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Day: 4 March 2016

INVESTIGATION: “Institutional racism” in Young Labour

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in News.

The youth wings of the Labour Party have been rocked by further allegations of “institutional racism” and infighting in the aftermath of the Young Labour and Labour Students Conferences in Scarborough over the weekend of 26th – 28th February.

Huda Elmi (pictured), who is the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Officer of Labour Students, told The Mancunion that she and other BAME Young Labour members “felt invisible within the structures of the organisation.”

Elmi cited the fact that, at conference, a Labour Students vote was held whilst BAME members of the party were holding a separate caucus outside the conference hall.

She described the situation as “almost a joke… It was as if they were trying to prove that the major grievance of being invisible is true.

“How could they not notice that every BAME person was missing?”

Elmi also highlighted the fact that the position of BAME Officer at Young Labour is currently vacant, and has been for the last six months, after the incumbent stepped down for personal reasons.

She added: “Ever since being elected [as Labour Students BAME Officer], I have been left out of important discussions concerning the committee, refused the tools to act in any kind of autonomous way, and made to feel essentially like a token.

“It is blatantly obvious that we were not present bar in pictures used in brochures… We were not heard unless we were spoken for.”

A senior source from Nottingham Labour Students, who was also at the conference, told The Mancunion he believed the caucus issue was the result of “human error” and was not an intentional slight, but it highlighted the issues BAME members face in the Labour youth movement.

He went on to state his belief that “BAME members were particularly vulnerable to some of the negative aspects of factionalism and inter-camp bullying and intimidation that was noticeably prevalent at conference.”

Two separate conferences were held over the weekend: A Labour Students conference met over the Friday and Saturday, with delegates from Labour Students clubs across the country electing their national officers and deciding policy for the coming year.

Young Labour, which consists of delegates representing all members under the age of 26, met on the Saturday and Sunday to elect their officers and debate policy.

Mo Ahmed, the Co-Chair of Manchester Labour Students, resigned his position on the Saturday night of the conference. In his resignation statement, he lambasted the treatment of BAME students within the youth wings of the Labour Party, saying: “We don’t feel welcome. We are totally invisible.”

Ahmed was, according to Elmi, “one of the only Labour Students BAME chairs in the country” and the fact that he felt his resignation was necessary demonstrated “something is wrong with the system”.

Elmi and Ahmed both gave speeches at the Young Labour conference the day after the latter’s resignation. Their speeches received standing ovations.

In her speech, Elmi expressed her disappointment at Labour failing to live up to its reputation as the “party that promises to be at the frontline, fighting for marginalized groups.”

She also stated her belief that there is “no suitable infrastructure to make sure ethnic minority people are represented in internal politics.”

Following the speech, and as a further response to the racism allegations, BAME members of Young Labour took to Twitter and started the hashtag #IAMNOTATOKEN.

The allegations of institutional racism compound the issues engulfing Labour’s youth wing, following the resignation of the co-chair of Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) after the club’s decision to endorse Israeli Apartheid Week, and accusations of bullying and voting irregularities during the election of the National Executive Committee (NEC) Youth Representative.

Elmi drew a distinction between Labour’s national leadership under Jeremy Corbyn—whose summer leadership campaign she cites as her reason for getting involved in the party—and the “mess that is Young Labour”.

Despite these issues, Elmi hinted she was hopeful about the future, though warned: “Representation without structural change is simply tokenism.”

She said: “The incoming Young Labour committee has to listen to the voices of their BAME members so that we can succeed in our collective fight.”

A report into the bullying allegations is being led by Labour peer Baroness Janet Royall, whilst Elmi is also writing her own report into the events of the conference, where she is “collating personal testimonies and creating recommendations for Labour Students so as to help further integrate BAME members into the organisation.”

In a statement, Manchester Labour Students said: “This conference has raised important issues within our movement. We will support all four of our liberation campaigns—respecting their autonomy—in order to ensure that the diversity of our movement is fully and meaningfully represented.

“We would like to thank Mo for all of his hard work and dedication in what has been a difficult few months for Manchester Labour Students. He has been an invaluable member of MLS.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all allegations of anti-Semitism, racism, bullying, intimidation and candidate misconduct very seriously.

“Investigations are currently underway into the conduct of individual Young Labour Party members. All relevant evidence will be considered.”

The Mancunion contacted 17 Labour MPs for comment on this story. None were available for comment.

Xbox and the PC: A perfect match?

Written by Stephen Lewis on . Posted in Games.

At a recent event, Phil Spencer of Xbox announced that numerous titles previously exclusive to Xbox One would be making their way to PC; namely Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Forza Motorsport 6 Apex and, a few weeks ago, Quantum Break. This is not entirely out of the ordinary as in the past some Xbox games have eventually made their way to PC, such as the original Gears of War and the first two Halo games. Yet Spencer also hinted at the fact that the Xbox One may soon become an upgradable piece of technology, not dissimilar to PCs where the titles above are soon to make their debut. This raises two questions: Is releasing games on PC that were originally Xbox exclusive a good idea? And will an upgradable Xbox One be worth it when you could do the same on PC?

