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Month: November 2017

Live Review: Neck Deep

Written by Ciaran McLaughlin on . Posted in Music.

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.

8/10

Live Review: Harry Styles

Written by Yasmin Duggal on . Posted in Music.

Well, who’d have thought it? A manufactured talent from a pop competition turned 1/5 of the world’s biggest boy band, now creating a spectacle of rock’n’rollsy folk with a hip-sway to rival Mick Jagger?

*Cue snort of derision*, but believe it or not, Harry Styles is a credible, charismatic artist in his own right, and brought not only incredible vocals but a spectacularly vintage showmanship to Manchester on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles-based rockers Muna took to the stage pre-Styles. Think a pop-rock mash-up of Haim, The 1975 and Fleetwood Mac.

The energy was high, and dancing was groovy, pre-empting Harry’s set with a soulfulness plucked from the 70s, folk entwined into the mix with a cover of Stevie Nicks’ ‘Edge of Seventeen’.

It wasn’t all jiving and suave struts for Styles; though his entrance was anything but downplayed, the beginning of his set was mellow and understated.

It was unclear whether it was an introduction of cool detachment or an artistic stunt to elevate the shock factor of his Rolling Stones mid-section.

Either way, ‘Ever Since New York’ and ‘Two Ghosts’ provided a subtle intro to an artist who has stripped back the razzle-dazzle of the fame to reveal a real guy, intent on relaying honesty and soul through his debut.

There were no frills on it, just Haz, a guitar and a tight four-piece, lyrically moseying their way through the country which saturated Styles’ performative direction.

The easy Deep South ‘Carolina’ and intimate ‘Sweet Creature’ followed, after which came a switch up of Harry Styles’ rock-extravaganza. Smooth moves, quick banter and jazzy transitions escalated his performance tenfold.

‘Only Angel’ and ‘Woman’ were a whirlwind of 60s rock’n’roll, sexed-up, lad-about-town fun, oozing some serious electric edge.

Covers were the least dynamic parts of the set, though a version of Ariana Grande’s ‘Just a Little Bit of Your Heart’, which Styles wrote himself, touched hearts in Manchester.

Fans held up their bees in solidarity, poignant as both Muna and Styles thanked the crowd for the bravery they showed coming to a gig.

A couple of 1D songs weren’t completely necessary, as his solo material needs no support from his musical history.

But modernising and Styles-ing ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ to fit his own country agenda was a smart move, and it paid off.

The encore brought with it a flawless cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, as recently performed in the Radio 1 Live Lounge. Darkly folksy, it was clear to see Styles’ adoration for rock predecessors; this intrinsic ear for rock is deep-rooted in our Haz.

‘Sign Of The Times’ was always going to be the showstopper. Seemingly removed from the rest of the set, the track saw Styles and the band crescendo in a beautifully simplistic chorus of musical wonder – the perfect moment.

It was sultry, it was effortlessly cool and it was his own; looks like going solo was the best decision Harry ever made. That, and flares.

Wednesday 1st November 2017, O2 Apollo Manchester

9/10

University to avoid 140 compulsory redundancies

Written by Alex Whitcomb on . Posted in News.

The University of Manchester have announced that there have been enough voluntary redundancies to avoid compulsory redundancies in three faculties.

Vice Chancellor and President, Dame Nancy Rothwell, used her weekly statement to staff to confirm that the “Voluntary Severance (VS) Scheme” had received enough responses to ensure that no members staff will be forced to take redundancies.

The news will affect academic staff in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, and the Alliance Manchester Business School.

The University had previously said that 140 posts were at risk of forced redundancy.

Dame Nancy Rothwell, Photo: EuroScience Open Forum

Professor Rothwell’s statement says: “it will not be necessary to introduce a compulsory redundancy process in these areas and staff are no longer ‘at risk’ of redundancy.”

“All staff in these areas and the trade unions have been informed of this position.”

The Vice-Chancellor also used the message to update staff on various initiatives the University is involved in — including the Russell Group, and praised the announcement by UNESCO that Manchester was announced as a Global City of Literature.

“It was wonderful to learn that Manchester has joined the UNESCO global network of cities of literature, in a process led by colleagues in SALC and partners across the city.”

Photo: Fuse TV

The news comes after the Manchester branch of the University and College Union (UCU) voted 86.7 percent in favour of strike action against the redundancies, which took place last month.

UCU member staff have also been “working to contract” while not on strike, in protest at proposed cuts to academic staff.

UMUCU responded with the following statement to their members: “We are delighted to see today’s announcement on StaffNet that the Senior Leadership Team will not be seeking permission from the Board of Governors for compulsory redundancies in FBMH, SALC and AMBS. However, two PSS staff colleagues in FSE have not, as yet, been redeployed and still face compulsory redundancy.

“Therefore, our dispute is not over and we ask UMUCU members to continue working to contract while we and the UCU North West Regional Official seek further information about the future of our PSS colleagues.”

You can watch Fuse TV’s report from the UCU demonstrations here.

Review: Hollie McNish & Jackie Hagan at the Manchester Literature Festival

Written by Laura Swain on . Posted in Books.

The evening of Thursday the 19th October was particularly wet and cold, but spirits were not dampened as people arrived with eager anticipation for an evening of poetry with Hollie McNish and Jackie Hagan at Manchester’s Central Library. Decorated with fairy lights, the library’s performance space provided an intimate setting for the sold-out Manchester Literature Festival event.

To begin the evening, host Naomi Frisby (The Writes of Woman) informed the audience of the layout of the event, before introducing Jackie Hagan’s colourful set.

The poet, playwright and comedian, instantly put the audience at ease and set the tone for the evening as she took what remained in the bottle of wine her and McNish had been given and urged the audience to pass it around and take “a swig”. This communal act had a similar effect that performance poetry does in uniting the room in a shared experience, beginning what will be a night of informality and laughter.

Hagan introduced her first poem of the evening by describing her encounter with an old woman called Edna she met in hospital when having her leg amputated in 2013, who looked “like a threadbare tennis ball with eyes”.

Hagan’s comical, yet meaningful advice poem, You Can’t See Through Another Man’s Eyelids, captured what she has learnt so far on her journey and touches on how her amputation caused her to gain perspective on life. Initially embarrassed about her prosthetic leg, Hagan now actively embraces it, calling it her “glorified stick” and adorning it in glitter and lights.

In her chatty Liverpudlian accent, Hagan also explored ideas surrounding class and poverty, approaching the subject from what she believes is an “uncommon” view, and took her ten years of writing to write about.

Her fierce use of humour teamed with passionate insight about working-class life is portrayed in her brilliant delivery of her poem: I am Not Daniel Blake, a new poem from her solo show This is Not a Safe Space which she will be performing at Manchester’s Contact Theatre later this month.

The set ended with the audience in hysterics as Hagan performed “stump puppetry”, taking a marker pen and drawing eyes on her stump. For her finale, she then downed a glass of wine from her prophetic leg, winning Mancunian approval.

Jackie Hagan’s set seemed like a hard act to follow, but as the host, Naomi, admitted as she introduced Hollie McNish, she cannot think of any poet better able to follow, other than Hollie. McNish’s debut collection

McNish’s debut collection Nobody Told Me was the winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2016 and its honest discussion of motherhood is perhaps why many of the audience were present. However, McNish this evening instead read from her new collection Plum.

Plum, the first of McNish’s works to be published by Picador, merges her recent writings and memories with poetry she wrote as a teenager- conflating the past and the present in a candid look at life and the discoveries that are made as one grows up.

