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Month: February 2015

Reclaim the Night 2015

On Thursday the 26th of February over 2000 students took to the streets of Manchester for the Reclaim the Night 2015 march, making the Manchester march the largest ever Reclaim the Night in the UK.

The march is described by the organisers as a chance to light up the city of Manchester, amplify our collective voices and take to the streets and say ‘No’ to sexual violence against women, street harassment, rape culture and victim blaming.

As stated on the Reclaim the Night Facebook page, recent surveys of young women show that 43 per cent have reported being sexually harassed in a public place in the last 12 months. A 2013 Home Office study showed that one in five women have been sexually assaulted since the age of 16, yet only 15 per cent felt able to report this to the authorities.

In Manchester specifically recent statistics published by Greater Manchester Police have shown that student rapes have increased 100 per cent this academic year in comparison to last year. Further this year numerous incidents have been reported even at student-led events such as the ‘Pangaea: Rumble in the Jungle’ event in September.

The march, which was fronted by a self-identifying women-only block, kickstarted in Owens Park at 7pm and proceeded through the Curry Mile until the student protestors reached the University of Manchester Students’ Union. At the Union Jess Lishak, Womens’ Officer and a key organiser of the event, addressed the crowds and led the protestors in chants against sexual violence.

Protestors donned neon face paints and glow sticks, besides many home-made placards, some of the most powerful of which read statements such as; “my cunt, you cunt,” “even my dog understands no,” and “girls just want to have FUN-damental rights.”

The march received wide publicity and was covered by The Telegraph, Tiger Takes, Fuse FM’s Dead-Beat Joe and later also by Sky news.

In a public statement on the Reclaim the Night 2015 Facebook group, Lishak said: “What an amazing night! Thank you all for coming and making Manchester Reclaim the Night 2015 the biggest (ever) in the UK and too visible to ignore.

“We hope you enjoyed the incredible and empowering evening as much as we did, and see you next year!”

The Mancunion contacted the numerous societies present at the march to ask why Reclaim the Night is so important for many.

 

Monica Dhillon, Communications Officer for the Manchester LGBTQ Society, said:

“The event was incredibly empowering and it was a powerful thing to see so many people marching in solidarity. It’s important at events such as Reclaim the Night to acknowledge the diversity of people who are angry and want change, and that’s why I marched – to make sure my voice as a queer woman was heard. ”

Student protesters marching through the Curry Mile. Photo: The Mancunion.

 

Hannah McCarthy, speaking on behalf of Save our NHS Manchester:

“Reclaim the Night is arguably the most special and subversive night in the University of Manchester calendar. It offers all students the opportunity to reclaim the streets from gendered, sexual and societal discrimination and to voice their solidarity in demanding a society which is free from these injustices.

“Save Our NHS Manchester powerfully marched yesterday evening, reclaiming the night and demanding: ‘No ifs, no buts, no rape crisis cuts!’ We hope to have highlighted the disastrous extent of cuts to services for victims of rape, domestic abuse and sexual violence.

“This slashing of essential services are part of Manchester Council’s £58 Million public sector cuts, which are systematically destroying the lives of some of the most vulnerable in society!”

Photo: The Mancunion

 

Rebecca Rigg, a 3rd Year student and volunteer steward for the event:

“After stewarding my second time with the Reclaim the Night gang, I can honestly say it’s a fantastic experience. I saw some old faces from last year as well as so many new ones.

“You have to be a bit of a bad cop, and try and keep everyone within the cones, but that’s only because people get carried away—which is amazing! We’re just there to ensure everyone’s safe.

“But, that doesn’t mean to say I wasn’t sporting my neon face paint, screaming along with the enthusiastic chants and getting as many passing cars to make some noise as possible!

“We will be heard, and I can’t wait to see how big it becomes next year!”

Protesters outside of the Student Union where the march ended. Photo: The Mancunion

 

A spokesperson for Manchester Labour Students said:

“Liberation has always stood at the heart of our politics, so naturally Reclaim the Night has always been one of our favourite events of the year. However, this year—following all of the high-profile sexual assaults that have taken place—marching for our liberation and in solidarity felt more important than ever.

“There was an incredible atmosphere of unity and support as we marched along, chanting and waving placards. It was also really encouraging to have been joined by such a great number of male allies who understood the importance of Reclaim the Night and who proudly proclaimed, ‘this is what a feminist looks like!’

“We all had an incredible time at Reclaim the Night and look forward to marching together in solidarity for years to come.”

Photo: The Mancunion

 

The charity organisation Nightline also had representatives present at the march. One such representative, Hannah Jewell, stated:

“It was incredible to see so many people at Reclaim the Night, and the feeling on the march was electric. I particularly enjoyed talking to people before the march and hearing all the reasons people were choosing to take a stand.

“It was also really important to me to talk about Nightline to people throughout the night, as Nightline provides through its service a safe space to talk about your feelings and experiences, whether about sexual assault or anything else, as well as information on services relevant to you, or even just a person to talk to if you’re walking alone and want to chat to someone.”

Many male students were also present at the march and showing their support in confronting rape culture. Photo: The Mancunion

 

Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) were also present at the protest and stated:

“The work of MASH has always been about the safety of women—it is at the heart of what we do—and we were very pleased to see so many people voicing this important issue”.

Photo: The Mancunion

 

The Mancunion editorial team were also present at the march and wish to express the following statement:

The Mancunion were present at Reclaim the Night because we wanted to amplify what we believe to be a fundamental issue, not just for students or women, but people everywhere. We are tired of reporting incidents of students being sexually assaulted or raped on our campus—the one place all students ought to be safe.

“We feel it is our duty to support our Union’s declaration of solidarity with victims everywhere, and add our voice to that of the Union’s.”

Photo: The Mancunion

Welsh boy wears make-up

Make-up is weird. For most women, it’s a essential part of our daily lives; we wake up and put a face on without giving it a second’s thought. But when it comes to boys, make-up is little more than the mysterious substances girls use to magic away their spots and blemishes. In recent years, the use of male beauty products like guyliner and even concealer aimed at men has seen a dramatic increase, yet a full face of slap is still seen as something far too feminine for most members of the opposite sex. When you think of a made-up man, it’s RuPaul who comes to mind, rather than say, Sam Smith, despite the fact that most male stars wear just as much make-up as their female counterparts. In a city like Manchester, where almost anything goes style-wise, we wanted to test the theory that even here, make-up on a man would be met with shock and confusion. After much negotiating and a tiny bit of bullying, we convinced our male lab rat to take to the streets of Fallowfield, foundation and all. His price? A post-night-out Chicken King, on us.

The immaculate conception:

Our first task was to prep our blank canvas. Boys are notorious for giving their skin short shrift, so we ensured our subject was smothered in Nivea Creme before we got started. Base covered, it was time for him to lay the foundations, literally.  Sensitive to his personal space, we let him take the lead with the application process. After even coverage was established, and beard successfully avoided, it was time to give this skinny little Welsh boy a healthy glow. He was surprisingly taken with his new bronzed appearance: “It looks like I’ve been on holiday! This is the closest to a St. Tropez tan I’ll ever get.” But as it was Fallowfield, not the French Riviera, a bit of blusher was required to achieve that rosy-cheeked, in-from-the-cold look.

