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Day: 16 March 2017

Interview: Andy Burnham MP

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Features.

Labour mayoral hopeful Andy Burnham has made various ambitious promises during his campaign to become Greater Manchester Mayor, in both the party’s selection process and the campaign proper.

In what is probably the most important UK election this year, much is at stake, including the first ever devolved Health powers to a city in this country.

The Burnham manifesto is light on promises explicitly aimed at university students — an understandable move at first glance, given that most students are not permanent residents and not registered to vote in Manchester — however his announcement speech contained a number of policies that will directly impact university students and graduates.

We took the opportunity to ask the bookies’ favourite for Metro mayor to explain how these will work.

The first is the graduate retention plan, a major part of housing policy — not specifically mentioned in the manifesto — but a promise form the speech that will be the most eye-catching for graduates.

“We want to retain more of the people in the city who study here. You know, we’re really lucky that so many people come from all over the UK to study in Manchester, indeed the world, and that brings a kind of talent and vibrancy to Manchester, but it’s been the case in the past that on graduation, some people may have tried to stay and then eventually drift away because maybe they can’t find the job that works for them.

“And the specifics that we will offer will be more access to rent-to-own housing, so give people a route to the housing ladder, or, even, start-up space in places like this [the Sharp Project].

“So we’re really serious we need a graduate retention plan for the city, which would be good for us but good for you too.”

Plans to encourage graduates to stay in Manchester were a major announcement of his speech, Photo: Robert Cutts @Flickr

Another area that Burnham has highlighted as part of his campaign is the high levels of pollution in the region, and how cycling networks, like the one that will soon be completed on Oxford Road, will be rolled out across the region.

“We need a dedicated high-quality cycling network all over Greater Manchester because people know us as the medals factory, you know the Velodrome and everything that came out of there. So we’re world class when it comes to elite cycling but not when it comes to cycling by the rest of the population. We want to put that right, and if you going to do something about air quality you have to get people out of their cars, don’t you?”

The bus companies that heavily populate Oxford Road don’t escape the focus of the Mayoral hopeful, who has also called to reform to that part of transport policy.

“Oxford Road, nose to tail, buses of varying standards, throwing out all kinds of pollution at times. The Vice-Chancellor told me recently that the record that had been spotted, I think, was about 34 buses continuously on Oxford Road.

“It’s like a free-for-all isn’t it? And you know, it’s the bus companies putting their own interests of everybody else, and it’s going to come to an end.”

Coming back to young people in Manchester, we asked why he decided to focus on these voters so heavily, given that they are less likely to be registered to vote.

“I’ve heard people at local level of politics and at national level say ‘oh don’t prioritise anything for young people, they don’t vote, just use all the money you’ve got to pay for things for older voters’. The problem with that is you end up with quite large amounts of alienation, but also you don’t build a prosperous society on that basis, do you?”

Dealing with the air pollution on Oxford Road was also one of Burnham’s stated priorities. Photo: Pete Birkinshaw @Flickr

At this point, Josh — admitting that he himself did not vote in the 2015 election — asked what Burnham thought of alienation generally among young voters.

“Yeah it is [a shame] and I could see why you say that … I don’t think that political parties have been prioritising people in your age group, and I think it’s really damaging to the economy, but also to democracy and society if you adopt this kind of short-term approach where you just say ‘oh we’re just promising things to people who might vote for us’. You’ve got to do the right thing, if you do the right thing you should get the reward of doing the right thing.

“I’ve seen how the kind of cynical thinking that you get down there sometimes, and I’m not surprised why you felt as you did at that last election.”

Page nine of the manifesto contained a mention for the Reclaim the Night movement, which has a major presence in Manchester student activism. We asked what would be built upon to improve student safety in Fallowfield.

“Well we specifically mentioned [Reclaim the Night] because it’s a brilliant initiative, and you know we wanted to congratulate everybody who’d been a part of it. The first thing we’ve got to do is make sure there’s visible policing in communities like Fallowfield. You know, I think the front line of policing has suffered under government cuts, we need to stop that, and make sure there are police officers still out visible in the community.”

