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Day: 13 November 2017

The Paradise Papers and the Premier League

Two years after the Panama Papers shone a light on fraud and alleged tax avoidance by individuals and companies across the world, we have another leak, the Paradise Papers. They detail yet more cases involving such esteemed and respected people as Lewis Hamilton and the Queen of England, Her Majesty herself. More importantly for football fans though, two big Premier League clubs have been implicated, but which ones, and how?

Alisher Usmanov is a Russian businessman with a net worth of over $15 billion. He, along with his former accountant, Farhad Moshiri, bought 14 per cent of Arsenal in August 2007. Both parties insist that they paid for their own individual shares, but a document released indicates that the money Moshiri used was gifted to him by Usmanov. At this moment in time, there isn’t any foul play.

For the next six years, until 2013, they both increased their stake in Arsenal to a total of 30 per cent, now owning a sizeable chunk of the North London Club; still nothing is awry. On 26th of February 2016, Moshiri decides to sell his half of the shares, 15 per cent, to none other than Usmanov himself.

The very next day, 27th February, Moshiri uses the money he acquired from the sale of his shares to buy a majority position in Everton. A deal that was completed by a company called Bridgewaters. That company, registered in the Isle of Man has links to, you guessed it, Usmanov.

So to recap, Usmanov supposedly gave Moshiri money to buy Arsenal shares with him, they increased their position and then transferred all the shares into Usmanov’s name. The day after that was completed Moshiri bought a 49.9 per cent stake of Everton for a reported £87.5 million.

These potentially dodgy dealings could be because there is a Premier League ruling stating that an individual who owns a ten per cent or more stake in one club cannot own a single share in another. Speculation suggests that Usmanov is trying to spread his control in English football through Moshiri, thus bypassing the rules of the league. Both sides fiercely deny the accusations, saying that the documents leaked in the papers were a mistake.

Earlier this year, Usmanov attempted to buy the shares of another major Arsenal shareholder, Stan Kroenke, in a deal worth a suspected £1 billion, which would have seen his stake rise to a whopping 97 per cent. Luckily for football fans everywhere, Kroenke showed no interest in the deal and that was that.

His aim for that deal was to soothe his frustration at his lack of power at the club. Currently, Usmanov doesn’t have a seat on the board, and so cannot influence the running of the club. By buying out the other main shareholder, he would own almost all of Arsenal, and therefore be able to change things on a whim.

But what does this mean for the two clubs? When asked about it, the officials at the Premier League refused to comment, citing that they “would not disclose confidential information about clubs or individuals.”

The Premier League added: “Only when these (financial assessments) and many other rules have been applied, and due diligence completed, will the Premier League Board allow an investment to proceed.” If what is alleged is true, then it will be another embarrassment for the English Football Association in 2017.

It is likely that there will be an investigation undertaken to see if these transactions were above board as the pair suggest, or murky, as the recent documents show. They would also look at whether the clubs knew about any of this before the leaks.

There are no current rules to stop clubs being owned by tax-haven companies, and in fact most clubs are owned in havens such as the Caymen Islands and, like Everton, the Isle of Man. This is essentially a systematic evasion of UK tax and drastic new laws need to be implemented to force owners of English clubs to pay taxes in England. The ability to avoid doing that is perplexing.

Should these takeovers be discovered to be fraudulent, there will undoubtedly be large fines for both people involved. If the clubs themselves are found to have known and not said anything, the worst case scenario would be points penalties, but that scenario is very unlikely.

The most likely scenario, based upon the aftermath of the Panama Papers, is that nothing will be done. Those doing morally wrong will face no punishment, and those who should hold them accountable will drag their heels until the story is less recent in our minds.

A United Uni

A recent survey conducted by The Mancunion’s Sport team has found Manchester United are the most supported club among the university students. 36 per cent of respondents declared José Mourinho’s men to be their favourite, while 12 per cent swore their allegiance to the blue side of the city with Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s team were the second most represented side, while Liverpool gathered 5 per cent of the vote. Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham completed the selected Premier League clubs.

Photo: Sam Cooper @The Mancunion

Unsurprisingly, 73 per cent of voters declared a Premier League side their favourite. However, 10 per cent of users chose a club from the Championship with Ipswich, Leeds, QPR and Sheffield United all featuring. Exeter City, Portsmouth and Wycombe complete the teams from the football league, while just one non-league team in Enfield Town was chosen.

Elsewhere, 7 per cent of the vote went to international leagues with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Ajax all featuring.

Photo: Sam Cooper @The Mancunion

At the other end of the scale, voters were also asked who their most disliked team was, and it was again the Red Devils on top. Being the rivals of both Liverpool and City fans, it is no surprise to see 26 per cent said United were their most disliked team. Liverpool came second with 15 per cent of the vote, while Chelsea and City both gathered 13 per cent of the vote.

Review: Happy Death Day

The slasher genre has somewhat disappeared in the 21st century. I’m not talking about pseudo-slashers such as Cabin in the Woods (2012), or the traumatic Eden Lake (2008). I mean the pure, concentrated genre in which American teenagers are terrorised by a masked man with a knife.  Of the same ilk as Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), or Craven’s Scream (1997).

That’s why Happy Death Day seemed like it would be a welcome addition to the 2017 calendar. A blonde, naïve, college girl is hunted relentlessly by a hoodie’d assailant donning a baby mask. It evoked so many tropes of the wave of slasher films which the 80s and 90s were littered with.

However, Christopher Landon — whose previous directorial outings include the abysmal sequel Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) and the critically lampooned Burning Palms (2010) — gave Happy Death Day a twist. Protagonist ‘Tree’, is murdered on her birthday night whilst walking to a party, yet after her gruesome death she finds herself waking up the previous morning, to live the day all over again.

Come the evening, she is murdered again, and Tree realises she is trapped living the same day repeatedly. She decides the only way to break free of her macabre predicament, is to discover the identity of the killer, whilst slowly becoming a better and nicer person.

It is a blatant and unmissable observation to make, but yes, Landon has combined the slasher genre with Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993). However, as lazy as this synthesis of premises seems, it is a concept which could have been executed successfully. Unfortunately, Happy Death Day falls miserably short.

