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Day: 13 April 2016

Preview: Economics for Everyone Conference 2016

Written by Jennifer Sterne on . Posted in News.

The Post Crash Economics Society at the University of Manchester is holding a weekend-long conference entitled ‘Economics for Everyone’ from 16th-17th April at University Place, with some of the world’s leading economists.

The conference is open to the public, students and economists, with a selection of events directed at a range of different levels of economic understanding. The event aims to highlight Ha Joon Chang’s belief that “Economics is too important to be left to the experts”.

On their website the organisers claim: “the conference isn’t a typical conference where you go along to watch some experts speak, ask a question, and go home. We have designed events to be interactive, more like a conversation than a lecture. We want to create a forum which is accessible to everyone, that starts conversations between people who would never normally meet and most importantly which is fun and stimulating.”

They add that they believe all UK citizens  should “have a basic knowledge of economics and the confidence to use it both as a requirement for democracy to function effectively and for our own wellbeing. Understanding a bit about economics and fostering a civil society in which it is vigorously discussed can help us feel more in control of our lives”.

The events will create spaces where attendees will be able to discuss and share experiences of the economy, creating a forum which is accessible to everybody. The aim is to spark conversations between people who would not normally come across each other.

This is the second year of the conference, with last year’s according to organisers being a great success that “helped to educate the public” and they “want to continue with that good work.”

There will be over twenty events over the weekend, organised into six different themes: debt, inequality, the EU, economic history, emerging markets and devolution.

Speakers will include: Steve Keen, Vicky Pryce, Richard Wilkinson, Frances Coppla, Engelbert Stockhammer and Andrew Lilico. These speakers will be involved in a range of lectures, discussions and workshops about the issues they believe matter to you.

The conference also aims to challenge the traditional lecturer/audience divide and the organisers want to focus on audience participation, encouraging them to contribute, challenge and debate the different views presented.

Tickets will be £7/8 for a day ticket and £12/14 for the whole weekend, including lunch. If you are unable to pay for a ticket, the organisers encourage you to get in touch with them via email and social media as they “want this conference to be accessible to everyone”.

For more information visit the conference website: boombustboombust.com 

And for tickets go to: www.eventbrite.com/e/ economics-for-everyone- conference-2016-tickets- 21785878148 

Manchester City 1-0 PSG (3-2)

Written by Harry Newton on . Posted in Sport.

Manchester City have joined Real Madrid as the first two teams in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League 2016, after a very professional performance at The Etihad, where the whole team seemed to just click.

If this game was a song…

Fernando ABBA

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

At the end of Fernando’s career someone will make a lovely compilation video with all of his highlights, and no doubt this game will feature heavily. After a questionable performance in the first leg last week, Fernando was all over the back pages due to his error being what led to Ibrahimović’s goal. However, over the last few weeks Fernando has been quietly getting on with his job and keeping City in and around the top four of the Premier League. Today he showed his class yet again in one of the biggest games of City’s history. With 62% possession, PSG were always a threat—especially in the second half—but Fernando was all over the field putting an end to most PSG attacks. His partnership with Fernandinho worked well, and he showed calmness on the ball, starting counter-attacks instead of clearing the ball to the stands like the crowd were bellowing for! “Can you hear the bells Fernando?” Well he can definitely hear the plaudits!

Big Moments

28th minute: PENALTY! Sergio Aguero was brought down by the goalkeeper in the box after Kevin de Bruyne played him in on goal.

29th minute: MISS! Aguero put the ball wide in a rare lapse for the Argentinian.

47th minute: SAVE! Ibrahimović may have had a quiet first half, but he burst into life in the second half—his first effort was a fantastic effort from a 25-yard free kick. Joe Hart was down to make fingertips to the ball.

64th minute: SAVE! Joe Hart again saved City with fingertips to a shot—this time a Thiago Silva header.

75th minute: Eliaquim Mangala raised the stadium to their feet in appreciation, after he slid in from distance to clear the ball and stop a PSG counter attack!

76th minute: GOAL! Mangala’s tackle gave City another bite at the cherry—and it worked in spectacular fashion! After some neat play around the box, Kevin de Bruyne received hold of the ball on the edge of the box and curled a shot in past the goalkeeper’s left hand!

