Issue 8

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MANCHESTER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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13th NOVEMBER 2017 / ISSUE 8 Photo: UMSU

Manchester Labour Students to introduce anti-Semitism training Alex Whitcomb Head of News, Fuse FM Manchester Labour Students (MLS) have announced to its members that new training aimed at tackling anti-Semitism has been added to their programme of events in December.

It was confirmed to be taking place on the society’s Facebook group, by events officer Leah Millward.

Sarah-Jane Smyth, the Co-Chair of MLS for the University of Manchester, said in a statement that the event was planned for the last academic year, but that this had to be cancelled due to the calling of the snap general election. “The training is offered to all Labour Students Clubs in the country and is run by Labour Students, the Union of Jewish Students and the Jewish Labour Movement, in light of the Chakrabarti inquiry.”

“I’m really proud to be a member of an organisation that is so proactive in tackling antisemitism.” Smyth also said.

Ella Rose, National Director of the Jewish Labour Movement, Melantha Chittenden, National Chair of Labour Students and Liron Velleman, Campaigns Manager of the Union of Jewish Students, explained in a joint statement the objectives of the event: “The session helps participants understand and confront antisemitism, and explores ways to engage Jewish students. It is starting to have an impact across the country, having reached over 1,200 Labour Party members to date.”

Academy venue to honour Malcolm X Other policies passed in Senate include: • • •

Close all detention centres The Last Straw (decrease usage of plastic straws in the Union) Make the union halal

Shivani Kaura Students’ Union Reporter Academy 2 is to be renamed Academy X in honour of the African-American civil rights activist.

Other motions that passed through the second Senate Thursday 9th October were to campaign to close all detention centres, to only use environmentally friendly straws in the union and to make the union halal. Campaigns Officer Deej Malik-Johnson proposed all four motions.

Alex Tayler, General Secretary, opened the evening by celebrating the Union becoming a living-wage employer, thus making it one of the only universities that have taken this policy on board.

Tayler went on to that only as little as 429 people voted in the All Student Referendum (less than 1.5 per cent) and that improvements to the voting system and promotion of the election needed to be considered so that a greater number of people would vote in future referendums.

All four motions passed with over 70 per cent positive vote. The first to be proposed was the closure of detention centres. Deej Malik-Johnson said that detention centres were, “somewhere in-between concentration camps and prisons” and proposed that “the Union campaigns for the detentions to be closed by students”, thus helping campaigns because there won’t be any societyrelated budget restrictions.

The next proposal focussed on changing the name of Manchester Academy Two to Academy

X, where civil rights leader El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, spoke two months before he was assassinated. This came after Lashley-Johnson had stated that ‘“here is a Turing building, one that is named after Pankhurst, so why not Malcolm X, [he] has made just as much of an impact as the others have, he was a great civil rights leader.”

An attendee to the election questioned whether X’s work for the Nation of Islam renders him an inappropriate figure to name Academy 2 after, and some suggested that a plaque in his honour should just be placed there instead. Finally, a suggestion was made as to whether an online poll could be made with a list of influential figures, with the student voting which one is chosen. The proposal however passed with no amendments made.

When asked what he thought of the change, General Secretary Alex Tayler said “it was an interesting motion and, though I don’t know enough about Malcolm X to be completely sure, on balance I decided to vote in favour of it.”

Hearing of the news, Sophie Billington, an English Literature student at the University, said: “This the first that I’ve even heard of the idea of a name change.

“The Students’ Union is meant to represent the views of the student body, and I don’t like the idea that a few select people who are meant to be aware of that, haven’t worked to make sure that a move like this is something that the vast majority of the student body wants.”

Third-year Geography student, David Uncle,

described the name change as “rather bewildering.”

He added it seemed “like a random change just to appear trendy and nice” and said that Malcom X “was a racist himself against white people, which kind of defeated his own principles and conflicted with the work of Martin Luther King Junior.”

It was then proposed that single-use plastic straws should be banned from the Student Union.

In replacement, paper straws should be used and it is the Unions ‘policy to promote environmental sustainability’, however if voted for, the board of trustees would have to discuss potential trading and cost effective methods to make sure this policy would be put in place.

Finally, the last motion of the evening, Make the Union Halal, was again proposed by Deej MalikJohnson, stating that a fair amount of the meat served in the Union is Halal but is incorrectly labelled and that it should be served by it should be clarified which meat is which.

An individual from the floor questions if the policy can be extended for Jewish students who only eat Kosher foods. Deej Malik-Johnson has stated that as much as it would be ideal to have that policy at the Union, it must be cooked in a separate kitchen and with different cutlery, thus making it harder to fund this kind of policy. However, the union are working hard at making this a future possibility.

Malik-Johnson then summarised by confirming that any halal meat sourced by the union would be certified as not being stunned before the animal was killed — the policy was passed with 38 for and three against.

Photo: Open Clip-Art Vectors @Pixabay

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Frankie Simons, MLS campaigns officer, who is also Jewish, said to the Mancunion: “The increased anti-semitism within the party in recent years has been well documented, but events of this type demonstrate a resolve from within Labour Students as an organisation, and within my own Labour club, to stamp out the problem and educate all members about what is and what is not acceptable — particularly when criticising Israel.

“The swift and decisive way that Labour Students and Manchester Labour Students have acted previously, when tackling cases of anti-Semitism, have meant I’m proud to be a Jewish Student activist in the Labour Party.”

The news comes after a series of high profile events at local, and national level, within the party involving alleged anti-Semitism.

This May, MMU Co-Chair of MLS, Tayyib Nawaz was forced to resign over tweets seen by The Mancunion that were anti-Semitic in nature.

In October of last year, the Home Affairs Select Committee concluded in its own report on anti-Semitism that: “The failure of the Labour Party to deal consistently and effectively with antisemitic incidents in recent years risks lending force to allegations that elements of the Labour movement are institutionally antisemitic” Manchester Students’ Union Wellbeing Officer Saqib Mahmood welcomed the introduction of the training, and confirmed that the Union will be holding similar events.

Mahmood said that he was “glad that something like this has been put forward” and that it was a “shame” that people have to be trained to not be anti-Semitic.

“I’m going to be putting in place anti-Semitism and Islamophobia training. Islamaphobia training will be held this month, as part of

Islamaphobia awareness month” he added.

Mahmood also suggested that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign should take an active role in these kind of events.

“I think most people get BDS confused with anti-Semitism” he said, adding that “My opinion is: I really don’t know much about BDS to give a comment, but I think that the training should be put forward to, especially those who are part of the BDS society or BDS campaign.”

According to Mahmood, this was in order to ensure that they knew “where they need to draw a line.”

In response to this, UoM BDS campaign said in a statement to the Mancunion: “The students of the BDS campaign should NOT be singled out for anti-semitism training.”

“Attempts to slur activists working for justice for Palestinians are nothing new, and are the main strategy to silence those appalled by Israel’s ongoing brutal occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

They continued: “We abhor racism of any kind - anti semitism, islamophobia [sic] or any other forms of racism are abhorrent.” they also said.

Saqib Mahmood later told The Mancunion, that he did not mean to target BDS specifically, and would like to see this training opened out to all societies: “As an exec we feel that it is important to discuss these issues openly and honestly and to ensure that political concerns do not cross from being genuine debate into the realms of bigotry. No one society or campaign is exempt from systemic prejudices in our society but equally no one society should be singled out unfairly.

“We also note that MLS has a very progressive policy to deliver anti-racist and unconscious bias training and we look forward to being approached to help facilitate this.”

MMG Live: Check Your Exec

Manchester to take part at the Free Education Demo

Join us on the 23rd of November for a panel discussion with the Students’ Union Executive

Hannah Vallance Senior Political News Reporter

Manchester Media Group, an umbrella of The Mancunion, Fuse FM, and Fuse TV, will be hosting ‘MMG Live: Check Your Exec’ on the 23rd of November.

This event is an opportunity for all and any students to ask questions of the Students’ Union Executive team on their work since being elecated.

Attendees will be able to discuss any student issues with the panel, whether that be recent concerns about crime or University staff redundancies, or more long-standing issues such as university fees.

To attend, select ‘going’ on the Facebook page and send your name, student ID, and questions you would like to ask the Exec in an email to deputyed@mancunion.com. MMG will sift through these questions and draw up a list of the most interesting and commonly-asked.

The event will be held them 5pm to 7:30pm in the Council Chambers of the Students’ Union building. It will be covered and published at a later point in radio and video format by Fuse FM and TV. Refreshments will be provided during an interval.

Misleading options in exec officer ‘preferendum’ Kirstie O’Mahony Editor-in-Chief

Film p18 In conversation with Andy Serkis

The Mancunion has learned that the option for the exec officer roles to ‘stay the same’ would in fact include significant changes.

One of the officer roles would be renamed (Diversity to Liberation and Access) and the remits of both this role and the role of the Education officer would change.

There is also still no clarity as to what will happen with the result, as rumours have flown around the Union that the vote may reopen, although this hasn’t been confirmed.

The Mancunion previously reported that the ‘preferendum’ to reshape the roles of the executive officers had a turnout of only 1.5 per cent (under 500 people). This was attributed to many factors, one being that the vote was run at the same time as the part-time officer and NUS delegate elections.

The options in the vote were to keep the same positions, introduce a postgraduate officer, introduce an international officer, or introduce both.

Marketing materials were not explicit in the fact that some roles would be combined and some would be gotten rid of entirely although on the students’ union website, it gave more information when you clicked on each individual option.

However, the confusion continued as the option to ‘stay the same’ actually included a change in officer name and a slight restructure of their remit. The Diversity officer would become Liberation and Access and Postgraduate

Contact us Editor-in-Chief: Kirstie O’Mahony editor@mancunion.com Deputy Editor: Tristan Parsons deputyed@mancunion.com

Books p20 Events in November for literature lovers

Head News Editor: Cameron Broome Deputy News Editor: Rosa Simonet Deputy News Editor: Amy Wei E: news@mancunion.com Science & Technology Editor: Kieran O’Brien E: science@mancunion.com Features Head Editor: Catherine Bray Deputy Editor: Raine Beckford E: features@mancunion.com Head Opinion Editor: Sam Glover

students would report to their Education officer rather than their Diversity officer. This is would change the interaction postgraduate students would have with the Union.

General Secretary Alex Tayler told The Mancunion that as far as he was aware, “the stay the same option was essentially to stay the same

Deputy Opinion Editor: Jacklin Kwan E: opinion@mancunion.com @MancunionOp Head Film Editor: Eloise Wright Deputy Film Editor: Jamie McEvoy E: film@mancunion.com @MancunionFilm Fashion Head Editor: Talia Lee-Skudder Deputy Editors: Amy Nguyen and Sophie Alexandra-Walsh E: fashion@mancunion.com @MancunionFash Head Music Editor: Hannah Brierley Deputy Music Editor: Yasmin Duggal E: music@mancunion.com @MancunionMusic Books Editor: Ayesha Hussain E: books@mancunion.com

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but with a name change.”

Education Officer Emma Atkins echoed this view, saying that the changes that would be made if that option were chosen were “very minimal.” She added that she does a lot of work with postgraduate students already, so this would just be “making it official.”

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

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Students can take to the streets at the National Free Education Demo

Frustrated at tuition fees and the apparent increasing marketisation of the education system, thousands of students are expected to take to London’s streets for the Free Education National Demo on the 15th of November.

The demo, of which demands for the taxation of the rich to provide for the abolition of fees, provision of living grants for all and the termination of campus cuts, has been argued to have gained momentum after Labour’s General Election pledge to tackle student debt brought the issue to the heart of mainstream political debate.

Organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), the demo will also aim to tackle the ‘cash cow’ treatment of international students, of who were expected to pay between £10,000 to £30,000 in fees per annum for those who enrolled in the 2016-17 academic year.

The march will commence from 2pm on Malet Street, London and will explicitly target the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Their aim, to “drive up standards in teaching”, has allowed for universities that receive a subsequent TEF award to increase their tuition fees in line with inflation.

Significantly, the NCAFC believe the allocation of a TEF award has propelled universities towards a increasing marketisation of education, triggering both staff cuts and a decline in

education standards. This has been seen most recently at the University of Manchester itself, with staff taking industrial action on the 23rd and 24th of October in protest of the 171 proposed redundancies within the academic community.

One student told The Mancunion: “I think it’s important for students to be as vocal as they can against any changes that further decrease the chances for prospective students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is especially important when you have a government that insists on implementing such policies.”

Deej Malik -Johnson, Campaigns and Citizenship Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, also welcomed the demo, commenting: “The national education demo is a hugely important annual event for students from around the country to get together and demand the education system we deserve.

“Now with free education back on the agenda with the Labour Party backing it as policy and with a weakened Conservative government, desperate to woo young peoples votes, now is the time to act!”

The University of Manchester Students’ Union have organised a coach to London, leaving from the Armitage Centre at 7am. Student tickets cost £5, and non-student/staff tickets £10.

Photo: Corey Oakley @ Flickr

Manchester University accused of unprofessionalism and censorship The organisation of independent groups celebrating the centenary of the Balfour Declaration on the University campus has sparked outrage amongst some members of the university Rosa Simonet Deputy News Editor A PhD student has accused the university of “censorship” due to facing disciplinary action after taking to social media to complain about an alleged funding withdrawal.

On Friday the 8th of October Majid Ahmed posted on university Chancellor Lemn Sissays’ wall describing financial struggles that he faced after receiving a letter that told him he was not eligible for funding he had previously been awarded.

He also wrote of his “disappointment” that the Chancellor had apparently refused to meet him. In the post, he claimed he was experiencing “poor treatment and unprofessional conduct by the University of Manchester and they have left me in a position where they are unfairly pressuring me to pay them £12,000 to be awarded my PhD - no academic issues whatsoever.”

Since the post, Majid said he has been threatened with disciplinary action. He said, “after making a serious error in managing my fellowship, they were now trying to avoid any accountability, pressure me into paying more money for my PhD and then censoring me from saying anything about the way I was being treated.”

Majid’s dispute began in 2014. Majid had been awarded a ( basic clinical training) fellowship from the British Heart Foundation of 164,000 pounds in April 2014.

In September of the same year, Majid was given an unconditional offer to study for his PhD in Medicine.

In the letter, it clearly states that Majid’s tuition fees would be covered by the fellowship.

Since receiving the grant he had turned down the opportunity to train as a Foundation Doctor as he wanted to continue in academia. He then took a staff position within the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Manchester alongside his PhD course.

However, a couple of weeks after receiving the initial letter, the university contacted Majid in what he described as a “very frank email” that he would actually have to pay his tuition fees himself. He told The Mancunion that this left him in a difficult financial position and he needed an advance on his salary.

Whilst on a planned academic visit to the USA, he began his dispute to challenge the alleged change in decision. He received support from his supervisor Dr Adam Greenstein (University of Manchester). However, in the last three years, Majid claims he has struggled to gain support or advice from the Student’s Union, the doctoral academy, or the Head of his department. Many have told him there was simply nothing they could do, even when he was threatened by Credit Central after accumulating masses of debt.

The Mancunion have asked for comment from all

three, but have been told none are able to provide any whilst the case is still being processed.

Majid was eventually told of a “Staff Fee Remission Form” in which he could potentially claim 50 per cent of his tuition fees. “No one had told me before,” and this was “very late in the process,” Majid said. He continued that it made him wonder “who is/isn’t entitled to it.”

He went on to submit a “retrospective application” which he believed to be very “generous” as he had not expected to pay anything at all.

His application was, however, declined. He said this was because he was a “clinical research fellow” and the university claims this training is purely for his own benefit.

Majid also disputeed this claim. He had been recruited after receiving a distinction in his Masters and developing a partnership with Dr Adam Greenstein and was insulted that his efforts are, to his mind, not appreciated by the University.

After contacting Nancy Rothwell, Majid was referred to Professor Peter Clayton. Clayton had all correspondence reviewed, following which Majid finally received an apology for the alleged curtness in the original email. A review of payment was also conducted and the university offered to pay for the remainder of Majid’s final year, as well as the £300 all PhD students are entitled to.

Majid declined the offer claiming they had “not gone far enough.”

Since the post, Majid has met with Lemn Sissay in person, who Majid says has now given him support by sharing his post on social media and calling it a “wake up call.”

Majid fears his decision to go public has ruined his academic career and questions whether to leave and return to his work later on. Though he adds “maybe I won’t because I was pushed out.”

“I was handing out [flyers] and posting information to other students and staff about my situation and asking for help...The staff in my department and the faculty did not like it.”

Majid said that he is “certain” that the threat of disciplinary action against him “is not an isolated situation and actually this tendency for the University to try imposing sanctions and making life difficult for individuals who are fighting for justice, be that their own justice or the justice of others.”

He went on to say that he believes it “goes against the principles of the Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom.”

Majid is still devoted to his work, despite his struggles.

He wants to encourage young people to strive for a career in science and not put them off by his own experience.

Photo: Majid Ahmed

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Manchester University under pressure to divest from fossil fuels

Students at The University of Manchester are planning a National Day of Action to pressure the University to divest from fossil fuels.

In a bid to pressure the University to divest, campaigning networks People and Planet and Fossil Free UK in Manchester have joined forces with environmental organisations and student campaigns from other universities who have not committed to divestments including Cambridge, UCL, Leeds, and UEA. A National Day of Action (NDA) will be held on the 22nd of November. This will include a march from Manchester Metropolitan University to the Whitworth arch, where they plan a sit-in to obstruct the walkway under the arch.

Despite three years of campaigning and protesting, including sending a letter signed by over 90 academics to the board of governors, finance committee, and vice chancellor Dame Nancy Rothwell, and collecting over 12,000 signatures on a petition to divest, students had only been told that the University will “review the issue” of their investments in fossil fuels.

Deej Malik-Johnson, Campaigns Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, called the lack of University action “plain contemptuous,” commenting that “the Students’ Union has clear policy to lobby the university to divest from fossil fuels.

“Fossil fuels are an environmental disaster [as] they are a key causal factor in climate change, the effects of which we are seeing now and that our generation throughout the world will be burdened with the task of attempting to mitigate [sic]. For the university to continue to use our money to profiteer from the ruining of our planet goes beyond social irresponsibility.”

Earlier this year, the growing campaign held their biggest protest in March, followed by a joint protest with the Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) movement at the Social Responsibility Awards in May. Following the protest, the University Board of Governors stated they had decided to rewrite their Social Responsibility Policy to “incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into their selection criteria when deciding where to invest” and, “committing to publish a quarterly snapshot of investment shareholdings on the corporate website.”

However, students campaigning for the cause do not think this is enough. Callum Tyler, chair of the People and Planet campaign in Manchester said they “never received a real answer as to why they [The University] have not made any commitment to divesting their funding in the fossil fuel industry.”

Lizzy Haughton, former ethical and environmental officer at the University also told The Mancunion : “at a time when the University has repeatedly ignored efforts from various campaign groups, for example a commitment to full divestment from the People and Planet Society, several FOI requests from the BDS campaign, a re-opening of the boycotted NSS, as well as a blatant disregard for staff with the announcement of 171 job cuts last June, there is little faith in both staff and students for the management of the university.

“For the university to continue to use our money to profiteer from the ruining of our planet goes beyond social irresponsibility” “The university have used their get-out-of-jail-free card by announcing a re-writing of their Social Responsibility Policy, in which it states that they must look closer at where they invest their money on ethical and environmental grounds.”

“This, however, already comes under the remit of ‘Social Responsibility’. It is not an answer, and they will not silence us again.”

The Mancunion also contacted a University spokesperson who commented on changes to the policy, saying that it “will see the University change its relationship with its Investment Managers, which will allow it to pursue an ethical investment approach whilst minimising any potential negative impact on its investment returns.”

They added that “this approach includes a commitment to identifying and promoting low or zero-carbon investments.”

However, the University did not comment on Freedom Of Information requests and have still not confirmed they will consider divestment from fossil fuels.

In 2015, Fossil Free research found that, as of April 2014, the University had £9,528,823 worth of shares in oil and gas companies, including £2,963,822 in Royal Dutch Shell and £2,735,859 in Rio Tinto.

According to the Times Higher Education and The Guardian, 54 Universities in the UK including Oxford, Glasgow, SOAS, KCL, Edinburgh, and Manchester Metropolitan have divested from investments in fossil fuels, which is over a third of all campuses in the nation. More than half of these are Russell Group Universities, whose total commitments to divest stand at around £10.7 billion.

110 Institutions in over 70 countries have pledged some form of divestment from fossil fuels, but the University of Manchester has yet to join the list.

Universities are not, however, the only organisations that have been under pressure to divest from fossil fuels. Recent data released by the website Go Fossil Free reveals that UK councils invest £16.1 billion of their workers’ pensions into companies that extract coal, oil, and gas. Data released by 350.org, Platform, Energy Democracy Project, and Friends of the Earth ranks councils by their fossil fuel investments and allows residents to see every company or fund their local council has invested in.

Compared to 2015 data, these figures show that councils have not made any significant changes to their investments in response to calls from the climate movement, governments, and shareholders to take climate risk into account in the two years since the Paris Agreement on climate change.

In June 2017, UNISON, the largest trade union representing local government workers in the country, passed policy to “seek divestment of Local Government Pension Schemes from fossil fuels over five years”. UNISON’s conference motion passed earlier this year stated: “By divesting the £14 billion currently invested in fossil fuels, local councils can take an important step forward in challenging climate change.”

When it comes to implementing divestment at Universities, government policy is expected to continue to have an impact.

Abigail Dombey, The University of Brighton’s environmental manager, says that the financial incentives for generating electricity from renewable sources have been slashed by the government and she argues that there is much less incentive to invest in renewable energy.

Dr Victoria Johnson from the University of Manchester’s sustainable consumption institute thinks that divestment campaigns are worthwhile and said: “Divestment campaigns are clearly symbolic actions, with the aim of creating the sense that an industry is a pariah.”

“They certainly aren’t a magic bullet to industry destabilisation.

But they can be the precursor to change across multiple domains: industry, technologies and infrastructure, public policies and political power, knowledge base, user relations and markets and culture.”

Women in Media networking event at The Botanist The informal ‘Women in Media’ networking event is a chance to speak to respected women within the industry and meet this year’s ‘Women in Media’ committee Cliona Linehan Contributor Manchester Media Group’s ‘Women in Media’ committee are hosting a networking event at the Botanist in MediaCityUK, connecting the public and students with some of the media’s leading women.

From 7pm on the 15th of November, guests will be able to mingle with experts from areas such as PR, broadcast journalism, television production and more, all over cocktails at The Botanist in MediaCityUK. Media City, located in Salford Quays, is home to ITV, the BBC, and more, providing Manchester residents with close access to some of the biggest companies in the media industry.

Co-chair of the Women in Media group, Zoë Dukoff-Gordon, advocated the event saying: “It’s a great way to hear more about the industry, whether it’s something you may be considering as a career or if you are set on it already. It’s also a really nice space to just learn a bit more about the female faces behind the media, whether or not it’s a career you want to pursue.”

The networking event will also work to promote the Women in Media Conference, taking place this March, which will celebrate women in media, providing keynote speakers and information on current media issues and trends.

The ‘Women in Media’ conference will take place a month after the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave women over the age of thirty who owned property the right to vote.

The networking event taking place this November, and the conference in March, come at arguably a pivotal time for women in the workplace, as sexual harassment accusations

shake both Hollywood and the House of Commons. As of this week, eight Conservative MPs and four Labour MPs have been accused of sexual misconduct. In addition, a TUC report in 2016 found that 52 per cent of women had experienced some level of sexual harassment at work, with nearly a quarter of women experiencing unwanted touching in the workplace.

The media is, according to a 2016 study by City University London, 55 per cent male, and in July this year the BBC pay gap scandal displayed the gendered disparity in the media industry, and an arguable need for more gender diversity and equality within the industry.

Dukoff-Gordon commented that “it’s important for any industry to be open in accepting anyone. If they have a disability; or are Black, White, Asian, gay, straight, man, woman, transgender.” She then concluded “I think it’s people’s traditional perception that normality — in Britain anyway — is to be a white male; when this is just not the case!”