The first obstacle is the detestable lead character. Groundhog Day’s Bill Murray was essentially a lovable b*stard; a resentful and arrogant character who despite his flaws, still drew empathy and laughter from the audience. Happy Death Day’s Tree is just simply a bad person and has no redeemable qualities, and by the film’s resolution I could still not fathom as to why Landon supposed that we would care whether the girl escaped from her horror or not.

Secondly, the humour is woeful. The majority of the film’s laughs stem from drinks being emptied over people’s heads, snarky remarks exchanged by embarrassingly competitive college girls, or in one unintentionally cringe-worthy sequence, a nude stroll through a college campus accompanied by Demi Lovato’s ‘Confident’.

But the biggest offence which the movie throws up, is in the closing lines where two of the characters discuss how the preceding events remind them of the aforementioned Ramis & Murray comedy. It almost seemed like an afterthought by the crew, in the knowledge that without a self-recognising comment about their near-plagiarism, they could be facing a hefty lawsuit. The film is not funny or narratively identical enough to be classed as a parody or homage to Groundhog Day, and is not inventive or dissimilar enough to be distanced from it.

Its box office success both in the UK and across the pond may warrant a sequel, yet ultimately this is a disappointing insult to both the slasher genre and Ramis’ 1993 classic. Happy Death Day is a lazy, predictable and tedious horror which, unlike its protagonist, I thankfully only had to experience once.

1/5

Live Review: Craig David TS5 WHP

Saturday 4th November, Store Street

The latest instalment of The Warehouse Project saw the dingy underbelly of Piccadilly transformed into an industrial nexus of garage beats.

From the R’n’B overtones of smooth noughties Craig David, to the cutting-edge “lyrical blow to the jaw” dynamism of People Just Do Nothing‘s Kurupt FM, the Store Street car park was a hub of forgotten, fast-paced rhythms.

Reggae mogul David Rodigan brought the energy pre-headliner. With a set list and a vinyl collection boasting kings of the genre, Rodigan has still got what it takes to provoke some serious movement.

Photo: Gemma Parker

After the predictable tracks, yet nonetheless nostalgically exhilarating, of Beenie Man and Ms Dynamite, Rodigan left eager fans with the mellow tones of the ultimate Rastafarian influence, and let ‘Is This Love?’ ring out across the space, seeming to momentarily pause the rupture of aggression, and instil temporary unification between music lovers.

What shortly followed in the form of  an understated solo performance backed only by a laptop was Craig David, leading a music narrative from his early garage start-ups, through his soulful chart success, to the rise of his comeback last year.

Photo: Gemma Parker

It was slightly commercialised and framed by a a cheesy grin, but the vocals were every bit as authentically note-perfect as ever imagined. ‘7 Days’ stole the show, as David relaxed into his comfort zone, satisfyingly riffing his way through each smooth day of that romantic week. *Swoon*.

A post-headline show is often saturated with anti-climactic disinterest, but mockumentary stars and phenominal garage act Kurupt FM changed the game.

Photo: Gemma Parker

High energy, comic timing and lyrical precision brought the well-loved characters from the screen to life, never wavering from the act, but providing an eruption of original ‘pirate’ material. (Pardon the pun.)

MC Grindah and DJ Beats led the group through a visceral attack of lyrical genius, DJ Steves spinning the records in between an outlandish bashment dance routine, which inevitably was met with screams of raucous respect.

It was a Warehouse Project celebration of the garage genre, with the power to remind everyone how much they actually loved the scene, and how special it was to revive it in such an iconic institution of British sub-cultures.

8/10

Review: Duckie

They say that children are true critics. If a show excites them, you’ll hear the giggles of glee and hushed whispers to their friends. However, if something bores them, they’ll have no apprehension in letting you know exactly what they think.

Sitting in Space One at Contact Theatre, I wasn’t surprised by the large amount of young audience members. What I was surprised with, however, was how I was swept along with their genuine laughter and excitement as I was taken on a whimsical, compelling journey about acceptance.

Duckie is a retelling of Han Christian Anderson’s The Ugly Duckling where we follow ‘Duckie’ exploring an animal circus to find a place to belong. Le Gateau Chocolat zips around the stage performing a variety of larger-than-life animals, thrilling the audience with childish antics, and heartily singing Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun.’

Le Gateau Chocolat’s amazing stage presence effortlessly engages with every audience member, young and old. This was complimented with some lovely pantomime-style interactivity, such as silly chants and throwing balls of paper to imaginary circus seals. Le Gateau Chocolat’s abundant energy was successful in bringing to life many exciting and exotic characters, from the muscular lion to the flamboyant flamingos.

It was a particularly impressive feat that the only words spoken are by the disembodied narrative voice or through Le Gateau Chocolat’s beautiful songs, articulating character emotions and plot superbly.

Duckie is a wonderfully fleshed-out character. The outgoing duckling’s obliviousness to his seemingly odd behaviour only adds to the charm exuded in every scene. Le Gateau Chocolat seems to have a personal investment in the character, making the overarching theme of acceptance feel authentic.

The meticulous choices for staging and lighting were also outstanding. The play opens to a dark, gloomy scene, where Le Gateau Chocolat trudges on in rags, pushing a dingy trolley. She then opens a book from her trolley, from which light pours out of and illuminates the glittery face above.

With a magical mood set, Duckie emerges, throwing away the rags covering the stage to unveil suit-cases and lights to which Le Gateau Chocolat performs around. A hula-hoop ring serves as a viewpoint, chapter-checkpoint, and singing space, while an illuminated circular stage gives some interesting levels and helps to create some exciting characters, like casting a shadow for a friendly mouse.

Ultimately, the message is simple — it is fine to be different. I commend Le Gateau Chocolat for teaching children such an important message, especially as it paved the way to challenge discrimination in all its forms.

There were a couple of shortcomings. Timing was a little off in places, and there was a slight danger of the plot becoming repetitive, with some songs seeming out-of-place in the narrative.

Despite this, I will end by referring to the show’s tagline: “Duckie is a show for the entire family, children and the young at heart.” Le Gateau Chocolat’s brilliant performance, innovative use of set, and heart-warming story brought out the child in me, one that was thoroughly entertained by the phenomenal spectacle presented.

Manchester’s Got Busker Talent

A competition to find Manchester’s next big busking talent is underway, and all of Market Street’s a stage.