The first of these depends on the games: Forza 6 has already been available for a long time on XB so the die hard fans will most likely have it already, as will most others who enjoy racing games and own the console. Quantum Break however is more interesting as it is a brand new IP, and free copies for PC come with a pre-order on XB, so is it worth buying the standalone PC version when you could possibly get both for the price of one. Yet just this January the buying power of the PC was proven when Rise of the Tomb Raider was released as it sold over three times as many copies as the XB version in its launch month.

The upgradable Xbox is the more confusing issue. There have been rumours for years that one day consoles will go away, perhaps to be replaced by streaming services built into TVs, much in the same way that many people moved from DVD to Blu-Ray and then ending up with Netflix built into a smart TV or box connected to it. An upgradable Xbox would mean that instead of spending a few hundred pounds every couple of year for the next console, it could instead be spread out over a longer period in smaller amounts. But what is the point of a console doing this when upgrading and modifying has been part of the PC mentality for so long? A PC can do more than a console—that much is obvious—but with Xbox exclusives becoming available on PC, is Microsoft shooting itself in the foot in the console market and slowly leaning toward a 50/50 split, or more, with the PC, where it is a major force in the business market?  Perhaps we will get more news on this at E3 in June.

King of the North 2016

Written by Jasmin Kaur Tiyur on . Posted in Games.

The ESport Society of UoM has successfully brought us another King of the North finals tournament held this year on March 2nd in Academy 1. As with previous years, university teams travelled from across the nation in order to compete in their chosen tournament with the hope of walking away as victor and earning the prestigious title, King of the North (and yes, that is a GoT reference!) The tournaments and teams this year were as followed:
– CS:GO: UoM vs Lancaster
– League of Legends: Birmingham vs Exeter
– Dota 2: Warwick vs Bath

As the spectators waited patiently for the teams to arrive, there were plenty of other gaming activities set up on stalls that kept the whole venue entertained. The first stall (or should I say beanie bag set up!) was set up by our neighbours and friends, MMU Gaming Society. They had decided to use a projector screen and Xbox 360 as their choice of console and were playing an indie multiplayer. The reps stated that they had particularly chosen indie games as they were the favourite amongst MMU gamers and the most regularly played at their weekly get together. And just as it is worth mentioning, let it be know that MMU Gaming Society is the biggest society at MMU! Keep up the good work!

Next to MMU were the wonderful team at Bitlord—Manchester’s own gaming, film and music company. They had a stall set up with competitive multiplayers such as Mario Kart, Pacman, and Halo. I spoke to Jim who was in charge of the set up about what Bitlord are and what they do within their gaming sector. He described the company as being one that brings together gamers into casual and informal environments to compete with friends or rivals and to just have fun—simple and sweet. He went on to say that Bitlord hosts regular events in Bolton called “Games Hub” at the Blind Tiger, the next one being on March 20th. Another highlight of their events is that they call together local DJs and producers to perform and heighten the atmosphere and experience of the competitions. Their Facebook page can be found under “bitlordgaming”: Definitely worth checking out and keeping up to date with!

Another Manchester based company, as well as London, that were present and causing quite a buzz were LanZZZ—a company that describes itself as hosting competitive “lan parties.” Unlike Bitlord, who were hosting a casual gaming stall, LanZZZ had set up a  League of Legends 1v1 tournament in which players had to be signed up in advance, and the queues to play were quite something. There were also prizes to be won including T-shirts and bags.

Alongside LanZZZ were two stalls generating just as much interest that were set up by ESport’s sponsors, MSI Gaming, and Computer Planet. MSI Gaming and Computer Planet are both manufacturing companies that provide high end gaming gear and sponsorships to gaming societies and events across the nation. Having spoken to their reps it was clear that their objectives for the day was to provide the opportunity for avid gamers to experience high quality gaming machinery in a competitive setting if they were otherwise unable to. Initially, I had mistaken MSI Gaming’s laptops for Alienwares, however upon closer inspection I noticed the beautiful dragon logo that made me love their set up even more! They may not be Alienwares, but they are definitely a worthy rival.

Now, for my highlight of the day. My favourite stall present was set up by none other than UoM’s Yu-Gi-Oh Society! My first reaction was a mixture of shock and disappointment in myself. Why? Because I had no idea they existed! I was so upset that after 3 years at university, graduating this summer, I never knew about them and never had the chance to go crazy with them! You can bet I’ll be making the most out of my last few months, though! I immediately got into a conversation of all things fangirl with the president, Solomon Ofosu, and apparently we both love Dark Magician (yay!) The stall had hundreds of cards available for players to duel with each other, either with their own decks or with the ones provided. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to have a game but I was told that the society meets up every Wednesday at the Students’ Union from 2pm until 5pm and also have a Facebook page, UoM Yu-Gi-Oh Society.

