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Day: 14 February 2015

Preview: BH Mallorca

Written by music on . Posted in Music.

For those seeking club holidays, BH Mallorca offers an exciting new prospect in the Mediterranean sun.

Launching in Summer 2015, BH Mallorca takes over what was previously Mallorca Rocks. A €10 million refit has transformed the site, creating a brand new super-sized hotel complex featuring an open air music venue, water park and luxurious rooms.

Performing across the season will be the biggest names in dance music, with the line ups curated by Danny Whittle and Mark Netto, previously of Pacha Ibiza, and Gordon Phillips of BCM fame.

Speaking about the experience, BH Hotel Creative Director Rob Seaman notes: “We want to give our clients an experience that they can’t get anywhere else. They have the Beach Club and Waterpark in the daytime and then the concerts in the evening. All this under the Mallorcan sunshine. What’s not to like!?”

BH Mallorca will also be appearing at the Future You Student Event this Thursday, 19th February, to provide information on why a career in the travel industry might be a perfect choice for you. You can register for that event here.

For further details, see their Facebook page or website.

Vagina monologues production raises over £1200 for women’s charities

Written by Aidan Gregory on . Posted in News.

The Students’ Union’s production of the Vagina Monologues has raised over £1200 for women’s charities.

In total, the show raised £1278 from ticket sales and donations on the night, which will be donated to the charities Manchester Rape Crisis and Manchester Women’s Aid.

Performed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, both nights of the production sold out completely, and more tickets had to be made available to try and meet the demand.

In response to the figures, Jess Lishak, Women’s’ Officer for the University of Manchester Students’ Union praised the production as having “an amazing cast, an amazing script, amazing audiences both nights and most importantly an amazing amount of money raised for Manchester Rape Crisis and Manchester Women’s Aid, which is so desperately needed!”

The Mancunion also spoke to cast member Gráinne Morrison, who performed the ‘reclaiming cunt’ monologue. Reflecting on the success of the production, she said: “It makes me really proud to have been part of it, and I think it’s a reflection of the students of this university that it has been so successful.

“The subject of the vagina has always been something of a taboo. The show has encouraged both the cast and audience members to talk openly about their relationship with their vaginas. The audience shouting the word ‘cunt’ in unison was a personal highlight as it was a collective reclaiming of a derivative word that we should, in fact, celebrate.”

She added further that, “the fact that the topics of the monologues range from masturbation to the harrowing subject of female genital mutilation, means that the play truly speaks to women across the globe.”

Originally written to “celebrate the vagina,” the Vagina Monologues is based on author Eve Ensler’s ‘vagina interviews’ conducted with women about issues such as rape in war, transphobia, sex work and the empowerment of women. It became an extremely successful Broadway show, attracting praise and criticism from around the world.

Fuse TV filmed the production and the Students ’ Union are currently in the process of editing and securing permission for distribution.

University hosts TTIP discussion

Written by news on . Posted in News.

On Tuesday the 10th of February, University Place hosted a talk on the controversial proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The talk was the main event of Global Inequalities Day, an initiative within the University’s Earth Week.

This occasion follows up a trip by University of Manchester students and Young Green members Hannah McCarthy, Khinezar Tint and Natasha Brooks to Brussels on the 3rd February to demonstrate against the future deal.

The TTIP is one of the European Commission’s proposed free trade agreements between the European Union and the United States and is designed to result in multilateral economic growth.

According to Global Justice Now, a campaigning organisation, the deal would also engender a more significant role for big business in political affairs. Amongst other outcomes, corporations would be able to sue governments if their laws or policies damaged the company’s future profits through an international arbitration process which overrides states’ domestic judicial systems.

The main speaker at the event, Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden, said: “If completed, this will be the biggest bilateral deal in the world.

“Our own National Health Service, food production standards, banking standards and digital privacy laws will be affected. This is not only a trade agreement. It is a rewriting of the rules of the global economy.”

In a statement for The Mancunion after the event, Manchester student Hannah McCarthy, member of Stop TTIP MCR and Manchester Young Greens, said: “The talk was brilliant in making the effects and impacts of this convoluted, confusing and murky trade deal more accessible for students.

“Few opportunities are provided which shed light on the ins and outs of TTIP, with the UK national media being largely silent on the issue.