The 1BlueString campaign, created by 1in6.org, challenges conventional wisdom regarding sexual abuse, raising awareness and bringing support to the “1 in 6 men who have had unwanted sexual experiences, including abuse and assault.”

The 1BlueSting campaign asks guitarists, “at all levels, in all genres,” to replace one of their six strings with a blue string.

To support the campaign, Survivors Manchester asks fellow Mancunians to send a video or link of your favourite local buskers along with the performer’s name and contact details, or of yourself for that matter, to Survivors Manchester via Twitter or Facebook.

A live final will be held on the 19th November, International Men’s Day, at The Printworks. The overall winner will receive £500 in vouchers.

The campaign has already received many great entries so far but Survivors Manchester wants to encourage people from all walks of life to enter the competition.

CEO and founder of Survivors Manchester and survivor himself, Duncan Craig, said: “You only have to walk down Market Street to know that our city is absolutely packed full of musical talent.”

The campaign has been widely supported by people across the arts. Judges of Manchester’ Got Busker Talent, and ambassadors of Survivors Manchester will include “Hollyoaks and Emmerdale actor James Sutton; Edinburgh Fringe Award-winning comedian Richard Gadd; UK’s leading dating industry expert and blogger, Charley Lester; and male rape campaigner and DJ, Sam Thompson, aka BassDuckFresh.”

Steve Walters, retired professional footballer and Gareth Brooks, a previous DJ from XFM, have also come out on social media to support the campaign, whilst music colleges from across the city have shared the campaign, encouraging their own musicians to get on board.

Survivors Manchester thanks those who have supported the campaign and in particular, Fred Booth, centre manager at The Printworks “for hosting the event on Sunday 19th November absolutely free of charge.”

Duncan Craig, a survivor himself says “‘Manchester’s Got Busker Talent’ is our latest campaign to reach new audiences and encourage men and boys to speak out and get the support they need.”

Since creating Survivors Manchester in 2009, Duncan Craig said he’s “massive change over the years on people talking about males being victims of sexual violence”.

“I launched Survivors Manchester in 2009 because I was looking for support in Manchester, and realised there were no services available for male survivors of historical abuse.”

Now, with the support of a team and ambassadors, Survivors Manchester now provides boys and men affected by sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation with a range of services and support.

When asked how working on Survivors Manchester has helped him, Duncan Craig said:

“As a survivor myself, I know how incredibly important it is to be seen and heard and have an outlet to communicate thoughts and feelings — whether that’s in a group or one-on-one, but that isn’t just about talking, it’s about expressing yourself in a healing way — say through music.”

All nominations for “Manchester’s Got Busker Talent” must be received by Friday the 10th of November. Survivors Manchester encourages as many people as possible to support the campaign and help break the silence for male survivors of sexual abuse.

Keeping it cozy: An interview with Paul Famutimi

Nowadays, it’s said that you shouldn’t find a job, you should create one. Paul Famutimi has done just that. I sat down with the budding designer to find out more.

Famutimi, a third year civil engineering student hailing from East London, is all smiles despite the early hour. The idea, he says, has been a long time in the making.

He tells me “It’s been a while since I wanted to go into fashion but I felt like everyone was going into it at the same time. My mums always said I’ve always been the type of person that wanted to dress well and do my own thing, so it makes sense”.

Cozyvert, a brand aimed at ‘cozy introverts’ has gone from strength to strength in the last 12 months.

Of it, he tells me “originally I started off as a trainer resell business. It was exclusive things like Jordans or Supreme. Stuff that you would have to queue up for. That was just to build capital because I didn’t know that I wanted to do clothing straight away, it was a way for me to ease myself in.

“The more I got into the reselling business the more I found out about fashion and people like Virgil Abloh, Samuel Ross. These are people that I think have broken new ground in fashion and they’ve done that through originality and authenticity but I felt like anyone could do that if they put in enough work ”.

Once he’d decided that design was what he wanted to concentrate on, he set to work. He says “around February and March this year I started to do sketches and drawings then I finally decided okay I want to make it a clothing brand, I want to represent a certain lifestyle. I wanted to represent a divergent culture through clothing. Most of the time you can tell what kind of person somebody is by what they’re wearing so I wanted to use the idea of expressing yourself through your clothing”.

“I got a job in June, I was working every day in summer but I started to meet up with models and photographers and managed to get some shoots done then I launched the Instagram page. The more I met people and the more they reacted to the designs, the more confidence I got and the more momentum I built.

“In August I started printing and the printing was tedious because normally you’d send your designs to somebody else but my aunty has a graphic design business so I was literally on the ground doing it myself.

“The more time you put into something like this the more you want to finish it, and obviously, business is not easy, running anything is not easy, starting anything is not easy — you need consistency. I can’t lie, there were dry patches in summer where I was like flat broke and I was like shit. If this doesn’t pop it’s gonna be a letdown.”

Instead of launching a website straight away, Famutimi decided to hold a pop up to display his collection. Whilst innovative, the pop up proved challenging from the get go.

He says “It was like everything that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong. We had a car crash on the way there, it rained heavily the entire day, the posters wouldn’t stick up, the venue changed three days before and it confused people, they couldn’t find the place and they got lost in the northern quarter. The turnout was still good but it could’ve been better”.

However, he takes it all in his stride.

“The vibes were good! People came in off the street, they liked the concept, they liked the introspective parts. For instance, one of my jumpers is based around the idea of ‘fresh off the boat’. It used to be a derogatory term for an immigrant who couldn’t speak English well but now it’s just like fresh. Well-dressed.”

Riding the success of the first pop up, he’s already looking ahead.

When asked what’s next he tells me “Pop up version two. I’m doing a denim collection, I’m doing embroidery, I’m doing t shirts.  I’m aiming for February because exams will have just finished, we’re going into the new semester, everyone is a bit more chilled so I want to capture that.

“I want to shoot an ad campaign as well. Hopefully there’ll be a launch party in London too. We’re trying to show up everywhere and London is my hometown but I feel like Manchester is key for the second one because this is where it all started. This is where I met all my friends and got my inspiration”.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing though. Whilst optimistic he notes “I’ve been doing it on my own, most people who start something like this do it in twos or threes so they can pool resources but I’ve mostly been on my own. It’s like a curse and a blessing at the same time.

