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Day: 27 October 2014

Review: The Lodger

Written by Tom Bruce on . Posted in Theatre.

1927: The end of silent film is nigh, and the dastardly sound—or ‘talkie’—picture is ready to pounce. In the same year, British fiction-film forefather Alfred Hitchcock released his silent, stunningly shot murder-mystery The Lodger. 1956: A new wave of British drama emerges. “Speaking for a generation who had for so long been silent, they forged a living, adult, vital theatre.”

October 2014: The 1956 Theatre Company adapt Hitchcock’s 1927 thriller for the stage, presenting it to a delighted audience at the Salford Arts Theatre.

Set in the smoggy suburbs of 1920s London, this adaptation of The Lodger cuts out the complicated, overarching conspiracy at the heart of Hitchcock’s film, placing greater emphasis on the characters than the string of Ripper-style murders that comprise the whodunnit sub-plot. The Lodger in question is one Jonathan Drew (Bradley Cross), a peculiar gentleman of unclear origins (“we didn’t decide in the rehearsals…”) who rents a room at the residence of the Buntings, a pleasant family whose need for money overrides their suspicions of his being ‘The Avenger’ serial killer. Apart from an amusing flashback montage we never actually leave the Bunting’s living room, which racks up suspense and comedy as the family struggle to adapt to their new house guest.

Having one set also meant that the tiny cast didn’t really have to do anything apart from act, which was something they were all very good at. The vaudeville humour and use of old school techniques to hark back to the original silent film meant the actors could really go loopy. Graham Eaglesham, who played Arthur Bunting, put his body to especially hilarious use, but Emma Fernell and Julie Hannan—who played his daughter and wife respectively—were equally effective as they ran rings around the oafish male characters.

“Do you mind?! This is a silent film!” Danny Whittle and Lee Lomas’ adapted script—obviously written mostly from scratch due to the absence of vernacular dialogue in the source material—was exactly what minimalist stageplay should be all about; it was funny, self-referential, over the top, but always leaving room for overzealous posing and eye raising, the latter coming courtesy of cast member Danny Whittle, who does a spectacular Jack Black brow dance. The Lodger wasn’t as scary as its film counterpart, but the dodgy-as-hell walk from Salford Gala Bingo to the actual Arts Theatre sure was. If you go, get off at the right stop.

Live: The Hold Steady

Written by Dan Whiteley on . Posted in Music.

19th October

Academy 2

7.5/10

The Hold Steady returned to Manchester for the second time this year to deliver a performance that managed to sound polished and professional, without losing any of the spontaneous and heartfelt delivery that fans know and love them for. Though their latest—and perhaps most critically lauded—album, Teeth Dreams, is only six months old, already the band have seemingly reverted to their extensive back catalogue to fill the set, with only a handful of selections from that record being aired in the setlist.

Opening in low-key fashion with ‘Positive Jam’ from the band’s debut Almost Killed Me, the show didn’t really take off until the arena-ready guitars of ‘Stuck Between Stations’ began, setting the pace for the rest of the night. Maybe it was because the show happened on a drizzly Sunday evening in Manchester, but the band’s infamously rabid audience remained uncomfortably quiet and still throughout; even fan favourites like ‘Chips Ahoy!’ and the usually rousing ‘The Weekenders’ failed to garner much fan participation. Despite the lack of reaction, vocalist Craig Finn was clearly enjoying himself, grinning constantly and flitting about onstage, breathlessly mumbling his lyrics in his trademark deadpan style; rarely has a man that looks so much like a cross between David Cross and Gerard from Peep Show turned out to be such an engaging frontman.

