse financial position than Greece and would therefore be barred from entering the Eurozone. With a budget deficit three times higher than that of the UK average, the SNP has hardly painted a great picture of its record in government. If anything, the SNP have shot themselves in the foot, by managing Scotland’s economy so poorly that it makes the prospect of independence even more difficult to achieve and increasingly unlikely to happen.

The SNP however has been extremely successful at covering up these facts using populist and nationalist rhetoric. To maintain support amongst the Scottish electorate, they blame Westminster and the UK national government for the vast bulk of Scotland’s social and economic issues.

The scapegoat is disingenuous — in Scotland, the SNP have cut funding to certain social welfare programmes and certain sectors of the economy in order to reduce Scotland’s deficit and invest in other sectors of the economy and society. Unlike other separatist and independence movements in Catalonia and Padania, Scotland’s independence movements lacks a successful economic base to launch an independent functioning state.

Perhaps, the most ironic and significant legacy of the SNP’s governing of Scotland is the resurrection of the once extinct Scottish Conservative Party. After decades in the political wildness, they have returned with a spring in their step. While the Tories faced losses in England and Wales last year, in Scotland they gained 12 seats (up from one seat in the 2015 election).

The SNP decision to try and push through another independence referendum backfired and unleashed the wrath of Ruth Davidson upon them. In the Tory surge, both former SNP leader Alex Salmond and the SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson lost their seats as

the Scottish Conservatives made an unlikely political comeback. The people of Scotland have put up a clear resistance to a proposed second independence referendum.

If recent polls in Scotland are to be believed, Scotland is no longer a democratic one-party state — it has become a three-party state. The Tories, Labour, and SNP are now vying for first place. The SNP’s poor record in government after such a long period of time could potentially be the factor that brings it down.

After nearly 12 years in power, time is running out for them.

While Brexit at first provided Scottish Nationalists with an opportunity, it now seems to have provided them with a dilemma: it has made their government seem incapable.

While attempting to try and protect Scotland’s interests, Nicola Sturgeon has made herself appear weak by being difficult during the Brexit negotiations. She has in fact been seen as an opportunist pushing through her own nationalist agenda and making the situation facing the UK even more difficult and stressful.

The fact that Sturgeon and the SNP have backed down from a second independence referendum shows how that support for the party has plummeted. This is particularly incredible when one considers the first independence referendum in 2014. Four years ago, the SNP gained both traction and momentum and were hugely supported by the Scottish public. Now they face losses on all fronts.

It is clear that either Labour or the Conservatives will soon replace the SNP in governing Scotland. This is not a bad thing.

Change, after almost a decade of one party rule, is necessary for any thriving democracy. With Brexit on the horizon, the UK must be united in the face of the many difficult challenges facing us, and not in the interests of the SNP, who see Brexit as an opportunity for Scotland to break away. The decline of the SNP is not insignificant. As a result, Scotland faces a very uncertain political future.

Beautifully hairy Women’s body hair feels like a secret that we must keep between ourselves

With summer coming, I’m preparing to tame both my overgrown leg hair, and my now free-growing stomach hair. I will, inevitably, spend an evening waxing my legs, only to see it re-appear a couple of weeks later and start the process all over again.

Women’s body hair feels like a secret that we must keep between ourselves. Of course, men are aware this is part of our beauty regime, but considering how few women I’ve seen with hairy bodies, be it legs, backs, or faces, it can sometimes feel like a myth.

I used to enjoy the yearly cycle of wild hair in winter which I could keep hidden, and my smooth legs in summer that I felt were ‘worthy’ of showing off. But recently I’ve become more aware that the worth I place on being hairless is merely because I grew up seeing this is what it means to be feminine, or beautiful.

Both teenagers and adults alike, unquestionably pursue this ideal of beauty despite the pain and time required. Many girls as young as 12 begin to do so, which is too young to navigate through hair-removal options and be selfconscious about their bodies. Society starts objectifying girls too young, especially as we go through puberty earlier than boys. Girls are altering their bodies to fit ideals of what it means to be an ‘attractive woman’, rather than enjoying childhood.

Increasingly, women are choosing not to remove their body hair, but this choice is often surrounded by controversy, not to mention the stares. As soon as this decision is made, it appears to be some sort of political statement which others feel they are allowed to have an opinion

about.

Why is it that a man’s choice about body hair, be it hairless or hairy, is accepted to be due to personal preference, but we women are not allowed that same level of command over our bodies. And it hurts; waxing, razor cuts, hair removal cream burns, or epilation; none of these are pleasant experiences.

Hairlessness is still seen as a defining characteristic of being feminine– men lacking in body hair are, wrongly, considered feminine and women who have it are considered masculine.

Masculinity and femininity are perceived to be polar opposites, and this is a requirement that is used to categorise and label.

Artist, Helen Plumb, recently made a short film about this topic with poet Anam Cara titled, “Feminism: A Prickly Subject.” Through the poem, Anam Cara acknowledges the emotional conflict when one goes unshaven: of liberation and the shame which can ensue. Anam Cara describes the fear that summer brings, which resonated with me as when I was young, I used to wear jeans in the boiling sun until I waxed and was hair free, instead of being carefree as one should be during summer.

Helen Plumb elegantly portrays hairy women as feminine, beautiful, and normal, representing us in this way will hopefully be a step towards changing both men and women’s perception about what it means to be feminine or a hairy woman. And, it should mean nothing.

As an Arab woman, I have luscious, thick, very dark hair. This does mean I love my eyebrows, but I am also blessed with a moustache. Sometimes, if I’m feeling

confident, I will leave my moustache alone and embrace it. But, it doesn’t take long for me to look around and realise that no other women around me has one, and I end up caving in by waxing it all off.

When boys become teenagers and their moustaches first grow, it’s praised and celebrated; it’s a natural part of puberty and growing up. Ours, which is also a natural part of puberty, is still shrouded in judgement.

When reading women’s experiences with their body hair, and thinking of my own, words such as shame and fear are repeated, thus preventing us from acting how we wish to.

Discussions around body image and confidence rarely consider body hair.

While retail brands are (very) slowly using a more diverse range of women in their advertisements, they are yet to cast hairy women as their models, unless the hair is Cara Delavine style eyebrows. If this were to be done, it would normalise the idea, and stop the vulnerability associated with having ‘excessive’ amounts of hair.

I hope this summer more women will feel the decision is theirs, to choose if they want to wax, shave, or grow their hair, and that they still feel feminine.

Photo: Cansu Cender @ Flickr

Music

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5th March, Deaf Institute

Monday 12th March, Bridgewater Hall Supporting a band is always difficult. You’re playing a bigger venue to a crowd that will largely be unfamiliar with your material.

You have to make a bigger impression as you’re there to show yourself off and try to gain new fans along the way. Even the greatest of performances may not resonate as well if neither elements works in your favour.

So it was a shame to see that The Bridgewater Hall is quite sparse and whilst sitting there I just get the feeling that most people couldn’t care about Julien.

That being said, Julien proved that she is an incredibly talented musician. Utilising loops pedals she was able to flesh herself a bit more and fill the emptiness and get overlapping parts either on the guitar or keyboard. She could have added an another performer for the whole performance but it would have slightly ruined it.

The main appeal, for me anyway, is that is just her. It makes it more personal and gives that emotional punch a bit more sting.

The first few notes of ‘Turn Out

The Lights’ and ‘Appointment’ put her off to a great start. While the venue was not right for her she didn’t let it stop her. Bridgewater Hall is not meant for her isolating and intimate style but Julien put up a good fight and ended up leaving a good impression though at times she didn’t quite break through.

She switched it up halfway through when at the end of ‘Rejoice’ she put her down guitar still resonating with the last note to go to her keyboard for the more ballad driven ‘Televangelist’. It added more flavour to the short set and showed that while her music is relatively simple, she

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

quite diverse.

At the end of ‘Sour Breath’, the last cries of “The harder I swim, the faster I sink” were just enough to penetrate the barriers presented by the venue. It was little moments like this that really showed what she is truly capable of both as a songwriter and performer.

She wasn’t on her own all the time. She was eventually joined by a violinist for the last two songs.

It gave the performance a bit of depth but it was not overpowering, still allowing Julien to shine through. It also added a little twist to her final song ‘Something’ and gave it a little extra flavour, ending her set on a high note.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t the place for Julien to be. She needs to be in an intimate venue, where her emotion can effectively be felt throughout. That isn’t to say that she was bad. That’s far from the truth. She still managed to pull out an impressive performance and considering the circumstances she excelled. Now I’m just left desperate to see her again in a proper setting.

7/10

In Conversation with Zkeletonz

Photo: Hidden

heard of him before, I went into the evening with zero expectations. But even if I had gone in with them being high, I’m sure he wouldn’t have disappointed. The set was clearly influenced by his love of soul and disco, and Hidden’ powerful sound system really showed off Pala Sounds’ abilities well.

Initially, upon entering the club, the lack of lyrics made the beginning of the night somewhat repetitive, however upon getting some air and returning to the sweaty haven, this was no longe the case. The angelic lyrics — giving the crowd to somewhat sing along —

really added to the night, as I’m sure was the case for those around me. You know it’s particularly good when you find yourself, along with others, trying to Shazam the songs on the dancefloor.

There does need to be a special mention to the seating area outside. Now, I love dancing as much as the next person, but at certain points in the night we realised that we weren’t quite the same little powerhouse of energy that some of our friends were — especially when it came to boogieing away until four.

In this instance, we found that having a cosy little place to sit down, observe the night, and rest our legs really saved our bacon. Big up to these reclining leather beauties!

Overall, the night was packed full of disco beats and showed us that Sadar Bahar really is a master of his trade. Not only that, but it identified that Pala Sounds and Hidden as now, more than ever before, an essential thread in the fabric of Manchester’s nightlife.

7/10

The post-pop trio from London FaceTime with Tobias Soar to talk about synths, lyrical inspiration and being “musical vigilantes” in the rising post-pop scene.

22nd March 2009: Lady Gaga started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Poker Face’, her 2nd UK chart topper and a No.1 hit in over 20 countries.

haziness that the quartet has concocted. Gengahr has demonstrated that a central aspect of their new album was to illustrate that they are capable of presenting diversity. Even though I agree that the album, A Dream Outside featured songs that sounded similar to each other, I didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, however, Where Wildness Grows strives for a level beyond their first album.

In Where Wildness Grows you plummet into a blanket of warmth and comfort, intricately laced with even more complex dream-pop synths and licks.

The partnership between John Victor’s melting guitar lines and Felix Bushes’ distinctly eerie vocals has really blossomed in their second album, allowing the album’s leading singles ‘Carrion’ and ‘Mallory’ to fully bloom into tracks which are perfect exhibitions on what you can expect throughout the album’s entirety. It is very apparent that their second album is a truer reflection of what

Preview: The Wombats Everyone’s favourite marsupial-loving musicians are set to rock Manchester Academy for two sold-out shows.

Following last month’s release of their hotly anticipated fourth album, Liverpudlian rock trio The Wombats are set to take their collection of certified indie anthems on a massive UK tour this March. Before they reach the lofty heights of Alexandra Palace, London, The Wombats bless Manchester with not one, but two sold-out shows at the Academy and the excitement is tangible.

Since they first burst on to the scene just over a decade ago, The Wombats have never failed to exceed themselves time and time again. With a slew of hits under their belt, their

23rd March 1964: John Lennon’s book of verse and rhyme ‘In His Own Write’ was published in the UK.

Gengahr wish to present to their listeners, one that combines a greater range of musical styles and chord progressions to create a more mature and accomplished final product.

The album’s last song ‘Whole Again’ is a heartfelt, atmospheric and slightly heavier track amongst its counterparts which serves as the perfect closure for ‘Where Wildness Grows’.

Despite possessing lyrics perhaps resonating the previous tour struggles that the band have endured, ‘Whole Again’ also displays a strong sense of cementation. Given what Gengahr have proven, most importantly to themselves with this second album, this final track instils a final confidence in its listener that Gengahr is back and are here to stay.

24th March 1985: ‘Easy Lover’ by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins was at No.1 on the UK singles chart 25th March 1995: Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was rescued after a riptide carried him 250 feet offshore in New Zealand.

8/10

Contributor, Jake Oliver expresses his excitement for the two huge shows that The Wombats are planning in Manchester later this year

sound simply defines those late noughties years. It takes a lot for a band to keep up with the changing times and The Wombats do this without even breaking a sweat.

Whether appearing in massive venues or the more intimate ones, The Wombats have never lost what made them so electrifying in the first place – their connection with their audience.

From the moment the first chord is struck, the crowd goes wild. Very few bands are able to literally hit one note and immediately have everyone sing along. It’s a special atmosphere that has never faltered nor shows signs of stopping anytime soon.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing The Wombats countless times over the years, and the excite-

ment has not even begun to wear off. There’s something so charming about them that keeps me hooked. Whether it’s frontman Matthew Murphy’s awkward yet endearing mannerisms, the quirky, emotionally charged lyrics, or the relentless energy that the trio collectively pull off, there’s never a dull moment.

Whilst both Manchester gigs are, (not surprisingly) sold out, if you can find a way in then I would definitely recommend it. Failing that, catch The Wombats making appearances across the country during festival season, as there’s nothing better than screaming along to ‘Moving to New York’ or ‘Greek Tragedy’ underneath the sun.

Photo: Dawbell PR

Top 5 - Revision Songs ace - Bitt l a

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With enough tempo changes to match your fluctuating attention span, good old Frank will make even the hardest exam seem easy.

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A song that’s always got my back during exam season, purely because of how easy it is on the ears.

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Forgot you had a test tomorrow? Just whack this on and you’ll be speeding through those notes in no time flat. A remedy for success.

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By Jake Oliver

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To read more of Tobias’ interview with Zkeletonz, head to mancunion.com

London-born spell-binding indie rock quartet Gengahr has finally released their second album Where Wildness Grows following their debut album released three years ago. Upon first listen it is clear the band have strayed further away from their previous moody, melancholic, and angsty ways to a brighter, for the most part, more upbeat album. However, they have very much remained true to their roots of ensuring each of their songs is rooted in nifty and intricate guitar licks.

‘Before Sunrise’ perfectly opens Where Wildness Grows given its catchy, almost hypnotic guitar riff which repeatedly glimmers throughout the track, proving to be a statement song for the remainder of the album given its showcasing of all the complexities that are yet to be unfolded as you progress through the 12-tracks.

Where Wildness Grows will undoubtedly become the soundtrack to many of their fan’s upcoming summers due to the youthful, dream-like

ids

previous musical projects and we’ve been on tour but now we’re taking control of the full process. That’s why we have our “DIY ethos”.

Whatever we can learn and do independently, we’ll keep in-house.

You guys define yourselves as a post-pop group. It’s very relevant in the current music scene. For example, Charli XCX’s latest album Pop 2 has a very post-pop sound.

How would you guys describe the genre?

Gav and Ed: It’s got to be Will!

Will (rubbing his hands together, grinning): It’s a juxtaposition between very catchy pop melodies and the classic pop structure, verse, chorus, verse, chorus with that little bit of wonky-ness and throwing you a little bit off-centre. Say you’re walking down the road, listening to this beautiful pop tune and, all of a sudden, someone pushes you into the road.

Gav: If you think about fusion cuisine, I guess maybe the charts like a traditional Indian takeaway but we’re trying to put a twist on it. It’s that simple.

21st March 1994: Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for the song ‘Streets of Philadelphia.’

9/10

am

ally works because of Will and Gav - they cover up for the fact that it wouldn’t sound that great on its own.

Gav: That’s what’s great about having a house producer in the band. Nothing is pre-recorded – everything you hear, every loop, is recreated live, gig-on-gig. No laptops on stage.