“I fully expect the No TTIP movement to grow and grow in the coming months. Students have a key role in generating this change and should be empowered to oppose TTIP and take control over the direction of our future world.”

University of Manchester student Natasha Brooks, member of Stop TTIP MCR and Co-Chair of Manchester Young Greens, who like McCarthy travelled to Brussels to oppose the deal earlier this month, said: “The talk was really informative and the angle Nick took about the Stop TTIP campaign was really encouraging.

“After the No TTIP train to Brussels I am feeling optimistic about the campaign. It was so energising to meet comrades from across the region with such positivity levels.

“It’s important that we collaborate our campaigns and build a strong network, both of student and non-student activists to keep the campaign moving. Stop TTIP MCR is keen to collaborate with other groups in the region so we will be focusing on strengthening those ties in the coming months.”

During the event last Tuesday, those in the audience also voiced their opinion on the proposed deal. One member of the public said: “This is an international agreement that will destroy democracy as we know it.”

While another person noted: “While some excellent arguments have been pointed out, activism against this kind of treaties must be based on facts. I am unsure how much credible investigation there is on this matter.”

The event also featured the presence of Maia Kelly, from Stop TTIP Leeds.

Can you beat the Bogle?

Written by news on . Posted in News.

Registration has opened for the Bogle, a 24-hour charity walk around Greater Manchester. It will remain so until the 6th of March, when the event is set to take place.

The walk is organised by Manchester RAG, the fundraising arm of The University of Manchester Students’ Union.

Starting from the Union building, the event will go through Stockport, Manchester Airport, Fallowfield, Salford, Farnworth and Failsworth before ending back at the City Centre.

The organization anticipates that 250 people will be participating in the event this year and that £50000 will be raised for charity.

There are three categories in which contestants can take part: the Bogle stroll, a 55-mile walk taking between 14 and 25 hours to complete; the Bogle ramble, a more relaxed 26-mile event; and the Bogle roll, a 72-mile cycle.

The Bogle stroll is the longest running sponsored event in the North West. The organization describes it as “taking the scenic route to the extreme.”

Kathryn Murray, a second year English Language student who completed the event last year, said: “I found it very draining. I didn’t do any preparation for the walk, I think the only training you could do is if you walked for 55 miles straight frequently, which is a crazy idea.

“My motivation came from the money I had raised for my chosen charity, I had to finish to get them the money.

“Walking through Manchester in the early hours was strange. We walked past people going on nights out, coming home in the morning after, people going to work and lots of sleeping houses.

“Although it was hard, and I couldn’t walk for a few days after, it was a really rewarding experience and I am glad I did it.”

The Bogle Stroll started in 1961 when a group of lecturers from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (now part of The University Manchester) missed the last bus home in Lancaster and decided to walk the 55 miles back to Manchester.

Along the way some of the group started to hallucinate and saw the Bogle, a Lancashire imp of folklore. In their imagination the Bogle was taunting the walkers, willing them to give up. It is in defeating the Bogle that the event gets its name.

In the years that followed, the event became a highlight of the Mancunian calendar with up to 3000 people taking part each year during the seventies. The current circuit attempts to mimic the challenge faced by the lecturers five decades ago, while raising money for good causes.

In the challenge this year, participants will be able to stop every few miles at checkpoints, where there will be access to toilets, food and drinks. Checkpoints will be manned by volunteers who can provide moral support and offer first aid assistance to those in need.

This year the organisation’s main charity to be supported is the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which campaigns and works toward child protection in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. Still, participants can choose to donate their fundraising to different charities.

Led by volunteers, mostly students, the event is produced at a low cost to enable as many people to take part as possible. There is an entry fee which is discounted if the walker is a student.

Those interested in participating in or contributing to the event can obtain more information from the Manchester RAG website.

Birth of ‘Tatooine’ star system witnessed by astronomers

Written by Andy van den Bent-Kelly on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

For the first time, astronomers have witnessed the birth of a multiple-star system and the observations could provide ground-breaking information about how these stellar systems form.

Scientists from a whole host of universities, including Manchester and Liverpool John Moores, have produced stunning images showing huge clouds of gas that are in the process of turning into stars.