In addition, co-chair of Women in Media, Len Cotton argued that “at present, a very thwarted sense of reality is being portrayed, as predominantly men are involved in more ‘serious’ topics, such as politics.” Cotton contended that “this omits the image that women are incapable of tackling such issues which is completely wrong.”

The issue of sexual harassment has also struck universities, when earlier this year an investigation by The Guardian found harassment to be an “epidemic.”

Examining the years 2011/2012 to 2016/2017, the investigation uncovered 169 claims made by students towards university staff, with a further 127 complaints made by staff members towards their colleagues. Whilst Manchester Metropolitan

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Students’ Union Campaigns Officer described the University’s current action as “plain contemptuous” Hana Jafar News reporter

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University did not have any statistics in the report, The University of Manchester had less than five reports of sexual harassment from 2011.

The ‘Women in Media’ networking evening will work to promote women in the media industry and hope to be what Dukoff-Gordon describes as a “safe support network for women” in light of sexual harassment and general gender inequality.

The event will have guests such as Katie Thistleton, who has been presenting ‘the bits in between the shows’ live on CBBC for almost 5 years and now also presents ‘The CBBC Book Club’.

Summarising, Cotton said: “We need female reporters to be covering every aspect of politics to show that we are just as capable, knowledgeable and talented as our male counterparts.”

The event is almost at capacity but those interested can email editor@mancunion.com with theirr name and organisation to have a place reserved at the event or be added to the waiting list.

Students’ Union unveils Living Wage plaque Photo: Furquan Naeem

Nicole Wootton-Cane Senior Main Campus Reporter On Wednesday the 8th of November, the Students’ Union unveiled a new plaque in the Students’ Union building to commemorate the accreditation of the Students’ Union as a living wage employer.

The unveiling of the plaque was part of Living Wage Week, which took place across the UK from Sunday the 5th of November to Saturday the 11th of November. The aim of the week, set up by the Living Wage Foundation, is to raise awareness about the need for the living wage and to encourage employers to pay their employees the recommended £8.75 per hour (or £10.20 in London). Events took place across the week, including the announcement of the new living wage rates and events hosted by employers all over the country.

The unveiling of the plaque was attended by several leading living wage campaigners and speakers in Greater Manchester, including Furqan Naeem from Citizens UK and Conor McGurran from Unison North West, both addressing why they believe a living wage to be important and celebrating the union’s status.

Speaking to The Mancunion, Naeem said: “The living wage is incredibly important in Greater Manchester because it’s an independently calculated figure that means that those on the lowest pay get paid a decent, fair wage, with dignity.”

He also pointed out that there is a pound difference between the government’s “living wage” and the “real living wage” (as set out by the Living Wage Foundation) and added: “I think it’s so important that Greater Manchester, that champions itself to be a region of social justice, participates in this campaign that is about helping people get out of poverty.”

Campaigns Officer at the Student Union Deej Malik-Johnson also spoke at the event, highlighting the importance of the living wage in the organisation. “We say we are a values-led organisation, and we need to show that we mean what we say”. He also suggested ways for students to get involved with the campaign, such as joining the

University of Manchester Living Wage Campaign and talking to the cleaners in hall and around the university.

Currently, the University of Manchester is not a living wage employer. The Greater Manchester Living Wage campaign, along with the Students’ Union, said that they are determined to keep putting pressure on the University to achieve this status.

“The University of Manchester is one of the biggest employers in the city,” stated Malik-Johnson. “It’s also the largest university in the country. I think it would send a really powerful message if they were to pay the living wage.” There are currently over twenty living wage accredited universities in the UK, including Oxford University and Queen Mary University of London.

A spokesperson for the University of Manchester said: “Salaries for University staff have consistently met with the Living Wage Foundation’s levels in previous years. At present, we’re reviewing our current benchmark pay rates in relation to bringing them in line with the recent living wage increase.”

The events in Manchester also included a campaign in the social care sector for the living wage to be paid to all staff. On Thursday evening, Greater Manchester Citizens and Care Workers for Change held a candlelit vigil outside BUPA’s Gorton Parks residential home.

One of the organisers, McGurran, said it was a “peaceful community vigil” with the aim of asking BUPA to meet with them to discuss becoming a living wage accredited employer.

During the week it was also announced that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been newly accredited as a living wage employer.

Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive at the Combined Authority said: “The accreditation is a signal of our commitment to continuing to be a good employer who will work to improve employment conditions and wage levels.” Mayor Andy Burnham added that the authority was “hopefully paving the way for other organisations in the region to follow suit.”

Firefighters attacked in Manchester on Bonfire Night Remember, Remember the 5th of November – the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service will this year, after several firefighters were attacked throughout the night Jacob Rawling Local Political Reporter Firefighters across Greater Manchester were attacked during the bonfire night of 2017.

A reported 413 calls were made to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue between 5.30pm on Sunday the 5th of November and 8.30am on Monday the 6th of November. This resulted in reportedly half the service’s total resources being deployed during the busiest hours of the evening. During this time, firefighters across Greater Manchester were attacked, reportedly by youths.

Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham accompanied a firefighting crew in Bolton on Sunday, and witnessed the chaotic evening first hand.

Mayor Burnham tweeted that it was a “Bit of a shock to see a firework thrown at us” and later went on to state “Unbelievably the firefighters said it was actually very common. This is fundamentally unacceptable.”

Bolton was not the only area to suffer from unrest. In the early evening of the 5th of November, Oldham Firefighters were called to Hillfarm Close to deal with a bonfire. Upon arrival the firefighters were attacked with fireworks. A spokesperson for GMFRS said: “There were no injuries or damage to the fire engine. Fire crews were on scene for approximately ten minutes.”

Firefighters bore the brunt of the attacks that night, however a resident in Longsight reportedly had a lit firework posted through their door. A car was also torched in Rochdale, and it us not the only

car to have believed to have befallen this fate. There are reports across Manchester of other cars being torched However, there have been no reported injuries during these incidents.

The numerous attacks on Sunday followed violence and arson on Saturday the 4th of November. Glass bottles were thrown by youths at a fire engine that drove past Edgehill Close in Salford. Later that evening, the playground in Ordsall Park, Salford was set alight.

Salford Fire Team condemned the arson as “a waste of our time”.

Firefighting is a “tough job” said Mayor Burnham condemning the events, though the minor arson and attacks across Manchester were believed to be short lived.

Image: Geralt @ Pixabay

Manchester Christmas markets open

The countdown to Christmas is on as Manchester opens its famous Christmas markets Cameron Broome Head News Editor

Image: David Dixon @ Geograph

On the 10th of November, Manchester’s Christmas markets officially opened, and will be here in the city for six weeks.

Though there will be the usual array of diverse stalls, this year’s markets welcome two new food and drink additions.

These include the Yorkshire Burrito, a giant Yorkshire pudding stuffed with visitors’ favourite filling, and Elsie May’s tea room, both of which will be based in Exchange Square.

Anokhi Bella Shah, Head Food and Drinks Editor of The Mancunion, said: “The arrival of the Christmas markets sparks excitement around Manchester, particularly getting my festive culinary juices flowing. I can’t wait to see what delights this year has to offer. Being a Yorkshire girl, I’ve got my eye on those burritos.”

Abbie Llewellyn, a third-year Linguistics student at Manchester University, echoed this sentiment and said: “I’m excited about the Christmas markets because they bring together different cultures in one place to get you in the Christmas spirit, and it has awesome food and drink.”

The main market hub and European market will be based in Albert Square in front of Manchester town hall, and is open from 10AM to 9PM daily.

The rest of the markets are spread across nine sites including St Ann’s Square (German market), King Street (French market), Exchange Street, New Cathedral Street, Exchange Square, Cathedral Gardens (family friendly area), Market Street The Corn Exchange, and Brazennose Street. These sites are open from 10AM to 7:30PM in November and 10AM to 8PM in December.

This year, visitors can download a free iOS and Android augmented reality App to help navigate their way around the markets.

The app can be used to scan the Christmas Market mugs and be rewarded with a “special Christmas treat.”

Visitors can also use the phone’s camera to look at the attraction and pointers will appear on their screen including the location of toilets, cash machines, various market stalls or the ice rink based in Cathedral Gardens, which opened on November the 4th.

Cllr Luthfur Rahman, Manchester City Council’s executive member for culture and leisure, said: “There’s something for everyone on the augmented reality app, and I think it’s going to help visitors find their way around and enjoy the attraction in a completely new way.”

First launched in 1999 and now in its 18th consecutive year, Manchester City Council claim to have led the Christmas Market boom, being the first city to bring a European-style festive market to the UK.

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The last straw: 42’s takes action against plastic waste The nightclub is replacing its plastic straws with vegetable straws Cameron Broome and Max Brimelow News Editor and News Contributor Since introducing a 10p charge for straws, Manchester nightclub 42nd Street (a.k.a ‘42s’) are estimated to have reduced straw usage by 95 per cent, The Mancunion has learned.

In early October, the nightclub announced that it would be introducing a charge for its straws backing the ‘Straw Wars’ charity, with all proceeds raised from straw charges going to charity. Explaining the rationale behind the policy, a spokesman told The Mancunion that “straws just seem so unnecessary.”

They added: “We have always tried to have responsible policies, from not having high ABV drinks in our promotions to donating our lost property to homeless charities. This just seemed like another cause we could get behind and we already recycle all our other waste.”

When asked about the impact of the charge, the spokesman said: “[we] guess we’re using about 5 per cent of the straws we used to.”

The club also told The Mancunion that they will “soon change to vegetable straws which are even better for the environment.”

James Shuttleworth, a third year Geographer at the University of Manchester, praised the campaign and said: “42nd Street’s campaign charging straws has highlighted an important issue.

Up until now this consumption was an everyday event, done without thinking and had become invisible.

“A 95 per cent reduction in the amount of straws used is a massive success for the campaign. I hope this will encourage other people and venues to think about what they consume and to reduce or change it to reduce their impact on our planet.”

Luke Blazejewski of Zero Waste UK, a Manchester-based non-profit organisation who campaign for the uptake of waste reduction practices, backed the initiative and told The Mancunion: “We’ve all seen that traumatising video of that turtle having a plastic straws removed from its nose. Once upon a time that straw was probably in someone’s drink, and then casually thrown away. I think anything we can do to reduce our plastic consumption makes a positive change in the world.”

More jokingly, third-year student Callum Kirby said: “It’s comfort to us all that, when on a night out at one of Manchester’s foremost student haunts, we can rest easy in our beds knowing that, upon buying our vodka and tonics, the straws from which

we sip them are doing that little bit extra to make this world a better place.”

Speaking to The Mancunion, the nightclub also hit out at the brewing industry more broadly and added: “You could say it would be good if the brewing industry got it’s act together and started going plastic or cans. As most nightclubs in most cities in the UK now decant into plastic under guidance from the licensing authorities, we are producing twice the waste (recyclable or not) that we used to. And just the think of the health benefits for the people who have to lift the waste sacks!”

Ocean pollution from plastic is a problem that is thought to cause the death of 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals a year and the night club has become the first location to support the “Straw Wars” cause in Manchester.

As well as their anti-straw initiative, 42nd street also support homelessness charity Barnabus and have recently offered free

entry to the club if punters bring “urgent items” for Barnabus’ homeless drop-in.

Last year, Wetherspoon’s similarly announced it would be reducing its plastic straw usage. A spokesman for JD Wetherspoon said: “We have decided to stop using plastic straws across our 900 pubs in the UK and Republic of Ireland by the end of this year.

“In addition, and with immediate effect, straws will no longer be automatically added to drinks, although they remain available for customers if requested.

“From January 2018, all of our pubs will use biodegradable paper straws.”

At the Students’ Union Senate of November the 9th of November, a motion was passed to replace plastic straws used in the Students’ Union buildings with paper straws.

Image: 42nd Street Nightclub

Fallowfield’s safety petition presented to Deputy Mayor

As the petition draws to a close, Matt Harvison presents the now popular document to Deputy Mayor Beverley Hughes Emefa Setranah South Manchester Reporter After five weeks of campaigning, the Fallowfield safety petition was presented to Deputy Mayor Beverley Hughes, representatives from the local council and Greater Manchester Police.

At its close, the petition reached 9,638 signatures. In an interview with The Mancunion, Matt said “At the beginning, I only thought I would get a few hundred [signatures] at most, but this has exceeded my expectations. I am so over the moon about it.”

When asked how he felt about the petition coming to an end, Matt said: “In a way, I don’t feel it’s come to an end, it’s far from the end.

We have facilitated the creation of a big noise. With the backing of almost 10,000 students, we cannot be ignored.”

Community officer Jack Houghton seconded this by adding: “The journey has not come to an end. Change doesn’t happen overnight.”

At the meeting with the Deputy Mayor Matt presented charts and statistics he had gathered from student feedback. The majority of responses asked for police patrols, for less police to be stood at bus stops and for more streetlights. According to Matt and Jack, these

ideas received a positive response from the Deputy Mayor.

Volunteer night watches were on the list but received minimal support. Many thought volunteers would simply be put at risk.

However, Jack is going ahead with plans for his ‘Night Owl’ scheme.

The project, which has been introduced at several universities across the country, involves trained student volunteers patrolling the streets in Fallowfield. Matt told the Mancunion, “the students union proposed night owl scheme, in my opinion, is a great idea.

These volunteers will be trained by the police in self-defence, bystander training and be on hand to students between peak hours for crime in Fallowfield.”

He continued, “this is a plan that will be linked to the police force, with the night owls having a direct line to the police and providing safe spaces in areas that crime is most prevalent according to what students themselves have reported.”

The meeting with the Deputy Mayor is one of many meetings Matt has had since the release of the petition. To raise awareness of the criminal activity in and around the Fallowfield area, Matt has also spoken to BBC Radio Manchester and the Manchester Evening News.

“Even though the petition was made by Matt and he facilitated the meeting, it was students in the end that made all this possible.”

Most of the reports of crime and discussion on the topic took place in the Fallowfield student Facebook group. But after his discussion with Greater Manchester Police Matt has some advice for students. “The police are looking for real concrete evidence and crime figures, I urge any victims of crime to report it to the police.

The more real crime statistics they have for Fallowfield the more effort the police will make in stopping criminal activity in the area”.

The message that Matt and Jack want students and residents to take away from this experience is one of determination. Staying engaged and putting pressure on the authorities is the only way that real change will happen.

Matt’s final message to all those who have supported the petition is this: “Thank you to all those who have signed the petition. We all need to hang on in there because this process isn’t something that is going to happen overnight. Be patient and eventually we will reap the rewards.”

Science Editor vacancy The Mancunion is looking to recruit a new Science Editor. The role involves gathering and designing two pages of content per week. If you’re interested in this position, please find a link to apply on our Facebook page.

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Rutherford centenary marked with new exhibition

Visitors of the university’s new heritage tour will be the first to see inside the private research rooms of the “father of nuclear physics”, 100 years after the splitting of the atom Elizabeth Rushton Contributor 100 years after first splitting the atom in a milestone of nuclear physics, the work and life of Manchester alumnus and Nobel Prize recipient Ernest Rutherford will be celebrated with the opening of a new exhibition.

The new guided tour of one of the University’s most significant scientific spots is set to offer visitors unprecedented access to the laboratories where this ground-breaking discovery was made.

One of the University’s Heritage Heroes, Rutherford began his scientific research in Canada, developing theories which would lead to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. Often called the father of nuclear physics, his work led to the discoveries of the now wellknown concepts of radioactivity, such as half-life and the different varieties of radiation.

Following his relocation to Manchester in 1907, he began work on his hypothesis of atom structure, revealing the small nucleus at the centre containing charge, which would be confirmed by the infamous ‘splitting’.

The 1917 experiment that resulted in the split involved an artificial nuclear reaction – the first of its kind – between helium and radioactive alpha particles, and also led Rutherford to discover the proton, the subatomic particle which carries the atom’s positive charge.

This discovery has been credited by Professor Sean Freeman of the university’s nuclear physics department as having “created the modern field of nuclear physics right here in Manchester”.

The pop-up exhibition, entitled “Rutherford’s Manchester: the birthplace of nuclear physics”, will take place in the Rutherford Building. In the Rutherford Room, which was once the private research room of its namesake and still contains his original laboratory bench, visitors will hear about the history of advancements in science and computing made at the university by its more than 20 Nobel laureates in science, and learn more about Rutherford’s life and the impact of his work. A current science PhD student will guide visitors through the exhibition, which features replica scientific equipment, interpretation panels and archive photographs. Today the Rutherford building is home to university administration, meaning that this guided tour offers its attendees a unique opportunity to step inside one of the university’s most historic sites.

Although one of the most famous, Rutherford worked here alongside other researchers who made significant contributions to the field of nuclear physics — the Geiger counter, a device for measuring radiation, was co-invented in Manchester by Hans Geiger. Later on, another Manchester researcher would discover another of the essential component parts of the atom — James Chadwick, whose research would form the foundation for the construction of the American atomic bombs which would end the Second World War, discovered the neutron in 1932.

Following its inaugural viewing last week, guided visits to the Rutherford Room will be held monthly (with the exception of January), and a place can be booked through the university’s history and heritage website.

The centenary of Rutherford’s breakthrough has also been

marked this year with the announcement of a government fund of £100 million, intended to entice international scientists to travel to the UK to conduct research.

Speaking at the scheme’s launch in July, Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson spoke of Rutherford as “one of our most distinguished scientists,” going on to stress the value of the work carried out in the UK by talented immigrant researchers, such as Rutherford himself.

“The Prime Minister has made clear she wants us to be a country that attracts the brightest and best minds,” Johnson added. “Rutherford and his immense contributions to science exemplify our vision of a Britain that is open to the best minds and ideas in the world, and stands at the forefront of global collective endeavours to understand, and to improve, the world in which we live.”

Photo: Unknown @WIkimedia Commons

Around the world this week...

For issue 8, Felix Hanif-Banks reports on one key story:

‘Catastrophic’ Crisis in Yemen met by Muted Global Response Despite being labelled a ‘catastrophic’ situation by both the UN and the Red Cross, as many as seven million Yemeni people remain on the brink of famine amidst the countries ongoing civil war.

The nation is set to suffer the worst famine seen anywhere in the world in recent decades if the Saudi-led blockade is lifted.

Food, medicine and other vital supplies are unable to be brought into the country, leaving millions at risk of disease and starvation, as local access to necessities grows increasingly difficult.

Urgent calls for action from the UN’s humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock were met with a guarded response from the UN security council, who were described by Al Jazeera’s James Bays as offering “very carefully chosen words rather than concrete action”.

All of Yemen’s land and sea ports are

currently closed, meaning it is only a matter of time before the conflict’s death toll of 10,000 is added to, with a supposed 900,000 cases of cholera across the country in addition to the scarcity of food.

Saudi Arabia claims their blockade is aimed at preventing the smuggling of weaponry into Yemen, blaming the Iranian government for backing Houthi rebel forces that oppose the Yemeni government.

While many western nations condemn the actions of the Saudi’s in theory, their words are incredibly hollow. Britain and the US both continue to trade with Saudi Arabia, both recently signing lucrative arms deals.

Their “ broad recitations of concern” as Kristine Berckerle, Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, are no longer sufficient, and western nations need to be more active in coming to the aid of the Yemeni people, as

the inevitable crises draws nearer, if it hasn’t already begun.

Even theoretical support from the world’s more powerful nations emboldens the Saudis, and their empty words are of no use to the Yemeni people. Despite the SPA, the state-run news agency in Saudi Arabia, stating they would take into consideration “the continuation of the entry and exit of humanitarian supplies and crews,”, no UN planes have been able to land since Monday, when the blockade was established.

As the conflict is well into its second year with no end in sight, we must turn to leaders of the western world to use what influence they have in the region for good. For as long as trade continues with Saudi Arabia, they remain influential on the world stage, and as we see in Yemen currently, even transcend the authority of the UN.

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The Human Library: “an inclusive world” with founder Ronni Abergel

Excavating The Reno with Linda Brogan Interview

Ellie Tivey talked to Linda Brogan about her eighteen month excavation project of The Reno, the funk and soul club that once was host to such legends as Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali Ellie Tivey Contributor “Opposite the big ASDA on Princess Road” doesn’t exactly sound like the sort of place where some key historical discovery could be unfolding. But take a walk down there in the next week or so, and you will discover The Reno. Once boasting visitors such as Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali, The Reno was the hub of Manchester’s mixed-race culture from 1962 to its demolition in 1986. Linda Brogan, award winning playwright and once regular of The Reno, has just finished her eighteen-month mission to excavate the funk and soul

“I’m not black, I’m not white, so where is my place?” club. To give it one last hurrah before the land is repurposed.

Being a bona fide history nerd, how was I supposed to resist? Last week I found myself on the excavation site, speaking to Linda herself about the project. What I first wanted to know was what inspired this excavation, and why now?

As Linda said: “It’s about my colour. I’m not black, I’m not white, so where is my place?” She references one incident in particular with a play of hers called Speechless. Speechless was based upon a true story of two black girls who set fire to their school during the 1980s. Linda handed this play to a director, a white, middle-class woman. When Linda went to see her play, she found that the director “always had the two girls fighting.” There were two other white characters in the play and, to Linda’s eyes, the director was always “asking them what they think, then telling the two black girls what to think.”

Upset to see that her writing was being portrayed in such a manner, Linda emailed the director looking for a discussion about adjusting the direction. In her words, the director “flipped out.” She was told she would only be permitted twenty minutes to speak to the director. Linda replied by pointing out the irony of the situation regarding the fact the

“The Reno is where my voice is too.” play was called “Speechless.” The director responded by saying that if she turned up to any of the future rehearsals, the police would be called on her. A threat that Brogan described as “classically racist. If I was blond, white, middle class, that last threat wouldn’t have happened.” Linda “imploded” as she realised her play was now within the director’s world, a world in which she had no power.

This all led Linda to wonder where her place was. A few months later, she was reading a book named ‘I Was Born a Slave’, real life accounts of the experiences of slaves. One, which stood out to her, was about a slave who stole a horse to escape and was apologising for his crime to a pastor in order

Photo: Excavation, Reno Website

Photo: Excavation, Reno Website

to get room and board. “If a white guy did that” she says “he’d be a hero.” She realised that this man had to alter his story to suit the desires of the pastor and she thought, “this has what has been happening to me, how do I get my voice back?” And this is where the Reno comes in. Brogan realised in bed that night that if that slave had been telling his story at the Reno, “he’d have told that story like a hero, The Reno is where my voice is too.”

By the next morning, Linda had spoken to Manchester Museum, the cultural officer at Manchester City Council, the Whitworth, and before long, she had plenty of support for her excavation project of the Reno. This all culminates in one of the Whitworth Gallery’s late night exhibitions on 23rd November from 6-9pm. “It’s one thing us digging up our Reno and it just being trapped here in Moss Side”, she said, “what we want to do is colonise the Whitworth too, that’s our history.” She spoke of “changing it from those clean white walls where everyone is quiet and reverent to just f***ing mayhem.” Snippets of people’s memoirs of The Reno will be projected over the top of Whitworth’s existing art. A DJ will be playing the funk and soul music so characteristic of what The Reno contributed to Manchester’s culture. There will be a display of all the artefacts found during the excavation process. It looks to be an incredible evening, so be sure to check it out.

Visit www.thereno.live for all the memoirs that helped gather money and interest in the project.

WRITE FOR US The Mancunion Features Contributors Team 2017/18 Email: features@mancunion.com Meeting time: Mondays 6pm

With the release of Heineken’s ‘Open Your World’ campaign, Kizzy Bray and Raine Beckford talk to Ronni Abergel, the founder of The Human Library, to discuss the collaboration, challenging prejudices and the importance of open conversation in stopping violence Photo: The Human Library

Kizzy Bray and Raine Beckford Head and Deputy Features Editors Having lived in Manchester for two years, with embarrassment I admit I haven’t ventured too much farther than the delights of Piccadilly Station. The morning myself and Raine caught a train into Urmston we didn’t particularly know what to expect. What we found, in a tiny pub amongst housing estates and leafy lanes was an adventure in itself.

The Human Library, hosted by Heineken is a project that asks you to delve deep into your own prejudices, challenge learned stereotypes and boundaries to break taboo in the most wonderful way- by simply asking questions and listening to the “ books” in front of you. We spoke to Ronni Abergel, the founder of The Human Library to understand where the idea came from and what good it is doing for the world.

