Coventry October 2016 by The University Paper

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DAN SMITH: It all started at university

COVENTRY EDITION

foam party!

October 2016

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Freshers Special

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AURORA Draws us into her world

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BLOSSOMS Are feeling different now

City is top of paid-for essays list

Don’t copy bought work, students warned @ HENRY EDWARDS

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TWIN ATLANTIC Speak the brutal truth

INTERVIEW

More students are paying for model essays to be written in Coventry than anywhere else in the UK, according to a recent survey. Students in the city topped the list of those having assignments, including dissertations, researched and custom-written, according to UK Essays, which provides essay help. The company looked at the location of students using its site, which sells tailored example essays from £119 per 1,000 words for a 2:2 – prices

vary for higher grades and for masters-level work. The company’s website admits students may be tempted to submit the essays they buy as their own, but warns: ‘Your piece of work must be a 100 per cent original creation derived from the information we provide you and your own independent research.’ After Coventry, students in London were the next most likely to use the site, followed by those in Brighton. A Coventry University spokesman said: ‘We have stringent policies in place to discourage and prevent

We have stringent policies in place to discourage and prevent plagiarism

Coventry University

plagiarism of any kind amongst our student body. Safeguarding measures are in place to ensure any websites offering essay-purchasing services are blocked on campus. ‘Any suspected cases of plagiarism or academic misconduct are managed according to the university’s robust policies and procedures.’ A spokesman for the University of Warwick pointed to its webpages, which state that any student suspected of submitting someone else’s work as their own will be reported to their head of department for investigation.

IZZY BIZU Is still figuring everything out

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MICHAEL BISPING Relishes the pressure

News

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October 2016

Grad who did station CV stint hopes his next stop is a job A Coventry University graduate got suited and booted to try and appeal to potential employers outside several London train stations. Armed with a placard and a pile of CV’s, Emmanuel Johnson spent a day touring around London stations including Euston, Waterloo and Victoria. Emmanuel, aged 21 said: ‘I had made a couple of online applications and I didn’t like the way they were going. Instead of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something different I thought I would try something new.’ The media and communications graduate stood outside Euston station for around an hour and a

It was a challenging but exciting experience

Emmanuel Johnson, Coventry University

For more Coventry news, go to www. unipaper.co.uk

half, where he received mixture of reactions to his recruitment drive. Emmanuel said: ‘I had some people staring at me and others wishing me good luck and I had some employers asking me for a CV. ‘It was a challenging but exciting experience.’ Since his creative attempt to get noticed by employers, Emmanuel has received one offer for an interview but says he will continue to look for a job just in case. Emmanuel tells TUP the stunt was an attempt to stand out to potential employers and said other job hunters can do the same. He said: ‘Think outside of the box, even with online applications, I think it’s good to express yourself in a genuine way.’

Rebel talks life in UK and Korea

PICTURE: TWITTER @ONLINEQUAKER

@ Amy Denman

IN BRIEF

A North Korean masters student who escaped the dictatorship and is now at the University of Warwick has spoken about his experiences. Sungju Lee, who escaped in 2002, has set up a charity and written a memoir, Every Falling Star. In a live Q&A with The Guardian online, Sungju spoke about his experience of living on the streets with a gang in North Korea. He said: ‘You join to survive, to protect each other, but we were vulnerable and people were easily damaged and died on the street.’

Sign me up: Coventry graduate takes his job hunt to the streets

Close shave for PM SU misses out on chance to quiz May @ Tom Gellatly

Theresa May avoided a confrontation with students’ union reps during a visit to the University of Warwick. Warwick SU members wanted to speak to May but claim they were not told about her visit, which they described as ‘fleeting’, in advance. The prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, were welcomed to the university to visit the Warwick Manufacturing Group and learn about their new innovations in

science and the automotive industry. But the students’ union said its reps did not get to speak to Theresa May to discuss its policy (Deport Theresa May) Let International Students and Refugees Stay. The policy was written in response to the treatment of overseas students, including nearly 50,000 alleged to have been deported illegally. It allows sabbatical officers to oppose ‘unlawful deportation’ of international students at Warwick and supports movements such as the campaign to stop hepatitis sufferer Luqman Onikosi being deported. Three sabbatical officers made their way to the WMG, but could

not get any time with May. The students’ union said: ‘We wanted to speak to Theresa May as we have policy expressing no confidence in her as Home Secretary and calling for support for refugees and international students’ right to be free from deportation so they can remain and study in the UK.’ Its statement, which is no longer live on its website, read: ‘This is especially important following the Brexit result and for a university and students’ union which celebrates the diversity and international composition of its community.’ The union also wanted to speak to the prime minister about the

higher education bill, which has been widely debated since it was announced in May this year. Warwick’s vice-chancellor, Prof Stuart Croft, praised the visit, saying: ‘We were pleased to welcome the prime minister and chancellor to the University of Warwick so soon after commencing their new roles. ‘They saw and heard about Warwick’s role as a leader in supporting the regional and national economy through technological innovation, high-tech engineering and skills development.’ TUP has contacted the prime minister for a comment.

Prize chance for both unis The city’s universities are both hoping for success in the ‘Oscars of higher education’. The University of Warwick is up for an Outstanding Contribution To Leadership Development prize at the Times Higher Education Awards, while Coventry University is nominated in the Entrepreneurial University and International Collaboration categories. Coventry was named University Of The Year at last year’s ceremony. Vice-chancellor Prof John Latham said: ‘The recognition for our international activity is particularly meaningful.’ This year’s winners will be announced on November 24.

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Prized cargo kills cancer Scientists have found a new way to target cancer cells, leaving healthy tissue unharmed. University of Warwick chemists worked with biologists from China’s Sun Yat-sen University to develop a way of transporting precious metals directly to head and neck cancer cells, killing them.

BBC show at Warwick Jonathan Dimbleby hosted BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions at Warwick Business School. The presenter was joined by MP Angela Eagle, who challenged Jeremy Corbyn for Labour’s leadership earlier this year, and former Channel 4 economics editor Paul Mason, who has left to become a freelance.

4|News

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October 2016

IN NUMBERS

Activists are preparing to take to the streets to demand free education – we ask how far marching will get them @ Amy Denman STUDENTS will face fresh tuition fee hikes if Government plans go ahead – and many are planning a protest through London to try and stop them. But can the rises be stopped by street protests and should we even be opposing higher fees? The Government proposed a raft of changes earlier this year in its higher education bill. The most controversial was to allow some universities to raise tuition fees above £9,000 a year, starting with £9,250 in September 2017. The bill is currently going through Parliament and if it becomes law, fees will be linked to teaching quality, measured by the National Student Survey and graduate employment data. Institutions judged as having high quality teaching will be able to match fees with inflation and some have already said they plan to do this if they get permission. Universities minister Jo Johnson, who supports the bill, said it would ‘for the first time link the funding of teaching in higher education to quality and not simply quantity – a principle that has long been established for research’. But the NUS fears the changes would make it easier for profitmaking universities to be set up, turning students into consumers. NUS president Malia Bouattia said: ‘The HE bill claims to put students at the centre of its policies, but in practice it will result in higher fees, less resources, and less security for students. ‘It claims to empower students through providing greater choice, but reduces student involvement to student satisfaction surveys and simple numerical scores. ‘Worryingly, high student satisfaction can be used as a rationale to raise tuition fees.’ The NUS and University and College Union, which represents lecturers and other staff, have announced a national rally for November, backed by The National Campaign Against Fees And Cuts.

per cent of graduates will never pay off their student loan, which is written off after 30 years.

per cent of graduates who were the first to pay £9k fees have moved back home

Debts demo: Students gathered in London to protest cuts to maintenance grants last year

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Ana Oppenheim from NCAFC said: ‘We believe that teaching can be improved through democratising universities and investing in staff, not through marketisation and privatisation. ‘Allowing universities judged to be the best to increase how much they charge will lead to even more inequality in our education system, as well as the closures of less profitable courses at the expense of students and staff.’ The group organised a march of thousands of students through London in December in a bid to stop maintenance grants cuts, which went ahead in August this year. Not all students believe the demo,

planned for November 19, is the best way to tackle the issue. David Browne, a postgrad studying international human rights law at Exeter university, said: ‘What the NUS should surely be doing is lobbying or trying to get into the corridors of power, rather than throwing tantrums outside of them. ‘It looks like an equivalent to the May Day rallies, which do little to make communism more attractive to the British electorate precisely because the march seems like an exercise in vanity.’ He added that asking students to pay more than £9,000 a year was not necessarily a bad thing. ‘We can’t ignore the fact that

The NUS should try and get into the corridors to power, not throw tantrums outside

David Browne, Exeter university student

inflation renders the £9,000 cap increasingly difficult for universities,’ he said. ‘Student loans are at very competitive rates.’ The NUS said its demo was ‘about sending a clear message to the government and Theresa May to invest in further and higher education’. It has faced criticism for spending a reported £60,000 on organising the rally, but a spokesperson said it was still finalising the costs. ‘Once we have done that, we will be working with partners to ensure every penny spent contributes to a powerful statement of support for improvements to education for all,’ they added.

per cent of students feel they are getting their money's worth at uni

ANOTHER WAY?

