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Day: 12 September 2017

Lemn Sissay launches university scheme to boost number of black males in legal sector

Written by Cameron Broome on . Posted in News.

A first of its kind, the Lemn Sissay Law Bursaries take into account applicants’ race, gender and socio-economic background.

The School of Law’s Black Lawyers Matter project was set up in 2016 by a group of academics, community leaders, and legal practitioners upon discovery of some 1200 undergraduates, only 14 UK-based Black males of African and Caribbean heritage were registered on law and criminology courses, and of these none were from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Working with community organisations, schools, regulators and legal and criminal justice professionals, the project aims to address black and minority ethnic under-representation in higher education and the professions – as well as to promote the relationship between the University and Manchester’s African & Caribbean communities.

The Lemn Sissay Bursaries specifically aim to address the obstacles faced by male students of African & Caribbean heritage who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. It will offer eligible applicants an annual grant of £3,000, funded by the School of Law.

“I am immensely proud to have these bursaries named after me, as I fully understand how difficult it can be for people from my background to advance in life,” said Lemn, who grew up in care. “One of the main goals of the university is social responsibility, which makes it unique in the UK. It does an awful lot to inform communities who may feel university isn’t for them that the opposite is true, through public engagement work and schemes like this one.”

“It is a privilege to be part of this project, which will widen participation and improve the relationship with the local communities who often never benefit from the resources of universities,“ said barrister Tunde Okewale MBE. “This is something that would have benefited me had it existed when I was studying law. I believe that it will help to improve and increase the diversity within the legal industry, as well as facilitating a more open and transparent dialogue about racial inequality in higher education.”

“This initiative signals an important step in progressing with our local communities and partner organisations to ensure that people from all backgrounds feel a sense of ownership of and belonging to The University of Manchester and its cultural institutions,” said senior lecturer Dr Dawn Edge, The University’s Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

The bursary will be launched at an event which will feature debates with Greater Manchester Black & Asian Police Association, youth workers, and musicians about combating the recent rise in violence, cuts to local services, the role of the police, and making our communities safer. Attendees will also be able to get expert advice on making an application to the University, working there and accessing its cultural institutions.

The event will take place from 6-8pm on Wednesday 13 September at the West Indian Sports and Social Club, Westwood St, Manchester M14 4SW.

University of Manchester ranks 54th in the world

Written by Amy Wei on . Posted in News.

Times Higher Education (THE) have released their 2018 global university rankings. The 54th spot on the table is shared by the University of Manchester and the University of California, Davis.

Manchester ranked 56th in 2016, and 55th in 2017. The university’s improvement in THE’s rankings is accompanied by overall improvement in performance by UK institutions. For the first time in the 14-year history of the table, both of its top two universities are from the UK — the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, respectively. 23 of the 24 Russell Group universities feature in THE’s global top 200.

Queen’s University, Belfast is the only Russell Group university to not appear in the list of the world’s top 200 universities.

The University of Manchester is the seventh best ranked university in England. It is also the second highest scoring English university based outside of London, after the University of Cambridge. In the University’s strongest department, Business and Economics, it ranks 22nd globally.

Uncertainty after the Brexit Referendum resulted in a drop in UK universities’ rankings in the QS 2017 survey. THE’s new table indicates that confidence in UK universities is stable again.

THE’s global rankings assess more than 1000 institutions worldwide, using 13 indicators intended to determine the universities’ international reputation. The size of the international student body, international research partnerships, and international research citations are all used as indicators.

The University of Manchester’s main area in need of improvement is their student to staff ratio. At 14.6, the University’s ratio is high compared to other Russell Group universities. The ratio at the University of Cambridge is 10.9. At University College London it is 10.5.

The potential loss of EU research funding after Brexit threatens UK universities’ performance in future global rankings, including the University of Manchester.