Like Hagan, McNish was instantly likeable, addressing the audience like a close friend with a casual “Hiya”. A poem on hand jobs fittingly called Yanking begins McNish’s set, based on growing up aged 14 and dedicated to a friend who, McNish joked, gave a hand job that resulted in a trip to hospital.

Compelling honesty of personal experiences and memories from childhood to attempted adulthood accompanied by a natural humour are what allows the works to be highly accessible. The audience is not alienated by the personal content of the poems in the collection but instead invited to relate and celebrate the ups and downs that occur as we discover ourselves and the ways of the world.

The pressure to fit social norms is a theme that runs through many of the poems. McNish’s performance of Beautiful was particularly powerful and left the audience in silent contemplation. In the poem, McNish questions ”what they mean by beautiful” as her friends discuss and compare themselves to “The beauty of Victoria Beckham”, struggling to accept their own natural body, and embrace the unmaterialistic beauty that McNish believes exists in the world.

McNish’s then performs Aspiration — a poem fuelled by her recognition that watching Grand Designs and witnessing people being told they were brave for paying for a barn conversion was making her feel like a “total f-ing failure”. McNish may not “write in order to be funny”, but one cannot help but laugh frequently throughout the reading of the collection.

At the end of the evening, the rush to the merchandise stand indicated the effect the poets had upon the audience. The evening seemed too short with the audience left wanting to hear more from the two poets, who luckily stay to chat and sign books.

The truly powerful performance poetry of Hollie McNish and Jackie Hagan is made accessible through the friendly relationship they form with the audience. Sharing their brutally honest personal views and sometimes embarrassing or uncomfortable experiences, both address social issues, whilst encouraging that life should be celebrated.

Preview: Louder than Words Festival returns to Manchester

Written by Ayesha Hussain on . Posted in Books.

Next weekend Louder than Words returns for the fifth time this year to celebrate the essential relationship between Writing and Music; “celebrating words: oral, written, and published”.

The festival boasts a diverse lineup with something for anyone with a love for music, with a lens drawn upon the way in which words complement it. The festival draws important music personalities to Manchester, promotes the craft of music-writing, conducts interviews and Q&As and has had audiences watching the likes of Brix Smith-Start to Steve Ignorant.

This year, the weekend begins with Jah Wobble of Public Image Limited in conversation with uber-Mod, Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson, before the party gathers in the bar to enjoy a can or two of Revolutions Brewing Co.’s Louder Than Words Ale!

Saturday’s highlights include Rat Scabies talking about life in The Damned, Steve Ignorant of Crass, Horace Panter (The Specials), original punk Jordan, Pete Wylie of The Mighty Wah! and Celeste Bell talking about her late mother, X-Ray Spex’ Poly Styrene.

On Sunday, take your pick from Paul Hanley talking about the rollercoaster world of The Fall, Miles Hunt of The Wonderstuff in conversation, Mickey Bradley of The Undertones, and Robert Forster talking about life in 80s sensations The Go-Betweens.

Across the weekend there are panels talking about everything from the club scene and the vinyl revival to black female voices in Manchester music.

Louder Than Words also celebrates future voices, with a continuing focus on the role of education in music and journalism, welcoming back the Slam Poetry workshop team and involving students as volunteers and panellists. The Wilko Johnson Writing Award will make a welcome return, celebrating young music writers under 25.

Dates: November 10-12 2017

Place: The Principal Hotel, Oxford Road, Manchester, M60 7HA

Tickets: Tickets are available here and can be bought as as weekend passes, day passes, or event tickets, ranging from £7 for an event to £65 for a pass to the whole three-day weekend (£59 early bird).

The festival is co-curated by Jill Adam and John Robb.

Manchester named UNESCO City of Literature

Written by Ayesha Hussain on . Posted in Books.

Manchester has been successful in its bid to become part of UNESCO’s worldwide Creative Cities network as a UNESCO City of Literature. Our city, will join Dublin, Baghdad, Barcelona and Reykjavik, and many others in the global network. The bid was endorsed by the Royal Society of Literature and the English Association.

It was successfully coordinated by many people from The University of Manchester, including Dr Jerome De Groot, Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Literature, Chair of Manchester Literature Festival; Manchester Metropolitan University, including Carol Anne Duffy DBE, Professor of Contemporary Poetry; Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester City Council, and a powerhouse of artists, writers and publishers.

Manchester has a colourful and thriving literary scene, being the home to three historical libraries: The Portico, John Rylands and Chetham’s libraries.

It is home to prolific publishers Carnacet and Comma Press, and authors such as Burgess and Gaskell. The city also has an unmatched live literature scene, with numerous spoken word initiatives being pursued, book launches, author talks, and festivals such as The Manchester Literature Festival, where we extend invitations to numerous critically acclaimed authors, year upon year.

The creative writing community and our two outstanding schools: The University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing and the MMU’s Manchester Writing School have contributed immeasurably to keeping the buzz of literary creativity alive.

Following the appointment of the new Manchester City of Literature status, plans to promote collaboration within the local and global literary community have been drawn up. The bid’s committee have proposed plans for a new writer’s hub and outreach initiatives to support writing.

Jeanette Winterson, Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing says:

“Manchester has always transformed things…it has energy that nowhere else in the British Isles has and it brings that to its creativity…If ever there is a place that is the city of the future, it’s Manchester. This is a city that’s got heritage, it’s got the past, but also the future — why would you want to live anywhere else when you could live in this exciting present. This is the right city, at the right time (to be) a UNESCO heritage city”

Manchester is a thriving hub of innovative writing and creativity, and this new status will only serve to strengthen this already, very radically rich culture.

Live Review: Capital FM – Monster Mash-up

Written by Blanca Herreros De Tejada Lobo on . Posted in Music.

When going to a techno concert, you go there, well… for the music. Capital FM, however, aimed to make ‘Monster Mash-up’ much more than this. Their Halloween themed party, besides having an outstanding lineup, offered its showgoers a whole new level of entertainment. They claim to have organized “the biggest and greatest Halloween party of the UK”. Let me just say: they kept their promise.

The concert lasted 5 hours in total. However, if you ask me, I will tell you that this felt like no more than three. Between the main acts, Marvin Humes performed, giving the concert the perfect flow, avoiding attendees becoming anywhere close to bored.

One of the things I liked the most about the concert was the staging. Even though the Halloween decoration was dominant, they kept the essence of each DJ intact, as they each had their own screening behind them. This allowed each set to be unique and avoided making the show mundane.

Regarding the DJ’s, they all exceeded expectation by far. With Kygo, Sigala, and Jonas Blue, the energy among the crowd peaked. When a crowd is completely devoted to the DJ’s, you will find they can be very eager to get as close as possible — even if they have to do so aggressively.

It is because of this that there was a lot of pushing and shoving. But then again, I guess this happens in every show. Just a small piece of advice: make sure you don’t wear heels!

I was extremely surprised — as well as pleased — to see that those who attended the concert covered a wide range of ages. It was fun being able to interact with people who you are not used to seeing in this type of party. The best part was that everyone was dressed up, letting go, and dancing their hearts out!

Overall this was an amazing experience that I would totally recommend to anyone. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what music you’re in to, you will enjoy this for sure. Capital FM made a great effort in organising this event, which could be seen in the details of the decoration, the flow of the party, and the great atmosphere they created.

9/10

‘Safe Space Marshals’ police Jacob Rees-Mogg lecture

Written by Ayesha Hussain on . Posted in News.

A recent talk by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, at King’s College London, was monitored by ‘safe space marshals’ to ensure that its content did not breach “safe space policy.”

Consequently, hilarity and bemusement has ensued among the student community, who have heavily and brutally criticised the University over its decision to employ these marshals at a rate of £11.89–13.32 an hour.