The scientists focused on a cloud of gas roughly 800 light years from Earth. A particular section of the cloud already contains one young protostar, as well as three dense pockets of matter that are expected to collapse in on themselves within the next 40,000 years, forming stars. The team are optimistic that three of the eventual four stars may form a triple-star system.

Although the Sun has no stellar companions in our solar system, not all stars are found on their own. If two or more form from the same gas cloud, they will be bound by gravitational attraction and it is possible for them to orbit each other.

Binary pairs, which involve two stars, are the most common, although it is believed that systems containing as many as seven stars exist.

It is even possible for multiple-star systems to have planets orbiting them, although it is significantly more difficult for these to form. In 2012, two amateur astronomers discovered a Neptune-sized planet within the quadruple star system Kepler-64, the first of its kind to be observed.

The concept of planetary systems involving more than one star was perhaps best visualised in the Star Wars films, in which the planet Tatooine orbits a binary pair. One of the most iconic images from the series showed Luke Skywalker looking out at a double sunset.

Although many of the concepts illustrated in Star Wars are a tad unrealistic–I can’t imagine that there are many Death Stars floating around–multiple-star systems are actually remarkably common throughout the Universe.

While plenty of these systems have been observed, this recent discovery marks the first time that the creation of one has been witnessed.

Professor Gary Fuller of the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics said, “These kind of multi-star systems are quite common in the Universe. Think of Tatooine in Star Wars, where there are two ‘suns’ in the sky.

“That isn’t too far away from something that could be a real formation. In fact nearly half of all stars are in this type of system.

“Seeing such a multiple star system in its early stages of formation has been a longstanding challenge, but the combination of the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) has given us the first look at such a young system.”

The scientists used the VLA and GBT to observe a small area within the constellation Perseus. The zone in question was a dense core of gas called Barnard 5 (B5). It was already known that this area contained a young forming star.

Upon mapping radio emission from ammonia molecules in the cloud, the team realised that gas filaments in B5 are in the process of fragmenting. Some of these fragments are contracting to form new stars that may eventually join the current protostar in a multiple-star system.

The project leader, Dr Jaime Pineda of the Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, said, “We know that these stars eventually will form a multi-star system because our observations show that these gas condensations are gravitationally bound.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to show that such a young system is gravitationally bound. This provides fantastic evidence that fragmentation of gas filaments is a process that can produce multiple-star systems.”

Several other mechanisms have been proposed for the creation of multiple-star systems, including gravitational capture, fragmentation of the main gas core and fragmentation within a disk of material orbiting a young star.

Dr Pineda concluded, “We’ve now convincingly added fragmentation of gas filaments to this list.”

The stars that are expected to form in B5 will range from roughly one-tenth to more than one-third the mass of the Sun. Their separations will be between 3,000 and 11,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

By analysing the dynamics of the condensations, the astronomers believe that when they collapse and form stars, a stable system of an inner binary pair will be produced. The other two stars are expected to be ejected from the system.

Don’t feel too sorry for them though. I’m sure Palpatine will find a use for them.

Top 5: Romantic reads

Written by Leonie Dunn on . Posted in Books.

5. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
One of William Shakespeare’s most celebrated works and quite possibly the most influential love story of all time, how could the list not include this classic. This tale of “star-crossed lovers” has been told and interpreted time and time again. A story all lovers can relate to, Romeo and Juliet focuses on the tragedies that accompany the loss of true love. Lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two of the most famed clans in literature, come from opposite sides of the Verona tracks and their family’s disapproval of their love eventually leads to their demise.

4. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind
First published in 1936, many consider this novel historical more than romantic, however the Civil War romance between bad boy, Rhett, and Southern belle, Scarlett, is not to be missed. Torn apart by war, it’s a relationship that doesn’t seem possible until they’re reunited many years later. It’s a beautiful yet extensive Romance novel whose reputation lives on today with thanks to the Classic Academy Award-winning film adaptation.

3. Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
Possibly the most heartbreakingly beautiful love story ever written, Wuthering Heights was initially called vulgar when it was published and it was criticised for its difficult characters. Of course, now we can recognise the complexity of this relationship, which showcases that societal standards shouldn’t dictate our happiness. This novel depicts the romance between Catherine and Heathcliff, whose love seems to both destroy them and keep them going throughout their lives.