A group of lecturers didn't like the new bill and wrote their own – here is the original and the alternative version The Government's reforms: If successful, these will be put in place from 2017

The Alternative White Paper: A team of academics and activists put together these alternatives

n Universities will be made to publish admissions data.

n Additional funding to improve the student to staff ratio

n A teaching excellence framework will be put in place to judge

n A reduction in research demands so academics can spend

the quality of teaching in universities. n Universities with a high quality teaching rating will be allowed to raise their fees in line with inflation.

more time with students n Financial support for students from lower income backgrounds

will be the cost of tuition fees per year by 2020, a 2015 report estimated

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6|Research

October 2016

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Cricket mating calls may be answer for hearing aids Creepy crawlies may develop sound tech @ Amy Denman We’re all familiar with the chirrup of crickets on a warm summer’s evening. Well, researchers at the University of Bristol have been studying whether this distinctive sound could hold the key to advancing hearing aid technology. ‘The secret to their loud calls is their wings are corrugated in specific patterns which makes them very stiff, which in turn makes them very loud when they are rubbed together,’ said Bristol’s Dr Rob Malkin in a blog on website The Conversation. ‘Using laser vibration systems and advanced computer

modelling simulations (more often used to study aerodynamics), we can replicate this idea by tailoring the stiffness of a speaker surface. This creates an efficient way to make tiny speakers very loud indeed.’ The study brings together the three separate disciplines of biology, medicine and engineering. Dr Malkin said although the three areas have been traditionally separate by combining them, the researchers can develop new solutions based on discoveries made many years ago. He added: ‘While bio-inspired hearing aids may not be about to arrive on the shelves, this innovative new field of study could find more ways to address the needs of people with hearing loss.’

This innovative new field of study could find more ways to address the needs of people with hearing loss

Dr Rob Malkin, University of Bristol

Sound solution: Cricket love calls could help improve hearing aids

Just one joint will make you lazier @ Amy Denman

@ Amy Denman

Smoking is an expensive habit, but it’s not just the till prices burning a hole in smokers’ pockets. The cost of treating the smokingrelated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will exceed more than £2.3billion per year in England and £200million in Scotland by 2030, research from the University of Edinburgh suggests.

Cocaine addiction can be cured by administering a drug currently used in cancer treatment trials, a Cardiff University study has found. The experimental therapy treats cocaine addiction by inhibiting memories responsible for drug cravings. The new treatment, which was only tested on mice, can destroy the memories of joy associated with drug use, which the study found are the key to turning recreational drug use into an Ana Iliescu addiction.

‘Test mental health early’ The children of parents with severe psychiatric disorders are three to four times more likely to develop violent and suicidal tendencies, recent research has suggested. The University of Manchester study proposes early intervention should be put in place through the medium of screening tests to determine whether the child is predisposed to any mental health problems that would result in violent or suicidal behaviours.

Emily Stables

Hazy and lazy: One spliff can demotivate you

to carry out a task that, if completed, would earn them money. In each trial, the participants were given the choice of a more difficult task for higher cash rewards or an easier task for lower rewards. The researchers found the participants who inhaled the cannabis were less motivated to do the more difficult task and would

settle for the easier option. Researchers compared the participants’ results to a group of cannabis addicts in an observational study and found the same results. This could suggest there is no difference to a person’s motivation if they are a long term or one-off user, however the effects seemed to wear off after 12 hours.

Rio 2016 was a historic Olympics for Team GB, with a whopping 67 medals, 11 of which were from the cycling track. Although much of the success is down to the athletes themselves, the bikes also played a big part. So it is fair to say University of Bristol lecturer Prof Stuart Burgess, who played a key role in developing the chains for Team GB’s bikes, deserves a pat on the back. He said: ‘The riders are the main reason for the success at Rio but it is important to optimise every part of the bike because every country is continuously improving their bike technology. ‘At Bristol we have had an excellent

team of researchers and technicians who have contributed to the project and they now feel they have a connection with the Olympics.’ Prof Burgess was the principal investigator in a project to develop one of the world’s most accurate test rigs for measuring the efficiency of bicycle chain transmissions. The refined tests were used on Team GB’s Olympic bikes to optimise and measure the efficiency of the chain drive, to ensure the bikes were at their peak performance level. He added: ‘We were quite nervous at the start of the Olympics but then really thrilled when the cyclists won so many medals.’

Lung disease treatment will cost billions in 15 years Aging population to blame for increase

Cancer drug cures habit

Team GB’s biking wins helped by Bristol test The end is

PICTURE: BHAGESH SACHANIA

Afroman’s popular 2001 song Because I Got High could reveal some truths, according to two UCL studies. Researchers at the London university found just one spliff will make you less motivated for an entire day. Will Lawn a researcher at UCL, wrote in research website The Conversation: ‘After years of being told that getting high makes you lazier, we’ve provided some of the first solid evidence that it’s true. On the bright side, your long-term cannabis use may not erode your drive like some people claim.’ Under a controlled laboratory environment, the study gave some participants the equivalent of one spliff’s worth of cannabis, inhaled through a balloon, and some a placebo. The participants were then asked

No easy ride: Dr Burgess

IN BRIEF

The study predicted cases of COPD will rise from just over one million in 2011 to more than 1.3million by 2030 in England and 100,000 in 2011 to 120,000 in 2030 in Scotland. Edinburgh researcher, Dr Susannah McLean, said: ‘Our findings suggest there will be a substantial number of frail, elderly people living with COPD in the coming years, I hope advances in healthcare technologies will help meet this rising demand.’ Academics from the university

used a mathematical model to estimate the number of COPD diagnoses in England and Scotland by 2030. The study looked at smoking rates, disease severity and rate of deaths and concluded the main factors for the rise in costs is a longer life span rather than an increased rate of diagnosis. COPD is the name for a collection of lung diseases that are caused mainly by smoking. Sufferers have difficulties with breathing and Stub it out: Cost of treating COPD is set to rise persistent coughing.

Planet Nine The mysterious Planet Nine could destroy our solar system when the sun dies, research from the University of Warwick suggests. Dr Dimitri Veras from the Physics Department predicted the hypothetical planet, which might exist in the outer solar system, could create a pinball effect, hurling other planets out of the solar system when the sun dies. However, the catastrophic event is seven billion years away, so no need to panic just yet. Ana Iliescu

Bad air can lose money Air pollution can negatively impact exam results and affect future earnings, research shows. The study revealed taking an exam on a day with increased pollution could lead to a 3.8 per cent decline in student test scores. Researchers from LSE, University of Warwick and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem looked at Israeli school students’ entrance exams over a two year period, the pollution levels at the time and their wages eight to ten years on.

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Comment

October 2016

Want to have your say about a current event? Email your comment to editor@unipaper.co.uk

Going into the new academic year can be a nerve-wracking time. As you embark on the next stage of your degree, new worries appear, from money to dissertations. We asked eight students what their biggest fear was for this year.

This month’s question:

What makes you most nervous about this new academic year? Coming out of education is unnerving Georgia Welch, University of Manchester

Adult life and all its tasks are looming Rosie Davidson, University of Sheffield

Money worries could get in the way of my studies Carly Stevenson, University of Sheffield

Jump from first to second year is daunting Zoe Thompson, University of Bristol

Perhaps the most terrifying thing about my third year is the looming prospect of what lies beyond education. I’m sure I’m not alone in finding the world of employment and decision making following university extremely daunting. Not only is settling on the right career for me a difficult choice, but it’s also tricky to work out whether or not employment is the next step. After what will have been 17 years spent in education, a gap year is beginning to sound more and more appealing.

Sacrificing my social life to study will be hard

These past two years at university I have been in a naive daze, believing my degree will not count towards anything, or it will only count towards 30 per cent. This naivety prolongs the inevitable – entering the real tax-paying world. The dawning realisation is these are probably the last few years of your young adult life, when you can get away with watching hours of Come Dine With Me, skipping countless commitments, while nursing a hangover with your housemates. What is most worrying is your parents’ worries, which have always been background music, will be yours in a few years’ time. But above all of these worries is the concern that I will look back on my three years at university with feelings of remorse or regret over what I should or should not have done.

Preparing to survive in an all-girl house

It’s the same as it has been since starting my PhD: Finding ways to support myself while studying. As a self-funded student, it can be challenging to find the right balance between paid work, studying and a social life, especially on a limited income. I’ve always felt compelled to seek out as many opportunities for paid employment as possible, often at the expense of my research. Recently, however, I have made a conscious effort to avoid taking on too much ‘extra’ work. Money worries have kept me awake at night on several occasions last academic year and I imagine it’ll be the same now, but somehow I know I’ll overcome these obstacles and (hopefully) make some progress with my thesis. Did I mention the importance of staying positive?

Juggling work and social life will be tricky

As I transition to my second year of university, my biggest fear for the upcoming year is my potential academic vulnerability. While the comforting fug of the freshers’ 40 per cent pass-rate clears, the performance-focussed environment of second year, which ‘actually counts’, is daunting. In line with this, after an aimless four-month summer, I’m nervous about feeling disengaged and overwhelmed when rejoining my course. Rumours often circulate about how second year is a significant step up from first year introductory modules. Similarly, the academic confidence and social focus of first year, with the offered guidance from university support networks, is likely to be replaced by challenging curriculum demands and an attitude of ‘you should really know this by now.’

Graduate jobs are easy to find – right?

Louisa Kendal, University of Bristol

Imogen Guild, Newcastle University

Jessica Ginting, University of Bristol

Jessica Farrington, University of Sheffield

With my third year here, I am really worried about one thing above all others… the death of our social lives. We’ve heard the warnings from those in the years above us: ‘Enjoy it while you can’ and ‘you don’t know how good you’ve got it’. Despite our hope that nothing will change, we all know that with dissertations and finals looming over our already frazzled heads, we’ll be struggling to drag ourselves from the library every day. Although we may attempt to do freshers’ week and kid ourselves that we our no different to our younger companions, we all know we will be anything but fresh as we wake up for that 9am ‘Introduction To Your Dissertation’ (or as I like to call it, the extended essay of evil) seminar. Living in a house with six other girls. If I wasn’t fearful when I signed the contract, I sure am now. Every time I tell someone about my housing situation this year, I’m met with the same reaction of horror mixed with pity, as though I’ve just signed my death warrant. I’m also quite a paranoid person so it got me thinking: ‘What if our periods end up in sync?’ I’ve heard that can happen. On the plus side, the girls I’m going to live with are all great and really chilled. There may be obstacles that come with living in an all-female house but I’m confident the good times we are going to have this year will outweigh those. Going into my first year at the University of Bristol, I didn’t know what to expect. My goal was just to experience university life to the fullest and to learn as much as I can, both academically and socially. My biggest fear for this upcoming academic year is being constricted by overwhelming expectations – the pressure to perform academically, the pressure to maintain friendships, and the pressure to constantly work towards building a career. Being a fresher was liberating in the sense that I was allowed to (and expected to) make mistakes. Having high expectations can be very motivating, but I think it’s important to keep things realistic without letting them fester into something harmful and counter-productive. A lot of students will constantly be told that university is the one time they won’t have any true troubles to deal with. But when you’re heading into the third and final year of your degree, as I am, the pressure does step up a gear. My one fear for the academic year is whether I’ll be able to find work after I graduate. People taking arts and humanities degrees often wonder this because the skills you learn can be transferred to many areas, so you could apply for almost any kind of job. Then again, at least this means we have lots of job options to consider. Third year? Bring it on.