Jack Emsley, editor of the 1828 Journal, one of the largest Conservative print publications in UK Universities posted on Facebook shortly after the event: “Massive thanks to KCLSU for providing a fantastic safe space yesterday! I know that without the five Safe Space Marshalls working tirelessly, I definitely couldn’t have listened to Jacob Rees-Mogg without having my feelings seriously hurt! Definitely not a waste of paper, manpower or our money!”

It is said that the monitors are expected to put up posters indicating that the area is a “Safe Space” and take “appropriate action” if the Safe Space policy is breached.

KCL’s official ‘Safe Space Policy’ states that the University is “committed to providing an inclusive and supportive space for all students”, but its External Speaker Policy states that “every member of KCL shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to hold opinions without interference or disadvantage, and to freedom of expression within the constraints of the law.”

When contacted for comments the King’s College Conservative Association stated: “We believe that the Safe Space [Policy] fundamentally infringes [upon] free speech. Having Marshals at an event monitoring what an elected representative had to say is anathema to the principle of free and open debate. No ideology is beyond criticism.”

In response the King’s Libertarian Society have started the ‘Abolish KCLSU’s Safe Space Policy‘ which is fully supported by the KCL Conservative Association.

DON’T PUBLISH (duplicate): Manchester named UNESCO City of Literature

Written by Amy Wei on . Posted in News.

Manchester’s bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature was successful.

As a City of Literature, Manchester will dedicate to pursuing excellence in literature on a local level and developing literary links across the world.

Other UNESCO Cities of Literature include Baghdad, Dublin, Barcelona, Prague, Melbourne, and Reykjavik.

The bid for Manchester to join their ranks was coordinated by a collaborative effort between The University of Manchester, Manchester City Council, Manchester Metropolitan University, the Manchester Literature Festival, and other literary organisations representing the city’s writers.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Dame Nancy Rothwell, said in a speech last week: “It was wonderful to learn that Manchester has joined the UNESCO global network of cities of literature, in a process led by colleagues in SALC and partners across the city.”

Manchester has a productive literary history. Novelist Anthony Burgess, who wrote A Clockwork Orange, was born and schooled in Manchester. He studied English Literature at the University of Manchester, where he met his wife and graduated with Upper-Second Class honours.

Elizabeth Gaskell moved to Manchester as an adult and lived in the city until her death in 1865. Industrial Manchester inspired many of her novels, for example North and South.

Manchester was also home to the first public lending library in the UK.

Charles Dickens attended its opening ceremony in 1852, and stated on the day: “In this institution, special provision has been made for the working classes, by means of a free lending library. This meeting cherishes the earnest hope that the books thus made available will prove a source of pleasure and improvement.”

To celebrate Manchester’s City of Literature status, a new writers’ hub will be established, and a libraries festival will be hosted by the city.

Manchester maintains four historic libraries: The Portico, John Rylands, Central, and Chetham’s libraries. Author museums Elizabeth Gaskell’s House and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation are also open to the public.

Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Schools, Culture, and Leisure, Councillor Luthfur Rahman, said: “We are extremely proud to become a UNESCO City of Literature, as we recognise the power of words to promote greater understanding, well-being and learning across our proudly diverse city.

“Building on the strong foundations of Manchester’s rich literary history, the council and our partners from the city’s universities and literary community will work together to create a programme of events which gives all of Manchester’s residents the chance to participate in and benefit from this thriving City of Literature.”

Professor John McAuliffe, from the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing, stated that “This is a cause for great celebration, which will help us to strengthen our university’s many partnerships with the city and its communities. Our staff and student writers know that Manchester is a City of Literature, a place whose graduates include Anthony Burgess and the war poet Alun Lewis, Jeanette Winterson, Booker winner Barry Unsworth and bestseller Sophie Hannah.

We all benefit from the presence in the city of great publishers like Carcanet and Comma and from what this announcement recognises — the enormous array of literary events, festivals, and opportunities for engagement with new writing and new audiences which Manchester offers.”

1.5 per cent turnout in All Student Vote on Exec Officer roles

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in News.

The All Student Vote to choose new Executive Officer positions for the 2018/19 academic year, which closed on the 30th of October, had an incredibly low voter turnout of an estimated 1.5 per cent.

The motion to have the ‘preferendum’ was passed in the Students’ Union Senate on the 28th of September. Whilst the number of voters that participated has met quoracy by Students’ Union bylaws, the motion included a clause that at least 3000 votes would be required for the result to be considered valid.

The options were to keep the same positions, introduce a postgraduate officer, introduce an international officer, or introduce both.

However, the advertisements for the vote were not explicit in saying that the role of Campaigns officer would be if option four was chosen, and also that a new post of Liberation and Access officer would be created in some of the options.

Low turnout can be attributed to many factors, one being that the vote was run at the same time as part-time officer elections and NUS delegate elections, both of which were described as “very successful” by General Secretary Alex Tayler.

The elected national NUS Conference Delegates for 2017/2018 are Teddy Jinxiu Ouyang, Sara Heddi, Shereen Patel, Lawrence Rosenberg, Shamima Khonat, Saqib Mahmood, Sarah-Jane ‘Sully’ Smyth, Hafsa Rifal, Hammad Allana and Emma Atkins.

Lawrence Rosenberg, a third year student one of the successful elected NUS delegates for 2017/2018, told the The Mancunion that he didn’t vote in the referendum.

Lawrence said: “I didn’t even know there was an election, it wasn’t publicised nor even when I voted for NUS did I find the easy system to understand.”

The History and Politics student added that the options presented to students in the All Student Vote “just weren’t clear at all.”

When asked for his thoughts on the All Student Vote by The Mancunion, third-year Geography student, Iwan Williams, replied: “Which vote?” and that he had “no idea what you are talking about.”

Iwan’s comment was echoed by third-year History student, Benedict Wright, who told The Mancunion: “I didn’t even know the SU were holding a referendum” and it appears that many students were unaware that the vote was taking place.

Rather than reopen the All Student Vote or discard the result (which has not yet been announced), Alex Tayler told The Mancunion that the result “will be included in discussions within the Students’ Union Trustee board” where “a preferred result will be selected.”

This will then be “submitted to the Annual Members Meeting in December for final approval.” All students are eligible to attend this meeting and voice their opinion, and the General Secretary encouraged all students to do so.

He told The Mancunion that restructuring the Exec officer roles is still a good thing to do, regardless of the referendum turnout: “We’d be mad to miss this opportunity to reform and to represent our students as best we can.”

Fallowfield safety petition to be presented to Deputy Mayor

Written by Rosa Simonet on . Posted in News.

The now infamous petition to make the streets of Fallowfield safer is nearing its target of 10,000 signatures and is to be presented to the Deputy Mayor.

The petition ends on Tuesday, after which Matt Harvison (the creator of the petition)  will also present it to representatives from the local council and Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

Matt told The Mancunion “it would mean the world to not just me but a lot of the student body of Manchester to get to 10,000.”
The petition was created to call for action to make Fallowfield safer for its residents following what seemed to be a sharp rise in muggings, attacks and burglaries in September and October.

It was presented to students on the Fallowfield Students Facebook group, a forum that many students rely upon for updates on criminal activity in the Fallowfield area.

However, as Matt said, “this isn’t just a spike in crime towards the start of the year, as people are still getting burgled, assaulted or violently attacked as can be seen by reports in the Fallowfield Students Group.”