Ed: My measure for how “live” a band is is how likely it is for things to go wrong. It’s REALLY possible for things to go wrong in our shows.

Gav: Weirdly, we sound a lot more electronic than someone like “The 1975” but they probably play with a lot more pre-recorder stuff.

So, are you using analogue modulators and synths?

Ed: We use a lot in the studio, Will likes analogue synths.

Gav: Will, what’s your favourite analogue synth?

Will: Oh, the [Roland] Juno-106. We’ve also got two Nords.

Ed: On our upcoming EP, coming out later this year, I’d love to publish a list of everything we’ve used, because there’s a lot.

Gav: See, we’re always learning. We’ve had

20th March 1977: Lou Reed was banned from appearing The London Palladium in England because of his punk image.

Gengahr return from their three year hiatus to present their bolder, more complex and undoubtedly self-defining second album, writes Contributor, Olivia White

er

teenage years.

Ed: Me and Gav were on the same label for a while. I was producing house music and electro but Gav was in his indie band. We used to end up in London together a lot of the time so we’d go see each other play and now we live together.

Gav: Because he’d done remixes of my previous band’s songs, I approached [Ed] and said “You’re a really good producer when it comes to my voice” and then we started this band.

How do you make your sound unique?

Gav: We have no live bass guitar [Will plays the bass and keyboard], and we like to challenge ourselves with restrictions. We try to get that massive sound with electronic elements instead of some of the live elements that come with a normal indie band.

Ed: It was born out of necessity because we tried a few different configurations with me on the bass or on the drums or Will on the piano. After a while, it became apparent that none of that really worked. I bought some drum machines and sequencers and did it that way. I won’t lie, at first it didn’t sound very good but I then got used to it. It only re-

19th March 1971: T Rex were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hot Love.’ The group’s first of four UK No.1’s spent six weeks at the top of the charts.

Album: Gengahr - Where Wildness Grows

ng On

How did you meet and how did the band come to be?

Gav: Will and I met in school but Will played progressive rock and I was playing indie rock.

We hadn’t really caught the disco bug yet.

Will: I was in a nu metal band!

Gav: Everything was a bit heavier in out

main attraction: Sadar Bahar and his incredible five hour set. Having not

oi

Friday 9th of March, 22.45pm. Post-pop is a new wave of sound that Gav, Ed and Will are surfing under the band name of “Zkeletonz”.

Thus far, the band has released a handful of funky, catchy singles – my personal favourite being ‘Don’t Cover It Up’, closely followed by ‘Trouble’ – and they are about to release a new track, ‘Always’, on April 5th. With different musical backgrounds (Will, for example, is a classically trained pianist while Ed is a house producer) their bizarre blend comes together to form a sound that is very unique.

The lads were in London and had just left Islington Academy where they had just seen Dance Gavin Dance perform. They were on their way to see Tiga afterwards, but first they huddled together in a doorway to FaceTime me for a chat.

Happy 1st Birthday Pala Sounds! It was certainly a night to remember. With some funky beats, mixed in with a touch of samba, the night certainly made me aware of Sadar Bahar’s effortless mixing abilities.

With Antwerp Mansion due to close after its final night on Saturday the 17th of March, there’s only a handful of places left where students can go for a night out — let their hair down and two-step to a decent beat.

Although Hidden is a little bit of a trek to get to, it’s well worth going if you’ve got the time and funds, and if a good event is on.

Although the club was dead upon arrival, the main room started filling up, so did the level of moisture in the air. Within 30 minutes, there was no longer room for certain individuals to show off their dance moves, nor could they dance in a circle with all their mates. Being pushed in like sardines with minimal personal space meant that everyone had their chosen spot for the night. For us, it was the middle between the two posts.

Now going onto the

Space’ to ‘Lost Boy’ and an impressive cover of Will.i.am’s hit ‘ I Got it From My Mama’. The band are clearly comfortable on stage, throwing

o u nds

Despite the elements, Julien still puts on an impressive performance while in support for Belle & Sebastian.

This week in music history

banter and making casual chat between songs, wishing people a happy birthday to some of the people in the crowd, and even getting Chez’s brother up on the stage to replace Graeme on the drums for one of the songs.

The energetic group turned up the volume for their penultimate track ‘Exposure’, leaving the crowd no choice but to dance and move around, again infected by the vibes that the band are giving off. Finally, Y.O.U.N.G set down and have a little rest, but this is by no means the end for them. Chez starts to say that in fact, he doesn’t want to do the last song, and why’s that you ask?

Because he’s LAZY... the group bound into their final track and latest single ‘Lazy’ before ending the night.

This gig might have been the sweatiest I’ve been to, but it was really good fun, the band have an overwhelming talent and an honest, infectious ‘cheeky chappy’ aura. I can’t wait to see what these boys have next in store.

DS

Live Review: Julien Baker

Live Review: Pala Sounds’ 1st Birthday @ Hidden, MCR

Photo: Hannah Brierley @ The Mancunion

O

Contributor: Imogen Doyle

Contributor: Ciaran McLaughlin

verses. Jamie & Tom work wonders on their guitars, right to the back with Graeme on the Drums, who possibly has the most impressive drumming face I have ever seen.

As the night went on and the room got sweatier, the band’s impressive talents continued to shoot through the roof. Y.O.U.N.G bounced from ‘Head

Frank

7/10

P

Photo: Callum Lunn @ The Mancunion

On their first ever UK tour, Manchester-based band Y.O.U.N.G, have set off every step of the way.

On the final stop of the tour, the five-piece group prepared themselves for the biggest night yet, with their first ever sold out gig on their ‘Lazy Tour’.

Despite the god awful weather, the crowds pour into the upstairs of the Deaf Institute, most probably unprepared for just how crowded, sweaty, but oh-so-good the next few hours were going to be.

Y.O.U.N.G kicked off their set with ‘What I Gotta Do’, an infectiously catchy tune which cleverly incorporates reggae with elements of rock and pop all into one crafty, slick concoction. It was immediately clear that these lads are full and overflowing with confidence as their stage presence is good, if not better than some bands which have been around for many more years than this group — frontman Chez, embodying all things rock, savvy, and sharp, and Ben undeniably killing the fast-paced hip-hop rap

Darkzy

earned. Vocalist Grant Nicholas’ singing would sometimes be drowned out by other instruments and seemed to sometimes lacked his trademark resonance. Stage banter was at a minimum and I felt just a little more would have rounded off the show well.

Though, the audience certainly got their money’s worth: the band played an impressive 18 tracks with a five-song encore, featuring two excellent acoustic versions of ‘Silent Cry’ and ‘Children of the Sun’. Finishing with crowd-pleaser and party tune ‘Just A Day’, Feeder rounded off very well-polished set, but ultimately their performance was lacking that little bit of oomph which could have made is truly memorable.

Rewind

Rock mixed with reggae, pop, punk, hip-hop and a whole range of other genres, Y.O.U.N.G manages to blow the roof off of Deaf Institute

A]

Feeder are an interesting and almost unique band in that their appeal spans generations.

I have seen them twice now. At each show parents are there with their children – both here to see and enjoy the band. This is a testament to Feeder’s longevity and appeal — to think that people who were listening to ‘High’ on their cassette Walkmans (Walkmen?) are now seeing that same band, 20 years later, with their adult offspring!

The performance, however, left little to be desired. That’s not to say it was a bad performance by any stretch. It was very polished with tight instrumentation, good lighting, and three huge screens complementing each song. Yet, there was still something missing. The set just felt a little mechanical and low-energy at points, with the band members rarely owning the stage they have rightfully

Live: Y.O.U.N.G

-

Feeder are a rare survivor amongst 1990s rock bands. Even twenty-five years after their formation, you can’t spend a night in 42s without hearing ‘Just a Day’ or ‘Buck Rogers’.

The imprint they have left on our collective consciousness really shows at such fine venues. Since they are touring their Best Of album, it was staggering to hear the number of hits Feeder have under their belt.

The setlist for their show at the Academy was a celebration of the band’s music from start to finish, playing music from their first album, Polythene, all the way through to their most recent EP Arrow. There were no low points or less well-known songs in the set; it was truly the Best Of Feeder.

Feeder demonstrate their generation-spanning appeal, says Contributor, Callum Lunn

LC

10th March 2018, Manchester Academy

Reviews

s!

Live Review: Feeder

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BROCKH

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The vocals here are few and far between and there’s just a funky little rhythm going throughout, making for minimal distraction.

Keep those morale levels sky high with this triumphant banger from the best boyband since One Direction.

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Music

ISSUE 20 / 19th March 2018 WWW.MANCHETSERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

The Occuaption: an interview with White Paper Games

Farewell Editors

Jeremy Bijl, Games Editor

As the print issues of The Mancunion draw to a close, we asked the editors to share the first song they remember buying, their favourite song and their farewell song...

Hannah Brierley, Music Editor First: Avril Lavigne Fave: ‘Turn Around’ - Phatts and Small Bye: ‘Goodbye My Lover’ James Blunt

Yasmin Duggal, Deputy Music Editor First: ‘Tubthumping’ Chumbawamba Fave: ‘Live Forever’ - Oasis Bye: ‘Wish You Were Here’ Pink Floyd

Kirstie O’Mahony, Editor-inChief First: Bob Dylan’s back catalogue Fave: ‘Pon De Floor’ - Major Lazer Bye: ‘Do You Realise’ - The Flaming Lips

Cameron Broome, News Editor First: ‘Air Hostess’ - Busted Fave: ‘For What It’s Worth’ - Liam Gallagher Bye: ‘The Anthem’ - Good Charlotte

Sophie Graci, Theatre Editor First: ‘West End Girls’ - Petshop Boys Fave: ‘Come Down’ - Anderson Paak Bye: ‘Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ - Lianne La Havas’

Cicely Ryder-Belson, Arts Editor First: ‘Running Up That Hill’ - Kate Bush Fave: ‘Move On Up’ - Curtis Mayfield Bye: ‘Bye Bye Bye’ - NSYNC

Rosa Simonet, News Editor First: ‘Teenage Kicks’ - The Undertones Fave: ‘Love Is a Losing Game’ - Amy Winehouse Bye: ‘Moon River’ - Audrey Hepburn

Jamie McEvoy, Deputy Film Editor First: ‘Circle Of Life’ - Elton John Fave: ‘Hippipolla’ - Sigur Ros Bye: ‘Comfortably Numb’ Pink Floyd

Sam Cooper, Sports Editor First: ‘Angels’ - Robbie Williams Fave: ‘Read My Mind’ The Killers Bye: ‘Songbird’ Fleetwood Mac

Kizzy Bray, Features Editor First: ‘Sk8er Boy’ - Avril Lavigne Fave: ‘Let’s Stay Together’ - Al Green Bye: ‘It’s Too Late’ - Carole King

Sophie McPhearson, Lifestyle Editor First: ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ Frank Sinatra Fave: Anything

by Ricky Razu Bye: ‘Cheer Up My Brother’ HNNY

Izzy Lewis, Social Media Editor First: ‘All About You’ - McFly Fave: ‘Born Slippy’ Underworld Bye: ‘Viva Forever’ - Spice Girls

Jack Casey, Chief Sub Editor First: ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ - Oasis Fave: ‘Let It Be’ - The Beatles Bye: ‘Glad Tidings’ - Van Morrison

Jeremy Bijl, Games Editor First: ‘Ballad of Paul K’ - McFly Fave: ‘Hollow Life’ - Korn Bye: ‘Advertising Space’ Robbie Williams

Aliya Ismangil, Science and Tech Editor First: An S Club 7 CD Fave: ‘On Top Of The World’ - Imagine Dragons Bye: ‘One Last Time’ - Hamilton Broadway Cast

“Goodbye my lover!”

Amy Wei, News Editor First: ‘Falling In Love Is Hard On The Knees’ - Aerosmith Fave: ‘B.I.G.’ - X Ambassadors Bye: ‘Whole Lotta Losin’ Monsters of Folk

James Gill, Books Editor First: The Life Of Pablo Kanye West Fave: ‘Wildfire’ Seafret Bye: ‘Runaway’ Kanye West

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Tristan Parsons, Deputy Editor First: Familiar to Millions Live - Oasis Fave: ‘Atmosphere’ - Joy Division Bye: ‘Follow’ - Whitney Houston Raine Beckford, Features Editor First: ‘Can I Kick It?’ - A Tribe Called Quest Fave: ‘Bouff Daddy’ - J Hus Bye: ‘Til It’s Over’ Anderson Paak

W

hite Paper Games started their lives as a studio with their debut game Ether One , a narrative driven puzzle exploration game exploring the mind of a patient with dementia.

My time with Ether One was always fascinating: it was sometimes perplexing, but at its core was a game that encouraged complete immersion into not just the life of an individual, but their whole community, in order to restore clarity to their fading memories.

Ether One received plenty of critical acclaim, drawing praise for its intelligent blending of game design with narrative, and was nominated for Destructoid’s ‘Best Narrative Design 2014’ award. It was also a finalist at Indiecade 2014 and Developer’s conference 2014, and arrived on Playstation consoles in 2015.

White Paper’s next project, The Occupation , is shaping up to be just as intriguing, as described on their website: “ The Occupation is a first person, fixed time, investigative thriller sim set in North-West England on 24th October, 1987.

The game begins at 3:27PM. An attack has left 23 dead and has become a catalyst for the creation of The Union Act, a controversial act which threatens the civil liberties of the British population.

“The next 4 hours will determine the outcome of the act and the future of the country. Events happen in real-time and you must make decisions based on the evidence surrounding you. Is the cost of an extreme action outweighed by the cause of the greater good? You are the reporter. You decide the narrative.”

I sat down with technical artist James Burton and programmer Martin Cosens in White Paper’s Manchester studio to find out more about it.

We know the game is set in Manchester. I know the game is set 30 years ago, but are we going to see a Manchester that we recognise?

James: I’ll think you’ll definitely see architecture that’s inspired by Manchester quite strongly.

Martin: If you’re familiar with some of the iconic buildings, then there’s definitely areas that will stand out in the game. We’ve definitely drawn inspiration from a lot of the big civic buildings around, like Manchester city hall.

J: Yeah, I’ll think you’ll definitely recognise things around like the John Rylands library, for example - they’re the two central pillars.

M: It’s not meant to explicitly be Manchester .

It’s called Turing isn’t it?

J: Some outlets handled it really nicely - they said they’d respectfully wait a week or two before they talked about The Occupation, because it was too fresh. The London Bridge attack happened right after that as well. It was all kind of around that time. It’s horrible, but those aren’t the parallels we were trying to draw.

M: It’s one of those things that come up quite a lot at shows. A lot of people have asked how much we’re playing up current events. And obviously, with games, we’re developing them for years (The Occupation began development in late 2015). Games take too long for us to be like, ‘oh this is happening this week.’ It’s just very strange they happened at the same time. It’s like life imitating art.

exactly redundant narrative, but narrative that doesn’t necessarily feed through back into the main plot. Not everything is about the [union] act. People have their own lives going on: someone might be really concerned because their child’s sick at home, and you can follow that narrative all the way through.

I was listening to N.J. (Apostol) at EDX speaking to Prettygoodgaming’s Mike Williams, and he implied some parallels between the union act, the political tensions in America, and the Patriot Act. Is it fair to say, then, that the game takes a broader political perspective?

M: We’re hoping you’re going to have a good amount of agency to dictate your way through in ter ms of the information you choos e to find out and what you do with this infor mation. T hat’s quite impor tant to how things unfold.

J: The important thing for us is that we’re not trying to imbue a particular political view. There are political themes, but we’re not trying to say “this a view you should have” or “this is our view; listen to us.” It’s all about putting a story and a situation, and giving you both the ability to find all the facts and figure it out, but also giving you limited facts so that you make your own mind up. You don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s key.

