Moving to a new city, starting university AND getting to know your housemates who you’ll be sharing your life with for the next year — maybe even for the rest of your life.
Going out on the lash, going for meals and making crazy memories are some of the best ways to bond. But, in the run the up to Christmas, it’ll no doubt be the case that the funds are starting to look a bit thin on the ground.
To ease the pressure and to get the conversation flowing, Junkyard Golf is offering one lucky Mancunion reader and five of their housemates to come and enjoy a night of pure madness, with free golf, drinks and food all night.
You’ll enjoy three crazy golf courses spread over 10,000 sq ft with plenty of bars dotted around, as it’s common knowledge that a stiff drink can often improve a player’s game… we think.
How to enter: Simply create your own crazy golf course in your accommodation, take a picture and tag Junkyard Golf @junkyardgolfclub before the 20th November 2017.
Students can get 50% off golf every Monday and Tuesday with a valid student card so there really is no excuse not to experience a hyped up, booze filled night out.
And you can find some advice on how to nurse your hangover post-golf here!
T&C’s
· Prize must be redeemed within six months of the competition closing
· Prize cannot be claimed on weekends
· Prize is only valid for up to six guests
· Food and drink vouchers will be issued upon arrival at Junkyard Golf and are not redeemable
Following a stand-out first month of events, Manchester’s clubbing institution The Warehouse Project now reveal the closing parties for their 2017 season, including their much-anticipated New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day line-ups.
The final event of the 2017 season is a twelve hour marathon, showcasing some of the most exciting and influential names across house & techno. New Years Day will star Bicep, The Black Madonna, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Hunee, Midland, George Fitzgerald, Daniel Avery, Denis Sulta, Tom Trago, Peggy Gou, Shanti Celeste, Kim Ann Foxman, DJ Seinfield, Lone, Or:la, Overmono – DJ Set and many more. Ahead of this, Hannah Wants, Disciples, Bondax, Low Steppa, Icarus, Denney and Friend Within will lead the proceedings on New Years Eve.
Amongst the final shows, WHP joins forces with the legendary Haçienda on Saturday 30th December, welcoming the likes of Danny Tengalia, Todd Terry, Kevin Saunderson, Graeme Park, A Guy Called Gerald, Justin Robertson, Greg Wilson and Jon Dasilva to Store Street. Friday 29th December sees Eats Everything, Steve Lawler and Richy Ahmed on board for a special Kaluki event, they’ll be joined on the evening by Darius Syrossian, Latmun, Max Chapman and many more.
The final shows will bring the 2017 season at Store Street to a close. Tickets are available for the closing shows via www.thewarehouseproject.com
Mario’s triumphant return to home consoles is impressive from the off, and Nintendo really isn’t afraid of letting you know. There were understandable reservations and fears from many that Nintendo wouldn’t be able to top, or even match, the success of launch title Breath of the Wild, but with two million sales in the first three days since launch, Mario appears to be just as capable of selling consoles as his Hylian colleague.
Understandably, the blockbuster title is no less than impressive from a technical standpoint.
Upon starting the game, I’m thrust into a beautiful and very typically Mario cutscene — Bowser kidnaps the Princess and escapes while Mario is left to chase after them. However, the Switch provides a step up from what we’re used to in the past; 900p and 60fps in docked mode create a beautiful and colourful cutscene, and this doesn’t let up at all when the gameplay starts.
Not content with just appealing to the eyes, the HD Rumble included in the Joy-Con controllers is put to great use, and feels far from the gimmick it has the potential to be.
The Mario charm we have come to expect is present the moment the game hands you control. Movement isn’t sharp, but careering Mario around corners and cartwheeling across areas that are vast yet focused feels very much in line with what has made previous 3D Mario games just so great.
Controls were possibly my major fear coming into the game, but I was quickly reassured. Nintendo’s first party games that come early in a console’s life are where their new tech is often demoed — something that the Wii U suffered from heavily — and even Nintendo themselves struggled to utilise the tablet controller in a way that seemed natural.
The various modes of the Switch — docked, handheld, and handheld with Joy-Cons detached — meant a game that encourages the use of motion controls would have to be designed very carefully, so as to not restrict players in handheld mode.
Cappy in action. Photo: Nintendo
Restriction is far from what Nintendo have delivered with Odyssey. Freedom seems to have been a primary goal in game design. While players are helped from objective to objective by the game’s charismatic sidekick, Cappy, there’s never any sense of pressure to move forward; players can spend as long as they choose to in any area, and revisit each Kingdom as they so choose.
Each Kingdom itself is full of surprises, different enough from the last thematically, but still feeling mechanically familiar enough that I never felt lost or aimless. Even when wandering without any specific aim, I found myself rewarded. The sheer abundance of Power Moons available in each Kingdom means even a casual player finds joy with every corner they turn.
Catering to a more casual audience is definitely something one has come to expect with a main series title — understandable given that Nintendo will always be trying to sell Mario as a family franchise.
An ‘Assist Mode’ is present from the start that offers more hints on objectives as well as less punishing deaths. This separate feature is certainly a welcome inclusion, as it means the primary game features much less handholding, and the tutorials can be sparse.