With attacks still ongoing, Matt, accompanied by Communities Officer Jack Houghton, will be presenting a manifesto plan to Deputy Mayor, Beverley Hughes, the local council and GMP. The plan proposes an “increased police presence” as well as “many ideas students themselves have said they wanted.”

Matt continued: “Naturally, the plan will not and cannot be implemented overnight and there will be a lot more campaigning needed to succeed in these plans.”

Matt isn’t the only person who wants to see change in South Manchester. Jack Houghton recently announced the development of a ‘Night Owl’ Scheme which will see student volunteers patrolling the streets of Fallowfield in an attempt to make them safer.

The scheme has seen much crticism from students at the University of Manchester, with one pharmacy student saying “what difference is self defence going to make when you’re up against a group of blokes with machetes?” and another student at the university saying that it “really feels to me like it’s being organised by individuals who haven’t been on the receiving end of the situation that they’re trying to resolve.”

The majority of the criticism expressed fears that the volunteers would be just as a risk as any other person wandering the streets alone at night, and that more police would resolve the issue better.

However Matt told The Mancunion that he thinks “the students union proposed night owl scheme, in my opinion, is a great idea. These volunteers will be trained by the police in self-defence, bystander training and be on hand to students between peak hours for crime in Fallowfield. This idea has been implemented in other universities in the country and it is not ‘putting students more at risk’ as some people have labelled the plans. This is a plan that will be linked to the police force, with the night owls having a direct line to the police and providing safe spaces in areas that crime is most prevalent according to what students themselves have reported.”

Chelsea thwart United at Stamford Bridge once again

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Sport.

A win here would see United keep the gap at the top to five points whilst extending the lead ahead of Chelsea. If the game at Anfield is anything to go by this will be a dull, dull game.

Fellaini returns to the bench after a long absence due to injury and will hope to get some play time at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho opts for the versatile 3-4-1-2 formation today. De Gea starts in goal with Bailly, Smalling and Jones in a strong back three. Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young are the wing backs and Herrera and Matic are the defensive midfielders. Mkhitaryan will operate just ahead of the midfield and finally Lukaku and Rashford play up front, a partnership that hasn’t shown any chemistry at all so far.

United get the game underway but Chelsea start the brighter. An early free kick featuring a torn shirt for Morata gives Kante room to shoot. Rather than take the chance straight away and catch De Gea off guard he winds up for a few seconds and has a tame shot.

The ball then ends up in the back of the net from a Marcus Alonso cross off the foot of Jones. Much to the relief of United fans it is deemed a push by Morata. After watching the replay I can say with certainty that it wasn’t a foul. Moments later Rashford has a free header but closes his eyes before making contact with the ball, both sides have been let of with one here.

There is a furious tempo to the game in the opening ten minutes with United seemingly here to play. An early goal for the away side though and Mourinho will kill the game entirely. Bakayoko has a clear goalscoring opportunity but fluffs it, Garth Crooks would be livid at the state of his hair.

Lukaku looks a changed player from the lethargic one against Spurs. He tests Courtois with a driven, low shot but doesn’t get it close enough to the corner to cause any major problems. The pendulum then swings in Chelsea’s favour as Hazard cuts inside and finesses the ball towards the top left hand corner but De Gea is equal to it.

Bakayoko commits an awful challenge on Phil Jones and gets the first yellow card of the game. There have been several heavy challenges by each team with neither wanting to let the other get the upper hand. If it stays at this intensity for 90 minutes, United may be able to score some late goals with Martial, Lingard and Fellaini on the bench.

After half an hour the pace of game remains at the same high level with a real end to end feel to it. Neither team has had any major chances to go ahead though. Chelsea flow all play through Hazard in the hopes that he can make that key pass that others can’t but the Belgian hasn’t found a way through just yet.

No added time at the end of the first half and the score is 0-0. If United come away from Stamford Bridge I think nobody can complain. The results so far this season, barring Huddersfield, have been good, the only think stopping Mourinho getting the praise he deserves is the comparison to Manchester City. In any other season this would be enough to be comfortably top of the table but good just isn’t enough.

Jones gets a yellow card early in the second half for lunging in on Hazard. As the referee gives him the yellow card Jones moves him to one side to carry on walking. Matic then fouls Hazard 20 yards further up the pitch in a dangerous position.

Herrera, not wanting to get left out, fouls Hazard too and gets a yellow card. I think the half time message from Mourinho of stop Hazard has been taken a little bit too literally.

United do seem a bit sluggish off the mark this half and Chelsea are making the most of it. A ball comes in and Hazard has to take a first time shot but it goes straight at De Gea. Another cross comes in and Morata, completely unmarked, heads the ball into the top right hand corner. 1-0 to Chelsea, and it has been coming.

I predict Mourinho will make a double substitution in the next few minutes. Fellaini and Martial should come on with Herrera and Mkhitaryan coming off. This is unlikely though as he doesn’t want to play Rashford and Martial at the same time but they need to score goals to get anything from this game.

Sure enough, a double substitution comes with Jones and Mkhitaryan coming off to be replaced by Fellaini and Martial. It looks like United are shifting to a back four, with three in the midfield and three in attack. Almost immediately United look more assured with Fellaini having a positive influence in the midfield.

The attacking trio seems to be staying forward in an attempt to turn defence quickly into attack. Mourinho is encouraging a direct style of play with a lot of lofted balls to Fellaini attempted. The Belgian has fantastic chest control and it seems to be working, United are having more control of the ball.

Fellaini gets a yellow card for an aerial challenge on Morata. The replay shows the slightest, and I mean slightest, of touches and when the yellow card is show, Morata is grinning on the floor.

United, in the hopes of getting something out of the game, are having to commit more and more players forward. When they lose the possession which they are doing frequently there is a danger of conceding a second. This is high risk football.

The final substitution is Lingard for Young. I don’t know how United are going to line after this with only three recognised defenders on the pitch. Is this a 3-3-4? 3-4-3? Who knows? With ten minutes plus stoppage time left and 11 goals in those last ten minutes this season we may yet see a turnaround.

The ball falls to Rashford on the edge of the box and drills it towards the bottom left hand corner. Courtois was rooted to the spot but it goes just wide. United are getting closer and closer however they will need something special to come away with a point.

Fellaini does what only Fellaini can do. He chests the ball down after a cross from Bailly and if not for a fantastic save it would have been an equaliser. United are channelling their inner Jack Nicholson, they aren’t just knocking on the door, they are trying to cut it down with an axe.

There are four minutes left and every United player is in the Chelsea half. In the third of those minutes Matic wins a foul on the edge of the area, dead centre. This is Rashford territory, the last chance of the game. It takes a deflection off the top of the wall and goes out for a corner. Correction, this is the last chance of the game.

It amounts to nothing and Chelsea win, a deserved win too. They played much better for most of the game. Winning the midfield battle meant that United couldn’t get a foothold in the game, had Fellaini come on at 0-0 then the outcome may have been different.

To be a critic: David Jenkins

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

“We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds, not simply in the sense of identifying with the characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it.”

— Roger Ebert

Since 1896 with the Lumière Brothers’ Arrival of a Train, films have been at the forefront of culture. An art form that transports us from our own lives, so we can see things from another’s perspective. In any artistic domain, be it painting, or sculpting, or filmmaking, the greatest artists take risks. They dare to do what no one else thought possible. The possibilities limited only by the imagination.

Film criticism has been bred from this, and has become art form in its own right. The role of the critic is to inform the uninformed, to paint a picture specifically tailored for their readers. Some critics, such as André Bazin and Roger Ebert, wrote with such flair and eloquence of prose that often they created something greater than that which they were commentating on.