Photo: The Mancunion

Brows on fleek:

On to eyebrows. We made the startling discovery that left to grow untamed, male eyebrows lack shape, discipline and know no bounds. So, after some skilful shaping and combing we cultivated our subject a killer set of brows. Every self-respecting make-up maven knows the importance of good smoky eye game, so we prepped his lids with a dash of primer and set about shading. Our subject’s complexion required a mix of warm tones. After dabbing on a matte mahogany shade, we highlighted the shimmering bronze pigment. Contouring completed, our subject attempted the obligatory cat-eye flick and finished off with a wave of his mascara wand.

Photo: The Mancunion

Hot lips:

After a few well-placed words of instruction we were extremely impressed with our subject’s flawless lipstick application. As the boldest shade in the make-up bag, red was the obvious choice. “Is it OK to lick my lips?” he asked, worriedly. While adjusting to the strange new sensations, he couldn’t stop gazing at his perfect pout in his compact mirror.

Photo: The Mancunion

It was soon time for our subject to show the world his new self. Destination: Shell garage. On the walk over, he was filled with nervous excitement and despite putting up the hood of his parka, we caught him stealing glances at passers-by to check for their reactions. But before they could pause to take a second look, he scuttled across the garage forecourt and into the shop. Once inside he amused himself with a copy of Women’s Fitness and perused the canned goods aisle. The tempting 2-for-1 offer on mushy peas made him temporarily forget his new look. He finally plucked up the courage to make a purchase, and after his ordeal, only a nice glass (or 5) of Pinot Grigio would do. Shuffling past several confused-looking shoppers, our subject came face to face with an astonished-looking cashier. After spluttering, “got any ID?” it took him an awkward 30 seconds to remember the price of the wine. The make-up couldn’t hide the blood rushing to our subject’s already rouged cheeks.

Operation complete, it was time for our tired subject to return home for a good cleanse, tone and moisturise. Despite his initial protests a niggling part of him can’t help but be intrigued by the perfecting potential of make-up. Maybe he doesn’t want to look just like every other boy after all…

Review: Bad Company

Every February, the University of Manchester Drama Society’s Manchester In-Fringe Theatre Awards (MIFTA) season comes around, bringing exciting potential for new interpretations of existing plays, and debuts of original works written and created by some of the university’s most talented dramatists. As MIFTA audience members of past and present will agree, the extraordinary quality of work produced by members of the society never fails to surprise and amaze. Most recently, Manchester theatre-goers were presented with Tom Mackintosh’s gripping play Bad Company, in the Council Chambers of the Students’ Union. With the debut of this extraordinarily written comic drama, it has become clear that the relentlessly high standards have become an inevitable part of the MIFTA experience, and audiences ought not to be so surprised in future.

For Martin and Helena Cabrera, life plays out each day in the same dreary fashion. Their marriage seemingly decaying around them at the same rate as the slowly crumbling bed and breakfast that they run together, time is pulling them down a miserable slope. It is upon the sudden arrival of three new guests that their dull existence is at once shaken to the core, forcing them to confront issues which have simmered silently and malevolently beneath the surface of their marriage for an agonisingly long time.

Most significantly, the resounding success of Bad Company owes itself to the insightful and witty text. Illuminating the agonies and strains often suffered within adult romantic relationships, Mackintosh revealed an incredibly genuine understanding of married life. Cleverly juxtaposing an overbearing context of dissatisfaction and bitterness with many laugh-out-loud witticisms and one-liners, the audience was provided with a captivating and ‘real’ presentation of a couple’s everyday life.

Bolstering the movingly convincing text was the sensitive physical presentation of the play’s five characters. Supremely well cast, the talent of each actor in Bad Company is undeniable. With particularly resonant performances by Yasmin Al-Khudhairi as the resentful Helena Cabrera, and Tom Roberts as the mysterious and charming Quentin Lovelace, the cast unfalteringly personified their characters with compelling intuition. The precise comic and dramatic timing of delivery by the cast proved key to the general effectiveness of Bad Company. Of course, the overall creative input of director, Rishi Pelham cannot be overlooked in this respect. Having worked to fuse the textual and practical elements of Bad Company, Pelham has achieved a satisfyingly consistent and powerful overall production.

While the MIFTAs provide emerging student writers with an extremely worthwhile opportunity to present their work, it is truly saddening to think that most of these plays are packed away at the end of their run, never to be viewed by an audience again. When it comes to Bad Company, there would be no bigger sin than to bury the script forever. It is a play which deserves to be recognised, and undoubtedly there is much to look forward to in Tom Mackintosh’s future as a playwright.

Club: Sanction @ Sankeys

31st January

Sankeys

7/10

Entering a completely rammed Sankeys, the heat and sweat made a stark change from the cold outisde. The 18 to 30-year-old crowd were happily trapped like sardines.

Kane Law gave the crowd exactly what they wanted. His set featured many of his own bass-heavy house productions. His ‘Bugatti’ Bootleg went down a treat with its industrial synth samples and tech-house structure. The live versions of his tracks definitely stand out with extra vocal effects and samples either being triggered live or mixed in. Signed to Audio Rehab & Warner Chappell this DJ/Producer is one to watch. The focus is definitely on the music, with no MC or complicated lighting distracting him. The calmer and simpler sections of his tracks work well, allowing the crowd time to breathe before that bass comes back in force.

The impression he gave was of someone who has studied his catalogue and practised extensively. He is very smooth: moving from one dark thumping groove to another effortlessly with vocal samples laid over the top help develop the appeal. The best vocal sample of his set was a slowed down male voice: “My old man write me a letter from prison once… he said if you don’t want to end up like me stay away from crime, women and drugs.”

DJ Zinc has been making electronic music since the early 90s. We have him to thank for incredible tracks such as ‘Super Sharp Shooter’ & ‘138 Trek’ which are usually played somewhere in most UK DnB, Jungle, Grime and Garage sets. His set was more ambitious than Kane Law’s incorporating many genres, rhythms and sounds that were expertly beat-matched. His Soundcloud page features twenty one-hour plus mixes titled “trust me I was there” which are a year-by-year guide to what he was listening to.

Yasmin’s set featured bass-heavy house party anthems. Samples from Dead Prez, M.O.P. and Super Mario were not lost on the crowd. Hopefully next time she will play a set longer than an hour.

Despite the slowly-moving queues to every destination—dancefloors, toilet, bar and patio—it was a good night out.

Review: Manchester Beer and Cider Festival 2015

An annual testament to the world’s favourite drink, the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival saw thousands of drinkers descend on the Velodrome in SportCity to sample over 400 brews, get merry, and fall over.

This was by far the most colossal beer festival either of us has attended. Armed with glass and programme, we took a step out onto the stands to admire the drinking floor. The sheer intensity of beer-related movement made what we soon started calling ‘the pit’, a pretty impressive sight. We quickly got into the mix, and slid into the rhythm of filling our halves and retiring to a cosy spot on the concourse. One of the highlights for me was holding an India Pale Ale in one hand and a hotdog in the other, watching cyclists race round the track—a combination we can all relate to. A close runner up was an A-list celebrity encounter with the one and only Chesney from Coronation Street.

There being hundreds of beers there, it was obvious we wouldn’t be able to scratch the surface in terms of trying everything, which is a shame as some really exciting brews were available. However we made a pretty brave attempt, powering through the halves right up until the last barrel aged stout, whilst managing not to get too smashed, which can’t be said to everyone I saw wearing a cone/shark hat. Here is a rundown of a few of the beers we put into our faces.

Port Stout 4.8% – Hanlons Brewery
This beer combines the tangy, rich and fruity red wine flavours from the port with classic, smooth stout character. A taste of this quickly turned into a full pint. We feel like this would be the perfect pie accompaniment.