The library boasts a plethora of individual “ books”. Raine and I sat at our table where we were given half an hour to “check-out” a

advantage of the situation we created. The courage to ask all the questions we would never dare ask down in the local Sainsburys or at the bus stop.”

We’ve all done it, even though many of us would hate to admit it. Perhaps shying away from sitting next to the man covered head to toe in tattoos and piercings on the train.

Perhaps a stare, two seconds too long at the girl with tourettes on the tube. Most of our own ignorance one would hope doesn’t come from a place of hatred, but perhaps a softer sense of curiosity. The Human Library aims to tackle both these issues and more, in opening up the conversation with no room for shame and no tolerance of disgust.

“Whilst we may never all agree on everything, we can always choose to be open; to find the common ground. Because being open lets you get more out of life.”

“It’s more important than ever that we recognise our blind spots and break down our barriers so we can find common ground and open up our world” “ book”. In fact what we were doing was being given the opportunity to meet people of all kinds of backgrounds, appearances and experiences, to listen to them and to (within reason) ask them whatever we wanted.

The idea started in Copenhagen in 2000, where Ronni and some colleagues started the project for Roskilde Festival. “It all came from the simple thought that good relations to other groups in the community would be a benefit for all and it would help reduce violence” Ronni tells us.

“Myself and my colleagues hoped that readers would have the courage to take

Photo: The Human Library

As we sipped our free beers from the open bar after being shown Heineken’s 2017 promotional video ‘World’s Apart’ it was obvious why the company had paired with the not-for-profit Danish organisation. The video depicts people with extremely opposing views or beliefs coming together to build flat pack furniture and being given the option to stay and have a beer after finding out about their differences. The Human Library is in a similar vein; to promote understand-

ing and conversation for positive change.

“Heineken is a brand that stands for openness” Ronni explains. “By joining forces, we aim to help extend their incredible work across the UK and enable more people to connect and find common ground – no matter what their background, experiences or views.”

With the internet age creating echo-chambers of our own views, it’s easy to get lost in what we think is right and believe that everyone else agrees with us. More and

more diverse voices are being heard now than ever before, and Ronni wants this to be safe for everyone involved. “It’s more important than ever that we recognise our blind spots and break down our barriers so we can find common ground and open up our world. We want an open, inclusive world.

“Whilst we may never all agree on everything, we can always choose to be open; to find the common ground. Because being open lets you get more out of life.”

Just like real books, the human books are captivating, heart-breaking, heart-warming and sincere. As a reader I found myself completely immersed in the real life stories of the people in front of me, which seems to be the typical response to the library wherever they go. “A recent mind blowing session involved a married couple in their 50´s coming to borrow our victim of Incest to ask advice in regards to a situation in their own family” Ronni recalls, “it was a very personal reading where the readers somehow also became open books.”

So what is the future for the Human Library? Ronni is positive that there is a lot more to come. “Our tour will reach 100 nations soon. We are going to take our book depots around the world online.” There’s even a new TV-show ready to hit the US which everyone involved is extremely excited for, the good work is never finished.

“This is only the beginning of the full potential of the Human Library. There will be more dialogue leading to more understanding, insight, empathy and again building blocks to a future with cohesion, tolerance and peace among people.”

This poignant, beautiful project is one you should try and catch if it stumbles across your city. There are many ways you can become part of this global movement for social change, as Ronni himself urges you to do so. “All you have to do is go to our website and tell us where you are and how you can help. We will then see if we can connect you with local Human Library organizers or a local book depot for the Human Library.”

To find out more about The Human Lbrary go to: www.humanlibrary.org/

The Creative Space The Creative Space is a monthly profile showcasing the best of the University of Manchester’s original talent.

Are you a singer, songwriter, filmmaker or designer?

Do you have a poem, short story, play or illustration you’re dying to share?

Send it to us at: features@mancunion.com and we will feature the winner at the end of the month!

Opinion

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Banning online communities of misogynists is a good thing, here’s why

Photo: Reddit

The 40,000 strong reddit group for ‘incels’, short for involuntary celibates, has been banned.

What does it mean to be an involuntary celibate? Incels are a group of men, almost all teenagers or in their early 20s, who find themselves without romantic partners or interaction. Their lack of romantic interaction results in a deep-seated hatred of women and men who aren’t celibate.

Earlier this year, before the group was banned, I posted asking if any of the members would let me talk to them anonymously to learn about their views and why they held them. The users of the group were all lonely and miserable, and talking to them was interesting.

Recently, research carried out by the University of Michigan concluded that banning hate groups on online forums was unlikely to cause the views of those groups to fester on other websites or forums.

The Incels forum was a hate group, and banning it is the right decision. Here are the transcripts from my interviews, giving an insight into the views of the members and exploring the range of opinion, from milque-

toast sexism to hateful misogyny.

John, 25, Ohio The Mancunion: What does it mean to be an Incel?

John: Basically, it means to be the type of guy that has been deemed undesirable and has no chance of any type of relationship.

How did you become an Incel?

I was born with a facial deformity, but others have different things that hold them back: being short, or just plain ugly. So, it just kind of happens naturally where you miss out on normal experiences to develop on how to deal with the opposite sex and eventually it festers and gets worse and worse.

Have you ever had any kind of sexual experience?

None at all. Haven’t dated, haven’t kissed, haven’t had any sexual contact at all.

When did you come to the conclusion that you would never have any kind of sexual relationship?

Well, when I was younger I had felt extremely

Sam Glover talks to members of the recently banned ‘Incel’ group, and argues that banning the community is the right move

self-conscious about my facial disfigurement and told myself no girls would be interested in me. Eventually I tried in high school it went awfully and that reaffirmed the belief I had in my head for many years. That was nine years ago and I haven’t bothered since.

Do you resent women?

No. It’s not their fault they don’t find me attractive.

Everyone wants to be with someone they feel at least some physical attraction to, myself included, so I can hardly get mad at women or hold them to some standard I wouldn’t want to be held to myself.

Why do you think some people on the Incels group seem to hate women?

I think it’s kind of a lashing out type thing. It’s an ‘if they don’t want me then to hell with them’ mentality. Some of them have had horrible experiences and eventually it becomes natural to associate women in a negative light. No more than a woman who has had awful experiences with men and assumes they’re all cheaters, dogs, shallow.

What do you make of the Incel community as a whole?

They’re guys who have had a tough go of it in life, and unfortunately they are the ‘throwaways’ who have no realistic shot at any love in life. Guys who have to accept a long, empty, and meaningless life. So, they come there to vent and have each other’s backs.

Calum, 20, London The Mancunion: How did you become an Incel?

Calum: It just happened I guess? Females aren’t interested in me.

Have you ever had any kind of sexual experience?

Nope.

Do you hate women?

Yes. Why do you hate women?

Because they hate me, and most of them are degenerates. They are sluts, they sleep with higher tier males all the time.

Can you expand on that a bit?

I despise females because they are all degenerate sluts who enjoy torturing me because I’m an ugly socially retarded virgin, even though I’m already de-

Opinion Editor Sam Glover pressed. Some even pretend to care and be nice, whilst they laugh at me behind my back with ‘Chad’ and his friends, those are the worst ones by far. The modern female has too much power over men with sex unfortunately, we should follow Saudi’s laws regarding sex and marriage, that would knock them down a peg. Females just despise me.

Why is it that females despise you?

They despise me because I’m a 1/10 and I dared to speak to them.

Magnus, 17, Sweden The Mancunion: How did you become an Incel?

Magnus: I don’t think it’s something you become, people are just born a certain way. An incel is simply an undesirable male, and that’s just what I am.

Have you ever had any kind of sexual relationship?

None, the most action I’ve had in my life is a peck on the cheek playing truth or dare.

Do you have friends?

I had plenty as a kid, but with time it gets harder and harder for me to be around other people. Now, I hardly keep in touch with anyone.

Do you resent women?

I’m sad about the way the game is set up, I think it’s unfair, but I don’t know who to blame for that. Honestly, it’s more the fault of mother nature. Women naturally seek out men with good genes, and I wasn’t born with good genes, so I don’t think it is necessarily the fault of women. I know plenty of women who are very kind, or at least appear to be. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with women, the hatred online is just people venting their frustration. Sex, to me, might as well be mythical.

It’s something that I know I will never get to experience.

You’re only 17, why are you so certain you’ll never have sex?

My DNA will not change over time. I’m not going to go from being 5’9 and 130 lbs to 6’3 and 220 lbs. I’ve known my whole life that I’m undesirable, and know that women have no interest in me. That’s not going to suddenly change as I get older.

Opinion 11

ISSUE 8 / 13th NOVEMBER 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

The rise of the AfD proves that Germany isn’t immune from right-wing populism

Gemany is divided, and those divisions won’t heal unless the German political establishment engages with the concerns of AfD voters, argues Jake Dunn The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a rightwing, nationalist, Eurosceptic and anti-Islam party, won 12.6 per cent of the national vote, making it the first openly nationalist party to cross the 5 per cent threshold to enter the Bundestag since the mid-1950s.

This has alarmed many in the German political establishment, who since the foundation of the West German Federal Republic in 1949, have made a show of rejecting German nationalism for obvious historical reasons. Germany enters a new phase of politics, and this will have profound consequences for all aspects of life in Germany. The country now moves into a period of uncertainty that is completely unique in the post-war era.

When Angela Merkel took the decision to allow almost 1 million refugees to enter Germany in 2015, she thought it would make Germany the ‘humanitarian superpower’ of Europe and the world, the first of its kind. However, despite this effort and belief she faced huge backlashes from the German public and members of her own Christian Democratic Union, who fiercely began to urge Merkel to impose quotas on refugees entering the country.

Refugee centres were being burnt down and huge waves of anti-immigration and Islam protests emerged across the nation, especially in the former Communist East Germany. Many felt that the German political establishment was too out of touch, and that this was finally shown by the handling of the refugee crisis; taken with the feeling of being left behind by German re-unification in the 1990s, this created the ideal melting pot for the AFD to help them thrive at the next federal election in 2017.

After months of pressure, Merkel toughened her stance against refugees, but by then the political damage was done. When Merkel took

that decision to allow 1 million refugees into Germany, she opened a flood-gate of right wing nationalist sentiments and views that were lurking beneath the political landscape of Germany, something many once thought was impossible.

In two state elections in 2015, the residents of the former East Germany propelled the AfD into second place with over 20 per cent of the vote, citing the handling of the immigration issue as their main issue in the election.

As the polls closed on 24th of September, it was clear that Angela Merkel was going to be re-elected as Chancellor, however the polls also showed something else: the AfD had come third and surpassed expectations. With 12.6 per cent of the national vote they stormed to a clear third place, coming in second place in four Eastern states and first in the state of Saxony with 27 per cent, compared to the CDU’s 26.9 per cent.

While the CDU/CSU were victorious, they gained just 32 per cent of the vote combined, losing over 8 per cent of the vote from the 2013 Federal election. The Social Democratic Party lost 5 per cent of the vote, giving them their worst election result in the party’s history, just winning 20 per cent of the national vote.

The AfD gained 7.9 per cent of the national vote, a huge swing, giving it 94 seats in the Bundestag. While Merkel will take her place in history, she suffered a bittersweet victory, and this result showed Germany is not an exception when it comes to the emerging populist wave sweeping through the democratic world.

What is next for German politics? German society is divided: in just four years, the CDU/CSU and SPD have gone from having a combined 67.2 per cent share of the vote to having 53.4 per cent, with the four minor parties gaining

We shouldn’t be just asking about where there is a culture of sexual harassment, but why there is one in the first place, argues Sophie Marriott

those women, it is not just the fact that the system allowed him to do so that is disturbing, it is the fact that he even wanted to.

Assault and coercion are not naturally relatable to the biological necessity and emotional joy that sex should exist to give, rather it is power and taboo that have created the perversion.

The swaths of allegations coming out against people in positions of influence across the world, from the media to politics, highlight how this culture of sweeping sex under the carpet pervades all walks of life. The controversy surrounding Kevin Spacey shows just how dangerous our inability to be open about intimacy can be.

If Spacey really was so threatened by his own sexuality enough to hide it until it became public in the most perverse and destructive way, can we really afford to dismiss his actions as endemic to some twisted personality? If we keep punishing these individuals without looking at the culture in which they developed, we will never rid ourselves of sexual assault.

Of course, this not at all to take the blame away from the perpetrators of such horror, they must take full responsibility for their actions, but it is important to understand what drives unwanted and unsolicited advances.

At times there is too much esteem given to positions of authority or prestige, that those who hold them are granted a dominance beyond reason, creating a superiority which can be mistaken for intangibility. Office bullying and discrimination in hiring practices, not just surrounding gender, but class and race as well, are a result of managers and bosses seeming

Photo: Olaf Kosinsky @ Wikimedia Commons

ground in this most recent election. This can be seen simply by the size of the Bundestag itself: it now has 709 members. That is an increase of 111 since 2013, due to Germany’s complex voting system.

Whether Germans like it or not, the AFD are now a major force in German politics, and have a strong and established support base in the East.

The AfD has attracted voters from all established parties in Germany, and if mainstream parties want to win back their votes the best way to do so is listen to people’s opinions and not just ignore them — that is what Germany’s consensus style of politics is built upon. For Germany to cope with the surging populist movement, this consensus style of politics must be used to discuss issues with the AfD. Merkel has launched coalition talks with the Greens and Free Democrats to attempt to form a so called ‘Jamaica coalition’ — a combination never tried at a federal coalition.

The fact that Merkel is having to try to band together these parties shows how divided and fragmented the country is. Already, the talks seem to be challenging, with the resurgent

Free Democratic Party fighting tooth and nail with both the CDU and Greens for control of the Finance ministry, after a four-year absence from the Bundestag. While this might make the situation more difficult, a new three-way party coalition between three ideologically different parties is the best way to deal with Germany’s fragmented political landscape.

Meanwhile the SPD, moving into opposition to recover and distance themselves from Merkel and her previous ‘Grand Coalition’, will serve as a buffer between the government and the AfD. German politicians now need to accept the new reality, that the AfD is here to stay as a force within German politics; their policies on immigration and the EU have attracted over 5 million votes, it is not fair to try and ignore or dismiss them, as frankly it will own make their movement stronger.

It is now time, for Angela Merkel to use the consensus style of politics that has governed Germany for most of it’s post war democratic history — a failure to do so will only fuel the rise of the AfD and their Islamophobic policies.

Where Brian Cox has failed

What the Weinstein case tells us about the culture of sexual harassment Recent events have quite rightly drawn out criticism of a culture whereby it is seen as a perk of power to be able to get away with harassment of one’s juniors.

Harvey Weinstein’s appalling exploitation of his position in Hollywood has shaken those in the media and has forced them to assess their structure and systems for dealing with such issues.

But this explosion of unsettling revelations gives us an even more striking opportunity not just to improve complaints procedures and the minutiae of workplace legislation, but to look at the culture of sex and power that has put us in this position in the first place.

Despite massive changes in the attitude towards sexuality in the last century, there are still taboos that cage our understanding of desire. We have pushed women into ever more protected positions that have exacerbated the asymmetry of power in the relationship between men and women.

Young girls are made constantly aware of the danger they face simply by being female or young. The distributing of rape alarms to school girls and the panicked warnings against walking home alone are not only part of a culture of blaming victims, but one where we live in a perpetual state of terror.

Creating female bodies as forbidden objects, rather than the simple facts of biological beings deserving of as much physical respect and boundaries as any other human, has created a counter-culture of a misogynistic desire to violate them.

If Weinstein was abusing his power against

Photo: Flickr @ Luciano Castillo

Anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, evolution skeptics: the way we deal with alternative facts is disconnected and impractical, argues opinion editor Jacklin Kwan

Photo: Flickr @ Hal Ingberg

Photo: Bob Lee @Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Zff2012 @ Wikimedia Commons

to be outside the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, or even in extreme cases, the law.

In the case of sexual harassment, arguably the motivation lies as much in accruing more control as it does with any kind of pleasure.

If Weinstein’s impetus was to prove that he was more powerful than the women he victimised, he not only dominated them, but proved himself to be greater than any concepts of privacy or safety which they felt themselves naturally entitled to. Establishing his own ascendancy over their wishes, almost as if he had won a profoundly unequal power struggle.

That struggle embodies the problem with how we as a society treat sex. It has become a point of contention, something to be hidden or covered by cheeky emojis. The ‘Free the Nipple’

campaign is a brave example of the defence of the organic human body, which has been locked away behind socially constructed barriers in an arguably to a Victorian-esque sense of morality.

This prudishness is not just a quirk, it’s unhealthy — inciting shame within ourselves and power complexes which cloud even the most innocent or professional relationships. To combat this, it is necessary to understand that every human form has the right to their own sexuality and complete autonomy over that.

There is no difference between men and women, between managers and employees, between the famous and their fans. Let us not hide our bodies behind a myriad of fear, they are one of the few things we should never have to dread.

I remember when I sat down at my laptop one evening to watch Brian Cox debate the climate change denier cum Australian senator, Malcolm Roberts, I was, of course, excited to see a superstar physicist from my university tear this misinformed politician to shreds on national television.

But as the debate stretched on my elation faded, and I was overcome by a nagging feeling that I also developed watching Bill Nye debate evolution against Ken Ham. It came with the realisation that scientists and our most visible science communicators do not know how to deal with science rejectionists.

The present looks bleak for scientists. We’ve seen the popularity of politicians whose views reflect a rising rejection of expert opinions, and an increased hostility in the intersections between politics and science (e.g. women’s reproduction, sexual education, creationism in school curriculums, climate change etc.).

However, it’s not likely that people are just plain ignorant of basic scientific facts; the gap in

knowledge, I’d argue, is much more profound and difficult to address. People do not know how science, as an institution of knowledge, works.

Good scientific literacy is not just about the knowledge of scientific concepts, but the understanding of how that knowledge is derived and the applications of that empirical methodology in everyday experiences. This is where scientific education and communication fails; there’s no real practical benefit of telling the public how auroras are formed when they aren’t given any indication of how we came to know that.

It’s not particularly surprising that alternative facts have come to have such a strong hold on political culture in status quo. Scientists, like Bill Nye and Brian Cox, seem to be bewildered by the sincere belief people have in ‘anti-science’, and their response to creationists or anti-vaxxers is just to reassert scientific evidence without truly engaging how their opponents came to form their convictions.

Why does any individual who does not have a doctorate in a STEM subject believe that the Earth is

round, or that the Big Bang happened? It is because their high school science teacher told them so, and so did their textbooks and the people around them.

Even I, as a physics undergraduate, am hardpressed to recite the equations and empirical studies that prove climate change is real, but I trust that my lecturers would not lie to me. This is exactly how anyone forms their conception of the world — they are told by their family, friends, teachers, pastors, and politicians that something is necessarily true, and they take it in good faith until that knowledge becomes an integral part of their world view.

The convictions of people that aren’t necessarily experts stem from their trust in certain sources and their intuitions about how the world works.

This explains why alternative facts have so much traction in society; the mechanism by which they are understood by the public is nearly indistinguishable from other institutions of knowledge. To many people, scientific fact is no different from opinion because they understand it in the exact same way.

This is why the ‘Carl Sagan’ age of scientific communication is over. It’s no longer enough to have a scientist explain how stars are formed if the goal is to win the contest for public opinion. If the way people come to know science is through trust, the distrust sowed by special interest lobbying groups, contrarian internet forums, or religious doctrine is all that it takes to break down that entire system of communication.

This is especially true when we consider that science is now involved in controversial political arenas: environmentalism, genderqueer rights, reproductive rights, etc. When the image of

impartiality of science is removed, our capacity to campaign for pro-science policies suffer because people now see science as an attack on their core ideological beliefs.

Internet forums were flooded by users disowning their childhood hero, Bill Nye, after he filmed a single episode on the science behind gender and sexuality spectra. That is how powerful the politicisation of science rejectionism has become.

This is not to say that science ambassadors like Brian Cox no longer have a place. It is still essential to have communicators that aim to inspire and excite future generations of scientists, and convey the almost-spiritual wonder that science can provide.

But if the goal of science communication is to increase scientific literacy, it is by far more important to ensure that people know how science works.

It’s important to educate students about how the scientific method means that trusting a scientist is fundamentally different from trusting a pastor or even an economist on certain issues. People need to learn about the checks and balances within the scientific community that make it incredibly difficult for invalid scientific theories to gain credibility; checks and balances like scientific journalism, peerreviewing, and the replication of crucial results.

Instead of having a single face represent science, viewers should be given insight into how vast the entire global scientific community is, and that to undermine the views of one scientist quoting a significant paper would be to undermine the views of us all. Alternative facts have rapidly adapted to be more effective and persuasive, it’s time that science does the same.

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Music

ISSUE 8 / 13th NOVEMBER2017 WWW.MANCHETSERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

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in his life at that exact time. Realisationship is music as a pure expression of colour and fun; a party for tomorrow’s people. These songs transport the heart into an infinite feedback loop of positivity and strength. Like humanity, a force that appears to be singular, we scratch the surface of Realisationship and begin to reveal an extraordinary energy; nuance manifesting as power.

But this time, Andrew is going touring solo. As previously being a part of Fuck Buttons an electronic/ noise duo he formed with Benjamin John Power.

The electro-pop musician expresses that despite touring for years previously, this time feels different. “it’s familiar but a frightening sense of that there’s a lot to learn.”

Another stand out achievement for Mr. Hung, was that not one, but two of his songs were played at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. “It still feels surreal,” he says “My phone was going mental, I had like 30 messages.”. But for him, it was this exact moment when “his mum and dad finally took her career seriously”. He went on and laughed to say that “my parents fit that stereotypical Asian stereotype, I feel like they would have been disappointed with me unless I was a doctor or a lawyer”.

Andrew Hung is performing at the Night & Day Cafe on the 12th November.

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Photo: Yasmin Duggal

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Live Review Yasmin Duggal Deputy Music Editor

Live Review: Craig David TS5 WHP

Craig David, Kurupt FM and David Rodigan led Store Street through a night of garage, bashment and raggae Saturday 4th November, Store Street The latest instalment of The Warehouse Project saw the dingy underbelly of Piccadilly transformed into an industrial nexus of garage beats.

From the R’n’B overtones of smooth noughties Craig David, to the cutting-edge “lyrical blow to the jaw” dynamism of People Just Do Nothing’s Kurupt FM, the Store Street car park was a hub of forgotten, fast-paced rhythms.

Reggae mogul David Rodigan brought the energy pre-headliner. With a set list and a vinyl collection boasting kings of the genre, Rodigan has still got what it takes to provoke some serious movement.

After the predictable tracks, yet nonetheless nostalgically exhilarating, of Beenie Man and Ms Dynamite, Rodigan left eager fans with the mellow tones of the ultimate Rastafarian influence, and let ‘Is This Love?’ ring

Interview: Tom Walker

out across the space, seeming to momentarily pause the rupture of aggression, and instil temporary unification between music lovers.

What shortly followed in the form of an understated solo performance backed only by a laptop was Craig David, leading a music narrative from his early garage start-ups, through his soulful chart success, to the rise of his comeback last year.

It was slightly commercialised and framed by a a cheesy grin, but the vocals were every bit as authentically note-perfect as ever imagined. ‘7 Days’ stole the show, as David relaxed into his comfort zone, satisfyingly riffing his way through each smooth day of that romantic week. *Swoon*.

A post-headline show is often saturated with anti-climactic disinterest, but mockumentary stars and phenominal garage act Kurupt FM changed the game.

High energy, comic timing and lyrical precision brought the well-loved characters from the screen to life, never wavering from the act, but providing an eruption of original ‘pirate’ material. (Pardon the pun.)

MC Grindah and DJ Beats led the group through a visceral attack of lyrical genius, DJ Steves spinning the records in between an outlandish bashment dance routine, which inevitably was met with screams of raucous respect.

It was a Warehouse Project celebration of the garage genre, with the power to remind everyone how much they actually loved the scene, and how special it was to revive it in such an iconic institution of British sub-cultures.