Burnham also revealed his own personal connection with the area and its problems.

“More broadly, in that community, I know Fallowfield quite well because my brother was a student and lived in Furness road actually, when I was in my twenties and he was studying there. And he got broken into on a regular basis, and indeed was held up at gunpoint once.”

Furness Road in Fallowfield, Photo: Mikey @Flickr

Poor housing, also a major gripe of student life, was something the prospective mayor also highlighted as something that he will attempt to improve with the new powers.

“A simple message [for private landlords]: respect people here, or get out of Greater Manchester. That is going to be a pretty simple message, and we’re going to bring in a voluntary regulation scheme where we ask the good landlords to sign up to the standards we expect, and those that don’t will make themselves very obvious to us, and we will go after and try and compulsory purchase those who won’t play by the rules.”

We decided that the final question of the last of many interviews for the Leigh MP would be the question that Matt — our camera operator and a born-and-bred Warrington fan — was dying to ask. What was his prediction in the upcoming Leigh vs Warrington Super League match?

“Well it comes at an interesting time. I’m going to wind him [Matt] up, the camera’s going to start shaking with anger in a minute here! So we’re the new kids on the Super League block, [Warrington] are the power in the land, but, you know, Leigh are in better form actually going into the game. So I think you could see a pretty major upset. We’ve beaten St. Helens already, so we’re coming after the blue and yellows there tomorrow night!”

In the end it was the Leigh MP who will be the happier, as his team beat the Wire 22 points to 8. If his campaign goes nearly as well as the Centurions’ start to the season, then expectations will be high for his administration’s efforts to improve Manchester for its students and graduates.

Chocolate and peanut butter malt loaf

Written by Alec Wilby on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Ingredients for malt loaf

120 g unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp dark brown soft sugar

2 tbsp malt extract (Holland & Barrett sell it in jars)

1 tbsp treacle

225 g strong white flour

4 g salt

7 g fast action dried yeast (usually 1 sachet)

70 g dark chocolate

70 g crunchy peanut butter (I’ve found that Meridian works best although it does make the dough quite sticky so be prepared)

70 g raisins

about 500 ml water

1 tsp honey

A shower cap or cling film is also needed to cover the bowl while the dough rises

Method

Boil the water, pour into a jug and put a tablespoon in the jug to heat up – heating the spoon makes the treacle and malt extract much easier to work with. When hot, use the tablespoon to add your malt extract to a small saucepan, rinsing in the hot water before using again for the treacle. Add your butter and sugar and put the pan on a low heat, stirring until the ingredients are mixed before removing from the heat to cool and pour away all but 125 ml of water from your jug (so that it will cool quicker).

Add the flour to a large mixing bowl and put the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl. Cut the chocolate into small cubes (about 1/4in segments) and add to the mixing bowl along with the raisins. Start mixing, whether you’re using an electric or hand mixer, or a wooden spoon, and then add the peanut butter in small amounts mixing as you go. Add your sugar mixture, followed by 125 ml of warm water (40ºC or less, otherwise your yeast might die) and mix thoroughly.

Lightly flour a board and tip your dough out onto it and knead it by pushing it away with your palm and folding it over on itself for a few minutes until it is reasonably easy to shape into a log roughly the length of your loaf tin. Your dough might be quite sticky due so this can be quite a messy process. If need be, scrape the dough off your fingers and the board with a butter knife or thin spatula and add it back to the main mass periodically. When you have formed your log, grease your tin with a small amount of butter and transfer the dough into the tin. Cover loosely with a shower cap (in case the dough rises a lot) and leave to prove until the dough has risen to the top of the tin, or about 12 hours. I usually make the dough in an evening and bake it the following afternoon.

Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC, remove the shower cap and loosely cover the tin with foil so the top doesn’t burn. Bake on the middle shelf for around half an hour. After 30 minutes, check the bread is baked by piercing the middle of the malt loaf with a skewer, if it doesn’t come out clean put it in for another 5 minutes. To finish, microwave the honey in a small dish on the lowest setting for (literally) a few seconds before brushing over the top of the loaf. Leave to cool and enjoy for breakfast with butter (or more peanut butter).

