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Day: 9 October 2017

Students attacked and mugged at knife point

Two men, reportedly armed with a knife and a crowbar, are targeting intoxicated students coming home from nights out in smaller groups and threatening them.

In the early morning of the 5th October two unknown attackers began a spree of muggings across Fallowfield. One student — who wished to remain anonymous — was walking home from Antwerp Mansion at 3:30am with a friend when the pair were attacked.

He was hit over the head with a crowbar and then received a surface knife wound after refusing to give over his phone and wallet, whilst his friend had his phone stolen. The victim told The Mancunion “I noticed there was two men in front of me, both around 25, one white, sort of skinny with what I think was a gingery beard and one of darker skin colour with a mask and a bit bigger build. One had a knife, one had a crowbar.”

After the refusal to give up his belongings and subsequently being violently attacked, the men ran off. “They ran to their car and drove off really fast. They swerved as if to hit my mate, but that was definitely a scare tactic”.

At around 3:45am, just after our first witnesses’ account, another student called Nickon was attacked along with his friend.

“They were very aggressive and punched both of us” Nickon told The Mancunion. “I managed to push one of them over and run away, but my friend was pinned to a car by the one with a knife. He gave them his things and saw an opportunity and managed to escape.” Nickon’s description of the two attackers was almost identical to the first.

The anonymous witness contacted the police and was told to wait for patrol officers to take his statement. “It took them an hour or more for them to come. They apologised and said that we weren’t the first people that this had happened to tonight and that the other statements matched the same profiles.” He went on to say “I definitely don’t feel safe, especially as the guys who were doing it seemed a bit unstable and provocative. I think they were just trying to act big, but that would scare most people. This could really effect the community.”

Nickon felt the same way. “I’m more alert definitely, it does seem a bit more precarious to me now walking around, I think I’m always going to make sure I’m with a bigger group or start taking more taxis.”

With such a violent threat to the community of Fallowfield, we wondered how the police are choosing to deal with the danger. Previously, The Mancunion submittedfreedom of information asking how many officers patrol the Fallowfield area overnight, however the request was denied.

According to the first victim, the police told him that “they put more patrols in place last night after the rampage. They also said they went and actually checked the area we were attacked in because I told them the guy might have dropped the knife there.”

Whether the increase of patrol officers in Fallowfield becomes a permanent fixture or whether it was just for the night is still unknown. The perpetrators are still yet to be found, although detectives are following up potential leads from the stolen goods. If you have any information that may lead to their capture, please call 111.

Harlem Spartans: An Exclusive

The UK music scene is amid a modern renaissance. The successes have come thick and fast and they show no sign of letting up. From Stormzy’s Gang Signs and Prayers becoming the first grime album to go number one to J Hus’s Mercury Prize nomination for Common Sense, it’s clear that the new wave of black British music is here to stay.

Nowhere is this more evident than with the rise of South London drill pioneers, Harlem Spartans. Ahead of their first ever live show, I chatted with them about their journey and their thoughts on the scene.

Childhood friends – MizorMac, Bis, Blanco, TG Millian, Zico, & Active, grew up together in Kennington, South East London. Immortalised in their song “Kennington Bop”, the group describes Kennington as “very active and fun”, especially around summer. They reminisce on hosting barbecues and block parties to which “all the females come out and play”.

The Spartans are relatively new on the scene. Self-described hustlers, they had a hand in many different things before coming together. Music was always on their minds, however. Zico, MizorMac and Loski all started off as solo artists.

They describe themselves as being in the studio for fun but never really taking music seriously. Whereas, Bis and Blanco began as a duo but eventually gave this up to join the group.

As heavyweights in the scene, they take a minute to reflect on the current state of UK drill. They say, “it’s going well but everyone likes to copy each other and the same sound will soon get boring”. Despite this, their outlook is positive. They tell me “We’re hoping drill doesn’t die out because we like the fact that UK drill is getting more recognition. But we think it needs a good break so it can begin to sound authentic again”.

Their own position within the scene is solid. They tell me “what makes Harlem different from any other rap group is that we all have our own unique individualities. We don’t copy anybody else and we set trends when we feel like it”.

They accredit their personal style with producing their success. “The personalized lingo that we put in our music and our catchphrases like ‘are you going to back your bredrin’ are what keep people intrigued. People from different countries rate the content of our music even though they don’t understand what we’re saying. We also make music that’s relatable for a lot of youths across the UK”.

The group is already thinking ahead and aiming high. “In 5 years’ time, we’re hoping to go mainstream and try new sounds. We want to be collaborating with big artists, artists from around the world”. But for now, thinking of their first show they say “we’re excited for the Manchester show, and so is our DJ [DJ Sparta].

“We’re ready to see if people in Manchester will take to Harlem”. Cheekily, they add “we’re looking forward to seeing what the chocolate jawns are saying too. We’re excited because it’s outside of London. It’s a different environment”.

Their first live show is Wednesday, October 11th at Mint Lounge. Find tickets at http://fatso.ma/f2BW

The group can be found on Twitter: @SpartansHarlem @Mizormac @TG_Millian @ZicoBoogie @BisHarlem @BlancoHarlem

A Student Life: Jonah Ogbuneke

Homelessness in Manchester is not a new phenomenon. Increasing numbers of people are finding themselves on the streets and with fewer options available to people in this position, I sat down with the man who is making this issue his own.

Jonah Ogbuneke is passionate about his cause. A third-year chemical engineering student, he has made tackling homelessness is his primary concern. He tells me about Love For The Streets. A year long project with the goal of reducing homelessness, raising awareness and crowdsourcing funds for the various homeless charities across Manchester. He says “it’s a campaign that we’re running throughout the entire year. Our first event was the 30th of September and we’re finishing off on the 5th of May with a culture and music festival at Platt Fields park. Between now and then we’ve got a christmas party planned and during homelessness week (the 19th to the 25th of march) we’re holding a conference to raise awareness”.

His interest in the issue is relatively new and he speaks of the lack of promotion he feels surrounds the cause. He says “what we are is an events and marketing platform for various homeless charities across manchester. We want to engage with younger audiences to try and get their voices across. This is because I’d noticed homelessness in manchester before, it’s very difficult not to, but the only charity I knew of that was doing anything about it was Shelter”. He explains how fast the tide is turning though. “The more i got involved with it, the more i realised there are a huge number of charities working tirelessly to try and tackle the issue. From Andy Burnham, who has made it one of his main targets, to all the different charities such as Barnabus, Mustard Tree, The Booth Centre, many that i don’t even know about”.