M: Even if you 100 per cent-ed everything and found out all the facts, you hopefully wouldn’t come out like, “oh so this is clearly right, and this is what the developer thought the right thing to do was is.” One of the great things about a game is that you have a choice, unlike in films or books. We don’t want to beat anyone over the head with our morality.

So is that why you chose the ‘80s? To give it a bit of distance? Or was it something else?

J: Not particularly. It’s a cool era to explore, and it gave us license to play with the technology and things like that.

M: One issue was, and I think films have this too, that you spend so long just trying to explain away, “why couldn’t I just text them?” Some of it was just down to the themes we wanted to go with. If you just had instant messenger, a lot of this would be pointless. But also, Ether was set a lot earlier, at the beginning of the 20th century, so this felt like the natural progression. It gives you a natural aesthetic to work with, too.

J: That’s another thing; we’ve always had this idea that our games would co-exist, so yeah it felt like the natural step.

I’d heard elsewhere that they might exist in the same universe; will you being paying lip service to Ether then?

J: Yeah, games like Bioshock and System Shock , they all kind of co-exist. We wanted to have this universe that was persistent across our games, even for the sake of making our body of work as a studio be relatable.

M: it’s definitely a really rich resource, isn’t it? You can’t have that setting without an element of that coming through, even if it was subconscious. There’s definitely political themes in it, and as soon as there’s political themes and it’s set in the ‘80s — even if you didn’t put it there, people would see it.

J: I think at the same time, we’re taking a historical approach in the way that we look at things — even when we’re designing our own political problems within the world of Turing, we’re looking at historical problems.

One Parallel I noticed between Manchester and Turing is the premise: a terrorist attack that killed 23 people, which obviously evokes memories of the Manchester Arena attack. Is that intentional?

M: No, that was really unfortunately timed, actually. Obviously, the event itself was incredibly unfortunate. I mean, I think we put out a trailer a couple of hours before the attack, so some people online thought it was in poor taste: it was just really, really unfortunate.

S ometh ing else Ether did q uite a lot was a lot of environ mental storytelling. Is environ mental storytelling someth ing you’ve still tried to integrate into the game?

J: Yeah, I think that’s always going to be a big par t of any of our game s. For us, it’s s o impor tant to have a world that feels alive and that feels like its got histor y to it, and it’s not just a game level; it’s a place where the s e people have lived, where they have aspirations and a future. For us, we can’t tell you this giving you a cinematic or telling you, ‘this is exactly what you need to know’ - s o much of it is just building a world that is intere sting.

M: T he thing about environment stor ytelling is that it kind of give s you the freedom to come back to it when you’re intere sted, but als o, if you’re not you can just walk away. T hat can make it more engaging: its your choice to par ticipate in that.

We k now it’s a fixed length game, so obviously the scope matters. Too small, and you risk h aving not enough to do in th at time, too large, and you b ecome lost. P ut c rudely, wh at k ind of map siz e are we look ing at?

M: When I first joined the studio, the ethos was like Ether but way smaller and way dens er. It’s de finitely dens er, but I think it’s bigger too. It’s not small. It’s a big de sign concer n: are you going to be able to fill the space with enough content to make it constantly engaging?

J: I think we’re tr ying to figure out r ight now a way of pacing it in such a way that allows you to explore the different par ts of this environment. It’s all one environment really, but one par t of the map or stor y that’s connected to the kind of emotional beat we’re tr ying to hit at the time.

M: It’s a bit of a balance. T he idea of complete freedom all the time s eems like the coole st thing, but s ometime s it’s better to direct people a little bit, and give them a bit of push. If le ft to their own device s, they might not s ee s ome of the coole st stuff.

I’ve heard VR is an option for th is game; is th at still someth ing you might b e doing?

M: Yeah, which just gives us a little more freedom. It’s one of the nice things we’re able to do: game development, for the longest time, has been much bigger in the U.S., so it’s nice to have English developers just touching on slightly more English themes.

That was something I liked about Ether One: It was set in Pinwheel, looking at what was initially an idyllic seaside town that fell into a post-industrial slump. Do you think you’ll engage similarly with Manchester’s political history, maybe Margaret Thatcher’s influence?

It’s like a slice of space and time then , isn’t it? Does th at mean the game is q uite reac tion ary to the player?

If you play th is slice tw ice in a row and do noth ing, hypothetically, it would play out in the same way. You’re the variable, so it’s based on how you can ch ange th ings?

Photo:Mancunion

Obviously, its quite a narrative driven game. In terms of gameplay, what kind of thing will we generally be doing?

M: It’s really down to what you think is important. The initial inspiration was from more systemic kind of gameplay.

Games like Dishonored and Deus Ex were a big inspiration.

A lot of them work in the sense that they give you a set of tools, and you have objectives, but how you achieve those is up to you. You could spend the entire time being a goodie two shoes, doing exactly what you’re told, and that’s not the wrong way to play; that’ll just give you a certain conclusion.

If you’re more interested in X narrative that you think ‘oh well maybe I’ll have to get into this person’s office, then you would have to sneak into that.

J: We have a thread: you come in as a journalist, you’ve got meetings with certain people and certain times, so you have be ready to around their offices around then. You can miss the meeting though. We have have somewhat of a directive path, but it’s up to you really.

M: Something else we’ve got going on in the world is not

J: From day one, we always had VR in mind in ter ms of how things would work. We’re tr ying to be as optimis ed as possible in ever ything s o that it’s possible. It’s not go ing to be s omething that come s on straight away, but its s omething we’ve always kept in mind when de signing the game.

M: It s ets a cer tain bar in ter ms of how you optimis e things as well. It’s a good standard to uphold. With a normal game, people would want 60fps, maybe, but with VR you have to hit 90 becaus e other wis e people star t vomiting. In a way, it’s just nice to hold yours elf to that standard, and the outcome of that is that it’ ll work nicely on VR. J: We’ve done te sts, and its really cool the s ens e of s cale you get. Manche ster ’s architecture is pretty ver tical, it feels ver y cool.

L ast q uestion : the h ardest q uestion and the one de velopers h ate most — is there a release date yet?

J: De finitely this year, and I think s oon. I don’t think it’d slip to the end of the year by any means.

Apar t from the above, I think what stood out to me most about this studio was how the staff balanced ar tistic ambition with consumer awarene ss. At ever y juncture, their passion and excitement was evident, but it was als o refrained by a de ft awarene ss of the uns een customer: “ Will this feature make the game unwieldy?” , “ How do we make sure our game balance s freedom and direction?” , and, above all, “ will this be enjoyable?”

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Fashion & Beauty

ISSUE 20/ 19TH MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Editors’ farewell: style notes Talia Lee-Skudder, Fashion and Beauty Editor, shares her fashion and beauty thoughts for the last issue of The Mancunion How would you describe your own personal style?

I feel like now that I am at the ripe old age of 21 I can finally start to wear more womanly clothes, without looking like I’ve raided my mum’s wardrobe. So recently, I’ve been wearing more fitted clothes and midi skirts.

When I was younger I was desperate to wear heels all the time but since I started uni I have realised the benefits of comfort, and so now I am a fully converted trainer gal, but they usually have to be flatforms. Supergas are my favourite. I still throw on my heels on at any chance I get, especially for the evening, but somehow even my modest black heeled boots don’t seem to have a place in the main library.

I tend to always wear something with leopard print on and it’s usually never an accident. From trainers, to jackets to shoes and shirts, I literally have every item of clothing in leopard print — except trousers. I like to think that my love for leopard print is less Scary Spice and more chic… As you can see from the photo, this is my dressed down look with sensible footwear and my leopard coat stops the outfit from being completely boring. I am currently coveting the perfect blue jean and I am still on the hunt for the ideal pair.

When it comes to jewellery, I definitely do not go for the simple look. I am usually draped in bangles, necklaces and rings by my favourite jewellery designer Daniella Draper, a brand started by a local girl from Cleethorpes. A battered silver aesthetic complete with stunning stones from citrine to amethyst and rose quartz, the jewellery is completely different to styles you would ordinarily find on the high street. These accessories complete my look and give me, along with most of the female population of Cleethorpes, a signature jingle-jangle with every movement. Not quite appropriate for the lecture theatre.

Most of the time I don’t tend to follow the rule ‘less is more’; instead I live by the motto that more is absolutely fabulous.

Who is your biggest style and fashion icon and why?

I don’t know if I could choose just one fashion icon because I take inspiration from so many different women. But I have loved Blake Lively since her Gossip Girl days and of course the icon that is Victoria Beckham.

What are your favourite luxury and high-street brands?

I don’t have one specific favourite high-street brand. I am willing to look everywhere and anywhere to find cool pieces.

I never tend to shop in River Island for example, but last year I found an amazing pair of leopard print heeled mules that are such a staple in my wardrobe.

Of course I love Zara, who doesn’t? I also absolutely adore Never Fully Dressed; it’s a small boutique that is based in Essex and designs the most gorgeous silk pieces. Their wrap skirts are my go-to item, they’re so versatile for day and night.

If at some point in my life I can afford Dolce and Gabbana then I hope that I will also lead the type of life that requires me to wear their extravagant clothes. I also love Tom Ford’s clothes; so simple, yet stunning.

Photo: Talia Lee-Skudder

What are the beauty essentials you cannot live without?

My ultimate beauty essential has got to be Batiste’s dry shampoo. I am a big believer in the natural benefits of not washing your hair and letting the natural oils just work their magic. My mum encouraged me to train my hair so that it would not get as greasy in between washes, therefore meaning I have to wash my hair less frequently. On this one occasion I took my mum’s advice on board, and at the age of about 14 I trained my hair to not get greasy.

By ‘train’ I mean I had to leave my hair until looked like I’d dipped my head in a pan of grease before washing it. It was a long, difficult and at times smelly process but if you persevere it really is worth it. You save a fortune on shampoo, your colour

lasts so much longer and your hair is in an overall healthier condition. To tide me through my greasier hair days, batiste is my life saver. It revitalises my hair, allows it to go a little longer without a wash and adds a bit of volume.

I couldn’t talk about my beauty essentials without mentioning fake tan. I have managed to trick people for about four years now that I am naturally tanned and whilst admittedly I have been fortunate enough to be able to top up my natural tan yearly, I mostly owe this reputation to my trusty fakes. Garnier gradual tan is my go-to product when I need a light coverage, but Thursday night it’s game on and the extra dark mousse gets lathered on ready for the weekend. Not only do I wake up glowing (the good kind of glowing, not the orange kind), I also, with just one application, lose a few pounds. What’s not to love?

Which fashion trend would you like to see burn and die?

I absolutely despise leggings. Unless they’re activewear leggings in which case I am guilty of throwing on a pair to run to the shops. Plain black leggings are just my worst nightmare, as they are so unforgiving and unflattering. They are so scruffy and nearly always see-through, and they never make an outfit look finished. Yes, I know they’re comfortable and yes, I know they’re practical, but they are definitely a look that should be left in 2008. There is no place for them in 2018. Girls, I urge you to scrap the leggings and put on some proper trousers.

Another, more recent trend that I just cannot get on board with are the cut-out swimming costumes that frequent my Instagram feed and every online retailer I browse. There is so much body, so little material to cover it. A bit of material is used for the top that is so small it reveals both underboob and cleavage and the super high-cut bottoms also leave little to the imagination.

My main issue with these swimming suits is that the design really is just revolting and again often very see-through. My wish is that these style of swim suits don’t make it any further than summer 2018.

If you could be transported in time to one fashion era, when would it be and why?

The 1950s would definitely be my go-to decade. The fabulous dresses with cinched in waists and the cigarette trousers were definitely created with a curvier girl in mind and were oh so chic. Beautiful women like Diana Dors, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe are the epitome of the 50s aesthetic and some of the most iconic faces in fashion history, who wouldn’t want to look like these ladies? There is something so glamorous about the decade and the women always looked impeccably dressed. It truly was a great decade for fashion.

ISSUE 20/ 19TH MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

continued...

What are the beauty essentials you cannot live without?

Glossier, Glossier, Oh Glossier. Shall I compare thee to a Summers day, thou art more lovely and blah blah. You get the idea (sorry Will). The hype was spreading. The Christmas money was in. I was sceptical but I gave it a go. After using the Phase 1 kit: Milky Jelly Cleanser, Priming Moisturizer and Balm Dotcom in cherry, along with Solution, a daily exfoliator, I felt transformed into a glowing seraph (with the occasional zit).

As far as makeup is concerned, I like to keep it minimal in the day, focusing on skin and eyes. I was so tired of buying foundations that talked the talk but did nothing for my skin. So, I made it my mission to try out every one on the market, surviving on free samples from Selfridges for over a year (shout out to Karen on the Clinique counter). Then finally, I discovered RMK Creamy Foundation that ‘works to enhance the skin’s barrier function, resulting in a skin supple and glowing’, at £38 a bottle it is a splurge buy but by God it’s worth it. RMK ‘holds firm roots within the New York makeup artistry scene and is carefully brought to life in dedicated laboratories in Japan’.

Which fashion trend would you like to see burn and die?

Those bikini bottoms that are pulled right up to the waist and up the arse. Skinny Jeans. Snap backs of course, goes without saying.

River Island tops with either a New York skyline or sunset scene.

Ice gem hair. God, there’s too many.

If you could be transported in time to one fashion era, when would it be and why?

J’adore late 90’s and early 00’s style, but it was only a few years ago and I’d rather not be listening to Sexyback on an IPod Nano again. Without a doubt, it would have to be Baroque France. The court of Louis XIV in Versailles. Think off the shoulder, metres of silk, frothy lace and dripping in jewels. Parties, alcohol, food, sex, more alcohol. Where else would you be able to be this extravagant?

Decadence at its finest and I need it tbh.

How would you describe your own personal style?

Sports teacher X Courtney Love (with a sprinkling of The Simple Life Paris Hilton).

Who is your biggest style and fashion icon and why?

Freja Wewer. She’s a Danish blogger, sashaying her way across Copenhagen in collaboration sports-wear and a cloud of Marlboro Red smoke. Her entire blog is written in Danish but her Instagram features the same photographs, pictures speak a thousand words after all.

I get most of my fashion inspiration from Instagram, I try and follow all the small independent magazines as they are often the first too jump on quirkier trends, as well as up and coming designers. My top tip is to utilise the save feature, I use that as a mood board. It’s full of blondes, not in a weird Hitchcock way, but so I know what best suits my colouring.

What are your favourite luxury and high-street brands?

My favourite luxury brand at the moment is Burberry. I recently purchased a suspiciously cheap Burberry rain Mac from Depop, we’re talking full on Nova Check print from shoulder to knee. Yep, that’ll get me kicked out of a few shopping centres.

For everyday items, I go to Cow vintage. They sell it all, from sweatshirts and jeans to cowboy boots. My favourite formula for a night out however, is usually a bottom half from Urban Outfitters, at the moment I’m liking a reworked camo mini skirt or a pair of combat trousers. Then a basic top like a bandeau or Bardot from my guilty pleasure Misguided (it’s not all bodycon dresses and thigh high boots, it’s cheap and good for simple layers). To finish, a pair of trainers or Docs (we all know that only the sh*te places make you wear heels).

Photo: Sophie Walsh

Deputy Fashion & Beauty Editor Amy Nguyen says goodbye in the way she knows best — through her fantastic sense of style

How would you describe your own personal style?

Although hard to pin point in a single sentence, I would summarise my own dress code as quite classic chic, with a slight edge and twist, whether that be in shoe choice or materials.