Odyssey is certainly not the most difficult game around currently — if you want to see ‘Game Over’ screens every few minutes, Breath of the Wild can offer that frustrating experience.Dying repeatedly is far from a necessary part of Odyssey, but for players who want to get the most out of the game’s mechanics, it’s a likely fate.
Nintendo’s philosophy of encouraging freedom comes at a price, cap-jumping your way to the more elusive Moons will take considerable trial and error. Inquisitive players are rewarded in all manner of ways, developers go as far as sticking huge piles of coins in locations no-one has any real incentive to explore other than asking ‘why not?’
Accommodating that level of obsessive play is exactly what makes Odyssey feel so accomplished as a game. There’s an incredibly fulfilling experience provided for players who simply want to progress naturally through the story, but there’s definitely enough depth for players to remain satisfied spending hours scouring each area for all its Power Moons before moving on.
Nintendo do well to encourage exploration. Photo: Nintendo
Coming into Super Mario Odyssey, a deep game full of additional content is the least I expected, but I was definitely still blown away. After moving on from the game’s first major area and checking the full list of Moons hidden there I found it hard to believe I could miss so much in such a small space. Nintendo have mastered the balance between density and difficulty — objectives are achievable every few seconds, but only if you look for them.
Odyssey’s new mechanics feel incredibly natural and in no way gimmicky. The premise of a sentient cap that possesses things is a difficult one to imagine entering many games intuitively, but the range of enemies, creatures and inanimate objects available to Mario and Cappy means it never feels stale or forced.
Reaching the more open-world Metro Kingdom, the New York City-inspired location heavily featured in the game’s promotional material, I found myself throwing Cappy at everything I could, hoping to get Mario into a taxi, a traffic light or a rubbish bin.
Possessing Goombas felt strangely endearing, seeing Mario utilise one of the series’ most iconic enemies, stacking them on top of each other to reach a Power Moon or stack of coins.
Odyssey’s cap mechanic is implemented incredibly fluidly into the game, adding enough depth and intrigue to make the game feel rich and new, while also generously letting players control a giant T-Rex after ten minutes, possibly the most exciting reveal of any of the released trailers.
Odyssey is, in short, a console seller. Just as Breath of the Wild attracted an incredible amount of launch sales for the Switch, yet another complete Mario experience from Nintendo is sure to attract even more attention for the new console.
Just as other great Mario titles in the past have done, Mario 64, Sunshine, the Galaxy series, Nintendo have somehow managed to throw the entire formula out the window while still creating a familiar and exciting world to explore. Once again, a Mario title has given me exactly the sense of child-like nostalgia that only a truly great video game can, except this time I’m not a ten year old and I can hopefully complete it by myself.
The hosts started the brighter in this encounter and City endured a difficult opening 20-minutes, a stark contrast to the Etihad fixture two weeks prior where City dominated the opening stages. Shortly after the 20-minute mark, Napoli were ahead.
A wonderfully orchestrated passing move between Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens allowed the former time to side-foot the ball past Ederson and into the City net.
Guardiola’s side meanwhile had to use less than familiar methods in finding their goals. Unable to replicate the attacking, passing moves of Napoli, Manchester City found their way back into the game through the head of central defender Nicolás Otamendi.
Kevin De Bruyne collected a short corner before firing a ball across to the back post. The Argentine defender rose highest to head the ball past a diving Pepe Reina who did manage to get fingertips on it but could not keep it out.
In a mirror image to the first game, it was City who ended the half brighter. Looking to go ahead, John Stones cannoned a header off the bar which left Pep Guardiola with his head in his hands. The sides went in at half-time level but it was not long after the restart that City got their second goal.
Stones again rose to meet a Leroy Sané cross but this time his header hit the underside of the bar. The ball bounced directly downwards and then out of the goal but the goal line technology deemed the ball to have crossed the line and City took the lead for the first time in the game.
With the same stubbornness that City have shown throughout this season, Napoli refused to switch styles and continued with a high tempo, high press attacking game. This pressure on City’s backline eventually bore fruit as Sané was clumsy with a challenge on Raúl Albiol inside the penalty box.
Referee Felix Brych showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot and awarded Napoli’s third penalty of their two previous Champions League games. Jorginho calmly slotted the ball in to tie the game.
A point would have been a good result for City in truth and it was looking more likely that the hosts would find a winner, a fingertip save denied from Ederson denied José Callejón a certain goal, however with the pace of Sané, Sergio Agüero and Raheem Sterling in the team, City are always a danger on the counter.
Fernandinho released Sané who put the afterburners on and accelerated past the Napoli defenders. Albiol managed to get a foot to the ball but unfortunately for the Spaniard, it fell to the feet of Agüero. The Argentine took the ball into the box before powering it low into the right-hand corner of the net.
The goal put City ahead once more and excelled Agüero to the top of the goalscoring charts for his club. His tally of 178 sees him one ahead of Eric Brook, an outside left who played for City in the 1920s.
With Napoli pushing forward to find an equaliser, they were left short at the back. De Bruyne had time and space to pick out Sterling who scored his tenth goal of the season in injury time. The game finished 4-2 to the visitors as City sealed their qualification to the next round.
After the game, the record-breaker Agüero said “This moment is once in a lifetime. I am happy because the team helped support me with the City fans and the staff. We must keep going in the same way, every game, playing the same way.”