Posh Chicken Nuggets

Written by Lily Carden on . Posted in Food & Drink.

When I was little we would go to a particular restaurant in France for my birthday and I could order whatever I wanted. Being fussy, this took the form of chicken nuggets, chips and fresh pasta. All handmade by the chef. Now that I’m grown and not so picky, these are still some of my favourite things.

This recipe is for posh chicken nuggets with a lemon and parsley crumb, but if you want to leave them out then that’s not a problem.

Having these in the freezer mean I can get my fast food hangover fix without having to leave the house and I know exactly what’s in them.

Oven at 180˚C

Can be scaled easily but these quantities are for 4 or 5 servings of chicken nuggets

Can be frozen

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes + marinating
Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 pots plain yogurt

Salt and pepper

Butter for cooking

FOR THE BREADCRUMBS

Panko or regular breadcrumbs

handful fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 lemon, zest only

20g parmesan, grated

Salt and pepper

Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Coat the chicken in the yogurt and season with salt and pepper before leaving covered in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. This step is not strictly necessary but will help to stop the chicken from drying out.

Make the breadcrumbs by mixing together the crumbs, parsley, lemon zest, parmesan, and seasoning. I recommend pulsing everything together in a food processor to achieve a fine crumb but be aware this will turn it green —  adding the diced parsley afterwards will avoid this.
Heat the oven to 180˚C.

Remove the pieces of chicken from the yogurt and coat in the breadcrumb mixture  — if you have lots of leftover breadcrumbs then double dip the chicken by coating in another layer of yogurt and then re-rolling in breadcrumbs.

Heat some butter in a frying pan and add the chicken pieces in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Transfer the lightly fried chicken pieces to a baking tray. Repeat the process with the rest of the chicken. It is advisable to clean the pan between each batch to stop the butter from browning too much and turning the chicken a burnt colour.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

To freeze, cool the chicken nuggets and then place them spread out on a tray in the freezer for an hour, before transferring them to ziplock bags. Eat within 3 months. To cook from frozen simply bake for 15 minutes, checking they are piping hot throughout.

Don’t publish

Written by Francis Edge on . Posted in Opinion.

I felt it important to pen a response as I felt it necessary to add that I am no more “peddling a misogynistic agenda” as Catherine Snow is peddling anti male agenda. Both claims are equally as absurd.

Catherine writes that the study released in 2014 by the United States Department of Justice which reveals, on average, that one in 164 college women aged 18-24 reported experiencing rape or sexual assault between 1995 and 2013, did not cast substantial doubt on the perceived view that we live in a rape culture.  Whilst she outright doesn’t provide any immediate commentary on this particular study to show how it does not cast doubt on the existence of a rape culture, I can only assume that she was making reference to what she later describes as being “misunderstandings”, the first of which being my understanding of consent and secondly the definition of rape culture itself.

Now, firstly on the notion of consent. My definition on the nature of consent is synonymous to the definition provided by the sexual assault prevention and awareness centre which states that “Consent is when someone agrees, gives permission, or says “yes” to sexual activity with other persons. Consent is always freely given and all people in a sexual situation must feel that they are able to say “yes” or “no” or stop the sexual activity at any point”. If someone’s removal of consent is ignored or they have been incapable of giving consent, through black out intoxication for example, then this is rape. This is something that both Catherine and I echo.

Furthermore, to be clear, the taking away of consent during the sexual encounter is equal to not giving consent in the present and should the perpetrator chose to ignore the taking away of consent during the act, then they are guilty of rape.

However, there is some potential disagreement about consent being taken away after the act has been committed. This may not be true of the author of the article but it has been true of others and thus I feel it merits a mention. Considering how the giving of, refusal to give and taking away of consent is grammatically applicable to an act in the present,  I struggle to find how the word consent can apply to the past unless one uses the past tense; consented. Therefore, if you consented to something, does the removal of consent later outweigh the fact that one had previously consented to an act in the past that no longer exists in the present? Indeed, I have personally had unfortunate encounters but this does not remove the regrettable fact that I consented it.