79th minute: SAVE! Joe Hart completes a hat-trick of fantastic saves, this time after Edinson Cavani shot. The English number one jumped into action and palmed the ball away in his classic star-fish formation.

85th minute: OFFSIDE! Zlatan Ibrahimović finally got the better of Joe Hart and put the ball in the back of the net… after being offside by five yards. The City back four kept an excellent line at the back all game, and Zlatan fell hook, line, and sinker for it.

Triomendous

Prior to the game, Manuel Pellegrini said that his side would lose the game if they intended to play for a 0-0 draw, so he would have his team play attacking football as they have during his time at the club to try and win the match. Pellegrini’s men did not disappoint, as City’s frontmen really turned on the style and fashioned some fantastic opportunities. Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, and Sergio Aguero’s relationship upfront was scintillating stuff with neat one-touch football. With a performance like that, you have to wonder if they could have played blindfolded—they just seemed to know exactly where each other were.

Manuel Pellegrini noted this in his post-match press conference: “Kevin doesn’t need much space to have good shots. I always say good players together—they always play better.”

However, it wasn’t the trio’s attacking play that caught the eye as much as their defensive display in the second half. PSG brought the game to City after the interval (like they probably should have in the first half), but all of the front three pressed high up the pitch on PSG’s midfielders, which often led to a pass back to the PSG goalkeeper.

Man of the Match

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Fernando was personally my choice for Man of the Match, but it would be quite easy to build a case for most of the City starting eleven to receive the award. Joe Hart made three fantastic saves; Nicholas Otamendi was strong and commanding in the back four; Gael Clichy yet again was solid at left-back; Sergio Aguero may have missed a penalty but along-side Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva they looked unstoppable at times; and of course de Bruyne himself by scoring the winner. However, one man to pick out above the rest was Eliaquim Mangala, as he yet again stepped up in a big game, despite the pressure he is often put under by the British press. Before the game, Chris Sutton said that Mangala lacked a brain—Mangala replied with a fantastic performance and a tweet thanking Sutton for the motivation. The French centre-back was confident and strong in a match that many would have expected him to buckle under pressure in! Zlatan Ibrahimović is often described as one of the best strikers in the world, and rightly so, but today Eliaquim Mangala came out on top. Tomorrow, Mangala may consider removing the Swede from his back pocket.

Stat of the Match

City only had 38% possession all game, somewhat surprisingly.

Fan Watch

Photo: Harry Newton

Nobody would blame the City fans for being nervous prior to the game; this is unchartered territory for them! But after a few chances in the first five minutes, the fans quickly got over their nerves and made the ground a fortress against the Parisians.

City’s good luck charm worked wonders again, as the City fans boo’d the UEFA Champions League theme song before the game. Pellegrini hinted in his pre-match press conference that the booing may be a good luck charm for City.

And, a personal favourite chant from the evening was “shit Andy Carroll” chanted at Ibrahimović.

Quote of the Presser

“It’ll be exactly the same”—Manuel Pellegrini on the prospect of playing Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich over any other team in the Champions League semi-finals.

History in the Making

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

City aren’t in the best of form in the Premier League, and are battling it out for a top four place instead of the title that they are usually fighting for, and yet their Champions League performances this year have been professional, stylish and effective. Sevilla away, Borussia Monchengladbach at home, and Dynamo Kiev away have all been especially good performances—not to mention City’s 2-2 draw in Paris last week. With this in mind, there will be a quiet voice in the back of City players’ and city fans’ heads just whispering that “City may win this!”, despite Laurent Blanc describing City as a guest at the Champions League semi-final party.

The draw for the semi-finals of the Champions League will take place on Friday. Real Madrid have joined the blues in the draw. In the words of James Blunt, maybe City will get a… semi by the sea. That’s what he means by that lyric, right?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

LSE accused of evicting a student with mental health difficulties

Written by Gemma Sowerby on . Posted in News.

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Residential Services were recently accused of evicting a student from their Halls of Residence following their decision to interrupt their studies as a result of acute mental illness.