“Sometimes I feel like I have to be everywhere at once. The grind has been the best part because it’s not easy but it’s rewarding. It can be painful but you really feel like you have something to prove.”

The official website www.cozyvert.co.uk launches November 10th. But for now, readers looking to find out more can follow the brand on Instagram at cozyvert020 or email Paul directly at [email protected].

Manchester to host postgraduate study fair

A postgraduate study fair will take place in Manchester on the 15th of November at the Manchester Central Convention Centre.

Representatives from over 90 institutions will be at the fair to talk to students about Masters, PhD, and further training opportunities for September 2018.

Now in its 22nd year, the fair is open to any students or graduates from any University, regardless of their year and degree subject.

Tammy Goldfeld, Head of the Careers Service, said: “The Postgraduate Study Fair is an exciting event for students who are thinking about undertaking a Masters, PhD, or another postgraduate qualification. Rather than visiting lots of websites, you can meet with representatives from universities in the UK, Australia, and the USA in one day.

“There is no need to attend the whole event; drop in for as much or as little time as you like. There will be interesting talks as well on funding, loans and choosing the right degree. While postgraduate study is not a pre-requisite for all jobs, it can certainly help students develop knowledge and useful skills.”

George Flesher, a second year American Studies student at the University of Manchester, told The Mancunion: “I’d say that I’m really interested to see what my options are regarding postgraduate study abroad. For me, any information on postgraduate study is really useful because I feel like it isn’t very well advertised.

“It’s assumed that people only even think of postgraduate study in their third year. So, for someone like me who has been considering academia for a while now, it should provide a good insight even at this early stage.”

James Shuttleworth, a third-year Geography student at the University of Manchester, commented that the “information sessions about funding further studies should be really useful in getting the best financial plan for the future.”

Spanning from 11am to 3:30pm, entry at the fair is free and there will be a free bus running from the University of Manchester campus, Dover Street.

Some of the advisory bodies that will be at the fair include FindAMasters.com, FindAPhD.com, PostGraduateStudentships, the US-UK Fulbright Commission, Study Options, and The Australian Trade Commission.

Students can speak to representatives about questions they may have such on topics such as funding, entry requirements and applications, and study abroad opportunities.

 

Review: This Is Not A Safe Space

With the tagline “Benefit cuts are hitting disabled people the hardest” it is hard to know what kind of performance to expect. It turns out it’s comedy. Comedy with purpose.

The Flying Solo festival intends to “celebrate radical solo performance”. The content of Jackie’s work was certainly radical; she immediately addressed taboos which she rightly pointed out are only discussed via Benefits Street.

She befriended the audience from the very first joke. There was a lengthy opening discussion containing lots of disclaimers but this was needed to create an open conversational environment. Some of the most profound moments were when Jackie was simply talking to the audience in a lightly structured, naturally comedic way.

She felt like a real person because of course she is. It is easy for television and even theatre to turn working class life into easy voyeurism. However, Jackie worked as a middle man. Her audience were prepped and ready to laugh during the vignettes of her interviews with “proper skint disabled people” — this is laughing with and not at — meaning our reception was respectful.

We were also prepped for something else. The serious stuff. Jackie didn’t seek to make disabled people seem helpless, nor did she ask for sympathy. She just said it how it was. Her spoken word pieces caused the audience to cheer in support. Her masterful grasp on creating rhythm in the subject matter meant that listening to her was modern day poetry. Poetry because of its beauty and modern day because of its topic. Benefits fraud became something that made a bit of sense and NHS cuts seemed even crueller. She knows how to shine a light where it hurts.

Her BSL interpreter became her comedy duo partner. Many moments of hilarity came from the simple translation of bell-end into sign language. It also highlighted the need for more disabled access in theatres.

One of the things Jackie was correct in noting was the eagerness of theatres to get disabled people into the audience yet most are doing very little to get them on to the stage.

In the Q and A following the show Jackie claimed her work’s title changed from Jumble Soul because she “realised this wasn’t a fluffy show. It was amputee comedy — hard sell”.

It may indeed be difficult to get people through the door but once they’re there they’ll be pleasantly surprised. There is moment after moment of importance. One of the hardest hitting parts was the reclaiming of the PIP form. A form whose very design turns people from humans into boxes to tick or leave blank.

Jackie’s version of a PIP form was beautiful — her re-jigging of the questions turned it from an inhuman measure of value to a human one. Upon leaving the theatre ‘Jackie’s PIP form’ was given to us and reading it only solidified the message we had been lucky to receive in the hour gone by.

Live: St Vincent

St Vincent’s live tour of her new album MASSEDUCTION has seemingly caused a massive divide amongst her audience. I see why when she appears on stage, completely alone with just her guitar and red latex thigh high boots to support her: despite the multilayered sound on her album, only herself and her guitar are live.

Perhaps this is part of her message, that nothing is truly, wholly authentic? Either way, this had audience comments ranging from “she totally bossed it, armed with just a guitar and backing track” to comparisons with Karaoke. Naturally, I had to see for myself.

After mixing up the O2 Ritz and the O2 Apollo, I stumbled in just in time to catch the opening act — which was actually a short “horror” film by St Vincent herself, real name Annie Clark, entitled The Birthday.

It was good. Filmed in her classic LA cynic style, a mother attempts to conceal the death of her husband on the day of her daughters Birthday by stuffing his corpse into a Panda suit, perhaps to protect her daughter from the trauma, perhaps to protect herself from the embarrassment.

The film also features a sexy yet incredibly creepy nanny, who knocks the propped up bear into the birthday cake. The jig is up. I and the rest of the audience laughed out loud at the faux-fearful take on horror, something Clark herself said she couldn’t handle. The too bright pop colours resonated with her new album artwork, perhaps setting us up for what was to come.

The concert itself was equally divisive for me but in a different way. Maybe it in the wake of being so entertained by the film, but I found the first half remarkably underwhelming.

Perhaps a downside of her being solo on stage is that there was very little in the way of visual stimulus. It wasn’t until 40 minutes in, as a black stage curtains are pulled back to reveal a backdrop of a cartoon screaming, fanged woman, that there was something new to look at.