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Rising Mancunian star Tom Walker talks with Yasmin Duggal about keeping up with fame, touring with The Script, and his upcoming debut album

It’s been quite a year so far for the Glasgow born, Manchester raised, artist. With 50 million streams to his name, Tom’s previous single ‘Heartland’ was co-written and produced with Naughty Boy, and became a mainstay on Radio 1. It followed his breakout track ‘Fly Away With Me’ and ‘Blessings’ — an acoustic version of which he played on BBC 2’s Saturday night Glastonbury coverage. We spoke to Tom about what’s coming next.

Growing up in Manchester I guess you were surrounded by local music – who do you consider to be your key influences?

Probably not so many from Manchester. Obviously, Oasis are wicked and they’ve been a massive influence, but I like Paulo Nutini, Foo Fighters, Muse, music from all over. With the internet now I don’t think it matters where you’re from because you can listen to music from all around the globe.

2017 has been a big year for you…

Yeah, it’s been a busy one.

You’ve had over 50 million Spotify plays — how does all that success feel?

Yeah, it’s good. It’s all a bit mad, to be honest, just a bit crazy isn’t it?

You don’t expect everything to happen. I’m living [the] dream at the moment, and I know that sounds cheesy, but I’ve been on tour with The Script, and we’ve done 7000 miles across America in 22 days and 15 shows. It’s been a wicked year.

Estimated to be worth at least $572 million, this song still resonates in every guitarist’s dreams with a reputation of being possibly the greatest song ever written.

It must be great having that local support.

Yeah, Nat and Michelle from BBC Manchester are fucking wicked. It’s nice to pop back home to see them.

Can we expect an album soon or more touring?

Yeah, there is an album, but I can’t tell you when because I don’t know myself! It’ll definitely be next year, and I’ve just started to record it now with a guy called Jim Abyss, who did the first Arctic Monkeys album, Kasabian and Adele. It’ll be wicked to go back in and do an album with him - happy days!

13th November 2015, Eagles of Death Metal’s concert was stormed by gunmen which killed 89 people during a gig at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.

14th November 1999, Robbie Williams went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘She’s The One’

15th November 1992, Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement from touring after a gig in California, saying “Who wants to be touring at 46.”

16th November 2006, Queen’s Greatest Hits album was declared the Best Selling UK album of all time by The Official UK Charts Company.

19th November 1964, The Supremes became the first all girl group to have a UK No.1 single when ‘Baby Love’ went to the top of the charts.

Photo: APB

Your upcoming UK tour includes gigs in really intimate venues – what can we expect from the shows?

Yeah for sure, it’s a mixture of venues, the smallest being 200 capacity, and the biggest 650. We’re doing Brighton which I’ve never done before so yeah, I’m excited. It’s me and the band, a bassist and a drummer, and we’ve got a full lighting rig coming with us.

We played London the other day to test out the show and it went down really well. I feel ready to do it after doing so many days with The Script. They’ve got a wicked fan base, but when it’s not you that’s the main act you’ve got to gather attention, but at your own show you know people have come just to see you.

I’ll be coming down to the show at Night and Day – is it different exciting coming back to play your hometown?

Live Review: Perfume Genius Friday 3rd November, Gorilla There is something inherently sensual about Mike Hadreas, a.k.a.

Perfume Genius. It isn’t just the way he sashays across the stage with the confrontational sass of a prime boxer, nor is it the fragile and tainted figure he cuts in songs like ‘Dark Parts’, in the self-confessed “quieter songs” section of the night.

Throughout the night, he seems almost not to be the sole source of his music, but rather a lightning rod, summoning the ethereal sounds from another place entirely and then unleashing them upon his audience with a fervour that dares you not to be overwhelmed, not to embrace what he is offering you.

And what he offers, it is hard to deny, lives up to the attitude it is presented with. Songs like ‘Wreath’ and ‘Otherside’ – a slow-burning tune which opens the night, building from a solitary piano solo to a ferocious instrumental crescendo – from his latest album No Shape, are launched upon the audience with an uncompromising boldness.

Did you hear the joke about the butter?

I don’t think I should tell you because you might spread it around!

18th November 2007, 22-year-old X Factor winner Leona Lewis set a British record for the fastest-selling debut album with Spirit.

So has the tour finished now?

Yeah, I’ve literally just got back. I’m just trying to get into the time zone. I keep going to bed at 2 and waking up at 6 – I reckon it’s way easier on the way out there than when you come home!

You’ve also been chosen by Radio 1 for their ‘Brit List’ alongside Sefflon Don, J Hus, Anne-Marie, and Sampha – that’s got to feel good?

Yeah, I think JP Cooper is in there too and he’s one of my faves. It’s wicked to be up there with such talent. Radio 1 have had our backs from BBC introducing to being played on Radio 1. The BBC Manchester team are lovely.

Rewind This week in music history

17th November 2003, 21-year-old Britney Spears became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

How were The Script?

So lovely! I didn’t know what to expect because they’re pretty famous, but they were sound as a pound.

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Let me first of all start by saying, that there is only a hand full of films that will make you re-consider your whole life. Not in a way that is fulfilling or enlightening, but in a way that will stun you into a shocked silence and question everything you’ve ever known.

But I won’t give it away, you really have to watch ‘The Greasy Strangler’. If you do, don’t say that I didn’t

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Photo: Klaus Thymann

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Common to popular belief of the 70s, Ozzy Osbourne definitley sold his soul to the devil.

There’s no other way of explaining his lyrical style (or his lifespan given his lifestyle for that matter).

Hannah Brierley speaks to the mega-mind of Fuck Buttons, The Greasy Strangler, who’s just released his own solo album.

warn you.

Amidst the bizarre-ness, there is one thing that stands out consistently, which is the underlying music of the film. It has the power in moments of uncertainty whether to laugh, cry, or be scared to guide you on the weird journey that you are about to embark upon. When I quizzed Andrew about the process of making a soundtrack for such a film, he said there were a lot of questions. “when I first watched it, me and my girlfriend sat in complete silence, not really sure what to say or think about the film. I had to keep going back and asking questions, as I wasn’t really sure what had just happened.” The process was intense 3 week period of getting the music together, but it felt so good to run away with ideas for someone else. I was like an actor”. The film garnered incredible praise, winning multiple awards. This period saw a new-found love of collaboration and Andrew Hung found himself freshly invigorated.

It was from the back of working on ‘The Greasy Strangler’ that he felt there was still lots of ideas that were yet to be explored. Which is how Hungs’ new album Realisationship was born. “It would look like a bright and colourful bouncy castle” Andrew explained, just very “pop-y and weird”. There is also a more serious side to the album too, Andrew believes that music is a document or a diary entry and that the lyrics are a “direct link” to what was happening

Opening with one of the most iconic guitar riffs ever written in 1979, AC/DC can be played to any audience even today and create an impassioned sing-along and air guitar solo.

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Andrew Hung a man of many achievements, from having not one, but two of his songs played at the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony, to working with Fuck Buttons, producing the soundtrack for the cult classic comedy ‘The Greasy Strangler’ to just releasing his new solo album Realisationship. Safe to say there was a lot to discuss when I was lucky enough to interview Hung.

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Interview: Andrew Hung

Radio 1 Live Lounge. Darkly folksy, it was clear to see Styles’ adoration for rock predecessors; this intrinsic ear for rock is deep-rooted in our Haz. ‘Sign Of The Times’ was always going to be the showstopper. Seemingly removed from the rest of the set, the track saw Styles and the band crescendo in a beautifully simplistic chorus of musical wonder the perfect moment.

It was sultry, it was effortlessly cool and it was his own; looks like going solo was the best decision Harry ever made. That, and flares.

With a record cover reflecting the consequences of expressing your true feelings, this song offers an insight into the turmoil of Syd Barrett’s breakdown.

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guy, intent on relaying honesty and soul through his debut.

There were no frills on it, just Haz, a guitar and a tight four-piece, lyrically moseying their way through the country which saturated Styles’ performative direction.

The easy Deep South ‘Carolina’ and intimate ‘Sweet Creature’ followed, after which came a switch up of Harry Styles’ rock-extravaganza. Smooth moves, quick banter and jazzy transitions escalated his performance tenfold. ‘Only Angel’ and ‘Woman’ were a whirlwind of 60s rock’n’roll, sexed-up, lad-abouttown fun, oozing some serious electric edge.

Covers were the least dynamic parts of the set, though a version of Ariana Grande’s ‘Just a Little Bit of Your Heart’, which Styles wrote himself, touched hearts in Manchester. Fans held up their bees in solidarity, poignant as both Muna and Styles thanked the crowd for the bravery they showed coming to a gig.

A couple of 1D songs weren’t completely necessary, as his solo material needs no support from his musical history. But modernising and Styles-ing ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ to fit his own country agenda was a smart move, and it paid off.

The encore brought with it a flawless cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, as recently performed in the

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Wednesday 1st November 2017 O2 Apollo Manchester Well, who’d have thought it? A manufactured talent from a pop competition turned 1/5 of the world’s biggest boy band, now creating a spectacle of rock’n’rollsy folk with a hip-sway to rival Mick Jagger? *Cue snort of derision*, but believe it or not, Harry Styles is a credible, charismatic artist in his own right, and brought not only incredible vocals but a spectacularly vintage showmanship to Manchester on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles-based rockers Muna took to the stage pre-Styles. Think a pop-rock mash-up of Haim, The 1975 and Fleetwood Mac.. The energy was high, and dancing was groovy, pre-empting Harry’s set with a soulfulness plucked from the 70s, folk entwined into the mix with a cover of Stevie Nicks’ ‘Edge of Seventeen’.

It wasn’t all jiving and suave struts for Styles; though his entrance was anything but downplayed, the beginning of his set was mellow and understated. It was unclear whether it was an introduction of cool detachment or an artistic stunt to elevate the shock factor of his Rolling Stones mid-section.

Either way, ‘Ever Since New York’ and ‘Two Ghosts’ provided a subtle intro to an artist who has stripped back the razzle-dazzle of the fame to reveal a real

Wish

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we know, but the world has a remastered Jagger on Live review: Harry Styles Aitscliché hands, writes Deputy Music Editor, Yasmin Duggal

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of making a record for anyone else but himself, “anything you make, you’re going to be proud of it. You made no compromises… you just make something you really like, and it’s great!” I’m keen to agree – Hit the Ground Running is in my opinion his most soulful album to date, and you can tell he had as much fun making it as I do listening to it – something that carried over into his exquisite live performance in the RNCM concert hall. It’s not just me that agrees. “It’s by far the best reaction I’ve had from the hardcore fanbase, pretty much, ever”.

I follow on from that, asking him if he thinks that the complete upheaval of music culture towards the internet and less dependence on big labels and physical access to media meant he could start his label and

by Music Contributor, Olivia White

Were H e

Photo: Callum Lunn

get his music out there more easily. He disagrees, stating that he’s “spent years building a loyal fanbase that I really tap into, and communicate with, through all these new media; but without the fanbase I wouldn’t have been able to release my own record… If you’re a new artist […] it’s possible, but you’d need an incredibly solid team”.

Speaking of loyal fans, Newton issues a wristband to the first 50 fans into the gig which grants them access to a special meet-and-greet event after the show. He explains the motivation behind it. “It means I can actually meet the fans. A lot of these gigs are too big to come straight out. I’ve met people out by the bus […] but they are out in the cold, and I don’t like doing that to people… And it favours the most eager fans – some people have been here since two in the afternoon”.

He thinks that the experience is much more genuine than “a hasty sign and a photo”.

Newton is no stranger to festivals having played dozens in his time, and I talk to him for a little while about those. “It’s the people that make the festival, and the British are really good at it. We have a kind of attitude that I haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s the hunger to have a great time in the face of rain, or whatever. To just work around stuff.”

At this point, Newton’s tour manager gives us a warning, and I wrap the interview up. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into the interview, but it was an absolute pleasure meeting and chatting with Newton, and it’s evident in everything that he says that he has a real passion for what he does –and that shines through in his expert guitar work, witty stage banter, and the passion he shows for meeting and interacting with his fans.

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dio play. “It was leaning in a direction that it never really got to take advantage of. It was designed for radio.

But then it just didn’t get playlisted. It was after that, I thought… I’m not playing these games. I’m gonna do whatever the fuck I want”.

He expresses that once he was free of the shackles

ou

It’s hard to pin down an exact musical style for Newton Faulkner. It’s been ten years since the dreadlock-sporting guitar master from Surrey released his first album, Hand Built by Robots. Newton says he’s come a long way since the release of the album and the popularity his most well-known song, ‘Dream Catch Me’ brought him in 2007. I ask him what genre he would class himself as. “I like having no rules”, he responds. “That’s my favourite thing about my career – I kind of do, and have done… a whole bunch of things. All my albums are different”.

Newton released his latest album, Hit the Ground Running, this year. “This one feels like it’s landed in a spot I’ve been trying to find for a while, especially production wise”. He recalls how on his previous albums, certain sections of his fanbase berated him for either having too much or too little “stuff”. However, with this album, he now feels he’s “found [his] recorded sound”. He mentions that “this album has a little bit of most things. The heftier, more layered stuff, but also the more stripped back stuff.” Speaking about the themes on Hit the Ground Running, he tells me that its strength lies in the fact it was written over a couple of years. “Some of the albums that were written a lot quicker, they were all about the same feeling; this one covers everything”.

This is perhaps because this is the first album he released on his own label, Battenberg Records, started with his sister. I ask him about the experience of setting up a label and how his production process varies as a result. “It was never [judged by the record label].

No-one was like… ‘Can you do it more like this?’” He explains that his preceding album, Human Love, was made with the eventually unfulfilled promise of ra-

Top 5 Stereotypical ‘Dad-rock’ Songs

el

Interview: Newton Faulkner

Callum Lunn talks self-production, fans and festivals with the famous dreadlocked star.

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Live Review

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Yeah, it’s always good to come back to Manchester. I grew up in Scotland, then Manchester and then moved to London, so any of those three places are sick. You’ve got all your mates and family so I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to Glasgow - my gran always comes to the gigs in Scotland - and it’ll be good to see my mates. Me and my mates will be drinking in Night and Day after the Manchester gig so you should stick around for a pint!

Looking forward to the show Tom – I’ll see you in a few weeks and thanks so much for your time today!

Tom Walker plays Night and Day Cafe in Manchester on 23rd November.

An electric night at Gorilla is as compelling as it is powerful, writes Alex Corns

Whilst his lyrics are obviously relatable to many, every song seems highly personal: it is as if the audience is watching him experience his music, and lines like “You need me / Rest easy / I’m here / How weird” in the ballad ‘Alan’ – a song written in tribute to his band-member and long-term boyfriend – whilst not particularly insightful lyrically, are undeniably beautiful to witness: the feeling behind the song is so genuine that, when sung, it gives the impression of total spontaneity.

This is the paradox of Hadreas: between songs, he comes across as unfortunately timid, often seeming embarrassed by the applause he deservedly receives, and barely engaging in any dialogue with the audience: perhaps preferring to let his lyrics do the talking.

What is also startling with his live performance is that he can go from the funky and irrepressibly catchy ‘Just Like Love’ to the acoustic ‘Normal Song’ (which involves a serene moment almost spoilt by a singular loud talker in the audience, until they were gently shushed by the more appreciative majority), to what is essentially a rock song

in ‘Grid’, and back to a heart-warming piano duet with Alan, of which the main attraction – likely intentionally – is his “lover’s” magnificent piano-playing.

In the midst of this, we are treated to a brooding cover of Mary Margaret O’Hara’s ‘Body’s in Trouble’ which is excitedly received.

There are songs that don’t quite lend themselves to live performance: ‘Die 4 You’ struggles to remain enthralling, whilst a cover of Big Star’s ‘Holocaust’ seems to end just as it is about to get going.

These hiccups, however, are forgotten as soon as he gets to the night’s closing track: the fearsome ‘Queen’, which gives one final burst of energy to the evening. The infamous line “No family is safe / When I sashay” is as glorious as ever when deployed live, and Hadreas, with performances like this, will be certain to keep everyone’s attention.

7/10

Games 14

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Review Album

Call of Duty: WWII

Call of Duty returns to its roots with this strong addition to the franchise.

Chris Glover Reporter

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ast year wasn’t a great year for the Call of Duty franchise. Infinite Warfare vastly underperformed in sales despite Activision’s dastardly tactic of holding the remastered version of fan favourite Modern Warfare hostage. People who wanted to play Modern Warfare Remastered could only do so by buying the £70 deluxe version of Infinite Warfare. Activision became your mum, only letting you go to the park if you took your awful little brother along with you.

The general consensus seemed to be that everyone was burnt out on futuristic warfare, so developers made the wise move to return to the franchise’s roots with a WWII game. Enter Call of Duty: WWII after three years of development - much of which was no-doubt spent thinking of the name.

WWII’s campaign is probably the best Call of Duty story since the Modern Warfare series. I’m not sure whether it’s because of genuinely engaging character development or just the fact the series is finally grounded in history again, but I found myself really quite attached to Daniels, Zussman and Turner.

Photo:Activision

I was expecting most of the narrative to consist of the usual superficial Americentrism. Whilst there was a lot of this, there was also a tactful treatment of the darker aspects of war: American soldiers will comment that the dead German soldiers on the road were just guys with mothers like themselves; characters speak of how their superiors see them as dispensable, and when undercover, you overhear German women in a toilet talking about whether they’ll ever get to see their spouses again.

Graphically, the single player is where WWII shines. The missions take you from the beaches of Normandy, to the streets of Paris, to the snowy Ardennes Forest - and they’re all truly beautiful

8/10 environments.

I don’t want to overstate it - it’s still the classic Call of Duty cinematic sequences. Time still conveniently slows down so you can kill multiple fully-armed Nazis with just a handgun; you still have the obligatory tank mission and chase scenes, and you still spend an obscene amount of the game with a blurry screen, ears ringing as your commander shouts your name in the background.

However, WWII did impress me with its addition of a stealth system to the game. It’s a pretty basic mechanic - enemies have a meter above their heads which displays how close you are to detection - but even little changes make a big difference to a series on its fourteenth instalment.

The best implementation of stealth is undoubtedly in the mission “Liberation”, which sees you play as Rousseau, a female leader of the French resistance who goes undercover amongst Nazi officers. It has a real Inglorious Basterds feel, and the speech-based gameplay in which you have to remember your cover story is a nice break from the gun-play.

Another good addition to the series was the new health system: you no longer magically heal over time from being shot multiple times in the chest.

Instead, you request health packs from certain members of your squad. The same system is in place for ammo, grenades, and smoke signals to call in airstrikes. This forces you to stick with your comrades, and strips you of the immersion-breaking ability to charge around on your own like a super-soldier - my usual go-to tactic for Call of Duty campaigns.

The campaign is definitely an experience that deserves a headset - the music and sound effects are both great. Wilbert Roget II has succeeded in composing one of the best Call of Duty soundtracks to date, and the gun sounds are all crisp and satisfying. This was a relief, as Call of Duty developers seem to flip a coin every year to decide whether their guns will sound throaty and powerful, or like pathetic pea-shooters.

The game runs at 60fps, and aside from a few minor framerate drops during hardware-intensive sequences, it manages to achieve its target.

Smooth and responsive gameplay has long been a hallmark of Call of Duty games, and this one is no

different - both the campaign and the multiplayer feel delightfully polished.

The biggest pull of Call of Duty is, of course, multiplayer. WWII delivers magnificently, but in true Activision style, it’s not without its trademark anti-consumerism.

For example, WWII features a multiplayer hub area called Headquarters, which functions very similarly to the Tower from the Destiny games.

It’s a fantastic addition; players can face off in the 1v1 pit, go head-to-head at the firing range, or even throw a ball back and forth.

The issue is the way that loot boxes are insidiously woven into the headquarters experience.

You now open loot boxes in front of everyone in the Headquarters, and you even get bonuses and challenges for watching other people open them.

It’s a vulgar method of driving microtransactions; an attempt to transform players into walking billboards for paid content.

Worst of all is the fact that the Headquarters area is situated on the beaches of Normandy - having these flashy loot boxes constantly fall out of the sky on one of the bloodiest sites of the Second World War feels tone-deaf to the point of becoming self-parodic.

Just as disappointing is the fact that the base

Photo:Activision

multiplayer only contains 9 maps, which feels awfully threadbare when considering that usually Call of Duty games ship with around 12-16. Presumably, this is because the new War gamemode has its own 3 maps - but as these are only playable in the War gamemode, this isn’t really much of a consolation.

What makes the lack of maps truly unforgivable is the fact that the first map pack has already been announced for January - and it consists of some

maps that players have discovered are already in the core game’s files. That’s right - Activision have cut content from the game in order to sell it back to you at a later date.

Regarding the War gamemode itself - it really is a welcome innovation to the CoD franchise. The matches are quite a bit longer than other game modes, and borrow elements from more objective-based shooters like Overwatch and Battlefield.

Players battle it out over multiple objectives on large maps - if the attacking team can complete an objective within the time limit, the defenders must fall back to a further part of the map to defend the next. It’s exactly the kind of objective-driven gameplay Call of Duty was lacking, and gives casual players who perhaps aren’t as good at killing a chance excel as part of a team.

Unfortunately, the multiplayer experience has thus far been plagued with server issues. The Headquarters area is currently always empty, matches disconnect from the server, and the waiting time for joining lobbies was so long that I began to wonder if Activision had used real WWII-era technology for their network infrastructure.

When I did get to play, the experience is near-flawless. Partying up with friends is effortless, and Call of Duty once again demonstrates why it’s such a leviathan of Multiplayer games: it’s refined, responsive, fast-paced, and accessible.

As a quick note on Nazi Zombies - it demonstrates how much the mode has evolved from being a bit of side content that only briefly holds your attention, to its own fully fleshed-out experience. Only two maps are available - a tiny house reminiscent of the original Nacht der Untoten map from World at War, and a much larger map full of explorable areas and easter eggs. It’s a testament to how much thought has gone into the large map that my first playthrough - despite only reaching round 14 - took almost an hour, and we only managed to uncover a fraction of the hidden objectives.

Call of Duty: WWII isn’t revolutionary. It isn’t going to convert you if you’re sick of CoD, and it certainly won’t if you never liked it in the first place. What it does offer though, is a wonderfully polished addition to the series that innovates just enough to feel fresh and exciting, but not too much as to alienate its core audience.

Review

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Danny Jones Contributor BJ, Blazko ‘Terror-Billy’, whatever you want to call him: B. J. Blazkowicz is a name that strikes fear into the hearts of the Nazi’s of Wolfenstein II, just as strongly as it has for decades. Though it may go under the radar amidst current blockbuster shooters, the Wolfenstein series predates most, with Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and Doom (1993) – same universe – existing as landmark titles that paved the way for the modern FPS. There is certain pedigree to this series and this may be the best to date.

The game kicks off right after the events of the previous game, Wolfenstein: The New Order, with one the greatest opening sequences I’ve played in a long time. Not to spoil too much for you, but the first hour or so features a wheelchair, lots of bullets and leads in to one of the darkest introductions to a story villain you’ll find anywhere.

The first thing that struck me about this game is that it is absolutely gorgeous – or as out Texan-born protagonist would say: “gosh-darn perrrdy”. In all seriousness, the game is very easy on the eye, hitting that sweet spot between striking realism and the slightly exaggerated – with Tarantino-esque blood-splattering to boot.

Whilst we’re on the subject, it really is one of the bloodiest games I’ve played in a while and certainly not one for the faint hearted. By no means is this to say that the previous games did not have their fair share of blood and guts (at least not those with the graphical capabilities to do so), but it takes the act of obliterating enemies and sending viscera flying into the air to a new level.

In terms of the combat itself, the gunplay is virtually identical to the previous game, favouring that arcadey, hip-firing madness over

The games industry doubles up on Nazis this week, but we’re not complaining

8.5/10

finely-tuned and accurate shooting mechanics.

However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it makes a nice change of pace from the style of firefighting we’ve come to expect from the likes of Battlefield , or even the more accessible Call of Duty .

The weapons themselves have that added appeal that comes with the sci-fi genre, offering you the chance to melt excessively armoured beef-cakes with heavy laser cannons. You can even soup up more familiar tools for killing, such as switching out the double-barrelled shotgun for the rotorised and triple-barrelled automatic equivalent.