Rhubeer 4.5% – Celt Experience/Wiper and True
This is one of only three sour beers available at the festival—so it naturally stood out. The aroma is midget gems, with strong forest fruits top notes. This is apparently both brewed and fermented with fresh rhubarb, and there is really no mistaking this. The tart sourness comes through in the end but it’s relatively mild and well balanced. Good stuff.

Peach Melbear 4.4% – Beartown Brewery
This is a bit of a strange one from a brewery in Congleton we are fans of. It has a really light body with fresh and sweet elderflower and peach flavours. The beer is refreshing, almost cordial like, but can’t see myself drinking more than one pint of the stuff.

Belgian Blue 4.9% – Bradfield Brewery
Feel like it might be a little late in the year for a Christmas beer, but there you go. This is an easy drinking best bitter, with berries on top and warming caramel undertones. The head actually is a little bit blue!

What is your course stereotype?

Medicine—There are two kinds of medics: The ones that work super hard and never go out, and the ones who work hard and go out ALL THE TIME. Most of the latter group would not be your first choice of future doctor, but who really cares because they throw the best toga parties.

Politics—Politics students have an opinion about everything and they take it as a personal insult if you don’t vote.

Philosophy—Slightly aloof, they can’t really give you a good reason why they chose to study philosophy or where it will take them in the future, but if Freud comes up in a pub quiz there is no one else you’d rather have by your side.

Physics—Physicists think of themselves as far superior to both Biology (who they think just sit in lectures singing The Bad Touch) and Chemistry (whose degree consists solely of learning the periodic table). They have already seen The Theory of Everything 12 times and The Big Bang Theory is the source of all their comedy.

Pharmacy—For those who weren’t clever enough to do medicine, pharmacy is a scientific alternative that gets you a good job and a stable career. They know too much about medicinal drugs to ever take illegal ones.

Engineering— They know the country needs them and are slightly smug about the fact they’re guaranteed to earn loads of money. They also adore going bowling and discussing how bridges stay up.

History—History students spend the vast amount of free time they have doing essays/socialising in Blue 3, looking down on everyone who doesn’t know how to reference because they were taught it from day one.

Geography—Moving on from the school stereotype of colouring in with crayons, students who study geography at degree level have been given more responsibility and are now allowed to use felt tip pens. They’re not sure what to do with all this power, so avoid university altogether by taking 20 credit holidays to Malta.

Languages—They chose their degree for the year abroad and never shut up about it. You will find them in the language centre watching foreign films and complaining about people who assume they are going to become teachers.

Art History—Made up of blonde girls from the south, they spend their university career trying to assure everyone History of Art is a proper degree.

Overheard at the University of Manchester, 2/3/15

The funniest things you’ve been saying around campus this week

“If someone doesn’t buy you a puppy you shouldn’t marry them”
Overheard in Withington

“Even though it’s hard to get a space in Ali G, once you have a space, you have loads of space. Know what I mean?”
Overheard in the library

“What kind of basic bitch still wears Ugg boots anyway?”
Overheard in Fallowfield

“But don’t northerners eat dinner earlier? Don’t northerners eat at 5pm?”
Overheard on a magic bus

“I didn’t come here to listen to you talk about vaginas”
Overheard in Fallowfield

“I wish she’d given up being a whiny bitch for lent instead of chocolate”
Overheard in Font, Fallowfield

“Guys do we really have to talk about rimming?”
Overheard in the union

The Manchester Bucket List

Food and Drink

Visit both Archie’s and/or all 3 Abdul’s in one night

Pretend to be a cyclist (or some other kind of good person) in order to score some free food outside the Union

Eat at Aladdin’s in Didsbury

No, really, eat at Aladdin’s in Didsbury

Visit the Richmond Tea Rooms for some high class afternoon merriment.

Pretend to be super rich and have a cocktail at Cloud 23 at the top of the Hilton

Get a burger at Almost Famous

Arts and Culture

Get into the studio audience at Jeremy Kyle (and proudly share a screenshot of your TV debut with everyone ever)

Do a graffiti walk of the Northern Quarter

Declare yourself ‘totally over’ Parklife, make plans for a full weekend of Grand Designs but then succumb to FOMO at the last minute and hunt down a ticket at treble face value

Go and watch a foreign film at the Cornerhouse (and leave with a slight superiority complex towards the uncultured plebs on the street)

Jazz + pizza = Matt and Phred’s

Nights Out

Pangaea. Enough said.

Attend at least one house party that ends up discussed on national news/BuzzFeed/in Parliament

Go to a concert at the Albert Hall

Fall asleep on the Magic Bus coming back, ideally scoring a ride home afterwards

Get kicked out of Factory for labelling the bouncers homophobic/racist

Lose a shoe to the floor of HMV Ritz

Go to Warehouse Project, lose all of your friends, abandon any hope of finding them and make new ones instead

Miscellaneous

Secure a home visit from Magic Bus Lady (or Kunshal, as she’s known to her true friends)

Play a game of Selfie Bingo with the staff of Fallowfield’s greatest takeaways

Get a spontaneous piercing from Affleck’s

Play My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding at Pastiche

Around University

Make your way onto the Spotted page and revel in your 15 minutes of fame

Have a sleepover in Ali G

Go at least a week on salt/pepper/toilet roll/cutlery you stole from the Library

Check out the view at sunset from the Simon Building sixth floor computer cluster

Become a BNOC (Big Name on Campus)—organise a club night, make loads of friends, run for GenSec and generally be a social butterfly

Graduate?

How to get away with murder

With us humans–us feeble, naïve, easily swayed humans–using the right language can really change everything.

The case hasn’t changed much since the beginning of time: using the perfect combination of words is an ancient weapon used by politicians, writers, musicians and world-leaders. In fact, one of the areas where the correct language is especially useful is the law. By knowing exactly what to say, the media, the courts, and even the almighty Parliament have managed to glorify the most terrible of crimes.

Look at theft for example; words like steal, mug, tax fiddle, pinch may all seem synonymous at first, but prove to be quite the opposite upon further scrutiny. The first two have been drenched with terrible connotations throughout the years. Those who do steal or mug are violent, poor, lazy and are a threat to society.

Those who pinch, however, have gained our approval; they are adventurous and fearless, and are just trying out something out of the norm. Our favourite thieves, however, are tax fiddlers. As white collar as they come, tax evaders are hardly criminals, but are simply the elite of our messed up society.

When it comes to the media reporting on such crimes, no words are chosen at random, but instead the titles imposed on the criminals dictate sentences stricter than anything the court may decide. This is especially true when it comes to homicide.

Arguably the most serious of crimes, homicide is split into two categories, murder and manslaughter. Linguistically, the noun murder can turn into another: murderer. However, the term manslaughter-er simply does not exist. Hence, the former is a social label that is impossible to ever escape. Recognizing this, the law aims to differentiate between manslaughter and murder–sometimes unjustly.

One of the types of manslaughter is loss of control, meaning that some ‘triggers’ justify killing someone in rage. For example, in a 1990s case, a victim of domestic violence set fire to her husband in his sleep, claiming that after years of violence, she lost control. At first face, the crime seems like pure, cold-blooded murder.

However, as far as the legal definition goes, the wife has ‘merely’ committed manslaughter. Whether her husband deserved it after years of unfairness is an entirely different issue, but it is inarguable that she has–literally–got away with murder.