For example, my staple go to pieces are usually boucle skirts in bright and bold colours and I love to pair these with colour popping boots and flats. Last year I purchased a velvet pink pair of flats which are like slippers which I always receive compliments on (surprisingly from Next) and also a more outlandish pair of red studded boots from Topshop.

I am a huge leather disciple and admittedly have about ten of the same style leather skirts in all colours of the rainbow to suit any mood.

On the flipside, I never underestimate the allimportant power of black, whether it’s a baggy dress, oversized knit, or beautiful black leather trousers. I definitely favour timeless pieces and am less attracted to logos on items, I still wear clothes I bought in sixth form (I’m 24 now). I’ve recently been inspired by my semester abroad in Milan where the students look immaculate and rock up in flares and high boots, they are incredibly effortlessly stylish and I aim to integrate this into my future purchases.

Who is your biggest style and fashion icon and why?

Olivia Palermo. An Audrey Hephurn-esque beauty, she originally was cast into the spotlight as a New York Socialist who featured on a few episodes of a spinoff from The Hills.

In all the years I have followed her, close to a decade, I’ve never seen a photograph of a bad outfit. She manages to pair unexpected patterns and textures of fabrics, for instance leopard with emerald feathers in a totally classy and elegant way. She often mixes high street with designer labels and has been the root cause of many a sold out item in Zara.

Olivia adorns her outfits with fabulous large sunglasses and the most beautiful clutches.

Needless to say I would sell my own brother for her wardrobe contents.

What are your favourite luxury and highstreet brands? & Other Stories never fails to make my bank balance cry! The dresses are perfect for the day time and can easily be turned into evening attire with a quick change of earring and shoe. Their patterns and garments differ from Topshop and other more commonly turned to brands, as they are no means tacky and represent a welcome change on the high street.

I also love Cos for classic pieces like white shirts and they have really cute bikinis.

Deputy Fashion and Beauty Editor Sophie Walsh discusses her style

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Photo: Amy Nguyem

Uniqlo is underrated and has saved my skin from Manchester and Northern climates; their heat tech is undeniably good quality for a disproportionately small price. Zara was ruined for me by a business project and research into their supply chain so I try not to shop there anymore.

On the luxury scale of things, I’m a huge fan of The Row (aspirational looking only) by Mary Kate and Ashely, and Tom Ford as it oozes sophistication. French iconic brand Chanel is a given, as well as contemporary minimalist Isabel Marant for elegant chic. Aquazurra is my

dream shoe retailer of choice; Meghan Markle wore a pair for her engagement announcement to prince Haz and they are playful yet classic.

What are the beauty essentials you cannot live without?

I spent two years working for a luxury beauty company, so beauty has become almost a religion as well as a science. I’m an authoritarian when it comes to my skincare routine and follow a strict ritual of cleansing, using a serum, oil and then moisturiser. Eye cream is a given if its revision season! I like using organic vegan brands like Tata Harper,

Sunday Riley and REN and SPF is an added bonus. A flawless skincare regime acts as the worlds best primer.

Make up wise, I prefer a look that has a natural glow as opposed to caked on TOWIE esque.

I’m extremely into vegan beauty. Hourglass do the most amazing mineral veil primer and hourglass vanish foundation stick.

Although they are more on the high end price spectrum, they really are worth it. The best cult highlighter is the BECCA Champagne Pop and lasts a true lifetime.

I own about 58000 shades of lipstick, some my mother would argue are the same colour but they are not. Daytime requires a nice pinkey nude from Laura Mercier called Desert Rose and night time calls for dark reds from Kevyn Aucoin, the creator of contour, who has a fabulous Blood Roses collection.

Rimmel eyebrow and kohl liners are fool proof at a great price and allow you to save your money for the good stuff! As for mascara, I use Eyeko which is cruelty free and has caffeine in to perk your lashes up!

For bath and showering I’ve found SuperDrug do an incredible vegan salted caramel bubble bath, which sounds more like a desert than a toiletry, but I couldn’t recommend it more!

Which fashion trend would you like to see burn and die?

All as a matter of opinion and whilst I appreciate the renaissance of classic items, these three items belong in their grave.

The bum bag — truly atrocious accessory, revived by Bella and Kendall who wear them around their chests as what I would describe as ‘skater chic’. Gucci can’t even make a bum bag look good, they must die.

Big trainers. I’m looking at you, Balenciaga and Nike. BURN THEM. I’ve also been hugely disappointed in recent times to witness crocs on the runway! Featured

by Balenciaga and Christopher Kane, it’s just– not normal.

If you could be transported in time to one fashion era, when would it be and why?

The 1920’s holds ultimate appeal in terms of glamour, when we think of Gatsby, sequins, feathers, bold statement beauty looks and of course the flapper dress.

That being said, the a1960’s makes all other eras obsolete. The swinging 60’s in London which was a pivotal city in the urban fashion revolution brought us the PVC, leather, miniskirts, A line tunic dresses and bold eyepopping colours.

Lacoste X Save Our Species Lacoste join the emerging group of brands seeking to raise awareness of environmental issues. By Amy Nguyen L ast week, eponymous French brand Lacoste, engaged in a commendable marketing campaign aimed to advance environmental goals and animal conservation. The organisation collaborated with the International Union for Conversation of Nature to provoke the thoughts of its customers and drive awarene ss regarding endangered animals and rising rate s of extinction across our worlds landscape.

To set the scene, it is worth contextualising the scale of this problem. As a planet, we are currently witne ssing a period of accelerated biodiversity lost, in which specie s are becoming extinct at a rate that has not been witne ssed since the previous global extinction event (i.e. the age of the dinosaurs). The sharp wave of extinctions occurring has been partially driven by man-made climate change. The increased vulnerability of terre strial and

aquatic ecosystems has been made so by the altering climate and levels of acidity in oceans.

Sounding bleak? Consider this: the current rate of extinction we are experiencing amongst animals is estimated to be between 100-1000 times more than what is considered natural for our world. Scientists have predicted that up to a staggering 30 per cent of all mammal bird and amphibian species will be threatened with extinction within this century.

Que Lacoste.

Their de signers embarked on a partnership with the IUCN Save Our Specie s (SOS) department, a group within the organisation that is fully committed to pursuing the long term survival of threatened specie s and their habitats.for the cause.

Photo: www.lacoste.com

Lacoste de signed ten limited edition of their class polo shirts, announcing ‘the crocodile has left its spot’.

In the iconic logo’s place, an array of embroided endangered species currently threatened by extinction have been elevated to centregarment-stage.

The new white shirts feature creatures so few in number that, to many, they may be unfamiliar and unrecognisable. These are the Sumatran tiger, Javan Rhino, Burmese Roofed turtle, Vaquita dolphin, Northern sportive lemur, Cao vit gibbon, Kakapo parrot, California condor, Saola, Sumatran tiger, and Anegada ground iguana.

The quantity of polos produced was scarce, 1775 to be precise. This number totals the current

population size of each of the ten species. Retailing at RRP $183, the proceeds from each polo were donated to the ICUN to promote and engage in the battle for wildlife conversation at a global level. To no surprise, the collection has sold out but proceeds are still being collected for the cause.

Whilst Lacoste is not the first brand to bring awareness to pervasive issues regarding the environment and sustainability, their campaign and partnership is commendable. Efforts should be mirrored and replicated by both high street retailers and luxury designers, following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Patagonia, to raise awareness amongst all levels of consumers.

Film

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Festival

Review

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2018 The International Lift-Off Film Festival is coming back to Manchester at the end of the month to showcase high quality independent film Eloise Wright Head Editor Coming back to Manchester for the second time, Lift-Off Film Festival will take place on the 28th and 29th of March, at Texture — an original event space and bar located in the Northern Quarter.

Lift-Off is a community which promotes high-quality independent film from around the globe, and Manchester is the second of their annual eleven-city-wide cycle of festivals. Their goal is to connect and promote independent artists around the world, giving them a platform to exhibit their work and interact with their audience.

Audiences will be treated to an incredibly broad range of films from equally diverse filmmakers, each presenting stories and perspectives unique to their own experiences. From carefully constructed features, perspective-shifting documentaries, and award-winning short films, there really is something for everyone.

The audience plays a large role in the festival, as their responses are collected via feedback cards which are then sent to the film-

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makers. These tangible and genuine audience reactions to their films are invaluable in developing the filmmakers’ creative process.

The festival culminates with a Local Filmmakers Showcase and Networking Party on Thursday 29th March, where attendees and filmmakers can rub shoulders and maybe even find the perfect collaborators for their next project!

The Line-Up: These eclectic stories explore many facets of human identity. Whether heart-warming, thought-provoking, action-packed, or introspective, these films all have one thing in common: the brilliance of the creatives whose hard work is being celebrated.

Here are some of the highlights: We are very excited to once more be screening the now Academy Award-winning short film The Silent Child — directed by Chris Overton. This film started its journey in the Lift-Off First Time Filmmakers Showcase in 2017, and now having won an Oscar, it’s back screening in Manchester.

Inspired by real-life events, “The Silent Child tells the story of a

Gringo From the Edgerton brothers, a hit-andmiss film with a compelling moral message and a very weak plot Photo: Allocine.fr

Sana Ditta Film Contributor

PPhoto: Lift-off-festivals

profoundly deaf child born into a hearing family. A caring social worker does everything she can to stop a deaf child from being treated like a stumbling block in a middle-class family’s idealistic life.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to attend a screening of this Oscar-winning film on Wednesday the 27th of March at 6:00 pm, as part of Shorts Programme 1.

The star of the Lift-Off Season

Awards 2017 — 8-time nominated, and winner of Best Director and Best Actor — The Peculiar Abilities of Mr Mahler — directed by Paul Philipp — will screen as part of Shorts Programme 1 on Wednesday the 27th of March at 6:00 pm.

“East Germany, 1987: The special investigator Mahler is said to have paranormal abilities. The police assign him to solve the case of the 6-year-old Henry Kiefer, who is missing for weeks now, before this

issue leads to political tensions with the West. But then he brings something to light that makes this family tragedy especially political…”

The festival includes three Shorts Programmes and two Features, culminating with a Local Filmmakers Showcase and Networking Party on March 29th.

Gringo is a confusing mishmash of genres that fails to reach a clear direction, with a stumbling plot and plain characters. Is Edgerton in way of his head?

To say this movie has a messy plot is an understatement. As if the writers have taken the very same weed pills that Harold helps produce, multiple story lines running through the film are forgotten and hastily remembered in an amnesiac haze.

The movie itself was unspectacular but for some reason, I couldn’t say I was bored. The ensemble cast makes you wonder why they chose to star in a seemingly B-list movie and at times, they do feel slightly overqualified.

Yet, I was still entertained for the most part.

Gringo stars down-on-his-luck Harold Soyinka — played by the brilliant David Oyelowo — who unknowingly works for a shady drug

company. Hapless Harold is a really nice guy and the film goes out of its way to show you this. But life seems to be treating him harshly. He’s in debt, his bosses (Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton) are hard on him, and he’s losing his wife. All in all, you can’t help but feel bad for the guy.

Along with his bosses, he travels to Mexico to handle some business but Harold stays back and fakes his kidnapping. Then proceeds a bunch of cat-and-mouse chases as a number of people try to find Harold, including a Mexican drug cartel.

Oyelowo does his best to inject life into his character and the movie on the whole. He brings a slice of comedy into Gringo and you can’t help but cheer at the end when he finally gets his way.

His character brings a moral tale — that good things happen to good people. But overall, the movie is full of poorly written characters that are unable to develop due to

Eloise Wright Head Editor From out-of-work actors with a bedroom-based company, to a network hosting Oscar winners and a unique platform for all budding filmmakers. UK based independent film festival founders James Bradley and Ben Pohlman started the Lift-Off Network from small beginnings in 2011 with the first London Lift-Off Film Festival.

Now in its eighth year, with eleven host cities, the Network has well and truly gone global.

Thousands of indie films have screened at Lift-Off festivals, from LA to Tokyo to Sydney, and plenty of cities in between. With over 35,000 filmmakers in the Lift-Off family, and over 100,000 followers on social media, the growth of this network really has been remarkable.

The Lift-Off ethos is centred around providing a launch-pad for filmmakers’ careers, no matter how much experience they have.

The team are dedicated to providing focused feedback to help filmmakers improve, securing distribution deals for Lift-Off screened projects, and connecting filmmakers with each other — after all, collaboration is the key to creativity. From seasoned industry veterans to amateurs with professional dreams —

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival later this month. To view the full programme and buy tickets, click here.

The Community: The Lift-Off Global Network is now launching a highly anticipated platform for independent filmmakers to creatively collaborate, develop, and work together — The Lift-Off Community. Not only is The Lift-Off Community a place to find work and opportunities with other members, but the platform also presents job openings within established film companies.

Members will also benefit from the online calendar, which ensures they stay up to date with upcoming film events and festivals all around the world. The platform is full of interesting and exciting film related resources such as articles, videos, podcasts, and interviews with established names in the industry.

The platform offers: – COLLABORATION — Find creatives for your next project. Post job opportunities and connect with other Community members.

– EMPLOYMENT — Search and apply for top jobs in the industry, from internships to man-

agement positions.

– CAREER ROAD-MAPPING — Apply for exclusive and tailored workshops or one to ones, helping you build a foundation for a successful career in film.

– SCRIPTS — Browse the database of scripts whose writers are looking to collaborate.

– EVENTS — All the must-have dates for your film calendar, searchable by date or keyword – EDUCATION — This is a cache of practical resources that have been specially curated.

Categories include: Interviews with Industry, Downloads, Recommended Reading, Videos, Podcasts, Feedback, and News — all focused towards helping indie filmmakers develop their skills.

– FORUM — Split into categories to help focus discussion, here you can post and receive replies from fellow members of the Community, as well as get feedback on your work.

– DISCOUNTS — Money off a whole range of filmmaker essentials, from equipment to set catering, thanks to Lift-Off’s many partners who are just as passionate about supporting indie filmmakers.

– FEE WAIVERS — Discounts and waivers to submit to Lift-Off Festivals.

3/5

The Big Lebowski at 20: The story of a rug

The story behind the ever-growing global independent film network, LiftOff Lift-Off is perfect for everyone who’s passionate about film-making.

There are some truly incredible features submitted to Lift-Off festivals, and the team are passionate about championing them. Securing distribution deals is the natural next step in the film’s journey, and they do their best to help filmmakers achieve that.

‘The Trade’ screened first in London, then went to New York, and on to the Tokyo festival too. The film follows notorious Combat Zone Wrestler Nick Mondo, and Lift-Off saw a gap in the market for a film catering to the huge following of CZW in the wrestling world.

As you can see, the film is now available on Amazon Prime.

The Short Film (Live Action) winner at the Oscars this year, ‘The Silent Child’ was first screened at one of the Lift-Off First Time Filmmakers Showcases, which take place regularly throughout the year at their base in the illustrious Pinewood Studios. First time filmmakers Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton’s trajectory from Lift-Off to the Oscars in a year is the perfect example of standards and quality of Lift-Off selected films, as well as the support they offer their filmmakers.

‘The Silent Child’ won Best Acting Ensemble at the Lift-Off Season Awards 2017 and will be screened as part of the programme in the

been better suited to be a full-on comedy and perhaps would have even fared better if they amped up the humour.

Gringo is a cliched movie with a cliched arrative that somehow at times manages to be overly complicated. On top of this, there are multiple twists that add nothing to the story other than humour. Like Icarus, Gringo flies too close to the sun and gets burned in a lot of places. But the end product is one that can be enjoyable, if you keep expectations low. At least all of the loose ends are tied up neatly by the end of the film and catharsis is served in sweet, sweet karma.

Starring a great cast, Gringo baffles so much that I can’t decide if the film is terrible or so bad that it’s wonderful. However, I can’t say that I was bored or left feeling underwhelmed. So, I guess it did do its job.