The Hold Steady’s sound has become harder and more muscular since the departure of keyboard player Franz Nicolay a few years back, and the recent addition of Steve Selvidge as an additional guitarist has taken their sound even further away from their original indie/E-Street Band hybrid. This new edge gave the more anthemic tracks like ‘Sequestered in Memphis’ and the sardonic ‘You Can Make Him Like You’ an almost punk rock feel, though at times the piano and organ were sorely missed as the dynamic range of the songs suffered. By the time the encore had come round and the support act The So So Glo’s had joined the band for a rowdy rendition of ‘American Music’, though, the raucous punk rock stylings of their new sound seemed at home, and the crowded stage of musicians finally managed to coax some fun out of an otherwise dead and unappreciative audience.

Club: Coded Rhythm presents Nightmares On Wax / Onra

Written by Matt Bastow on . Posted in Music.

17th October

Gorilla

8/10

After enjoying a successful first two years with a number of eclectic bookings, I was excited to see what Coded Rhythm would conjure up for their birthday night. The last 25 years has seen Nightmares on Wax put out some of the greatest chill out albums ever produced including Smokers Delight, Carboot Soul and In a Space Outta Sound to name just a few. Standing as the mighty Warp Records’ longest serving signee, the Leeds man has proved himself to be one of the most enduring names in electronic music.

Joining him for the night was Onra, less familiar to me, a French hip-hop beatmaker who has been producing some of the most unique and competent music in his field since the tragic loss of the legendary Dilla, to whom he has frequently been compared to. The promoter had pulled out all the stops for this one—an unmissable line-up.

The Parisian started off playing choppy hip-hop beats with heavy oriental infusions before the words of ODB signalled the move into a heavier boom-bap sound, the heads of the crowd resonating accordingly to the beat. The horns of perhaps his best known tune—’The Anthem’—blasting throughout the venue caused an eruption of cheers from his fans before an acapella of ‘Serial Killa’ by Snoop Dogg saw Onra move seamlessly from 90s G Funk to 70s disco. With the crowd fully warmed up he continued to please dancing feet playing more of his own material including ‘High Hopes’ and his edit of ‘Keep On Lovin’ Me’ by disco legends The Whispers.

Nightmares on Wax took over on the controls and instructed the soundman to crank the volume whilst he simultaneously upped the tempo of the night, diving immediately into a jungle beat. The lyrics of ‘Be, I Do’ echoed over the breakbeats as he brought in Planty Herbs’s remix of the track. Unfortunately my experience of the genius in action was cut short prematurely by the pervasive bouncers of Gorilla, but I have no doubt that he continued to live up to his reputation, earning the reverence of the crowd and inducing euphoria right up until the last beat.

Live: Jonny Greenwood and the London Contemporary Orchestra

Written by Alex Daniel on . Posted in Music.

10th October

Albert Hall

9.5/10

By nature, this concert drew a mixed bag. Cool-dad 6music listeners, die-hard Radiohead fans and classical music connoisseurs alike crammed into the Albert Hall, not knowing what to expect but drawn by the name on the ticket—Jonny Greenwood’s widespread appeal as guitarist of Radiohead is undeniable. It is easy to dismiss someone like him as a serious classical composer because of just this, but as the LCO dynamically reproduced some of the finest moments from his film scores such as ‘There Will Be Blood’, it was hard to ignore the versatility and emotional depth displayed in his writing.

It wasn’t just the Jonny Greenwood show though; other composers’ works featured just as much, the best of which was a gut-wrenchingly intense solo cello rendition of Michael Gordon’s ‘Industry’. Greenwood’s impressive playing of Steve Reich’s ‘Electric Counterpoint’ later on was also a performance to be savoured. The thrilling third movement of this wonderful minimalist piece was awe inspiring, and the Radiohead star’s skill as a player, not just a composer, really shone through.

Perhaps the most memorable moment for the audience, however, was when a web link appeared on the projector after the interval, just as the orchestra moved onto a slower Greenwood original. When you clicked the link it made a sound, you joined the performance and before long every smartphone was emitting twinkling sound effects. Not only a masterstroke of originality, it worked fantastically with the slow melancholy of the piece and this sort of forward thinking is what set the concert apart. It bridged the gap between a gig and a classical music event, and in my opinion that was its greatest success. That, and the fact that Greenwood made accessible the genre of contemporary classical music to a demographic which, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t have given it a second glance—quite an achievement.