Similarly, another type of manslaughter is constructive manslaughter, where the criminal kills someone in the process of carrying out an illegal or harmful act. In other words, if you are robbing a store and kill the owner in order to reach your goal, you still are not a murderer. Realistically, to the family and friends of the victim, the fact that their loved one has been killed makes whoever did it a killer, a murderer. But to their dismay, the courts, for all practical reasons, will not agree.

This blurring of boundaries has led to quite hefty debate on reforming the law of homicide in the UK. The words first and second degree murder are often repeated in American TV series or movies, as in other countries, murder covers most charges of homicide.

Whether this is the right way to go or not is still arguable; however, as long as the law remains this way, many criminals will continue to escape this harsh, yet probably well-deserved, label.

The issue is also seen in the area of killing oneself, or in other words, suicide. We often refer to someone who ends their own life as having committed suicide. The word ‘committed,’ as harmless as it may seem, instantly implies that they are guilty of a crime.

As a matter of fact, the reason we use this specific terminology today is because ‘committing’ suicide was regarded as a crime in the past, and so the term has prevailed, unjustly, today. In short, by using certain words, we manage to put more blame on someone who kills themselves than on someone who kills an innocent bystander getting in their way of committing another crime.

Any fan of the internationally-famous series Breaking Bad would easily remember how at loss Walter White, a wealthy and feared man, was when it came to explaining to himself to his wife. Right at the climax of his drug empire, he looked straight into the camera and muttered in defeat that he could not find the, as he quoted at the time, “right combination of words” to explain his actions to his wife.

All he needed was the perfect choice and order of words to justify his sinful past. In fact, it’s all anyone needs.

Modafinil: Become a genius for a few hours?

What if there is a way to make yourself smarter, more focused and motivated for a few hours without any long term negative drawbacks? These are the characteristics given to Modafinil, one of the most popular and prevalent study drugs out there now.

Originally used for narcolepsy, the drug has become more mainstream. Being seen as a drug that makes you a genius for a few hours, it’s easy to see the appeal of it and why people choose to take it.

Modafinil is a central nervous stimulant and prevents excessive sleepiness, which narcolepsy is known for. It affects three sections of the brain, the dopamine system which will make you more alert and interested in something, norepinephrine which, again, makes you more alert and focused and finally histamine which will keep you awake.

The drug claims to increase and focus attention on a certain task, enhance memory, motivation for a very generous length of time. It also claims to enhance short term memory by up to 10 per cent. By also keeping you awake, it seems to knock caffeine out of the park.

Some describe virtually no side effects from it, feeling calm, clear headed and focused while others say they feel agitated and anxious. Some students have reported the lack interest in socialising while on it as the mind is solely focused on working, which isn’t an awful thing given the reason that someone would take it. Julia Smith, of the Guardian , also reported that while  Modafinil stopped her feeling sleepy, her body felt tired and lethargic.

But, where there are highs, there are also lows. What goes up must come down as they say. A major crash after the effects have worn off can sometimes be expected, especially if someone has undertaken repeated dosages. The biggest drawback would be that it can mess up a person’s sleeping pattern if taken regularly. You are unable to fall asleep which becomes counterproductive given that we consolidate our memories in our sleep.

The Guardian reported that some students, after regular doses, felt trapped in a ‘twilight zone’ where they were neither awake nor asleep. Eventually, however, this would wear off, it’s never smart to take too much of anything.

One-fifth of students have taken Modafinil, according to The Guardian, and there haven’t been any serious adverse effects reported.

The effects are taken from a laid back stance; they are seen to wear off with no lasting side effects. The average length of time that Modafinil lasts for is reported as around seven hours, but this would vary depending on the individual. Some have reported feeling the effects for 24 hours or more, again this is usually associated with regular dosing.

Everything is best in moderation; it is true that there can be too much of a good thing.  Dr Peter Morgan of Yale University stated that while it does help enhance the memory, frequent use could actually harm it.

Since it is a prescription drug and not every student has narcolepsy, the main source of getting them is through the internet. One of the most prevalent brand of Modafinil in the UK and US is Provigil. There are a lot of different websites that do sell it but this brings up many problems of buying on the internet that are obvious. The main danger is do you know what you’re putting into your body? Given the prevalence of drugs among university, it is doubted that students care that much.

The hard bit can be deciding what dosage to take and at what time for optimal results. 50mg has been described by some to not have any effect that is worth it, but it’s good to build it up. It’s always better to not take enough rather than to take too much. 400mg, however, has been described to have the same effect on the brain as involved with substance abuse. The usual amount tends to be between 100 – 200mg.

It does make you think, how much is the development of Modafinil going to change society? Will we get to the point where we don’t need that much sleep? The author of The 24 Hour Society, Leon Kreitzman, said that drugs like Modafinil will transform society. He went on to say that within the next quarter of a century, we’ll reach the point where sleep becomes optional.

The NHS discussed an experiment to check the validity if the claims of Modafinil i.e. it makes you smarter. There were two groups, one group was given Modafinil while another a placebo, neither knew which group they were in.  It was found that the people who took Modafinil had a slower response than the ones who took the placebo, and were no more accurate.

It doesn’t seem like it would end the world to try Modafinil once if you’re feeling up to it. Testimonies show it to be something that can help, combined with the usually lack of side effects (depending on the individual), why not?  It makes a nice change from the jitteriness of caffeine. Also, not being addictive, it could be a miracle when work gets too much. Some doctors have even reported using it to perform better surgery. There hasn’t been that much research on study drugs so each experience leads to more understanding.

Overheard at the University of Manchester, 23/2/15

“What’s the difference between bondage and S&M?”
Overheard on the bus

“You’ll never see me wearing Adidas, I hate Adidas, they take food from children for money.”
Overheard in the Samuel Alexander computer cluster

“I don’t wear jeans, they’re so generic.”
Overheard in University Place

“If I had unlimited power and I could change anything in the world, honestly the first thing I’d do is replace those shit excuses for water fountains in the Library.”
Overheard in the Students’ Union

“I really feel like I am garlic.”
Overheard in 256

“Maybe she’s in the mood for a flaccid penis.”
Overheard outside the Learning Commons

“Movement is the spice of life.”
Overheard on the bus

“Weetabix is the blank canvas on which I can express my creativity.”
Overheard in Fallowfield

“I don’t want a boyfriend as such, I just want someone who will pay for my Chicken King after a night out.”
Overheard in Fallowfield

Student delegates travel to Bosnian region to remember Srebrenica

Two Manchester University students, Iman Nauman and Zainab Ahmed, were lucky enough to be selected as delegates for the charity organisation ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ to explore the Bosnian Genocide and its impacts on the lives of those affected as the end of the war approaches its 20th anniversary.

‘Remembering Srebrenica’ is a British charity which focuses upon the events in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, which was under the watch of the United Nations Protection Force during the Balkans Conflict. However in 1995 Serbian paramilitary units overran the town capturing its population. In the following days over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered and buried in mass graves, whilst many women were deported and forced into ethnic cleansing rape camps.

The two students went to the Bosnian region where the conflict began in 1993 to take part in cultural understanding lessons. They also met some survivors of the genocide, including mothers of Srebrenica whose husbands and sons were lost in the massacres. They described meeting the mothers as a very humbling moment. It was at that moment that the conflict became humanised.

Nuaman and Ahmed described the meetings as ‘truly eye-opening’ yet also incredibly emotional due to the nature of their visit. They emphasised the importance of such meetings with genocide survivors. There is only so much documentaries and news clips can show.  The people of a country cannot be judged by media or by the actions of their governments. In order to understand the full impact hate crimes have upon normal citizens it is important to make an effort to educate ourselves properly.