Furthermore, the Mary Koss study I referenced showed how 40% of women who said they were raped, consented to sexual intercourse with their rapist at another time. In regards to accuracy of rape reporting it is not irrelevant to mention this fact. Whilst both Catherine and I agree that the woman’s choice to have sex with her rapist was a consented act, this act is relevant to the previous accusation of rape because one’s willingness to have sexual intercourse with someone who has previously violated them through “behaviour that degrades and oppresses women” seems to be rather questionable. This can’t be put down to just a rare case of questionable individuals because 40% of women, in this study, chose to do so.

The second labelled misunderstanding is my understanding of what constitutes rape culture. It is clear that this is the main topic under dispute. The word rape is quite clear. It’s definition entails the unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim. Culture is quite simply defined as the attitudes and behaviour characteristics of a particular social group. Upon combination these entail that the forced penetration of a bodily function, without consent of the victim, is a prevailing attitude and behavioural characteristic of this particular social group. I could even go further and use Marshall University’s Women’s centre definition that argued that Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.  However, the definition of rape culture that Catherine uses argues that rape culture is “embodied every time someone shouts a lewd remark to a woman walking down the street, or when a pornographic video is shared from one phone to another at a school. It occurs every time someone makes a rape joke and excuses it as banter or when a woman is slut shamed. It occurs when women receive threats of sexual violence over Twitter or find their timelines clogged with memes bearing the slogan “it’s not rape if…”. It is seen every time a woman is told she was asking for it by drinking or walking home alone. It is seen every time a woman is told she was complicit in her rape because she went back to his flat.”

Firstly, the point was raised about how the mention of rape in a joke, which I do not see as a fit subject for humour, is evidence of a culture of rape. Is this equally logical as arguing, as was so aptly asked in a response to her response, that “If someone jokes about how they could murder someone does that mean we live in a murder culture?” I would maintain that they are equally illogical.

Secondly, to argue that two individuals sharing a pornographic video with each other that contains at least two consenting adults engaging in a sexual act is evidence of a society that normalises sexual violence against women begs belief.

Furthermore, idiotic misogynistic males shouting at women on the street and the ridiculous “slut shaming” of women because she made an autonomous decision as to who she should sleep with is not evidence of a culture that normalises rape (which is, in fear of sounding repetitive, the unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim) but a culture of sexual objectification. This to me is undeniable. Sex is not only a fascinating subject but everyone is a sexual object to someone. I am in agreement, I hope, with Catherine that the behaviour of some men on the street and in the home is disgraceful and misogynistic but this behaviour, along with the viewing of pornography, is an example of our culture of sexual objectification.

It is clear that a disclaimer is necessary. This is not a dismissal that rape occurs and this is not a condoning of the disgraceful behaviour that Catherine and many other women have been victims of, but it is not accurate to say that this disgusting side of our sexual objectifying culture is evidence of a culture that sees rape as permissible and in an epidemic. Thus, I agree with Catherine that there “is an insidious thread securely woven into the fabric of our society” but this thread takes the form of a culture of sexual objectification, not rape.

Therefore, I was not denying the existence of misogynistic attitudes that stem from this cultural objectivity and I agree with Catherine that there is a need to tackle this for change. What I often find in these arguments is that we agree on a surprising number of issues and work towards the same goals, but words do matter here.

In order to seriously fight rape  and the misogynistic elements of our culture of objectivity, we must make an honest outline of what actually is rape and what is not. This is a distinction that, once made, will be our greatest weapon in fighting rape on our streets and in our homes. A fight that both myself, Catherine and all good willing civilians are devoted to.

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Written by Gurnaik Johal on . Posted in Books.