While optimistic about the future of the campaign he notes the issues that he, along with many other platforms, are facing. “Unless these groups get the backing and support that they need from the general public it’s unlikely that they’ll really be able to achieve their full potential”. This issue, he says, is multifaceted. “Of course it is a financial issue. Charities, especially grassroots charities, run on a shoestring budget and they’re struggling to survive right now. It’s only really the larger charities that are increasing and thats because they have the budget for marketing teams and fundraising teams whereas with grassroots charities, all the money they have goes directly into the work. There’s very little room for anything else. But numbers are an issue too. In terms of manpower they’re stretched very thin”.

Upbeat and confident, he’s full of ideas on what can be done to tackle the problem. “As students, all our power is in volunteering. If everyone could volunteer even 2 hours a semester it would help a lot. Last year, University of Manchester students as a whole did 20,000 hours and that’s with 40,000 undergrads. That’s around 30 minutes per undergrad. Less than an episode of game of thrones. 2 hours a semester is 4 hours a year so thats 160,000 hours for everyone. It’s 8 times as much as we’re doing now and that alone would make such a difference”. He notes, however, what a big ask this can seem. He says “there’s only so much time someone can commit and it’s unpaid so I would never expect anyone to work as hard as I am on it”.

The project has gone from strength to strength and it’s clear he enjoys everything he can do with it. Describing it as a “full time” pursuit, Ogbuneke is clear on his outlook for the future. He says “I work on it constantly i’ve even been working on it this morning. Its hands down my priority and it’s a dry run for the social enterprise i want to do after university. I want to work in the third sector”. He is staunchly determined that the project remains student-led, even after his eventual departure.

He is most excited for the end of year festival he has planned. He tells me “by the end of this year we’ll have the festival itself and the money raised from tickets will go towards making it sustainable. At the moment, we’re relying a lot on crowdfunding and we want it to become a yearly thing”. His plans for the festival are grand. They include food stalls, multiple stages and an art exhibition called “Manchester Through My Eyes” to which he hopes budding creatives will submit art for display. Videos, photography, music and paintings are all welcome. He stresses the importance of student involvement and is particularly thankful to the volunteers the platform has already received.

The campaign aims to have a website launched by the end of the month. For now, readers looking to get involved with the project can email [email protected] for more information or search Love For The Streets on Facebook.

 

Review: Palmyra

It begins and ends in deafening silence. The audience are lit with bright luminescence, giving no one a chance to look away. We are the spectators. No one can ignore what is happening. Ceramic dust flies through the air as boxes upon boxes of plates are smashed to the floor.

Nasi Voutsas and Bertrand Lesca bring their self-diagnosed intensely toxic relationship to the forefront of the stage in Palmyra, leaving everyone watching with a million questions. The play aims to explore the political climate of destruction and retaliation in Syria, and does this through the relationship between the performers. Lesca breaks a plate, so Voutsas has to too. It is an endless cycle of destruction.

The destruction seems immeasurable, uncivilised and brutal. Perhaps, as the title suggests, it is to be compared with the chaos that occurred in the ancient city of Palmyra itself. The Unesco world heritage site was smashed to the ground by Islamic State fighters after a 10-month occupation.

You could argue that there was no real reference to the sacking of the ancient city. Was it simply two psychologically unstable men exploding with aggression? Would we know what inspired the play if not for the title? Maybe not, but it is hard not to absorb the anger and the betrayal from the thunderous silences in between the moments of hysteria.

It’s the dynamic between the two leading men that really leaves a lasting impression, however; tender, but with moments of such intense hatred you wonder if it is just for show. Darkly manipulative, Lesca speaks with such conviction you cannot question what he is saying.

Voutsas is more hysterical, more manic, more neurotic. Tortuously aggressive, we can only watch in stunned silence at the mind games they play with each other.

There are moments where you would be forgiven for being unsure what exactly is happening. The sharp cuts from barbarity to serene dancing create visions of chaos; it is the extreme contrasts that inject comedy into the performance, as well as the skilfully written script.

The comedy acts as a mechanism to exaggerate the idea that perhaps the destruction is ridiculous. Is it not simply wasteful, unnecessary and selfish to destroy things of beauty? Perhaps that is a bit dramatic to say over a ceramic plate.

With powerful imagery and a potent dynamic, Palmyra forces the audience to confront the reality of a broken relationship. The broken plates with their permanent cracks display a symbolic truth that lingers in the air long after the play ends. If I had one word to describe it: strange. It was strange.

You are left with questions that are never truly answered. Why did they so truly hate each other? Applying this dynamic to Syria can be thought-provoking, however. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance but there were moments where I could sense everyone in the room was confused. I can’t have been the only one left pondering for a while after it ended.

Manchester University political scene highly-rated

The University of Manchester is one of the UK’s top-rated universities for its political scene, the Which? University 2017 Student Survey has suggested.

The findings are most timely given the Conservative Party held its annual conference in Manchester again this year, met with thousands of protesters.

Sunday the 1st of October was the first day of the conference and coincided with two large demonstrations: an event organised by the People’s Assembly against public sector cuts, and a ‘Stop Brexit’ march organised by Brexit sceptics, both reportedly attended by over 30,000 protesters.

Students’ Union Campaigns and Citizenship Officer, Deej Malik-Johnson, commented on the various demonstrations and told The Mancunion: “As a response to the Conservative Party conference in the city this week a number of campaigning groups are holding events from the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and Stop Brexit to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Momentum and Stand Up To Racism, as Campaigns and Citizenship Officer and as a Mancunian I find this a really exciting opportunity for people of all ends of the political spectrum to get engaged in a range of debates about the direction the country is going and to make their voices heard, this can only be a good thing for our democracy and for the people of Manchester.”

Alluding to the findings, he added: “As you may have seen over the weekend, the Which? University Student Survey found the University Of Manchester to be one of the leading universities in the country for student engagement in politics so as you would expect our students had a great presence at both marches.

“Various students and societies approached me and SU staff to help facilitate their actions, we hosted banner and placard making sessions, made advice packs, and co-ordinated meeting points. On the day hundreds of UoM students as societies and individuals marched, sang, chanted and gave speeches and I’m very proud of our presence.”

Deej also said that “many [students] expressed disappointment that both demos were happening at the same time as they would have liked to attend both.”

In the survey, a second-year Modern History student praised Manchester’s “strong political history” and suggested there is “huge socialist scene in the city historically and this is visible today.”

While a second-year Physics student agreed that Manchester had a strong political scene, they suggested that the “University of Manchester is so large that there are political groups of every nature.”

In the Which? Student Survey 2017, the University of Manchester also ranked highly for its diverse nightlife, varied union activities and proximity to the city centre.