Most great critics reside in newspapers, but are marooned in their publication, surrounded by those whose interest lays elsewhere. Film magazines developed and become a hotbed for aspiring critics wanting to rub shoulders with the best, to glean what they could to progress. In recent years though the love for cinema seems to have all but died from those magazines, with each page attempting to advertise rather than enlighten.

Few remain that hold such passion from cover to cover, Bazin’s Cahiers du Cinéma and Little White Lies stand out as the most distinguished. The latter, founded in 2005, takes the cinematic ideology one step further. Rather than simply each piece being a work of art, the entire magazine is an accumulation of reviews, interviews and illustrations. I recently spoke to the editor, David Jenkins, about his process as a critic and his involvement with the magazine.

“The biggest thing we learned, to give a magazine some sense of cohesion, is to create a colour palate and style sheet before you do anything, and make sure you ask all contributors to abide strictly by those rules.” By doing this each edition is a vision shared, different pieces seamlessly blend with each other, contrasted with the disjointed and confused layout of alternatives. 71 issues in the process, as with writing criticism, is a matter of refining.

“My technique for critiquing has evolved over the years to become more intuitive. As with anything creative, it’s a case of repeating a formula until you’re so familiar — maybe even bored — with that formula, that you feel naturally impelled to switch it up and do your own thing. I wouldn’t say I was much of an aesthete. And to be honest, I very rarely talk about acting and performance.

“I don’t really know what ‘a good performance’ is, as for me, everything is relative to the film. I guess, in its simplest form, I’m trying to ask what the film is trying to accomplish, or trying to say — its purpose — and then attempting to deduce how successful it is on those terms. How clear or how unique is it as a piece of pure expression.”

Each edition holds one film as its focus, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name is the latest, with the underpinning themes and tonality affecting the layout and style completely. Every page from front to back contains discussion about the best, and sometimes worst, the world of film has to offer. Although, the reviewer isn’t always right, and they occasionally hate a future classic. Roger Ebert detested Lynch’s Blue Velvet, and David Jenkins loathed Tarantino’s Death Proof.

“When I saw Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino in Cannes in 2007, I loathed it with an almost freakish intensity. I would rant at people about it (dark days). In the magazine, we even ran two reviews — one pro and one con, mine. Then, ahead of Django: Unchained, I decided to rewatch the entire Tarantino canon as deep research, and discovered that Death Proof was, in fact, his best and most radical film. I ended up writing an appreciation of it for Little White Lies, in which I acknowledged my U-turn. But this is a rare occurrence, as if you’ve seen a film that you hate, the impulse to want to return to it is often weak.”

The intention, regardless of opinion, is to explore film in an unconventional way, giving the reader a pleasure they can’t find anywhere else. While major releases naturally get minor screen time the priority is, and always has, and always will be, for the unorthodox and the independent. There is nothing novel in reiterating the same rhetoric as a hundred more, but shining a light on the otherwise tenebrous is a righteous cause.

Little White Lies is to film as the charming owner of a warm, independent bookshop is to books, a soothing calm in a world so chaotic. It strays away from the scandals, the revelations, the rumours and the lies, both little and white, to connect, to transport, and to share that mutual, unceasing love for movies.

Taking the power back: why we need to renationalise private sectors

Written by Holly James on . Posted in Opinion.

Last month, news broke that an academy trust running schools across Yorkshire and Humber requested to cease management of all its institutions. Wakefield City Academies Trust stated that the decision to pull out of its 21 schools was made on the basis that it “does not have the capacity” to make required improvements to its institutions.

This comes in the wake of other reports which have questioned the effectiveness of academy trusts more generally to responsibly handle their finances, to properly run their schools, and to effect the positive results they claim to create.

The academies — though run as not-for-profit trusts — operate as independent, rather than council-run, businesses. Are these, therefore, simply the latest in a long line of examples documenting the failure of privatisation?

These reports should not be surprising; privatisation has failed the public across the UK. In 2006, economists at UBS bank claimed that train travel in the UK was the most expensive in the world. Since then, prices have not ceased going up; with each new year comes a new rise in rail fares.

In 1995, a single from London to Manchester was £50. In 2013, the average price was £154 — a 208 per cent increase, over triple the rate of inflation. Peak fares are unregulated by the Department for Transport, meaning that rail companies get the say in setting them. Because of this, commuters often face the brunt of the increases.

As a postgraduate student from South London, many of my friends now have full-time jobs and have to commute to the city’s centre. While earning only graduate salaries, ridiculous fare prices leave many of them spending between a quarter to a third of their income on travel alone, even with a 16-25 railcard.

This is even more dangerous in the midst of a housing crisis with rent prices soaring and the likelihood of getting on the housing ladder dismally low. Nor can the service be said to justify these price increases — at the beginning of this year, there was speculation that Southern Rail could be temporarily renationalised after the abysmal service it subjected its passengers to in 2017 with almost a third of services running late.

Nor can the water sector boast any better success. The Thatcher government intended to diversify share ownership and boost efficiency through privatisation; however, most British water shares are owned by a handful of international investors.

Prices have also gone up by as much as 40 per cent in the last 30 years, explaining how water companies have been able to afford the billions of pounds given to shareholders in dividends despite their outstanding debt.

The energy sector demonstrates a largely similar scenario. Instead of market competition leading to competitive prices and better service, the Big Six energy providers have established hegemony over the sector. People are forced to pay extortionate prices or, worse, are forced to go cold in the winter because they simply cannot afford the bills.

This begs the question: is it morally permissible to run essential services for profit in the first place? These are not luxury commodities but the most basic resources and services that people need to live.

Is it any wonder, then that in such an economic climate with extortionate prices for even the most basic services, that the rates of homelessness are rising so rapidly, that people are struggling to pay bills and afford basic amenities?

To run these services for profit is at best unwise and at worst clearly exploitative, putting the most vulnerable among us in a position where they literally cannot afford to live.

However, it does not have to be this way. In 2013, Hamburg, Germany voted in favour of nationalising their gas, electricity, and heating grid. The aim of doing this was to ensure that the service was being run in the public interest rather than for the purpose of making a profit.

Prices were planned to drop and any profits made would be returned to the city as opposed to lining the pockets of CEOs and shareholders. As of today, the city is still in the process of finalising the transition, but all signs point to positive change.

Perhaps one of the most controversial elements of Labour’s election manifesto was their decision to do just this: take essential services out of the hands of private businesses and put them back in the rightful hands of the people.

If we are to have a country that is indeed ‘For the Many, not the Few’ then we must seriously address the ills privatisation is inflicting on the British public, and work towards reclaiming our water, energy, rail, and various other sectors through renationalisation.

How British are you? Take the test

Written by Tilly Gambarotto on . Posted in Opinion.

For how many years did the Romans stay in Britain? When did people learn how to make bronze? What was the population of the UK in 1901?

One could be forgiven for thinking that they had accidentally stumbled across the question list for a Saturday night pub quiz. Regrettably, these are in fact the first three questions presented in an online ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ test, intended to help those applying for citizenship practice for the real exam.

To achieve the elusive status of a ‘British citizen’, 24 multiple choice questions of this nature must be answered in 45 minutes with a minimum pass mark of 18. In light of the Brexit referendum, the number of EU nationals sitting the exam has tripled in the last year in the midst of fears they will be asked to leave the UK.

According to the Manchester Evening News, 60 per cent of applicants from Greater Manchester failed the test in 2016. Nationwide, approximately one in three was unsuccessful.

Luckily, the Home Office has come to the rescue with a handbook for new residents, covering topics from British history spanning the past 6,000 years, to notable sports personalities, and the British Constitution with the aim of preparing new residents to sit the exam and successfully assimilate into life in Britain.