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Shingi Rice, 23, describes how the 50/50 chance she would survive surgery inspired her to study fashion photography AKING PHOTOS was aways something I had enjoyed, but I saw it as more of a hobby than a career option. But in 2013, when I was 20, a fairly common condition turned into a serious one and helped make up my mind on my career decisions. I was in my final year of college. I began to look for universities and although I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do for a career, I decided @ Future Finance to visit universities anyway. At the beginning of 2013 I began OU’VE sat the exams, to get painsgot in the mygrades left arm. and I had previously told byat secured been your place doctors I had a hole in my heart university. valve, but that was quite Butthis there’s still a tonne of things to before you start the common fordo young adults. Butterm, in October the pain new such as2013 making sure you came back, my limbsfor began to have enough clothes freshers’ swell and I was rushed the week,up perfecting your selfietogame emergency room. and, most importantly, making sure After a while in money hospital,tothe you have enough last the doctors did some tests and Iinto wasyour whole term without falling told I had a blood clot. While I was overdraft. Notthey onlywanted is this ame new there toterm, have a

heart scan to make sure everything was OK. I had a quick scan and it turned out one of my heart valves, which normally helps blood flow through the heart, was missing. Then I found out I was going to have surgery, it was a really surreal moment, I remember my parents leaving to go and have dinner in the hospital cafe and I was just about to go to sleep when the doctor came butand it’stold the start of aInew journey in me that needed surgery in your as a young adult, so the nextlife morning. you want makebetween sure youacan I had to to choose pig’s learn important life skills suchThe as valve or a mechanical valve. budgeting money management. pig’s valveand meant I would need Whichevery is why we’ve surgery few yearsput andtogether a some top tips to help youbeing manage mechanical valve meant your first student installment on medication myloan whole life and without my having to swallow hearing heartbeat 24/7. your pride andthe visitmechanical the bank ofvalve mum– I chose andthought dad. of having my chest open the nGet few an NUS card: This every yearsdiscount was daunting. little beautmy will come and in handy in I called parents they came most major online high street rushing back. Theyand were distraught. shops, restaurants, and bars. I remember beingpubs wheeled into So when you’re nightsforout, the surgery roomon scared myyou life,

Cut out those cringeworthy visits to the bank of mum and dad with these top tips

my mom wouldn’t stop crying and my dad had a lost look in his eyes. My surgery was eight hours long and it was the longest eight hours of my parents’ life. The first time the doctor came out, he said that there was a 50/50 chance I’d survive. I can’t really imagine what my parents went through. My name was then called out and the doctor said I was very lucky. My mom kept on hugging and kissing the surgeon – she still does when I go back for my yearly check up. can make mostfor of all themonths. money I was in the hospital three youthe canbeginning save. I was giggling At n Student-only events: 24/7 – it was theshopping drugs they were Why wouldn’t take advantage giving me – butyou after a few weeks of extended they wore offdiscounts? and I was back to n Mainstream mean cheap: normal. Then adoesn’t few more weeks Shopsthat likeI started Wilko and B&M have after getting really great back to uni bargains. Step depressed. I couldn’t go outside outside your comfort and my try and I missed hanging zone out with something different, you that might be friends.I began to realise I had surprised withIwhat you can pick to study what was passionate up. at uni. about nIBecome a spreadsheet master: think because I had a 50/50

I can still hear the valve ticking all the time

Shingi Rice

Planning how much money goes out and when will really be key in ensuring you don’t touch that overdraft. n Don’t bottle it up: Your stress that is. We did a recent survey which Did you have an showed students mainly worry unusual path to the about their finances which could course you took? lead to mental health issues. If Email editor@ you need someone to talk to about unipaper.co.uk your finance fears, give us a call at Future Finance and we will talk you through your options.

Be cash savvy: Become a master of money this freshers’ week

chance of making it through the surgery, I just thought ‘I might as well spend my time doing something I enjoy’. I didn’t want to wait for another year and I felt it was manageable to start university, so I thought ‘just Future Finance, thego UK’s forfirst it’. specialist student lender, provides competitive tailored loans to students Although I didn’t pass my in second the UK and Germany whose government loansto and year at college, I managed get bursaries are not enough cover the cost of higher into thetoUniversity for the Creative education. Arts in Epsom, Surrey, to do a Future Finance isfoundation facilitating year. access to education through its proprietary lending platform, which factors Then last year, among other granular data on continuation, employability and courses, I applied to the London earnings into its lending decisions, enabling it tofashion lend College of Fashion to study to students who inphotography, many cases would bejust able to and Inot have obtain loans from finished banks. my first year. Future Finance provides loans to undergraduates The surgery has had some impacts my£40,000 life. I’m not and postgraduatesnegative of between £2,500onand allowed exercise anymore and I each academic year to helpto them pay for tuition costs used to periods be quiteare active. and living expenses. Loan for ten years I also borrowers put on quite a settle lot of early weight after graduation although can I like to snack. at any time with nobecause early repayment charges, and But the experience has overall. also reduce the amount of interest that they pay brought me closer to myoffamily Loans include up to four payment holidays three and although has always months, which provide students my withmum flexibility as they helped me with my studies, we have establish their careers. Shifting closerand since my surgery. Futurefocus: Finance isgrown authorised regulated by the And every time something goes Risky surgery led Authority. Financial Conduct Shingi to pursue wrong in my life, my family always Website: www.futurefinance.com her passion remind me I’ve been through worse.

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Cut out those cringeworthy visits to the bank of mum and dad with these top tips

@ Future Finance OU’VE sat the exams, got the grades and secured your place at university. But there’s still a tonne of things to do before you start the new term, such as making sure you have enough clothes for freshers’ week, perfecting your selfie game and, most importantly, making sure you have enough money to last the whole term without falling into your overdraft. Not only is this a new term,

but it’s the start of a new journey in your life as a young adult, so you want to make sure you can learn important life skills such as budgeting and money management. Which is why we’ve put together some top tips to help you manage your first student loan installment without having to swallow your pride and visit the bank of mum and dad. nGet an NUS discount card: This little beaut will come in handy in most major online and high street shops, restaurants, pubs and bars. So when you’re on nights out, you

can make the most of all the money you can save. n Student-only shopping events: Why wouldn’t you take advantage of extended discounts? n Mainstream doesn’t mean cheap: Shops like Wilko and B&M have great back to uni bargains. Step outside your comfort zone and try something different, you might be surprised with what you can pick up. n Become a spreadsheet master:

Be cash savvy: Become a master of money this freshers’ week

Planning how much money goes out and when will really be key in ensuring you don’t touch that overdraft. n Don’t bottle it up: Your stress that is. We did a recent survey which showed students mainly worry about their finances which could lead to mental health issues. If you need someone to talk to about your finance fears, give us a call at Future Finance and we will talk you through your options.

Future Finance, the UK’s first specialist student lender, provides competitive tailored loans to students in the UK and Germany whose government loans and bursaries are not enough to cover the cost of higher education. Future Finance is facilitating access to education through its proprietary lending platform, which factors granular data on continuation, employability and earnings into its lending decisions, enabling it to lend to students who in many cases would not be able to obtain loans from banks. Future Finance provides loans to undergraduates and postgraduates of between £2,500 and £40,000 each academic year to help them pay for tuition costs and living expenses. Loan periods are for ten years after graduation although borrowers can settle early at any time with no early repayment charges, and reduce the amount of interest that they pay overall. Loans include up to four payment holidays of three months, which provide students with flexibility as they establish their careers. Future Finance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Website: www.futurefinance.com

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What’s On

The Lowdown

October 2016

AURORA

P18 & 19

BASTILLE Uni made this happen

P23

BLOSSOMS On making fans shake

P25

TWIN ATLANTIC Pay tribute to their city

I love to sit in silence

Nature-lover Aurora reveals how being alone in Norway’s forests inspired her OUR SUMMER Fond festival flashbacks