All of your firepower can be modified too, with upgrade kits to be picked up as you play through each level. In truth, dual-wielding often seems to be the best and only option at times, but damn it ain’t half satisfying to emulate Terminator.

The arsenal itself is a tad limited, however, and although the customisation is a nice bonus to add to the base weapons available, I often found myself not really feeling the benefit, with the exception of the silencer for stealth missions - of which there are a satisfyingly large number.

Though this helps diversify gameplay, it by no means offers you respite from the bedlam of true combat as the pressure you feel in sneaking around hordes of Nazis or trying to hunt down the commander before he calls in another wave, is just as stressful; the soundtrack does you no favours either, scoring deep, descending drones as well as the heart-palpitating dubstep during all-out war.

It seems only fair that at this point, now that I have your attention, to let you come to terms that with the fact that you’re going to die—no I

don’t mean “let’s all discuss our own mortality”—I’m talking about the absolutely certainty that is your regular demise whilst playing The New Colossus.

If you’re like me and you struggle swallowing your pride when it comes to games, then you might not want to hear this: Wolfenstein II is extremely challenging, so much so that I genuinely had to drop the difficulty for a minute or two when it became clear that my grasp of the harder difficulties is not universal.

So just accept it now: you’re going to die and you’re going to die a lot, but do not jump to throwing your controller against the wall and being passive-aggressive with everyone in your house; just take your time and realise that this is a different type of game you’re playing. The level of challenge here is really refreshing and it feels like shooters of old.

There are aspects that make things even harder, with some clumsily designed environments here and there, as well as it not always being clear on what to aim for when the boss-fights come knocking. You’ll spend a good amount of time picking up health and armour too, as well as trying different approaches to get the job done. The game rewards being quick and clever overall, as neither caution nor blind fury will get you very far: you have to plan and think on your feet all at once.

Before I come towards a verdict on this game, I cannot fail to stress the sheer level of creativity, class and comedy that the developers bring to the story itself. In The New Colossus , the bar is set extremely high, all the way from the writing to the performances of the actors both individually and as part of the ensemble.

The dynamics between the likes of Fergus and

Grace are a great source of comedy, even if a bit caricatured at times, and BJ’s harrowing internal monologues add a tragic poetry that was totally unexpected. No character, however, stands out more than the maniacal Frau Engel.

Photo:BethesdaSoftworks

In the opening scenes touched upon earlier, her big reveal feels epic and once the full extent of her cruelty is understood moments later, she firmly cements herself as one of the best videogame baddies since Far Cry 3 ’s Vas. The significance of Engel is not merely in her compelling performance, however, but in the sheer evil that she symbolises as the game’s figurehead for the Nazi regime. Wolfenstein II is not only an excellent game, but the marketing surrounding this games launch is unlike any I can ever remember.

Bethesda Softworks made a bold move in generating a buzz around this game and one that showed real spirit. Killing Nazis in this game is not just about the go-to villain or because it’s what the franchise is built around. This time around they serve to make a serious political statement. The team behind Wolfenstein II have been unapologetic in spreading their message and rightly told those who don’t agree that they are not welcome playing their game. #NoMoreNazis.

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Fashion & Beauty

ISSUE 8 / 13th NOVEMBER 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

The best shops in the Northern Quarter Want to Fallow-up but not break the bank? Deputy Fashion and Beauty Editor Sophie Walsh explores the best the Northern Quarter has to offer Winter is coming. That means one thing: white walkers new clothes.

But where do you go if you want to avoid the usual high street garb and don’t want to run into a hearty overdraft? Manchester’s Northern Quarter — known for its lively bars and music venues that have housed world renowned DJ’s, a la mode cafes and restaurants, and of course its sea of vintage shops — is your best bet.

It hasn’t always been a mecca of the young and edgy though. At the beginning of the 18th century, Oldham Street was described as a ‘muddy lane’ surrounded by ‘wild hedgerows’ (not much has changed on a Friday night). At the dawn of the industrial revolution, however, the site slowly became urbanised and by the Victorian era the area was known for its markets and, most predominantly, its pet shops.

By my grandmother’s time, evening dances in jazz clubs (her favourite, Band on the Wall is still going) as well as shopping became the norm. It was after the regeneration of Manchester however in the 1990’s that the Northern Quarter as a distinct area came about, with low rents attracting alternative, independent shops. It has drawn in all categories of edgy young things: your northern ‘we have an indie band, it’s a bit like the arctic monkeys’ lads, buzz-cut techno enthusiasts, parker wearing Oasis wannabes, and of course students with that hoarse 30-a-day home counties rasp.

There is something for everybody as you shall learn as I run through the best shops that Manchester’s Northern Quarter has to offer.

Cow This is the best place to go for those who want to get their hands on designer labels at a second-hand price (wear and tear expected). Find Ralph Lauren, Burberry and Dickies to name a few. What I most like about the shop is that items are hand-picked from across the country with a focus on current trends. This therefore offers an alternative to the high street that often in its bid to keep up with fast fashion produces low quality goods as well as the fact you run the risk of matching everyone else; with Cow you know the items are unique. The focus on trends also gets away from the usual mass of wavy shirts, windbreakers, and Levi 501’s you find in every other vintage shop, creating that generic ‘thrift shop’ look.

Affleck’s Palace Not technically one shop, but rather a multi-storey market selling vintage and alternative clothing. It also boasts a fancy-dress shop, piercing parlour, tattoo studio, café, Barbour’s, poster shop, and many other stalls. I can particularly recommend Kustom Korner, a printing stall that will print anything you want (within reason) for a cheap price, on a wide range of t-shirts, tote bags etc. Affleck’s is ideal for fresher’s who after the first month of uni want to ‘fallow-up’ their look, a reinvention if you will, so that come Christmas break friends from home can gasp at the new and alternative you. Walk in wearing skinny-jeans and Stan Smiths and strut out to ‘Smells like teen spirit’ in loose fit cords and 80’s Docs.

Vintage Kilo sale Recently, there has been an emergence of pop-up shops selling

Model Profile: Kaia Gerber

At just 16 years old, Kaia Gerber is taking the fashion scene by storm. Following in the steps of her supermodel mum Cindy Crawford, Gerber is becoming a bona fide star in her own right writes Fashion and Beauty Editor Talia Lee-Skudder

Photo: Kaia Gerber @Instagram

Photo: Kaia Gerber @Instagram Photo: Christopher Elison @ Flickr

vintage garments for £15 a kilo of clothing. It is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. Some of it is cr*p let’s be honest, but you can find some real gems and most of the fun is to be had in rummaging through the heaps. Keep your eyes peeled on Facebook as there are always postings of new kilo events going on around the city, particularly in the Northern Quarter.

Carhartt WIP Okay. I’m going to hedge a bet. You only go on ticketed nights out, if it hasn’t got a bar code it’s not worth it. Your tinder bio reads ‘London/ Manchester. Techno and chill?’. 95 per cent chance you own a skateboard, struggle to ride it, but looks damn good tucked under an arm around campus. Your Instagram only features film camera images. You dabbled in DJ’ing second year. Caps or nothing. If you fit

the description, you will definitely splash out on a Carhartt anorak for £220. I don’t blame you, they sell some good quality stuff. Where else would you get that bum bag from you will wear cross body ‘ironically’?

Alfred E Mutter Ltd I have to give this a cheeky mention. In the nineteenth century, my grandfather x2 came over from Germany following the FrancoPrussian war to make a new start in England. Arriving in Manchester, he established a jewellers shop on Thomas Street along with his son Alfred. It is one of the oldest shops to survive in the Northern Quarter and is still run by a branch of the family today. This is what makes the Northern Quarter so unique, the variation of businesses, from the old to the new, all sharing the same space.

Vetements: Keeping it Unreal

Isaac Lucia delves into the mastery behind fashion label Vetements and its creative director Demna Gvasalla Airport terminals, bank lobbies, high street shops: they all feel unreal. They are the places Demna Gvasalia designs for at Vetements. His AW17 ‘Stereotype’ collection cast ‘real people’ in a run of suggestive characters. He has since moved the company from Paris to Zurich and eschewed the runway for the empty spaces of the SS18 collection, to evoke (if anything) the international movement of capital.

Vetements is real, in its most sharply unreal expression. Though an unlikely reference point, we can approach Gvasalia’s knowing sociology by way of August Sander’s similar, now remote documentary portraits of Germany in the Twenties.

Sander identified his subjects by social class, yet time has given them a sense of humour Gavasalia would appreciate.

‘Police constable’ sports a shoulder-breadth moustache, ‘Communist leader’ styles himself like Lenin, ‘The architect, Prof. P’ dons a bowl cut. Details come to seem like wry gestures, here a button missing, there a creased shirt. ‘Unemployed’, with his large shaved head, lanky gait and loose clothes, could walk straight into a Vetements show.

Suits of this period were cut thinner for the leisurely rich, so when working people wore cheap copies they look misshapen, grotesque. Yet now he shares the angelic repose of Vetements’ so-called ‘chavs’, who wear their tracksuits like robes. In

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becoming representative, these figures become unreal and more fashionable.

Gvasalia refines the process. His colour scheme replicates the smearing effect of sepia, not at all wistful but shockingly

present. In the mutes that temper our apparel (ensembles of beige and fawn, stonewash jeans), or in the sudden alarm of a prison-orange hoodie or a motorwayblue puffer - this is the bulk-blurry signage

Photo: Vetements_official @Instagram

of public life. His synthetic designs effect a distance from the wearer. A suit is a net of tubes to re-route the limbs; one fur coat, hemmed from two; the puffer jacket so heavily wrought Jeff Koons could have done it. These ‘Stereotypes’ swallow rather than express individuality; as Gvasalia says, ‘It’s less subculture and more about product design’. He also said that casting ‘real people’ meant more, not less couture to accommodate their body types.

Gvasalia’s designs present in the moment, what a century has brought to bear on Sander’s portraits: our individuality gets smeared across us, makes us unreal.

By ‘really observing the way we dress’, he means to pin down the strange haze surrounding the emo, the office worker, the old man. If this is scary then Gvasalia knows it. His homeless man in an EU f lag, his booted UN soldier intimate real horror. In the coming years, Sander would photograph SS Officers and Hitler Youth. These Vetements characters lead a precarious life, any moment they might pop - leave a heap of baggy clothes, a splatter on the check-in lounge.

Kaia Gerber is the stunning model daughter of Cindy Crawford and husband, model-turnedbusiness-man, Rande Gerber.

It’s no surprise that Gerber is as beautiful as she is given her set of genes. Gerber’s resemblance to her supermodel mother is striking; she has inherited Crawford’s signature full brow, killer bone structure, and tanned skin and, just like her mum before her, is making waves in the fashion industry. Earlier this month TIME released the list of the top 30 most influential teens in the world, and who should feature but none other than rising supermodel Kaia Gerber? After a run of successful fashion shows and big brand deals, the TIME list is a nod to Gerber’s flourishing career.

Despite being just aged 10 when she secured her first modeling job with Young Versace, this SS18 saw Kaia Gerber take to the runway for her debut season, walking for the likes of Miu Miu, Prada, Saint Laurent, and Alexander Wang.

At 13 years old she was signed to IMG models, a whole three years before her mum’s first signing with Elite at aged 16. She then went on to appear on the front of LOVE

magazine at just 14 years old. Her first big fashion deal came in 2016 with Alexander Wang in 2016 when she made the face of #WANGSQUAD. Since then her career has gone from strength to strength.

During fashion week she was also given free rein of Vogue’s Instagram page, which saw her document her first experience at fashion week.

However, her most show-stopping moment of the latest fashion season saw her hit the catwalk in Milan for Versace’s now iconic show that reunited the original supermodels, including her mum Cindy Crawford.

The show paid homage to Gianni Versace and his famous prints; Gerber donned a yellow leopard print two piece suit for her first look and an equally bright yellow and green catsuit embellished with Vogue covers for her second look. The finale will go down in history for being the biggest and best revival of the supermodels.

And what’s more, the show saw mother and daughter walk together, marking the beginning of what is sure to be a long and successful career for Gerber, the young and talented supermodel in the making.

Watch this space.

How to establish a skincare regime Kitty Mitchell Turner investigates into how perfecting your skincare regime is a real beauty science Up until a few months ago, if someone asked me if I had a proper skincare regime established, I would have (misguidedly) said yes. I had invested in a fancy face wash and moisturiser, and always primed my skin before makeup. But in reality, my skincare routine was less than adequate. When asked about how they care for their skin, people tend to fall into two categories; the ‘oh I just use a bit of soap and water’ camp and the ‘yeah, my skin care is as good as it gets’.

Unfortunately, both are lacking considerably.

Establishing a proper skin regime (alongside sleeping enough, eating a nutrient rich diet and exercising) will make a huge difference to the overall health, appearance and glow of your skin and will be come as evident in a few days as it will 30+ years in the future.

Before you begin, you really need to identify what type of skin you have, or you will fall at the first hurdle. Much like knowing your bra size, most people are woefully uneducated in knowing what skin type they have (nearly everyone, when asked, will claim they have ‘sensitive’ skin, when in reality only a very small percentage of people truly have sensitive skin). Find your skin type through a consultation in places like your nearest Estee Laundee counter or Space NK whose teams are skincare experts or look into the pointers and key signs online. Once you know which kind of skin you have, you can tailor your skincare regime and shop accordingly.

Cleanse Why? To remove the grime and dirt from your pores as well as an excess of oil which leads to blackheads and spots.

What with? A face wash is the most popular option (Neutrogena pink grapefruit is dermatologist recommended) but liquid cleansers that require a flannel (like Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish) are the best at removing the dirt.

How often? Every morning and evening. If you have extra time on your hands whilst getting ready, double cleanse – you simply won’t regret it.

Exfoliate Why? To remove dead skin cells and some

of the deeper set grime.

What with? A scrub is more bank account friendly and will do the job, but chemical exfoliators like Pixi Glow Tonic are by far the best. If choosing a chemical toner, go for one with BCAAS. How often? Every few days, or even less if necessary.

Serum Why? Serums targets issues such as dull skin and irregular complexion that moisturisers don’t. Often marketed with antiaging ingredients, they are beneficial from any age. They do this by penetrating into the deeper layers of your epidermis through the ingredients’ active structures and thus are more effective than a moisturiser or oil.

What with? There are a million different options out there, but whatever you choose go for one containing hyaluronic acid.

Cult favourites range from the Superdrug Hydrating serum which is only a few pounds to Alpha H’s liquid gold which sits above the £30 region. It is worth getting a lighter formula during the day and a slightly heavier one at night.

How often? Every morning and evening after cleanser and/or toner and before moisturiser.

· Eye makeup remover: your cleanser should be sufficient for removing makeup, but if you have a lot on, sometimes it is better to remove the bulk of it and let your cleanser wash off the rest. · Face mask: Not to be done too often, but an intense face mask once a week can work wonders for the general health and regulation of your skin · Toner: This tends to divide the beauty experts. As I am not completely convinced myself, I use rose water in a spray bottle after

my cleanser and before serum, but feel free to experiment…or skip it altogether. · Spot treatment: `for some, not all, this will be the most important step in your routine, especially if you are on a prescribed treatment or have some particularly spot prone. I am blessed with fairly clear skin, but if I do have a nasty break out, I go for tea tree oil on a cotton bud as it is cheap, natural, pure and therefore very effective.

Moisturiser Why? To moisturise and hydrate your skin,duh. This may put off those with naturally oilier skin, but oily skin does not necessarily mean it is moisturised and hydrated.

What with? Preferably you should have a day cream (that contains SPF) and then a slightly richer night cream. Using a night cream with more ingredients is more effective at night time as your skin absorbs more ingredients and the cell regeneration is higher when you are asleep. There will usually be both in the skin care brand of your choice, but the same brand is not a requirement.

How often? A day cream in the morning, and a night cream just before you get into bed.

Optional extras:

Photo: Omcadam @ Wikimedia Commons

Film

18

Review

Interview

Review

Happy Death Day

In Conversation with Andy Serkis James Gill Film Critic To play performance capture roles you need to study every movement of the creature you are to become. You need to put in painstakingly hard work and have a meticulous eye for detail. Andy Serkis has been at the forefront of this for over 16 years, a longevity that deserves overwhelming praise. But he is hanging up his performance capture suit for now in favour of sitting in the director’s chair.

It’s early on Friday, October 27, in Media City, Salford. Andy is bearded, in a black leather jacket and jeans. A radio interview completed, he strolls into the cafe, the strain of tirelessly promoting his debut film, Breathe, visible under his eyes. Yet the moment our conversation began he perked up dramatically.

From playing The Fool in a stage performance of King Leah to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: there are few who could make such a transition. Serkis has a versatility that very few actors possess.

Not only that but is renowned for being one of Hollywood’s nicest men, with a true passion for film.

‘I love the power of the shared experience.

Watching people go through an experience together and being totally transported by characters in whatever world they exist in. That you are moved and educated and changed by something that is an emotionally powerful experience.’

16 years ago was a different world, franchises and universes were few and far between and CGI was in its infancy. People were skeptical when The Lord of the Rings was announced, the 1978 animated version still leaving a sour taste in their mouths.

Serkis wasn’t interested in the role at first.

Three weeks of voice work for a CG chapter in New Zealand, ‘it sounded dull as hell.

There must be a dozen good roles in this film.’ Then he started looking at the book and his opinion flipped, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing, he’s the best character in it’. Serkis auditioned and the rest, they say, is history.

There have been very few moments in cinema where you witness the birth of a star: Natalie Portman in Léon: The Professional, Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In The Fellowship of the Ring when we meet Gollum the audience can’t help but ask the question: who the hell is that? His movement and acting seemed so innovative yet so natural.

2001 seems a far cry away from today.

Just like The Lord of the Rings is a far cry from Breathe, his directorial debut. ‘When you’re telling a story as a director you are also creating the world of the story and how you choose to frame it.’ he says, pausing to take a sip of water, adding ‘In terms of is it naturalistic or documentary style or cinematic or poetic? You’re making all these choices.’

This new world of directing can be overwhelming, but Serkis had training, working as second unit director on the second and third Hobbit film. ‘In The Hobbit I was serving Peter Jackson’s vision for the most part. I did big aerial shots, battle sequences and dramatic scenes, it was a very full-on exposure to directing.’

A large part of that work involved green screens, and often he didn’t see the results until months later. The focus was on directing people not performances.

‘Whereas for Breathe, I was very much focussing on the performances, the joy of really seeing what you’re shooting was very special.’ He could take the broad techniques he’d learnt and really focus them down.

‘Obviously on smaller scale films, you don’t have the budget and support as you do with a big studio, you have to be very creative. There are often things that can twist and turn and go wrong in a small movie and you have to roll with the punches and

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ISSUE 8/ 13th November 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

dance around those.’

In making Breathe, Serkis has learned a lot more about directing, and strives to improve. ‘I’d like to have more confidence in leaving the camera in and getting the shots purely from performance, having that confidence and trust in your actors to carry your vision.’

His next film, Jungle Book, is actually one he began first. Having so many A list actors, they could only find short window of time for filming with all of them, so the motion capture work was finished long before the rest of the film. Then it was time for principal photography, on real locations and sets.

‘In our minds we had a cut of the film so we knew how we were going to use the animals in those real locations having filmed the performances.’ In a way this is very similar to The Hobbit, in that you can only imagine the end result while shooting.

‘You don’t see what it will eventually look like till a year into post production, that was a big challenge.’

Serkis wasn’t nervous about the performance of his Kipling adaptation, as it comes so soon after Jon Favreau’s version. ‘I think it’s tonally so different from Favreau’s.

Ours is a lot darker and much closer to the tone of Kipling’s original book. Rather than live action we used performance capture so it was shot on real locations. It wasn’t CG animals in a CG world.‘ ‘The story of ours is a lot different, as it focusses on Mogli’s identity. It’s about a boy who’s a feral child, brought up with animals and has a sort of idyllic childhood, but then realises the laws of the jungle don’t work for him fully. Instinctively because he’s a human being he finds himself challenging that but also in the world of man, the customs and ways of man, cannot ultimately stop his instincts of, well, an animal. He has to create his own identity and that what our film is about.’

After convincing me that his version is world apart from Favreau’s he jibes ‘Look, we live in a culture where we’ve had three Spider-man’s in the last ten years, so I don’t think people will have a problem with watching a different Jungle Book. With any great classic work, such as Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston, or the numerous adaptations of Charles Dickens, people are used to the idea of reinterpretations and new interpretations.’

“The performance isn’t created by someone else, it’s created by the actor, and how they manifest that character.”

A lot of his work rises the wave of technological advancements, but he thinks the industry is only getting started. ‘I think performance capture usage is still in its infancy. It’s being used predominantly in big budget blockbuster movies, because of the cost of the technology. With the rendering costs coming down and using video game engines, such as Unreal, in the filmmaking process to get real time rendering, you can now use performance capture for television and even on stage.’

The stage, where Serkis plied his trade, building up his reputation before making the leap to film, is still a big part of his like. ‘My company, Imaginarium, has been working with the Royal Shakespeare Company on an actor portraying a character using performance capture on stage.’ When asked if he would consider going back to his roots he paused, look down at his glass of

water and said ‘It’s been 15 years, I’m a little bit nervous about it, but I can definitely see it happening.‘ So what’s next? Well he has plenty more in the pipeline, although not on stage just yet. ‘We’re working on Animal Farm

by George Orwell and that will be a very interesting challenge in seeing how we create those characters. It’s really good use of the technology because you get all of the performance of human beings but translated into, not apes as they are fairly straightforward, but quadruped animals.

We have been doing this with Jungle Book but Animal Farm will be taking this a lot further because we will see the pigs transform into almost human-like pigs.’

Some films are so technologically significant that they change cinema forever.

James Cameron’s Avatar the most recent example, was almost solely responsible for every cinema changing from analog to digital projection. Cameron transported viewers into a CG world so revolutionary that the world they came back to was revolutionised as a result. George Orwell’s Animal Farm will be one of those films, paving the way for a fresh use of CG. Another of those films was 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. When all blockbusters around were hammered to fit through the same hole, Matt Reeves tried something truly different. It was essentially a foreign language film, with the language being that of the great apes, and Serkis was their leader.

As the first two of the trilogy was released, critics and audiences couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and there was discussion for a Best Actor Oscar nominations, but they never came. This year, with the release of the epic conclusion, that discussion is greater than ever before. ‘I can’t judge my own performance but there is certainly more discussion about it this year because it is a very central role. It’s also a role where there is a lot more dialogue, Caesar actually speaks and people can connect to that.’

Forever humble, he downplays the potential of a nomination, but insists that performance capture roles should get considered. ‘The process of acting is no different if you’re wearing costume and makeup or a performance capture suit with dots on your face. The performance isn’t created by someone else, it’s created by the actor, and how they manifest that character.‘ ‘You could say well, when John Hurt played the elephant man and got nominated for Best Actor, he was totally in disguise and it was created by a great team of artists. Their artistry was augmenting his performance, but only in the same was that digital artists are augmenting a performance. Not by changing the performance but by creating a digital mask. I’ve always maintained that what we do in a PC role isn’t different to any form of live action acting.

Only time will tell what happens at next year’s ceremony. For now Serkis is sneaking his way into more franchises, as Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars and as Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Universe. ‘They approached me for the Avengers. It was because at Imaginarium we were working on the performance capture for the Hulk, with Mark Ruffalo and for Ultron, with James Spader. I also worked physically with Mark Ruffalo to embody the Hulk to greater effect, that was with Joss Whedon. Then Whedon approached me and said ‘Look Andy I’ve got this role and I’d love you to play it’, I couldn’t turn that down.’

From the trailers to next year’s Black Panther, it seems his character is among the main cast. To wrap our time together up I asked Serkis if this was it for Klaue, or whether he survives to be seen again. In return I got a coy smile, ‘I can’t really say that, but I can say he certainly makes his presence known.

Andy Serkis’ Three Favourite Films

This slasher flick from the writer of Paranormal Activity acknowledges its glaring similarities with Groundhog Day, yet fails to justify them.