Live: Eliza and the Bear

Written by Katie Burns on . Posted in Music.

6th October

Ruby Lounge

4/10

Last Monday I went to the Ruby Lounge for the first time ever and quickly fell in love with the place. It’s a really cute venue, with velvet curtains and a fancy bar.  I didn’t go for a sightsee though, but instead to watch Eliza and the Bear and their support, Lisbon.

Lisbon kicked the night off well, with strong vocals, heavy drums and cyclical guitar riffs that worm their way into your psyche. Their more upbeat tracks like ‘Hustle’ sound like Little Comets fronted by Willy Moon. Honestly, I might actually have preferred them to what was to follow.

As the seemingly never-ending string of Eliza and the Bear members walked on stage, the crowd looked on, enamoured.  To kick the night off, they launched into arguably their most well-know song—that one from that Bulmers advert, also known as ‘Friends’. This was a pretty brave move and, honestly, I don’t think it paid off. Towards the end a divide was created between the die-hard fans dancing to every song and the bored people chatting in the back, who had lost interest a while ago.

There was something about the band that reminded me of watching All Time Low in my less-cool teenage years, complete with a scarily preteen-looking crowd. Like All Time Low, their songs have that quality where they are instantly recognisable, with big, repetitive choruses that were made to be sung along to. Sure some of it felt like filler, but their fans seemed to enjoy it.

Despite the energy that the band put into their set, to me it felt like a bit of a damp squib.

Interview: Skiddle launches ’25 under 25’ initiative to discover new promoters

Written by Katie Burns on . Posted in Music.

Clearly not content with simply selling tickets for tens of thousands of events all over the UK, leading ticket agency Skiddle recently unveiled a new competition. We spoke to Jimmy, Skiddle’s Head of Content and Communication, to figure out what exactly is going on.

The initiative, named ’25 under 25,’ aims to recognize and support a new generation of UK amateur music promoters and event managers. Through this initiative, Skiddle hope to find “the stars of tomorrow, and develop them.”

Unlike other ticketing websites that only focus on high-profile events, Skiddle has long been the champion of both established and up-and-coming event organizers. They maintain the ethos that “every single person who is selling tickets, irrespective of what it is for, deserves a good service.” They see ’25 under 25′ as an extension of this, and as an “investment in the industry’s future.”

According to Jimmy, Skiddle chose to do this competition as they have already seen many promoters develop since 2006, when they began selling tickets. Many talented promoters who they first worked with on smaller nights have gone on to do bigger and better things, and Skiddle sees ’25 under 25’ as a way of “finding and nurturing” this talent before it develops.

Despite this being their first formal competition, they hope to make it “something that carries on year upon year,” though possibly on a larger scale. Judging by the “strong entries” that have already come forward this year, it seems like there might be a lot of untapped talent in this area.

To be eligible a promoter has to have successfully ran one event between the start of the competition and Sunday the 14th of December, to have sold a minimum of 20 tickets with skiddle, and of course they must be under 25. From there, a shortlist of 25 people will be picked, and after new year one overall winner will be chosen from this group.

They will be given a variety of invaluable prizes in 2015, including a full year’s worth of ‘promotion pack’, which will be personally tailored to them and their event. This will include things like support promoting their event, mentoring from industry experts, and a load of Skiddle merchandise. All in all, it will end up as a kind of “promotion apprenticeship” that you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.

Even though the competition is not just open to student promoters, Jimmy says it would be perfect for them, as it is “based round the academic year,” and due to the flexible nature of the prize. Also, though the competition is being rolled out nationwide, Manchester residents have a good chance, due to it being a Skiddle “ticket stronghold,” and having such a vibrant music scene. So, a student from Manchester probably has a damn good chance!

As well as the competition and the internships they already offer, they are also looking into other ways of investing in young people “that show promise.”