The UK government has made one of their core Brexit objectives to, “seek agreement to continue to collaborate with European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives.” The Department for Exiting the European Union published a paper last week declaring intentions to form stronger research ties to the EU post-Brexit than the EU has ever had with a non-EU country. If these negotiations fail, research quality at UK universities is expected to decline.

 

Album: ‘A Deeper Understanding’ – The War on Drugs

Written by Will Baldwin-Pask on . Posted in Uncategorised.

“They don’t make ‘em like this anymore” is an expression that can describe few bands better than The War on Drugs.

Their 2014 breakthrough album Lost in the Dream channelled American heroes like Springsteen, Petty and Dylan to propel the fringe indie band to being classic rock revivalists, universally swooned over by waves of critics and brand new fans. They’re the band that got your pothead mate into rock music and your dad back into listening to the radio.

And now they’re back with A Deeper Understanding, hoping to build on their success to become one of the best bands around.

It takes just over 24 minutes to get through the first four songs on the album. Luckily, the start the band gets off to is incredible. Singer/guitarist Adam Granduciel, who sits in the creative driving seat of the band announces their return with the carefree “I don’t know / I’ve been away” on opener ‘Up All Night’.

The misleading blasts of drum machine and punky bass line fade gradually, and the song settles into a gorgeous daze that resembles previous album opener, ‘Under the Pressure’. This is followed by ‘Pain’ which closes with a loud and lucid guitar line that has the sublime quality of an ocean-bound sunset or some shit. With each song, the band reach out and hug the listener, reassuring them that they are indeed back and, yes, brilliant as ever.

Then comes ‘Holding On’, by far the ‘poppiest’ they’ve ever sounded. I have to admit, being released as a single back in June, this took a while to grow on me, but now within the context of the full album it makes complete sense.

The bouncy Casio hook and pounding guitar-drums partnership make it catchy, even danceable. Granduciel, not blessed with the best of voices, grasps at the high notes in the chorus with such confidence the listener has no choice but to sing along appreciatively. This is windows-all-the-way-down, volume-all-the-way-up driving music. This is the sound The War on Drugs have cultivated but with an even brighter punch.

These songs also show a band expanding their instrumental vocabulary. Synthesisers, organs, harmonicas, glockenspiels and slide guitars add even more depth to the dream structures the listener is thrown into. Granduciel has obviously been working on his guitar solos to contribute to this. They appear much more frequently and are more isolated on this record.

Aside from improving his screeching technique, the guitarist has found out how to make them as uplifting as possible. On power ballad ‘Strangest Thing’, the band builds and builds until dropping out to let a ‘Comfortably Numb’-esque heart-wrencher tear the song — and the entire record — wide open, producing the best moment of the whole hour. It’s a moving, single-tear occasion usually reserved for when watching Pixar on a comedown.

It comes as no surprise that these strong starting four players in the album were all released as singles in the build-up. The test then becomes whether the other six reinforcement songs can keep up with the pace. ‘Knocked Down’ slows right down to first gear, but doesn’t quite have the power to put a lump in your throat.

A lurch into fourth follows with ‘Nothing to Find’, which attempts to recreate old classics ‘Ocean in Between the Waves’ and ‘Baby Missiles’ but ends up sounding a bit like a friendship montage from an ‘80s film.

‘Thinking of a Place’ offers redemption, a sprawling highway of a track that the majority of vegan cafés have had on repeat since its first release in April. At 11 minutes, it is so pleasantly long that fans have been said to shut their eyes when listening, believing that Trump’s Presidency will be over by the end of the song. Caressing piano falls, a desert-howling guitar solo and a constant ol’ country strumming remove any risk of getting bored however; in the end, one is left wishing it would go on for just 11 minutes more.

As the album moves into its final act, it shows exhaustion. After a song as beautifully deflating as ‘Thinking of a Place’, it’s hard to get in the mood for even more and the last few tracks end up feeling fairly unimpressionable. The drummer’s favourite formula of kick-snare-kick-snare becomes plodding, whilst Granduciel’s lyrics are filled with boring imagery and overcooked expressions of romantic sadness (“Love is a bird I can’t even see / Even in the darkness right in front of me” on ‘You Don’t Have To Go’).