This decision was reported to have been taken by university staff from the Residential Services and Disability and Wellbeing Services at the prestigious London university, despite this going against the advice of two seperate NHS professionals, LSE Students’ Union officers, and the wishes of the student in question.

The university’s weekly online publication, The Beaver, which broke the story, said, “This incident further tarnishes the school’s already poor record on mental health support and recognition.”

The student decided to interrupt their studies as a result of being hospitalised with severe mental health problems, and according The Beaver the School informed them that as they were no longer a student for the 2015–16 academic year, they would be evicted.

The LSE Students’ Union’s Community and Welfare Officer, Aysha Fekaki, made contact with the Residential Services and the Disability and Wellbeing Services on behalf of the student, and waited 16 days for a response, despite contacting them several times. When the student finally received a reply, it came in the form of an immediate eviction notice.

The decision is said to have “followed standard School procedure” without taking into consideration the specific circumstances of this student. Moreover, the order came despite warnings from Students’ Union Officers that the student did not have the option to return home and thus would be left homeless.

The Beaver was privy to correspondence that led Union Officers to declare the School’s attitude “somewhat hostile”, as they displayed a distinct lack of understanding of the student’s health issues, even overturning an extension given to the student by the Chief Operating Officer of LSE. Moreover, the Halls Warden system has been called into question after it appears they did little to help the student in need before or during their sudden hospitalisation.

The LSE Students’ Union Wellbeing Officer, Aysha Fekaki, spoke to The Beaver: “The general process that I had gone through in order to get this answer in the first place was extremely frustrating and worrying given that there is an over demand for these services in the first place. I had contacted seven different people within the School who all referred me to each other for an answer over the two week period. How can students be put through this when they are reaching out for support?

“When speaking with Residential Life, we were told that they need to support other students who are actually staying at LSE and well enough to do their exams and that they cannot support everyone. The staff member expressed directly to the student that they want to ‘see a healthy [student] come back in the New Year and finish their exams like all other students do at LSE’. This to me was not only a huge contradiction, but a complete lack of understanding of mental health difficulties that student’s experience [sic].

“This was a complete failing both institutionally and personally to the detriment of the student. Both Residential Life and the Disability and Wellbeing Service has not contacted the student since [sic].”

A petition posted online in support of the student, which had over 1,000 signatures but has since been deleted, asked several demands of the School in order to address the issues that had come to light. Elaborating on this, Fekaki adds: “We call upon LSE to urgently take action in ensuring all students working through mental health issues are guaranteed accommodation, financial support and mental health support in finding services that meet their specific needs. We call upon the school to immediately centralise welfare services both physically and administratively to have one point of contact to reduce the stress and anxiety faced by students”.

The petition also called upon staff working in student services to “undertake training in mental health immediately. It is time LSE recognised their duty of care towards current and interrupting students.”

The LSE Students’ Union (LSESU) has since released the following statement: “In recent weeks, LSE Students’ Union has been in dialogue with the School to address the concerns raised regarding a student with mental health difficulties being left effectively homeless on Thursday 24th March.”

LSESU representatives met with LSE’s Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Young to discuss the issue. As a result, they announced that the School “will offer specialised support and assistance for the student in question, including pre-existing access to support from the Student Welfare team; arrange a series of meetings between LSESU representatives, the LSE Head of Student Services and the LSE Chief Operating Officer.

These changes were announced to begin this week and they also promised to “discuss the efficacy of the processes currently in place to address acute student welfare issues, with a view to delivering an improved student experience and fully engaging LSESU elected Officers as necessary”. They also plan to “work with LSESU to agree ways of ensuring that students in crisis can access emergency accommodation when facing extenuating circumstances; Work with LSESU to conduct a full review into ‘interruption of study’ and the policies associated with it, with a focus on improving support for students.”

The statement from the Union added: “In light of ongoing student dissatisfaction regarding LSE’s mental health support, we are very encouraged to see that the School is taking proactive steps to support the student concerned as well as an organisational review of support provided to students during their time here.

“We hope that, through effective cooperation between LSESU and the School to prioritise student welfare, instances like these can be prevented in the future.”