New York City is said to be one of the most bustling places in the world. Staying in Midtown, I initially felt that I hadn’t really experienced the atmosphere I was expecting from New York. On my second day in the city, I decided to venture across Brooklyn Bridge into unknown territory.
Having known basically nothing about this area except what I watched off of Gossip Girl — not a very good guide, as it turns out — I was taken aback by how at home I felt walking these streets. I started off my day at Brooklyn Bridge and made my way over to Williamsburg.
With only one day in Brooklyn, I was surprised by how much I was able to do and how well my day went.
9.00am:
Start the day off at the top of Brooklyn Bridge, which is certain to please the eye — and the camera. The closest subway station is Fulton Street. You can either walk across the bridge or hire a bike from Citi Bike who has sharing stations dotted all over the place — there are three near the station.
Having reached the other side of the bridge, you can either keep your bike for the day or be a bit lazier and put it back and take the subway — as I did.
9.30am:
I headed over towards the water to ‘Jane’s Carousel’, a restored 1922 children’s ride that offers all the creepiness that you imagine it would, as well as spectacular views of the bridge, river and Manhattan Island! After wandering more into town, my desire for coffee grew and I searched up the nearest coffee shop which happened to be ‘Almondine Bakery’. This is the one thing I had not planned out for the day and turned out to be one of my highlights – the coffee and croissants were delicious.
After wandering more into town, my desire for coffee grew and I searched up the nearest coffee shop which happened to be ‘Almondine Bakery’. This is the one thing I had not planned out for the day and turned out to be one of my highlights. The coffee and croissants were delicious.
9.45-10.45am:
Before heading to the Brooklyn Museum, I decided to pit stop at a vintage shop that many of my friends had raved about — ‘Beacon’s Closet’.
Because of my innate yearning to shop, I had no choice but to go. This vintage shop was everything I could’ve hoped for, selling loads of designer clothes/shoes/everything from previous seasons.
Clark Street to Bergen Street on the 2 to Flatbush Avenue
11am:
By the time I reached Brooklyn Museum, it had just opened and unfortunately, I was not the only one who had the brilliant idea of coming at opening time. The wait was long but that is pretty much inevitable at any museum in New York.
I’m not sure if this was just because I came on the first day of the week for the museum — the museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays — or if this is a usual thing. Nonetheless, the queue is well worth it! The museum is impressive in every sense.
The collection boasts 4,000 items in the Egyptian collection. The highlight for me was the centre in the museum which was completely devoted to feminist art. On the first Saturday of every month, tickets are free between 5pm and 11pm. Normally, they are $16 for adults and $10 for students. Recommended time spent in the museum would be around 2 hours.
Closest station: Eastern Parkway (take the 2 or 3)
1.30pm:
Lunch at Glady’s. Around 7 minutes walk from the museum, this Caribbean eatery almost makes you believe you are on an island. Make sure to order the Rum Punch, the jerk chicken, goat curry, and spicy slaw if you are particularly hungry.
2.00pm:
Make your way back to Prospect Park and spend a few hours here. It truly is an amazing park — it topped Central Park for me. There are lots of things going out at every corner — yoga lessons, weird guitar-playing people, and football games.
My favourite part was the ridiculous amount of puppies I saw. If you’re feeling fidgety, walk over to the Botanical Gardens — although, it is said to be really it’s best in spring.
4.00pm:
At this point, I headed over to Williamsburg for more vintage shopping. The best places I found were Malin Landaeus, Awoke, Amarcord, About Glamour, Antoinette, and The L Train in Williamsburg and continued along towards Bushwick Avenue for more shops like Friends and Fox and Fawn.
7.30pm:
All that shopping had me tired and so I was ready for a rest and another meal. Heading back towards Williamsburg Bridge, I went to St. Anselm for a well-deserved steak. This place is tiny and easy to miss but has a lot of character and atmosphere. The hanger steak was amazing and just what I needed.
9.00pm:
Enjoy an obscure beer at Spuyten Duyvil as a nightcap then head home.
Following I Am Love and A Bigger Splash, Call Me By Your Name concludes Luca Guadagnino’s thematic Desire trilogy with a satisfied sigh of crisp, Italian air.
Set in the summer heat of a luxurious family villa in Northern Italy in the 1980s, the film scrutinises the conflicted headspace of Elio Perlman during a sexual awakening that is ignited by the arrival of an older intern of his father’s, a language professor, played by the ever charming Armie Hammer.
A tranquil, impossibly attractive and non-confrontational film,Call Me By Your Name is perhaps amongst the least accurate representations of being an LGBT youth in the 1980s, but its distinct lack of statement (beyond the basic acknowledgements of trial and secrecy that come from telling a gay story) sets it apart as one of the most important and controversial romances in recent memory.
Its controversy of course stems from the age difference between Elio, 17, and Hammer’s Oliver, 24. In the wake of Hollywood coming apart at the seams with new, hideous mistakes of its biggest players arising every day, it’s easy to accuse Guadagnino’s adaptation of André Aciman’s novel as similarly degenerate, but this is not a Woody Allen film.
Not only are the sexual encounters frequently initiated by the precocious Elio, to focus on the difference as a negative is to reduce Guadagnino’s careful objectivity. Following a tempestuous summer of flings, drinking and secrets, the camera rests on Elio, unwavering, and asks us to consider whether the right thing was done.