The students were fortunate enough to also visit the facilities of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Sarajevo and Tuzla to learn about the difficult, painstaking but ultimately successful work that continues to be done in the identification of victims buried in mass graves. Here they were able to learn about and discuss the actions and aftermath of genocide, and the difficult process of reconciliation.

The programme aims to raise awareness of what it describes as “one of the worst atrocities committed on European soil since the Second World War”. They aim to teach lessons from the events in Bosnia between 1992-1995 and to draw upon this understanding to promote tolerance and community cohesion here within the UK.

During their visit with the organisation, Nauman and Ahmed learnt about the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Complex, a non-profit organisation that aims to build and maintain a complex in memory of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, founded in May 2001.

Former US President Bill Clinton officially opened the memorial to the public in 2003.

Almost twenty years after the massacre, bodies are still being recovered from mass grave sites around the country. Every year, thousands gather at the memorial centre on 11th July to bury what remains of their loved ones. In 2013, 409 newly identified bodies were interned at the annual memorial service.

Another feature of their learning experience was the Annual Peace March, or Mars Mira as it is more commonly known to the region. The Peace March is a commemorative walk in honour of the 15,000 men who formed ‘The Column’ and embarked upon a perilous 63-mile walk from Srebrenica to Tuzla, in an attempt to escape Serbian persecution.

‘Remembering Srebrenica’ describe the three-day walk, starting on 7th July each year, as open to participants from all over the world to “march in protest over the outstanding arrests and prosecution for those responsible for the Srebrenica genocide and the numerous war crimes committed during the conflict in Bosnia”.

The girls are helping to raise awareness of the Srebrenica genocide by promoting the Memorial Day, held on 11th July each year. A vigil will be held on Memorial Day in Manchester. They will also visit local high schools and colleges within the Manchester region to share the lessons they learnt from their trip whilst encouraging people to support the work of Remembering Srebrenica.

In speaking on the trip Zainab Ahmed said to the Mancunion: “This visit is something I will never forget, it most definitely has been an insight that has changed my perspective on tackling hate and the importance of promoting unity between all nations, what was significant is regardless of all the atrocities the victims have been through their desire for revenge is non existent.

“One of the mothers I met specifically said ‘’hating on the Serbs will not bring my son back, all I want is for the world to know what happened to us and that we are never forgotten’’. Seeing the strength these mothers hold is unbelievable.  When they see young delegates come to visit they see their children in them, and gives them hope that we will never let their sacrifice be unrecognized.

“As delegates we feel the responsibility and duty to raise awareness and let everyone in the United Kingdom know what happened to ensure anything of the sort ever happens again.

“This experience has made me grow as a person, it really does teach you what is important in life and what is not, it humbles you and makes you appreciate all those things you take for granted.”

Why Russell Brand has been good for British politics

Russell Brand encourages us to talk about things that matter.

I must admit, I cringed a little when Russell Brand appeared on BBC Question Time talking about politics. It didn’t seem right and I thought (and still think, to an extent) that what he had to say lacked substance with regard to democracy and voting. However, politics is something that young people on the whole don’t want to engage with, and the idea prevails that political discussion is best left to more intelligent people who know what they’re talking about. Russell Brand is changing these static ideologies about participation in politics, and in my opinion, this can only be a good thing.

In fact, I sometimes worry about our generation, when it seems we’re more interested in Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance than what’s really going on in the world that’s truly affecting people’s lives.

At first I was disappointed when Brand came along selling his new ‘Revolution’ and encouraged people to abstain from voting. I still disagree with him and actually think that using one’s vote is integral to a functioning democracy. Thus I immediately jumped on the Brand-hating bandwagon, though what I was really doing was tuning out because honestly, I didn’t want to take political advice from a comedian.

There may have been a worry his political emergence would create a “Russell Brand wore army pants and flip-flops, so I wore army pants and flip-flops” situation whereby the entire 18 – 30s population would be hiding away when it comes to the general election later this year. Realistically, this is not the case. It’s just refreshing to hear from someone who’s a bit different.

I think many of us have a bad attitude towards Russell Brand because he doesn’t fit the mould of what your typical individual in an influential position should look like. It’s been drummed into us for years, subconsciously if nothing else, that judges, ministers and Members of Parliament have to be smart, white, middle class and male with not a blip on their records. It’s got to the point where we don’t want to learn from or trust anyone who doesn’t fit this stereotype with important societal issues.

I know Russell Brand isn’t exactly “one of us” in terms of wealth, but I do think he has a greater understanding of the needs of people in the UK than many people in Parliament.

Lord Fink’s statement last week serves as the perfect example. He commented that he took “vanilla tax avoidance” measures and that “everyone avoids tax at some level”. What he failed to see was that most of us don’t have the desire or opportunity to avoid paying tax, partially because HMRC are like a dog with a bone when it comes to collecting every last penny with the general public. This bizarre statement showed just how out of touch with the real world those in power can be. No, we don’t all avoid paying tax and no, we don’t all have the opportunity to do so even if we did want to.

With this in mind, I quite like it now when Brand sits there amongst politicians with his unbrushed, bird’s nest hair and sleeve of tattoos. He is incredibly respectful of other people’s opinions in interviews and is clearly well-informed on a wide range of subjects. In particular, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, he showed a sensitivity which not many people did on asking questions about religion and how personal actions can affect and marginalise others. He also raised issues about both terrorism and the causes of terrorism. He discussed acts of the government in general on his video blog and how we should question and be free to criticise their decisions.

He often talks about subjects that we leave to the experts. Young people especially are disengaged with world affairs and politics, with celebrity gossip being more interesting (and perhaps more ‘cool’ to talk about.) However, I hope Brand encourages young people that we are moving on from days where everyone in power has to look and talk in a certain way, and that we can all participate in democracy through political discussion.

I think the fear was that people would blindly follow his opinions because he had a large long-standing fan-base he could influence, but in reality I think it’s opened up a more general debate about the government and world affairs, especially amongst young people.

Celebrities stand in a unique position of influence in society. They especially affect the way young people live in a number of ways; their appearance, manners, fashion-sense, music preferences and general interests. Brand has started to use his influence to engage people in healthy discussion and debate which in my opinion can only be a positive thing.

Interview: Southern

I meet Thom and Lucy Southern in their dressing room as they prepare to go onstage to support Hudson Taylor later. The sibling likeness in the pair is immediately striking, they are both small, slight and charming with matching pale eyes and fair hair. A brother and sister duo in their early 20s who are close enough to live together and, indeed, spend almost all their time together travelling and writing is pretty rare but they say their relationship is the keystone of their song-writing process. It starts with “Thom playing guitar,” and they bounce off each other so naturally that “even if Thom starts singing, I’ll start singing too, because I know where he’s going,” Lucy nods.

Like me, the pair grew up in Belfast; we actually went to the same school and, although a few years apart we know each other so talk inevitably turns to home. Belfast is one of those ‘village cities’ with a communal nosiness and a sense of shared achievements that can be equal parts reassuring and suffocating. The pair say they are asked a lot about their decision to relocate to London and they even experience the odd disgruntled fan posting “why do you never play Belfast anymore,” on YouTube videos. “We got a lot out of Belfast though, I started busking there,” says Thom, who started busking at 15 and even travelled to Nashville a few times with a Belfast songwriting competition, but they both agree “there could be more support for artists.”