Photo: Vimeo

Jamie McEvoy Deputy Film Editor

Apocalypse Now

Photo: Allocine

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola – 1979 A heavy handed reference to this can be seen in Serkis’ final outing a Caesar in War for the Planet of the Apes. While escaping from a tunnel you can clearly see ‘Ape-pocolypse now’ spray painted on the wall.

The Godfather Part II

Photo:HomeMcr.org

Isobel Trott Film Contributor

The slasher genre has somewhat disappeared in the 21st century. I’m not talking about pseudo-slashers such as Cabin in the Woods (2012), or the traumatic Eden Lake (2008). I mean the pure, concentrated genre in which American teenagers are terrorised by a masked man with a knife. Of the same ilk as Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), or Craven’s Scream (1997).

That’s why Happy Death Day seemed like it would be a welcome addition to the 2017 calendar. A blonde, naïve, college girl is hunted relentlessly by a hoodie’d assailant donning a baby mask. It evoked so many tropes of the wave of slasher films which the 80s and 90s were littered with.

However, Christopher Landon – whose previous directorial outings include the abysmal sequel Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) and the critically lampooned Burning Palms (2010) – gave Happy Death Day a twist.

Protagonist ‘Tree’, is murdered on her birthday night whilst walking to a party, yet after her gruesome death she finds herself waking up the previous morning, to live the day all over.

Come the evening, she is murdered again, and Tree realises she is trapped living the same day repeatedly. She decides the only way to break free of her macabre predicament, is to discover the identity of the killer, whilst slowly becoming a better and nicer person.

It is a blatant and unmissable observation to make, but yes, Landon has combined the slasher genre with Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993). However, as lazy as this synthesis of premises seems, it is a concept which could have been executed successfully. Unfortunately, Happy Death Day falls miserably short.

The first obstacle is the detestable lead character. Groundhog Day’s Bill Murray was essen-

tially a lovable b*stard; a resentful and arrogant character who despite his flaws, still drew empathy and laughter from the audience. Happy Death Day’s Tree is just simply a bad person and has no redeemable qualities, and by the film’s resolution I could still not fathom as to why Landon supposed that we would care whether the girl escaped from her horror or not.

Secondly, the humour is woeful. The majority of the film’s laughs stem from drinks being emptied over people’s heads, snarky remarks exchanged by embarrassingly competitive college girls, or in one unintentionally cringe-worthy sequence, a nude stroll through a college campus accompanied by Demi Lovato’s ‘Confident’.

But the biggest offence which the movie throws up, is in the closing lines where two of the characters discuss how the preceding events remind them of the aforementioned Ramis & Murray comedy. It almost seemed like an afterthought by the crew, in the knowledge that without a self-recognising comment about their near-plagiarism, they could be facing a hefty lawsuit. The film is not funny or narratively identical enough to be classed as a parody or homage to Groundhog Day, and is not inventive or dissimilar enough to be distanced from it.

Its box office success both in the UK and across the pond may warrant a sequel, yet ultimately this is a disappointing insult to both the slasher genre and Ramis’ 1993 classic. Happy Death Day is a lazy, predictable and tedious horror which, unlike its protagonist, I thankfully only had to experience once.

1/5

Photo: Allocine

Review Directed by Francis Ford Coppola – 1974 Often described as ‘The Godfather of Motion Capture’, his role of Caesar can be interpreted as similar to that of Vito Corleone. The head of his tribe, he controls all of the day-to-day operations.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Murder on the Orient Express

If Lanthimos‘ previous project unsettled you, then The Killing of a Sacred Deer will leave you very numb, as the likelihood is you will not have seen anything quite as crippling and as dark as this before.

The disquieting orchestral score rings eerily throughout, characters walking down corridors are made to feel like slow and painful operations, and deadpan execution of bleak humorous dialogue evokes an abstract, yet all too familiar, disillusionment.

The film opens with a close-up shot of a bloody, pulsating, human heart in midst of an operation, and essentially sets the tone for this gruelling, quite frankly masterful, piece of cinema. A penetrable, open wound, with blood and guts beating beneath the surface of a mundane family portrait.

Colin Farrell plays Steven, the operating heart surgeon, who recreates the monotonic dryness of David in The Lobster.

He compliments his colleague, the anaesthetist, on his watch, before they debate whether a leather or metal strap looks and functions better. Although it is not the central question raised by the film, this perhaps sets up the more pressing matter Steven theorises; it is never the surgeon who is blamed for an operation; it is always the anaesthetist’s fault.

The plot primarily concerns Steven and his unusual relationship with an odd young boy called Martin — played with credible creepiness by Barry Keoghan. The pair meet in secret, and Farrell’s protagonist gives the boy presents, including the very watch he discussed with his anaesthetist.

In an odd move, in which any possible notion that their relationship might be secret or sexual is quelled, Steven invites Martin for dinner with his family.

While his family are endearing, statically wooden, and sweet, Martin is strange, yet innocent when addressing Steven’s polite wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and the two kids, Bob (Sunny Suljic) and Kim (Raffey Cassidy). They gaze at Martin as though he were an intoxicating infection loitering in their home.

It transpires that Steven and Martin’s relationship is founded on an underlying guilt, and the blame Martin places on Steven for being responsible for his own father’s death during a surgery which went wrong. A wrong which can only be righted, says Martin, spitting as he tries

Yorgos Lanthimos brings a madcap darkness which eclipses the bleak meditations on life and hetero-normative couples of ‘The Lobster’ to get the words out as quickly as physically possible, if Steven kills one of his family members, otherwise all three will slowly become paralysed, cry blood, and die one by one.

Odd, yes. Another strange, fantastical, and wholly sadistic ‘moral’ dilemma brought to us

by Lanthimos. Whether the family’s fate is a curse, magic, or the supernatural is of course, never fully explained. Instead, the film indulges in the darkness of this bleak premise, and things turn more graphic and sadistic — Martin is taped to a chair in Steven’s basement in one bloody scene.

Even though it is Steven’s medical failure, due to alcoholism, which is the root of the trouble, it is Lanthimos who is at the core of our torment.

Sure enough, Steven’s dainty children begin to endure unexplained bodily dysfunctions.

Bob finds he suddenly cannot move his legs, and collapses dramatically in an aerial shot of him and Anna reaching the end of an escalator, the power of movement simply gone from under him.

Kim is soon doing the same. Their disabilities are excruciating and unsettling, shown through shots — verging on humorous — of the children literally crawling like slugs, with their limp legs behind them across their kitchen floor, as their parents tragically try to deal with it as if it were as ordinary as the flu.

After initially denying the possibilities of such a curse, Steven eventually realises he must do as Martin says and kill one of his family members. The children argue to prove to their father that they should not be the one who he kills.

This sad scenario is dealt with such mundane dryness that it can’t help but become black comedy. You feel scared and the need to laugh in equal measure.

Questions are raised, but it is not clear how best to answer them. If this film has some deeper sociological mediations, they are not of this world — though perhaps an all too familiar theme is evoked; the idyllic suburban family penetrated by darker, deep-rooted outside forces, unsettling the status quo, creating a tense cover-your-eyes atmosphere.

A masterful succession to The Lobster, and in its own right a thrilling spectacle, The Killing of a Sacred Deer compliments Lanthimos’ previous, and establishes its own, unique way of both thrilling and disgusting us. Slaughtering a deer, and any association we have with the real established order, right in front of our eyes.

5/5

Photo: HomeMcr.org

This Is The End

Photo: Allocine

Directed by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg – 2013 ‘Something a bit more this century is This is the End. I absolutely adore it.’

James Gill Film Critic “My name is Hercule Poirot and I am probably the greatest detective in the world.”

Kenneth Branagh channels that same self confidence as he acts in and directs this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s iconic novel. Branagh aims for a pensive, if camp, take on Poirot but he falls short of that and instead it feels like watching a live-action game of Cluedo, as if another Jumanji film wasn’t enough.

This isn’t the first adventure on the Orient Express to hit out screens and it isn’t even the most star studded. Sidney Lumet directed the 1974 version featuring the likes of Albert Finney as Poirot, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery and Jacqueline Bisset. Comparisons are inevitable and the difference between the two is night and day. Lumet’s got nominated for six Oscars with Bergman taking home Best Supporting Actress and I cannot foresee any category in which Branagh will get a nomination.

It is Jerusalem where the film begins in a truly bizarre opening. We get an aerial shot of some Jewish men approaching the Wailing Wall when suddenly a small child runs past and the chase is seemingly on.

He is carrying something in his hands although it is obscured by a cloth. When he reaches his destination he reveals four eggs and offers them to a shadowy figure but they are refused, so the child runs away and gets more. The shadowy figure is revealed to be Poirot who wants the perfect boiled eggs for his breakfast but the declines them once more when they aren’t to his taste.

The whole purpose of this seems to be for an anecdote a few minutes later. The Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens of Jerusalem are up in arms about a stolen religious artefact with a Rabbi, a Priest and an Iman as the suspect. Poirot lines the three up against the wall as an angry mob forms around them, then makes a quip about how he shares their frustration as he couldn’t get the perfect boiled eggs for his breakfast, and then another about how

similar the situation is to the old jokes. I’m not sure which demographic these jokes were aimed at but they felt off compared to the rest of the humour.

Poirot quickly dispatches the mystery and decides to take some well earned R&R, but unsurprisingly it doesn’t last long and he is summoned to London for another case, travelling on the renowned Orient Express to get there. In the scenes leading up to the train leaving the station Branagh introduces every character in quick fire fashion, with no time to get a good look at one before the next appears on the screen.

The desire is clearly to do all character development on the train, especially after the murder happens, but it would perhaps have been better to only show a selection of passengers as they board and continue the introductions on the journey.

Branagh attempts to juxtapose the claustrophobia of the train with the landscape around it by sprinkling aerial views on the snowy mountains the train passes through but the CGI work looks incredibly fake. The train’s initial departure point, Istanbul, is

similarly painted with computerised images and there are a lot of parallels in design to 2016’s Assassin’s Creed. I want to be engrossed in the world he is trying to create but when the inside of the train is meticulously detailed and in high definition and the outside looks like The Polar Express (2004) I can’t help becoming detached.

The main downfall is that the intrigue and mystery about the murder on the train relies solely on the twist at the end.

If you have read the book or are otherwise aware of how it ends then the glossy finish won’t mask the lack of depth, however if you were, as I, unaware of the story you’ll find enough here to entertain you for two hours. Branagh’s vanity project suffers from just that, vanity, by trying too hard to make every moment meaningful. As the credits roll, his intent is crystal clear – to proclaim ‘My name is Kenneth Branagh and I am probably the greatest writer and director in the world’.

3/5

Food & Drink

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ISSUE 8/ 13th November2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

Fitting the Student Budget - 4 meals that cost less than a Chesters

Contributor: Georgia Gordon

2. Vegetarian Curry

A student budget doesn’t have to mean eating beans on toast for dinner everyday. There are plenty of flavourful meals you can create at home which are not only tastier but also cheaper than a Chesters. Shopping at Aldi or Lidl is one of the best ways to stick to your budget. Most of the prices you see below are from Lidl, although those from other stores are labelled.

1. Vegetable Stir Fry Price break down: Ready to Wok noodles - 28p Stir Fry sauce sachet - 33p Onions - 8p each Garlic - 6p for ¼ clove in Asda Vegetables of your choice E.g. ½ Broccoli - 50p Bell Peppers - 35p Spring Onions - 22p per half pack TOTAL £1.76 This low budget meal is the perfect way to spice up your student budget. In a pan, heat some sesame (or olive) oil and fry one chopped onion. Next, add some garlic and chillies for some fiery flavour.

Chop and stir in the vegetables of your choice, for example bell peppers, broccoli, and spring onion.

Once the vegetables are hot and a little chargrilled, add in a stir fry sauce sachet, for example the chow mein flavour. Spice with salt, pepper, and chilli flakes to get a flavour that beats even Chesters’ peri-salt. Finally, break up and add your noodles.

Stir fry until the noodles are soft and covered in sauce. Voila!

Price break down: Lloyd Grossman’s curry sauce- £1 in Sainsbury’s 2 Bell Peppers - 70p ½ Broccoli- 50p 1 small cup of Lentils- 15p/100g in Tesco Red Kidney Beans - 30p ¼ clove Garlic - 6p per ¼ in Asda Red Onion - 8p each in Lidl Tinned tomatoes - 29p in Lidl TOTAL £3.08 for 2-3 servings, £1.02 per serving With this recipe you can get the pleasures of the curry mile from the comfort of your own home.

To begin, boil the kettle to cook your lentils. After rinsing off any debris, add one small cup of lentils to a saucepan, then add 3 cups of boiling water.

Turn the hob onto a high heat and bring the lentils to boil. Then cover the lentils, reduce the heat, and simmer until they are tender (usually 15 or 20 minutes). During this time you can also cook your rice.

Once the lentils are nearly cooked, using a separate pan, fry your diced onion in oil until soft (about 8 minutes) and then add the garlic. After 1 minute, add your bell peppers and broccoli and continue frying. Next, add the whole jar of sauce and reduce heat to simmer the curry. Drain and add the red kidney beans, then pour in ½ jar of tinned tomatoes. Let the curry cook on a low heat for another 10 minutes and serve with rice

Photo: wikisource: Mervin Elberg

4. Pasta Bake

Price Breakdown: Fajita Kit - £1.29 (3-4 servings) 2 Peppers - 70p (35p each) 2 Red Onions - 16p Red Kidney Beans - 30p (Chicken Breast - 80p/breast) TOTAL£2.45 Vegetarian for 3-4 servings, £3.25 with Chicken

Price Breakdown: 250g Penne Pasta - 15p (30p for 500g) 1/2 Tin Chopped Tomatoes - 15p (29p for whole tin) 1/2 Tin Sweetcorn - 20p (39p for whole tin) 1 Tin of Tuna - 70p 1 Chopped Onion - 8p 100g grated cheddar cheese - 48p (95p for 200g) TOTAL £1.76

This dish is perfect for a Mexican Night with your housemates, adding tequila and nachos for some flavorsome fun. Simply fry the onions, peppers ,and kidney beans with the flavoring provided in the pack, adding some chilli flakes if you can handle the spice. Serve with cheese, guacamole, and the salsa provided in the pack. Enjoy!

A classic student favourite, the pasta bake. This dish gives you all the carbs and cheese you need, whilst still sticking to your budget. Firstly, boil the kettle. Then fill a saucepan with the boiling water and add your pasta with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft, which usually takes 8-12 minutes. In a frying pan fry your chopped onion in oil until they are soft and golden. Next, add the tomatoes, sweetcorn, and tuna into the same pan and stir. Then drain the pasta and add the contents of the frying pan into the saucepan with the pasta. Stir to ensure all the pasta is coated. Next, put the mixture into a heatproof bowl, or deep baking tray, and cover in cheese, placing the tray under the grill. Take the tray out when the cheese is golden.

Happy Cooking!

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Mackie Mayor 17:15 and they dim the lights. Low hanging bulbs set in wide lampshades. Quarter past the hour they turn them down, come into their world and surrender control of light, surrender your politics, surrender your mouth, your nose.

In the 16th century, a man named Benvenuto Cellini sculpted a bronze statue of Perseus holding high the severed head of Medusa. Adorning the walls of the Mackie Mayor interior is a mural that recreates that statue, except Medusa is replaced by Theresa May, curly entrails of snake hair still intact.

It’s their market, they can do what they want with the interior, but it raises some eyebrows.

One comment on the Manchester Evening News website said, “Also if I was politically correct like them I’d say a depiction of a powerfully built man with a decapitated woman’s head in his hands perpetuates misogynistic violence and male hegemony.”

Whilst this comment has a whiff of mouth-breather internet troll about it, it has a point.

Moving on, it is perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings in Manchester. Walking into the Refuge by Volta in the old Palace hotel used to be favourite dining establishment entrance, but MM may have taken the top spot. You can’t help but be overwhelmed. It makes you excited for the new plans for the London Road Fire Station.

3. Fajitas

Contributor: Felix Sanders

Firetop, aka the Red Head, and I’s first port of call was Reserve wines. There we found little pockets of humanity and endearing conversations with young sommeliers. We found Aperol Spritz, strong reds wines from Portugal and a brilliant natural wine from Beaujolais. It was both beau and jolly in equal measure.

We then went halves on cornish spider crab over toast at Fin Fish Bar. It was good, perhaps a bit heavy handed with the rouille, at least I think it was a rouille, a spicy spread at any rate. They do an exceedingly generous fish & chips there as well.

The rotisserie spot, Nationale 7, seems to be turning a lot of heads, including mine. I will be going pack for porchetta.

Mackie Mayor is the new offspring of the people behind Altrincham Market, in their practice, they have perfect this operation at the back of the Northern Quarter.

The building that houses Mackie Mayor started life as a meat market, took a brief sojourn as skate spot, before being presented to us in all its glory This is exactly what Manchester needs. The brilliant Time Out market in Lisbon is setting up shop in London, and they’ve already got Borough.

Mackie Mayor is like a hive where customers, cooks, and vendors cross paths and mingle with fine wine and good taste. The presence of the Bee, the Manchester spirit animal, is felt strongly in vaulted ceilings of Mackie Mayor.

Review: Elnecot Freshly opened in Ancoats, Elnecot is the new bar & kitchen found on Blossom Street. Situated alongside extensive construction work and on a low-lit street, this hidden spot is difficult to find.

On arrival, this modern venue greeted us with welcoming bartenders, contemporary artwork, and a low-lit, buzzing atmosphere. It boasts an industrial chic ambience, neon lights, and orange upholstery contrasted with muted greys.

Resisting the restaurant traditions, long benches lend themselves to the communal dining experience that the menu simultaneously encourages through providing a range of sharing dishes.

Communality extends to the open plan kitchen. We were placed at the bar and discussed all things food with the friendly chefs.

“As you can tell, Elnecot’s industrial influence stops at décor and influence. The dishes are meticulous and potentially award-winning.”

Whilst Elnecot refuses to be pigeon-holed as either ‘bar’ or ‘restaurant’, the kitchen offering excels above even the best of Manchester’s restaurants. Chef Michael Clay delves into Ancoats’ rough and ready heritage to inspire his food, where cuisines from all over the world are made-Manchester by adding locally sourced produce and taste. Elnecot recommends 2-3 dishes each, but 5 dishes were plenty between two hungry students. After a discussion with the host as well as a few interjections from the chef’s cooking in their open kitchen right at our bar stools, we ordered: Pearl barley arancini British buffalo burrata with pea puree and savoury tuile Carrots with pine nuts, goat’s cheese curd and coriander shoots Thyme and sea salt fries

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Money saving app CityMunch Launches in Manchester As students we are often reeled in from the urge to go out for tasty treats due to our small bank balances, now there may be a solution.

City munch is the perfect app for foodies on a budget and students after some tasty cheap nosh. After successfully launching in London and Bristol it has arrived in Manchester, offering real time discounts at some fantastic independent restaurants including Yard and Coop, Kettle Bell Kitchen, Oké Poké and Bosu Body Bar

“We’re thrilled to have launched in Manchester.

There’s such a rich culture here....We want to celebrate the quirks of each place.”

Rob Lynch, CEO and Founder of CityMunch, shares his excitement to be launching in Manchester. “We’re thrilled to have launched in Manchester. There’s such a rich culture here and it’s reflected in an amazing spread of independent restaurants. We want to celebrate the quirks of each place by sharing not only their cuisine but also their personality - what part they play in the culture. Through our real-time offers platform, we can help spread the word to a wider audience.”

Review: Federal Editor: Anokhi Shah

The app is free to download and diners can reserve a city much voucher straight to their phone, show on arrival and you can get 20-50% off the food bill. Once you have downloaded the app, you will be notified on new deals in restaurants in your area. The app seems to be proving very popular with restaurants as well as the diners who get more than their moneys worth. It allows restaurants to spread the word at times when they have spare capacity or when they have over produced so they can prevent wastage.

City Munch is available to download free on both Apple and Andriod App stores.

Get Munching…

Millie Nettleton

By Friday morning, I was definitely feeling ready for reading week. The desperate need for the comfort of mother’s cooking and cuddles from my dogs had kicked in. Just to make it through that last day, I needed a pick me up — a quiet brunch, sat by the window, free to read my book and people watch.

I chose Federal, first city centre cafe to come up when typing in “Best Brunch Manchester” into google. The website greeted me with rustic pictures of eggs on sourdough and perfectly foamed coffees — just what I was looking for.

Upon arrival, there were people queuing out the door: turns out Federal also do their drinks and sandwiches to go. The counter near the door caused some confused hustle and bustle, but eventually I got a seat on the end of a high table. It was packed, and there wasn’t much room. I was perched on the remaining bit of a bar type table of four, leaving me undeniably a little uncomfortable. I couldn’t truly unwind in the way that I had hoped.

And a special: Plaice fishcakes As you can tell, Elnecot’s industrial influence stops at décor and influence. The dishes are meticulous and potentially award-winning. The attention to detail makes it hard to dive in and ruin it all, but of course this doesn’t stop us. In typical small-plate style, the dishes arrive as they’re ready. The reluctance to create ‘traditional’ meals is part of Elnecot’s charm; they see nothing wrong with starting your meal with ox cheek and finishing with Bombay mix.

Despite the duteous amount of effort that clearly goes into creating these dishes, Elnecot refuses to hike their prices. It really is luxury food at an affordable cost; five dishes and two large glasses of local red wine cost just £37.

Elnecot is early to the game in establishing itself in the up-and-coming district of Ancoats.

But, if the entire district can master Elnecot’s relaxed, ‘come as you are’ feel - a true reflection of Manchester’s style - then Ancoats will be wildly popular, an great extension to the city’s vibrant culinary scene.

Photo: Savannah Gough

Recipe: Beef Wellington with a Steak Diane sauce

Contributor: Charlie Baskerville

Serves four Ingredients: Fillet of beef 500g Roll of shop bought puff pastry Wild mushrooms 500g out of preference English mustard Horse radish Butter Salt and Pepper 3 Shallots 300ml of red wine 6 Cloves of Garlic Thyme (fresh if possible) Eggs

Method: The Beef Wellington 1. Take your fillet of beef and sear it in a medium to hot pan, containing an emulsion of melted butter and chopped thyme and then add a dash of olive oil on all sides, constantly basting the meat with the emulsion.

2. Once gently seared, put to the side and leave it to rest for 10-15 mins wrapped in tin foil.

3. Roughly chop or tear 300g of the mushrooms, the size is down to personal preference.

4. Add the mushrooms, 3 cloves of sliced garlic and some thyme to the same pan and fry off for 4-6 minutes depending on mushrooms being used.

5. Remove the mushrooms to a clean cloth to remove any excess liquid. This is essential to keeping the pastry dry, because let’s face it, no one like a soggy welly.

6. Roll out your pastry on to a tray lined with baking paper, paste a healthy helping of English mustard and horse radish. If need be, you can roll the pastry out onto cling film to assist with the rolling.

7. Lay the mushrooms in the centre of the rolled pastry where you will place your meat, then gently place the meat on the mushrooms.

8. Roll the pastry around the meat away from you, and use an egg wash to help bind the pastry together.

9. Stab a little prick in the top and bottom of the pas-

Nevertheless, the food made up for it. To start with, I wanted absolutely everything on the menu: I couldn’t decide whether to go for the delicious looking Banana bread, or a sandwich, and did I want the delicious smelling coffee, or a good old cup of tea? I finally settled on a tea (I’m slimming, you know), and a rather curious sounding bagel: “Citrus Avo, with dukkah mix and mushrooms”.

Best decision I’ve ever made.

What I’m assuming was the dukkah mix gave the bagel an indian-style spice kind of taste, and the mushrooms must’ve been cooked in it, as they were out of this world.

No wonder the restaurant was so busy then, though I couldn’t help but think that they should definitely invest in an expansion; it would be difficult to seat a party of more than two here.

Since this first experience, I’ve been back for a delicious bowl of porridge, and nicked a bit of my friend’s banana bread which was warm and a definite possibility for comfort food. I plan to keep going back till I’ve tried everything on the menu.

“I got a seat on the end of a high table. It was packed, and there wasn’t much room. I was perched on the remaining bit of a bar type table of four....Nevertheless, the food made up for it.”