Never specifically celebratory or condemning of Elio and Oliver’s romance, the slow and natural development of the two leads’ performances are enough to demonstrate how effecting their time together has been.
Enriching, educational but fraught and complex, the remote and uncaring setting perhaps leaves these characters too open to exploration without discussion, but the performances on show enrich the film’s not-so-subtle central premise, “is it better to speak or die”, with an alternative that suggests some things can be said without speaking.
Much of the brilliance of Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Elio emerges from his willingness to stay silent, expressing thrills and sadness through the movements of his body, both sinewy and awkward at a moment’s notice, or the twitches and contortions of his face. Always readable, frequently nonverbal, Chalamet is a remarkable find.
A striking visual palette of light, colour and location, alongside its charming character interactions that, despite how ridiculously cultured and well-read everyone is, are never pretentious or unlikable, make Call Me By Your Name a completely cleansing experience. Long, long shots of Elio and Oliver reading, playing piano or cycling beyond the horizon could come across as self-congratulatory, but the performances are always captivating enough to deserve the lens’ attention.
In a filmscape threatening shorter shots and more frequent cuts, Guadagnino’s ability to judge the exact moment a quiet breather is needed within the narrative is uncanny and very welcome. It’s very rare that a film with a runtime upwards of two hours can earn a near 30 second landscape shot, but here it’s completely natural for a sun-drenched, lethargic summer movie about sexual tension and endless days.
Though its relevance in today’s tumultuous political landscape as a 1980s gay romance that never engages with the appalling oppression and neglect experienced by many of the decade’s LGBT youth is under question, the lack of violence and conflict is surely a step forward for a cinematic movement that naturally presents gay relationships as being as easy and carefree as a straight relationship.
Michael Stuhlbarg as the father of Elio will surely rank amongst this year’s greatest cinematic parents, a wickedly intelligent and accepting professor of language who sets the film’s nonchalant tone from the beginning, and eventually both reaffirms and challenges it in a gorgeously kind speech to his son in the closing ten minutes.
Though not as defining as the likes of Philadelphia, Call Me By Your Name easily slips into the ranks of the finest gay cinema, and romantic cinema in general. With chemistry off the charts, a rarely seen angle to 80s nostalgia and a breezy, youthful pace that always takes a breather when it needs to, Guadagnino’s final entry in his loose trilogy is a stunning piece of work.
A vehicle that will surely launch the career of Timothée Chalamet and reaffirm Armie Hammer as much more than a silly name and the rebooted Lone Ranger (those still unconvinced should also seek out Free Fire, a raucous action comedy that fans of Baby Driver will eat up), the film is guaranteed to make even the most withering cynics crack a number of smiles and breathe a little easier.
Imagine a night illuminated with colourful lights and fireworks; now expand that thought to the scale of an entire country consisting of 1.3 billion people. Diwali, the festival that lights up every street, village and city of India, is probably one of the most magical nights one can experience.
Photo: Indian Society of Manchester
Diwali is traditionally a five-day festival but it’s usually the fourth day that is referred to, which marks the return of the Hindu God Rama to his kingdom after 14 years of exile with his wife Goddess Sita. Though being a Hindu festival, Diwali stands as a symbol of unity amongst Indians as everyone adores and celebrates the festival.
The Indian Society of Manchester (ISOM) hosted their own Diwali Mela on the 16th of October at the Manchester Academy, a magical night focused on capturing the essence of this magical festival, giving Indians a feel of their homeland and the rest a feel of India.
Stuti Sethi, the president of the ISOM, said to The Mancunion: “It was wonderful to organise and celebrate the most awaited festival of India. I’m glad people from different parts of the world came and tried to learn about the essence of our culture.
“When all faces and ears turned towards me in my last segment of the vote of thanks, I realised we were successful.”
With over 550 people at the Academy, the night kicked off with a traditional ‘Namaskara’ followed by traditional Indian dances with a western twist, performed by the Indian Society dance crew. Then an Indian take on pop culture music and a skit on the epic Ramayana, highlighting the history of Diwali.
Photo: Indian Society of Manchester
ISOM had just under three weeks to put on the show.
“We had only 2-3 weeks to pull this off and I am surprised we did it so well. It was an experience I can never forget,” Varang Bombaywala, Treasurer at ISOM, told The Mancunion.
An event celebrating the centenary of the Balfour Declaration brought hundreds of students and activists to the streets.
Although the organisers are a separate commercial entity from the university, many people expressed their outrage at the University of Manchester for agreeing to host the Balfour 100 event. It was advertised as a commemoration of a century since former British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour announced support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
The BDS campaign termed this event “a mockery of the suffering of Palestinian people” and “greatly disrespectful” in an open letter to Vice Chancellor Dame Nancy Rothwell, urging the University to disallow the event from taking place on campus. The University’s statement in response claimed that they did not endorse or have any connections to the event, and that they allowed third parties to hire their premises provided they complied with their Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech.
The University’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech states that: “The University has a duty to ensure, wherever practical, that such thoughts and expressions do not go beyond the articulation of points of view and do not constitute incitement to riot, insurrection, racial hatred, religious hatred, sexual harassment or other activities (beyond the right of peaceful protest) which are likely to cause a breach of the peace or public disorder or otherwise to be unlawful.”