P27

IZZY BIZU Growing up is confusing

her family knew of her talent. World Away, used by John Lewis for after that day they said they knew I ‘I didn’t know it was a talent,’ she their Man On The Moon Christmas had it in me,’ she says. Armed with a URORA is enchanting says. ‘When you are a child it’s just advert last year, discovered her love collection of her childhood songs and – I can’t help but feel a hobby. of music at a young age. melodies, she put together her debut drawn in by her aura as ‘It was like a diary about my own ‘I started writing melodies on the album All My Demons Greeting Me ON TOUR and others’ experiences.’ she reflects on her freepiano when I was six,’ she says. As A Friend. spirited childhood. The first time she revealed her ‘Then, when I was nine, my English And a 20-year-old Aurora could not Oct 3 Glasgow, Although her youth sounds like skills to her family was at 14 or 15, got better and I added lyrics.’ be happier with the response to the The Art School a solitary one, Aurora Aksnes, who when she wrote and sang a song for As a child, Aurora’s music was record, which reached the UK top 30 Oct 4 Manchester, goes by her first name, found her her confirmation – a coming-of-age inspired by her experiences growing and No.1 in Norway. O2 Ritz fascination with nature was all the ceremony in the church. up in the historic district of Os, near ‘It was fun making the album,’ she Oct 6 Newcastle *DiscountNorway’s only second redeemable in size? stores until 31st October 2016 says. when purchasing full company she needed. ‘I wanted to tell my parents we largest city, Bergen. ‘Writing music is like giving University ‘It’s such a magical feeling being can’t be afraid of time and change ‘We lived in a house in the birth, just without the pain.’ 7 priced product and accompaniedOctwith a valid student ID. Full TermsThe & turmoil conditions apply. alone in the forest,’ she says. can be a good thing,’ she says. ‘I’m countryside,’ she says. ‘It was a very Birmingham, O2 has paid off though – Institute ‘When you’re with people, you the smallest of three children, so I idyllic place.’ this October Aurora is embarking on Oct 8 Bristol, always have to give something, knew it would be hard for my parents a headline tour of the UK, starting off But she didn’t spend much time Trinity Centre whereas nature doesn’t demand to see me grow up. exploring with friends. ‘I know it in Glasgow and ending in Leeds. Oct 13 London, anything of you. I really enjoy ‘I wrote them a song to tell them I sounds sad but I didn’t enjoy playing O2 Shepherd's For someone who likes to be alone, Bush Empire silence, it makes me very happy.’ would always be their child.’ with other children,’ she explains. she’s making a lot of friends. Oct 16 Leeds, Aurora, whose angelic voice was It struck a chord with Aurora’s Instead, she would sit in her All My Demons Greeting Me As A Brudenell Social behind the cover of Oasis’ Half The family. ‘There were a lot of tears and Friend is out now on Decca. bedroom and write songs – not even Club

@ Amy Denman

PICTURE: KNUT_AASERUD

P26

size.co.uk @sizeofficial

The Interview

I was quite a shy kid and I moved to Leeds to go to university and had a really good time Dan Smith

ON TOUR Oct 28 Bournemouth, BIC Oct 29 Plymouth, Pavilions Oct 31 Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena Nov 1 London, The O2 Nov 2 London, The O2 Nov 4 Leeds, First Direct Arena Nov 5 Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena Nov 6 Manchester Arena Nov 8 Birmingham, Barclaycard Arena Nov 12 Glasgow, The SSE Hydro Nov 13 Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena

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The Lowdown

Hello

19 15

October 2016

@ Henry Edwards

AN SMITH answers the phone with a warm and cheerful ‘hi there’. The Bastille frontman has come from a solid day of rehearsals and radio sessions, promoting their second album Wild World. But you wouldn’t know – the singer sounds as if he’s taking a relaxed stroll along a river in t he early evening sunshine. But he puts me straight: ‘We’re on our way to Amsterdam to do an album playback. Well, haven’t things changed this summer? ‘It’s an exciting time because Since the last edition of The University Paper came out in May, we’ve hadallthe we’re involved in every little bit of theAndy album, and we’re trying Brexit result, we’ve got a new prime minister, Team GB flew at the Olympics, to organise Murray won Wimbledon, Chris Froome claimed the Tour de France and Icelanda lot of fun things like pop-up shops.’ beat England in the Euros. He describes the band’s next Oh and don’t forget f**king Pokemon Go dropped. destination as ‘one of those And while all the s**t has been hitting the fan this summer, The University Paper really characterful cities team has been working extra hard to make this year our best so far... and we’re offthat can be whatever to a good start with this freshers special. you want’. He adds: ‘If We’ve got our biggest interviews yet, chatting with Bastille lead singer Dan Smith you want about his time at university (p18-19), speaking to Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden

from The University Paper

about his whirlwind summer (p23) and chewing the fat with Twin Atlantic singer Sam McTrusty about his hometown Glasgow (p25). On top of that, we chatted to jazz-soul singer Izzy Bizu about being starstruck by Will Smith (p27) and even spoke to UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping about his up-coming title defence (p31). Elsewhere, we look back on some of the highlights from festivals our student reporters attended this summer (p26), take a look at the best gigs taking place near you (pp16-17) and check out some of the incredible sports developments going on around the UK (p31). And, if you’re still craving more head to www.unipaper.co.uk where you’ll find more incredible entertainment interviews plus all the latest news and sports from your university. Much love

The TUP team

23-24 Margaret Street London W1W 8RU 020 7580 6419 www.unipaper.co.uk @TheUniPaper

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Editor-in-chief: Sam Murray sam.murray@unipaper.co.uk Deputy editor: Clare Hardy clare@unipaper.co.uk Sub editor: Amy Denman amy@unipaper.co.uk Online sub editor: Tom Gellatly tom.g@unipaper.co.uk

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to go completely mental it’s good out when I won,’ he says. ‘It was a for that.’ And does he prefer to take bit of a big bombshell. in the culture or go completely ‘Up to then it had been bedroom mental? recordings and I had to work out He laughs. ‘I think we all like a how to do it live. bit of both,’ he says after a pause. ‘It’s taken me a long time to get ‘Quite often we don’t have a large comfortable playing shows.’ amount of time in a city,’ he adds. He says he had ‘the best time’ at ‘But we always try and get a sense Leeds, where he studied English. of where we’re playing and see ‘I met so many good friends,’ he what the city’s like, not just stay adds. ‘I really enjoyed my course, I backstage.’ did student radio and the paper and Bastille – also made up of Kyle I used to work at the bar and see a Simmons and Will Farquarson on lot of free gigs that way. guitar, bass and keys and drummer ‘It’s a cliché to say, but the course Chris Wood – are one of those is almost the least important bit.’ bands who seem to have been well Leeds also helped Smith widen established ever since you first his musical tastes and come out of heard of them. his shell. Hotly tipped as an emerging ‘I used to go to the West Indian band from 2010, their debut album Centre and see a lot of dub music Bad Blood reached No.1 and their and at the same time, I’d go and first big single, Pompeii, sold five see a lot of indie bands,’ he says. million copies in America alone. ‘Leeds is amazing and has so much But Smith never expected to be Samples make our album a musician and it was only while like the imagined soundtrack to he was at the University of Leeds a film that doesn't exist that a friend threw him into the limelight. Dan Smith ‘Music was always a private thing for me. At uni, all the mates I made diversity and I guess me and my were in bands and on a drunken mates had a varied range of tastes. night, someone heard one of my ‘I guess I was quite a shy kid and songs and, without me knowing, I moved to Leeds and had a really entered it into a competition good time.’ Leeds Council ran.’ So does he recommend other He didn’t find out about students give music a go at uni? the competition until he ‘I would never see myself as was told he had won worthy of giving any advice to it and part of the prize anyone,’ he says humbly. ‘For included playing at The me, that was the time when it Faversham in Leeds. happened.’ ‘It put me into situations His description of life with the where I felt uncomfortable band after they formed in 2010 and nervous but a part shatters any illusions that Bastille Backinto to it,’ Biz-ness: Weup spoke to singer Izzy Bizu of me was really rose overnight. he says. ‘I definitely don’t ‘It was a gradual curve,’ he says. think, if I hadn’t gone to ‘We went up to every venue in uni, I would’ve done music.’ London and all around the country. I wonder how he felt ‘Before our album came out we about his mate secretly worked up to Shepherd’s Bush putting his music Empire and sold out for two nights. forward. ‘That was before Pompeii and I ‘I only found guess that’s testament to how much we used to tour. ‘We worked really hard, putting out mix tapes and

CDs. We used to drive around the country in a car we borrowed from our friend’s mum because it was big enough to fit all our stuff in, and we used to crash on floors.’ Perhaps one reason Smith seems so carefree is he never presumed a music career would take off. ‘What’s been nice is that no-one was expecting, least of all us, to have this success,’ he says. In fact, before he was dragged out of the musical closet at university, Smith wanted to be a film journalist and admits he is still ‘massively’ thefilms. two girls sharing a cubicle intoTocult in the library toilets, is not It’s a passion that hasthis made it into at Pryzm, youform don’tofneed theQuids band’sInmusic, in the someone hold while samples, not to least onyour Wildhand World. you pee University of Leeds ‘The samples help add to the little world we’re trying to create Am I really having nightmares – some are from well-known about newunknown flatmates? films andmeeting some aremy from My god, it’s high school all over documentaries,’ Smith says. again University of Liverpool For forthcoming single Send Them Off! the band wanted a clip When theItalian queensci-fi. dies, what will from an old happen todrove the national anthem? ‘Someone to Milan to try wethe getfilm a new one? but we andWill find company, Coventry University couldn’t find them, so we had to change it,’ Smith reveals. Moving into a house month ‘It’s about making theaalbum before your housemates is not evocative.’ fun University of Manchester He adds rather poetically: ‘It’s like the imagined soundtrack to a Everyone seems to be moving on film that doesn’t exist.’ in life and I’m still at uni, living in Despite being a big fan of his halls again, having to make new soundtracks, the 30-year-old friends again while my friends refuses to be drawn on his favourite study abroad, I’m single and have Quentin Tarantino flick. no money to travel or do anything ‘What I love about Tarantino, and University of Nottingham [Stanley] Kubrick, is they don’t make millions of films – they make Goodbye £500 overdraft, summer a few and they’re all iconic in their kind of ate you all up own way,’ he says. Swansea University ‘It’s great to have a director who can put a stamp on things. To put Getting paranoid in Sainsbury’s, a clunky parallel on it, it’s like our worried people know your high, songs – we make them ours and we while buying half the sweets aisle, don’t really have a genre. four muffins and trying to pay ‘It would be cool if our albums gym card. feltwith likeyour a series of different films University of Leeds by the same director.’ And with characteristic warmth you student loan for andThank self-deprecation, he finishes into university, I don’t ourgetting call byme saying: ‘Sorry if I think I can ever repay you chewed your ear off!’ of Birmingham For detailsUniversity of Bastille’s upcoming UK arena tour, go to Kids on my street have started bastillebastille.com.