The band’s previous two efforts, Slave Ambient and Lost in Dream, did a good job of keeping some of their best cards ‘til later. A Deeper Understanding is front-loaded with them though. Ultimately the album comes off as out of balance, perhaps just a few songs too long which, frustratingly, holds it back from being an outstanding work.

Nevertheless, there is much to be in awe of here. The band have lost none of their knack for mind-blowing soundscaping and the few new things they try work very well. In many ways the band demonstrate improvement and succeed in adding to their growing canon of indie-Americana belters.

At the very least, A Deeper Understanding will earn The War on Drugs the high festival billings they deserve and will give listeners enough shivers and heart-squeezes to remain one of the most exciting bands in the world today.

7/10

Review: The Limehouse Golem

Written by Jamie McEvoy on . Posted in Film.

In an age where the big screen rarely sees period dramas, The Limehouse Golem is a breath of fresh air. Combining crime with the gothic, this cinematic re-telling of Bill Ackroyd’s story is a mystery which – with a ‘15’ BBFC certificate – packs a punch with its morose murders and mutilated victims.

Bill Nighy leads a superb cast as Inspector John Kildare, who is assigned to the case of the ‘Limehouse Golem’ (the name taken from a monster in Jewish folklore), in order to spare the blushes of Scotland Yard poster boy Inspector Roberts, whose pursuit of the Golem has been unsuccessful.

However, leads begin to materialise as Kildare finds a book which appears to have the scrawled journal entries of the eponymous killer. Four suspects fall under the scrutiny of Nighy’s inspector: philosopher Karl Marx (the one and only); real-life novelist George Gissing; Victorian performance artist Dan Leno; and the only fictional accused – John Cree. The snag is that Cree has recently been found dead, and his wife, Elizabeth Cree, is accused of poisoning her husband.

Kildare believes ‘Lizzie’ to be innocent, and regularly seeks her help as she waits on death row, believing her deceased lover to be the Golem. The rest of the story is a race against time, as the inspector – accompanied by Daniel Mays’ Constable Flood – seeks to unmask the Golem before Lizzie hangs.

Bill Nighy was always going to be in his element here. He assumes the role of Inspector Kildare with tenacity and charm – a part which was originally going to be played by the late Alan Rickman. Oliva Cooke is equally impressive as Lizzie Cree and Douglas Booth is hilarious yet brooding as the eccentric performer Dan Leno. Other big British names complete an excellent supporting cast, such as Mays, and Eddie Marsan as the unnervingly friendly ‘Uncle’.

For those unfamiliar with the original story, the inclusion of Karl Marx may come as an odd shock, but Henry Goodman does a terrific job of playing the Prussian philosopher. Morgan Watkins’ fleeting portrayal of English novelist George Gissing is less convincing, yet commendable nonetheless.

The pursuit of the murderer is slow-burning and is littered with graphic, somewhat theatrical ‘re-enactments’ of the Golem’s crimes, imagined by the protagonist with a different suspect as the killer in each vision. The twist is rather predictable, yet Kildare’s revelation and the toll it takes on him is what makes The Limehouse Golem’s ending so effective.

The film is doubtlessly one of the better Victorian ‘gothic’ adaptations to be released recently (2007’s Sweeney Todd and 2009’s Dorian Gray were disappointingly dire). However, some will find that the crime is just not compelling enough. None of the suspects are really given enough screen time for there to be any real element of a progressive investigation – instead, all of Kildare’s significant leads come from Cooke’s Lizzie.

Perhaps we have been spoilt with the array of superb Scandinavian murder mysteries such as The Killing and thrilling American crime-dramas like True Detective. Still, the fact remains that throughout the film’s entire narrative there are only two credible suspects, and at times I found myself just longing for the investigation to be over and done with.