From this point on, however, I got pretty into it: she played the three main hits from her first, self-titled album.

After that triad, SV left the stage for a small break, returning in a new PVC costume, now with added screens of various repetitive clips depicting falsehood and overindulgence. For example, dialling and eventually crushing buttons on a phone that is actually a cake, or SV eating doughnuts with wriggling, pop coloured insects on them.

Musically, this half rocked, and I spent most of it fascinated. The more rock style songs were interspersed with beautiful ballads, including the single ‘New York’.

Another, and the highlight of the concert for me, was ‘Happy Birthday, Johnny’, which gave me chills — which are repeating on me now as I relive it to write my article. This song needed no visual backing — but had only a split second of it, enforcing the line, “of course I blame me.” My heart broke.

The last song of the concert was preceded by a small speech from SV: “Manchester, we live in crazy times… but I hope when the cars crash into one another, when the walls come down, we can all run to each other.” The song then ironically ended with the repetitive final lines “It is not the end.”

I left the concert pensive over the previous year. Trump elected president, terrorist attacks everywhere; indeed these are crazy times, and SV’s album attempts to call attention to the mass-seduction that stops us complaining, panem et circenses style.

I wonder whether her addition of screens in the second half is to prove her point: I wasn’t really interested until there was some visual stimulus “selling” her concert to me. Whether St Vincent was getting across her point or falling victim to it, I’m unsure.

But the fact it left me questioning what I had just watched is, I suppose, a good start.

Review: Hedda Gabler

Ibsen’s classic, Hedda Gabler — a play about chaos, power, and freedom — came to the Lowry Theatre in a modern adaptation by Patrick Marber, in association with the National Theatre.

The play centres around the titular Hedda, a headstrong and wild woman who has just returned from her honeymoon — six long months alone with her academic and single-minded husband, Tesman, whom she can hardly stand. She is the centrepiece as the actions of the supporting cast whirl and spiral rapidly around her. Her desire for control and freedom sets in motion events that she ultimately loses total control of.

The staging of this production, directed by Tony Award-winning Ivo van Hove, is the first thing you notice. The stage is vast — and, amazingly, the sound of the actors’ voices still carries with absolute clarity. We see a large room, in which the whole play is set — the new, expensive home of Hedda and Tesman. It is barren, yet simultaneously oppressive.

Altogether, the staging is brilliant — and I take my hat off to the set designer. The cast seem to flee to the edges of it — as if to hide. Every single part of the sparsely laid-out space plays its part. On top of this, harsh and angular lighting casts long, dark shadows across the stage, often showing one character looming over another.

Hedda, performed compellingly by Lizzy Watts, moves about the stage tormentedly; body twisting and contorting even in some of the more relaxed scenes. It gives a sense of how trapped and maddened she feels — brought on by Hedda’s privilege and her regret at where she’s ended up.

She’s quietly vindictive, calmly weaving chaos and disquiet, playing people off one another — but never fully acknowledging the ultimate consequences of her actions.

The play had a great, dark humour to it, making the audience laugh soon after it makes them gasp. Many of the most poignant and most important lines stay with you for being amusing too. “My calling is to bore myself to death!” Hedda cries, as her husband arrives — “And here is my assistant”.

Watts was backed up by a strong supporting cast — including the brilliant but fragile Lovborg, played by Richard Pyros, manipulative Brack, played by Adam Best, and busybody Aunt Juliana, portrayed by Christine Kavanagh.

However, the production was let down somewhat by Annabel Bates’s Thea. An important character in the play, Hedda is threatened by Thea and acts to ruin her happiness. However, her portrayal was a little stunted, disappearing among the powerful characters around her.

Much of the play came across as lacking in emotion. Perhaps this was intentional — showing how Hedda’s search for meaning is futile, that nobody really cares about her discontent, even to offset the emotional instability of its main character. However, there were tragic and charged moments that just seemed to fall a bit flat. In particular, I never really believed the occasional rages of Tesman.

Hedda Gabler was compelling, shocking, and leaves many questions unanswered. It runs at The Lowry Theatre until Saturday.

How to find your new student home with just a tap on an app

When it comes to finding a new student home, the process is inevitably daunting. My first experience trying to find a house for six was messy and involved a lot of scrambling around by all of us. With my first experience being quite stressful, I really wanted to make the process of finding a house for third year, as smooth as possible.

I came across ‘Bubble Student’ through an advert on Facebook surprisingly and am very glad that I clicked on it. ‘Bubble Student’ is an app that can be used on your iPhone or Android to quickly and easily find student properties near you all whilst sharing it with the other people in your future home.

When searching through properties, you are able to see which of them have also been liked by your friends. After the search process, you can share them in a group chat with you future housemates and discuss which ones are best.

Additionally, after a let is decided, you can use the app to communicate with the letting agency or landlord to bring up any maintenance issues whilst residing in the property.

I found the process the complete opposite of my precious experience and extremely useful when some of my friends were not all at the same place at once. Booking viewings meant literally just tapping your screen a few times and meant I didn’t have to designate too much time away from university work or my social life to organise it.

What really impressed me was that the app was invented by fellow students who had seen how tumultuous the process of finding a student house was. The simplicity of the app really shows that the founders understood the difficulties student face in this process and chose to help the student community. The app can be used in over 20 U.K. cities including Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Birmingham.

To make things even more interesting, ‘Bubble Student’ currently have a competition offering a year of free rent! The only condition is that you find your new house using the app. For those frightened of the prospect of house searching, this app is the answer to your problems.

Find the competition here on the app’s Facebook page.

5 Great Local Multiplayer Games

Ever since online multiplayer developed to become a staple of big-budget games, local multiplayer has become somewhat of a rarity.

Sadly, including a split-screen or same-screen mode simply isn’t as worthwhile to developers as it used to be — why bother with letting multiple people enjoy a copy of your game when online multiplayer ensures many will buy their own?

This doesn’t mean the feature is dead; dominating the competition online is all very well and good, but nothing quite beats seeing the look of hopelessness on your friend’s face in real-time as you get your 7th win in a row on FIFA.

After three years in student accommodation, and more time playing video games with my housemates than I’d care to mention, I’ve acquired a pretty good library of local multiplayer games. In no particular order, here are five of the best:

Trials: Fusion
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360

Photo: RedLynx

Trials: Fusion is a platform racing game which supports up to four players locally, and, like all of the games on this list, uses same-screen multiplayer — so there’s no need to worry about those annoyingly small split-screen windows.