OVERHEARD ON CAMPUS

calling me the Pokemon lady because of my Pikachu backpack, how cute

University of Nottingham

Singer may have kept his tunes hidden if it wasn't for the help of a drunken mate Think my Tinder is broken, I can’t get any matches

I thank uni for the music

Coventry University

Coming to the library for the free wifi because you haven’t set it up in your house yet, #studenthacks

Swansea University

Someone just randomly complimented my hair as she walked past and now I’m worried that a bird has shat on my head or something

University of Manchester

Back to uni, back to one sheet of bog roll at a time

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COMEDY Romesh Ranganathan is famed for his witty and sarcastic one-liners and unimpressed expression. The comedian’s latest tour, named Irrational, shows his comedy game is just as strong as his beard game as the dates were extended before the show started. In his stand-up, Romesh discusses issues close to his heart, such as iPhone vs Android and cinema popcorn portions. His quick wit and clever gags mean these tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance. See Romesh at the Royal Spa Centre on Thursday, September 29.

MUSIC If post-punk indie music sounds like your thing, you are going to love Spring King (that’s if you don’t already). The four-piece, up-and-coming band have an upbeat sound that has caught the eye of NME and Q Magazine, who have given them rave reviews. Spring King combine The Beach Boys with Arctic Monkeys to bring a modern, Mancunian and summer

October 2016

and he definitely won’t mind sharing some of his rude and lewd thoughts in his new The Best Of, Ultimate, Gold, Greatest Hits Tour. Trust us when we say this is not for the easily offended. Get ready to chuckle along with Carr’s distinctive laugh as he performs all the best jokes from his career, with a few fresh ones added to the mix. The 8 Out Of 10 Cats presenter’s witty one-liners and innuendos will have you guffawing – or at least gasping in shock. See him in action at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday, October 8.

sound. Their debut album, Tell Me If You Like To, documents their journey as a blossoming band and reflects a bright future ahead for these boys. Don’t miss your chance to see them when they come to Coventry Central Library on Saturday, October 8.

COMEDY At most comedy gigs, ‘audience participation’ is a byword for becoming the butt of the joke. However, with WiFi Wars, all the audience members take part, playing replicas of retro video games on their phones for points – and we’ve heard it gets a tad competitive. The night is hosted by comedian and gaming journalist Steve McNeil, who co-created comedy gaming show Go 8-Bit with Sam Pamphilon. Bring your fully-charged smart phone to see them in action at the Royal Spa Centre on Wednesday, September 28.

MUSIC Mystery Jets were once based on Eel Pie Island in London’s River Thames, and were originally called The Misery Jets, based on a newspaper headline

COMEDY

Summer sound: Spring King play Coventry Central Library

for a story about the Heathrow flightpath overhead. Life has been far from miserable for the indie rock four-piece recently though – they released critically acclaimed album Curve Of The Earth in January. Their performances at festivals over summer also went down well, so they should be on good form when

they play Leamington Assembly on Tuesday, October 11.

COMEDY Comedian Jimmy Carr’s gags have, on the odd occasion, landed him in a bit of hot water. He’s got a gloriously wicked brain

For more of what’s on in Coventry, go to www.unipaper. co.uk

Nina Conti has found a silly, childish and irresistibly hilarious concept and she’s sticking with it. For her show, In Your Face, the ventriloquist comedian straps puppet-like masks to the faces of ‘volunteers’ from the audience and thinks up embarrassing scenarios for her new co-stars, who can’t help but join in thanks to the contraptions on their heads. She has made audiences laugh on Live At The Apollo, Russell Howard’s Good News, Sunday Night At The Palladium and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is also sometimes seen with her monkey sidekick Monk. Catch her at the Warwick Arts Centre on Thursday, October 13.

98-100 Lower Precinct Coventry CV1 1DX United Kingdom

What’s On

October 2016

If you would like to write for The University Paper, please email editor@unipaper.co.uk

We have an amazing bond Clean Cut Kid’s Mike Halls talks of love, Liverpool and life in the band...

@ Louisa Kendal ESTIVAL life treated indie rockers Clean Cut Kid well this summer. But no matter how far they travel they will always stay true to their Liverpudlian roots. As my interview began with lead singer Mike Halls his cutting Scouse accent was immediately recognisable. I was greeted to a typical: ‘‘iya, y’alright’ and straight away I knew I was talking to a fellow Northerner. ‘I am the product of Liverpool song writing – the stereotypical Beatles freak,’ he tells me. ‘Everything about Liverpool and where we’re from is ingrained into the band.’ After starting off playing small venues in their home city, the four-piece which also includes Evelyn Halls, Saul Godman and Ross Higginson, are now regulars on the festival circuit. But the man with the mega-beard admits the more popular they get, and the larger the audience grows, the harder it is to maintain personal relationships with the fans. He tells me: ‘I’ve found festival season tough because you can’t engage with every member of the crowd. Every single fan is totally a part of our future and how we can

push on. It’s tough not being able to connect with every single fan as we get bigger.’ But this hasn’t stopped them from enjoying their fame. At Glastonbury Festival they were given the 8pm, Thursday slot on the William’s Green stage. ‘[We] played in a 2,000 capacity tent and 5,000 people showed up all singing the words back to us. It was out of this world,’ he says. And as if that wasn’t special enough, he also got to share the experience with his wife, Evelyn, keys player and vocalist in the band. He tells me Evelyn was a few years below him at school and he thought she was ‘well fit’. Years later, while she was singing with a guy Mike was working with, they were set up on a date. From there they started writing together and, ignoring the rule of not mixing business with pleasure, they ended up getting married. ‘Relationships play a massive part in our success,’ Halls says. ‘Our biggest single, Vitamin C, is about our relationship. Without that inspiration our careers wouldn’t be the same.’ Together the pair, along with the rest of the band, have formed a tight friendship – one that seems to be unbreakable. Halls tells me: ‘We have

Squad goals: Clean Cut Kid’s (l-r) Evelyn and Mike Halls, Saul Godman and Ross Higginson have formed a tight bond

ON TOUR Oct 19 Newcastle, Cluny 2 Oct 20 Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy Oct 21 Leeds, Headrow House Oct 22 Coventry, Kasbah Oct 24 Bristol, The Louisiana Oct 26 London, Dingwalls Oct 28 Nottingham, The Bodega Oct 19 Liverpool, East Village Arts Club

a bond now, because no-one can understand what we’ve been through as a band. ‘I don’t think any of [the band members] have relationships in our life that compare to the band.’ But now they are looking at a massive test of their friendship. A ten-date UK headline tour, taking in some of the most famous venues in the nation. Halls is clearly excited about the prospect, with the tour marking a major step for the ever-growing band. ‘This is the first time it’s really going to be the ‘Clean Cut Kid show’ rather than just trying to slot into someone else’s plan for us.’ He admits he is nervous, adding: ‘[It] will be weird to all the fans who have seen us on little club nights perform an actual show.’ Looking to the future, the band want to try their hand at making a name in America, which can be incredibly hard to crack. ‘We’ve had some amazing gigs there but we were working from the ground up,’ he says. ‘Hearing how well our sound worked with an American crowd has egged us on to make it happen.’ So, with the success of their EP released this summer, We Used To Be In Love, the tour, it looks like there’s no slowing the fame train Clean Cut Kid are on. ‘We’re so excited to get on the road and do our own thing,’ Mike finishes.

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The Interview

wasquite quite IIwas shykid kidand and aashy movedto to IImoved Leedsto togo goto to Leeds universityand and university hadaareally really had goodtime time good DanSmith Smith Dan

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October 2016

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to go completely mental it’s good for that.’ And does he prefer to take in the culture or go completely mental? He laughs. ‘I think we all like a bit of both,’ he says after a pause. ‘Quite often we don’t have a large amount of time in a city,’ he adds. ‘But we always try and get a sense of where we’re playing and see what the city’s like, not just stay backstage.’ Bastille – also made up of Kyle Simmons and Will Farquarson on guitar, bass and keys and drummer Chris Wood – are one of those bands who seem to have been well established ever since you first heard of them. Hotly tipped as an emerging band from 2010, their debut album Bad Blood reached No.1 and their first big single, Pompeii, sold five million copies in America alone. But Smith never expected to be a musician and it was only while he was at the University of Leeds that a friend threw him into the limelight. ‘Music was always a private thing for me. At uni, all the mates I made were in bands and on a drunken night, someone heard one of my songs and, without me knowing, entered it into a competition Leeds Council ran.’ He didn’t find out about the competition until he was told he had won it and part of the prize included playing at The Faversham in Leeds. ‘It put me into situations where I felt uncomfortable and nervous but a part of me was really into it,’ he says. ‘I definitely don’t think, if I hadn’t gone to uni, I would’ve done music.’ I wonder how he felt about his mate secretly putting his music forward. ‘I only found

out when I won,’ he says. ‘It was a bit of a big bombshell. ‘Up to then it had been bedroom recordings and I had to work out how to do it live. ‘It’s taken me a long time to get comfortable playing shows.’ He says he had ‘the best time’ at Leeds, where he studied English. ‘I met so many good friends,’ he adds. ‘I really enjoyed my course, I did student radio and the paper and I used to work at the bar and see a lot of free gigs that way. ‘It’s a cliché to say, but the course is almost the least important bit.’ Leeds also helped Smith widen his musical tastes and come out of his shell. ‘I used to go to the West Indian Centre and see a lot of dub music and at the same time, I’d go and see a lot of indie bands,’ he says. ‘Leeds is amazing and has so much