A first-year German Studies student described Manchester’s nightlife as “fantastic and not too expensive”, while a first-year clinical medical student said the University’s “variety of clubs and societies on offer is amazing.”

Some downsides suggested in the survey included “cleanliness and security of the town area”, “communication between different departments” which a second year Clinical Medicine student said “could be better… [which] would allow things to run a bit more smoothly” and a comment that the “quality of teaching varies hugely between individual tutors and lecturers.”

A chance to give homeless people administered healthcare

Rough sleepers in Manchester will be given access to healthcare in general practices and accident and emergency centres, this week. Creator of the scheme, Dr Zahid Chauhan, aims for those without a home to have greater access to medical services.

Currently, homeless people are unable to join GP surgeries as they do not have a registered address. As a result, when faced with a medical issue, they are forced to attend accident and emergency. The lack of background information available at A&E — information usually tied to one’s address — makes it difficult for medical professionals to come up with a diagnosis.

Dr Chauhan, writing for GP Online, stated, “the programme calls on us all to make a cultural shift. It asks that we look at our policies and procedures to ensure that they are homeless-friendly. If practice staff need support and training, local GPs can provide that.”

With the ever-growing numbers of people attending A&E as opposed to booking appointments with their GPs, the stress on these services is reaching breaking point. The scheme is meant to reduce this pressure, not only by simply ensuring people are given treatment elsewhere, but more importantly by preventing problems before they become too serious to require emergency treatment.

Antibiotics for infections or wounds and surgeries for heart attacks — a condition which is growing exponentially within the homeless community — are amongst the most common medical issues that participating GPs will deal with.

Potentially, this scheme could allow those who sleep rough to enter into programs aimed at rehabilitation from alcohol or drug-related problems. antibiotics for infections or wounds and surgeries for heart attacks — a condition which is growing exponentially within the homeless community — and other medical issues.

This type of program has precedent and has an impressive track record of success. Urban Village Medical Practice, a participating surgery, has been operating a weekly drop-in and other programs specifically aimed at homeless people, for the last 15-years.

In addition, “All team members belong to the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health, the first independent, multi-disciplinary body focused on the health care of homeless and other multiply excluded people.”

In 2012, the practice was approached to take part in a 6-month pilot scheme, aimed at uncovering the main reasons homeless people were using medical services. The study showed that proactive, preventative engagement with homeless people resulted in 81 of frequent users of medical services reducing their attendances.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, speaking to The Manchester Evening News, reiterated the benefits of people attending appointments in GPs surgeries, rather than simply turning up at A&E. He also stressed the benefits of preventative medicine

He also stressed the benefits of preventative medicine, saying: “It makes sense to give people that care when they need it rather than letting it become a much greater problem, that in the end might end up costing us all more.”

Homelessness has been on the rise recently, and Burnham made it clear he was well aware of the problem. He noted the emotional effect it had on him personally, “It is quite a sobering fact to realise that the average life expectancy for somebody rough sleeping or homeless is 47. I’m 47. So, that really hits home hard for me and it’s why I am so personally committed to this.”

Burnham has pledged to end homelessness in Manchester by the year 2020.

Survival kits are now being handed out to homeless people containing blankets, bottles of water and sleeping bags.

Participating clinics: Dam Head Medical Centre, Blackley, Royton Medical Centre, Oldham, Longsight Medical Centre, Lime Square Medical Centre, Fallowfield Medical Centre, Beacon Medical Centre, Medlock Medical Centre, Prestwich walk-in centre, The Dale Medical Practice, and Waters Meeting Health Centre.

Review: Eurohouse

When Eurohouse begins, there is a sense that this is going to be a piece about the audience.

French Bertrand Lesca and Greek Nasi Voutsas introduce themselves, encouraging the audience members to speak to the strangers next to us and to all hold hands with each other. This energy is felt straight away, and we feel like we are part of a community.

However, the performance is about a lot more than just us in the room. It is about coming together and being aware that a theatre is a place that unites people from all over the world, particularly within the European Union.

The portrayal of the relationship between Lesca and Voutsas is an intimate and touching representation of the EU, particularly of the rapport between France and Greece. The two men come on together, doing a dance with acrobatic elements several times throughout the piece, where they literally have to lean on each other for support. They hold hands while they sing a French song, and wear the same trainers.

However, soon we realise that Lesca is in charge, almost abusing Voutsas – he gives him sweets, but after Voutsas has eaten them, Lesca demands them back.

When he is unable to return them, Lesca takes away his water and drinks the whole bottle.

The politics of the weakened economy in Greece, the facts of which are later projected onto the screen, are also powerfully and interestingly depicted when Lesca takes Voutsas’ t-shirt and jeans, putting them on top of his own clothes and leaving Voutsas stripped down to his boxers.

When he demands that he takes off the boxers as well, Voutsas leaves the room, and the audience witness Lesca’s failed attempt of doing the acrobatic dance without him, obviously implying the importance of the role of Greece within the EU and the dependence of the EU countries on each other, as well as the idea of trust between them.

Overall, the raw, real feeling of the piece completely strips back theatrical illusion – leaving only the two men on stage. Lesca operates the lights as well as the music, being in charge of pretty much the whole production.

The result is that we are made to feel sympathy for both men, as the complicated relationship between the countries is effectively reduced and contained within the dynamic of the two of them on stage. What makes this even more striking is the feeling that we have established a relationship with them – through direct interaction and eye contact, showing us that the issue is relevant to every single one of us.

Indy Man Beer Con 2017

Indy Man Beer Con (IMBC) takes over Victoria Baths in Rusholme for 4 days, filling each pool and several side rooms with different breweries and other exhibitors. Braving the September rain provided access to the food area, where a range of street food vendors toiled away to keep attendees relatively sober.

Tickets for the Saturday evening session were £13.50 but you need to book quite early (around the end of May) to get into the more popular sessions. In addition to beer, cider and artisanal soft drinks have been available for the last couple of years. New this year, however, was gin, courtesy of award-winning Manchester brand, Three Rivers.

At IMBC, one token is £2.50, or you can get 11 for £25, new this year were food tokens for £1. One drinks token gets you 1/3 of a pint — or one G&T — working out at £7.50 a pint. IMBC was cheaper in the past, but after some upset last year, it seems that attendees have accepted the price hike as permanent. I bought £25 worth of beer tokens and £10 of food tokens and later traded in excess drinks tokens to buy more food.

Blawd Bakehouse Peanut Butter Custard doughnut. Photo: Alec Wilby

One of the big hits last year was the doughnuts from Blawd Bakehouse, with one of my friends insisting that they were worth the entry cost. After finding a table, I went straight to their stall and bought a peanut butter custard doughnut — pictured above — for £3. They also had a couple of jam and a couple of custard types on offer, as well as cherry pie.