The theatrical feel of the movie will divide audiences – for some, it will feel too much like a stage performance. It is this tone which makes the film thrive during the scenes in the Limehouse Music Hall, where Leno and Lizzie perform. There is also the occasional feel of a TV drama, and some viewers may find themselves wishing the story had been adapted as a series for the small screen, as opposed to a cinematic production.

Nevertheless, director Juan Carlos Medina and screenwriter Jane Goldman have produced an authentic and spirited film which Ackroyd will most definitely endorse.  It is a return to form by Nighy after the disappointing Dad’s Army movie last year, and rising star Olivia Cooke is terrific. It is the acting which is ultimately the film’s pièce de résistance, and occasionally its saving grace, amidst messy timelines and anti-climax. Despite never really breaking new ground, The Limehouse Golem is an entertaining adaptation of a Ripper-esque tale with a feminist twist.

3/5

Top 5: Foreign language films

Written by Jamie McEvoy on . Posted in Film.

5.         Delicatessen (1991, France)

Sweeney Todd meets Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) in  Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s post-apocalyptic, cannibalistic French black comedy.  This foreign language film is set in a decrepit apartment building in a dystopian France where the ground floor butchers is ran by a murderous landlord.  He lures budding employees through job adverts into his shop, whom he then kills and uses as a cheap meat to sell to his customers.

However, when his daughter Julie falls in love with the butcher’s latest potential victim — the failed circus clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) — she seeks help from a group of rebels named the ‘Troglodistes’.  Consequently, all-out war ensues between the revolutionary faction and the homicidal landlord, with the central lovebirds caught in the crossfire.

Delicatessen is a stylish and innovative caper which merges constant giggles — the “squeaking spring” scene is hilarious — with the grotesque and dark.  Love and vegetarianism emerge surprisingly as the film’s dominant themes, and the feature was the perfect debut for director Jeunet.

4.         Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror / Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922, Germany)

Before Christopher Lee’s Dracula, and the consequent flood of sexy, cliché-ridden ‘vamp-dramas’, there was F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror.  Not to be confused with the 1979 Werner Herzog remake (albeit similarly impressive), Max Schreck is absolutely terrifying in the film which firmly established vampirism on the big screen.

Cited by many critics as one of the scariest films ever made, Nosferatu is a nightmarish, expressionist work in which protagonist Thomas Hutter travels to Transylvania to visit a new business client named Count Orlok.  However, after darkness falls, Hutter suffers horrible night terrors whilst staying at Orlok’s castle, as well as noticing strange puncture-marks on his neck upon waking.

The age of the film might deter some, but I cannot emphasise enough the true horror and ingenuity of Murnau’s German horror.  The hollow yet piercing eyes of Schreck’s eponymous vampire will play on your mind way beyond viewing.

3.         City of God / Cidade de Deus (2002, Brazil)

Dubbed by many as the Brazilian Goodfellas (1990), City of God was nominated for 4 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards, and was unlucky to leave empty handed.  Director Fernando Meirelles set his electrifying tale of gang warfare, love and coming-of-age in the unforgiving environment of the Rio de Janeiro favelas.

Centred on Alexandre Rodrigues’ Rocket, it follows the young Brazilian boy and his proximity to the local gang-life.  The erratic and explosive Li’l Zé (Leandro Firmino) is disconcertingly tyrannical as an equally juvenile resident of the slums who unlike our protagonist, longs to be involved in the hoodlum lifestyle.

The film spans the 60s and 70s, showing Rocket’s transformation from infant into aspiring photographer, whilst chaos and crime rise to unprecedented levels in the favela.

City of God is exhilarating and charming, and for a foreign language film which offers such a gritty and unfiltered portrait of life in the Brazilian slums, is uplifting and visually stunning.