Samples make our album like the imagined soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist Dan Smith

diversity and I guess me and my mates had a varied range of tastes. ‘I guess I was quite a shy kid and I moved to Leeds and had a really good time.’ So does he recommend other students give music a go at uni? ‘I would never see myself as worthy of giving any advice to anyone,’ he says humbly. ‘For me, that was the time when it happened.’ His description of life with the band after they formed in 2010 shatters any illusions that Bastille rose up overnight. ‘It was a gradual curve,’ he says. ‘We went up to every venue in London and all around the country. ‘Before our album came out we worked up to Shepherd’s Bush Empire and sold out for two nights. ‘That was before Pompeii and I guess that’s testament to how much we used to tour. ‘We worked really hard, putting out mix tapes and

Singer may have kept his tunes hidden if it wasn't for the help of a drunken mate

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The Interview

October 2016

Fans shake when meeting us Psychedelic five-piece getting used to adoring followers who tremble when taking photos with them

@ Tom Gellatly HEN The University Paper last spoke to Blossoms’ lead singer, Tom Ogden, in January he told us he hoped their debut album’s release would ‘propel them to the next level.’ Nine months and dozens of gigs later, Blossoms – which also includes bassist Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst on lead guitar, drummer Joe Donovan and keyboard player Myles Kellock – have a number one album and are about to embark on their biggest tour yet. I ask if the band feels different after their new found success. ‘It definitely does, yeah,’ he says. ‘We always thought when the album comes out, that is when everything would properly start. It feels like everything up until now has been a dress rehearsal.’ He adds: ‘We can’t wait for our headline UK tour and to play the

ON TOUR Sept 23 Birmingham, O2 Institute Sept 24 Bristol, Bristol Bierkeller Sept 29 London, O2 Forum Kentish Town Sept 30 Manchester Academy Oct 1, O2 ABC Glasgow Oct 3 Newcastle, Riverside Oct 4 Sheffield, The Leadmill Oct 5 Leeds Beckett SU Oct 7 Nottingham, Rock City Nov 30 Leicester, O2 Academy Dec 2 and 3 Manchester, Albert Hall Dec 5 Edinburgh, Potterrow Dec 13 London, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire

tunes back to the fans.’ The tour will mark the end of the festival season, so I ask if the fivepiece are looking forward to getting back to regular gigs. Ogden tells me: ‘Festival season is great for the big crowds and the exposure, but you only get 15 minutes to set up and it’s quite a rushed thing. ‘When you’re doing your own shows you’ve got all day to set up and you know everything's going to run smoothly, it’s a little bit more relaxed.’ Reminiscing over the past few months, in which they've played festivals across Europe, Ogden tells me: ‘Leeds or Y Not Festival were the two highlights for me. ‘The crowds were very receptive and all singing along, and they both had a good vibe. ‘Funnily enough, we did a gig in Romania which was surprisingly really, really good.’ The band’s Reading and Leeds Festival performances this summer received rave reviews from critics.

Looking back, Ogden tells me: ‘They were everything we expected them to be. They were two really, really good gigs. ‘At Reading, it was nice to go back to the BBC Introducing Stage and do something there too, because they’ve helped us loads along the way.’ I tell him about a fan’s tweet in which she admitted to crying with happiness the whole way through Blossoms' Reading set. Surprised by the adoration, Ogden says ‘wow!’ and adds: ‘Stuff like that is a bit mad to be honest, it’s surreal. ‘But you can’t control how you make people react, and that can only be a positive thing, can’t it? ‘I’ve never reacted like that to a gig myself, but fair enough, it’s cool!’ With a fan-base rapidly growing much further than their home town of Stockport, Ogden tells me they are starting to become accustomed to fans’ reactions. ‘You get people going all shaky when they pose for a photo with

Blossoming career: (l-r) Josh Dewhurst, Myles Kellock, Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt and Joe Donovan

We were playing in Japan and they had cut-out masks of Myles’ face in the crowd, it was so strange.

Tom Ogden

us, and we’re like: “Why are you shaking? We’re just normal people!” But it’s great,’ Ogden says adding: ‘We were playing in Japan and they had cut-out masks of Myles’ face in the crowd, it was so strange.’ The band discovered the loyalty of their fans when their self-titled album went to No.1 in August. ‘We found out when we were at Boardmasters,’ the singer says. ‘We were with our management and people close to the band so that was nice. ‘When the album came out we were more excited about the fans’ reaction to it. But when we found out it might have been No.1 we were made up, and when it actually happened it was surreal.’ On the back of that success, Blossoms are embarking on their biggest tour yet. ‘It’s everything we wanted, Ogden says: ‘We always said from the start we wanted to be a big band, so these are the sorts of shows we want to be playing. ‘We’re not just going to become

complacent because we’ve booked a fairly big tour: we want bigger and better after this! We’re dead focused and we’re enjoying ourselves.’ The tour takes them from the UK to Europe and America. When I ask if he is excited about playing in the USA, he says: ‘I’ve always wanted to go to New York so it’ll be brilliant! ‘It will be good to be able to start again over there. It’s great to do big shows here, but when we go over there it’ll be like starting again at the small shows.’ With a successful year, you could forgive Blossoms for giving themselves time off to celebrate, but Ogden isn’t interested in slowing down, saying:‘I’m writing for what will be a second record. ‘It’s important to me that I keep on top of it and stay creative and look for stuff to influence me. We also wanna do more touring and bigger shows. There’s no limit to it, we just want to keep working hard. And we definitely want to follow up with a second record fairly quickly.’

24|Your Night

Enjoyed a big night in Coventry? We have all the pictures from the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hottest nightspots... see if you can spot yourself

October 2016

Music

October 2016

Singer Sam McTrusty reveals the band have started a new chapter

@ Alicia Boukersi

AVING emerged from a genre seemingly lacking anything new, alt rock band Twin Atlantic are currently celebrating their tenth year together. And what a spectacular year it has been so far, from selling out highcapacity venues in minutes to the release of their new album, GLA. However, it all seemed quite unlikely not so long ago. After a hectic time creating the Great Divide album in 2014 and then touring, the Glaswegian four-piece of singer Sam McTrusty, guitarist Barry McKenna, Ross McNae on bass and Craig Kneale on drums, returned to Scotland to take a break. The period could have been the death of Twin Atlantic and McTrusty admits the big climatic gigs from their Great Divide tour in 2015 felt like an ending. Thankfully, it wasn’t. ‘Spending time back at home with our families, made us more comfortable with what we were producing,’ he tells me. ‘We just needed to take some time out and kind of bask in our achievements.’ He makes it clear their subsequent year long hiatus from music was never going to last forever. ‘Let’s face it, I was never going to be a zookeeper,’ he jokes. ‘I was asked to write songs for other artists, but it never really happened. I guess, in my heart of hearts, I knew the band wasn’t over. It wasn’t the end of the band, just the end of the first chapter.’ Since then, four-piece has been working on their fourth album, GLA. Named after their hometown, the band believes unequivocally that Glasgow influenced the record, both literally and figuratively. ‘GLA was the first album we’d

Robust rockers: Twin Atlantic's (l-r) Ross, Sam, Craig and Barry

I was never gonna be a zookeeper written at home, so it has a hip-hop style production to it,’ he says. Writing the record at home also meant the band could be ‘more real’ with their music. McTrusty says: ‘With this album we felt we could speak from the heart and talk about the brutal truth. ‘Being surrounded by hard, gritty edges of Glasgow painted the way the music looked in my mind.’ Twin Atlantic had recently said they want GLA to represent their experiences of living in what they called one of the most exciting yet dangerous cities in the world. When I quiz Sam about why Glasgow is dangerous he laughs and says: ‘The drinking culture, the fights on the way home, it’s laced through generations and means people are fiery, bold and able to speak their mind. ‘Glasgow is such an interesting

city. It’s working class and has 1,000 bars, which means people can really let loose.’ He adds the city is ‘the epicenter

Hometown tribute: The GLA album cover

for politics and the referendum really showed how passionate people are.’ ‘It can get a bit too much,’ he adds. ‘The people are so passionate and mixed with everything else, it can create a spark.’ These feelings are captured in GLA, which features a mixture of glam rock anthems and heavier tracks. ‘The album came so naturally to us,’ he says. ‘We were bored of people saying rock music is dead and not relevant. ‘It takes balls to show your true colours, and I think we’ve done that.’ Asking him about his favourite track from the album, he reveals Ex El is his top pick and describes it as being a cross-section of the whole record. ‘We never thought we’d have a song like that,’ he says. ‘It’s an excellent element, and it’s got an artistic edge which we love.’ Although Twin Atlantic have been together for a decade now, providing radio-ready emo-pop with pained yet majestic lyrics, they

We’re gonna put our heart and soul into the shows

Sam McTrusty

ON TOUR Oct 7 Newcastle University Oct 8 Manchester, Neighbourhood Festival Oct 9 Cardiff, Y Plas Oct 11 Birmingham, O2 Institute Oct 12 London, O2 Forum Kentish Town Oct 15 Leeds, Leeds Beckett students' union Dec 13 to 15 Glasgow, Barrowland

still look up to younger and newer bands. Counting Spring King and Blossoms as inspirations, McTrusty says: ‘Young indie bands are smashing it at the moment, and getting us hyped. It’s amazing to see.’ However, their own successes have galvanised the music scene in their hometown. Selling-out King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in minutes earlier this year shows hometown loyalty can breed success. ‘You can be from here and play among heroes,’ he says. The band is now eager for their tour to begin in October. ‘I’m excited to play our new music. We wrote the album with a live atmosphere in mind, and we’re proud of it. It’s gonna be mental,’ he says. I ask if there are any venues he wishes to play. ‘Yeah, there’s quite a few,’ he admits. ‘But we’re gonna put our heart and soul in the shows that we are playing.’