Re-Appraisal

The Lift-Off Global Network story PPhoto: Lift-off-festivals

the messy plot. And here is where it loses its footing.

There are numerous subplots that aren’t really there for the majority of the film and are often neglected. The unaware Sunny (played

by Amanda Seyfried) falls victim to this even though it would have been great to see more of her. Charlize Theron is as always great but her character is one-dimensional and a little too familiar. Meanwhile, Joel Edgerton plays a dumb, charmless character who is infuriating. Both provide humour in their non-PC lines but are at times too overbearing.

Most characters have lovable qualities but are little more than caricatures. That would be fine if this movie was a comedy. But is it a comedy? Unfortunately, the film suffers from a genre identity crisis. It can’t decide if it’s a comedy, a crime thriller, or a drama.

The messy genre coverage leaves the film unaware of where it stands. As most of the characters are hyperbolic, it would have

A rug that not only tied the room together, but also the narrative

Photo: Allocine.fr

James Gill Film Critic & Books Editor The Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski turns 20 this month, but the cult classic wasn’t always as popular as it is now, garnering mixed reviews in 1998. A film that begins with a mistaken identity quickly becomes a complex, interwoven web of storylines that the protagonist Jeffrey Lebowski, or The Dude as he prefers to be known, wants no part of yet finds impossible to escape. The reason for that is simple, his rug. First soiled then stolen, it not only tied the room together, but also the narrative.

And yet, what is going on in the front of the scene is often irrelevant. The kidnapping plot which we, the audience, feel should take centre stage is never fulfilled because of The Dude’s lack of ambition or motivation to pursue it. He would much rather go bowling with his friends Walter or Donnie and so the plot must come to him, but after each advancement of the story, each bit of new informa-

tion that comes to light, The Dude continues his life as if nothing happened.

This is because he simply doesn’t care. He lives in a simple house, with no job, no goals and most importantly to him, no stress. However when his rug is stolen from him he is thrust into a complicated story that doesn’t really need him at all. Once he goes to find the real Jeffrey Lebowski and takes one of his rugs in return, that should be the end of The Dude’s involvement in the film. His journey is complete and the ending is satisfactory, but nothing is ever that easy.

The rug’s role in the film is a MacGuffin. A plot device in the form of object or goal that our protagonist pursues with little narrative explanation. You see them often in crime or spy films. James Bond is always after some object, that if in the wrong hands would spell disaster. More often than not the audience doesn’t care about the object itself, but for the action it catalyses. The Dude wouldn’t go find Jeffry Lebowski if his rug wasn’t stolen, just like Bond wouldn’t fence with Madonna in Die Another Day if it wasn’t for the Icarus

Satellite. Well, he might.

“It just seemed interesting to us to thrust that character into the most confusing situations possible. The person it would seem on the face of it least equipped to deal with it. That’s sort of the conceit of the movie.”

Ethan Coen is saying here that it’s not the situations themselves which hold value to the audience but how The Dude reacts to them, how he copes with this influx of stress that tries to steer his life off course.

Joel Coen said in that same interview how the film was loosely based on the works of American writer Raymond Chandler. Episodic in nature, Chandler’s detective novels follow the protagonist as he interacts with lots of characters on his way to solving the case. The Big Lebowski’s main narrative is very similar to this, although it has a staccato rhythm from jumping between fast-paced investigation and the relaxed everyday life of The Dude.

Coming back to the rug, it’s importance to The Dude stems from what the rug itself represents, it’s stability and comfort in his life.

Without that presence, he finds it difficult to relax, to be The Dude. While we see him go bowling with Walter and Donnie several times we never actually see him bowl. The closest he comes is in his imagination laying on the floor of his house listening to a tape of the Venice Beach League Bowling Playoffs from 1987, shortly before his second rug gets stolen.

“This is when we figured if things are becoming a little bit uncomplicated of unclear it doesn’t really matter. This is similar to Chandler in that the plot is secondary to the other things that are going on. If people are getting confused it’s not necessarily going to get in the way of them enjoying the movie.”

It is ironic that The Big Lebowski, a film whose protagonist works so actively to leave behind no legacy, has one of the biggest in cinema. From an annual festival to a religion, there is a surprisingly large following of dedicated fans, those who simply wish to abide by the same carefree lifestyle as The Dude.

Books

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Feature

The Alchemy of Colour

Biko Street Presents:

Who says books can’t be works of art?

James Gill Books Editor From arsenic to mercury, blackened bones to beetles, The John Rylands Library’s new exhibition The Alchemy of Colour explores the curious recipes used throughout the centuries to bring vivid colour to manuscripts.

Visitors to the exhibition will explore the lengths artists went to add colour and the processes of making the pigments. Often nature was used for the palette: vibrant yellows were obtained from cows urine, bright blues from crushed precious stones and inky blacks from the tree growths caused by wasps.

Elaine Sheldon, Conservator at The John Rylands Library and Co-Curator of the exhibition said: “Creating The Alchemy of Colour has enabled us to explore the Library’s incredible collection of manuscripts from a wholly new perspective, and appreciate them as exquisite works of art as well as feats of writing, thinking and learning. The exhibition brings to life stories of colour-making from across time periods and cultures, and visitors will be fascinated by the diversity and beauty of the items on show.”

Carol Burrows, Heritage Imaging Manager at The John Rylands Library and Co-Curator told The Mancunion: “The idea was to tell some of these stories of the pigments in the manuscripts, as a way into manuscripts that isn’t often talked

about. The stories behind the colours are often very interesting. The first thing we did was to identify the colours and so for that we used microscopy. We took tiny pigment samples and studied them under a microscope to find out from their optical qualities which pigments they were. We also used a fiber-optic and a multispectral imaging technique.”

“When we knew specifically what colours we had, we could then talk in the exhibition about how they were produced and made and the interesting tales behind them. For the exhibition, we’ve grouped the manuscripts into cases where a particular colour is strongly used so for instance the yellow case has examples of vibrant yellows.”

“What is interesting is that the colours used are sometimes specific to that area. For example, there is an Armenian manuscript here which uses the Armenian cochineal to produce the pink. That insect is only found in a very small area of Armenia so that specific colour can’t be found anywhere else. We wanted to show the huge geographic range in the exhibition so our manuscripts are from all over the world.”

The Alchemy of Colour starts on 15th March and runs until 27 August 2018. There will also be a programme of events to accompany the exhibition. For further information about the exhibition, the programme and the library itself, visit www. manchester.ac.uk/rylands/colour.

chocolate feastival

Photo: @wikimedia commons

Photo: John Rylands Library

Feature

A Stray Sumerian Tablet

Cambridge University Library published their findings on a Sumerian Tablet, their oldest written document, dating back 4,200 years James Gill Books Editor On the 13th of March 2018, the Cambridge University Library published their findings on a Sumerian Tablet, their oldest written document. The clay tablet, dating back 4,200 years, was written by a scribe in ancient Iraq.

It consists of six lines of cuneiform script.

One of the earliest systems of writing, cuneiform translates to mean “wedge shaped” embodying the manner of the markings carved into clay tablets at the time.

The language of the inscription is Sumerian, which is the oldest written language, and the earliest texts in Sumerian date back to 3000 BC. Originally the thumb-sized tablet was donated to the University in 1921 but disappeared until 2016, during research for the University Library’s 600th anniversary exhibition, ‘Curious Objects’. Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Professor Nicholas Postgate had this to say about the tablet: “In the early years of the 20th Century,

we have a disaster. The antiquities market in the West was flooded with thousands of cuneiform tablets. They had been ripped out of their original context in the sites where the illicit robbers were working and distributed across the world.”

“The tablets of an individual archive can be found in museums from Moscow, to London, to Chicago. We may be able to reconstruct what’s going on in the individual tablets and by comparison with the others in the archive as a whole but we can never reconstruct the physical archaeological context from

which they came. There is a great loss of information there.

“The content of the tablet is very simple.

It simply mentions a large quantity, 22 jars, of lard or egg fat. It gives the name of the responsible official and it states that this fat was dispensed in the city of Zabala.”

Following the exhibition, Postgate further examined the piece and he has plans to publish an academic paper on both the tablet and its wider context this year.

Choc Till You Drop University of Manchester Students’ Union Monday 19th – Friday 23rd March 2018

Food & Drink

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We are loving Turtle Bay’s rum collection!

Daisy Tolcher Head Editor This week I was fortunate enough to be invited to Turtle Bay Oxford Road, to try a sample of their extensive – and I mean extensive! – rum collection. As someone who occasionally orders a rum and coke on a night out I must admit my knowledge about the spirit was limited.

However, as a big fan of Turtle Bay’s happy hour, I could not give this opportunity a miss.

This week I was fortunate enough to be invited to Turtle Bay Oxford Road, to try a sample of their extensive – and I mean extensive! – rum collection. As someone who occasionally orders a rum and coke on a night out I must admit my knowledge about the spirit was limited.

However, as a big fan of Turtle Bay’s happy hour, I could not give this opportunity a miss.

Turtle Bay’s rum collection is sourced from all over the Caribbean, from St. Lucia to Cuba to Jamaica and Bermuda. I was surprised to learn that there are many different rum types depending on where the rum is distilled, and Turtle Bay serves a whopping 40 varieties!

The menu is split into four categories – good, better, best and fabulous

Photo: Daisy Tolcher

Photo: Daisy Tolcher

- so that customers can decide which sort of rum they want to sample.

Upon arrival we were greeted with one of their most popular cocktails, the Reggae Rum Punch. Having tried a traditional Rum Punch in the Caribbean before this was a really nice twist to the classic citrus flavours, with the addition of strawberry and pomegranate.

Although we were there for the drink we were also offered some light bites from the menu which included some delicious panko coated okra fingers, crispy whitebait and beef pattys. Despite having been a bit disappointed with the menu on previous visits, this selection of starters certainly won me over.

After our cocktails and nibbles we were taken upstairs for a rum tasting. Now, I know that rums come in different varieties – such as dark and spiced – but I did not know just how many different shades and flavours rum could be. We were offered seven samples which included: Wray and Nephew, Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Appleton Estate Reserve Blend, Appleton Estate Rare Blend, Koko Kanu, Santa Teresa 1796, and Plantation Pineapple.

As someone who is used to drinking Rum with a mixer I was pretty apprehensive about drinking all of these samples straight. However,

I was amazed to find that despite them all being the same type of spirit, they tasted very distinct from one another and really embodied different flavours and aromas.

My favourite was the Plantation Pineapple which had pineapple notes running through it and was actually enjoyable to drink on its own. There was a significant lack of agreement amongst the group with regards to which rum we liked best which really demonstrated that different rums suit different palates.

Following this taster, we were presented with a Rum Sharing Board that Turtle Bay sell at a starting price of £14.50. You get four different rums to try and your choice of mixer, we opted for Ting (a popular carribean soft drink). This mix went down very well and we were happy to learn that the ‘Ting Wray’ cocktail (Ting with Wray and Nephew) is one of their most popular cocktails.

As someone who did not know a lot about rum before the night, I left feeling a lot more informed. And perhaps this knowledge is becoming important as Rum sales topped Gin last year. Whether you are a rum lover or not, with a happy hour that starts at 11.30 am and runs until 7pm only to restart at 10pm on weekends, Turtle Bay is definitely the place to try it out.

Photo: Daisy Tolcher

Review: Rudys

Review: El Capo Samuel Piggot Contributer Hidden away in the corner of the Northern Quarter behind Piccadilly station lies El Capo, a Mexican eatery. Behind an entirely unassuming wooden door there is little that suggests what might be lying within, other than the day of the dead skull boldly emblazoned on the large front window.

El Capo is both a bar and a restaurant, with the restaurant devoted to serving up a standard UK Mexican restaurant menu, while the bar offers up a range of South American wines, tequilas, rums and Mexican-themed “cocteles” such as Mezcalita De Pina and Chicito.

The food on offer at El Capo describes itself as “downright dirty, with South American flair”, but where that flair was when I visited, I am not sure. I ordered a selection of what has become fairly run-of-the-mill Mexican food these days — think burrito, tacos, and nachos — not because I desperately wanted to try any of the above, but because the menu felt a little lacking in imagination, as if it was been based purely on what sauces Old el Paso were offering in the nearest Sainsburys.

It wasn’t that the food was bad, but I feel it can only be described as nice. I know we are taught to avoid the word nice, but I use it here not because I can’t think of a better alternative, but because I feel the word best sums up what I was served.

The pulled pork in the tacos was dry, as was the brisket on the loaded nachos. The coriander chutney on the top of the tacos was excellent, offering a real freshness which went fantastically with the margarita, but the sauce they came with was bland and uninspiring.

The nachos seemed as if they were straight out

of a packet, and they came without the soured cream or guacamole stated on the menu, and I still have yet to figure what the difference was meant to be between the two of the three sauces on the chicken wings. I have no doubt about the third, however, for “el diablo” goes far above and beyond the “hot” it was described as, and that is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoys spice.

Overall, very little stood out as fantastic — though nothing was terrible, burnt or cold. I must admit I felt this review would end on a somewhat less positive note had it not been happy hour while I visited (all day every day on a Thursday, one of the many really quite impressive deals on offer at El Capo). The final positive was the excellent atmosphere and fantastic service, meaning that overall, I would say that El Capo is a entertaining and potentially very affordable establishment, which given its location is not at all bad, just don’t expect “revolutionary South American flair.”

Recipe: Tahini Chicken and Tabbouleh Daisy Tolcher Head Editor This quick and healthy recipe is full of classic citrusy Lebanese flavours. It really couldnt be easier to make and is perfect for taking into uni for lunch.

Ingredients: 1 tbs Tahini 1 tbs cumin seeds/ whole cumin 1 lemon 1 tbs olive oil 1 finely sliced chilli 1 finely diced onion 1 pack parsley half pack mint 1 salad tomato finely chopped 1 handful of pomegranate seeds 2 chicken breasts

Method: 1. Begin by marinating the chicken. Add to a bowl the zest and juice of half the lemon, the chilli and the tahini.

2. Meanwhile, dry toast the cumin in a pan for two mins to release the flavour and then add this to the bowl with the chicken.

3. Mix together the chicken and seasoning and leave for an hour or so in the fridge.

4. Once the chicken has marinated, fry it over a medium heat until cooked through. This should take around ten minutes.

5. To make the tabbouleh, place the herbs in a food processor and blitz for a few seconds until finely chopped.

6. Mix the herbs with the onion, tomato and pomegranate, then squueze the remaining lemon on top.

7. Add a generous amount of olive oil and a pinch of salt and mix together until it is all incorporated.

8. Add the chicken and serve!

Photo: Samuel Piggot

Recipe: Chicken Shnitzel

Vaidant Jain Contributer On a rather early Friday evening, I took my foodie companion with me to try out the much-awaited Rudy’s Neapolitan Pizza. We took a bus to Piccadilly bus station and from there it was a pleasant ten minutes walk through the Northern Quarter until we reached the equally trendy Ancoats. Despite it being very early in the evening, the restaurant was already jam packed. Pro tip: Arrive soon after opening time to avoid a long wait.

Rudy’s, unlike any other Italian pizzerias in Manchester, felt very authentically Italian and the vibe and ambience of the place was very bright and very cheerful. The chit-chat from the crowd doesn’t seem like noise, but blends in with the background music and the entire restaurant has a scintillating smell of wood-fired ovens.

As it is a walk-in restaurant and they do not take reservations, we didn’t have the option of pre-booking a table. Nonetheless, we asked the waitress for a table for two and were asked to wait at the bar in the meantime. Less than 11 minutes later, we we were seated.