When I first found out short story writer George Saunders, who’s famous for creating futuristic dystopias, had written a ghost story about Abraham Lincoln I was wary. Crossovers like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came to mind; I wasn’t sure if Saunders’ almost sci-fi style would translate into historical fiction. But, I shouldn’t have doubted him, Lincoln in the Bardo, his first novel, has cemented his place as one of the 21st century’s greatest writers. He’s been praised by the likes of Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Junot Díaz and Lorrie Moore and this highly anticipated novel certainly lives up to the hype.

The story takes place in a cemetery over one night in 1862 where Abraham Lincoln visited the crypt of his dead child, Willie. Saunders takes this emotionally charged situation and renders it sincere and realistic through the experimental way in which the novel is written (almost entirely in dialogue). At first glance, the book looks weird, there’s tonnes of empty space on the page and it looks more like a play-script than a novel.

And, it gets weirder. The novel is narrated by ghosts/spirits stuck in the Bardo (a sort of Buddhist version of Purgatory). Saunders’ knack for voice is incredible, each character is believable, sympathetic and hilarious. He accurately portrays anyone from gay aristocrats, opium addicts, slave owners, prostitutes and the President of the United States. With these characters Saunders creates an eclectic cacophony of voices each with their own compelling story to tell. Reading the book, you get lost in the reality of the many lives of its dead characters. It’s a feat that a lesser writer would make tacky but Saunders delivers beautifully. While at first, you may find the strange telling of the story confusing, by the end of the 300 or so pages, you can’t imagine it being written any other way.

As you can see, it’s very hard to pin the novel down into one category. Is it historical fiction? Kind of, but not really. Saunders (despite having clearly done a ridiculous amount of research) has a playful approach to historical reality. Is it a tragedy? Well yes it is sad, but also laugh out loud hilarious. This mix of tragedy and comedy is effective throughout all his stories and works brilliantly in the novel. Is it political? Despite being about a US President, it’s not particularly a political novel, Saunders’ universal observations on what it is to be human and how to face death are a lot more important. The impossibility to stick the novel into one genre is testament to Saunders’ range as a writer — he’s a master of tone, as comfortable writing about the tragic death of a young child as he is making 19th century dick jokes.

It must be said that many people don’t respond to Saunders’ more experimental writing style and Lincoln in the Bardo could seem to them a tiresome read. For those looking for lots of twists and turns in a narrative, this might not be the novel for you, Saunders creates an immersive world but not necessarily a page-turning plot.

There is definitely a life-affirming quality to his writing, and despite often being satirical and darkly comic, he always seems to end on a genuine note of positivity. I think this is something that’s often missing in literary fiction mainly because it’s something extremely hard to pull off without seeming sappy or cliché. Yet through his powerful tragicomic writing, Saunders manages to create a genuine emotional connection with readers and this is especially true in Lincoln in the Bardo.

The novel is unlike anything I’d ever read before and the experimental style is effective. I’d definitely recommend getting a copy, and if you’re looking for a quick introduction to his writing check out his short stories — many of them are available for free online.

Review: An Evening with Beth Underdown

Written by Thomas Lee on . Posted in Books.

The example of Manchester’s own Beth Underdown should bring hope to any aspiring authors who face the forbidding prospect of moving back in with their parents while they craft their first literary masterpiece. This is exactly what she did, giving up a “proper job with a business card” at Phaidon Press in London to pursue her writing ambitions, eventually receiving an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester and writing The Witchfinder’s Sister, a literary historical thriller which sets out to re-examine the witch-hunts of the 1640s from a modern, revisionist, unabashedly feminist perspective.

Beth Underdown was in Waterstones, Deansgate, last Friday the 10th of March to celebrate the book’s launch, drawing a crowd sufficient to fully cram the second-floor function room of Waterstones, the largest bookshop in the North of England. Hosted by Kate Feld, the Associate Lecturer in Journalism at Salford University, the event felt like a homecoming: Underdown claimed that half the audience was made up of personal friends, and even took a question from her next-door neighbour. There were, however, still enough strangers for the unflappable staff of Waterstones to sell out of copies of her book within minutes of them going on sale.