One of two things is happening here: either my British friends and family have been holding secret meetings to extensively discuss law, culture, and UK-related trivia facts without my knowledge, or the test is, troublingly, far removed from the true experience of ‘life in the UK’.

One need only read the ‘music’ section of the handbook to realise that the test’s authors are of a somewhat more elevated educational standing than the vast majority of ‘normal’ British residents. Indeed, where would we be without our knowledge of the life and work of the classical musician Henry Purcell, or our ability to discuss the paintings of the pre-Raphaelites?

Needless to say, there are many British citizens who would not be capable of passing the exam.

Since the handbook does little to recreate the level of general knowledge of British people, even less can be said of its success in promoting an understanding of British culture.

Sure, the book covers essential elements of law, including the prohibition of forced marriages, equality between men and women, and the illegality of domestic violence, which might have calmed the nerves of those concerned about new residents coming from outside the Western world.

Other questions posed in the practice tests, however, paint a rather embarrassing picture of the values we hold dear as British people: “What time do British pubs open?”, “What are the main ingredients of a mince pie?”, etc.

For such a question to hold the potential to deny citizenship to a prospective resident, some of whom have lived in the UK for decades, paid taxes, and raised families here is frankly insulting. These questions also suggest an inherent incompatibility between British culture and the culture of residents whose religions or lifestyles would not require them to ever encounter a pub or Christmas dessert.

As it stands, the application process for citizenship needs serious revision. The exam makes no allowances for those who might not have the financial means to apply and acts as more of a glorified memory test than a reflection of one’s contribution to society and understanding of what it means to live in Britain.

For those who pass, several hundred pounds more is needed to take a language test, regardless of how long they might have been employed in an English-speaking job.

I would not want to suggest that the application process for citizenship should be effortless. After all, it is valuable for new citizens to have acknowledged their awareness of British culture, and if learning these social norms and laws requires studying a book, this would simply show their commitment to becoming part of a new national community.

The questions, however, should be ones that could be easily answered by existing British citizens, questions to which the answers should be instinctive rather than learned and would benefit those foreign residents who have already acclimatised to British life, perhaps in the form of a situational judgement test.

Until then, the required preparation for the ‘Life in the UK’ exam will simply produce a strange group of foreign, English-speaking, slightly poorer British citizens who would make a killer quiz team.

Flipping amazing: whales and dolphins have “human-like” cultures

Written by Kieran O'Brien on . Posted in Environment, News, Science & Tech.

Researchers at the University of Manchester, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Canada, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Stanford University, United States, have recently published a major new study in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

It shows that whales and dolphins (Cetaceans) live in tight-knit social groups. They also have complex relationships, talk to each other, and even have regional dialects.

Whilst Cetaceans have long been known to be intelligent creatures due to their large brains, it is the first such study to compile a large data set comparing their brain sizes with social behaviours.

Over 90 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises were studied to find evidence that complex social traits, such as cooperation behaviours found in many primate and human cultures, are linked to the brain sizes of Cetaceans.

Amongst the many cultural and social traits found with the species, the most sophisticated found were the ability to work together for mutual benefit, teaching how to hunt, ‘talking’ to each other, looking after youngsters that aren’t their own, working with other species, and social play.

Another striking and perhaps most human-like trait was also that Cetaceans are capable of ‘name’ recognition, evidenced by some species having specific vocal calls for each specific creature in their social group.

Speaking about the research, Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist at Manchester’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “As humans, our ability to socially interact and cultivate relationships has allowed us to colonise almost every ecosystem and environment on the planet.

“We know whales and dolphins also have exceptionally large and anatomically sophisticated brains and, therefore, have created a similar marine-based culture.

“That means the apparent co-evolution of brains, social structures, and behavioural richness of marine mammals provides a unique and striking parallel to the large brains and hyper-sociality of humans and other primates on land.

“Unfortunately, they won’t ever mimic our great metropolises and technologies because they didn’t evolve opposable thumbs.”

The researchers used the data set to test the social brain hypothesis (SBH) and cultural brain hypothesis (CBH), which are evolutionary theories that argue large brains are an evolutionary response to complex and information-rich social environments.

However, these theories were originally developed to explain large brains in primates and land mammals, and so this is the first time such a large study to test the SBH and CBH theories has been applied to intelligent marine animals.

Dr Michael Muthukrishna, Assistant Professor of Economic Psychology at LSE, also said about the study: “This research isn’t just about looking at the intelligence of whales and dolphins, it also has important anthropological ramifications as well.

“In order to move toward a more general theory of human behaviour, we need to understand what makes humans so different from other animals. And to do this, we need a control group. Compared to primates, cetaceans are a more ‘alien’ control group.”

Atmospheric CO2 reaches record highs

Written by Kieran O'Brien on . Posted in News, Science & Tech.

Last year saw a record-breaking surge in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the earth’s atmosphere, increasing 50 per cent higher than the last ten-year average, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Researchers say that this increase has pushed atmospheric CO2 to levels not seen for 800,000 years, and the last time the earth experienced similar levels was three to five million years ago, which back then caused global average temperatures to be two to three degrees warmer than today, with sea-levels about 20 metres higher due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Speaking to BBC News, chief of WMO’s global atmosphere watch programme, Dr. Oksana Tarasova, said “Geological-wise, it is like an injection of a huge amount of heat… The changes will not take 10,000 years, like they used to take before; they will happen fast. We don’t have the knowledge of the system in this state; that is a bit worrisome!”

Although CO2 emissions from human activity have slowed down over recent years, Dr Tarasova says that it is the cumulative effect of CO2 that is problematic, as once releases into the atmosphere it can stay aloft and active for centuries.

Further to this, the WMO report says that such a rapid surge in CO2 levels can “initiate unpredictable changes in the climate system… leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions”. Scientists also warn that the global temperature targets set out by the Paris climate change agreement are largely unattainable.

The historic agreement, approved by 195 countries in 2015, has suffered a major setback this year after US President Donald Trump announced in June this year that the US will pull out of the agreement by 2020. This is of particular concern as the USA is the world’s second-largest emitter of CO2 levels, with China coming out on top.

On top of this, UN Environment released a report on 31st October which highlighted the gap between the goals of the Paris agreement and each countries’ actual commitments could lead to the global average temperature to exceed three degrees celcius, well above the two degrees maximum target.

Speaking to the Guardian, Prof Dave Reay, professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This should set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power. We know that, as climate change intensifies, the ability of the land and oceans to mop up our carbon emissions will weaken. There’s still time to steer these emissions down and so keep some control, but if we wait too long humankind will become a passenger on a one-way street to dangerous climate change.”

The report also predicts that 2017 will be another record-breaking year for levels of methane in the atmosphere. Although researchers say this methane is not from human activity, it is nevertheless a powerful greenhouse gas and the causes for its increase are still unknown.

Speaking to BBC News, Prof Euan Nisbet from the Royal Holloway University of London said: “The rapid increase in methane since 2007, especially in 2014, 2015, and 2016, is different. This was not expected in the Paris agreement. Methane growth is strongest in the tropics and sub-tropics…We do not understand why methane is rising. It may be a climate change feedback. It is very worrying.”

The WMO report has been releases a week ahead of UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, where negotiators aim to advance and clarify the targets set out by the Paris agreement.

Lawn Tennis Association aims to get more Manchester students playing tennis

Written by Sam Cooper on . Posted in Sport.

Sports Editor Sam Cooper spoke to the LTA Regional Tennis Education Officer, Laura Lattimore, on their hopes of getting more students involved.