Activists from various pro Palestine groups had initially planned to protest the event outside Whitworth Hall. However, one day before the event, they were informed that the event had been relocated to a venue in Deansgate.
This did not stop the 300 protesters from across the UK from marching down Oxford Road past Whitworth Hall to the new location, chanting and waving flags and banners. Organisers of the protest stated that “although this is a great victory for our campaign, the university itself did not cancel it and was from the beginning happy to host this celebration having had communications with the Israeli embassy [sic].”
“There has been increasing conditions imposed on Palestinian student activists and the University’s connections and investments in the Israeli arms trade remain to this day.”
Protesters were seen on Oxford road waving Palestinian flags, and holding up banners, the largest of which read ‘Shame on MCR University Complicit in Israeli War Crimes’. Palestinian music could also be heard playing loudly, along with drumming and chants of “Viva Viva Palestina” and “Hey, Ho, occupation’s got to go”.
Some protesters were seen holding up coffin shaped boxes, while others had fake blood painted on their faces and clothes depicting the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Police vans and police personnel as well as University security personnel were seen attempting to regulate the march, but protesters refused to cooperate with their attempts at control. As the march began, police officers on foot attempted to divert and contain the crowd, but they continued to march, eventually obstructing most of Oxford Road where people could be seen waving, cheering and honking from cars. The march included two speeches, one given by a former schoolteacher who had lost students to bombings in Palestine.
One attendee described it as a “peaceful protest”, adding that “it was big, visible, and impactful.”
“It’s significant for us to protest it because it’s a symbol of Britain’s direct role in Palestine’s current situation, and our government and university’s ongoing complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.[sic]” she added. A university spokesperson declined to comment on this particular allegation.
At event venue, protesters gathered and obstructed the main entrance, forcing Israeli ambassador to the UK Mark Regev to enter the event via a side entrance. They began to chant “shame on you” and “your tickets are covered in Palestinian blood”. It was later reported that attendees heard the chanting, and some were delayed from entering the building due to the protest. The event, however, continued, with protesters remaining outside until after it had ended, despite police and security personnel attempting to convince them to leave.
In a tweet from North West Friends of Israel, it was discovered in a two minute video clip, that Regev gave a speech about the protest, calling the peaceful protesters “extremists”.
“If you are demonstrating against the Balfour declaration, you’re basically saying that Balfour was wrong and that the Jewish people have no right to a National Home.” Regev said.
He added: “It’s not about settlements. It’s not even about the future establishment of Jerusalem in peace. They are exposing themselves for being extremists.. You don’t want reconciliation with Israel, you don’t want peace. You believe Israel has no right to exist”
One of the main organisers of the event were the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS).
Activist and part time BME officer Sara Khan said: “The BDS movement, modelled in part on the successful campaign against apartheid South Africa, is a call from 170 Palestinian civil society organisations to boycott, divest and sanction the Israeli government, and all Israeli companies and institutions that are complicit in the violence, oppression, and military occupation faced by the Palestinian people.”
In December 2016, the democratically elected senate of the Students’ Union, passed a motion in support of BDS, despite Jewish students expressing concerns over their safety. The BDS campaign at the University claims to be against all forms of discrimination, and demands that the university complies with its socially-responsible investment policy, which states that it will end any links or contracts with companies and institutions that are complicit in human rights abuses or have ties with the arms trade.
Another student attendee at the protest spoke to The Mancunion, saying: “I think it sent a very clear message to the university, and to all other institutions complicit in Israeli war crimes – the students and the people of Manchester stand with Palestine, stand against apartheid, and stand for human rights, and we will be heard.”
In a recent article for The Mancunion, Lawrence Rosenberg, Associate Director of the Pinker Centre and the former President of Manchester University Jewish Society (JSoc), argued that people shouldn’t protest the celebration of an attempt to end Jewish persecution.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a tragedy. Palestinians have undoubtedly suffered. Israelis have also suffered. But to end this conflict, both sides must learn to live with one another — and understand each other’s narratives. It is futile to look back at the past — or even try to reverse history.
“But this isn’t going to happen by protesting a private ceremony. The only way to peace is for both sides to recognise the other side’s existence; for both sides to sit down together, and to see how we can finally end suffering for all.”
The organisers of the event (who are completely separate from the University of Manchester) have been contacted for comment.
Students can now purchase digital versions of the 16-25 railcard, news which is timely, as many will have travelled back home last week via trains following ‘reading week’.
The digital cards can be bought online at the same price as the existing paper of plastic cards, downloaded to the railcard smartphone app and used immediately.
Jyoti Bird, Director at National Rail, said: “National Rail and the train companies are making it quicker and easier for passengers to save 1/3 on fares, thanks to the launch of the digital 16-25 and Network Railcards. Railcards enable customers to explore more of Great Britain for fun, in an ultra-convenient and cost-effective way.”
“The introduction of digital Railcards is the latest example of train companies working together using technology to make rail travel easier. The money customers save through travel, and additional Railcard benefits, means the more they have to spend in the places they go, allowing customers to enjoy more of the things they love, whilst also supporting local businesses and communities.”
Matt Wynne, a Social Sciences student at the University of Manchester, expressed concern over the “risk of smartphones cutting out over long journeys.”
Rail companies have said that “if a phone runs out of battery or gets lost, the card can be swapped to another mobile device.”