It pains me to say that after a year of anticipation, I was a little disappointed. The dough itself was excellent, much softer than I expected but not to the point where it collapsed after a bite. The filling was the wrong choice. I should have gone for jam.

Blawd Bakehouse has apparently been operating out of Common although, since the last IMBC, I’ve not managed to get one of their doughnuts. They should, however, be opening soon in SiOP SHOP in the Northern Quarter, I would recommend giving them a try.

I’m not really a beer person so I tend to just pick drinks at random and suffer the result — although I would say this year I was fairly successful. I started with CAKE, an IPA from Garage Beer Co. It looked a bit… wrong? — it’s the cloudy one in the main picture — but it was a decent IPA with a peachy aftertaste.

Following that was Siren’s Yu Lu loose-leaf pale, which I’d recommend to anyone who’s a fan of tea. A friend who is very into her dark beer recommends Siren’s Rum Barrel Broken Dream, a twist on their staple breakfast stout, Broken Dream.

She assures me that the — quite complex — method of ageing coffee beans in rum barrels before incorporating them into the beer brewing process had delicious results. I can’t stand stout so you’ll have to take her word for it.

Diamond Dogs ‘The Boss’ Hot Dog. Photo: Alec Wilby

This is the fourth year I’ve been to IMBC and I’ve always eaten one of Almost Famous’ offerings, however this year they were nowhere to be found, having been replaced with Patty Smith’s. Their queue was quite long — which presumably says good things about their burgers — and I was starving so I decided to go off the beaten track. Diamond Dogs had been at a previous IMBC, but hotdogs have always been something I’ve ignored.

I went for ‘The Boss’ dog, featuring pulled pork and BBQ sauce and didn’t regret a thing: the sausage was decent and was complemented well by the topping. It also had the benefit of being very clean to eat, versus my usual festival experience with Almost Famous.

After the hotdog, I made the decision to switch to gin. Three Rivers were testing the waters for gin at IMBC and were offering a G&T garnished with a black cherry for 1 token, or a gin/ginger/grapefruit/IPA cocktail for 2 tokens.

The G&T was a welcome change to beer and my gin-drinking friend and I went back for several more, however, I wasn’t a fan of the cocktail. Actually, I’ve yet to have a beer-based cocktail that I would say worked. Their offerings were arguably better value for money than beer. Hopefully, the positive reaction of attendees will lead to a larger gin selection in subsequent years for people who like the atmosphere, but not beer.

As the evening came to a close, there was one more drink I had to try and it was soft serve beer. Buxton Brewery had slushie machines with them and were using them to make the head for some of their beers.

The result was a very chilled, refreshing drink — Myrcia Oatmeal Hopburst IPA — that helped with some excruciatingly hot salt and pepper fries from Dim Sum Su, which, while delicious, lacked the peppers I would have expected.

Once again, IMBC was a great evening with as wide a selection of food and beer as you could hope to find in any single place in Manchester. The addition of gin was a welcome one, and one I hope is further expanded in subsequent years.

The return of Karkli with their lentil based snacks — available in pubs around Manchester — and Blawd Bakery were welcome — even if I made a poor flavour choice. I’ll be going again next year and would recommend it to beer and food lovers alike.

 

Review: Flatliners

Sony Pictures seem to genuinely believe that teenagers are the only demographic worth appealing to. Indeed, the only demographic going to the movies in their eyes, though this of course is completely ignorant. Flatliners is the latest in the line of limp, edgy, adolescent remakes from Sony that fail to understand that blockbusters can be something other than crude or sexy.

After devolving the commentary and smarts of science-fiction films like Total Recall and Robocop, turning Spider-Man into a young adult romance and Ghostbusters into a Judd Apatow lad(ette) comedy, we now bear witness to the inexplicable decision to transform the 1990s film Flatliners into a party movie. Having more in common with Project X or Bad Neighbours than The Sixth Sense, the Flatliners remake parallels the existential high of stopping one’s heart to the rush of a party drug. Kiersey Clemons muses, “if only we could bottle Flatlining” to sell to disillusioned millennials in need of a near-death experience, and I wonder if this film’s intention was as a cautionary tale to ward off drug use, or to inspire the circulation of an ecstasy pill called “Flatline”.

The original is by no means a great film. Boasting an impressive cast, biblical imagery and generational strife, eventually Oliver Platt’s poetic waxing grows tiresome and the haunted proceedings all get a bit silly. Its visions of the afterlife, however, are all magnetic to watch. The first begins with a slow zoom into the image of Keifer Sutherland — who appears in the remake looking sheepish and poorly bewigged — captured by a grainy video camera operated by one of the characters. The closed, black eye gives way to a hazy dream that could be heaven or could be a memory. Flatliners (2017) swaps this ambiguity for a hasty zoom out through CGI rendered floors and ceilings to a first-person glide through an unconvincing cityscape, before dropping the form of Ellen Page into an environment of light and electricity straight from an advertisement for a 2010 smartphone.

In an attempt to emulate the neglect and competition faced by the Generation X characters in Joel Schumacher’s film, screenwriter Ben Ripley imbues the new characters with millennial pressures to strive and succeed. The attempt at generational parallels is contradicted, however, by casting an unlikable group of rich kids and trust fundees, for whom it is difficult to feel sorry for when compared to Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon’s long, dirty haircuts and raggedy coats that successfully highlight the grungy desperation of 90s entrepreneurship.

The fact that our male lead lives on a luxury yacht is especially irritating when the film elects to ignore the claustrophobic advantages this unconventional home would yield, instead delivering the same predictable scares as any number of haunted house films before it. A potential moment of real Silent Hill gruesomeness is ignored in favour of several ‘ghost over the shoulder’ moments, strange noises from the radio and an ineffective moment of shock gore. Under a director with a sense of space and location, a houseboat would seem a perfect opportunity to lend the film some character and intrigue, but Flatliners is more concerned with delivering a safe, digestible thriller.

A scene in which Kevin Bacon makes amends with the real woman behind his haunting is presented in the original as a touching moment of recompense, though the remake’s entitled ensemble take advantage of this redemption method as an easy fix. Solidifying the characters as wholly unlikeable, when asking for forgiveness, it is completely transparent that they are apologising for their own gain, not due to any sense of responsibility or guilt. Most importantly, once this method is discovered, any chance that the movie may eventually get scary is ruined, the characters breezing through their emotional turmoil with all the mirth of a young child apologising to their friend for stealing sweets. A totally inappropriate tone for a film attempting to explore weighty topics as abortion, cyber-bullying and false autopsy reports, the easy resolution of the final act is in direct odds with a script attempting to tackle the unfair disdain for the millennial generation.