Just two miles away from the student hub of Fallowfield sits Alexandra Park tennis courts. The venue recently celebrated its 1000th registered user and the landmark recognises an increasing interest in tennis from the Manchester community.

As well as targeting the Manchester community, the Lawn Tennis Association is looking to attract more students to the game and Laura Lattimore explains what is on offer.

“Currently within Manchester, we’ve got great opportunities that students from the universities can access. Fallowfield Tennis Club are doing a really good job of providing access for students. There’s over 100 students currently signed up at the club. They’ve made sure that they are outwardly facing to students.

“So it’s easy access, they’ve got access gates. You can book online. You don’t have to pay a club or a hut. It’s very much about the student experience. They’ve also made upgrades in their clubhouse with pool tables, social events, and things like that. Currently that is an offer that is really good for the students.

“It may be that tennis is viewed as quite a technically difficult sport to play and maybe a club is just that step too far for someone who is just starting in tennis so a park site is one of the areas that we want to encourage students to go to because it’s a great introduction.”

The association has made a particular case of making the booking process as easy as possible with the introduction of online booking systems.

“It’s how life is now. We want everything at a touch of a button and we can pay for it easy. If somebody knows how they can book a court straightaway and we’ve made the user’s journey as simple as possible so it’s just one click onto a website. They’re booked onto a court, they know how to access the court when they’re down there. It just means we’re making the reputation of tennis as easier to access as a sport.”

One of the particular areas for improvement that has been targeted is the number of covered courts. Just 5 percent of the city’s courts are covered which can make it impossible to play during the winter months.

“If it’s raining, that’s one of the barriers to people playing. The courts are slippy. We want to make sure as a governing body, we’re investing in as many facilities as we can to make sure we can have them open all year round. Tennis is viewed as a summer sport, we know that it isn’t because we’re tennis people and we like to play all the time.

“If you’re new to tennis, your first experience will probably be when Wimbledon is on. Covers for us a as sport are quite crucial because we want to make sure it’s an all year round accessible sport.”

The increase of covered courts is part of the Transforming British Tennis Together initiative where the LTA is investing £125 million pounds to double number of covered and floodlit courts over the next 10 years to get more people playing all-year round.

A further £125 million could also be available through matched funding from local councils and community networks with a shared vision for growing the game.

“For each Transforming British Tennis Together Fund bid, we’ll provide up to 50 percent of the necessary funding, around half of which will come in the form of a grant and the remaining half as an interest free loan. For example, if your total funding requirements for all the venues involved is £500k we will fund up to £250k with £125k as a grant and £125k as an interest free loan.”

This initiative also brings about job opportunities for students as well as playing ones.

“With development of the sites that are hopefully coming up, another impact on students is we need people to man these sites and work on these sites. Obviously we’re hoping that this will be a process happening in the next few years. We hope that Manchester will be developing quite quickly so there will be massive opportunities for students to become involved in our workforce.

“Within the education part we do provide opportunities to gain work and qualifications. Tennis is a profitable business to be in once you get to the level where you can coach out there on your own there are some great opportunities.

“We hope that this project will make it more accessible for students but we hope we’re providing some employment opportunities as well while they are in the city.”

The LTA is calling on tennis clubs, parks, local government, volunteers, coaches and businesses across Manchester and the North West to come together and register their interest in bidding for the funds to transform their local tennis courts. For more information visit lta.org.uk

Three points despite a lacklustre United performance

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Sport.

Manchester United will be looking to continue their 100 per cent record in Europe although it took an unfortunate goalkeeping error for the red devils to win in Portugal. Jose Mourinho names a massively changed side from the one that beat Tottenham at the weekend, showing that he is slightly favouring the game against Chelsea coming up.

De Gea starts in goal with Blind, Smalling, Bailly and Darmian in a back four. McTominay gets his first start in the Champion’s League next to Matic in defensive midfield. Martial, Lingard and Mata sit just in front, with Mourinho curiously starting Lingard centrally rather than his prefered wing, and Lukaku hoping to end his run of games without a goal.

United fans will be hoping for more of an attacking style of play with that being the main criticism levelled against the club. The opening few minutes pass relatively tamely until a long ball by Blind sent Lingard through with just the keeper to beat. Unfortunately, he started his run a fraction of a second too early.

The first yellow card of the game gets shown as Martial launches a quick counter-attack. As he was lining up a shot Ruben Dias pushes him to the ground. The free kick is around 20 yards out almost centrally, with Mata and Martial lining up to take it.

It really is a shot you’d fancy for birthday boy Rashford but sadly he is on the bench. The eventual shot by Martial goes over. I can’t actually remember seeing Martial ever take a free kick, and perhaps he never will again. Moments later Samaris has a shot from distance, but De Gea isn’t troubled as it goes wide.

With ten minutes gone Benfica do look the brighter team, and Lukaku looks isolated and disconnected from the rest of the team. Eric Bailly awfully sliced the ball while defending and gave away a great chance to attack; it almost came to fruition with an attempted overhead kick.

Bailly makes another bad mistake when he runs at full speed and shoulder barges the player off the ball, making no effort to win the ball himself. That should have been a penalty. Moments later United get one as Martial is fouled inside the box. Understandably, Benfica players surround the referee in frustration.

Martial once again steps up, hoping to get his team in front. He drives the ball low and left but the 18-year-old Svilar saved it. Redemption, both for the unjust call at the other end and for the goal he conceded in the last game. It was a poor penalty by Martial, lacking the pace needed to beat the keeper if he did dive the right way.

That save seems to have spurred Benfica on. Bailly makes yet another mistake in clearing the ball — he looks nervous on the ball. Goncalves, the 20-year-old who came into the side through an injury in training for another player, cuts inside and fires a beauty of a shot. Against another keeper that would surely have gone in, a wonderful save.

Lingard has limped off the pitch. The challenge that caused the injury looked fairly innocuous but he looks in a lot of pain, holding his hip. Mkhitaryan goes out to warm up just in case.

Another penalty call as Mata gets shunted off the ball; the referee has been consistent as he didn’t give the one earlier, but both realistically were fouls. At least no manager can complain about decisions going the other way. A second yellow card gets shown this time for Eric Bailly for stopping a counterattack, taking Grimaldo out completely.

Jesse Lingard goes into the referee’s book too but I can’t actually see what he got it for. It turns out that he was waiting on the sidelines so long to come on without Mazeika ushering him back on that he took matters into his own hands and came on anyway.

Benfica seem to have United figured out. By playing down one wing and switching the ball to the other, it drags the fullbacks out of position. If they then play the ball into the middle, large gaps can be found. The quality isn’t there to take advantage of this but other clubs, maybe Chelsea at the weekend, could see this and dismantle United.

The only player for United who is making a positive contribution is Anthony Martial. When he gets the ball he dances through two or three players trying to single-handedly create something. Elsewhere there are sloppy passes and shameful clearances; Benfica are outplaying United.

Scott McTominay gets shoulder barged from both sides and stays down injured, but that doesn’t stop the United attack. Matic decides to take a strike from distance as he finds himself in a little pocket of space, and drills the ball hard and low. It hits the post but rebounds onto the back of the diving Svilar and into the back of the net.

For those that can remember all the way back to 2004, the goal was almost exactly the same as the one Wayne Rooney scored against Switzerland, as it rebounded onto keeper Jorg Stiel’s head into the goal. You have to feel bad for Svilar, after the awful mistake last game and saving a penalty here this happens.

Don’t let these mistakes fool you though — he looks assured and will undoubtedly rise to be one of the top keepers in Europe. United score when they don’t look the better team at all just before the halftime break. McTominay gingerly gets to his feet — looked like a winding more than anything else.