The base game offers a decent selection of multiplayer tracks for you to play, but thanks to Trials’ support of user-generated content, there is a vast library of fan-made tracks to keep things fresh.

The dirtbike-based gameplay is delightfully intuitive, and the way the scoring system is set up — players lose points if they lag behind enough to fall offscreen — leads to plenty of intensely competitive moments.

SpeedRunners
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360

Photo: tinyBuild

SpeedRunners is, in essence, the same concept as Trials: players race against each other, attempting to gain a lead big enough to force your opponents off of the screen. The difference is that instead of bikers, SpeedRunners sees you play as superheroes who swing and slide across a variety of cityscape obstacle courses.

The races are always incredibly fun, made twice as enjoyable by the fact you can mess with your opponents using a variety of Mario Kart-esque power-ups such as rockets, grappling hooks and freeze-rays.

Couple this with the nail-biting sudden death mode, which sees the last two remaining players of every round race remaining inside an increasingly-small screen, and you have a local multiplayer experience that’s packed with memorable moments.

Towerfall: Ascension
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

Photo: Matt Makes Games

One hallmark of a great local-multiplayer game is its ability to take a group of people who very much like each other and reduce them to red-faced children, bitter in defeat and undignified in victory. This is truer of Towerfall: Ascension than any other title I can recall — a game which, over the two year period it reigned over my student house, wreaked havoc on our housemate relations.

Towerfall is a retro-looking indie game designed specifically for local multiplayer. It sports a great co-op campaign mode, but for us, the fun was always in the competitive deathmatches, in which up to four players compete in a bow and arrow battle royale.

With enough practice, your battles evolve to have more thrill and intricacy than you’d think possible with 8-bit graphics — you can catch your enemy’s arrows from the air, or even steal them right out of their quiver if you can get close enough.

Towerfall boasts the accessibility and immediacy of an arcade game, yet manages to retain an impressive level of depth to its gameplay — a must buy for any local-multiplayer enthusiast.

Gang Beasts
PC, PS4 (2018)

Photo: Double Fine Productions

Gang Beasts is a silly beat-em-up game with a very simple premise: be the last person standing. The game offers some amusing combat across a variety of memorable levels ranging from a cluster of icebergs to the top of speeding trucks. Whether it’s icy water, meat grinders, or a pit of fire, there’s always something to comically throw your opponents into.

Rarely do you come across a game that’s almost as fun to watch as it is to play; but with its guaranteed laughs and short, fast-paced games, Gang Beasts is definitely one of them.

Quiplash
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Photo: Jackbox Games

Quiplash is very different to the other titles on this list; for one, you don’t use a controller to play it. Instead, up to eight people can connect through a browser on their phone or mobile device. The game works sort of like Cards against Humanity for your TV; each round, people anonymously submit answers to questions (e.g. “What did Adam think the first time he saw Eve?”) then at the end of the round the answers are revealed and everyone votes on the funniest one.

This one is probably the best party game on the list, as it requires zero gaming skill or knowledge. Perfect for when you’re hosting a large group, and the reasonably long list of potential questions ensures it stays interesting even after hours of play.

Will December’s election call an end to the Catalan chaos?

Catalonia’s fight for independence has catapulted Spain into its most devastating political crisis for half a century.

Not only does an election present a chance to make Madrid’s nightmare of handing over a clear victory to the independence movement and legitimising the chaotic Spanish-split, it’s also a superficial and short-term fix. The earthquake has happened, and papering over the cracks will not work.

Catalonia is an autonomous region of north-east Spain consisting of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Terragona. With its own language and distinct culture, Catalonia accounts for 16 percent of Spain’s population — 7.5 million people — and 19 percent of the national GDP, making it one of Spain’s wealthiest regions. Calls for independence became more clamorous in certain circles following the global economic downturn as Catalans felt disproportionately impacted by cuts and economic hardship across Spain.

On 9 June 2017, the Catalan government announced their intention to hold an independence referendum on the 1st of October 2017. Put plainly, this referendum was illegal and unconstitutional: while Spain’s democratic constitution, as approved by 90 percent of Catalan voters, provides extensive autonomy to the devolved regions. It strongly affirms “the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation”. Nevertheless, the referendum was a reality and Spain had to decide on its strategy.

With a majority vote in favour of independence at a 43 percent turnout, the Catalonian parliament declared independence on the 27th of October. This was swiftly followed by the triggering of Article 155 by the central Spanish government, dismissing Catalonia’s secessionist government and calling a regional election on the 21st of December.

With the ex-president of Catalonia, Puigdemont, currently seeking refuge in Brussels and the Spanish Prime Minister, Rajoy, dealing with the consequences of the world witnessing his thuggish Guardia Civil dragging elderly voters by their hair from polling stations, it is clear neither side is free of blame.

A mere ‘declaration’ of independence does not constitute true independence, it never has, never will. Democracies depend upon the sanctity of the rule of law, not to mention common courtesy and dialogue.  The separatists of Catalan simply ignored this.

Division in the region reflected this — while some took their chances at voting, others boycotted and protested in favour of a united Spain. King Felipe criticised the referendum for “erod[ing] the harmony and co-existence within Catalan society itself, managing, unfortunately, to divide it”.

However the true nature of this “harmony and co-existence” remains debatable. For centuries, Catalonian language and culture has been downtrodden by Spanish rule.

It wasn’t until the death of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975 that a cultural-resurgence and the calls for Catalonian independence begun. This underlying tug-of-war has been apparent for years and it is the responsibility of the central government in Madrid to ensure that the system of devolving powers gives just the right amount of autonomy if it is serious about keeping Spain united.

In an increasingly globalised world, the emotional pull of nationalism and pro-independence movements is irresistible — a heady-brew. The desire to put the brakes on, and assert one’s own identity is a natural reaction to a world that feels increasingly out of one’s control.  However, if we have learnt anything from Brexit, it is that a ‘look before you leap’ policy is highly advisable.