In Underdown’s own deprecatory words, the book “has some good sentences”. She read from the first chapter, showcasing her comfortably uncomplicated prose, which was intentionally old-fashioned without straying into tawdry Renaissance Fayre territory. Underdown based her narrative style on the everyday correspondence and ‘commonplace books’ of 17th-century women, and smatters the page with metaphors that fit like a cavalier’s glove: “the devil can enter a person in such a manner that he can be deftly taken out again, like a stone from a plum”.

The book follows the puritanical crusade of Matthew Hopkins, England’s self-styled ‘Witchfinder General’, who was tried for the murders of at least three hundred women between 1644 and 1646, hanging more women than any other witch-hunters in the previous 160 years. Underdown is well-placed to write about Hopkins – her great uncle David Underdown was one of the foremost historians of the period that Beth is writing about – but she gave the very clear impression that this is not a book about Hopkins, but rather the people around him.

“This could very easily have been a book about one man,” Underdown said. “But it isn’t. There will always be men like Hopkins, but he’s not the interesting part, because what actually affects history is the way that people react to men like him.”

This is, perhaps, the main reason why Underdown chose to make Hopkins’ fictional sister into the main narrative character. The novel is, in her own words, “a book about standing up to insidious misogyny”. Her interest clearly lies in exploring how women could navigate and respond to a world where they were persecuted for small indiscretions or deviations from the norm, including the ‘imperfect responses’ of women like her protagonist. She explained during her talk that the women accused of witchcraft in the 1640s were victims of profiling — they were overwhelmingly widows, some of whom were trying to remarry, often living on the charity of the parish, many having lost a child at war or at sea. Others were suspected of witchcraft just because they were literate, or infertile. The English Civil War had led to increased female emancipation: many women had been running their husband’s households while they were away at war. Others marched on to parliament to protest that the war was interfering with their jobs, because “not enough babies were being born.” The character of Alice Hopkins fits this profile exactly: she is an educated, pregnant woman returning to the provincial town of Manningtree from cosmopolitan London after the death of her husband. Perhaps the witchfinding craze was a backlash against this kind of empowerment? Underdown’s book seems remarkably apropos in the current political climate, but she claimed that she didn’t set out with an agenda — despite eerie cosmic coincidences such as her stay in a hotel in Manningtree on the night of the US Elections, where the ghostly finger of Matthew Hopkins turned on the TV at four in the morning to reveal the victory of Donald Trump.

When asked if she’ll write any more books in this genre (her response, “probably by accident”), she hinted at her next project, a pacey late-Victorian whodunit. I spoke with her after the signing, and asked what she thought – in her capacity as a lecturer at the University of Manchester — about recent suggestions that Manchester is the new writing capital of the UK. “It made me smile,” she replied. “I would love to think so. It can only ever be good to live somewhere affordable. You can’t assume that you’ll make a living from writing.” Her advice to young writers? “Try to treat it like a job. Sit down and do it, for fixed hours every day, if you can. Don’t expect a thunderbolt to hit.”

Become a master of memory within weeks

Written by Katie Holmes on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

As students, every semester we meticulously memorise indefinitely long lists of essential vocabulary, only to forget it all within days of completing our exams. Unfortunately there seems to be no way of getting around this problem — until now.

The ‘method of loci’ is a strategy of improving memory, where we imagine ourselves walking a familiar route. By associating an item to be memorised with a specific location of that route, we can more easily recall the item in our memory. Scientists led by Dr Martin Dresler at Radbound University has shown that this method could allow us all to develop superior memories, in as little as six weeks.

Scientists recently conducted a study focusing on ‘memory athletes’. These are individuals that are seemingly gifted anomalies of nature, that are capable of feats such as memorising a sequence of 550 digits within five minutes. A group of memory athletes that currently place within the top 50 in the world for memory sport rankings were closely analysed in memory tests.

Supplementary neuroimaging technology known as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) provided an insight into the inner workings of their seemingly incredible minds. The same studies were repeated on control participants with no history of memory training. Dresler’s group compared performance in memory tests between the two groups and fMRI images of all brains at rest and in action.