Live: Ella Eyre

Written by Dinesh Mattu on . Posted in Music.

7th October 2014

The Ritz

8/10

After supporting Rudimental on tour last year and playing extensively at festivals over summer, Ella Eyre continues to gain momentum with each show she plays; evidently her first solo tour proves she is not to be taken lightly.

Exploding onto stage, Ella wastes no time in showing the audience her talent and launching into ‘Don’t Follow Me’. Packed with attitude and confidence she struts around completely in her element, exhibiting high energy and carrying a high intensity from the start.

Her notable voice is gravelly and textured; she has a truly distinct tone that sets her apart from her counterparts. Her vocals are even better live than on record, her presence is immovable and her feisty swagger is admirable, exuding an almost gladiatorial stance on stage.

The content of her upcoming LP and much of her previous work is evidently based on a breakup and, although some of her material was penned when she was younger, writing her recent single ‘Comeback’ when she was 16, it becomes somewhat narrow in terms of songwriting. There is a rationale of revenge and anger channelled throughout the performance, which becomes tiresome by the end, but there is a level of empathy amongst the crowd judging by the reception her songs receive.

Ella breaks off her high-energy performance for a weird, souled-out piano version of Jermaine Stewart’s one hit wonder ‘We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off’, but the crowd lap it up in admiration. She shows a lot of honesty in the slower songs and superbly exercises her vocal capabilities. The contrasting upbeat material is well-received and her set includes Sigma’s chart-topping ‘Changing’, which she co-wrote. Her biggest hit to date, Rudimental’s ‘Waiting All Night,’ raises the roof and is the undoubted highlight of the evening, it’s her most recognisable track and the entire crowd are singing by the end of the gig.

There’s no doubt she is a fantastic performer and a spectacular singer; music fans with any vague interest in popular music will admire her energy and voice and, although the content isn’t very diverse, heartbreak sells. I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds herself at the top of the charts anytime soon.

Gay men need feminism

Written by Marcus Johns on . Posted in Opinion.

We’ve all heard them: “Stop crying like a girl,” “don’t be such a pansy,” “he talks like a little girl.” Phrases meant to question the masculinity of a young man in order to offend like this work in two ways.

Importantly, they make the presumptions that women are inferior beings and displaying signs of femininity, as a superior male is a repugnant transgression of the patriarchy. The reinforcement of patriarchal attitudes is harmful as much to women as it is to the gay, or even straight yet effeminate, man.

These insults shouldn’t be insults, it’s simple. Hopefully, as feminism advances their power to sting will be lessened and feminism is good for gay men because of this. If a camp gay man displays stereotypically effeminate tendencies, then he shouldn’t be made to feel like any less of a man for not living up to his manhood, as it were.

The worst thing about using femininity in men as an insult is that frequently it is young women who use it. Girls in schools using “you’re such a girl,” as an insult is heartbreaking because they don’t see how they are demoting themselves to a point of lesser being than a man.

It doesn’t just stop at the use of femininity as a contra-standard to being a man for gay men, but society tries to force gender roles upon us too. The all-pervasive female and male roles are so ingrained in our society that gay couples frequently have to listen to: “So, which one of you is the man and which one of you is the woman?”

Nine times out of ten it’s not even meant facetiously, it’s a completely serious question. The paradigm of gender roles penetrates our mindsets so deeply that we simply can’t fathom the idea that neither is either: “Well, we’re both men, that’s kind of the point.”

Our society’s bifocal view of the world doesn’t allow us to see behaviour, sexuality, and gender as fluid. You are either a masculine man or a feminine woman; there are no grey areas.

Masculinity as a concept is indeed so rigid and so important to young men that any doubt about its extensiveness in a man is damaging. This even stretches so far as to damage friendships between young gay teenagers and young straight ones: “Why are you friends with him? He’s gay. You’re not gay are you?”