Thom thinks that cutting their teeth on the folk-centric Belfast live circuit “gives us a culture to the music that nobody else has,” and affirms, “we’re proud of being from Belfast, it gives the music an edge, because not a lot of acts break from Ireland.” Although the ‘folk niche’, as Lucy puts it doesn’t completely accommodate the growth of new bands, as Lucy points out, “with friends in Paris, we travelled there a lot for gigs and always had our sights set very high, and you need to go to places like London to get the record labels; the management and industry is all there,” they mention the Coral’s Paul Duffy who they’ve worked with recently as an opportunity they would never have had if not in London. Thom laughs, “well exactly, you know, if you wanna have two jobs, stay in Belfast.”

I wonder if they notice how their musical style has evolved from their folky Belfast busking days with the addition of new live band members, Eoghan Clifford on drums and Darryl Pruess on bass. Eoghan being from Manchester “definitely added a more Northern vibe,” to their sphere of influence. With the band spending time together musical tastes will seep into the collective consciousness and thanks to Eoghan they “started listening to a lot more Stone Roses.” Thom chips in “Darryl brings a quite experimental early 80s kind of punk sound with his bass. If I was to play my guitar on my own it would be a straight up kind of Rolling Stones vibe but Eoghan adds a rock element and Darryl a punky rift, while Lucy’s harmony adds even more genres.”

Independent label Marathon have been great for letting them develop this sound and not pressuring the pair to have “a certain clean sound for the radio,” Thom agrees enthusiastically, “they’ve done exactly what their name is,” letting the pair take the time to put together an album they’re “really, really happy with.” We discuss the idea that the idea of ‘the album’ as a whole is coming back in, from The War on Drugs to Flying Lotus to Beck, this year has definitely seen a focus on constructing an album concept. “Yeah,” Lucy agrees, “what we’ve grown up on is albums, I love that feeling of being on a car journey listening to an album and loving each song that comes up.” Accordingly they have spent time crafting an album that won’t “just be a few hits, it’s more about the concept of the album, but at the same time they’ll all be catchy songs, we like making catchy pop music,” says Thom.

The album has been “produced by Mark Rankin, who worked with Queens of the Stoneage, produced Bombay Bicycle Club’s last album, even worked with Adele, and she’s won a grammy like.” Thom’s excitement here is tangible, there really is the sense that years of busking and moving around to put themselves in the right place at the right time have been building up to these next few months, with the pair “touring in March and April releasing an album in May, and then we got our tour of Ireland and the festivals in the summer,” and potentially making it big “if everything works out.”

You Can’t Handle the Truth – Laughter Etiquette

Every frequent cinemagoer will be aware of the dramatic effect which audience reactions can have on a particular cinematic experience. Whilst the sense of shared viewing can add an extra dimension to a film, your personal reaction is necessarily moulded by those of the people around you. Admittedly, certain extreme audience reactions can be hilarious, as anyone who went to see Magic Mike can vouch for, but there are times when sitting with a group of people who are particularly prone to fits of giggles can prevent you from taking a film at all seriously (I’m still angry with myself for laughing through 90 per cent of Her).

Whilst over-the-top audience laughter is ordinarily an irritating but largely harmless cinematic side-effect, there are some contexts in which it becomes not only a distracting reaction, but a disturbing one. This was particularly noticeable during my second viewing of the film Whiplash. One of its most memorable scenes is Andrew’s first rehearsal with the studio band, when we first get a sense of the extreme dynamic of his relationship with his mentor. It’s important that this scene has an initially comedic tone; having laughed at Fletcher’s clever one-liners (“That is not your boyfriend’s dick. Do not come early”), we feel even more uncomfortable when we realise just how far he’s prepared to go. However, countless slaps-in-the-face later, and the laughter produced by the audience at the cringe-worthily painful insult “worthless friendless faggot-lipped little piece of shit” is if anything even more uproarious. My response to this may be an overreaction, but sitting in a room full of people who seem to find a middle-aged man threatening to fuck a teenage boy like a pig to be the comedic event of the century is an unsettling experience.

This lack of empathy is, perhaps, indicative of a larger problem in cinema, as the majority of commercially successful films are very often so tailored to their target audience that they are made to fit uncompromisingly into a definite genre. It is unsurprising that this kind of lazy commercial filmmaking has produced a society of lazy and undiscerning viewers, who are unable to detect tonal changes or emotional nuance. Whilst it may seem an inane thing to moan about, people’s emotional reactions to art and their ability to empathise with fictional characters can say a lot about their interactions with others more generally. More challenging cinema for the mass market is to be encouraged if such widespread voyeuristic tendencies are to be prevented.

Exeter University Students up in arms over ‘impossible’ economics exam

An exam paper has been contested by economic students at the University of Exeter after spelling mistakes together with other errors were found within the paper. According to the students, the exam was also “un-reflective of course content”.

An online petition has been submitted by more than 200 students, demanding that the university examine the paper and conduct an investigation. In addition, they have asserted that during their course they did not receive an adequate preparation for the exam they had to take.

In a statement a representative of the students has said: “it is unacceptable that the university should be making such mistakes, considering the fact that [we] are actually paying £9000 tuition fees a year”.

About two-thirds of the students who took the exam have sent formal complaints to the university. However, the University of Exeter has claimed that strict rules are applied to all exam papers and that they are checked diligently.

A spokesman of the University of Exeter declared that controls are undertaken “”internally and by an external examiner” during every exam. Different aspects are verified such as adequate level of questions compared to module topics and paper general accuracy.

He added further: “This procedure was correctly followed for this exam paper. The business school treats all complaints seriously, and we are now working with students and staff regarding this issue.

“Our procedures are being accelerated in this instance to address the concerns raised by our students.”

Students however have said that is not the first time that such mistakes have happened and there was a similar situation in 2012 for the same module. At that time, the university resolved the issue by adjusting the marks that were previously released.

Some of the aggrieved students have argued that a similar solution ought to be adopted for for the present matter, considering that in January the average mark of the exam on economic principles and policy was very low, only 53 per cent. Students, who usually achieved high marks with an average of 80 per cent, got only 40 per cent. The lowest grades were around 10 per cent.

Economic students sent their petitions individually to Exeter’s vice-chancellor, but they also wish to have the opportunity to take action as a group and arrange a meeting with senior managers from the university and the business school. They hope that in the next few days this can be done.

A similar episode also took place at the University of Sheffield last month. With third year students protesting for an exam on economics that they took in the last semester, which they described as “impossible”.

The Orange Grove to be converted into flats

The Orange Grove, situated in the heart of the Fallowfield area, will be demolished and converted into flats. This building, located in Wilmslow Road, was previously a student pub, but it was closed over two years ago and has since remained vacant.

Around 35 flats and commercial spaces are planned to be developed on the ground floor. Those supporting the development have asserted that it will be a key element for the development of the area by the construction of a ‘high quality building’.

However, this project has raised concerns within the Fallowfield community and residents have complained that this will significantly increase the student population in the area. They are concerned that incidents of antisocial behaviour might increase, as they believe it did after Mayfield Court was developed into student accommodation.

The committee backing the development have responded that students are not the target of the development. They added: “[We] acknowledge that there are concerns about the proposal. However, [we] consider these to have been addressed.”

Chris Paul, Withington councillor, asserted that this development may probably cause more risks for cyclists, considering the consequences that higher traffic could have on the nearby Fallowfield Loop. He further added that last year a cyclist died after an accident on Wilbraham Road.

He said: “This authority has got a very poor record, in my view, of enforcing proper arrangements around building sites for cyclists and pedestrians, including some of our own developments.”

After mentioning the development project of Whitworth Art Gallery as a positive model, he said: “I would urge the committee to consider requiring there to be some very clear arrangements during construction to ensure pedestrians and cyclists are safeguarded.”