Photo: CityMunch

Francesca McClimmont

Contributors: Savannah Gough and Eva Waite Taylor

Contributors: Millie Nettleton and Francesxa McClimmont

If you have the time and energy to drag yourself out of the student comfort zone that is Fallowfield for a brunch with friends, Federal Café is the place to go.

Only a short walk from Piccadilly Gardens and Arndale, its location is ideal to take a break from shopping (or, in most students’ cases, window shopping).

The staff were genuinely nice and friendly: when we arrived we were received with a warm welcome and despite the fact the café was full we only had to wait a couple of minutes before being shown to a table.

Federal’s all day New Zealand Australian inspired brunches are sure to cure even the worst of hangovers — yes, I’m speaking from personal experience. The menu options vary from French toast to corn fritters, so it’s perfect to satisfy any craving, whether it be sweet or savoury. I had the corn fritters with

bacon — which was initially startling as it had some of the brightest colours I had ever seen on a plate, but most importantly its taste exceeded my expectations.

The corn fritters perfectly complemented the crispy bacon and the egg was fried to perfection so the yolk was runny — the dream!

The Sriracha hollandaise gave it a pleasant spicy kick, even though I’m not a spice lover, as it was just the right amount, which made it a brunch that stands out in my memory from others I’ve had. My cappuccino was also good, as well as being extremely aesthetically pleasing with the prettiest chocolate stencilling I’ve ever seen. So if you’re keen on instagramming your coffee this is the place for you!

I highly recommend the Federal Café and Bar because it ticked all the boxes for me: great service, great food, pretty and tasty coffee and a relaxed atmosphere.

Photo: Charlie Baskerville

try in order to allow the steam to escape.

10. Now place your wellington in a preheated oven at 190°/Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes. Now you can start on your sauce.

11. Take it out of the oven and egg wash the outside of pastry and place back in oven for another 10 minutes.

12. Repeat the previous step but this time why not try sprinkling some sesame or sunflower seeds over the pastry to make that pastry even more flavoursome. Put back for 5 minutes.

13. Take it out of the oven, and rest for 5 minutes.

14. Ready to carveSteak Diane Sauce 1. Finely chop the rest of the mushrooms, 3 medium to large shallots, 3 cloves of garlic and a sprig of thyme.

2. Sweat off the shallots, mushrooms and garlic with a dash of olive oil until tender and season with a salt and pepper.

3. Add 300ml a red wine of your choosing and simmer to reduce to 2/3.

4. Once reduced add a knob of butter and stir until you get a lovely thick consistency.

5. Further season to taste.

6. If preferred drain to get rid of the shallots and mushrooms but personally I like that added texture especially if drizzled on some new potatoes or mash.

Photo: Anokhi Shah

Arts

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Feature

Review: The Return of Review: Memory The Manchester Contemporary

Klaudia Jedyka visits The Manchester Contemporary art fair and brings us her stand out pieces.

Klaudia Jedyka Arts Writer The Manchester Contemporary, a display of UK’s most exciting galleries and artists, returns for its 10th edition. From kitsch waiting room pieces to the pop and the abstract, there is more than enough for everyone. These are the highlights from the opening weekend: Salford’s Paradise Works gallery presented their minimalist space as a taster of what was on offer at their Politics of Paradise exhibition. One might accidentally trip over Hilary Jack’s Turquoise Bag (2016), as an unassuming bronze cast of a plastic bag placed on the floor. It is ironic that something so naturally light and free to blow in the wind is suddenly heavy and unmovable.

It creates an environmental critique on the damaging effect of plastic bags, which remain in the environment for thousands of years once disposed of. Yet it may also be interpreted as a comment on art itself, on art losing its cultural significance - on its way to become discarded and forgotten as art institutions lose their funding.

Kieran Leach’s Mid-Air, Don’t Care (2017) puts a twist on a Michelangelo’s David-like, classical-inspired sculpture. The sculpture sports pink shades and rests upon a camouflaged podium. The ensemble strips the figure of its antique solemnity and humorously merges the classical and the modern.

Continuing the theme of tradition-vsprogress is Robin Megannity’s painting Bicep (2017), which portrays a classical bust in a pastel-tinted void. The juxtaposition of an antique artwork reworked in a smooth, digital characterisation is somehow reminiscent of the internet phenomena of ‘vaporwave’.

The artist succeeds in producing an illusion of the digital in an oil painting done by hand.

With such works, Paper gallery accomplishes contemporary authenticity.

Exhibited by Leon Martyn, Pryce Lee’s sculpture captures the moment a paper plane hits and shatters a mirror in Untitled (2016). The piece expresses the unlikely and unexpected power of something weak and frail having the power to destroy - a reference to the fragility of life.

John-Powell Jones, displayed by The International 3, presented sculptures aiming to challenge the disconnect between meat industry and consumer. If the Booth Fits (2017) is a ceramic boot, which appears to be fabricated out of meat, with the addition of entrails and blood. The grotesque gore remains a permanent mark, an imprint of trauma experienced by both, animal and man, within the walls of a slaughterhouse.

A female energy pervaded through Goldtapped gallery’s stand. Paola Ciarska’s gouache pieces are expressions of personal freedom within one’s sanctuary. The vulnerable, the embarrassing, and the childish become exposed as the viewer oversteps the boundary and is invited to view women in a state of liberation from the pressures of beyond their bedroom, indulged in intimate acts of independence.

Furbies watch over a naked woman smoking from a bong in Untitled (2017) while another woman takes nudes in a mirror, next to her princess bed in Untitled (2016). Juliet Fleming contributes to the feminist aura with Large Digital Clitoris (2017). Its resemblance to a neck pillow presents the subject as inviting and comfortable, rather than taboo and vulgar.

Castlefield Gallery presents Omid Asadi’s Paradox (2017). The piece is a carpet, a hybrid of an intricate Persian design and contrasting

Mid -Air, Don’t Care Photo: @ Klaudia Jedyka

loudly-coloured geometric shapes. Rather than one half of the carpet being removed, it is instead painted over as a sign of moving forward. It is an appreciation of the contributions of tradition which also fully embraces modernism and its anti-traditional tendency.

The event presented an array of artistic

As part of HOME’s ‘A Revolution Betrayed?’ programme, The Return of Memory is a contemporary examination of the Russian Revolution’s legacy

Klaudia Jedyka Arts Writer Curators of The Return of Memory, Anya Harrison, Sarah Perks, and Olya Sova present an exciting combination of textiles, performance, and machinery in a survey of modern answers in reaction to the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.

You’re greeted with the explicitly titled Clothes for Demonstration Against False Election of Vladimir Putin (2011 - 2015) by Russian artist Gluklya — setting the concept of the exhibition. A series of textile sculptures suspended on wooden poles, each is decorated with Russian protest slogans. With English translations below, one reads “Movement for Fair Elections. M.F.F.E.”, another demands “Russia will be free.” A masked sculpture resembles a member of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot.

Nearby is a Communist hammer and sickle wearing a ballerina’s tutu, declaring the unity of art and politics. The pieces mimic banners used during protests, and their elevation is a manifestation of triumph. Every sculpture demands to be seen, and for its rebellious stance to be known.

Continuing the theme of resistance is Victoria Lomasko’s mural The Daughter of an Artist Decorator (2017). Lomasko’s father, a Soviet era artist, earned his income by producing political propaganda, despite his opposition to communism.

On the left, an artist stands on a stool and appears to be a leading figure to a group of marching protesters. This piece comments on the artist’s power to contribute to either propagating or challenging damaging ideologies.

Aza Shadenova’s paintings entitled Mothers and Daughters (2016) refer to the Soviet Union’s repression of Central Asian women through eradicating their tradition and consequently, their identity. Locks of platted hair, without the remainder of the women they belong to, manifest the lack of identity women of Central Asia might have experienced during the Soviet era.

The vibrant, balanced chaos of The Night Sky of the Motherland in 1920’s (2017) may be a reference

Photo: Lee Baxter/HOME Photo: @ Klaudia Jedyka

media, from Jamie Fitzpatrick’s twisted clown-like wax pieces, to Elliot Dodd’s 3D printed human-burger hybrid. Inspirations from previous art icons were plenty, one of them being Thirsty Bstrd’s works which explicitly appropriated Banksy, presenting his stencilled monkeys holding products from Burger King or Starbucks. Amongst original pieces by Banksy and Damien Hirst were also multiple kitsch artworks depicting Pop figures such as Batman, Deadpool and even Jon Snow, topless underneath his cloak.

Art talks, art classes and a children’s corner were also hosted over the weekend.

The Manchester Contemporary was a quality display of the UK’s galleries’ acceptance of artistic and technological progression. New media, old ideas, politics and tackiness, the below average and the above average were all experienced that weekend.

Photo: Lee Baxter/HOME

to the period of change in Kyrgyzstan, where the artist was raised, resulting from the imposition of Soviet rule in 1918. During the preview, in front of her paintings, Shadenova read out Daniil Kharms’ story entitled Father and Daughter to a curious crowd. Aza adapted the story by including a performance of an appropriated version of The Velvet Underground’s song All Tomorrow’s Parties where the artist questions: “What costume shall the poor girl wear to all communist parties?”.

In a series of bleak photographs, Yevgen Nikiforov’s On Republic’s Monuments’ (2017) documents the result of Ukraine’s newly implemented law — banning all symbols related to the Soviet Union.

While the photographs demonstrate an act of moving on, they also raise the question of what should be done with such monuments. Should they remain in place as a cautionary reminder? Is demolishing them an attempt to erase the past?

Towards the back of the gallery space is a room illuminated by pink light where Callum Cooper’s Vavilov (2017), focusing on a Soviet geneticist, Nikolai Vavilov. In an ambitious attempt to combat world hunger, Vavilov aimed to develop crops capable of growing under any conditions. Exuding a futuristic aura, a Farmbot is at the focus of the room.

The machine tends to the same cabbage seeds that the Vavilov Institute provided during the Leningrad Siege in World War 2, when the food supply to Leningrad was ceased.

The exhibition successfully provides the viewer with a holistic view of the mark that the Soviet Union has left on Russia and beyond. In a balanced blend, the acknowledgement of the people who opposed communist rule in the past also acts as encouragement of resistance in the present political climate.

The Return of Memory is on display at HOME between 21st of October 2017 — 7th of January 2018

This is the corrected article as there was a misprint in last weeks issue, which printed the wrong the text for this piece - apologies for any confusion caused.

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How to

Cluny MCR: a magazine opening

avoid

doors for all Manchester creatives

deadline

Sophia Macpherson chats with one of the founders of ‘Cluny MCR’ about how you can get your creative work out there

stress

Vera SimmonsLaw discusses the realistic ways you can avoid the tension of deadlines Vera Simmons-Law Lifestyle Contributor

Sophia Macpherson Lifestyle Editor Manchester is a place brimming with creative talent, which can often prove difficult for creatives who want to get recognition.

In an environment that can sometimes be competitive, it is easy to get disheartened with your work. This is where Cluny MCR comes along. This free-to-use website and print magazine helps artists who may not have been as lucky in getting their work out there by offering them a creative space. It is a platform that gives a voice to the cast-aside artists. Created by young student entrepreneurs Louis Haynes and Jake Macleod, it has proven fairly popular, garnering almost a thousand likes on Facebook and close to 2,000 followers on Instagram.

To find out more about what the magazine and website advocates, I sat down with one of the founders, Louis, to speak about his inspirations and ideas.

As the time of deadlines emerges, I think about how I can prevent the usual agony I put myself through every year. The ever familiar phrase “I’m going to start my work early this time” rings in my head as I look down at the list of things I have to do.

I’m sure everyone can agree that this is said and not done. It is often the case that we forget What does ‘Cluny’ mean to you and to start early because this task gets pushed to the back of our heads as it is not as urgent as what spurred you on to create it? other things.

L: I first met Jake, my partner and best But do not fret! With these tips, you’ll find yourself managing your time more efficiently friend, early on. He is a bit older than I am, and has lived in Manchester a year so you don’t end up with sleepless nights. longer. He basically opened my eyes to the Create your own checklist. By creating amount of creativity in the city. You don’t smaller tasks that don’t seem as intimidating, need to look far to see amazing work in you can build up the amount of work you do. every medium imaginable, but it’s hard for This will avoid you being overwhelmed by artists to really display their work in an eftoo much work at once and means your work fective way. The internet is really awful. It’s just this horrible chasm in which everyone won’t mount up.

Set reminders on your phone! By creating has to sift their way through infinite conyour own mini-deadlines on something that tent... so Cluny was born to try and showyou use every day, you will be constantly reminded of the little tasks that you need to do to meet your bigger deadline.

Start a week before you think you normally would. Giving yourself as much time as you possibly can is probably the best thing you could do. I know, this usually never happens, but if you stick a reminder to do this every day for that week on your phone, it’ll be almost like one of your teachers/parents are nagging you and you’ll (hopefully) eventually do it.

Put up visual reminders around your James Johnson room! Having physical reminders surround- Lifestyle Editor ing you can really help spur you on to work.

Bill Bryson wrote about the countless opStick up some post-it notes on your walls or pin board! Even buying some neon coloured portunities for discovery on the trail. Cheryl Strayed beautifully recounted the healing poones will help make you notice it more.

Attach a small reward to each task. If tential of walking in the wild. Lorelai Gilmore the motivation of finishing your work is not even tried to rediscover herself in the great outenough, adding on rewards that you’ll actual- doors in the recent Gilmore Girls revival. In the ly enjoy will really urge you to work. For ex- rapid pace of 21st Century life, taking a minute ample, tell your friends that they can’t let you to disconnect has never born so much potengo out with them unless you finish a chapter tial for calm At this time of year, it’s commonplace to groan of reading or reward yourself with a chocolate bar after an hour of working. Having at the darkening afternoons and dropping temsomething to look forward to will mean you peratures. It’s commonplace to feel like the outdoors are best avoided at all costs. This can have something to work towards.

Work at intervals. For me, trying to con- sometimes be the case, but getting outdoors centrate on one thing can prove difficult after at this time of year is an opportunity to seize about half an hour. Set timers on your phone the few hours of daylight we can and grab ourfor realistic times. Work for twenty minutes selves a moments respite from the daily chores then take a break for five - don’t go on your we really should be groaning about.

Often in relation to well-being, we talk of haulphone!

Don’t stress! I am definitely guilty of stress- ing our lives at a one-eighty, reversing our habing out even when I tell other people not to. its and changing our regularities. But can it be This is so easy to say and not do. The trick is just as simple as to take a walk outside? Perhaps to take a step back when you are. Leave what- it can be.

Hiking isn’t just about climbing to the tallest ever is stressing you out and go do something else for half an hour. Exercise is particularly peak in the country and posting a picture to show people of your might and determinahelpful in these cases - go for a walk! tion, but it is an opportunity to take a moments peace in the great outdoors, refocus, re-energise and relax.

Guilty of succumbing to any great pop-culture phenomenon, I left the cinema after watching

Image: Devanath @Pixabay

case the city’s creative endeavours and bound them together in a themed issue.

Creative expression is obviously important to you - do you think it is imperative in our current society? If so, why?

L: I mean I guess that’s a difficult question for me to answer. I mean of course it is imperative, but creative expression exists in so many forms. I can only really talk of my experiences.

I originally set up Cluny as a way in which I could fully immerse myself in the city’s art & culture. I played music in a band from when I was very young until just before I came to university. When that finished, I felt really quite depressed. It was as if there was a huge gap in my life.

It wasn’t necessarily playing music, it was the focus it gave me, and the opportunity to invest time in something beautiful and fulfilling. I suppose everyone desires that kind of feeling, so I guess creative expression is imperative.

How do you decide your themes and what do you mostly lean towards?

L: Our themes have varied a lot to be honest. We used to favour seasonal themes, we still try and use seasonal colour palettes, but we have moved to trying to capture more explicit feelings in each theme. This works well as it gives each artist a clear focus and stops the temptation they might

have to submit new work. Our newest issue is called ‘The Glad and Sorry Issue’.

It’s a reflection on summer’s long days and heady nights and the consequences of actions.

What was the inspiration behind the name and is it related to your content?

L: The name comes from a character in the Brian Jacques children’s book series ‘Redwall Abbey’. Cluny is the name of the villain in the books. He’s an evil rat with a poison-bladed tail hell-bent on raiding this little civilisation of woodland animals that live in a monastery called Redwall Abbey.

He’s driven by a desire to steal this amazing tapestry that the brave house mice in Redwall have been protecting for thousands of years. The relevance of the name is a little tenuous. I guess that Jake and I are a little like Cluny, trying to steal art for our own desires. Also Jake does have a poisoned-bladed tail to be fair...

How can students get involved?

L: We update progress on each issue and submissions through our Facebook and Instagram. So to keep up with themes and deadlines I would advise following us.

Jake handles the visual side of the content – art, photography, graphics, illustration, film. I handle the writing, music and mix tape side of things.

Website: http://www.clunymcr.com/

On the trail to wellbeing

James Johnson walks through the benefits of a walk in the wild

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Wild in 2014, assured that I could take a timely jaunt in the Peak District and all my troubles would be cured.

Naive? Perhaps. Optimistic? Definitely.

Stepping off of the train in the Peak District national park, I stood awkwardly at the station platform, not knowing whether to hastily walk left or right. Train stations are places for determined and speedy direction after all. Ambling, not so much.

Uncomfortable and mildly distressed at not knowing where I was or why exactly I had chosen to do this, I began walking through a beautifully picturesque Peak District countryside.

Looking for some kind of footpath or some sort of direction, I began to walk for hours upon end, no real goal in mind, just an attempt to take a moments notice.

It seems burdensome to relay that hiking is the answer to all of your well-being needs.

Because it likely is not. It is however, a basic and free activity that allows you to gain a little perspective whilst you may be unnecessarily worrying yourself over exams, assignments or daily anxieties.

It’s not the physical strain that makes a walk in the country such a rewarding feat, but the opportunity to be truly alone, without connection or distraction. After a few momentary waves of panic involving the inability to refresh one’s social media feeds, it can only be healthy to be isolated for a moment.

So rarely do we get the opportunity to disconnect ourselves from social media, from work, and from studying, that it becomes naive to think we can truly ‘switch-off’ in the scramble of our daily city lives.

Following a trail in the country or wandering aimlessly in the woods forces you to become

Image: James Johnson

present. Taking care of where you’re treading is an elementary task in avoiding the repetitive anxieties of our lives whilst appreciating your natural surroundings. It also doesn’t hurt to be starting and finishing a task — a surefire way to feel a little more accomplished.

Living in the midst of Wilmslow Road congestion, it’s easy to become a little tired of the pace and repetitive nature of spending hours stuck in commuter traffic.

Taking a moment to take in some greenery doesn’t have to involve travelling by train into the great unknown. Manchester has an array of beautiful parks for you to take a crisp, winter walk, be it alone or as a social activity.

Plattfields, Birchfields, Alexandra and Ladybarn are just a few of the parks within close proximity to the Oxford Road corridor. Perfect for a quick walk in those precious daylight hours.

If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, the Peak District national park is the perfect place to take a weekends hike in the great outdoors. Maybe consider hopping onto the Sheffield-bound train and head to the beautiful village of Edale. There’s even an opportunity for a rewarding drink once you’ve taken a wellearned break — the lack of mobile signal is but an added benefit.

Rushing from point to point in our daily lives leaves little time to appreciate our surroundings.

Taking a well-deserved rest need not involve sitting inside, hidden away from the outdoors. A brisk walk in the country may be the all-too-obvious remedy to a busy week’s chores and anxieties.

Why not disconnect for an afternoon? Take a moment to appreciate your surroundings, take in a little exercise and switch off!

You and your housemates could win a trip to Junkyard Golf!

What better way to bond than over crazy golf and booze?

Moving to a new city, starting university AND getting to know your housemates who you’ll be sharing your life with for the next year — maybe even for the rest of your life.

Going out on the lash, going for meals and making crazy memories are some of the best ways to bond. But, in the run the up to Christmas, it’ll no doubt be the case that the funds are starting to look a bit thin on the ground.

To ease the pressure and to get the conversation flowing, Junkyard Golf is offering one lucky Mancunion reader and five of their housemates to come and enjoy a night of pure madness, with free golf, drinks and food all night.

You’ll enjoy three crazy golf courses spread over 10,000

sq ft with plenty of bars dotted around, as it’s common knowledge that a stiff drink can often improve a player’s game… we think.

How to enter: Simply create your own crazy golf course in your accommodation, take a picture and tag Junkyard Golf @junkyardgolfclub before the 20th November 2017.

Students can get 50% off golf every Monday and Tuesday with a valid student card so there really is no excuse not to experience a hyped up, booze filled night out.

And you can find some of our previous advice on how to nurse that post-golf sesh hangover on our website!

T&C’s · Prize must be redeemed within six months of the competition closing ·

Prize cannot be claimed on weekends

·

Prize is only valid for up to six guests

· Food and drink vouchers will be issued upon arrival at Junkyard Golf and are not redeemable

WRITE FOR US MancunionLifestyle Contributors 17/18 Email: lifestyle@mancunion.com Meeting time: Tuesdays 6.15pm Meeting place: MMG Room, Basement of Students’ Union

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Should dopers be accepted back into sport?

Maria Sharapova is back in tennis after a 15 month suspension but her return has met fierce criticism.

Photo: Xoan Baltar @flickr

Sam Cooper Sports Editor

In January 2016, Maria Sharapova failed a drugs test at the Australian Open and was found to be taking Meldonium. The substance is used to treat ischaemia and can increase exercise capacity in athletes. Sharapova claimed she had been taking the substance for ten years because of a magnesium deficiency before it was banned at the start of 2016.

The Russian born tennis star was hit with a two-year ban that was later dropped to 15 months and made her return to competitive tennis in April but was wary of the backlash. Canadian player Eugenie Bouchard labelled Sharapova a cheat and said she should not be allowed back into the sport. Bouchard’s comments raise an issue on whether returning drug offenders should be welcomed back into the sport.

The most notable example of a doper is Lance Armstrong. The

cyclist won the Tour de France seven times but had his titles voided due to a long history of doping abuse. Key to the Armstrong case was that the revelations came after his career had finished. Despite being given a lifetime ban, the hypothetical situation in which Armstrong would have served a ban and been able to return to the sport seems unimaginable. The backlash would have been too strong for him to ever seriously consider returning.

One of the sports most plagued by doping abuse is athletics.

Every year there are new revelations about a winning athlete who had been taking banned substances and one of the most famous is Justin Gatlin. The American Track and Field sprinter has been banned on two occasions for drug abuse and his repeated return is a particular thorn in the side of many.

Gatlin returned from an eight-year ban in 2017 to win the 100m event at 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships. This was a very sore point for the purists, as Gatlin beat the sport’s golden boy Usain Bolt in what was the Jamaican’s last race. There are those that argue Gatlin and other dopers should be immedi-

Photo Cory Schadt @flickr

ately banned for life regardless of the severity of their doping.

However, others argue the athletes should be allowed a chance at redemption and shouldn’t be treated as dopers for the rest of their life.

It is a subject that divides fans. There are those that believe all dopers should be dropped from the sport and those that believe the bans handed out by governing bodies suffice and ex-doping athletes should be treated as any other athlete after their suspension.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) face a difficult task.

If they continue to hand out shorter bans, then it may encourage dopers to continue knowing that even if they do get caught, there is a chance they can return.

For WADA, they have to make the punishment so severe that the potential rewards of doping are nowhere near as impactful as the potential punishments.

In terms of the fans, it will continue to create a divide between those that believe dopers should be accepted back and the staunch believers that once a doper, always a doper.

Association of Tennis Professionals in hot water after embarrassing Next Gen draw The governing tennis body has received fierce backlash for its drawing of the seeds for the Next Gen tournament.

Sam Cooper Sports Editor The inaugural Next Gen tournament took place in Milan but it was the drawing of the groups that caught the media’s eye.

In a sport consistently questioned about the equality between female and male players, it was shocking to see how the groups were drawn for this tournament.

Players were asked to choose one of two female models who would then remove an item of clothing to show the letter A or B. One of the players was asked to remove a model’s glove with his teeth and one model lifted her lace dress to revel a certain group.