2. Nicholas Spark’s The Notebook
I may be biased but this one had to make the list at some point since Nicholas Sparks has to be the most popular romance author of our time. While many of his novels could have made the list, The Notebook is the one that stands above the rest, perhaps in part thanks to the now-classic film adaptation. After a summer romance like no other, Noah and Allie are pulled apart by social class in the early 1900s. Years later, the two reconnect, but it might be too late since Allie is engaged.

1. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen is the icon for classic romance novels so it should come as no surprise that she holds the top spot. Not only is Pride and Prejudice one of the most popular books in the English language ever, it’s also one of the most romantic love stories you can find. Elizabeth Bennet is facing the prospect of marriage, along with her four sisters. An unpleasant relationship with a Mr. Darcy turns into a much more complicated relationship as the two play the dating game in the 19th century.

Bedlam: LIBOR faints as Quantitative Easing needle becomes contaminated with Ebola

Written by Tom on . Posted in Books.

The Bank of England’s infamous policy of Quantitative Easing is reported to have infected global financial markets with the deadly Ebola virus. In an unprecedented turn of events, the LIBOR is now unconscious and there are numerous reports of Ebola in financial markets across Europe. The Mancunion cannot yet confirm these reports. One analyst described the outbreak as “the beginning of financial Armageddon”: No one is safe.

The GBP LIBOR (the London InterBank Lending Rate) increased from 0.12% to 34.8% in just over 2 hours of chaos yesterday morning. The interest rate then appeared to stabilise at around 29% for 12 minutes – no one is quite sure why. This proved to be merely a devastating mirage as the LIBOR preceded to ‘faint’. The faint resulted in a complete freeze in all banking activity as credit temperatures came close to absolute zero (–273°C). Monopoly® mortgage rates are being used in the interim, with the rate fixed at “the equivalent of three houses on The Angel Islington”.

‘Faint’ is a financial term defined as a “loss of quantitative consciousness”. There is only one previous instance of the phenomenon in human history – in Delhi in 1858, when colonial interest rates suffered from a week-long outbreak of ‘Delhi belly’. In scale and severity, there is no blueprint. The nature of the Ebola virus and globalised financial markets make this a threat not just to stock markets worldwide – but the whole of human civilisation. While the Ebola death rate is around 50% for humans, the death rate for treasury bills is closer to 90%.

The root of the crisis is simple: Quantitative Easing (or QE). The Bank of England’s 19ft long ‘QE syringe’ was being used by the Central Bank of Liberia just 2 days ago, in an attempt to stimulate economic activity. While there, the needle became contaminated with the Ebola virus. The same needle was then used to inject the viscous QE liquid into the British economy when financial markets opened yesterday morning. As the QE injected new forms of liquidity into the British financial sector, LIBOR, one of the most important interest rates in the world, almost immediately contracted the virus. The ‘incubation period’ for Ebola in flowing finance is just five seconds.

The LIBOR is currently receiving treatment in the Bank of England, but what is of most concern now is the global financial sector as a whole: mortgage rates, lukewarm money flows, bank deposits (i.e. PERSONAL SAVINGS), oath yields, etcetera. The reports of contamination across Europe represent terrifying warning signs. Switzerland have also introduced Monopoly® mortgage rates in anticipation of infection, using “the equivalent of rent-only on Fleet Street” – they do not have a set. G7 leaders have been attempting to formulate a response since yesterday evening. As yet, there is no news.

North Korean state television have reported that Kim Jong-un is “amused” by the developments. His reaction is shared only with ISIS (we think) – for everyone else, the overwhelming emotion of the day is fear.

Boris Johnson is drunk in Churchill’s underground bunker. Gordon Brown has spent the whole morning pouring Irn Bru® on his dog – he has not spoken since the faint. Many of the students The Mancunion spoke to last night were physically sick on hearing the news. “Is this because of the news? Is this because of the news?” we asked a vomiting student on Corporation Street at 4am. We interpreted her mumbled response as “Yes”.

Amongst the chaos and confusion, there are numerous requests. Manchester Business School is closed for the foreseeable future and has been rigged with dynamite in anticipation of infection. The presence of students in the building at the time of infection will “have no impact on the nature of the University’s immediate response.” The British government has told the media to urge the public “to handle all forms of money with rubber gloves, regardless of circumstances”.