Feminism is good for gay men because it is breaking down the false concept of strict masculinity and femininity. Gay men and effeminate men no longer need to be seen as lesser men, and nor should they be labelled effeminate in a demeaning way. It’s damaging to everyone; it presumes women are inferior, it makes gay and effeminate men feel insecure, and it even shakes the fragile ego of the young straight male to the core to have his masculinity questioned—even if it’s a simple friendship.

Club: Tribal Sessions presents Apollonia

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in Music.

4th October

Sankeys

In the last 14 years, Tribal Sessions has established itself as one of Manchester’s go-to underground house nights. The 14th birthday weekender did not disappoint. Having not been to Sankeys since our first year, my housemates and I were pretty excited as the days of the week counted down until Saturday night. Once inside the club, the hype amongst the crowd in the minutes before Apollonia were due to take to the decks was evident. I spoke to one guy who had come up from London to see their set as well as to a bunch of Chinese guys who lamented the fact that Beijing doesn’t have such a booming house scene.

The Parisian house trio, made up of Dan Ghenacia, Dyed Soundorom, and Shonky, are known affectionately by fans and critics as ‘the three musketeers’. They dropped a smooth set which didn’t fail to get the whole of Sankeys pumping. Drawing heavily on the work of Prince, their mission statement is, in effect, to blend black and white musical influences to produce house music which is funky and drum-heavy. The group have recently claimed in an interview that their sound and mixing improves when all three are together—greater than the sum of the individual parts they play. Having never heard any of their solo sets live, I can’t confirm or deny this. But it certainly can be said that the three of them together had a commanding presence up on stage.  The Sankeys basement also really lent itself to Apollonia’s sound, whilst also maintaining a relatively intimate feel.

Following their set in Manchester, the trio are currently on the road in North America. In the last two weeks, they have performed in New York, Montreal, Las Vegas, and Washington D.C.

Tribal Sessions has two more shows this month: Friday 24th and then a Halloween special on the 31st, which will see all the usual suspects play, such as Darius Syrossian.

Meat Free Mondays

Written by Josephine Harrington on . Posted in News.

As you are reading this you might be tucking into a yummy, juicy bacon buttie and being meat free may be a long way from your mind. However, this clever initiative is starting to catch on. Meat Free Monday is a campaign started and funded by Paul McCartney along with his daughter Stella. Together, they promote giving up eating meat for the whole of Monday (would you believe?!) for a wide range of reasons. Because when you really start to think about it, eating meat has a bigger impact than just thinking of the cute little animals.

As a Geography student, a large proportion of the things we learn is linked to how the world is changing, more often than not, for the worse. Yes, this is along with our busy colouring-in schedule. For example, greenhouse gas emissions are globally showing a constant rate of increase. What does this have to do with meat, I hear you cry? A UN study in 2006 showed that the livestock industry was responsible for an astonishing 18 per cent of man’s global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to this factor you have the impact of deforestation for cattle ranches, cattle’s extraordinary methane emissions and the extra food needed to feed livestock. This is all without even looking at the issue of animal rights and welfare.

Meat Free Monday may appeal to you from a financial point of view as a cash-strapped student. The average UK family spends £13.10 on meat and fish and just £6.70 on fresh fruit and veg every week. Imagine how much extra dosh you would have if you spent a bit more on veg or those tasty lentils rather than meat. For really cheap veg, head down to the Curry Mile’s superstore for an expansive and cheap selection.

The Students’ Union now has special promotions in place on Meat Free Mondays—half price on certain meat free dishes, including the veggie pizza which is pretty good if you are ever peckish.
Not all vegetarians choose to go meat-free for animal rights or environmental issues; health is also an important factor. We all know vegetarians have a healthy reputation, but does this claim actually stack up? Eating meat less than three times a week prevents 31000 deaths from heart disease every year in the UK. If everyone was able to eat meat less than three times a week, it is estimated that the NHS would save over £1.2 billion a year. Although Meat Free Monday is only one day a week, everyone has to start somewhere!