2.         Amores perros (2000, Mexico)

Amores perros marked the directorial debut of Alejandro González Iñárritu, known now for Oscar magnets Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015).  This Mexican drama/thriller – marketed in the US as “Love’s a B*tch” – is split into three different stories, which are all seemingly connected by coincidence and fate.

The first is titled ‘Octavio and Susana’, the former played by Gael García Bernal, and the latter his character’s sister-in-law, who he is in love with.  In order to gather funds for the pair to elope and leave Susana’s abusive husband Ramiro, Octavio becomes involved in the dog fighting business with his brother’s dog Cofi, leading to altercations with local crime-lord and dog-fight tyrant Jarocho.

As tensions rise to boiling point with Jarocho, Octavio is involved in a car collision, and it is this accident which joins together the two succeeding stories.

Amores perros is a powerful anthology in which love and canines (“Amores perros” literally translates as ‘love is dogs’) act as the glue between the film’s characters and events.  Powerful, spirited yet tragic, Iñárritu’s Mexican masterpiece is a deserved Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner.

1.         Spirited Away / Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001, Japan)

Studio Ghibli are responsible for some of the greatest and most enchanting animated films to be released on the big screen, and Spirited Away tops the pile.

Directed by Ghibli veteran Hayao Miyazaki — the man behind several other classics by the studio, including My Neighbour Totoro (1988) and Princess Mononoke (1997) — Spirited Away is a fantastical tale which tells the story of the young Chihiro, voiced by Rumi Hiiragi.

Upon moving to a new home with her family, she discovers a secret, magical town which is occupied by various weird and wonderful creatures, overseen by the sinister witch Yubaba.  After Chihiro’s parents are taken by the sorceress, she is helped by the enigmatic Haku to confront Yubaba and find them, so she can return to the real world.

Near perfect, Miyazaki’s 2001 Oscar winner is a moving, beautiful fairy-tale, with a certain degree of darkness which allows it to transcend age groups, entrancing both toddlers and adults.  It now acts as a nostalgic and stunning reminder of the age of hand-drawn animation, before CGI and 3D usurped the paintbrush.

Interview: Mallory Knox

Written by Katie Shepherd on . Posted in Music.

It may be early afternoon on the first day of Reading Festival, but the huge crowd around the main stage is filled with anticipation for the act about to step out onto the stage. The band is Mallory Knox, a five-piece from Cambridge, and they are returning to the festival for a third time, more fired up and more at home than ever before.

Facing the glare of the unusual August bank holiday sun, it was evident from the moment they took to the stage that this band has grown closer to, and more comfortable in, their own sound. Delivering a winning setlist combining their earlier two albums Signals and Asymmetry with this year’s release Wired, the crowd was instantly ignited with enthusiasm.

This was echoed by Sam Douglas, bassist and vocalist for the band, as we chatted just an hour after their set: “The crowd was insane for this time of day, first day of the festival. That was probably the biggest crowd we’ve ever played.” He also reflected on their first performance at the festival back in 2013, confessing that he felt it had been “a little too early” for them to have played the main stage. “This year it felt like we were ready. We’re ready to try and prove our point.”

Walking out to face a crowd with the need to prove that you deserve your place there might easily be incredibly daunting for any band, but not Mallory Knox. “You go into a tour show and you’re safe in the knowledge that no matter what the crowd is yours, whereas at a festival you know not everyone there is there to specifically see you, so you feel like you’ve got to prove a point. You’ve kind of got to get them on side. And I feel like that’s always been a good thing for us. We like that. We kind of thrive off that pressure. I feel like we’ve accomplished something. I feel like we’ve achieved what we wanted to today.”