Furthermore, the Monetary Policy Committee has this morning revealed it will employ Russell Brand and Bez (from Manchester’s Happy Mondays) in a bid to resolve the crisis. There have also been widespread calls from experts for the injection of antibody default swaps into the financial sector. Non-experts have no suggestions.

Policy makers will have to act fast but there are no obvious solutions. The next few days will likely prove crucial in determining the fate of finance. We await that fate.

Club: Stevie Wonderland’s 2nd birthday w/ Breakbot

Written by Morris Seifert on . Posted in Music.

  • The first time I went to a roller disco I was about twelve. I didn’t want to go but I was assured that it would be fun and also they were playing S Club 7. I thoroughly enjoyed skating in circles around that bland and imposing hall and looked forward to the day I would be able to wear inline skates. Unfortunately that day never came; however thanks to Stevie Wonderland the day to relieve one of my most cherished childhood memories did come.

    But it wasn’t exactly how I remembered it. Instead of a big hall in a clean leisure centre, it was in a small fenced off enclosure surrounded by fierce eyed revellers. Instead of nice bright lights, the arena was lit like a Nazi interrogation room. And instead of friendly fellow skaters, the pen was filled with three types of people: the speed skaters, the bad skaters and the so angry they had to queue for an hour they stopped caring skaters.

    Nobody really seemed like they were enjoying the act of skating much past the novelty of it – not that they could with the size and awkwardness of the arena – and the heaving mass of eager skaters facing off against aggressive burly bouncers made matters worse. Being cramped is bad enough, but being pushed around and cramped is even worse and being pushed around and cramped and drunk is a recipe for disaster, which leads me onto why a roller disco was both the best and worse idea possible.

    When I was twelve I don’t remember there being a bar in the auditorium. I think I’d like to meet whoever thought it would be a good idea to combine roller skating with a club. They’re probably the kind of person who saves a computer in library for six hours with a note that says “in use” or flashes their high beams at people walking the other way or makes drunken people roller skate in near darkness or puts a giant bloody mirror ball in the same room, making skating there akin to doing so whilst having a laser periodically shone in your eyes.

    They’re also probably one of the Tuborg fuelled sadists who stood by the arena and couldn’t stop laughing at how many, admittedly hilarious, drunk people fell flat on their face in an attempt to balance on four wheels. Or maybe they were just someone left 500 pairs of roller skates in the will of a distant relative and didn’t know what to do with them. But it’s probably the former.

    But my desire to meet them is a testament to the fact I bet they’ve got loads more wacky, probably on balance bad, ideas like that. Frankly I can’t say roller skating was much fun in and of itself and Stevie should leave it to the leisure centre in that regard. But I can say that walking into a club and seeing people zooming around (or being helped around) an enclosure the size of a boxing ring as drunken sadists chuckle on and dance music throbs from the stage was one of the most farcical and memorable things I’ve seen in Manchester. If Stevie were going for absurd hilarity with the whole endeavour then in that regard it was a great success and I suggest the next Stevie Wonderland have a small adventure playground in the middle of it. Although I probably wouldn’t say that if I’d broken my ankle.

    But the wacky roller skating wasn’t the only greatness this night had to offer – no, Breakbot and Irfane were excellent and provided the perfect accompaniment to inebriated roller skating. Naturally all the disco classics were spun from the likes of The Whispers and Earth, Wind & Fire. Breaktbot’s own ‘Baby I’m yours’ was another a pretty smashing selection – a song which was shamelessly ripped off by Bruno Mars’ ‘Treasure’. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed every song that was played and there was never a moment I got bored or stopped jiving. The music was perfect for the occasion, which is essentially the highest praise I can give.

    In the end, I thought it was a stellar night, a cut above the average for sure. The music was great, the whole roller skating thing was hysterical, the venue wasn’t too packed and everything seemed to go smoothly. The bouncers were very aggressive, to the point of calling two drunk student girls retards just for not being able to move in a packed queue. But all in all Stevie’s second birthday was great fun and I look forward to what the great minds that brought us this roller disco will do for their third.