McCartney’s meat-free mission is being supported by several high-profile celebrities and chefs, including Yotam Ottolenghi. My twist on his Shakshuka recipe is available here. The Meat Free Monday website also has lots of great recipes and more information. So why not give Meat Free Mondays a go and feel totally self-satisfied all Monday long!

Sophia Al-Maria’s ‘Virgin with a Memory’

Written by Gregory Watson on . Posted in Books.

Virgin with a Memory is a multimedia exhibition documenting the production of, and inspiration behind, Sophia Al-Maria’s unfinished rape revenge film Beretta. What Al-Maria compiles from the film, using video installations, film posters, and even her personally annotated scripts, makes for a compelling and multifaceted insight into what could have been. It also draws comparison between Al-Maria’s own frustrations at attempting to get the film off the ground and her anger at the harassment of women in Egypt—where the film is set—alongside a thought-provoking critique of the depiction of women in the media on a wider scale.

Al-Maria’s exhibition starts and ends with confronting the issue of the male gaze; upon entering, you are met with Rape Gaze and Torture Trip, two pieces in which Al-Maria draws attention to the deeply unsettling fetishisation of violence towards women in Egyptian film posters of the 1960s and 1980s. Al-Maria continues upon this theme of making the male voyeuristic experience of women in culture an unsettling one by naming a compilation of Arabic music videos Your Sister. She thereby constructs the sexual exploitation of females in the media and makes it appear sordid and incestuous, something that, arguably, we are almost numb to in the modern age due to the recurrent depiction of female sexuality through a male lens in the music industry. For me the most fascinating part of the exhibition was The Watchers No. 1 – 6, a piece showing visually distorted images of men of different ages with staring eyes that seem to follow you around the room. This powerfully illustrates just how intimidating and frightening being the object of predatory masculine sexual desire can be.

As well as providing a powerful critical evaluation of the phenomenon of the male gaze, however, Virgin with a Memory acts as Al-Maria’s celebration of being an artist finally able to salvage something meaningful from Beretta and those tumultuous three years, plagued with financial and legal issues troubling the film’s pre-production. One piece in the exhibition is simply a box of published copies of the novelisation of the script that retains Al-Maria’s unabridged vision of the film. This seems to represent Al-Maria revelling in being able to have her voice heard without the interference of producers, legal teams and other administrative, stifling influences, making the fact that the exhibition has been allowed to take place an intrinsic part of the exhibition itself.

Al-Maria’s ability to bring together a stylistically diverse exhibition, with her all-encompassing use of lighting, sound, and especially video pieces, delivers a coherent and impressive work—needless to say it is an impressive feat in itself. The combination of content that explores, on the one hand, one woman’s struggle to get her artistic vision realised, coupled with the reactionary ‘call to arms’ against the way in which women are exploited and depicted by men, is a truly unique and inspired one that you are unlikely to come across elsewhere. This makes Virgin with a Memory a truly distinctive and stimulating piece that is well worth taking the time to immerse yourself in.

Virgin with a Memory is on display at Manchester Cornerhouse until 2nd November.

Progressive? Try regressive on for size.

Written by Joe C. Evans on . Posted in Opinion.

Recent revelations of a culture celebrating misogyny, that had pierced the heart of the now disbanded rugby club of the London School of Economics, have shone a homing beacon onto the issue of the modern man and his relation to femininity. We, as a generation, are supposedly free thinkers, liberal in our outlook; the modern man is our label. This, it seems, is a masquerade of morality masking a widely known, but more easily ignored, truth.

One need only glance over to social media for the worst culprits. Facebook, in giving rise to groups such as the LAD Bible, has given prominence to a voice that serves to perpetuate views that, despite their high-tech platform, belong in a museum. These views have been refined by spin-offs such as UniLad, appealing to a more specific audience while promoting the same archaic outlook. Clearly we in further education demand a more sophisticated form of misogynistic thoughtlessness.

