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Day: 4 December 2015

January Pangaea theme revealed

January 2016’s Pangaea theme will have a retro games theme, it was announced today.

Titled Pangaea: Level 10, this will be a celebration of the Festival’s 10th birthday. “Featuring 15 stages—or levels—across the entire Students’ Union and Manchester Academy site, almost 6,000 students are expected to attend,” say the organisers.

After the success of a sold-out September event, the Students’ Union are hoping that this will be the best one since its inception in January 2006.

“We’re incredibly excited for the 10th anniversary of a festival which has grown from strength to strength to be one of the most important dates in the student calendar,” says Joel Smith, Activities and Development Officer. “It’s been really exciting to see hundreds of students getting involved with such a dynamic project.”

2013 saw the first year that Pangaea hosted three events a year, adding a Welcome Week date on top of the January and June dates. Pangaea Festival has reportedly become the largest student-led festival in Europe.

Pangaea will take place between 8pm and 6am on Saturday the 30th of January 2016, to round off the exam period. Line-up and ticket details will be released in the coming weeks.

What’s on this December in art?

Manchester Art Gallery: Matthew Darbyshire, An Exhibition for Modern Living (Open till Sunday 10 January 2016). Free Entry. 

The title of Darbyshire’s show, a survey of his interior installations from the past seven years, is borrowed from an exhibition originally held at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1949. The original was full of hope for post-war American design, whereas Darbyshire’s work is interested in the unique ways we accumulate odd trinkets and then display them in our homes. It’s a highly eccentric show. Palac (2009/15) reimagines the Stalinist Palace of Culture and Science as though it was a community arts centre built under New Labour. Also on display is his furry, swanky design for a smoking shelter, imitation classical statuary made from polystyrene and Oak Effect, a crowded puzzle box interior made by slotting together flat pack furniture and old wooden treasures from MAG’s collection.

Whitworth Art Gallery: Art_Textiles (Open till 31 January 2016). Free Entry. 

The Whitworth’s Art_Textiles show explores the storytelling potential of textiles and tapestries. Artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry are gathered here, including his sitcom-like tapestry series, The Vanity of Small Differences. Inspired by Hogarth’s “A Rake’s Progress” prints, and using a craft form associated with Raphael’s cartoons for Pope Leo X and the lavishly royalist works at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, he delights in the class contrast: “I enjoy the idea of using this costly and ancient medium to show the commonplace dramas of modern British life.”

Castlefield Gallery: B/Q: Roland Barthes and Magnus Quaife (4 December 2015 — 31 January 2016). Free Entry.

Art and philosophy meet in Castlefield’s new show to celebrate the centenary of Roland Barthes’ birth. A painter himself and admirer of Cy Twombly’s abstract squiggles, Quaife pays tribute to the great French semiotician. The art form most associated with Barthes is photography. Camera Lucida, his last book, tried to pinpoint the defining feature of photography, the unique hallmark that separates it from the painting. Upon seeing a photograph you face the undeniable proof that the person has existed and, depending on the time period, that this person, once a living, posing, conscious sitter, is now long gone. Death permeates photography as though every negative, even those taken right this minute, are developed in Lethean waters. Who knows what Quaife will do with Barthes’ mournful theories?

Christmas Poem

‘Twas two weeks before Christmas, and all through the Union,
Creatures were stirring, at The Mancunion.

Articles were written, published and subbed,
Stress levels were rising, shoulders were rubbed.

The elves set to work, loading the paper,
Deciding how best, to divide the labour.

Stitches were sewn, from cover to cover,
In order to create, an issue like no other.

The editors were busy, bustling and hungry,
Awaiting orders, from their chief Charlie.

‘News!’ he cried, ‘Features, Opinion!’,
‘Books, Film, Lifestyle, Music, Fashion!’

He rounded them up, calling them by names,
‘Sport, Photography, Theatre, Art, Games!’

But something was missing, something afoot,
Food and Drink was gone, and in its place: soot.