Despite this, Matt Wynne said” “I’d wish they concentrated their efforts [on] bringing the Network Railcard to the rest of the country if I’m quite honest with you.
“I’m having to get the same amount of proof for a 16-25 Railcard as a Mature Student as I do for Council Tax Exemption and other benefits — far too bureaucratic, especially as it costs £30 and Mature Students usually have a lot of commitments aside university.”
Both 16-25 Railcard and Network Railcards can be purchased digitally, and it has been estimated that over four million existing Railcard customers save around £150 on average each year on train trips thanks to the cards, equating to almost £600 million a year in total.
The filming of Hilda has been nothing short of intense for all involved, made clear if only by the fact that my interviews this week consisted of FaceTiming lead actress, Megan Purvis, during her coffee break, and catching director Rishi Pelham in his one half hour break of the day.
It’s been a process of “5am workshops [and] sleepless nights in car parks.” As Purvis says, it’s been hard work, but it’s a complete “passion project, and really, really worth it”.
Hilda, directed by Manchester alumni Rishi Pelham and Michael Honnah, follows the life of a young girl growing up in modern-day poverty in West London. She turns to music and dance in an effort to find herself and, as Pelham articulated, “she can’t afford a workshop, so her workshop is London.”
Purvis names some societal issues addressed within the film such as, “the state of our social care system, the effects of Brexit, casual racism”, but, as she pointed out, these are not the main focus of the film. “This is life, this is real”, she says. It’s a realistic exploration of how these things affect the everyday life of Hilda herself.
Having known and admired them both from my links to the University of Manchester Drama society, I was keen to ask Purvis what it was like working under Pelham and Honnah, and how they functioned as a creative team. “What’s great about both of them”, she replied, “is how much they trust each other, they work so well together as a unit.”
“Rishi is intense, passionate, he knows what this film can do and he’s not going to stop short of doing that, and Michael just brings the most incredible energy to the set.” She describes their shared passion as “infectious” and their dedication as admirable, “I have to keep reminding them that they need to eat and sleep!”
When asked about their experiences filming so far, Pelham emphasized the stark contrasts between filming in Manchester compared to London. “People in Manchester are way more supportive”, he tells me. In London, “councils and boroughs are way harsher to independent filmmaking. There [are] so many barriers put in place.”
“There needs to be more that’s done for independent films and creatives”, he says, “that’s one of the reasons we’re making the film, to highlight the amount of talent going unchecked with cuts to the arts and the BFI etc.”
But Hilda has responded to these difficulties with an unabashed determination and devotion to this project. Or, as Pelham describes it, “exceedingly ambitious, this is a small budget film that won’t look like a small budget film.” Pelham and Honnah have taken on help from the University of Manchester by the way of extras, lighting engineers — even lecturers have helped them source locations and find their feet as creators.
When I asked Pelham what was the university’s most important contribution to the film, he did not hesitate to answer: “the people I met there and what we achieved outside of the course. The course being more literary pushed us to do more independently”, which is experience proving invaluable now.
One person he referenced specifically was Dr David Butler, “as a professor and mentor and friend to be very honest, we wouldn’t be able to make this film without the support he has given.”
Both Pelham and Purvis emphasised throughout that this film is not being made just for the sake of making a film, both of them believe strongly in telling Hilda’s story.
As Purvis said, “we don’t glorify anything, we don’t make things more dramatic than they really are, we’re just showing today’s society and its effects for what it is.” According to Pelham, “the main thing I want to do with this film is garner as much awareness as possible to a story I know is true.”
Filming finished on the 30th of December with editing to be completed in January and March. Come next Spring/Summer, however, Hilda will be out and circulating at as many film festivals as Pelham and Honnah can get their hands on. If the passion of Pelham and Purvis is anything to go by, this film is set to be outstanding, so everyone keep an eye out.
Quietly confident and surprisingly humble, not the words most expect to describe a pillar of British design or the man behind an internationally renowned brand whose career has spanned the best part of five decades — but Sir Paul Smith defies expectations.
Specialising in an inventive use of craftsmanship and cutting-edge design to combine tradition and modernity, the designer spoke to a select audience about his own ventures in business, and discussed the ways young individuals can stand out in the fast-paced, tech-centred workplace:
“Follow What Is Happening But Do Your Own Thing”
You might know of Paul Smith through his hot-pink shop walls in LA — a regular on Instagram which has made the store the most photographed building in California — even more popular than the Hollywood sign.
Melrose Avenue has over 20,000 shops, so how did Paul Smith go about catching the public’s attention? By making a big statement. Smith says that, in business, it is essential that you “make your point of difference clear”. In our commercially driven world, the only way to beat the competition is by making yourself unique.
Consequentially, each one of his stores features unusual design quirks you just will not find anywhere else, something which Smith feels adds to the experience – whether that be a wall mosaic made of 2,600 dominoes or a stained-glass window made from photographic slides on a lightbox.
“You Can’t Do It Without Doing It”
Universally, most people struggle with the idea of balancing time between the work that pays the bills, and the projects they’re passionate about which simply don’t — at least initially. Monday to Thursday, Smith worked on jobs as a freelance stylist for Face Magazine, a photographer, and as a textile designer for mills in Yorkshire — spending the weekends on his own brand.