26|Our Summer

October 2016

Being a TUP reporter can be tough... here’s our festival highlights

LEEDS FESTIVAL

If Coachella is the David Beckham of festivals (sleek and well-groomed), Leeds Fest is the John Terry (dirty but gets the job done). The weather was atrocious and the tent we bought was so poor we might as well have slept in a leaky shower cubicle. However, if we had the chance to go again we would, and here’s why. While an outsider may think it’s the music that makes the festival, it’s really the people that bring the music to life. Personal favourites include the Power Rangers, Bananaman, Harambe the Gorilla and a rather hairy nun. The icing on the cake was a magical performance from Red Hot Chili Peppers on Sunday. So yes, the toilets looked like something from a post-apocalyptic nightmare. But, the crowd and the worldclass bands turned Leeds Fest 2016 Putting a spring into a festival that will live long in in your step: Lost the memories of all those who were boys at LeeFest part of it. Elliot Mulligan

ROM fake beaches to laser domes, the organisers of this summer’s festivals gave us plenty of weirdness and wonder. We’ve been digging sand, moshing and generally getting stuck-in to bring you the best bits.

Beer brand Corona turned its hand to festivals as Meridian Quays in London was transformed into a sand-filled manmade beach. The effort put in by my fellow guests added to the holiday vibe – even in not-so-summery temperatures, the shorts and sandals were easy to spot, accessorised with facepaint and glitter galore. We were treated to a line-up of DJs, including Robin Schulz, Felix Jaehn and Sam Feldt, who played perfect summer tunes. The festival had its own sunset moment as a view of Canary Wharf graced the background of the stage – a reminder that London can transform itself into a romantic Maya Jundi festival spot.

LEEFEST In the dying embers of a July heatwave, somewhere secret near Tonbridge, pirates and Peter Pan’s Lost Boys listened to live music and downed copious amounts of Frontier lager. The LeeFest story started ten years ago in Lee’s back garden and has grown in popularity each year. There were some great acts, from Loyle Carner to Ghostpoet, and you could watch each one from the comfort of one of the hay bales dotted around. If that got too sedate, there was always The Goldmine, a large pit playing non-stop club music, and Pieces of 8-bit, a shack full of retro games and consoles. Being intoxicated while killing Jaws with a guided missile on 007 Nightfire is the closest I’ll get to being ten years old again. Sam Toller

PICTURE: ANDREW BENGE

CORONA SUNSETS

Sun, singalongs and secret parties Q&A LOYLE CARNER I catch up with rapper Loyle Carner as he sits across from me in a backstage tent at LeeFest, looking excited but cool. You’ve started a cooking school, how’s that going? It’s good. We started last week. It’s for kids with ADHD from 14 to 16. It’s healthy, accessible stuff for the kids. Stuff that’s exciting: chicken ramen, salmon en croute, beef wellington. How do you use your ADHD to your advantage? It’s just who I am. I don’t know what it’s like to not have ADHD so I don’t recognise that I’m different. I took tablets when I was younger, which kind

ILLUSTRATIONS: JESS JENKINS

LOVE SAVES THE DAY A wedding, ballpit party and danceoff in a boxing ring: I definitely attended a Bristol festival. On entering LSTD, I was dragged into an inflatable church with a DJ at the back, where I witnessed the ‘nuptuals’ between two mates. The weirdness didn’t end there.

READING FESTIVAL of dulled down my ADHD but meant I couldn’t be creative. I decided that I was much better with ADHD. Everyone’s got their own quirks and as you grow up you learn how to work with them. This years been pretty big for you. Have you had any ‘pinch me, I’m dreaming’ moments? A few. It’s weird. I don’t really notice much of it. I notice it at the shows but, I live in Croydon, I don’t really see much of the hype around myself. It’s kind of like getting fat, you don’t know you’re fat until you’re fat. I met Corinne Bailey Rae recently, which was one of the times recently and I had to pinch myself, I’m wildly in love with her.

At points, I also found myself in a boxing ring danceoff, blindfolded in a makeshift tattoo parlour (the tattoo was fake) and diving into a ball pit in the middle of a tent where a DJ was playing ‘90s classics. Stormzy was an energy-fuelled grime masterclass, but Chase & Status played a disappointingly timid set that moved away from the drum ‘n’ bass many of their fans love them for. Luckily, I left in time to catch Dizzee Rascal’s rendition You Got The Dirtee Love – an appropriate song to end LSTD on.

Jake Hirst

My mum keeps me pretty grounded. I still live at home and I’ve got a lot of responsibility there, and that’s really what takes priority in my brain. But I just don’t look that online stuff, the comments, I just create and move on.

How do you keep yourself as grounded as you seem? I don’t see myself as any different to before the music started taking off.

GOTTWOOD It would be hard for me to adequately review my four days at Gottwood without churning out a novella, gushing over the long weekend. As I stepped into the woods on

Have you ever thought of going for any really different sounds that interest you? I’ve been interested in punk for a long time. My dad listened to a lot of punk back in the day. But it’s the same kind of stuff, it’s anti-establishment, like rap, it comes from a pure place, its not meant to be conventional. There’s a much closer link between punk and rap music than people think. Sam Toller

the first day, the festival took on a magical air that would fill the whole weekend. The organisers did a great job of setting a mystical tone, but the unambiguously titled Laser Dome proved to be one of the most frequently enjoyed areas as its laser beams flickered in and out of existence in time to the aggressive tunes played. Gottwood prides itself on being so much more than just a collection of neat stages and this year’s festival was such an energetic, life-affirming affair that I hope that it has a few more years in it yet. Tom Gellatly

5 things we learned at festivals this summer 1. Wet clothes are no fun – bring a waterproof bag 2. Record TV coverage of the festival so you can relive it 3. Take some time for yourself to just look around 4. Don’t cling to your schedule 5. Never camp near the toilets (or hedges). Daniel Cowen-Rivers

I couldn’t help but feel relieved we bought a pop-up tent after witnessing so many people struggling to set up theirs. However, on Friday morning I woke up covered in a mixture of sweat and rain which had managed to get into our tent over night. It was then I realised our tiny two man tent wasn’t the best idea. However, this little detail did not bring down my mood. Saturday was the day I was looking forward to the most as I would finally get to see my favourite band of all time, Red Hot Chili Peppers, live. They made an electric comeback nine years after they last performed at Reading. Later on we checked out the silent disco. While the queue was long, we managed to entertain ourselves by free styling with beat-boxing and singing, which got us a round of applause. Our egos were definitely boosted by this experience and we felt we should have a stage to ourselves. Sunday, the final day, began with a long walk to Tesco and I’d never seen a longer queue in the supermarket in my entire life. We finished the night by exchanging stories with our new friends from the weekend. I can say Reading was one of the best weekends of my life.

Masha Milovanovic

Music

October 2016

TUP speaks to singer Izzy Bizu about her parents, living in the Middle East and turning growing pains into an album

@ Justine Jones WAS like “I can’t, I just can’t”,’ – Izzy Bizu is describing the one time she has found herself starstruck. Despite having toured with Justin Bieber and supported Sam Smith, the 22-year-old says it was only when she saw Will Smith in the flesh that it all got too much. ‘We were doing a soundcheck for Justin Bieber and Willow Smith was performing as well,’ she says. ‘Then Will Smith came on to the stage and I didn’t know what to do – I grew up watching Fresh Prince. I crumbled.’ If you’ve managed to miss out on seeing Bizu, born Isobel Beardshaw, at festivals such as Glastonbury and Secret Garden Party, or you haven’t had her single White Tiger stuck in your head all summer, you may recognise her voice from the BBC’s theme song for its UEFA Euro 2016 coverage – a cover of 1950s singer Edith Piaf’s La Foule (the crowd). You may also have seen the Londoner performing alongside Rudimental, Foxes or Sam Smith, who she says was her favourite to work with and describes as ‘a really cool and an amazing person’. ‘He’s got a great sense of humour,’ she adds. ‘I was so inspired when I first heard him sing, he’s unreal. We had a really good time being on tour with him.’ Maybe her ability to stay cool around big names is down to her small, close circle. ‘I’ve got two awesome friends, Ollie and Leo, who tell me the

My album is about coming of age. I didn’t go mad or anything but I was confused and conflicted. I was just growing up – I realised everyone goes through this phase absolute truth, even when I hate it,’ she says. ‘The day after I always agree and go “yes you were right”. They know me so well.’ The only time she gets close to gushing about people is while talking about her mum, who is from Ethiopia, and her English dad. ‘He’s awesome,’ she says. ‘I didn’t expect him to support me as much as he did. He saw I was putting 100 per cent effort in so he backed me. He’s a bit older so I thought he would be old fashioned about it but he was so nice.’ For four years, she lived with her dad while he was working in Bahrain, a small island nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia where temperatures can reach the high 30s. ‘Bahrain was perfect, it was palm trees and sea,’ she says. ‘Life’s a lot slower out there in the Middle East. ‘It’s hotter – great weather. Sometimes it can be unbearable and you don’t want to move but it was really nice. The food is really different, which was cool. The

I used to be such a wuss

language is also really beautiful.’ Despite describing herself as a ‘daddy’s girl’, when I ask who first supported her career, it takes her no time at all to say her mum. ‘She never said “you were amazing” – that’s not how it started. She was just like “Izzy, finish a song, just finish one”. ‘She would advise me on what was good and what wasn’t. She always made me work a bit harder to get the best results and when she was really happy she would tell me. She’s been a sweetheart.’ And she says her parents were understanding when she shunned uni in favour of music. ‘It can be hard for parents to see their kids not going to university,’ she says. ‘I thought they’d be like “she might be a homeless busker” but they sucked it up and embraced it.’ If she had become a student, she would have done psychology or Busy gigging: Izzy Bizu, above, has to compromise on parties

trained as a chef. ‘I get so much joy from cooking,’ she says. Despite not going to uni, she still has to juggle work and socialising. ‘I’m still trying to figure it out if I’m honest,’ she says. ‘You want to party but you have a gig the next day and you look haggard! I don’t know how some girls do it.’ The compromise is paying off though and Bizu has recently released her debut album A Moment Of Madness, which she wrote when she first moved away from home, fell in love and got a job. ‘It’s about coming of age,’ she says. ‘I didn’t go mad or anything but I was confused and conflicted. I was just growing up. I realised later

on that everyone goes through this phase. Now I look back and think “oh, I was such a wuss”.’ She says there was no single story she wanted to put on the album. ‘It

all comes together in the end and I look back on it and think there is a story there,’ she says. ‘They all connect in their own way.’ Sounds like writing an essay, I tell her. ‘Man

you guys work so hard,’ she replies. ‘My friend’s just finished a 10,000 word dissertation. ‘I don’t know how you do it.’ A Moment Of Madness is out now.