In the end , no one will be able to curb the desire for true self-determination if that is what Catalonia really wants, and neither should they. In my view, Spain should have employed a more dignified and ultimately more effective tactic. As nerve-wracking as it may have been, Spain should have forced itself to simply look away while those who wanted to vote did, steadfastly maintaining their moral standing.

In the days after the vote, a heartfelt acknowledgement, not of Catalonian independence, but of the urgent need for dialogue may well have spoken to those on both sides of the argument who, ever since, have been protesting together, wearing white, and pleading for civility.

Spain, it seems, could not hold its nerve. Rather than entering rational and peaceful dialogue with Catalonia, Rajoy denied the most basic democratic right of all: the right to vote, or as the Catalonian slogan puts it, “the right to decide”.

Its appallingly violent sabotage of the peaceful act of voting, and its equally self-degrading attempts to brand what we all witnessed as ‘fake news’ — where have we heard that before — has been hard to watch. They have managed to bulldoze any notion that consensus may be achieved. In trying so hard to adhere to the constitution, Spain has rendered it meaningless to so many.

Where before there existed shared values and much common ground, there is now a hardening of attitudes. Trust itself has been attacked, like so many optimistic voters.

For these reasons, it is the Spanish government that bears the greatest responsibility for this chaos, and a snap-election nor the imposition of direct rule will magically correct these wrongdoings. Much could go wrong before December 21st, as the cat-and-mouse game between Madrid and Catalonia’s independence movement enters a new chapter.

Ultimately, only once the Spanish government addresses the pervasive social and economic grievances impacting Catalonia can the unity of Spain be saved. But for now, this seems a distant ambition.

Remastering and Box-setting

photo: siamesepuppy @ flickr

Ever find yourself falling into the familiar pattern of having blitzed through your last batch of games, looking at your calendar and realising that you’ve still got practically another year to wait for the next E3? It can sometimes feel like this is becoming the case more and more these days, with certain developers or specific franchises simply churning out the next title without you really feeling like it’s anything truly new.

It’s a painful moment when you’ve been waiting for the next instalment of your favourite series, only to find out that for the most part, it’s simply a rehashing of the previous masquerading as something new.

The wait for that next flurry of announcements or releases feels extraordinarily long. Half-Life 3 long. So much so that even the love-hate relationship we have with waiting for that next game to being confirmed, has often lost its sense of excitement and anticipation.

Some of the most telling examples of this pattern are Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed. The presence of these game series is still undeniable, as even your nan has most likely heard you mention the phrase ‘COD’ or wondered why you started doing parkour in the garden at some point in your life. However, their reputation seems to have dwindled as of late.

The height of these respective franchises came between 2011 and 2012, a period during which both series had rejuvenated their sequels, with Assassin’s Creed III selling approximately 13 million copies, whilst Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops II raked in a respectable 12 million copies each in their first week of launch.

After this peak, both series have seen a drop in sales, with Advanced Warfare selling around 7 million and AC: Syndicate suffering a staggering drop to a mere 4 million. The decline was seen not only in a commercial sense but crucially in the critical reception of these games as well, with both series suffering a dip in praise and review scores.

Luckily for us, there seems to be an area of the industry that is filling the void left behind when these games fall short of the mark and leave us waiting for the next one to do better. The answer is the remaster and furthermore, the box-set, both of which take gaming audiences on a trip down memory lane whilst offering a distraction from the annual release of often sub-par titles.

In layman’s terms, both do what they say on the tin: one brings that classic title that you’ve sat with for years — or, equally, haven’t touched in an offensively long time — into the current generation of gaming; the other simply compiles them into one tidy and slightly updated package.

There is a degree of overlap between these two types of release, as a collection typically consists of remastered titles from a previous generation. For instance, many examples in the past year alone include Batman: Return to Arkham, Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, The BioShock Collection, and — my personal favourite — Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

This is not to say that collections are a new thing — I even remember nicking a copy of the Die Hard Collection for PlayStation 1 from an unfortunate uncle — but in regards to remastered collections specifically, there seems to have been a resurgence in recent years.

When trying to nail down why the remaster itself works so well, the best way I could rationalise it was in comparing it to that go-to passive TV series that we’ve all watched over 9000 times, yet we still whack it on when we’re tidying up, writing that upcoming essay or even a gaming article!

Perhaps the most notable examples are the likes of Skyrim, Goldeneye 007, and COD 4. These are games that defined their respective generations of gaming and picking them back up offers both the comfort in knowing what to expect when you load the game up and the benefit of looking like a pro when you boss through every level as if you were doing speed-run.

Moreover, this experience is mirrored in collections also: playing through the best hits of a series and knowing that they will deliver. It’s a strange kind of solace that offers us respite from that torturous headspace in which we pray for the next release to be as good the last and worth the cash, although as I mentioned, the wait might not factor into it as much these days.

This then brings us back to issue of annual releases and how they’ve affected the modern gaming audiences. When we look back to the likes of AC III or COD: MW3 and Black Ops II; there is one key difference between these games and those that followed in their franchise: The short answer is simply production time.

Despite the annual release model—or as I call it: the ‘rush-it-out’ policy—having already become a staple in the AAA franchises, these games excelled in comparison to the later instalments because they benefitted from an extra year in production. Games that fit into the franchises’ anthology might be released in between, but direct sequels are the bread and butter of a series.

For Call of Duty, it was the alternating between teams of developers each year (Infinity Ward releasing one whilst Treyarch starts on the next) that allowed for these sequels to have a solid 2 years or more in production. More time, more polish.

In Ubisoft’s case it was simply a matter of noting that the 2 years between the debut Assassin’s Creed title and its sequel allowed for sufficient time to correct the mistakes made in the first game and innovate the series — it is no coincidence then that it is the first in its franchise’s collection — and so they simply did it again, beginning the third game only 2 months after its predecessor’s release.

Remasters and box-sets are more than just filler in between instalments of a series: they symbolise a time when games were released when they were ready, not just in time for the next holiday. They seem to be a reactionary move from developers in response to players’ disillusionment with new releases in general, which seem to have mistaken the annual release policy as a central to success.

This could even be a pre-emptive move on the part of game studios. If the remaster and the box-set is something they know has a place in the market — especially when a particular series is on a bad run of form — this type of release acts as a fall-back; a failsafe for when the next game isn’t received so well.