That night was sleepless, all awake in their beds,
How could Christmas go on without page 23’s red?

The morning seemed sombre, as they went to print,
Then with a jingle of bells, appeared Food and Drink.

But something was different, ‘twas plain to see,
Music seemed bolder, and more sassy.

Had they swapped colours, could it be true?
Charlie needed answers quick, there was so much to do

‘New year, new me’ Food laughed, and threw back its head,
I’ve always believed orange is the new red.

Students’ Union launches nightly shuttle bus service

The University of Manchester Students’ Union has officially launched its nightly shuttle bus service intended to avoid students walking home alone and keep them safe on the streets.

It will run from 9pm to 3am from Monday to Saturdayand from 9pm to 12am every Sunday during term time. All students are welcome to use the service, which will leave on the hour, whether they have been studying at the library or are coming back from a night out.

Journeys will cost between £2 – 4 depending on which zone a student lives in. The majority of Fallowfield, where most of the student body reside, falls into zone 2 which costs £3. Even without cash to hand, students can exchange their student ID for the fare. They can then collect it from 12pm the next day in the Students’ Union after paying for their journey.

The bus is exclusively for University of Manchester students, boys included, and a valid student ID must be supplied upon boarding the bus. Seats on the 13-man bus will be free to reserve at the Learning Commons front desk and spaces will be given on a first come first serve basis.

Being slightly intoxicated isn’t a problem either, with the bus equipped with buckets just in cases. The service just asks that passengers remain respectful towards the driver and do not become too rowdy.

The person behind this scheme is Women’s Officer Jess Lishak, who originated the idea as part of her manifesto during student elections. She said: “I’m so happy to be launching the student shuttle bus. It took a bit longer than expected due to some logistical issues but I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to the scheme.

“It’s addressing two different issues that I faced and identified as Women’s Officer last year, the lack of specialised support for students who have been raped or sexually assaulted, and the issue of women students being too scared to come onto campus and leave their houses at night.

“This scheme will help students go about their everyday lives without fear whilst also strengthening our links with local services and providing better support for our students around sexual violence, which complements the campaigning work we do around these issues.”

Proceeds will go to helping students affected by sexual harassment by funding a support worker from Manchester Rape Crisis, a confidential support service for victims of rape and abuse. The money raised will also go towards training university and Union staff on how to support students in similar positions.

Lishak added that she hopes “that people use it so that we can keep it running and in turn fund some really important services for students who’ve experienced sexual violence.”

The service is currently offering the opportunity to become a paid driver or chaperone. For enquiries about available roles contact Jess Lishak or for general information about the scheme head to: manchesterstudentunion.com/bus.

Students protest airstrikes on Syria

With the decision to bomb Syria being rushed through Parliament, urgent protests were organised across the country to show the people’s opposition to military action.

Members of Parliament came together Wednesday the 2nd of December to vote on whether Britain should take military action against so-called IS (Daesh) in Syria. The debate came after the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris on the 13th of November. The French President François Hollande in response asked the European nations to do more and join them in the fight against the terrorist group; France’s warplanes have been executing military action in Syria for some time.

David Cameron led the support for the bill, his main point being: “Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill British people, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?”

Jeremy Corbyn was the figurehead of the opposition against military intervention in Syria. In an article for the The Guardian, Corbyn stated: “The Prime Minister has avoided spelling out to the British people the warnings he has surely been given about the likely impact of British airstrikes in Syria on the threat of terrorist attacks in the UK.”

In Manchester, the organisation Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition used Facebook to spread the word out on a protest that they were hosting in Picadilly Gardens, five hours before the result of the vote was due to be released. According to the events page, over a 1,000 people pledged to attend and show their solidarity with the group.

The march started in the centre of Picadilly Gardens and looped around the centre of town, through Oxford Street and Deansgate.

The chants on the march included “welfare not warfare” and “David Cameron shame on you. Open borders, let them through.”