Ellen Page tries her best to give the film a sincere performance, but the poorly-rendered action and horror set pieces, its contradiction of themes and the fact that any spiritual existentialism is replaced by infantile partying and romance surely solidifies this lazy exploitation of 90s nostalgia — Sony didn’t get the memo that we’re still in 80s mode — as one of the year’s biggest flops. Much like Kiefer Sutherland’s dreadful wig, Flatliners is too long, unconvincing and very embarrassing.

1/5

In Conversation: Kevin Jerome Everson

Kevin Jerome Everson, fresh from a mid-career retrospective at London’s TATE Modern, travelled up to HOME to screen a selection of his short films with producer Madeleine Molyneaux. Viewers were treated to multiple UK premieres as well as a Q&A, hosted by HOME’s Artistic Director Sarah Perks.

Born in Ohio and based at the University of Virginia, Everson is an award-winning artist and filmmaker and is regarded as one of the most important and creative filmmakers currently working in the USA. Despite this though he remains humble, “I’m just from a small town, I just make things and I’m fascinated by people who want to see what I do.”

Art as an opportunity only caught his attention at college. There he studied photography, printmaking and sculptures, before that he was “just a big dumb jock”.

Since then his films have screened at festivals such as Sundance and Toronto International Film Festival and are praised for their unique style, combining scripted and documentary elements with an obvious formalistic approach. The focus is almost entirely on the African-American experience within the working class whilst abstaining from any generic socio-political commentaries.

The 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship winner exhibits a strong sense of labour in his work, “I’m very privileged to be an artist, so I try to find artistry in the everyday lives of workers.” One film, in particular, Company Line (2009), centres around a group of city employees battling the snowy conditions to grit the streets.

“I make films for the subject matter not the viewer, so I’m conscious about how they look and what they say. I find the people who are the best at what they do, and capture them doing it.” A large section of Company Line is riding along with a particular snowplough driver, watching him at work. There are deeper remarks about 20th century African-American migration to the northern US present here too, depicting a class seldom mentioned let alone seen on film.

The town shown, Mansfield, Ohio, is Everson’s home town and the film was used as part of a trilogy about the first three black neighbourhoods in America. In the early 1970’s the land they lived on was purchased and all the residents in that neighbourhood were scattered all around.

There are more unusual films in his catalogue too. For example Rough and Unequal is a 16mm project where he used a telescope to capture the moon and stars.

Commissioned specifically for an exhibition at the Franklin Museum of Art, it was designed to have an effect on the art space as a whole, changing the audiences perceptions of all the pieces on display throughout its runtime.

More recently his 2017 work Brown and Clear that was shown at TIFF divided audiences. It takes place in a bar and shows a man filling up empty bottles with alcohol for the whole seven minutes and 40 second runtime. Naturally this would immediately turn off a subset of viewers but the variety of techniques utilised make this an intriguing watch.

The story behind the film is similarly intriguing. Everson was visiting a relative and came to the pub he ran. Instantly he was looking at his surroundings for potential subjects. He noted that “it was all of questionable legality”. After going back home he decided to drive the eight hours back to film the relative at work.

Medium to close shots are intentional to mask the location and identity to avoid any police trouble. There are numerous interpretations to the underlying meaning of Brown and Clear, one member of the audience suggested that it “was a comment on alcoholism”. Everson himself agreed with this adding: “Where I’m from you didn’t get all the fancy alcohol choices you guys have, it was either brown, like bourbon or brandy, or white, like vodka or moonshine.”

Working with a colleague at the University of Virginia, he also makes period films about the history of African-Americans. “When we show them in front of the school where there are people of European descent they get upset but they’re not in it. Whether it’s positive or negative they want to be at the centre of it.”

Although his art is focussed on the African-American experience, it is unavoidable that it would be primarily shown to white audiences, whether that be at a film festival or a gallery.

The main objective though is to spark discussion about the social, political and economic condition present. “I never know what people will think when they watch my films but I just try to be consistent. If not then fuck it, i’ll just film more tomorrow.”

World Mental Health Day 2017 comes to Manchester campus

Mental health is widely regarded as being one of the most pressing issues of modern day society, yet arguably there remains a shroud of stigma around anyone seeking help.

According to a 2016 YouGov survey, over one-quarter of students report having a mental health condition, suggestive of the enormity of the problem at hand.

Since 2013, on the 10th of October every year, the World Health Organisation has promoted World Mental Health Day internationally. The day aims to normalise mental health issues, start conversations and highlight the importance of acceptance amongst the global community.

After the success of last year’s events, current Wellbeing Officer Saqib Mahmood has organised a day of activities in celebration of World Mental Health Day 2017 (Tuesday the 1oth of October).

Speaking to The Mancunion, he said: “We plan to make this day more engaging, exciting and enjoyable than ever. This year looks promising on tackling the negative stigma surrounding mental health and gaining access to the services when one is in need of help.”

The day will begin with a free tea and coffee morning in the SU Council Chambers, allowing students to start the day relaxed and refreshed. From 11 am until 4 pm, there will be a Mental Health Fair held next to University Place.

The fair will include student societies, the NUS Vice President of Welfare and staff members from the University’s well-being services.

One of the student groups getting involved in the day is Open Mind Manchester, a student-led mental health society and the President of the society, Nomaan Zubair was quick to praise World Mental Health Day.

Speaking to The Mancunion, he said: “I think WMHD is important as it brings something that isn’t widely discussed [in] the mainstream. Days like WMHD help us to realise that it’s okay not to be okay sometimes and that the fight against mental health is everyone’s fight.”

The day will be rounded off with a ‘Liberate My Mind Panel’ which aims to bring to light the mental health issues of minority groups. This includes LGBTQ+, BME, and faith groups, all who face marginalisation and increased stigmatisation when it comes to mental health.

If you wish to get involved and help out on World Mental Health Day, contact Saqib on [email protected] or Open Mind on [email protected].

Legal action threatened by Socialist Workers Party over NUS ban

The Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) have come under fire in recent years for ‘rape apologism’. A senior ranking member, only known as ‘Comrade Delta’, was accused of sexually assaulting a young female member of the party.

The organisation chose not to involve police, instead using their own disputes committee to handle the matter. During the trial, the woman who had made the allegations of the attack was reportedly asked intimate questions such as her drinking habits and her sexual history.

The internal review resulted in Comrade Delta being cleared of all charges, and evidence was never handed over to police for further scrutiny.

This has led to many people accusing the SWP of ‘rape apologism’ and perverting the course of justice in an attempt to protect its senior members. It also led to many members resigning in protest of the ‘cover up’.