UoM’s own Gaming Society were, of course, present as well. Although they were set up in the corner of the academy, they were hard to miss—especially when the competition on Guitar Hero started getting heated! They had 4 consoles set up so as to provide something for everyone; Wii U, Xbox 360, and the classics PS1 and Nintendo 64 with a great variety of games that were available for both casual and competitive play.

Finally, I stopped to speak to a very unique stall that was present and not one I expected to find—Manchester University Comic Collective (MUCC). They caught my eye as I noticed a group of people sitting around drawing pictures and I wondered what they were up to. I spoke with the president, Jack Evans, and Secretary, Ivan Fernando, who told me MUCC had set up a sketch competition with the winning prize being a lovely box of chocolates. MUCC stood out to me particularly by the end of the day because of their absolute passion and dedication in what they do. I made a passing comment to Jack saying that I was hopeless at drawing and he was adamant that I shouldn’t think that way. “Art is very subjective,” he told me. He was very assuring that MUCC was open to everyone, whether you love manga or Marvel or anything in between, and what was important was passion, not ability. It honestly was a pleasure to speak to him.

Upon asking what MUCC was all about and what they do, I was told that they meet up once a week on Mondays at 7pm and, of course, they have a Facebook page that can be followed for updates. Jack went on to tell me that during these meetings everyone gets together to create something, anything that they feel like, with individual tasks associated with drawing, panelling, inking, writing, dialogue, you name it. There was something for everyone! The end goal is to support each other in order to publish their works, he said, but never forgetting to have fun during the process. After asking if Jack himself was published he replied simply with “Not yet”, but did mention he had a Redbubble page under the name “Jakkuebansu” (and yes, that is Japanese for Jack Evans) where you can find merchandise relating to his own original characters, so check him out!

Although I didn’t stay for the entire day so missed the LoL and Dota 2 tournaments, I can justifiably say that ESport Society had done the University and the North proud with another fantastic event. Be sure to like ESport Facebook page to find out the winners of the events if you didn’t get chance to go, as well as to stay updated with their regular and future events. As for now, the bar has been set, so let’s see what ESport brings next year.

BUCS Swimming Championships: The University of Manchester Swimming Club

Written by Rhiannon Davies on . Posted in Sport.

Half naked, soaking and delirious after three hours sleep with a hangover that just asks: ‘why.’ Sound familiar? Think again. This was Saturday morning at BUCS Long Course Swimming Championships; one of the most important competitive swimming competitions of the year.

Over the weekend of the 19th-21st February, around 3500 swimmers were among the six thousand athletes to descend onto Sheffield’s sporting venues for three days of competition. For the University of Manchester Swimming Club, BUCS is a measure of talent, endurance and determination in the pool, on the poolside and around the dance floor. Captains expect teammates to replicate and uphold the city’s energy and success through race results, vociferous support and vibrant fancy dress. BUCS exposes the character of university teams; their strengths, weaknesses and self -identification. Whilst once again top sporting uni’s such as Loughborough, Bath and Edinburgh comprised the highest points scorers this year, Manchester should be proud – swimmers proved themselves just as committed to principled fun and tenacious enthusiasm as previous, more successful years.

Compared to recent years BUCS results in both November and February have fallen short. From placing in the top ten between 2011-2014, winning AU club of the year twice, AU official of the year and AU sportswoman of the year, 2015-2016 has not managed to yield any BUCS points either in November’s competition or during this weekend. Swimming is one of the most participated sports in the country and one of the biggest individual sports within BUCS; being a BUCS points scorer is incredibly difficult. Success comes from talent and an unwavering commitment to hard work, with top swimmers training over ten times a week for 2 hours at a time. Manchester was lucky enough to attract a number of these top swimmers between 2011 and 2014, but as time moves on so do university students.

With their departure went the ‘top ten’ place on the BUCS scoreboard along with all funding from Sport Manchester. Pool hire is costly and a swimming club is highly expensive to run. Recently, funding has become a major problem. President of the club Justin Craig has had to donate £1000 of his own money to cover competition expenses and the once complementary circuits session on a Saturday will now have to be paid for by swimmers. Withdrawal of funds endangers not only racing success but threatens to distort the teams character. Committee members fear that if swimmers have to pay for Saturday circuit sessions the recreational members, who contribute a vital part of the teams spirit, will be less willing to participate given the relatively small amount of competition time they get.