We ordered their famous Campana — sans meat — as a starter and for the mains ordered the Calabrese and the chalkboard special white pizza with potato, mushroom, and olives.

While waiting for the food, we observed the light decor of Rudy’s that is very simple and Scandinavian in style. Within five minutes of ordering, the starter arrived. The Campana was a mixture of buffalo mozzarella and wild rocket radicchio, with some toasted house bread.

We ordered the vegetarian alternative by removing prosciutto crudo, which is an Italian ham, although in my opinion the original would have tasted even better.

Soon after we finished our starter, we were served with our mains.

The white pizza — a pizza without a tomato base — was an extra cheesy delight placed atop a mouth-watering Italian crust. The smooth potatoes enhanced the taste of cheese and the salty taste of the mushrooms and olives really completed the experience. The next pizza, the Calabrese, was a sinful combination of tomato sauce, basil, Fior di Latte (fancy Italian cheese) and spicy N’duja sausage. The speciality of this pizza was that the Calabrian sausages melted into the crispy pizza crust, and when my friend took the first bite, she was taken aback by the heavenly flavour. As soon as our plates were taken, we ordered our last course for the night: the chocolate olive oil cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was somewhere between a cake and a brownie but tasted perfect with the ice cream. The chocolate added a balanced sweet taste and the usage of olive oil made it taste very light. I would recommend Rudy’s Neapolitan Pizza to everyone and especially to students. It is fairly priced and gives you value for money — trust me.

Food & Drink 23

ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Samuel Piggot Contributer

Photo: Vaidant Jain

Photo: Vaidant Jain

Ingredients: Three large waxy potatoes One chicken breast 100g plain flour One beaten egg 100g breadcrumbs One tsp each of onion salt, garlic salt, smoked paprika, thyme, basil and oregano 150g butter Three cloves of garlic, one peeled and finely chopped One branch each of fresh thyme and rosemary A large bunch fresh flat leaf parsley Salt and pepper One lemon cut in half Salad leaves Method: Begin by peeling the potatoes and cutting into inch cubes, ensuring they are all the same size so they cook at the same rate. Place these into a pan of boiling, salted water and cook for approximately ten minutes, or until a knife easily passes through the cubes and they are on the brink of falling apart. Drain the potatoes and set aside to dry Take two pieces of cling film, large enough to fit the chicken breast in with at least 5cm space either side, and brush a little oil onto one side of each piece.

Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the cling film and then place the chicken breast inside before sandwiching the cling film either side. Using something like a meat mallet or a rolling pin bash the chicken breast down to flatten it to approximately 1cm thick in all places.

To three separate bowls add the beaten egg, the breadcrumbs and the flour. To the bowl containing the flour add a generous amount of salt and pepper and mix. To the bowl containing the breadcrumbs add a teaspoon each of celery salt, garlic salt, smoked paprika, thyme, basil and oregano Take the flattened chicken breast and coat it in the flour, followed by the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. To achieve an even firmer crunch

you could also do flour, egg, flour, egg and then breadcrumbs.

Preheat a non-stick frying pan with a splash of oil and a small knob butter. Take two of the garlic cloves and simply squash them slightly under your hand, add these and the fresh thyme and rosemary to the pan. Next add the schnitzel which will take approximately 4 minutes on each side to cook. While the schnitzel is cooking mash the potatoes along with 50g butter and half the fresh parsley and then season to taste.

When you flip the schnitzel over halfway through its cooking time add to the pan the remaining butter and the chopped garlic and then tilt the pan and baste the schnitzel in the melted butter and garlic.

Cut the lemon in half and add it cut-side-down into the pan to begin to char.

Once the schnitzel is cooked remove it from the pan and allow to rest for half the time it took to cook.

In this time remove the frying pan from the heat and ad the fresh parsley, finely chopped.

Place the rested schnitzel onto a plate and then pour over two thirds of the sauce left in the frying pan, pouring the other third into the mashed potato.

Remove the lemon from the pan and squeeze the juice over the schnitzel. Serve alongside the mashed potato and salad leaves

Photo: Daisy Tolcher

Photo: Daisy Tolcher Photo: Samuel Piggot

Photo: Daisy Tolcher

Arts

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Theatre 25

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Feature

Objects of Obsession: Review: Ruth Barker and Hannah Leighton-Boyce Sonia Boyce Castlefield Gallery holds a major two person exhibit

Manchester Art Gallery host Sonia Boyce as part of the Objects of Obsession collaboration with the Royal Academy, revealing what object has influenced and obsessed her most Louis Haddad Arts Contributor Who would think the first painting ever acquired by Manchester Art Gallery in its 19th Century collection would be its only one of a black person outside the role of servitude?

Few people see Othello, the Moor of Venice (1826) by James Northcote without recognising its captivating lustre. However, knowing its astonishing context in Manchester draws the viewer in further.

This piece shows a 19-year-old, Ira Aldrige. He first appeared as Othello in London’s Royalty Theatre in 1825 as the first black actor to play a Shakespearean role.

Northcote’s painting was purchased by the Royal Manchester Institute after he performed in Manchester in 1827.

Unsurprisingly, the pioneering artist Sonia Boyce MBE RA, the first black female artist to be exhibited by the Tate Gallery in 1985, chose this as an object which transfixes and inspires her as part of the Objects of Obsession series.

Othello, the Moor of Venice PHoto: Wikimedia Commons

Hosted by broadcaster and Royal Academy artistic director Tim Marlow on the 8th March at the Manchester Art Gallery, the three-part series is live-streamed across a global audience.

“The viewer cannot

help but be drawn into how his distant gaze gives him an elusive, charismatic charm that places the viewer in the foreground. ” It aims to promote lasting collaborations between regional art galleries whilst developing their digital presences and forms part of the Royal Academy’s 250th-anniversary celebrations.

As the talk opened and the painting was discussed, Boyce and Marlow’s conversation flowed with an easy, casual dynamic.

Having always explored representations of black subjects in her work and the ‘otherness’ and isolation of being black in a mainly white society, Boyce describes how “there is something so lush for me in this particular painting.”

Dealing with this ‘otherness’, Marlow and Boyce explored the myths and roles brought to light by the biography of Ira, an actor of American origin who would always profess to be from Africa.

He was said to have played King Lear in white-face, but also to have kept his hands defiantly black.

Boyce recounted how her transfixion with this piece of between 20 and 30 years of her career had not been so much for its biographical relevance, but

recollection of Boyce’s artistic background.

Boyce discussed her academic beginnings in life-drawing at age of 15 and then through the stages of her career, described with wit by Marlow as going from “painting to installation to collaboration to provocation.”

Manchester was described by Boyce as being “very important in terms of the shift in my practice”.

It went from the self-directed creation of single pieces, such as her seminal work in Missionary Position II (1985), to adapting to artistic stimuli which unfold organically over time, like the Manchester-based photography project The Audition (1999).

This saw her inundated with 900 volunteers who were photographed wearing Afro wigs at the Cornerhouse during Boyce’s 18-month residency at the University of Manchester from 1997 to 1998.

Interestingly, Boyce discussed parts of her own relationship with the Manchester Art Gallery.

Especially, how on January 26th 2018, as part of a project with Boyce in the buildup to her March exhibition, John William Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs was removed.

In the gallery’s words, this was to “bring different meanings and interpretations of paintings from the gallery’s collection into focus...”

This provoked a strong backlash, with many in the public and the media accusing her of censorship. Boyce commented in the talk on this controversy with how she was “surprised by the media ****storm.”

Delving into her upcoming work with the Manchester Art Gallery, Boyce introduced us to Six Acts, which is described by the Gallery itself as “ a night-time group takeover of the gallery exploring ‘gender trouble’ among the gallery’s 19th-century painting displays and wider culture.”

Collaborating with the performance artist and writer Lassana Shabazz, Boyce reveals Ira Aldridge as something of an inspiring element within the framing of these pieces.

The audience was subsequently teased with some behind-the-scenes shots of this exciting project, set to be shown at Boyce’s upcoming retrospective.

Sonia Boyce’s Objects of Obsession showed its audience not only the vibrant role of black art in Manchester’s history and its present but also the importance of Manchester’s art institutions in our artistic national discourse.

It is to the credit of the Royal Academy on this special anniversary celebration and to Boyce for showing such a wide audience this Mancunian homage to such a great piece, which continues to resonate with many audiences who visit Manchester Art Gallery today.

The live-streamed conversation of Sonia Boyce RA: Objects of Obsession can be seen on Youtube and the Manchester Art Gallery’s Website. Sonia Boyce’s first retrospective exhibition is at the Manchester Art Gallery from Friday 23 March 2018–Sunday 22 July 2018.

The Sound of Music

exploring an encounter between the quotidian, ancient world, and contemporary Britain

Izzy Lewis reviews an uneven production of the classic musical at The Palace Izzy Lewis Contributor

for the intricacies of the painting itself.

The viewer cannot help but be drawn into how his distant gaze gives him an elusive, charismatic charm that places the viewer in the foreground.

The second half of the talk focused on a candid

“ Sonia Boyce’s Objects of Obsession showed its audience not only the vibrant role of black art in Manchester’s history and its present but also the importance of Manchester’s art institutions in our artistic national discourse.”

Review

Since childhood, I have been a hardcore The Sound of Music fan; the Julie Andrews film and 2006 Lloyd-Webber revival were my constant favourites and this musical still remains my movie of choice on a hungover Sunday morning. The chance to see Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical about love and music on the eve of the Austrian Anschluss at the Palace Theatre was one I entered with high expectations which, with retrospect, were always going to leave me a little disappointed.

The show opened with the production’s finest asset; the choir of nuns. Their harmonies throughout the show were

Ruth Barker’s Circle Work performance Photo: Christopher MacInnes

Lolu Ojo Arts Contributor If you have time to see just one exhibition from Manchester’s Wonder Woman Festival 2018 , I strongly urge you to wander into Castlefield Gallery, which hosts the works of newly commissioned artists Ruth Barker and Hannah Leighton-Boyce.

Barker, an artist based in Glasgow, depicts her quotidian experiences first and foremost as a mother of two. However, her work is underpinned by much larger stories, as she explores the unconscious internalisation of ancient myth and the experiences of a working-class woman in contemporary Britain who refuses to let motherhood define her.

Rather similarly, Leighton-Boyce, a fellow Mancunian, explores historical narratives and the quotidian in a refreshingly different way — with her medium of choice being salt, and its variety of forms.

It is no coincidence that the premiere of this exhibition fell on International Women’s Day, and that 2018 marks the centenary of The Representation of the People’s Act. Exploring the narrative of women “coming together, the exhibition proved to be an astonishingly beautiful celebration of ‘herstory’.”

The small size of Castlefield Gallery complimented the personal nature of Barker’s artwork that you will encounter on the gallery’s upper floor — a photographic self portrait of the artist breast-feeding her child entitled Speech (2018). What makes it even more personal is the fact that Barker admits to having exposed the photographs to the elements in her very own garden. Speech is a strong statement which refuses to conceal Barker’s identity as a mother. Despite being weathered by the elements, Speech is a bold depiction of the everyday woman, who like the oeuvre itself, survived the tempest that is life.

“Exploring the narrative of women “coming together, the exhibition proved to be an astonishingly beautiful celebration of ‘herstory’” Situated abreast Speech is Leighton-Boyce’s More energy than object, more force than form (2018), an eye-catching arrangement of saltwater batteries immersed in one hundred glass jars in concentric circles. The arrangement is connected through electrical wires that power the artwork’s nucleus — an LED pendant. This series explores the energetic property of salt when immersed in water and is a manifestation of the idea of ‘strength in numbers’.

From the artist’s perspective, the jars containing saltwater represent the “blood, sweat and tears” — in other words the struggles — that women have overcome throughout history, struggles that she perused during her archival research in Salford.

It was rather easy to miss Leighton-Boyce’s Persistent bodies (2018), which one might have been unaware of when descending the stairs leading to the lower gallery. Despite its unfortunate positioning, Leighton-Boyce excels, yet again, in exploring the multi-formity of salt. This time in a cast, cylindrical form. Her use of salt as a metaphor for preservation culminates in this final piece which takes us back to the Book of Genesis with a reference to the fate of Lot’s wife, whose body was turned into a pillar of salt as a consequence of her disobedience (Genesis 19:26).

Barker also delves into the ancient world with

“I entered with high expectations which, with restrospect, were always going to leave me a little disappointed ” enchanting and set against the magnificent backdrop of Nonnberg Abbey brought an incredibly warm and spiritual feel to the production. Lead by Megan Llewellyn as the Mother Abbess, one of the strongest operatic singers I have ever had the joy of hearing live, every return to the Abbey was a real treat.

Review Ruth Barker ‘Speech’ Photo: Castlefield Gallery

Victory (2018), a large papier-mâché female torso akin to the esteemed Winged Victory of Samothrace (circa 200-190 BC). Like her successor, Victory is missing both her head and arms and possesses an awe-inducing stance. Made of brown packaging paper and tape body cast and adorned with pearlescent paint, Victory dominates the dimly lit room. So much so, that it borders on eclipsing her other pieces of work, Thought Forms, V and Mask (Yellow), and Mask (Blue), that sit in her shadow.

According to Barker’s curator, Beatrice de Sousa, the pearlescent paint is directly inspired by the artists day-to-day art with her children, that often includes use of “glitter crayon”. The glittery adornment could even be seen as a sort of sash of motherhood, her figure wears it with pride.

Towards the end of the exhibition’s premiere, Barker graced her audience with a spoken-word performance of If this is the last thing I say, a work through which she discusses her anxieties around motherhood, illness, and mute-rendering trauma.

If there is a strong thread between Barker’s poetry and the classical world — it is that of female voicelessness. Namely Ovid’s Philomena, who, rendered mute by her perpetrator, overcame her inability to denounce her injustice verbally by means of art. Barker admits that the tale of Philomena in Ovid’s Metamorphoses is one that she “knows quite well,” yet “wasn’t consciously thinking about” at the time of writing. Her unconscious allusion to this common phenomenon felt by women opens up a reflective and much-needed dialogue.

Barker, whose performance included the line “I look towards the darkness / and it looks back” ended the event on a celebration of strength in the face of adversity, a feat which men and woman alike may identify with.

The exhibit is on at Castlefield Gallery from the 9th March — 29th April, touring to Glasgow Women’s Library 01 February — 23 February 2019. It was co-commissioned with the University of Salford Art Collection.

In contrast, our introduction to Lucy children all had beautiful voices (Gretl O’Byrne’s Maria through the titular song was particularly), yet this made the song feel a little underwhelming. Whilst the technical comical where it shouldn’t have. demands of the vocals clearly allowed little More unintentional comedy came from room for movement, poor direction left Neil McDermott’s casting as Captain Von O’Byrne swamped by a stage which looked Trapp; a good enough singer, McDermott bare compared with the other amazing seemed to lack chemistry with the children sets. To her credit, I do feel that O’Byrne’s and had a tendency to elongate syllables in microphone was too quiet, yet whilst an incredibly unnatural way, whilst the this technical issue did improve dialogue leading up to the Captain throughout the show, these and Maria’s first kiss was so were never quite turned up stunted and awkward that I to desirable levels for any had to stifle back laughter. of the actors.

That being said, I did O’Byrne’s Maria is a enjoy his rendition of hard one to categorise; ‘Edelweiss’. whilst speaking in a A special mention way that mimicked should go to Julie Andrews’ c h o r e o g r a p h y softly spoken throughout this voice, it lacked show, something I something of the never usually pick up originality that other on. ‘Sixteen Going on characters brought in.