In response to this, a motion was submitted to the NUS National Executive Council (NEC) to cut ties between the NUS and the SWP. The motion proposed to support students’ unions nationally in preventing the SWP or its affiliated organisations from being invited to campus.

An amendment proposed by NUS Women’s Officer Hareem Ghani went further and called on NUS delegates to refuse to speak at events organised by the SWP or it’s affiliates.

Ghani later tweeted a screen-grab of an email sent to the NUS senior leadership by the SWP, threatening legal action.

The email states, “If this motion is passed [it is] sanctioning harassment and intimidation of our members then we reserve the right as a party and also as individual members of the SWP to take legal action against the NUS.’

Despite these threats, the motion and the amendment were both passed by the NUS NEC. It remains to be seen whether or not the SWP will move to take legal action against the NUS.

Both the SWP and NUS have been approached for comment.

Behind the scenes at City

The media team of Manchester City is located just a bridge away from the Etihad Stadium at the City Football Academy. The Academy, or CFA, is part of the Etihad Campus and was opened in 2014. As well as housing the media team, the CFA also provides training facilities to all Manchester City squads.

Upon arriving at the complex, you are greeted by a scale model of the Etihad Campus which gives a bird’s eye view of the stadiums as well as the surrounding area. I was meeting with David Clayton who is the Senior News Reporter at the club and he showed me around the media offices.

The first thing that hits you when walking into the offices is the sheer size of the operation. There are two floors with desks of computers and each portion of the media is grouped together. On the left, the windows look out onto the training pitches while on the right you can see the pitch of the Academy Stadium.

A stadium opened in December 2014 which hosts home games for the development squads as well as the women’s team.

The office is laid out with the various different sections seated at their own cluster of desks. City TV, social media, written word, international editions. Each department was grouped together but all within distance of each other in the idea of creating a cohesive team throughout. David spoke of how the club operates and what it strives to be. “More and more of our stuff now is video. Clips, social media, YouTube is obviously huge.”

Chris Parkes-Nield who runs City’s social media described what it is like being the team behind the tweets. The club has 5 million Twitter followers, close to 27 million Facebook followers, 5.4 million Instagram followers, and is preparing to hit 1 million YouTube subscribers so it shows you the size of the task to keep on top of everything but also how they strive for more.

“These sound big numbers but compared to big European clubs, they’re still trailing behind. We’re growing fast — same way we’re growing on the pitch.”

Chris talked about how each platform is varied in what works well and to have a set plan for all would not be wise. “We’re totally fluid with how the platforms want to present themselves. If you have a rigid strategy at the start of the season and you don’t move from that, come the end of the season, the landscape’s changed. You’re going to be left behind. You have to be fluid and go with the flow.”

Football media is becoming incredibly social in the last few years and clubs like City now have a huge audience on a variety of platforms so there can be challenges in finding what works best on which platform. “Facebook’s generally moving into being a video platform. All the signs are there for that happening. We try to remain innovative, try to remain video first, engaging.”

City are one of the most innovative Premier League clubs when it comes to social media and Chris spoke of how they come up with fresh ideas. “You bounce off the audience. I’m a fan, I’ve been watching them since I was little boy so you inherently know where the line is. When we’re tweeting a gif of Alan Partridge to United last season, probably one of my finest moments! We know that there is a line. As far as keeping it fresh, you just have to keep abreast of the trends.”

The club also wants to encourage interactivity with the fans. “A guy yesterday tweeted us ‘can you tweet me a picture of Fabian Delph riding a dragon?’ In 15 minutes, we had it and put it back out. It just shows that we’re there and we’re in touch. We try our best to remain in touch with fan culture.”

Unusual transfer announcements were the trend of summer 2017 and City with their “announce Gündoğan” video were one of the firsts “With Gündoğan, we’re kind of to blame for all that. I’m glad it’s calmed down but it was crazy month with all these signings — each signing announcement more wackier than the last one. It was a weird phase but you couldn’t say it wasn’t interesting. As a culture, it was something.”

The club has 13 international sites with their own Twitter accounts, which highlights the blanket coverage City is aiming to achieve. The arrival of Gabriel Jesus to the club saw an increased Brazilian audience. Content Manager Paul Handler said “Most of the players are international so many of our fans are international, numbers wise.

“In any given match, we might focus on Kevin De Bruyne if he scores. However, our Brazilians fans may be more interested in Ederson’s clean sheet. You slice and dice it for your market because a lot of them follow players as much as teams.”

After a view of the main office, it was a short trip to the press room. Anyone familiar with Pep Guardiola’s pre-match press conference will be familiar with the room he conducts them in. The press room, with its rowed seats creating a theatre like atmosphere, is just a short trip up the stairs from the media offices.

The room itself looks out onto the Academy Stadium pitch and this closeness was very much by design as explained by David “When it was designed, the idea was everything was together.”

The tour was a fascinating insight into how a club the size of Manchester City works on a global level and it became increasingly evident how the goal of being the best in all aspects is clear throughout the club. “Whichever area it is that we deal in, whether it’s Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, the idea is we become the best at what we do.”

Tories set to whip beyond party lines

In a move that will spark controversy, the Conservatives have announced plans to terminate all relationships with student-led Conservative movements in the UK following a tumultuous year for the youth-based wing of the party.

In a document detailing proposals for the future of the party, it was firmly stated that “risky student politics” should be taken “outside the remit of the Party” amid concern that student activity was tainting the image of the mainstream political agenda.

This follows after Ronald Coyne, a member of the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA), reportedly laughed whilst burning a £20 note in front of a homeless man earlier this year.

Whilst the CUCA immediately condemned and expelled Mr Coyne, it seems this did not go far enough to stabilise the image of university oriented Conservative societies.

Further proposals include “an increase in youth ownership and engagement in local associations, thus strengthening them and bringing the youth wing firmly into the mainstream Party in the hopes of being able to award and discipline youth group.” A “focus on activity that is tangible for party success, campaigning, training and formal party events” was also put forward.

However, whilst some may consider these changes disheartening, some universities have already axed ties with the Party.

Commenting to the Huffington Post, the former Social Secretary for the University of Warwick Conservative Association, Ellie King, stated that cutting links “gives us the freedom to do what we want and campaign for who we want.”

Indeed, this is perhaps a contentious move by the party, after pledging to win back the youth vote from Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party during the Manchester Conservative Conference, with proposals including a freeze on tuition fee inflation, a hike in the income threshold and a ban on letting fees.

Tuition fee reform announced at Manchester conference

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced several reforms to tuition fees at the Conservative Party conference held in Manchester this week including a freeze in fee increases at the current rate of £9,250 a year.

However, Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner MP said the new policy was “a desperate attempt by the Tories to kick the issue into the long grass.”

Students currently pay £9,250 a year towards their course fees, and most borrow this money through a loan from the Government.

May’s proposed changes would have this fee frozen at £9,250 a year, despite past intentions to raise fees by £250 to £9,500, in the academic year 2018-19.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, May announced that she also intends to raise fee repayment thresholds by £4,000, from the current benchmark of £21,000 per annum earnings to £25,000. Speaking on the Andrew Marr show, she stated that this would mean “£30 a month more money into graduates’ pockets.”

However, this change has been heavily criticised as it is likely to only apply to students and graduates who were able to take out the higher rate of student loans. This means that students who graduated earlier than

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, she stated that this would mean “£30 a month more money into graduates’ pockets.”

However, this change has been heavily criticised as this is likely to only apply to students and graduates who were able to take out the higher rate of student loans.

This means that students who graduated earlier than 2012, when the higher rate of loans introduced under David Cameron, are likely to have higher repayment levels even if they are on the same income threshold as more recent graduates with higher debt.

Many also criticise the plan, seeing it as an attempt to attract younger voters.

The snap election earlier this year suggested many young voters siding with Labour, argued partly due to Jeremy Corbyn’s plans to scrap tuition fees altogether.

In an interview in The Sun on the 1st of October, May stated she had “listened to (young people’s) concerns and we [Conservatives] are going to act to offer a fairer deal to students and young people.”

Versace on the runway

Despite the original supers garnering fame from the mid-80s, it was during the 1990s that these elite band of models really burst onto the scene and became household names.

It was after that era-defining Vogue cover shot by Peter Lindberg that catapulted Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz into the limelight. It then led to George Michael casting the same five women in the music video for his smash hit song Freedom, and consequently the 90s truly became the decade for the supermodel.

After the success of George Michael’s music video, Gianni Versace enlisted Evangelista, Turlington, Crawford, and Campbell to close his 1991 show whilst lip-syncing to Freedom.

What set these women apart from the ordinary model was their personality and their multimedia appeal before the social media age; not only did they model the clothes, they also were the faces of big name brands. They were womanly, intelligent and spirited, and became hot property in the fashion industry.

Gianni Versace went on to be dubbed the ‘supermodel maker’ and was pivotal in transforming these 90s ‘glamazons’ into fully fledged supermodels, and in doing so inspired an army of successive models, such as Gigi, Bella, and Kendall, to also reach for those stratospheric heights in the years following.

In keeping with his figure-hugging and goddess-inspired dresses, Versace recruited the ideal women to best showcase his designs and in doing so cemented the term the supermodel into popular culture.  So what better to way to commemorate the anniversary of his death than to reunite the biggest names of the supermodel era for the show-stopping finale this Milan fashion week? Cue Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer.

Donatella Versace took over the role as designer after her brother’s death and has seen the brand through difficult times, near bankruptcy in 2004 being one, but she is now revelling in its success and the 20 year anniversary was the perfect time to show that the fashion house is at the top of its game and is still a force to reckoned with.

The latest collection saw the revival of some of Versace’s most famous and recognised prints, but with an updated style that ensures the relevance for the 2017customer base. Nostalgia, therefore, reached fever pitch when five of the original supermodels took to the runway for the finale wearing restyled gold dresses from their heyday. Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer appeared goddess-like, taking the runway hand in hand, injecting the energy, fun, and personality that was reminiscent of the glory days of the 90s and leaving us wondering when the next reunion will be.

The finale was a fitting tribute to an icon but also a celebration of Donatella’s creative vision and her leadership in the years following her brother’s death.

The show paid homage to the genius of Gianni Versace but also emphasised how his legacy is interwoven with that of the supermodel, securing his place in history as a true creative genius and fashion legend.

Review: Tawai

Former marine Bruce Parry has won several BAFTAs for his work on tribesman-centred BBC documentaries, such as Tribe and Amazon. After a six-year break he is back, this time on his own, to revisit the nomadic Penam tribe when news of their forced settling reached him. Various unnecessary detours, interference by Parry and a bumper runtime detract from an at times touching portrayal of the first-hand effects of deforestation.

Ten years ago, Parry first met the Penam people of Borneo in his tv show Tribe, where he went on hunting trips and slept in a makeshift village until it was time to move on. All that has changed now and the Malaysian government built ‘long houses’ for them to live in, on the edge of their ancestral homeland. In order to protect this land, the government asked for proof of their presence in the area, but as a nomadic people their presence is so unnoticeable that they could not do so, and thus their land became fair game for loggers. Heartbreaking though this situation is, Parry is not content to let the audience reach their own conclusions, and hijacks the narrative to champion his cause that modern society is suicidal and we must revert to the way man used to be before consumerism took hold.

No matter where his journey took him, from Indian gurus to a Scottish neuroscientist, Parry insists on getting between the camera and its focus, blocking our eyes from discerning our own truths. Where Tawai excelled most was in the scenes where he took a step back and just observed, allowing the tribesmen to go about their lives. The transition they undergo such as planting fruit trees to ensure food for future generations is starkly different to their original beliefs, to live and feel the moment. Once again the message is distorted to suggest that relinquishing all possessions is the only way to be truly happy, an unnecessary extreme in the search for self-fulfilment.

This heavy-handed approach spoils the inherent profundity present in the documentary. As we follow the Penam people the luxuries of the western worlds seem to have seeped into their way of being, wearing traditional clothes, smoking cigarettes and even watching television. Particularly poignant were the watches they wore on their wrists. A people who knew when the fruit on the trees was ripe by the call of the birds who feasted upon it now relied on time for everyday life. Pure scenes like these, where the imagery inspired critical thought sadly composed a minority of the total length.

Tawai is undoubtedly stunning in its visuals, a clarity of picture usually only seen in the Planet Earth series. I’m sure that within the 600 hours of recorded footage there are the makings of another documentary, with sincerity and lightness of touch. Life is about appreciation, not possession, but taking that to such an extreme alienates almost all those who watch.

Burnham backs Stoptober smoking campaign

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has this week supported the ‘Stoptober’ smoking campaign, which hopes to spur smokers across the United Kingdom to quit smoking for good.

In its sixth year, the Stoptober campaign claims that if “you stop smoking for 28 days and you’re 5 times more likely to quit for good”, encouraging the falling numbers of smokers in Manchester to quit smoking.

According to Cancer Research UK, 19.9 per cent of over 18s smoke cigarettes in Greater Manchester, notably higher than the countries average of 16.9 per cent.

However, Burnham seemed optimistic when discussing the overall decline in smoking across Greater Manchester.