The Sport Manchester homepage boasts of the Manchester Aquatics centre as ‘one of the biggest and best swimming facilities in the country’, and uses the University swimming team as part of their campaign to ‘make sport part of your Manchester.’ Whilst public promotion is sustained, the swimming club might hope to carry on attracting dedicated swimmers. However, there is a negative cycle for both Sport Manchester and the club; less funding leads to fewer swimmers and less success in the pool. Coverage of this year’s BUCS aims to demonstrate a team and its ethos; still willing and committed despite the recent difficulties.

On Friday evening Manchester’s first swimmer was Alberto Albona who endured the gruelling 1500m freestyle despite a lack of distance training. Following on was an exciting performance in the 4x100m freestyle relays. Fifty university teams competed in each race and, roared on by poolside support, the Manchester boys secured a place in the B team final to be held the following day. With the swimming over the team headed off to re-energise at one of Sheffield’s finest eateries; the local Weatherpoons. Dinner and drinks lead on to a successful night out at Leadmill club, then bed for a couple of hours sleep before warm up the next day.

Session two began at 8am Saturday morning with all swimmers keen to get stuck in. Despite Manchester’s high spirited antics lasting into the early hours of the morning the captains upheld the team’s traditional ‘no lie ins’ policy, ensuring all team mates were on poolside as supporters, whether racing that morning or not. Manchester’s swimmers showed grit and determination when racing and cheering on their teammates. Special mention to top forty finishers Carita Hui for her 50m backstroke and Sultan Alotaibi for his 50m breaststroke, along with Danial Zakaria for his 100m butterfly and Justin Craig for a speedy 50m freestyle (a recently healed broken arm withstanding).

The mens and women’s 4x100m individual medley relay once again proved productive, with the girls team finishing 26th and the boys team making yet another B final. The last event of the day was the mens freestyle relay final; Justin Craig, Max Granger, Laurence Gummerson and Matthew Rudolph swam a neck and neck race, with Surrey and Exeter with Rudolph finishing in an impressive 55.18 seconds.

Although pipped to the post for 8th by just 0.04 seconds the Manchester boys managed to steal 9th from Leeds Becket by over two seconds and provided the audience with a heated and exciting finale to the days events. Worn out and in need of some immediate calories the team decided to forgo the usual Dominos for something a little more nutritious; Wetherspoons once more welcomed the athletes with open doors. With another day of exhausting racing ahead the team decided to don fancy dress and head out to Sheffield Hallam’s ‘Get Dunked’ night for some well deserved raucousness along with the rest of the competition’s fun-loving swimming teams.

Another 7am wake up call followed by an enormous breakfast and dash to the pool began the last day of competing. With poolside smelling a little more like alcohol than chlorine and swimmers from all teams decidedly zig-zagging across the lanes in warm up the atmosphere was one of nervous resilience. Once again Manchester gave everything into the last few nauseous hours of racing to produce some incredible swims and clamorous cheering. Both Laurence Gummerson and Faris Alhassan performed commendably for their 50m butterfly and Matthew Rudolph came within two seconds of his club record in the 100m backstroke despite yet another recently healed broken arm. Other mentions go to the teams para-swimmer Rosie Bancroft who placed 18th in the open 400m freestyle and Aimee Harvey for her stoicism and determination during her many races. The final event was the Mens 4x100m individual medley final which proved a gripping end to the competition. The race was close with York, Nottingham, Manchester and Exeter side by side throughout. Manchester squared themselves with Exeter’s previous victory by beating them to 5th place and ending the weekend on a high.

Captains Connie Prowse and Laurence Gummerson have praised the team for their efforts this weekend, stressing the centrality of enthusiasm and solidarity to the club’s ethos. ‘BUCS top girl’ has been been awarded to Carita Hui for her 50m backstroke and Aimee Harvey for her upbeat attitude when asked to swim more events than any one else on the team. ‘Bucs top boy’ has been awarded to Matthew Rudolph for his 100m backstroke performance and James Hulbert for reflecting Manchester’s vigorous fun seeking and dedication to enjoyment. Finally, swimming hats off to both boys relay teams for placing 5th and 8th in the B finals.

What is clear from this weekend at BUCS is that the dip in Manchester’s swimming race performance is not down to nonchalance or lacklustre spirit in training or competition but perhaps instead highlights a weakness in the way Manchester is advertising itself for potential swimmers. Manchester Swimming Club does not pose as anything but what is is; a lively, hard working, inclusive and dynamic team, proud to be committed to enjoyment and enthusiasm as well as competitive results. Like many university teams Manchester depends on the quality of recruits and the lottery of university applications. With or without these luxury recruits the club continues to strive for impressive results with gusto.

This weekend Manchester will be holding the annual Quest for the Crest competition at Manchester Aquatics centre on Oxford road. Over thirty teams from all over the country will be competing to raise money for Diabetes UK. Come along to see what the swimming club does and donate to a great cause.