Seventeen’, performed Simultaneously, I felt she by Katie Shearman Photo: Pamela Raith Photography was sadly let down by one and Jordan Oliver was a very bad wig that was far more particular highlight; Oliver is ‘Bubble from AbFab’ than ‘ex-nun in clearly a phenomenal dancer and the 1930s Austria’. moments of synchronisation between the Vocally, there is no denying O’Byrne’s pair and incorporation http://mancunion. skill and her voice was beautiful and com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pamelaunderstated. I did, however, feel like the R a i t h - P h o t o g ra p hy _ S o u n d - o f- M u s i c- B K L _ choice not to have Maria belt at any point Image-001-500x334.jpg of ballet and waltz in the production was to its detriment as elements were mesmerising. lyrics were missed due to issues of clarity.

Two other numbers which deserve Contrastingly, we heard excessive overparticularly praise were Elsa and Max’s annunciation from the children during both songs, ‘How Will Love Survive’ and ‘No Way renditions of ‘So, Long Farewell’ that I feel to Stop It’. Neither song featuring in the came from poor direction; the Von Trapp film (and therefore being less known by the

audience), Kara Lane and Howard Samuels played the pair with charm and wit, providing some of the best performances of the night which was no mean feat given the unlikeable nature of the characters.

“the technical elements of [the production] meant nobody could leave the Palace Theatre having not enjoyed the production ” A big scale production with a magnificent orchestra, exquisite sets and beautiful costumes, the technical elements of The Sound of Music meant nobody could leave the Palace Theatre having not enjoyed the production; that being said, I do feel that the show was let down by poor direction and an underwhelming male lead. However, the choice to end both acts with Megan Llewellyn’s ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ was a genius one; Llewellyn is the star of the show and her breathtaking powerhouse vibrato allowed me to leave the leave the theatre with a sense of satisfaction that I don’t think the rest of the production entirely justified.

The Sound of Music ran from March 13th to 17th at The Palace Theatre.

Frankenstein

Saira Baksh is captivated by this reinvention of Mary Shelley’s classic tale at the Royal Exchange Saira Baksh Contributor April De Angelis’ new adaption of Frankenstein marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic story about ambition and a scientifically created monster.

Director Matthew Xia reinvents the classical story through an unsettling journey that presents modern complex issues, like those of identity, responsibility, ambition, society and superiority.

The play invites the audience to step into Victor Frankenstein’s feverish nightmare.

It begins as Mary Shelley intended, set on a boat as Captain Walton writes to his sister

Lighting designer Johanna Stone did great with the composition of posing the effect of the strobing lights against the use of natural light derived from a fire.

Frankenstein’s Creature was brought alive with vivid lightning bolts and eerie blackouts, and this only made the performance more captivating.

on stage.

The use of sound and music was spectacular and had a main role in making the audience jump.

The Creature, covered in a dark cloak till the ending revelation, is made up of gruesome stitched flesh and white eyes.

The revelation of the monster’s body

“visually stunning and captivating ”

“The use of sound and music was spectacular ” Margaret. Alone and friendless, when the Captain comes across Victor Frankenstein he is more than delighted to have a friend.

Wretched and barely alive, Victor recounts the tale of his young ambition for life and knowledge thus revealing himself to be a murderer, and a creator.

The movement of the play was like that of a roller coaster, at the times the play fell a little flat, only to jump back – by literally making you jump.

than with Frankenstein throughout the play.

Shane Zaza as Victor Frankenstein was wonderfully played, he truly captured the manic and madness of Frankenstein’s guilt, his thirst for knowledge in all his expressions and movements.

His performance was truly one to be commended. However, Harry Atwell stole the show. His characterisation of a broken man, with no knowledge of the world, was both horrifying and humanising.

Ryan Gage as Captain Walton was amazing,

Photo: johan Persson

The presentation of the dream sequences during Frankenstein’s fever and the double action on stage heightened the audience’s reaction and constantly kept their attention

emphasises the broken creation of the being and his anguished recollections horrify the audience, thus making it easier to empathise with this tormented creature

especially with the comic touch which kept his character relatable and often mirrored what one would expect to be the audience’s reaction.

Overall, Xia’s production was a visually stunning and captivating play. The sense a thriller was being played out hit the audience due to the use of lighting, colour and music.

The play surely invites you to step inside Frankenstein’s nightmare, but it makes you question and decide as to whom the real monster of this nightmare is. Is there more than one monster? How do we define a monster?

Frankenstein runs at the Royal Exchange 9 March – 14 April.

26

Lifestyle

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Queer Eye - Lessons in self-love

Netflix’s latest phenomenon are small lessons in how to love yourself and how to see the beauty in others. Lifestyle Editor James Johnson talks the explosive success of Queer Eye.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

James Johnson Lifestyle Editor

Tan France, Style Expert, Karamo Brown, Culture Expert, Anthony Porowski, Food

Netflix’s latest, explosive phenomenon Queer Eye manages to do in eight episodes what many others fail to achieve; a cultlike following based on a truly wholesome message- self-love.

Dropping the ‘straight guy’ from the title of its former inception, Queer Eye is a new and re-vamped series that sets to rejuvenate the lives of eight ordinary Americans, both straight and gay, because a little self-love need not be relegated to a single orientation.

Take a cursory glance at the opening of the first episode and you may be forgiven for thinking it a fickle exploration into superficial standards of beauty.

A little redoing of the bathroom cabinet and a little shave of the hair and bam, everything in the world is okay again. But be mistaken at your own will, Queer Eye is a whole world away from a materialistic makeover show.

Ten minutes in, you’ve likely fallen head over heels for the unadulterated likeability of Grooming Expert, Jonathan Van Ness, and you’re wondering why Queer Eye hasn’t been filling the world’s happiness void for years gone by.

In a nutshell, Queer Eye is comprised of five experts, known as the ‘Fab Five’;

“ Queer

Eye transcends the television screen and forces us to ask ourselves: how much care are we really taking of ourselves?. ” and Wine Expert, Jonathan Van Ness, Grooming Expert and Bobby Berk, Interior Design Expert.

This compilation of five experts blends seamlessly to overhaul the lives of eight Americans from a spectrum of different backgrounds - backgrounds that may cause the viewer to raise an eyebrow or two, especially considering the bold and undeniably wonderful ‘Queerness’ of the ‘Fab Five’.

The original ‘Queer Eye for The Straight Guy’ based itself in New York City but its revival sees the ‘Fab Five’ relocated to

Atlanta, Georgia, a metropolis in the heart of the Deep South.

Herein lies part of the success of Queer Eye- a confrontation of the uncomfortable, and an attempt to continue changing perspectives.

In the many interviews given by the Fab Five since Netflix dropped the new series in February, the message has been consistent; ‘it’s so much more about what’s happening on the inside, more so than the physical appearance of those undergoing makeovers’.

Culture Expert, Karamo Brown explains that his role is as much a Lifecoach as it is an expert in culture.

Helping the subjects of each episode understand what it is that holds them back from achieving their potential goes hand in hand with a makeover of their appearance and of their homes.

So, whilst the format of the show remains largely unchanged since its initial inception in 2003, why is it that Queer Eye is connecting so much with the 2018 audience?

In part, Queer Eye is a blunt confrontation on masculinity. Set in Atlanta, the Fab Five reach out to a largely conservative set of subjects, and the results of their transformations will likely bring you to tears.

The show also devotes equal time giving focus to the emotional, as well as the physical, wellbeing of each person.

Food and Wine Expert, Anthony Porowski helps them to use food and wine to foster well-being in their lives and Fashion Expert, Tan France always underscores that their style is whatever makes them feel good about themselves.

Queer Eye transcends the television screen and forces us to ask ourselves: how much care are we really taking of ourselves?

As with any reboot of a successful format, viewers will begin watching, sceptical of a cheap remake.

New viewers will likely find the unfiltered personas of the Fab Five a little much at first, but herein lies a main theme of the show, and a problem in queer culture more generally.

As a gay/queer person more generally, it’s easy to fall guilty to misplacing perceptions of others in the community. At first, the cast of Queer Eye seems a little predictable. But the cast is anything but predictable.

They are instead, a display of living out your identity in its truest sense, unashamed, proud and projects how that can only ever be a force for good- removing the binary of either straight or gay acting queer folk only adds to the insatiable likeability of the show.

So, indulge yourself in eight episodes of pure joy, because if the newly gained following of the Fab Five is anything to go by, Queer Eye is set to be a television staple for years to come.

Life after university - choosing your graduate home Are you struggling to decide where to live after uni? Well, we’ve got your back cons — to help you figure it out.

Option 1: Stay in a student house share You may well want to stick with the same friends, in the same house that you’ve lived in for years, especially if some of your housemates haven’t yet graduated.

The upside of this is the familiarity is comfortable. The downside? You could end up feeling like you haven’t moved on from being a student and might find that once you start working, your housemates’ student-y ways (not getting up until midday and late nights partying) aren’t compatible with your new professional lifestyle.

Photo: CollegeDegrees360 @Flickr

Option 2: Move back in with your parents Graduation is around the corner, uni life is coming to a close and the realisation that it’s time to put on your adult pants and enter the real world is slowly sinking in. You’ve had the best years of your life, made some lifelong friends and created some even crazier memories and now it all seems to be changing. Not only are you now searching manically for your dream job, you’re also having to re-think your living situation. After three years of sharing a house with your BFFs — dishing up your finest spag bol to loving housemates and lounging together on the sofa bingewatching Netflix — everyone is going their separate ways. So what now?

Well, we’ve come up with a list of options available to you — as well as the pro’s and

The pro of this (apart from an on-site cook and cleaner) is you will save yourself money — very appealing when you aren’t yet earning. The cons on the other hand... do we really need to spell them out to you?

Option 3: Find a new professional house share If you’re planning on staying in Manchester but aren’t quite ready to rent an apartment all by yourself, there are plenty of professional house shares available on the market for you to rent. One example is idealHouseshare, a property management company who organise and maintain shared houses for young professionals, just like you. They have a large portfolio of

houses and flats to choose from, everything between 4 to 6 bedrooms. They’re also all within prime locations (think Withington, Didsbury and Chorlton), so they’re sure to find you your next place to call home.

You won’t need to worry about what your new housemates are like: at idealHouseshare they’re all about the personal touch. They personally get to know each and every individual housemate, so when a room in one of their houses becomes available, they are able to connect potential new housemates with their existing sharers based on age, interests, sociability, even their working schedule. Cue a harmonious and contented household — perfect after a long day at work.

If you’re on a house hunt, this is most likely to be your most cost-effective option too: not only are they currently offering 10 per cent discount to all university graduates, there is no deposit to pay on any of their rooms.

Once you’ve found your new gaff with idealHouseshare, the fun doesn’t stop there! IdealHouseshare offer more than just a room but also a social experience. All housemates receive free membership worth £240 to Social Circle, one of Manchester’s premier events company. With this membership, you gain free access to daily social activities including cinema trips, pub crawls, comedy nights, gym passes and much much more. IdealHouseshare also regularly organise their own social nights and sports teams, allowing them to get to

know their housemates even better and enabling their housemates to meet more new people.

If you need yet another reason to choose idealHouseshare and their affordable Photo: IdealHouseshare

accommodation consider this: they’re keen supporters of the local community — something which you may want to get involved with. Last summer, the idealHousehsare team joined forces with a bunch of housemates and headed to the Lake District to take on the Total Warrior challenge. Taking part allowed them to collectively raise almost £3000 for The Christie, the local cancer care hospital.

This summer, they’re ready to commence their next challenge and have signed up to do the Manchester to Blackpool 60 mile bike ride, hoping to raise even more money for The Christie charity.

So if you’re graduating from university and looking for a fun, inexpensive living situation which doesn’t mean moving back home, try idealHouseshare.

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English fortunes in Europe

A recap of how the Premier League teams have fared in the Champions League so far

Manchester City 5-2 Basel It was plain sailing for Pep Guardiola’s side as a 4-0 first leg win away at Basel all but ensured their qualifcation. The second leg did prove a shock as Basel became the only away team to win at the Etihad this season. The 2-1 victory wasn’t enough though as City qualified with a 5-2 aggregate scoreline.

Manchester United 1-2 Sevilla

FINAL YEARS! THE NSS COULD STILL BE USED TO RAISE FEES. #DONTFILLITIN

As good as City were, United were poor. After securing a questionaly good 0-0 draw at Sevilla they limped to a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho’s negative tactics meant a brace from Ben Yedder in the 74th and 78th minute. A late goal from Lukaku was only a consolation and United leave the competition.

Tottenham 3-4 Juventus Photos: Biser Todorov @wikimedia commons

It was heartbreak for Spurs as although they dominated the two matches, the expereience of Juventus showed and they earned a 2-1 win at Wembley. Goals from Higuain and Dybala delivered a sucker punch to the London side and they fell out of the competition

Liverpool 5-0 Porto In the same vein as City’s result, Liverpool had this tie wrapped up in the first leg. A 5-0 away in Portugal left too big of a mountain for Porto to climb. Jurgen Klopp could rest players at the return fixture in Anfield and it ended in a bore draw at 0-0

Chelsea 1-4 Barcelona

Photo: soccer0010.com @wikimedia commons

Chelsea huffed and they puffed but Messi was too strong. A mistake in the first leg gave Barcelona their away goal and they were at their clinical best at the Camp Nou. Messi found the net twice and Chelsea had no reply meaning Antonio Conte’s team will take no further part in this season’s competition

Last year, final years refused to fill in the National Student Survey (NSS) because it was used to justify raising tuition fees.

This year, tuition fees have been frozen. However, if they are unfrozen again by 2020, any responses to the NSS this year will be used to raise fees again.

Just don’t participate - #DONTFILLITIN! Find out more: manchesterstudentsunion.com/nss

Photo: soccer.ru @wikimedia commons

Photo: Ben Sutherland @flickr

WRITE FOR US Mancunion Sport 17/18 Contributors Group Email: sports@mancunion.com Meeting time: Tuesdays 4:30pm, Students’ Union

Photo: Paul @flickr

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ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Rashford guides United to victory

José Mourinho’s silverware-hunting men faced a difficult tie in the FA Cup against Liverpool

Photo: Dmitry Golubovich @ wikimedia commons

James Gill Sports Contributor and Books Editor With the race for the title all but over, all eyes have turned to the fight for the remaining top four positions. There was perhaps no game more important to that race than last weekend’s clash between Manchester United and Liverpool. A win for Liverpool would have propelled them into second, but a win for United would see them move at least four points clear of third.

Mourinho named his strongest side, with Bailly coming back into the side. De Gea started in goal with a back four of Valencia, Smalling, and Young alonside Bailly. McTominay once again started in a midfield trio, alongside Matic and Mata, with the latter replacing the injured Pogba. Sánchez, Rashford, and Lukaku were the attacking trio.

Juan Mata got the game underway and the opening exchanges were very sloppy from both sides. The raucous atmosphere at Old Trafford would unsurprisingly be a daunting place for players from both sides to endure. Keeping Salah quiet when Liverpool had possession was a focus for Mourinho’s side and it became immediately obvious the Egyptian was going to be man-marked for the full 90 minutes.

The first goal came with the first shot after just 14 minutes. It all began with a Liverpool corner, which was utterly wasted as the ball went over everyone in the box. The resulting goal kick was flicked on well by Lukaku to Rashford who got in behind the

Liverpool defence. Alexander-Arnold was in a good position to neutralise the attack but a slick Ronaldo chop gave Rashford enough space to finesse a shot into the far right corner, well beyond the reach of Karius.

To celebrate the goal, Rashford ran into the crowd for a moment before returning to his teammates, the referee must have missed that though as he didn’t receive a yellow card.

Following the goal, United could sense blood and overloaded the left-hand side of the pitch. Even Mata who was playing on the right-hand side came over to take advantage of the weakness they saw in Alexander-Arnold. When in possession, Liverpool couldn’t unlock the United defence. Salah and Mané were kept quiet and any hopes of a quick equaliser seemed unlikely.