Unsurprisingly, when challenged to memorise 72 words from a list, the athletes achieved an average of 70 words, whilst control participants reached an average of just 40. Imaging showed that these differences seemed to be related to differences in brain connectivity between the two groups.

Superior memory performance appears to correlate to increased brain connectivity between components of structures within the brain. After these initial findings a group of the control participants studied the ‘method of loci’ strategy over a period of six weeks, for just 30 minutes every day. The aim was to identify whether mnemonic strategies can enhance memory.

Staggering results indicated that after training, the control participants achieved roughly the same results in the memory test as the accomplished memory athletes. Furthermore, in a four-month follow up test the group had retained their superior memory skills.

fMRI imaging demonstrated that increased brain connectivity was identified in the control participants, mirroring the results initially identified in memory athletes. These findings support evidence that memory athletes do not possess any unusual anatomical features in their brains that set them apart from the common individual. Their talent is actually a result of hours of training, with a key focus on mnemonic strategies, which result in increased brain connectivity.

Specifically focusing on the ‘method of loci’ therefore seems to be the answer to effortlessly, extensive memory. Naïve individuals as us could be capable of developing a superior memory using this strategy. With eight weeks until exam period begins, that leaves us with plenty of time to train…

Football Crazy: In Other News

Written by Jack Greeney on . Posted in Sport.

50 Year Old Footballer Scores

Japanese footballer Kazuyoshi Miura became the oldest ever goalscorer in professional football last week, at the age of 50 years and 14 days. The Yokohama FC forward scored the only goal in a 1-0 defeat of Thespa Kusatsu. J-League veteran Miura, who previously scored 55 goals for his national team, joined his hometown club in 2008. In scoring the goal, “Kazu” beat Sir Stanley Matthew’s record for oldest goalscorer in a competitive match, which had stood since 1965. Miura was “glad to contribute”.

Convicted Murderer Bruno Finds New Club

Brazilian goalkeeper and convicted murderer Bruno Fernandes has found a new club. The footballer was convicted of killing his partner Eliza Samudio and feeding her remains to dogs in 2010. Shortly after leaving prison, having served a partial sentence and still pending further appeal, the 32-year old signed a two year deal with second-tier team Boa Esporte. Outraged with the decision, many fans have protested outside the stadium, and three sponsors have ended partnerships with the club.

PSG Pen Futile Complaint Letter

Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly written a letter of complaint to UEFA headquarters following their 6-1 Nou Camp capitulation versus Barcelona. The dossier listed ten decisions the French side felt that referee Deniz Aytekin had gotten wrong to an extent which affected the match result, including controversial penalties won by Neymar and Suárez. What PSG intends to come about as a result of such a letter is rather unclear: they undoubtedly remain knocked out of the competition.

Wonderkid Misses Champions League for Exams

17-year old Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Kai Havertz missed last Wednesday’s away game to Atlético Madrid to sit ‘important exams at school’. There is no doubt that the teenager would rather have been available to play football over attending school, with the Leverkusen club’s Twitter account joking of his disappointment. German wonderkid Haverts has played 20 matches for the senior side from the North Rhine-Westphalia area this season, and made his Champions League debut in the first leg of the tie.

U.C. Palermo Unites with Formula 1 Team

The worlds of football and Formula 1 collided last week after Palermo striker Ilija Nestorovski appeared in a bizarre YouTube video promising to dedicate his next goal to the Force India racing team. Why? Common ground on the colour pink. The F1 team has made radical design changes this year to present a new car in an entirely new colour: which just so happens to be the same pink as the famous rosanero colours of Palermo. “What a fantastic colour!” says Nestorovski. I, personally, am not so sure.

Tyrone Mings

Three letters were enough for Bournemouth footballer Tyrone Mings. The young defender is currently banned for five matches after an appearing to stamp Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimović’s head. During United’s following domestic match however, this time against Chelsea, Reds defender Marcos Rojo avoided FA disciplinary after a stamp on Eden Hazard. The irony was certainly not lost to Mings: ‘Lol’, he tweeted, and left it at that. Guilty or not, at least he has a sense of humour.