Smith says this period was influential in his brand’s development because it helped better his understanding of the industry. Over time, his weekend passion project grew in success. The first ‘Paul Smith’ store opened in 1970, in the 12ft by 12 ft backroom of the tailor he was working for at the time. Now that tiny start-up has grown to produce an annual turnover exceeding £192 million.
“Do Things That Are Right, Not That Are Easy”
Ever the innovative businessman, Smith removed his best selling stripe motif from all products three years ago. This bold and risky move is one he felt was necessary to ensure the brand would be known for more than just its stripe motif, and would, as a result, continue to be relevant to a wide range of customers — not just one generation.
The stripe isn’t gone for forever though, as Smith is currently in the process of reintroducing a new stripe combination, in colours derived from a Frank Auerbach painting at the Tate Britain.
“Find Inspiration In Everything”
When asked how he cultivates and maintains a strong brand identity across a diverse range of products, Smith responds “I don’t look at it like that. I just follow my instincts. I want to be sure we are always doing something different and new, that we are keeping ‘Paul Smith’ interesting”.
His eclectic inspiration ranges from high art to the every day. Matisse collages, interiors magazines, and even merely the colours of the season — its all the same to Smith: a starting point; “I don’t want to go the obvious route”.
“The job changes you, you never change the job”
“Whatever the job, you can always learn something”, Smith stresses. In a variety of anecdotes, he describes how cycling taught him to “never give up” and to “dig deep when you’re feeling tired”, and discusses how photography taught him not just to look, but to “see”.
Smith goes on to advocate “being childlike, not childish. Staying inquisitive. Being interested and interesting”, and always remembering to “follow your instinct”.
Smith also emphasises the importance of politeness in his continued run of success. The self-proclaimed ‘King of Bad Jokes’ said “Ask, don’t tell” — people respond to conversation and dialogue. Manners cost you nothing, but in the age of non-verbal communication methods, it can be the smile, the please/thank you and general respectfulness that will win you the job.
His words, though not devoid of clichés, were spoke with sincerity and honesty, and we could all do a lot worse than that to listen to Paul Smith’s advice: “effort is free of charge [and] nothing worthwhile happens overnight”.
Homelessness is a prevalent issue in our city which immediately surrounds us when we leave the house.
There’s plenty of people and organisations in Manchester that are trying to tackle this though. The Dealer App is a platform on which you are able to get discounts of up to 50 per cent off in restaurants and bars in Manchester whilst being able to give back to homelessness charities in the process. We spoke to one of its creators, University of Manchester student Benjamin Mouquet.
Ben told us a little about how it all began, explaining “The Dealer was started because discounting was broken. It simply wasn’t working for restaurants. We wanted to create an online portal for restaurant owners to manage their promotions easily and effectively.”
With The Dealer App, restaurant owners are now able to adjust promotions in real time, giving them greater freedom to target specific days of the week, or even specific times of the day.
Just under a hundred restaurants in Manchester have already signed up, and a further three hundred are on board from around the country.
Ben was keen to stress that the high quality of the restaurants taking part, “we only feature premium restaurants like this year’s winner at the Manchester Food and Drink awards, Bundobust. The aim is to deliver quality discounts from quality restaurants.”
Alongside offering great deals for Manchester’s foodies and a versatile new platform for the city’s restaurateurs, the team behind the app also aim for it to give something back to the local community.
Photo: Benjamin Mouquet (left)
“At the time that we had the idea, the guys who started it were volunteering at a homeless shelter called the Porch and would often talk about ways that more local businesses could support homeless charities in a climate of government cuts.
“They came up with the concept of using deals to do good. Saving people as much money as we can, in the hope that they then return some of these savings back to charities fighting homelessness.”
Ben first got involved with the project after graduating from The University of Manchester. Though he initially looked at going into finance, having known one of the co-founders from having worked at Red Bull together, he was offered the opportunity to do good for students and to give back to the community in the process.
As with any venture of this type, the team has faced its challenges, “we are a small team working against some pretty big hitters with a concept that people aren’t familiar with. Getting the exposure, we need to really make a difference is probably our biggest challenge.”
Their aim with The Dealer App is to “make giving to homelessness a regular part of [our] weekly lives.” And, as Ben noted, the benefits of even small donations are tangible: “If you take a look at what the Mustard Tree — our partner charity in Manchester — can do with just ten pounds for example. For every £10 that is donated, they are able to provide £160 worth of food to families and individuals at our food club.”
With mental health issues rife among homeless people, it’s also noteworthy that even a meagre ten pounds can help tackle this too; providing support for one person suffering from a mental health condition for two weeks.
The immediate goal of the company is simple: expansion. They aim to move to other cities as soon as possible. That said, their ambitions are not just geographical — they also aim to move into other industries as well, “especially in the online sector such as online retail, cinemas, and things like that.”
This app is definitely something worth getting behind and it’s certainly inspiring to see University of Manchester students go on to do something that’s going to have an impact and build a better community. You can learn more about The Dealer App on the website and download the app right now on android and IOS.
Looking back on the Manchester Science Festival that took place between the 19th and 29th of October, the city’s science enthusiasts were given special insight into the past, present, and future of robotics.
The Mancunion spoke with Professor Barry Lennox, a researcher in the development of robotic systems for nuclear decommissioning, and sent a correspondent to view the live streaming of the BBC’s new programme ‘Tomorrow’s World, Today’, hosted at the Museum of Science and Technology.