Those hopes were fully extinguished as United made it 2-0 with another goal from Rashford in the 24th minute. Another long ball into the Liverpool final third was dealt with poorly and, after a bit of penalty box pinball, Rashford found himself with the ball. His shot wasn’t anything special but a back peddling Karius couldn’t stop it from hitting the back of the net.

Rashford, on his first Premier League start of 2018, was making the game his own.

Rashford received the first yellow card of the game for needlessly going to ground. If the yellow card for jumping into the crowd was given, as it probably should have been, that would have been the end of his game. Oxlade-Chamberlain gets one a few minutes later for taking out McTominay for

dispossessing him.

Juan Mata almost made it three shortly before halftime. The ball was crossed wonderfully by Sánchez to Mata who didn’t realise that there are no defenders anywhere near him. With the ball going just above him he opted for an overhead kick which went just inches wide.

At halftime, defensive blunders from Liverpool were all that separated the two teams. They had made three mistakes and United capitalised on two of those. With United only conceding six goals at home all season, it would need something special from Liverpool in the second half to get something from the game.

Liverpool began the second half much better than the first but when they got into the final third that decisive pass constantly let them down. Overhit passes or choosing the wrong option, despite their majority possession, they couldn’t get anything close to goalscoring opportunity.

United switched to a back six as the pressure grew and grew but still they held firm. Even though they barely touched the ball they seemed more dangerous than Liverpool. Klopp decided to bring Lallana on for Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 60th minute to try and inject some creativity into his side.

In the 66th minute, Bailly made a mess of a clearance and accidentally hits the ball into his own net. It came from a Mané cross which posed no real danger for the defence and allowed Liverpool a way back into the game. Rashford made way not long after for Fellaini as Mourinho moved to try and secure the three points.

The substitution surprisingly led to United dominating possession for the next quarter of an hour. Klopp used his second and third changes to bring on Wijnaldum and Solanke for Alexander-Arnold and Robertson but even that didn’t help Liverpool. United were quick to get men behind the ball quickly and the Liverpool attack couldn’t find a way through.

Lingard got introduced a few minutes before the end of regulation time with Mata the player making way and seconds later Valencia got a yellow for a high foot. With just stoppage time left Liverpool were throwing everyone forward to try and get a last minute equaliser and they were gifted six extra minutes to find one. Surprisingly, and despite almost total control of the ball in that time, they failed to challenge de Gea at all. In the dying moments of the game, Mourinho wasted valuable Liverpool seconds taking off Sánchez to bring on Darmian.

The whistle blew not long to rapturous applause and cheering around Old Trafford. It was a hard-fought victory for Manchester United, but a deserved one.

Sport 31 Season round-up: University of Manchester Rugby League Club ISSUE 20 / 19th MARCH 2018 WWW.MANCESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Torran Lochhead sums up what has been a fine season for UMRLFC Torran Lochhead Sports Contributor It has been a triumphant season for the University of Manchester Rugby League Football Club (UMRLFC). The club finished joint top of the league, having only lost one match all season. During a long cup run, the team travelled all around the North, defeating oppositions such as Sheffield and Northumbria in order to make it to the cup final. They went on to beat local rivals Salford in the final, to win the BUCS Northern Conference Cup for the first time in the club’s recent history.

UMRLFC’s stellar performance has been continued in all aspects of their gameplay as they have not only won the cup title in 13’s but are the undefeated champions of the North-West 9’s trophy. Therefore, Photo: UMRLFC

they will travel to Nottingham in April to compete in the national 9’s championship to defend their title.

New coach Matt Valentine has helped strengthen the club both on and off the field, whilst captain Adam Heal has led them on the pitch. One final crucial game remains for the team at the time of writing, Friday the 16th of March sees them yet again take on Salford University in the varsity match, with one win a piece this season it promises to be another gruelling encounter.

Though the season is almost over after varsity, UMRLFC still hope to give a good showing of themselves in the few games they have left. Christie Cup is to look forward to as well, where the club hope to defend their title again, and help the University of Manchester defend its overall Christie title again!

Wissam Ben Yedder double sinks Manchester United Manchester United 1-2 Sevilla

City conquer a cold, wet night in Stoke The Manchester blues take a 1-0 victory against their London counterparts Joey Pine Sports Contributor In the oft-debated argument among City fans in their bid to crown the clubs greatest player of all time, David Silva is never far away from the discussion.

And after a virtuoso, man-of-the-match-performance, on a cold Monday night at Stoke, no less — the widely perceived ultimate litmus test for any player —, Silva further staked his claim for the prize.

Somehow managing to put the off-field problems he is currently enduring to one side, Silva was the difference between the sides. And what a difference it was; the majestic Spaniard notched two goals of the most sublime panache and poise you are likely to ever see at any football ground, in any continent.

The first arrived after just ten minutes. It was a result of that trademark sweeping City move, in which the ball gets rapidly transferred up the pitch with such crisp, one-or-two-touch passing, carving the opponent apart like a knife through butter, and invariably ends up in the back the net. Fernandinho into Jesus, Jesus into Sterling, Sterling into Silva.

1-0.

The goal, somewhat inevitably, sparked the contest into action and having gone behind early, Stoke rallied with a couple of half chances, the first: a snap shot taken by Ndiaye on 21 minutes which whistled just wide of Ederson’s post. The second: a bizarre instance in which Kyle Walker, under pressure from Jese, dealt with a high bouncing ball by lofting it back towards his own goal and thus leaving Ederson backpedalling frantically to tip the goalbound clearance over his bar.

City however, ended the first half the stronger side and fashioned a couple of chances of their own to further extend their lead, the first a sweetly-struck, 30-yard rasping drive from the returning Fernandinho which Butland required a strong hand to parry away and the second an ambitious volley from the at times scintillating Leroy Sane which flew wide of Butland’s post.

The second half started how the first had ended, with City firmly on top; however, as has so often been the case with this imperious City side this season, they approached the second period with a greater urgency and tempo. This renewed desire and hunger resulted in a second goal within 5 minutes of the restart which subsequently killed off any bleak Stoke hopes of somehow reversing the scoreline.

The goal — expertly dispatched again by Silva — bore many hallmarks

Photo: Dane Massey @The Mancunion

Dane Massey Sports Contributor

Photo: Brad Tutterow @flickr

of the slick build-up that led to the first goal. It involved all the same culprits as well, Sterling displaying impressive tenacity to dispossess the stuttering Ndiaye and play the ball back to Walker who, in turn, released Fernandinho who duly found Silva. What followed was as audacious a one-two as you are ever likely to see, with Silva finding Jesus with a firmly hit pass.

Jesus took a touch to control before playing a perfectly weighted cushioned ball back into Silva’s path and that was that; Silva applying a clever finish to guide the ball into the net passed the fast-onrushing Butland. 50 minutes gone. 2-0. Game over.

In a similar manner to their response after going behind in the first half, Stoke briefly rallied, and Martins Indi should have done much better, despite intense City pressure, when the ball landed at his feet five yards out following a Stoke free-kick in a dangerous position to the side of the penalty area. As it was, Martins Indi caught the ball sweetly on the volley but contrived to blaze it wildly over the bar.

That was it in terms of the opportunities City afforded their struggling opponents, who ended the game failing to register a single

shot on target.

City, though, continued to probe and threaten and passed up further openings to add gloss to the already comfortable scoreline. The best of these landing to Sterling who, following a controversial dead ball, showed an impressive burst of speed to leave three Stoke defenders trailing in his wake before being halted in his tracks by his England teammate Butland, when attempting to take the ball around the keeper. To compound matters, Sterling had Jesus on hand for what would have been the simplest of tap-ins too.

As it was though, that wasted opportunity mattered little and not too long after, the final whistle sounded. For Stoke, their season won’t be defined by losses against the likes of City. For City, two more wins from their remaining eight matches is all they require.

Their win here means it is extremely plausible that the Manchester derby on April 7th will be the first opportunity they get to finally clinch the title once and for all.

Silva service indeed.

Old Trafford on a European night under the floodlights. The players walk out to a cacophony of noise around a packed stadium.

The best seats in the house are taken and the stage is set for a vintage Manchester United performance at home in the UEFA Champions League.

They used to be the type of nights that would bring out the best in Sir Alex Ferguson’s United teams and provide a platform for his big players to step up on the big occasion, but in Jose Mourinho’s first knockout game in the Champions League at United his players shrunk under pressure.

After a hard-fought 0-0 draw in Southern Spain three weeks ago, United were favourites to advance to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in four years, but Sevilla had other ideas. The first-half was a non-event, with Marouane Fellaini’s left-footed effort the only meaningful action of the first 45 minutes – a shot which forced a save from Sergio Rico. The second half continued in the same vein, until substitute Wissam Ben Yedder, on in place of the misfiring Luis Muriel, hit a quick-fire double within minutes of his introduction.

Romelu Lukaku, United’s best performer on the night, pulled one back six minutes from time, but it was too little too late for the Red

Devils.

Sevilla may be situated 5th in La Liga and 27 points behind league leaders Barcelona but the team who have reached the 2018 Copa Del Rey final produced a confident display away from home against a team full of confidence following their 2-1 weekend win against Liverpool. The possession was 50-50 but Vincenzo Montella’s team looked more composed on the ball in comparison to their opponents.

Sevilla were deservedly knocked out of the Champions League 12 months ago by Leicester City but 12 months on United looked as shell-shocked as Sevilla did when Leicester overturned a 2-1 deficit. Unlike Craig Shakespeare a year ago, Mourinho got his tactics horribly wrong, many of his players looked dejected and confused.

United were slow out of the blocks in the first leg and were it not for the brilliance of David de Gea they would have found themselves behind going into the second leg. Such a situation may have helped United’s cause, it may have forced Mourinho to adopt a more gung-ho approach – like the one he adopted in the first-half against Liverpool. Marcus Rashford looked lost out on the right-wing after scoring two goals from the opposite flank three days earlier. Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard, the other two players in support of Lukaku also struggled, and Marouane Fellaini was withdrawn on the hour mark with Paul Pogba on in his place to provide a creative

spark – a spark he miserably failed to provide with yet another lacklustre display. “I don’t want to make a drama of it. We don’t have time for it. We have a match on Saturday.

We have no time to be sad for more than 24 hours, that is football. That is not the end of the world.” Mourinho reflected on the poor performance of his side, and tried to maintain focus ahead of his sides’ FA Cup quarter-final against Brighton on Saturday.

For Sevilla, several players impressed both on the night and over the two legs. Former Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City midfielder Steven N’Zonzi delivered an assertive performance at the base of Sevilla’s midfield, the Frenchman completed 86 of his 94 passes attempted and bossed the game. Ever Banega, N’Zonzi’s midfield partner also played his part winning the ball back 13 times for his team. Although Sevilla had their struggles in the final third in both games, Ben Yedder eventually provided the killer instinct required to swing the pendulum his sides way.

Ben Yedder’s thumping finish just two minutes after he entered the fray put Sevilla ahead in the tie, and he doubled his tally five minutes later. Sections of the Old Trafford crowd swarmed to the exit gates when Sevilla’s second goal went in, missing Lukaku’s goal and United’s late onslaught.

But the travelling fans were delighted, they stayed in their numbers to celebrate Sevilla’s impressive victory.

Sevilla became just the second team in 64 games in all competitions to beat United at Old Trafford, with the other two defeats coming at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – in September 2016 and December 2017.

United could have prevented this, but headers from Rashford and Chris Smalling didn’t find the target. It was a cautious approach from Mourinho which proved costly as he failed to reach the last eight of the Champions League having participated in this phase of the competition eight times previously.

United’s exit ensures that Sevilla will compete in their first-ever Champions League quarter-final and they will join AS Roma, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid in Friday’s draw. Bayern Munich also look set to be in the draw, they travel to Istanbul with a 5-0 advantage from the first leg. Sevilla’s Spanish counterparts Barcelona are also looking to join the rest, the Catalans face Chelsea tonight at the Camp Nou with the scores currently level at 1-1 at the halfway point of the tie. This years’ Champions League final will be held in Kiev, but United will not get the chance to lift the famous trophy a decade on from their Moscow triumph in 2008.

“I sit in this chair twice in the Champions League,” Mourinho said. “I sit in this chair with Porto, Man United out, I sit in this chair with Real Madrid, Man United out. So, it’s not something new for the club.”

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Photo: SPORT Manchester @flickr

Abbott, Enderwick and Cunliffe seal Manchester’s survival A nippy afternoon turned into a blustery evening as Manchester’s women secured Northern 2A football for another year Arthur Salisbury Deputy Sports Editor When a collective of disgruntled merchants decided to build the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, and in doing so compete with the the city of Liverpool, they could not have known that the rivalry would last 124 years.

Of course, it is in the symbolic world of sport that such inter-city beefs are most felt, and rarely have the two met in a more important occasion than that which defined them on Wednesday afternoon at the Armitage Centre.

Liverpool, sitting pretty in first place, needed a win to seal the Northern 2A title and promotion to the first division.

Manchester, in misleadingly reassuring third place (in a six-team table) had to win to guarantee survival.

Any onlookers arriving two minutes late would have assumed they were witnessing a particularly good pre-

match warm-up, but in fact Manchester had taken the lead within a minute after kick-off. Olivia Abbott, who all afternoon exuded calm and class in a trequartista role, jinked past Daisy Purcell at left-back to deliver a cross that looped over Liverpool ‘keeper Hannah O’Sullivan, tucking itself into the net off of the far post. Often an early goal can produce a tedious game, but not so this time.

Manchester defended confidently, the full-backs Leah Winstanley and Evie Foster moving the ball out onto the wing, and dominated the early stages. Nevertheless, it was the leaders who struck next, Kiah Collins’s shot rebounding off Eza Doortmont in goal to leave Olivia Askam with an easy finish.

But that was as good as it got for the Scouse, who were unable to thread one through defence for a second time, the pinball of balls on shins inevitably being scooped up by Smith and redistributed to the wing. It was from Abbott again

Photo:Arthur Salisbury @TheMancunion

drifting out right that produced the third goal, crossed low and bobbling, Beth Enderwick getting just enough on it to inch it over the line.

As a boy, I was self-conscious about taking photos of the women’s football team on my phone, so was delighted to discover that a camera crew was already in attendance, filming for a programme disconcertingly catch-all titled The Football Show. If they remembered to remove the cap off the lens they will have plenty of excellent goalmouth scramble footage to sift through, but presumably over the final credits will roll Grace Cunliffe’s fantastic curler into the top right-hand corner, the stand-out moment of the match leaving the score Manchester 3-1 Liverpool at half-time.

The wind grew unbearable in the second half, and truth be told so did the game. Manchester were content to sit on their two-goal lead in difficult conditions, where Liverpool seemed resigned to defeat. A couple of stoppages for pains and strains broke up the rhythm. In such circumstances it is no surprise Liverpool began to deploy the long swirling ball, and from time a ball kicked out from goal reached Collins, but she was unable to beat the excellent Doortmont in a one-on-one.

The whistle blew not long after with the score still at 3-1 to Manchester.

The result means another year’s Northern 2A football to look forward to.

Obviously I’ll have moved back down South by then, mind. Elsewhere in the league, Manchester Metropolitan beat the University of Central Lancashire 4-2 at home and Liverpool John Moores triumphed 6-2 at Chester. In all likelihood Manchester will finish the season in third place, and one wonders what giddy heights they might have reached had they not lost their opening four.

UMRLFC Season Round-Up

P31 Photo: UMRLFC

City at Stoke

P30 Photo: Brad Tutterow @flickr

English sides in Europe

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