Withington MP John Leech claimed that Fallowfield needs more accommodation for families and not new flats. Concerning the decision taken by the council to approve the plan, he said: “This is another example of Labour’s one party state in Manchester ignoring the legitimate concerns of local residents.”

University degree not worth £9000, say 81 per cent of students

Four in five UK students value their degrees at lower than they are paying, according to a recent survey by Student Money Saver (SMS), an online news provider. The research also found that 15 per cent of students value their degree at the same amount and only four per cent value their degree at more than they are paying.

This information came out as the Labour Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills, Liam Byrne, endorsed the principle of tertiary education being free of charge.

Speaking to an audience at King’s College London on the 15th February, Byrne said: “Obviously I would love free education. I would want it to be free just like the NHS, but I’m not going to make a promise that is not deliverable.”

Byrne’s statement on the issue indicates that he sees affordability rather than the principle that graduates should directly contribute as the main reason not to abolish tuition fees.

Results of the SMS survey show that students are still largely optimistic their increased earnings will more than cover their university costs, though 19 per cent believe they will not earn enough over their lifetime to cover their degree and nine per cent believe that their degree will not help them earn more money once joining the workforce.

The survey was conducted in November 2014 using a one thousand-student sample. In general, it concluded that students are broadly dissatisfied with high fees and do not believe their degrees are good value for money.

Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, has recently stated his intention to lower the cap to £6000. As The Mancunion reported last week, this suggestion has been met with strong criticism from the academic community, with Vice-Chancellors from 20 leading English universities signing a letter to The Times stating that proposed cuts in tuition fees would cause substantial damage to the economy and students’ educations.

The survey by SMS can be found here

Racial discrimination still exists in top universities

Racial inequality remains prevalent throughout all areas of British higher education, including admissions, staffing and employment, according to a new report by the Runnymede Trust, a London-based think tank.

Led by academics from the University of Manchester and Leeds Beckett University, the report found that black and minority ethnic (BME) students are less likely to get into the more prestigious institutions, notwithstanding their A-level results.

David Lammy MP, in his foreword for the Runnymede Trust report, said: “Whether in terms of admissions, attainment, employment, the student experience or indeed staffing, universities still have some way to go to ensure equality for ethnic minorities in Britain.

“So despite the lofty ideals of universities, they do no better—and are in fact doing worse—than many other institutions in British society when it comes to race equality.”

Omar Khan, Director of the Runnymede Trust, said: “Evidence that white British students with lower A-level results are more likely to get into elite British universities than Asian students with higher A-level results suggests there is unconscious bias, if not positive discrimination, in favour of white university applicants in 2015.”

Among other results, the report found that 1.5 per cent of students who go to university are Black Caribbean but that in the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities, only 0.5 per cent of them make it. Likewise, Black African students make up 4.4 per cent of university students but only 2.2 per cent of Russell Group students are from that minority group.

Robie Shilliam, a Queen Mary University of London academic who participated in the research, said: “Unless we subscribe to the idea that black people are inherently more stupid than white people we have to say that there is something going on structurally in these universities.

“If that’s the case then universities which are supposed to provide a meritocratic basis for future life are actually reproducing existing inequalities and might actually be deepening them.”

Pam Tatlow, who participated in the Runnymede Trust’s research and is Chief Executive of Million+, a think tank, said, “a small number of universities, about 30 in total, educate 60 per cent of all black students and 36 per cent of all Asian students. But perhaps unsurprisingly, these are not the universities that politicians mention very often.”

Some scholars in the project have also pointed out that access to data about admissions processes is becoming increasingly restricted and thus providing a totally transparent view of the situation is becoming a harder task.

The Mancunion contacted all 24 universities in the Russell Group. Efforts to obtain comments from the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Imperial College London, Leeds, London School of Economics, Newcastle, Nottingham, Queen’s University Belfast, University College London, Warwick and York, which together make 15 of the 24 institutions in the group, were unsuccessful.

A spokesperson for Cardiff University, the only university in the group to recognise the existence of inequality in admissions, said: “The university recognises that there are still challenges to address in ensuring equality for BME applicants and students.”

The universities of Oxford, Glasgow and King’s College London rejected the problems pointed out by the report in the strongest terms, with a representative for the University of Oxford describing the inequality claims as “unsubstantiated,” a spokesman for the University of Glasgow citing its policy of “zero tolerance on all forms of discrimination,” and a speaker for King’s College London saying that “we take the issue of fair access very seriously.”

The universities of Bristol, Liverpool, Sheffield and Southampton remitted all comments to the Russell Group head office.

Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said: “A crucial piece of the jigsaw is missing because the [Runnymede Trust’s] research takes no account of the entry requirements for the courses that students apply to. Many good students haven’t taken the subjects needed for entry and universities need students not only to have good grades, but grades in the right subjects for the course they want to apply for.”

A spokesperson for Queen Mary University of London said: “Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has a long and proud tradition of diversity, engagement with our East London community, and increasing access to higher education. We celebrate the diversity of our student body and aspire to be recognised as a prime destination for students from lower participation backgrounds”.

A spokesperson for the University of Manchester said: “The University of Manchester has a commitment to addressing gaps in participation between equality groups through our Access Agreement. As part of this the university undertakes targeted outreach work for protected groups such as adult learners, BME groups, gender-targeted activities and disabled learners.

“Work to increase the participation of BME groups in higher education is co-ordinated through a dedicated post based at the university and working in partnership with the Race Relations Resource Centre—a Trust based within Manchester Central Library.”

The full report ‘Aiming Higher: Race, Inequality and Diversity in the Academy’ can be found at the Runnymede Trust website.

Reassembling the self: the art of schizophrenia

Susan Aldworth, collaborating with works by Camille Ormston and Kevin Mitchinson who both have schizophrenia, created the ‘Reassembling the Self’ exhibit. Combining art, science, psychiatry and individual histories, Aldworth has created works that explore the different perceptions and experiences of an individual with schizophrenia.

Aldworth studied Philosophy at Nottingham University and printmaking at Sir John Cass in London. She has been described as an experimental printmaker and filmmaker, producing Memoires, a short film about schizophrenia.

Kevin Mitchinson suffered from auditory hallucinations, anxiety, depression and episodes of paranoia. The voices were described as:
‘Continually present, at times shouting and bullying, and always critical of his every thought and action’.

He stated that art has helped him reach his current level of recovery, where he is in control of his voices and is rarely paranoid. His confidence also remains at a high.

Camille Ormston has painted seriously since 1996 and investigates herself as the subject of the works. Art has also aided Camille’s recovery and improved her confidence.

Professor Anya Hurlbert at Newcastle University has described the exhibition as being ‘at heart about human identity, the sense of self and how it holds itself together’.

She further stated that:
‘From the human mind comes human identity, a constant subject of Susan Aldworth’s work’ and
‘In people with schizophrenia, the brain rhythms go awry, perceptions disintegrate, and so-it is thought-does the sense of self.’

There are many misconceptions about the condition of schizophrenia. It is usually confused with other condition such as multiple personality disorder. At the core, the NHS describe it as ‘a mental health condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms, including:

• Hallucinations – hearing or seeing things that do not exist.
• Delusions – unusual beliefs not based on reality which often contradict the evidence.
• Muddled thoughts based on the hallucinations or delusions.
• Changes in behaviour.

Treatments include antipsychotic medication, talking treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy, social support and community activities to encourage recovery such as art therapy.