In his interview, Prof. Lennox, from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester, provided us with an overview of his work.
Prof Lennox currently works on creating and developing robotic systems that help to decommission nuclear facilities, a field of work that can prove occupationally and environmentally hazardous, and which involves the “transport, storage, and processing nuclear materials”.
The clean-up of the UK’s “large nuclear legacy” — mostly established during the Cold War as part of the arms race and whose clean-up will extend well into the 22nd century — is a “time-consuming and expensive process which is safe but slow” with extensive safety protocols that protect workers from prolonged radiation exposure.
However, with the increasing accessibility of high-quality electronics, researchers from all over the world have begun to innovate safe, alternative solutions. Prof Lennox described “submersible exploratory robots”.
Able to navigate through 500mm access ports equipped with radars and radiation sensors, these robots allow scientist to not only create a 3D map of the facilities they were exploring but also overlay the maps with corresponding radiation readings, essentially pinpointing sources of contamination for their operators.
Furthermore, downloading this data onto a computer then allows operators to “interact with the 3D-environments using virtual reality goggles” that help them understand how to better decommission facilities with minimum time and cost, all without stepping foot into the facility themselves.
Many of the “off-the-shelf technologies” that are utilised heavily in nuclear decommissioning, from Arduinos, to cameras and virtual reality systems typically used in gaming, have decreased in their costs, meaning that the robots used in these operations are able to be “small and sacrificial” — easily disposable after coming into contact with hazardous materials.
Prof Lennox expresses hope for these robots to considerably “optimise current decommissioning processes to be [as] safe and fast” as possible, hopefully making the UK’s nuclear legacy less difficult a challenge.
In that same vein, robotics was also the main topic of the ‘Tomorrow’s World Live’ event hosted in the Museum of Science and Industry. People were invited to a live streaming of a panel discussion where experts were invited to speak about the consequences of robotics in our future.
The event was part of a BBC series which tackled some of the most prevalent and important issues that scientific innovations aim to solve. The panel included researchers working in the development of robotic systems as well as professors specialising in the ethics and philosophy of robots.
The audience members were given a brief look into how robots, defined loosely as systems able to sense and act upon their physical environment, advanced our understanding of how real-life biological structures work.
For example, modelling robotic companion animals — robot pets — develops our understanding of mammalian brains and our ability to mimic emotional systems in algorithms, and programming many smaller robots can let us understand how group behaviours manifest in swarms of insects or birds.
The guests also discussed how, as robots become integrated into our lives, the independence of our own bodies from robots may one day blur as nanoparticles are already being used to administer medication and robotic prosthetics are becoming more sophisticated.
With this, panellists discussed the social and philosophical implications of robots. Though many agreed that artificial intelligence still lacks flexibility currently, they briefly debated the consequences of a human-like robot on our definition of what it means to be authentically human, conscious, or sentient.
Despite deep ethical considerations, the panel had a generally optimistic outlook for the future: that our society has the ability to regulate the options and opportunities that we create for ourselves in our use of robots, and though we may be forced to re-examine what kind of lives we want to live, we were very much in control of the future.
It’s hard to believe how far Neck Deep have come. It hasn’t even been five years since they played their first ever show to a sparse crowd at Sound Control but here they are now playing to a sold out crowd at the O2 Apollo. It’s stunning how much they’ve grown in such a short time.
Despite the huge change in scenery Neck Deep don’t look out at place on the much bigger stage here. They open with much swagger to “Happy Judgement Day,” with Neck Deep showing off their increase in stage production with flames erupting during the chorus. Their set is punchy and bouncy. “Lime Street” and “Gold Steps” get the crowd jumping to every beat and screaming every lyric.
Older songs like “What Did You Expect” still garner a warm response from the crowd. You can only imagine what they’re thinking when “Well what did you expect? A fucking compliment?” is roared right back at them. It must be surreal when people are getting this worked up for the first ever song you wrote.
They never seem to really take it down a gear at all but nor does it bore. Every song is as potent as its last and it never really seems to die down. The hits just seem to keep on coming with new songs from their latest album, The Peace & The Panic, getting good responses. “Don’t Wait” and “In Bloom” both shine in the live environment with the crowd receiving them well.
One thing Neck Deep has clearly done is ramped up the stage production. Not did they only bring the aforementioned pyro but sparklers and a far better lighting set up. They don’t do anything fancy with it but they’re just happy to have it and it does looks impressive.
It’s only before the encore they take it down a notch. “Head to the Ground” is just Ben with acoustic guitar. The change in pace is welcome and pleasant. They continue this mood with “Wish You Were Here” and “A Part of Me” before heading off for a rest.
This is only the clam before the storm however as it isn’t long before they’re storming back to end with “Can’t Kick Up The Roots” and “Where Do We Go When We Go.” Confetti cannons explode during the last chorus before Neck Deep say their farewells.
The whole set is simple and effective. They aren’t trying to present you with a mind blowing experience with special renditions on songs but are here just to party and that’s great. Sometimes it’s just better to play the tunes and have a good time with the band and the crowd.
It’s obvious that Neck Deep have set their sights on big things and if this show is any indication they are not only ready for it, it looks likely that they will.