Where are you living this year Sept-2016?

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October 2016

www.unipaper.co.uk | t @TheUniPaper | f TheUniPaper

Your horrific housing stories

E all know that student houses aren’t the cleanest of environments, but some of these housing horror stories will turn even the strongest of stomachs.

below par condition of my third year house.

Emily Geyerhosz, University of Nottingham

An early Christmas gift

It was just before the Christmas holidays when our kitchen ceiling began to leak. At first we didn’t think much of it, as it was just a small drop of water falling every few minutes. Around two hours later, the leak had spread across the entire room. We lost power in half the flat, including my bedroom. The next day, when our maintenance guy arrived, he proceeded to tear down our ceiling. Luckily, the power was brought back after three days.

House of hazards

I’m pretty sure my second year house was a death trap. When we moved in, the horrors were incredibly obvious to us. There was a waste pipe running directly through one of the bedrooms, the wiring for the electric shower was also exposed in the bathroom, one splash of water and we’d have been frazzled. To make matters worse, the whole place was damp and mould grew everywhere. I’m so relieved to be rid of that place.

It’s a horrifying moment when you first realise you didn’t look hard enough at the house you viewed and chose to rent. Especially when you discover

Helen Clegg

Deposit disputes

Hellish housemates

hidden mould, a woodlice infestation, a dodgy boiler that makes menacing noises all night, festering grime in the kitchen and incurable smells coming from the

drains, which resembles the stench of rotten eggs. It’s odd how conditions can build your character. I can now shrug my shoulders at the better but still

Little house of horrors: From mice infestations to mould

My housemates in halls used to leave condoms full of mayonnaise on the kitchen table. They also had a funny shaped mouldy pepper as the ‘flat mascot’. They also wanted to keep the mice that all the rancid food attracted

as flat pets. One time they invited around 80 people (to our small six bed halls flat) and had a party that lasted five minutes before security was called. After everyone left, the flat stank of smoke and was full of mud, someone also bizarrely stole our vacuum. Needless to say, I moved out after a month. Helen Clegg, University of Salford

Joe McDermott, University of Salford

Jessica Farrington, University of Sheffield

Living with lice

My housemates had a funny shaped mouldy pepper as the flat mascot

Send us your housing horror stories, give us a tweet @TheUniPaper

My housemates weren’t the cleanest but occasionally they’d go on a cleaning spree and the house would look pretty good. Apparently though, even our endof-year clean wasn’t enough for the estate agency, who took things such as ‘dusting the skirting boards’, ‘wiping down window sills’ and ‘hinges on the fridge door’ off the deposit to clean. They also tried charging us £35 to fix the vacuum, claiming it was a fair charge for emptying the bag. They later took off some charges after a lot of emails. Stevie French, University of Nottingham

Sport

Unis building for success

Millions poured into new sporting facilities @ Molly Williams, Tom

Gellatly and Eleanna Zanga

ITH the Olympics, Euros, Wimbledon and Tour de France keeping us busy this summer, it was easy to forget about university sport. But, while we were cheering on our nation, a number of institutions have made huge investments in their sports programmes, costing millions. In Scotland, the University of Strathclyde has been given the go-ahead for a £33million sport, health and well-being facility. The hub will include a six-lane swimming pool, a gym, sauna and steam rooms, physio consultation rooms and an academic space. It will also provide a new area for the university’s sports clubs to train and compete in. Construction will begin in November, and the centre is expected to open in 2018. Principal Prof Sir Jim McDonald said: ‘At Strathclyde, our students and staff are at the heart of everything we do. Together, we are creating a first-class facility that will provide health and wellbeing benefits for the university community, as well as improving participation in sport.’ In the north of England, Newcastle University are positioning themselves to challenge BUCS heavyweights Loughborough and Bath with a £30million investment. A new state-of-the-art facility will include an eight court sports hall, four squash courts, a strength and conditioning suite and two exercise studios and will open in September 2017. There will also be two artificial

October 2016

IN BRIEF

We’re lifting our game... and you can be involved The University Paper will be expanding its sports coverage in the 2016/17 season and you can get involved. We’re dedicated to growing the national interest in university sports and will be looking to send reporters and photographers down to as many matches as possible. If you’re a budding sports journalist and want to join our team send your contact details to editor@unipaper.co.uk. If you’re part of a sports team and want to send match reports to us (which will be uploaded on our fantastic website www.unipaper. co.uk) get in touch with editorin-chief Sam Murray on editor@ unipaper.co.uk.

Our vision is to build Newcastle into one of the top sporting universities in the UK

Colin Blackburn, Newcastle University’s director of sport

turf pitches plus improved changing facilities at the Cochrane Park Sports Ground. Director of sport, Colin Blackburn, said: ‘Our vision is to build Newcastle into one of the top sporting universities in the UK. ‘Our sports teams under the banner, Team Newcastle, performed well across the board in all sports in the last year, with outstanding performances from our basketball, fencing, rowing, rugby union, squash and water polo clubs.’ Work has also begun on a £5million cycling facility at the University of Leeds. The one mile-long outdoor track and refurbished sports pavilion will

provide a traffic-free environment for cycling and should be ready early next year. Patrick Craig, the university’s assistant head of sport, said: ‘This new track reinforces our vision of becoming the No.1 provider of higher education sport and physical activity experience in the UK.’ Elsewhere, De Montfort University has broken its sports spending record by investing £1m. At the heart of the project will be the new DMUsport department. From its headquarters at The Watershed, it will combine DMU’s sports performance team and De Montfort students’ union. Two of its aims are to increase

the number of teams entered BUCS leagues and to create more opportunities for students to represent their sport. Vice-chancellor, Prof Dominic Shellard, said: ‘I believe sport is an essential part of student life and has so much to teach us about how we achieve our goals. We are looking forward to developing the potential of our teams and inspiring them to achieve, as well as offering new opportunities for students who may not have thought of joining a team.’ Finally, the University of Salford have acquired four football pitches and changing facilities, which they plan to improve by adding flood lighting and fencing.

Green light: Strathclyde will get a new £33million sports hub

Budding sports journalist? Write for us by emailing your contact information to editor@ unipaper.co.uk

UK’s top city is... Leicester The city of Leicester continued its meteoric rise towards the top of world sport by being named ESPN’s Greatest Sporting City 2016. The home of the University of Leicester and De Montfort University moved up 17 places to claim top spot in the ranking, which was created by the University of Bath and sports broadcaster ESPN.co.uk. The city was scored on 12 factors, gaining the maximum rating in five: success, matchday atmosphere, local talent, community and social. Sport psychology lecturer, Prof Thomas Curran from the University of Bath, said: ‘To score top marks in five factors is a great achievement.’

William Green

UFC champion Bisping is thriving on the pressure Gym beats

British MMA fighter happy on home soil

‘I do not want to just be won and done,’ UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping tells me. ‘I want to win the belt and defend the belt, and I want to do that in England.’ I’m chatting to the 37-year-old from Lancashire ahead of one of the biggest fights of his life – the first defence of his title, which will be against American Dan Henderson on Saturday, October 8. The Count, as he’s also known, will have pressure on his wellmuscled shoulders – as he’s the first ever British UFC champion and he’ll be in front of an expectant home crowd at the Manchester Arena. His belt win against

PICTURE: IMAGES COURTESY OF MANCHESTER UNITED

@ Arike Idris

American Luke Rockhold came as a shock to some (Bisping was a last minute call-up after Rockhold’s opponent dropped out), but now the Englishman is leading the way for

a little bit of pressure, but I am the type of person that thrives off that pressure.’ The much-anticipated fight will also be a rematch between the two rivals, with Bisping looking to exact revenge after losing to Henderson at UFC 100 in 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Henderson brutally knocked out the Englishman in the second round with a big right hand punch. However, Bisping feels he is now a different fighter. ‘[UFC 100] was a long time ago, Fighting talk: Michael it was like a different version of Bisping says he is too myself and that version of myself tough for Dan Henderson does not exist to this day. This is like a rematch of a totally different British fighters. ‘It is a childhood fighter, there are no lessons to be dream and I’m really happy to learned, that version of myself does represent my country on the world not exist anymore, I’m too fast, I’m stage,’ he says. bigger, I’m better.’ ‘[Being on home soil] does bring There’s no doubt that Bisping has

developed since that knockout, both in and out of The Octagon. Early next year Bisping will star in the movie xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which features stars such as Vin Diesel and Samuel L Jackson. However, for now, the British champion is focused on his MMA career. He says: ‘I want to defend the belt three times, which is a difficult task. I won the belt, I would love to be a reigning defending champion, defend it three times and retire as world champion. ‘It is a hard thing to achieve, but I’m certainly going to try. [Acting] is great but it is my fighting career that has opened these doors, so I’m very much focused on being the best fighter I can be and hopefully opening more doors.’ UFC 204: Bisping vs Henderson 2 will be available live on BT Sport.

partying

Students are putting protein shakes before shots, a new study has revealed. Socialising with friends is British students’ favourite past time, a survey by UniDays has revealed. But more people prefer hitting the gym (41 per cent) than partying (39 per cent) or going to the pub (27 per cent). The survey used data from almost 60,000 18 to 24-year-olds and found, socialising, listening to music and shopping were the top three ways students like to pass their time. Other popular hobbies included watching TV, reading, cooking and John Shaw blogging.