Chloe Heard, a University of Manchester student and one of the protestors in the march had said that she “went to the march because I believe bombing Syria would make our lives in Manchester and around Europe more vulnerable—let alone those innocent lives in Syria that will be affected. We have learnt from the past that bombing does not work, it is a lazy reaction to a more complex problem.”

Another University of Manchester student, Rob Paterson, who attended the protest said: “Trying to fight terrorism with a bombing campaign is like setting a house on fire to kill a mouse that’s hiding under the floorboards. It won’t work and Cameron’s assertions that it’ll make Britain safer and that casualties will be minimal outrage me. Many innocent people will die and if anything this will make us more of a target of terrorism.”

One of the key speakers at the end of the march was 89-year-old Malcolm, a lifelong pacifist who had been imprisoned for refusing conscription in his youth. Speaking on the IS attacks in France, Malcolm explained these actions and stated: “If they are bombed from the skies, how can they retaliate? If they are shot with missiles from the water, how can they retaliate? By killing citizens.”

Students attended protests across the country. Two Bristol correspondents Roisin Sterne and Ginny Fursse spoke to protestors there, one of whom said that “bombing is not going to do anything,” and that the government’s actions should be to “stop our relationship with Saudi Arabia, they’re the people who fund ISIS.” Another student added that there “was a case for having some kind of intervention” but that it needed to be more “transparent, not just a yes or no dichotomy between bombs and nothing”.

Despite the outpour of British opposition to the bombing of Syria, with 82 per cent of people voting against the strikes in a poll carried out by The Independent with 10,642 participants, the result of the MPs’ vote was in support of military intervention against Syria.

The Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition, along with others similar across the country, announced further action in response to this decision, and have organised another march on Saturday the 5th of December, at 1pm in Picadilly Gardens.

University of Sheffield withdraws fossil fuel investment

The University of Sheffield has announced plans to sell the shares that it holds in fossil fuel companies by the next academic year. The move, which follows concerns raised by staff and students, will see the university sell shares worth £39m. The investments currently support scholarships, bursaries and academic posts, but they will be replaced by a new, more socially responsible, investment policy.

Bob Rabone, University of Sheffield Chief Financial Officer, explained that the decision came after an “extended period of careful discussion across the university, as well as listening to the concerns of staff and students on this crucial issue, including the campaign to disinvest from fossil fuels.”

Discussing the timeframe for the change, Rabone said, “the university is committed to implementing our new policy as soon as can be practically achieved and, subject to taking further advice, we agreed to report back to the Council within this academic year.”

The announcement seems all the more relevant coming against the backdrop of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris. More than 150 world leaders are meeting to discuss reducing global carbon emissions—the first meeting of its kind since 2009.

Naia Lopez, a co-ordinator for Fossil Free, a divestment protest group, praised the decision, saying: “Sheffield University and others’ commitments to divest from the fossil fuel industry reinforce the decade-long call from indigenous communities to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

Although the change has been seen as a breakthrough by some, others claim much more is needed to be done for Universities to become responsible, both socially and environmentally. Chris Saltmarsh, a coordinator of the Sheffield Fossil Free Campaign, said: “Although we are pleased that the University of Sheffield has chosen to divest from all fossil fuels, they must recognise that divestment can only be the start of the fight against the climate crisis.

“Sheffield University has received over £600,000 in sponsorship from BP and Shell over the past five years. If the University wishes to be seen as truly socially and environmentally responsible, it must take measures to cut all its ties with fossil fuel companies.”

The University of Sheffield are not the first UK university to pledge divestment in fossil fuels. In fact they join 18 other universities in aiming to become more environmentally accountable. It was only last week that the London School of Economics chose to divest its £97.2 million endowment from coal and tar sands. These universities join Oxford University and Warwick University among others in making divestment pledges.

The issue of divestment continues to be a contentious one at the University of Manchester. In July, the Manchester Fossil Free group protested outside the Learning Commons, urging divestment. It was reported in The Mancunion earlier this year that the university had had almost £40 million invested in fossil fuels.