There is a stigma attached to schizophrenia, as mentioned previously, the idea that it is a ‘split personality disorder’ or that sufferers are violent. On the contrary, the majority of people suffering with schizophrenia are not violent. Professor Anya Hulbert said:

‘The diagnosis of schizophrenia often still elicits fear and condemnation at the worst, pity and protectiveness at best.’

She further stated that other disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder have been somewhat normalised in society, whereas schizophrenia has not. This is likely due to it being less common and the misunderstanding of symptoms as being dangerous. She said:

‘Everyone knows what it feels like to be depressed. But what does it feel like to be ‘schizophrenic’?’

A lot of work went into achieving this project, including interviewing people with schizophrenia, studying electrophysiology, visual psychophysics etc. and discussing treatments with psychiatrists.

Why did you decide to do it?
For the last 15 years, my work as an artist has focused on what it means to be human. I studied Philosophy at university before I studied Fine Art, and I always had an interest in the relationship between the mind and the body. There was a moment in 1999, when I found myself on a hospital operating table having a brain scan – I could see into the workings of my brain, real time, on a monitor as they scanned it whilst I was still conscious. I was watching myself think. It was an epiphany! This brain landscape was worth exploring as an artist. And also, the imagery of the scans was uniquely beautiful. It left me wondering what is human consciousness? How is it summoned up from the 3 pounds or so of flesh of the brain?

Since then, I have spent my time considering what it is to be human. I have worked with scientists, doctors and people with Alzheimer’s, Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, and Downs Syndrome. I have talked to Philosophers and psychologists. I work across traditional academic disciplines. All these different narratives have an influence on my work.

Contemporary scanning techniques give us access to the internal living body, with imagery that is both beautiful and vital. Neuroscience is beginning to unravel how the brain works and presenting to us with extraordinary digital images. I would be crazy to ignore this new profound visual language.

Neuroscience is a profoundly visual science – and the scans of the brain provide me, as an artist, with a new visual link between the external surface of the body and the subjective experience of being that person. The relationship between mind and body.

But at the heart of my work, is an interest in what it is to be me, and more interesting, what it is to be someone else. I am not a scientist. I am not trying to solve the hard problem of human consciousness. Neither is my work simply illustrative – I am not trying to represent the physical brain or explain science. I am working with contemporary scanning technologies, and tapping into a contemporary interest or belief in neuroscience as the latest creed to offer a rational explanation of the human condition. My work is simply about what it is to be human… I work across academic disciplines to explore and examine ideas. But in the end my work is art. It asks questions but never tries to proffer solutions.

Reassembling the Self was a portraiture and self-portraiture project exploring schizophrenia which I developed during my time as Artist in Residence at the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University from 2010- 2013. I worked with basic scientists, clinicians and two artists with a schizophrenia diagnosis exploring some of the complex narratives of schizophrenia. It was a difficult project.

Schizophrenia is poorly understood and the main purpose of the project was to address some of the misconceptions and stigma around the condition. Initially I had planned to make portraits of Camille and Kevin, two artists with a schizophrenia diagnosis who I was working with on the project. But their self-portraits were more powerful and authentic than any representation I would make. I decided to include their extraordinary work in the exhibition.

I made word portraits of Kevin and Camille ‘Dreaming Voices 1 and 2’ which were made up from their own words when describing the ‘internal voices that they hear.

Has it been something you’ve worked on for quite a while?
I started making the work for the exhibition in 2011. I was lucky enough to work with the legendary lithographer Stanley Jones who invited me to work with him on the 12 lithographs you see in Reassembling the Self. These are aggressive and difficult works. The reassembled anatomy is a metaphor for the pain and difficulty of having schizophrenic when you can feel that your self is being stolen away from you by your own anatomy. The relationship between the physical brain and your sense of self in this context is very complicated.

Did you find it hard or easy to depict it in an artistic way?
It was very challenging. I didn’t want to make any statement myself about what schizophrenia might or might not be. I wanted to make work which invited the audience to experience an alienation from their sense of Self.

So, the Reassembling the Self lithographs are formal portraits of Schizophrenia itself. The idea is simple. A body attacks itself – and this is represented by a reassembled anatomy where huge ear bones and a hip bone become the shoulders bones, where a large pair of ears form an arse. A distorted anatomy as a visual equivalent of distortions to ones sense of Self which can happen in schizophrenia.

These prints also show the extraordinary technical versatility of lithography as a form. These are plate lithographs. Seamlessly I was able to mix digital photography, ancient anatomical illustrations with drawn marks and a painterly quality. Colour is subtle. I can’t think of any other technique which would have let me do this.

I also used eye tracking technology to make a self-portrait called Self 2. It was an interesting experiment to draw with one’s eyes rather than one’s hand. The process exposed the way one looks at things rather than the way one draws. It also might tell us something about the way an individual perceives the world.

Do you think there is a general misconception about people with schizophrenia?
People with schizophrenia are often treated appallingly in the press. There is a huge amount of ignorance and mythology around the condition. This ‘bad press’ can lead to people feeling socially isolated. But like all conditions, it is on a spectrum… and not very different from being me or being you.

What do you hope the ‘Reassembling the Self’ project will do to Schizophrenia, if anything?
I hope that the exhibition and the project will open up wider discussion about the experience of schizophrenia. And maybe help to explode some of the stigma surrounding the condition. This is the third time we have shown this exhibition in the UK, and each time it has attracted an interested and diverse audience.

There is a symposium about schizophrenia organized by Manchester University, open to all, at Waterside Arts Centre on May 13th. We hope to bring together under one roof many different people, from varied backgrounds, academic and non-academic, people affected by and dealing with schizophrenia including clinicians, mental health professionals, artists and interested people to explore many aspects of living with, and treating schizophrenia. It promises to be a very special day. All welcome but you need to register.

Did the use of different materials (e.g. etching and lithograph) intend on sending out a different message in your art? Same with the use of colour contrasts e.g. black and white.
As I described I worked with Stanley Jones at the Curwen Studio to make the lithographs. The etchings were commissioned by the Arts Council last year to add to the exhibition as it toured the UK. I wanted to make work which explored the fragility of human identity. How a stroke, or a brain injury or illness can fundamentally change who we are. I am a hairdresser’s daughter, and have always been fascinated by hair. Hair is about lots of lines working together on your head. It is also very near to the brain – hair grows from the skull.

I wanted to use human hair to draw with, and I worked with master printer Nigel Oxley to make The Entangled Self suite of etchings you can see in the exhibition. The etchings continue my interest in making work printing with marks taken directly from the human body in an exploration of human identity and portraiture. Hair produces extremely fragile lines – at the limit of what you can capture on an etching plate. These prints are a reflection on how fragile our sense of who we are really is.

In the film Memoirs, how did you go about making it and why did you use and what was the significance of the dancing figures?
My film ‘Memoirs’ was based on an extraordinary account by Daniel Paul Schreber in 1895 of his descent into psychosis.

‘Can there be any prospect more terrible for a human being …than the prospect of losing one’s reason ‘, Daniel Paul Schreber, Memoirs of My Nervous Illness 1895

I worked with the animator and composer Barney Quinton. We collage together archive film footage from the Welcome Film Library, working from the images that Schreber described in his book. Schreber reveals how he “considered himself chosen to redeem the world, and to restore to it the lost state of Blessedness. This, however, he could only do by first being transformed from a man into a woman….” and the dancing figures represent his wish to become a woman.

Reassembling the Self is a free exhibit at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale and is running until Saturday 30th May 2015.