Behind such a triumphant performance, however, was an important and raw message – one which has always had undertones in Mallory’s music, but which takes an even greater focus on the new album. Mental health issues are becoming more pressing, but also fortunately more openly discussed. Mallory Knox are a band that are tackling the subject head on. Sam himself has struggled and professed the importance of opening up about it: “I remember when I wrote ‘Better Off Without You’, I kind of wrote the lyrics subliminally, and I read it back and I was like ‘Wow, I don’t know if I wanna put that out there’. But then again I thought if I’m going to rewrite the lyrics then I’m lying to myself. I’ve always said that a song kind of tells you what it should be about, it kind of brings something out in you, so I had to stick with it.”

“It’s a weird thing because I went through a few things with my mental health, but there’s some days where you feel proud to talk about it, and there’s some days where it’s like ‘Fuck off, I don’t wanna talk about it today.’ But we set ourselves up for that.”

It’s not just raw lyrics that create Mallory Knox’s intense and unique sound; the band takes this same bare-all approach to every aspect of their music process. “It’s all very raw for Mallory, we are very much a rock band. We write all of our songs all five of us in rehearsal, there’s no computers. We ain’t even playing with our in-ears when we play live, it’s all very old school. I guess that’s how we embrace the lyrics on this record too. Like, ‘fuck it, let’s just go down to the bare bone.’”

There seems to be something about music that makes it such an effective platform to discuss difficult and personal topics such as mental illness. “For me, when I was a kid and I had people like Blink and Alkaline Trio – bands I grew up with – finding out they’re not invincible either means you find a connection with them.” Sam mused, “You realise your favourite people in the world are vulnerable. You can watch films and get that same kind of feeling, but they’re acting at the end of the day, and with musicians 90 per cent of the time they’re writing something that means something to them. I think that’s why people have such a strong connection with music. All I can do is what my heroes did and write songs that mean something to me, and if they mean something to someone else then that’s fucking amazing.”

Having surely left the majority of the crowd eager to know what the future looks like for Mallory Knox, Sam was quick to feed the flames with talk of new music. “The new stuff we’re writing now is very much an example of what direction we feel like we’re going in, but we’re still new to that side of the music as well so we’re just constantly evolving and constantly growing.” He stresses the importance of this in the future of the band: “you can put as much as you want into it but it’s never going to be the finished article. You always feel you can do something more in two years time… It’s never quite the finished piece, that’s why you keep doing what you do. If you settled on the best, you wouldn’t have to do it anymore.”

Preview: Alston Bar and Beef launches in Manchester

Written by Anokhi Shah on . Posted in News.

Calling all steak and gin enthusiasts; get ready for some exciting news!

Construction has begun this week on the Corn Exchange’s newest venue, Alston Bar & Beef. First opening in Glasgow, this will be the first restaurant of the award winning brand on English soil.

The venue is set to open in autumn this year and will bring the highest quality steaks in the UK to Manchester. It will build on the success of the Glasgow venue which has the biggest selection of gins in the city. It also hopes to incorporate Manchester’s rich food and drink heritage.

Alston Bar & Beef will be the first venue in Manchester to showcase Tweed Valley steak on its menu. The beef is selected from the top one per cent of Scottish beef and dry hung for world class flavour. Additionally, a selection of bespoke gin-infusions created in-house will be on offer. Each gin will be created using a unique blend of botanicals, some of which will have been foraged from the Manchester area.

The General Manager of the new addition to Manchester’s thriving food and drink scene said: “We’re confident that when we open in autumn we will provide the perfect addition to Manchester’s buzzing restaurant and bar scene. We look forward to serving up the best steak and gin on offer in the city”.

As well as the premium menu on offer, the interior design of the restaurant is set to be a showstopper. Guests will enter the venue via a feature staircase and be greeted by a bespoke bar, the restaurant space will draw the eye to a 10m wide mural feature which has been specially commissioned by a Manchester based street-artist Tank Patrol. The interior will draw upon the heritage of the Corn Exchange location and the culture of the city of Manchester.

Alston Bar and Beef will certainly have steak and gin lovers waiting in anticipation for palate paradise to open in the heart of Manchester!