The draw has rightly been hit by criticism. Judy Murray tweeted it was “awful” Amelie Mauresmo said the draw was a disgrace. The poorly conceived idea

appears to be a tribute to Milan’s history with the fashion industry.

The ATP along with joint hosts Red Bull released a statement apologising for the event “ATP and Red Bull apologise for the offence caused by the draw ceremony for the Next Gen ATP Finals. The intention was to integrate Milan’s rich heritage as one of the fashion capitals of the world. However, our execution of the proceedings was in poor taste and unacceptable. We deeply regret this and will ensure that there is no repeat of anything like it in the future.”

The event was in particular poor timing given the work of recent years in looking to make the game more equal between the sexes.

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Sport Is 3-4-2-1 going to win England the World Cup?

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ISSUE 8 / 13th NOVEMBER 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

ISSUE 8 / 13th NOVEMBER 2017 WWW.MANCHESTERMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK

A United University

An in depth look at Southgate’s chosen formation for the 2018 World Cup

Survey finds 36 per cent of University of Manchester students are Red Devils Sam Cooper Sports Editor

A recent survey conducted by the Mancunion Sport team has found Manchester United are the most supported club among the university students. 36 per cent of respondents declared José Mourinho’s men to be their favourite while 12 per cent swore their allegiance to the blue side of the city with Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s team were the second most represented side while Liverpool gathered 5 per cent of the vote. Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham completed the selected Premier League clubs.

At the other end of the scale, voters were also asked who their most disliked team was and it was again the Red Devils on top. Being the rivals of both Liverpool and City fans, it is no surprise to see 26 per cent said United were their most disliked team. Liverpool came second with 15 per cent of the vote while Chelsea and City both gathered 13% of the vote.

Photo: Matthew Wilkinson @flickr

Photo: Matt Churchill @flickr

James Gill Sports Reporter In an interview towards the end of the qualifying campaign Gareth Southgate said that the 3-4-2-1 formation is what he plans on using for the World Cup, drastically different from the usual formations England have been using. So how does it work? And is it the right choice for our squad?

The most obvious difference from a conventional formation is one less defender on the pitch, with three defenders playing in front of the keeper. There are two main styles of play for the defence in this system, the first used by Chelsea in their title winning season last year and the second helped Argentina lift the World Cup in 1986.

If we start with the Chelsea variation of three at the back, it sees two traditional centre backs play slightly wider than usual either side of a sweeper, or libero. David Luiz played the versatile libero role which seems him ‘sweep up’ the ball when the opposition breaks through the defensive line and helps turn defence into attack quickly.

The criticism of a system like this is, especially with Luiz last season, if the centre backs either side of the libero are competent, then there is often not a lot of work for them to do, and that player needs to maintain very high concentration to not make mistakes when called into action.

The Argentine variation, adopted by manager Carlos Bilardo, sees three traditional centre backs play in front of the keeper. All three are focussed solely on defensive play and man marking the opposition’s attacking players. This is a great system, especially with the current squad, as it allows the ball to get quickly passed to the wing backs or to a central playmaker coming deep to collect the ball. It is most effective when the transition between defence and attack is quick, with three or four passes between a centre back getting the ball and a winger in a dangerous position.

If we look at the defensive options for the squad we have multiple high level centre backs. Jones and Smalling have both been outstanding for Manchester United this season, a defence with eight clean sheets in eleven games. John Stones in Manchester City’s team has been improving massively with each season that passes, netting three goals in four Champions League games. They would, in my opinion make up the back three, Everton’s Michael Keane and Leicester’s Harry Maguire would act as strong replacements if nec-

essary.

In order to maximise the effectiveness of this defensive strategy we need wing backs who understand their dynamic roles, both in overlapping with the wingers, and also coming inside to overload the midfield and give the wingers 1v1 opportunities. The 3-4-2-1 formation is used by Pochettino’s Spurs side and a similar system at Man City and as a result we do have three wingback who flourish in these roles. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose would be the first choices.

Kieran Trippier has also proved himself this season, firing accurate balls into the box as Walker did before him.

All in all this is an incredibly solid defence, if we have to sit deep against a great opposition team it can easily become a back five but

when play gets turned over the counter attack can be ruthless. Players like Cahill and Jagielka, however reliable in the past, should remain just that, in the past, and focus should instead shift on players that have proven themselves to be on the top of their game in this season and the last, especially in this new system.

The remaining two players in the four man midfield would be central midfielders, one of whom needs to be a creative influence. For that playmaker the media have thrown around various names, most notably Adam Lallana, Jack Wilshire and Harry Winks. In my opinion for Wilshire if you aren’t playing regular first team games for your club how could you possibly get called up to represent your country.

As much as a think Wilshire has moments of brilliance, unless something changes he shouldn’t get called up for the World Cup. That leaves Lallana and Winks and the decision I think is obvious.

Winks has broken through into the Spurs side this season starting consecutive games in the absence of alternatives such as Wanyama and has been outstanding. If we take the double header against Real Madrid recently as examples, he was a solid defensive midfielder in the first, picking the safer passes to ensure Madrid couldn’t break and in the second leg he was simply magnificent, with fantastic passes in the build up to the first and third goals.

It may be too early to call him the messiah but if he can perform that well against the, admittedly weakened, twice reigning European Champion’s with many months left still to improve, and while also playing in the exact formation and system England will, I think he is the man for the job. Lallana when back from injury will make a great replacement when needed and I hope Southgate sees Wink’s performances and takes the chance, and it is just that, a chance, as we can only predict outcomes with the data on hand.

Who Gareth Southgate plays next to the playmaker should be tailored to the teams we are up against, more so than any other part of the pitch. Against a weaker opposition we can afford to play a more forward minded player, in my opinion this should be Dele Alli. Whilst he hasn’t had the best start to the season he seems to be finally getting into his stride netting two against Madrid, albeit one deflection and one offside. The familiarity of the system and players around him, Walker, Rose, Winks, will make him more comfortable and a threat going forward.

Against a more favoured team such as Spain, France or Brazil, Southgate should play a more defensively minded player, with Eric Dier the clear option. Dier, another Tottenham player, therefore familiar with players, systems etc, would be pivotal in the defensive midfield role. When defending he can sit just in front of the centre backs filling in that gap and forcing the opposing team to pass the ball backwards, to the wings, or to take potshots from distance.

Now we move onto the two wing positions. On the right hand side, there is no argument that Sterling should start every game. His form is astounding this season scoring seven times and assisted twice so far. With teammate Walker on the right hand side, he will have to change little tactically going into the tournament. His role will have two main functions.

The first is to move into the centre of the pitch with the left hand winger, forcing a favourable three vs two or three vs three match up

against the central defenders. At the same time the wing backs will push up on the wings making five players in the attack. The opposition will therefore have to bring back midfielders to stifle the attack, thus inhibiting their own ability to attack.

The second function is to allow the wing backs to invert and come centrally giving the wingers one vs one situations against the defence. You would favour Sterling here as his burst of pace will leave most players in his dust. To go alongside Sterling on the left I would suggest Marcus Rashford. He currently plays on the left for United and would cherish the opportunity to move centrally, his favoured position, in this system. Jesse Lingard and potentially Walcott can come on late in the game to provide fresh legs and pace against tiring defenders.

To cap off the 3-4-2-1 we should play Harry Kane. Scoring 13 goals in 14 games in all competitions there is no striker who comes close.

He knows the system inside out and would thrive alongside Sterling and Rashford whose first instinct when getting the ball is to run at defenders. I don’t think there is a country in the tournament who won’t look at that attacking three and get worried.

I also don’t think there is a fan in England who doesn’t look at our goalkeeping position and get worried. Goalkeeper is the position of most concern for England fans. Butland at Stoke and Hart at West Ham are having poor seasons with their teams. Heaton is out injured and his replacement, Pope, although making joint second saves with his team in 7th, is quite inexperienced. Based upon current performance, Pope could get a call up but is he good enough to start against the best in the world? And if not who is? I would suggest Everton’s Pickford.

Based upon Everton’s abysmal league position you may disagree but Pickford looks head and shoulders above every other player on that team. In the summer I can’t foresee a world where a bigger club doesn’t throw him a lifebuoy to rescue him from that sinking ship.

The Toffees only have 11 points if it wasn’t for his incredible 34 saves they would have far, far less.

This looks like a formidable side but there are flaws to the 3-4-2-1 system. The formation is countered by a side matching it, with each player marking their opposite number. A team that presses hard and consistently will force England into making errors and if the ball is lost in the wide spaces it could leave our defence exposed.

It is important to note that we will probably have less than 50% percent possession in most games, relying on counter attacks by overcommitted opposition attackers for our chance, but a lower possession stat does not mean we are not playing well. A solid defence, as ours should be, can withstand wave after wave of attacks. Weaker teams should be dispatched with ease but we may come unstuck against the better sides.

The two games against Germany and Brazil will give us some indication of how we can expect to perform in these fixtures next summer. A 3-0 loss now doesn’t mean we are done for, if anything it is preferable, as we can examine the mistake we made and learned from it. If we win one or two nil we will learn very little. It’s better to get a drumming to Germany now then to get one to Iceland next summer.

Most liked teams

Most disliked teams

Unsurprisingly, 73% of voters declared a Premier League side their favourite. However, 10% of users chose a club from the Championship with Ipswich, Leeds, QPR and Sheffield United all featuring. Exeter City, Portsmouth and Wycombe complete the teams from the football league while just one non-league team in Enfield Town was chosen.

Elsewhere, 7% of the vote went to international leagues with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Ajax all featuring.

Lessons from Western Australia England 349 for 6 dec (Stoneman 85, Vince 82, Hardie 2-46) drew with Western Australia 342 (Philippe 88, Hinchliffe 75, Anderson 4-27, Overton 2-70) Arthur Salisbury Sports Editor It used to be that cricket tours would sprawl across a whole summer, endless warm-up matches against made-up teams with Roman numerals suffixed. It’s a drag frankly. They do things better these days. Four practice games, two of which only take up two days.

It’s the right amount - the players learn a bit and so do we, but it doesn’t take away too much of the home advantage (cricket’s great strength) and it doesn’t actually give us, the spectators, a definitive feel for the series ahead. Indeed, it would be silly to draw conclusions about the forthcoming war from one two-day jolly against Western Australia XI. And here they are: 1) Over-reliance on James Anderson.

I’ve been suppressing this thought for the best part of a decade, that Stuart Broad is no good. Where does contrarianism end and concrete opinion begin? It’s unclear in this instance, but the week’s events have boosted the latter. 1/64 at a rate of nearly five an over against a team representing a third of a country is a poor showing. Especially when you bear in mind that only a few hundred gnarled convicts live in that third.

And who makes up the rest of our pace attack? Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Jake Ball? Players immortalised in Wisden but not in memory. Of course, Anderson helped us out with 4/27. He is the greatest English bowler there’s been, and I say this not only to taunt the starched collars at the SF Barnes Appreciation Society. But Jimmy will turn 43 during the Adelaide test and it’s downright unfair to make such an old man take so much responsibility.

2) Drop the deadweight.

Cook and Root made 0 and 9 respectively. It’s time they made way for a fresh face, or, alternatively, Mark Ramprakash. The Australians have always had a tough time against the steely Surrey man. From his dazzling 133 in the dead rubber innings defeat at The Oval to all his other great performances. Never faltering, never flinching, the glue that held together the all-conquering England side of the 1990s. Brearley must return as captain.

3) Ditch the spin.

All the WA wickets came off of the quicks, and Mason Crane’s high-economy 2/75 has done little to convince me that spin bowler will ever achieve success in Australia. Noted alien conspiracist and cheese griller Shane Warne aside, this is a country that welcomes chin music. Cricketing culture tends to reflect the national culture, and in Australia they are hard bastards. Heck, it worked in 2009 - bring Steve Harmison back into the side. We all remember staying up and watching the first ball of the 2006-07 series, that wiiiiiide that went straight to Flintoff at ninth slip. It supposedly set the tone for the whole tour. But people forget, that first over also brought an edge.

4) Let Ben Stokes come along.

Honestly, who cares that he glassed that bloke? A lot of these Aussies will have Seen and Done Things worse, you can read it in their swagger and eyes.

I fear these complaints and recommendations will be too radical for the small minds at the ECB so I will have to go with Glenn on this one. 5-0 Australia, we’re just no good.

League by league

The first Ashes test 23-27 Novemeber Brisbane (00:00 GMT)

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The Paradise Papers and the Premier League

Most liked club survey

What does this leak have to do with your favourite club?

James Gill Sports Reporter Two years after the Panama Papers shone a light on fraud and alleged tax avoidance by individuals and companies across the world, we have another leak, the Paradise Papers. They detail yet more cases involving such esteemed and respected people as Lewis Hamilton and the Queen of England, Her Majesty herself. More importantly for football fans though, two big Premier League clubs have been implicated, but which ones, and how?

Alisher Usmanov is a Russian businessman with a net worth of over $15 billion. He, along with his former accountant, Farhad Moshiri, bought 14 per cent of Arsenal in August 2007. Both parties insist that they paid for their own individual shares, but a document released indicates that the money Moshiri used was gifted to him by Usmanov. At this moment in time, there isn’t any foul play.

For the next six years, until 2013, they both increased their stake in Arsenal to a total of 30 per cent, now owning a sizeable chunk of the North London Club; still nothing is awry. On 26th of February 2016, Moshiri decides to sell his half of the shares, 15 per cent, to none other than Usmanov himself.

The very next day, 27th February, Moshiri uses the money he acquired from the sale of his shares to buy a majority position in Everton. A deal that was completed by a company called Bridgewaters. That company, registered in the Isle of Man has links to, you guessed it, Usmanov.

So to recap, Usmanov supposedly gave Moshiri money to buy Arsenal shares with him, they increased their position and then transferred all the shares into Usmanov’s name. The day after that was completed Moshiri bought a 49.9 per cent stake of Everton for a reported £87.5 million.

These potentially dodgy dealings could be because there is a Premier League ruling stating that an individual who owns a ten per cent or more stake in one club cannot own a single share in another. Speculation suggests that Usmanov is trying to spread his control in English football through Moshiri, thus bypassing the rules of the league. Both sides fiercely deny the accusations, saying that the documents leaked in the papers were a mistake.

Earlier this year, Usmanov attempted to buy the shares of another major Arsenal shareholder, Stan Kroenke, in a deal worth a suspected £1 billion, which would have seen his stake rise to a whopping 97 per cent. Luckily for football fans everywhere, Kroenke showed no interest in the deal and that was that.

His aim for that deal was to soothe his frustration at his lack of power at the club. Currently, Usmanov doesn’t have a seat on the board, and so cannot influence the running of the club. By buying out the other main shareholder, he would own almost all of Arsenal, and therefore be able to change things on a whim.

But what does this mean for the two clubs? When asked about it, the officials at the Premier League refused to comment, citing that they “would not disclose confidential information about

clubs or individuals.”

The Premier League added: “Only when these (financial assessments) and many other rules have been applied, and due diligence completed, will the Premier League Board allow an investment to proceed.” If what is alleged is true, then it will be another embarrassment for the English Football Association in 2017.

It is likely that there will be an investigation undertaken to see if these transactions were above board as the pair suggest, or murky, as the recent documents show. They would also look at whether the clubs knew about any of this before the leaks.

There are no current rules to stop clubs being owned by tax-haven companies, and in fact most clubs are owned in havens such as the Caymen Islands and, like Everton, the Isle of Man. This is essentially a systematic evasion of UK tax and drastic new laws need to be implemented to force owners of English clubs to pay taxes in England. The ability to avoid doing that is perplexing.

Should these takeovers be discovered to be fraudulent, there will undoubtedly be large fines for both people involved. If the clubs themselves are found to have known and not said anything, the worst case scenario would be points penalties, but that scenario is very unlikely.

The most likely scenario, based upon the aftermath of the Panama Papers, is that nothing will be done. Those doing morally wrong will face no punishment, and those who should hold them accountable will drag their heels until the story is less recent in our minds.

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Doping in sport

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Books

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What’s On

Top 5

Podcasts for the Bookish

Tia Armstrong Deputy Books Editor

5. Book Riot - The Podcast When publishers make an exciting new book deal or it’s announced that a book is being turned into a TV series, you can expect Jeff and Rebecca from Bookriot.com to discuss it. Book Riot have developed a dedicated following on social platforms like Twitter and YouTube, so the success of this podcast is no surprise. If you’re a bookworm that wants to keep up to date with the latest literary news, this is the podcast for you. You can find the Book riot podcast on Bookriot.com or Apple’s podcast app.

4. The Guardian Books podcast From discussions about award nominations and interviews to live panels and author readings, this is a bookish podcast with a little bit of everything. The Guardian provides a seamless production that will appeal to sophisticated readers with an eclectic taste.

Aside from interviews and reviews the presenters Claire Armitsead, Richard Lea & Sian Cain also take the time to investigate themes and trends in the literary world. And recently even questioned whether books and poetry can make us happier, which made for a very intriguing and unique podcast episode.

Access this literary treasure chest on the podcast app or The Guardian’s website.

3. London Review Bookshop Podcast This engaging and atmospheric podcast allows you to travel to the London Review Bookshop in Camden, where high-profile readings and discussions are held every week.

Thanks to technology, anyone can listen to the live recordings of the work and insights of a variety of writers. The readings and conversations allow anyone with an internet connection to have a more vibrant experience with literature. As well as develop a deeper connection with not only the writing featured, but the writers as well. There’s something to appeal to every kind of reader. A look into Chris Kraus’ biography on Kathy Acker, a performance by poet, Anne Carson and talk of Iain Sinclair’s infatuation with London make up the content of the last three episodes alone. If you want to be transported to London these live recordings are uploaded on the bookshop’s website and the podcast app.

2. The Book Review Not just any book can be featured in The New York Times’ Book Review, and the same can be said for this podcast. Every week, the editors of the renowned publication delve deep into brilliant novels, talk with the world’s best writers and critics, and discuss relevant goings on in the literary world. If you are someone who can’t stop thinking about a book after reading it, this podcast will be a pleasure to listen to. As it allows you to hear directly from some of the most brilliant minds in the literary world about their creative process. One noteworthy episode features an interview with this year’s Man Booker Prize winner George Saunders, who details some of the decisions he made while writing as well as the challenges he faced. The Book Review can be found on the New York Times website and the podcast app.

Photo: Twitter:@MostlyLit 1. Mostly Lit Mostly Lit is a high energy podcast that represents the millennial reader. The hosts Alex Reads, Rai, and Derek Owusu have a great dynamic and are not afraid of engaging in heated debates about the diverse books they read. Things are never boring with the podcast’s wide variety of content. Episodes have included topical discussions on feminism, diversity in publishing and mental health. As well as interviews with publishers like Sharmaine Lovegrove, who is behind the new inclusive imprint Dialogue books, and acclaimed British author of the popular Noughts & Crosses series Malorie Blackman.

You can access all of this in addition to fun segments and light-hearted banter on both Soundcloud and The podcasts app. Talking about books has never been more exciting!

Want to write for Books?

Whether you want to have your say on the latest releases, review a live literature event in Manchester, or just have a rant about writing you don’t particularly enjoy (!) Mancunion Books is the perfect platform for your work, with an extremely wide online and paper edition readership.

Join our Facebook group: Mancunion Books Contributors 2017/18 for updates or

Email us at books@mancunion.com

Manchester in November for Literature Lovers From exhibitions about muggles and magic to live literature, there is something on for every bookworm this month Ayesha Hussain Books Editor What: Harry Potter: A History of Magic Exhibition Where: The Central Library When: now — 31st January 2018/ Monday-Thursday 9am-8pm; Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm Calling all Potter fans! Many of us have been lucky enough to have grown up with Harry and with the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, there is no better way to retrospectively revel in the magic of his world than to journey to where it all began.

Manchester Central Library is proud to host a display inspired by the British Library’s new exhibition, Harry Potter: A History of Magic.

Displays were launched simultaneously across 20 public libraries in the UK, mirroring the initial exhibition at London’s British Library. In addition to the showcasing of images of rare books (including books from J.K. Rowling’s own collections), magical paraphernalia, and manuscripts from the original exhibition, there will also be a display of Manchester Central Library’s local connection to magic and folklore from their Special and Archive collections.

Additionally, you can channel your inner Hermione and attend The Hogwarts Curriculum Lectures: Defence Against The Dark Arts with Christopher Frayling (Monday 22nd Jan 2018, 19:00 – 20:15). Acclaimed cultural historian Christopher Frayling will discuss the origins of the myths that surround the evil and supernatural in the Harry Potter books. While history does not speak of death eaters as such, it does speak of vampires – Frayling will discuss how their portyals have changed and how they have been appropriated by the Gothic imagination.

Photo_ kReEsTaL @ Flickr

What: The Reformation, Radical Print - Printing Press Demonstration, Thursday Lates: Come Join the Protest!

Where: The John Rylands Library When: now- 4th March 2018 Find out how books, so readily available to us today, came to be so widespread. The John Rylands Library is currently running various events related to their resident 19th century printing press. This winter the library has shown an interest in the power of the printed word. The Reformation, an exhibition, explores the domino effect of Martin Luther’s 95 theses in the 16th century and the rapid religious, political, social, and artistic change that occurred across Europe as a result of its introduction. There is also an opportunity to see a printing press in action during the ‘Radical Print – Printing Press Demonstration’ events that run every day on a drop-in basis. Also, the ‘Thursday Lates: Come Join the Protest!’ event series means you can visit the library to

find out how the printed word accelerated the spread of ideas, protest, and debate.

What: Chorlton Book Festival Where: Chorlton Library When: 17th-25th November 2017 The Chorlton Book Festival returns for its 13th year with another lineup of brilliant writers and interactive events – of which most are free! Local poet Copland Smith will be in conversation with special guest Cath Nichols on the 17th to kickstart the festival and discuss her new collection ‘This is Not a Stunt’. A highlight of the collection is a piece called ‘Bo(d)y-in-waiting’ that carries the story of a boy growing up trans in the 1970s, perpetually frustrated at the ignorance of the adults around him. On Tuesday 21st November, join the Feminist Graphic Novel Book Club and discuss of Isabel Greenberg’s The One Hundred Nights of Hero. For a taste of spoken word, in association with Manchester Library and Information Service and Flapjack press, join Tony Curry and Genevieve L. Walsh for ‘Word Central Open Mic’ night. Walsh will be debuting her poetry collection ‘The Dance of a Thousand Losers’, which has been described Henry Normal as “keen and urgent with an untamed beauty – like a puma caught under a streetlight”. Another highlight of the festival, with a distinct Mancunian flavour, is ‘An Evening with Laura Wilkinson – Skin Deep’ where Wilkinson discusses her latest novel, primarily set against the backdrop of Hulme in the 1980’s.

What: Jennifer Egan @ Manchester Literature Festival Where: Manchester Central Library When: 15th November 19:00-21:00 Critically acclaimed author Jennifer Egan makes a rare visit to the UK to discuss her latest novel, Manhattan Beach. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Brooklyn-based novelist delves into the world of historical fiction with this novel. It is set during the Depression and follows the story of its strong female lead Anna Kerringer, a navy diver from an Irish family, aiming to survive through a turbulent and uncertain time for women in a city populated by sailors and gangsters, tragic starlets, and mysterious tycoons. Meghan O’Rourke from The Guardian calls it ‘a remarkable work of cinematic scope’ with parts of the novel having a ‘Joycean musical fragmentation’. Egan will be in conversation with creative consultant and arts producer Katie Popperwell. Tickets for the event are available at the Manchester Central Library and Manchester Literature Festival websites.

What: Bad Language Where: The Castle Hotel, Northern Quarter When: Wednesday 29th November 17 Bad Language is an award winning spoken word night that takes place on the last Wednesday of every month. For their last open mic event of 2017 they are inviting Helen Mort, poet and lecturer in the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, to share her work. She has published two poetry collections: Division Street (2013) and No Map Could Show Them (2016). Open mic slots are available if you would like to take part and more information can be found on: www.badlanguagemcr.com. Manchester poet Tony Walsh, who wrote the famous ‘This is the place’, says of the night: “I’m always impressed when I come along to a Bad Language night. It’s great to see a packed but attentive room for a live literature night.”