The widespread support for the suspect but apparently hilarious ideology of the LAD Bible and similar media outlets is frankly frightening. The LAD Bible, it would appear, promotes views universally known to be morally abhorrent, yet its support is unyielding.

The treatment of femininity in celebrity culture likewise borders on medieval. Dapper Laughs (a name I’m glad to say I didn’t know), for example, delivers completely inexcusable messages regarding the treatment of women, all under the thin veil of comedy.

Not only does the comic openly insult the notion of equal rights through his backwards outlook, he does so with such satisfaction that his audience must surely consider him ironic. If so, then a national campaign warning as to the danger of misunderstood irony should be a key political policy.

For many followers of figures such as the LAD Bible and Dapper Laughs (who has now been given a television platform too—social decay in action), the line for when the joke stops is heavily blurred. Like the blurred lines of aptly named Robin Thicke’s patriarchal anthem, the point at which the laughing stops has sunk so deep into the mire its invisible.

This is where the London School of Economics’ esteemed sportsmen reappear, flourishing their now shit-stained colours. While I am not for one second suggesting that these men are misogynistic or backwards, they simply failed to identify where the punchline ended. Here in lies the problem.

We are so numb to misogynistic rhetoric, as used to it as to a lazy form of comic relief, that we’ve in some cases forgotten that it’s a joke. If the devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he didn’t exist, the danger of socially accepted sexism is in it hiding where it is visible. The more visible it is, the more normal it appears.

Like the iconography of post-abolition America, playfully villainizing the black community, we continue, through seemingly harmless means, to devastate gender relations.

The image of the modern man, and his belief in gender equality, is chiselled away both in his own psyche and in the eyes of his female counterpart. In the perception of feminists, the need to fight for equal rights is perpetuated by opiating culture with misogyny. Alongside this, the idea of masculinity is corrupted, poisoned beyond all recognition, by a social pressure cultivated by a covert desensitisation to anti-feminism.

Lad culture reigns, a culture of racking up sexual conquests and drunkenly approaching women in clubs, a culture almost nobody bought into but a culture men are dictated to. The harmless fun of the LAD Bible, streamed directly into the brains of young men via their laptops, suddenly is less benign when, as in the case at LSE, it spirals out of control.

Masculinity, then, has been twisted not by men themselves, but by a small percentage who have rebranded what a man is and sold it back under the guise of fun in the form of sexist iPhone cases and T-shirts. The myth of the modern man is by no means a detrimental flaw in the character of mankind, one that womankind should aggressively segregate themselves from. No, what is needed is a reclaiming of masculinity as whatever men want it to be.

Far from promoting conflict between the sexes, we should be aiming to integrate society into being totally androgynous, making gender irrelevant rather than something to be fought over. While women did fight, and die, for the right for equality, we have reached a point where such militant actions aren’t the way forward and a more nuanced approach is needed.

What is abundantly clear, however, is that the modern man is, at the moment, a myth that we should strive to make a reality. Far from accepting the position of masculinity in relation to femininity we should all be looking to appropriate this into one movement of humanity. In doing so, we cast not only oppression of women aside but also start to dissolve the stained version of masculinity which has appropriated our gender.

Dying for democracy

Written by Joe C. Evans on . Posted in Opinion.

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

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

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

The campaign in Hong Kong is focussed on achieving full democracy, the choice to elect their own Chief Executive, the head of the Hong Kong government, rather than be stuck with a government crony. The campaign has called for the current leader, Leung Chun-Ying to step down. Elected with support from just 689 voters from the electoral of just 1200, he has been heavily rebuked for prioritising China over Hong Kong in an attempt to appease his support base of oligarchs and pro-Beijing tycoons.

When, in Hong Kong, the right to simply vote is a contentious issue, the huge political power each and every one of us possesses in comparison is highlighted. While our system may be flawed, our right to democratic representation is leaps and bounds ahead of such a Hong Kong’s institution of government.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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