Maybe they have acquiesced with the reality that you might not always want to fork out 50 quid every time a game is dropped, especially when you suspect it has been rushed to its release date at the expense of quality. Instead, you might be more likely to part with a similar amount of your hard-earned credits/gold — whatever the in-game currency is in real life — on a bundle of games that are better value for money, even if there are a few more forgettable titles in there.

The positive we might take from this is that it at least suggests that developers are becoming aware of the detrimental effects of annual releases and might have realised what it is was that made their standout games within a series tick: more time, more polish.

BFI London Film Festival – Highlights

The 61st annual BFI London Film Festival which headlined some great new films such as Andy Serkis’ direction debut Breathe starring Andrew Garfield, Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster) returns with the crippling dark comedy The Killing of Sacred Deer, and Cate Blanchett stuns in 13 different roles in Manifesto (director Julian Rosenfeldt). But with over 15 different cinemas involved and countless screenings across London per day, take some time to check out the films you may have missed:

Lucky

Harry Dean Stanton’s final performance is one not to be missed. A disgruntled cowboy facing meditations of death and life make this a sad, but fond farewell to the great and understated actor.

Featuring a bizarre, but always welcome appearance from David Lynch, who plays an old friend who has lost his pet tortoise, subtly speaks to the enchanting performance Stanton gave in the the recent season of Twin Peaks. It is wonderful to see an actor who had typically made the smaller roles he played feel massive, fully embody a leading role for the second, and sadly final time.

This is a film about death, but also how to deal with death. The comedic elements are not only given as lighter relief to its darker themes, but offer up the solution in dealing with the end of the road. Lucky is a fitting tribute to Stanton and to life in generally. Stanton plays the character Lucky, in this film called Lucky, but after watching Lucky it is you who will feel, very lucky indeed.

The Wound

An exploration into a South African ritual called “initiation” in which young men embark on a passage to manhood, through tribal circumcision, isolation from their families and the outside world, and shouting “I am a man!” to their elder tribesmen., and the societies complex relationship to homosexuality in these communities.

The film’s leading men are dealing with their homosexuality in a society which shuns this from everyday dialogue. Featuring a fascinating post screening Q&A from the films South African director John Trengove, and the films star Nakhane Touré, it became clear that homosexuality in these communities was a common and acknowledged fact, but was repressed and hidden beneath the surface. Both Trengove and Toure, both whom are gay themselves, expressed the significance of screening The Wound in communities who do not talk about the sexual activities of some of its men, adopting a simply “We know it happens, but we don’t talk about it!” attitude.

Trengove spoke of the exciting reach and momentum this film was gathering in rural communities in South Africa which would not normally have access to films exploring such topics – tragic, when they express real emotions, complexities and dilemmas in these places. An exciting move for localised film screenings, and a fascinating insight into these unique, but universally understood, communities.

Ana, Mon Amour

This tender tale from Romanian director Diana Cavallioti tells the story of two lovers, Ana and Toma, struggling to keep their relationship together in the face of Ana’s (played by Diana Cavallioti) depression and mental health issues, as well as the stigmas which go alongside. Although a complex structure was made even more unreadable by some strange editing choices, Cavallioti’s performance was encapsulating and the film delivered a fascinating, philosophical insight into various ways of dealing with mental illness.

As a multi-faceted exploration into ways of dealing with mental illness, pharmaceutical medicine, religion and therapy were considered as ways of dealing with it, all within the backdrop of complicated family structures and traditions in Romania. Cavallioti brought this up during the post screen Q&A, remarking on the dynamics of Romanian families and the pressures put on the next generations children, which was conveyed through some of the dilemmas Toma inherits and negotiates throughout the film.

Although the film suffers from a convoluted plot and unconventional narrative structure, this was an emotional delve into the personal and sociological impact of mental health.

Thoroughbreds

My personal highlight of the festival is a dark and bitter one. Walking the line between black comedy and psychological thriller, this stunning and immersive spectacle will leave you laughing and shivering in equal measure. Sublimely satisfying, Thoroughbreds is like a modern day Les Diaboliques, but takes some darker turns as these two young girls plot to get their revenge on a sadistic man.

Amanda (played by the incredibly talented Olivia Cooke) claims she has never before felt emotion, she pretends to cry, care and love but in the end her creepiness is overtaken by the sinister and sadistic core of her preppy, rich, angel faced childhood friend Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) who leches onto Amanda’s suggestion to kill her manipulative step-father.

The captivating blunt delivery of some excellent scripting, along with an eerily tense score carries what might otherwise be an average narrative. But this an an above average film, celebrating complex, creepy, and unconventional female characters. The film takes some dark turns – and although the cinematography is stunning, the girls performances is enough to keep you gripped.

G Funk

Written and directed by Karam Gill, this documentary speaks to the rise of ‘G Funk’, the groovy, hybrid subgenre of Hip-hop. Featuring interviews from Ice Cube, Russell Simmons and more, Gill tells the story of G Funk’s primary pioneers, Warren G, Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg.

Touching on the emergence of the infamous East-West coast rivalry, G Funk fills the gap in the history of Hip-hop, and gives a interesting perspective on the development of Hip Hop culture – as it became less about the aggressive, politically charged, punching beats of N.W.A and Public Enemy, about more, as Snoop says, chilling out, smooth flows and riding around L.A with something to ‘kick back’ to.

Battle of the Sexes

An inspirational delight and a fist punch to the air for women everywhere. The story of the famous tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carrell) couldn’t avoid being predictable, but its successes truly lie in its illuminating of the universal frustrations of women trying to succeed in life and at work in the face of relentless, normalized and institutionalized sexism (which unfortunately seems ever more prominent considering recent, Weinstein-related events).

Also brought to centre stage – or should I say centre court – was King’s personal fight for LGBTQ rights, and her discovery of a perpetual double burden of inequality at her time. Despite the almost comedic caricature-esque villainy of Riggs, it was Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman) who represented the real bad-guy.

Although beating a still undeniably funny, foot stomping, puppy-like Carrell might seem a small victory in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately the theme of childish, self proclaimed “chauvinistic male pigs” in power is still as prominent in today’s society (we might only look toward Mr Trump and Mr Weinstein for examples of this). Battle of the Sexes feels hugely welcome in moments such as this.