A poor back pass leaves Lukaku one on one with the keeper with a chance to make it two goals in as many minutes but Svilar comes out early and forces Lukaku into an early shot which he saves. It doesn’t make up for what happened, but he will feel a bit better.

At halftime, Mkhitaryan comes on for Lingard. Either the little knock or the yellow card caused Mourinho to not risk him in the second half. Benfica continue their rigidity in defence, even without the ball they look assured.

They are helped by Lukaku being incredibly poor so far this game. As a lone striker he has to hold up the ball and wait for the run of Lingard or Martial. Instead his first touch has been awful, losing the ball immediately almost every time. The attack therefore has to develop with Lingard or Martial, skipping Lukaku out.

Goncalves forces another fantastic save by De Gea; the youngster has had the two best shots of the game so far. This is only his fourth senior start of his career, with the future looking bright.

Bailly, having the worst game I have ever seen him play, sends Jimenez one on one with De Gea with an awful, awful pass. He beats the keeper but the ball strikes the post. On the replay you can see Smalling gets the slightest touch on the ball to stop the goal. At least one centre back is aware.

United makes the second substitute of the game with Juan Mata coming off for Ander Herrara — more of a defensive change for Mourinho. In my opinion, Lukaku should come off for Rashford, but that is never going to happen. The third substitute will obviously be Martial for Rashford. Mourinho seems to keep Lukaku on regardless of form, but in this match United can’t form an attack because of his shoddiness.

Salvio gets a yellow card for pulling back Mkhitaryan as the Armenian drives through the Benfica team. Lukaku and Martial were open to his left but he was unable to reach them.

Birthday boy Marcus Rashford comes on for Martial, as I predicted. Both Rashford and Martial playing together would be an interesting combination but Mourinho only likes to play one at a time, with their fresh legs and pace making the difference.

Another penalty! Lukaku passes the ball down the wing to Marcus Rashford who does as Martial did in the first half, dancing through two or three players before being taken down. Will he get a goal on his birthday? Or will Lukaku end his drought?

Mourinho points his finger and chooses the taker but who will it be? Lukaku steps up, Herrera whispers in his ear, Lukaku leaves, Blind whispers in Herrera’s ear, Herrera leaves, and now just Blind remains. His 24th start in the Champion’s league, 14 for Ajax, he steps up and sends Svilar the wrong way. Maybe that was an intricate routine.

After that penalty, United finally get into their stride. Lukaku especially looks like he has a point to prove. Perhaps if he played like this from the outset the game would have been put to bed long ago.

A great chance for Benfica comes in the 88th minute. Jonas gets the ball in the penalty area, does four or five kick-ups then crosses it onto the head of Salvio, but De Gea plucks it out of the air.

The three minutes additional time pass without incident and the full-time whistle blows. Benfica should feel hard done by here, playing better for large amounts of the game. Two great saves by De Gea and a generally solid defence kept them out.

The result means that De Gea has 12 clean sheets in 16 games in all competitions. While the style of play may not be as good as you may expect given the squad, there is no arguing the brilliance of the defence.

United now need just a point from their last two games to qualify for the knockout stage. With games against Basel and CSKA left, it would be a tragedy if they somehow drop into the Europa league. The next game is against Chelsea in the Premier League.

Live Review: Anchor Point WHP

Written by Megan Matthews on . Posted in Music.

Saturday 21st October, Store Street

Guernsey-born DJ and SoundCloud veteran, Alex Crossan, otherwise known as Mura Masa, headlined one of the biggest sets the Warehouse Project has seen all season on the 21st October.

That Saturday it was the turn of Anchor Point, Mura Masa’s own label to take control of the lineup and create its own unique blend of grime, trap, soul and electro beats. One masterful track followed another and throughout the night the atmosphere within Warehouse Project could only have been compared to the main stage at Glastonbury festival.

The 6-hour event did contain some rather confusing names. The combination of the gentle, yet hypnotic vocals of Bonzai was to be followed by 67, a rap and hip-hop group who call themselves the ‘rawest crew in UK rap.’ This is in itself questionable, and yet it didn’t feel mismatched at all. In fact, the mix of genres just hyped the crowd even further (though the introduction of 67 did make it harder for people to move or breathe.)

Nao, one of the artists on Crossan’s own label, withdrew from the event at the last minute due to an illness, leaving Bonzai as the most stand out performance apart from Mura Masa himself.

Her mellow tunes, powerful lungs, and mesmerising movements saw her control the crowd in a way I’ve only ever seen replicated by Beyonce. Her dance and electronic tones seen in her hit song ‘I Feel Alright’ were only matched by her own dancing skills. Her energetic, enigmatic energy was such that she seemed to rally the crowd more so than the next performers, 67. She came on throughout Mura Masa’s own set also due to her influence on his tracks ‘What If I Go’ and ‘Nuggets’ and was met each time with a bigger, louder, more rib-crushing surge from the crowd. If anything, she was the standout performer of the evening for sure.

67 were next, with their mysteriously masked lead and their grime and hip-hop rhythms they created a stark contrast to what had come before and what would succeed them. It was during their set that I experienced the most mosh-pits, but I found that if you just held yourself tight and bounced you’d come out the other side pretty much unscathed. However, I would say these were my least favourite of the night.

The transitions between each act did take about 25 minutes each time, and this caused more and more irritation throughout the crowd and the introduction of 67 wasn’t announced clearly so no one was sure that they’d actually started their set until they’d been on stage for about half an hour…

This poor organisation can be said to be the only flaw of the night and can be said to be down to Mura Masa’s use of live instruments which within themselves needed more sound checking. It just did feel weird for a steel drum to be tested and then lead into the hip-hop rhythms of 67 without any other announcement or starting signal. However, they served their purpose to hype up the crowd and the 25 minutes in between the end of their set and the start of Mura Masa’s felt like an age, with the crowd rallying more and more, so much so that two girls next to me starting physically kicking and punching each other so that one could conquer and stand in front!

However, this push only surged further when the clock struck 2 am. Everywhere but the main room of WHP became dead as every eager fan tried to shove their way to the front. The genre of Mura Masa itself was not one which would have initially sparked ideas of mosh pits and fighting and yet the desire to get as close to him as possible kicked in and caused a surge of aggression from every person in there.

I’m not ashamed to say I, myself was included in this when a 6ft 4in lad tried to stand right in front of me and I not-so-politely moved myself around him. ‘Messy Love’ was the first of Mura Masa’s tunes to fill the packed room and the scream was like nothing I’ve ever heard. The chanting was such that on my leaving later that evening (early that morning) I had fully lost my hearing in one ear — a side effect that lasted a good couple of days. Mura Masa finished his set with his most famous song ‘Love$ick’ which detonated across the room and had all of us screaming at the top of our lungs and swaying out bodies like we were possessed.

Mura Masa’s steel-drums, classic drums and synthesiser vibes are miles away from the auto-tuned vibes of other electronic dance music that is circulating the dance scene at the moment. Having seen him in 2016 at Glastonbury music festival, his performance at WHP can only be said to show him to have gotten even bigger and even better.

New collaborations with people such as NAO, A$AP Rocky, Charlie XCX and Desiigner show Mura Masa to not only be mastering the music industry with his mix of beats and genres, but also shows his industry intelligence. The creation of his own record label Anchor Point, and some could claim his own niche, at just the age of 21 sees him to be in a strong position to take over the music scene itself. If anything, Saturday showed that Mura Masa is a force to be reckoned with — he sounds great both on the bus and on the dance floor… Just don’t go if you value your hearing!

8/10