He said: “The latest success rate shows that advances in support and a stronger anti-smoking culture are leading to more people successfully stopping smoking.”

The ‘Stoptober’ campaign is one such form of support that is being promoted throughout communities.

For the 28 days the campaign runs for, an online messaging service and daily email support is provided to those taking part, as well as highlighting existing long-term support services in communities and strategies to quit the addiction to cigarettes.

In addition, for the first time, the ‘Stoptober’ campaign is advocating the use of e-cigarettes as a means to reduce the intake of tar and carbon monoxide, being a lower-risk form of smoking.

“E-cigarettes can be good, because it still allows you to keep up with the social side of smoking”, one University of Manchester student commented, adding that “e-cigarettes are a good transition from real cigarettes to quitting. I think it’s better to give people a way to keep up with the social and almost comforting aspects of smoking rather than guilt them into just dropping everything.”

The ‘Stoptober’ campaign also highlights the cost of smoking, claiming that smokers could save up to £250 each month by quitting, a fact enhanced by Lord Peter Smith, the portfolio lead for the Health and Social Care side of the GMCA, who said the campaign could “empower [people] to stop smoking because it does improve your health and your wealth.”

However, when asked about this fiscal incentive, taking into account student debt and rising living costs, another student noted that “most will just budget the cost of cigs into the week”, before adding that “people budgeting in the cost of cigarettes isn’t much different than budgeting for drink on a night out, so I don’t think people are going to be that bothered by the motive of money.”

Smoking in Greater Manchester is estimated to cost the NHS £110 million in smoking-related diseases, as smoking is seen by healthcare professionals as a cause of a variety of potentially life-threatening conditions including but not limited to lung cancer, liver cancer, and heart disease.

Six years on since the campaign first ran in 2012, an estimated one and a half million people have quit smoking. ‘Stoptober’ runs until the 28th of October, however many of the services promoted continue on throughout the year, such as local stop smoking services in the area.

Mayor Andy Burnham said on the launch of the campaign that “This year in Greater Manchester Stoptober is bigger than ever- we want to encourage everyone who smokes here to quit together from the 1st of October.”

Transport workers strike across Manchester

Workers from the First bus service and Northern Rail both went on strike this week in Manchester.

On Monday the 2nd of October, First bus drivers went on strike. Drivers working at the Rusholme and Bolton depots could be seen waving placards that read: “We demand fair pay.” Unite has claimed that First reneged on long-standing agreements with the union.

43 routes were affected by the drivers’ strike, delaying students and commuters alike. First have released a statement saying: “We’re extremely disappointed that staff from two of our depots have decided to take strike action despite a good offer being put forward.”

On Tuesday the 3rd of October, rail workers of the trade union RMT also took industrial action. Members of RMT at Southern, Merseyrail, Greater Anglia and Northern Rail – Arriva Rail’s Northern franchise – were “out in force” picketing their employers. The industrial action is a result of the ongoing dispute over “safety concerns”.

The rail companies currently plan to scrap train conductors, also known as Guards, from their services. RMT see the removal of conductors from services as unsafe.

As part of a modernisation effort, Northern Rail are purchasing new rolling stock to achieve 50% driver-controlled trains by 2020. Current trains require a conductor to operate the doors and assist with passenger safety, whereas the new trains would not.

Daren Ireland, regional organiser for RMT North West, explained to the Mancunion that the RMT has “the firm view that passengers deserve a level of safety. Employers wish to cut standards and cut safety to boost the profit of shareholders.”

Mr Ireland noted that a conductor was critical to passenger safety and evacuation on the 4th of August 2017 when a train caught fire at St Helens. No one was injured in this incident.

Negotiations between Northern Rail and RMT have stalled. The rail company have been “uncooperative” according to Mr Ireland. In recent discussions, Northern Rail failed to send a director to discussions with the union — this was seen as an uncooperative gesture that resulted in the talks breaking down.

Paul Maynard, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Transport, accused RMT of “using passengers as pawns” in a political game. Mr Maynard insisted that “It’s not about safety either as the independent regulator has ruled that driver-controlled trains are safe.”

The dispute over train conductors has been resolved in several regions of the country already. Scottish rail company ScotRail were able to come to an agreement in which new trains would require a conductor. Transpennine Express also reached an agreement in which conductors will be retained on all trains.

Further rail strikes are planned on the 5th of October. Until a compromise can be achieved between the RMT and Northern rail, we can continue to expect delays.

DIOR SS18: Radical Chic

We’re living in militant times. With the rise of the Far Right, young people are meeting that challenge by taking up the radical politics of Feminism, Anti-Racism, LGBTQ Rights, and Class Struggle. At the same time, we want a sense of hip, because for a long time we thought that art, like politics, could be done without noticing.

At Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri is making clothes for the political and artistic front line. Chiuri believes that “everyone needs to find her own uniform, in which to express and protect herself.”

Her previous AW17 collection introduced military and utility pieces, like a crepe trench dress or faded denim boiler suit – topped by the black leather beret that is becoming the symbol of her project.

The SS18 collection fulfils the militant promise, with pieces in light, wide workers’ denim (including the Summer beret), and a women’s Mao suit. These recall Paris’ Left-Wing youth in the 60s and remind me of Anne Wiazemsky in La Chinoise.

But the collection also adds an artistic cool, which exceeds general chic through its possession of Dior’s history, and women’s artistry. Breton stripes and black reference Yves Saint Laurent’s 1960 Beat Collection, an ambitious attempt to introduce women to the underground.

Polka dots and blouses reference Marc Bohan’s 60’s designs that kept Dior fashionable. Chiuri uses Niki de Saint Phalle (representing a tradition of overlooked women artists) as volatile raw material. Her aesthetics are stamped in slogans on tulle, or her blue and gold repurposed into the piping and banding of a leather jumpsuit.

Indeed, the new slogan “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” (Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay – a copy placed on each catwalk seat) reminds us that fashion’s institutions undermine creative women and that by harnessing the radical power of women’s art, we can dismantle them from the inside.

Chiuri does not want women swaddled in Christian Dior’s feminine dream; but out of his house, a women’s dress, fashioned from women’s action.

Photo Credit: Dior @ Instagram

It is established that high fashion should intuit the style of the street, but we are willing to defer to the Dior archive if it can assemble the uniforms of our own new radicalism.

Young people are aching for something militantly hip. Which is why Raf Simons and his cold platter of prints at Dior never did much. Hopefully, Chiuri’s AW17 collection will prove to have done for Dior what Alessandro Michele’s AW15 collection did for Gucci: freed an old house, and gave it over to young people and their new sensibilities.

Written by: Isaac Lucia – Contributor