Year: 2017

Interview: Liberal Democrat candidate – John Leech

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 6th June 2017. Posted in Features.

The first person to greet me as I walk into John Leech’s Chorlton based HQ is Leech himself, dressed casually in a Manchester City t-shirt and jeans, sorting through campaign material.

I have to wait a few minutes before we can start our interview while he speaks with a constituent who has come in to offer is support. After this we begin our interview in an office cut off from the noise of a room buzzing with volunteers, all wearing bright orange stickers which read ‘I miss John Leech’.

Leech lost the Manchester Withington seat in 2015, as one of the many casualties of the UK-wide collapse in support for the Liberal Democrats, however he is adamant that the stickers are not wishful thinking.

“If I had £10 for every time someone had told me over the last two years how upset they were that I didn’t get re-elected in 2015 I’d be a very rich man”.

This apparent desire to see a Liberal Democrat back in power does not, however, seem to be reflected within the national polls, for most of the campaign they have stalled on 8 per cent, meaning they have made little to no advance in the polls since their disastrous 2015 election.

Leech is not unaware of this issue and while he argues that he’s “not entirely sure that the national polls are accurate because the only real poll that we’ve had in the last eight weeks is the local elections where we polled 18 per cent of the vote”, he knows the reception on the doorstep he describes “doesn’t necessarily translate into votes”.

The Liberal Democrats began their campaign confidently with the hope that their passionate pro-EU stance would win over the 48 per cent of remain voters, but if we are to believe the polls this is not going to happen. With this in mind does Leech admit his expectations of what’s going to happen to the Liberal Democrats on June 8th have changed since the beginning of the campaign?

“Well we certainly expected to do better than we expect to do now…people seem to have waved the white flag and just accepted that the economy is going to be destroyed after Brexit”.

When this snap election was called most expected it to be the Brexit election, but domestic issues such as social care and now anti-terror and security policy in the aftermath of the tragic events in Manchester and London have taken precedence over the issue of Brexit.

I ask Leech whether the party may now regret pinning their hopes on remain voters, but he is unwilling to change the record and boldly claims “the reality is if the 48 per cent of people who voted to remain in the European Union actually voted Liberal Democrat we wouldn’t be leaving the European Union, because if we were back in government we would stop it”.

Leech also blames their lack of momentum on Labour and the fact in his eyes that they are conning voters “into voting Labour thinking that Labour are on their side on the issue of Europe”.

“How anybody who voted to remain is even considering voting Labour given where they are on Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn almost certainly voted to leave the European Union, went on holiday during the campaign and made no attempt to get Labour voters to vote to remain in the European Union”.

Leech’s bemusement at the support of remainers for Labour is clear, as is his obvious desire to continue to maintain his passionately pro-EU stance: “One thing that I’m not prepared to do is change the message”. However has this message failed to get through to the voters?

“I think so, yes” he quickly replies before blaming this on the fact “Labour have tried to avoid the election being at all about Europe, because they are so all over the place on the issue”.

Leech promises that when we do leave the EU, which seems now to be inevitable, he will be saying “we told you so… we warned people and we’re just going to have to face the economic reality of a trashed economy post-Brexit”.

On this downbeat note I change the subject to how he felt the night he lost his seat of 10 years at the 2015 election, but he admits he knew way before then it was “blindingly obvious” it was not going to go his way.

“From about 3 days after the election in 2010 I knew I was not going to be the favourite to win in Manchester Withington at the following election”.

The public had in his words decided in he was “going to get punished, because we’d been in coalition with the Tories, despite the fact the things that they wanted to punish me on I hadn’t voted for”.

Leech was one of two Liberal Democrats to vote against the coalition agreement, “the only living person who didn’t vote for the coalition”, he adds, with the former leader Charles Kennedy who passed away in 2015 being the other. Does he still believe this was the wrong decision for the party?

“It was the wrong decision made with the right intentions. People who voted for it genuinely believed it was in the country’s interest”, however despite this he claims “had we not been in coalition and had we then had a second election I am absolutely convinced that in the event of there being a referendum on our membership of the European Union it would not have been lost”.

“An undamaged liberal democrat party would have been able to persuade enough people who ended up voting leave to vote remain”, he explains.

I check I’ve heard him correctly and ask again whether he really believes joining the coalition is to blame for Brexit?

“We might as well get blamed for that because we’ve been blamed for everything else”, he jokes, but adds that no one “could have foreseen what would happen. I don’t think anyone actually thought that the referendum was going to be lost”.

The conversation turns now to the elephant in the room, tuition fees. Leech as with the coalition agreement voted against the rise in tuition fees, despite this I ask whether he feels it still impacts on the electorate’s view of him?

“Not massively so. I think the issue was not the issue, the issue was trust. You said you’d do this and you did that.”

Leech explains he believed that the “compromise deal on tuition fees should have been no raise no fall”, but blames the previous Labour government and the Browne Review for removing funding from universities with the plan that this funding would be replaced by removing the cap on tuition fees, “everyone seems to have forgotten that”.

Leech is not wrong here, his party used to enjoy 30-40 per cent of the student vote before 2010, and since his party’s backtrack on their tuition fees pledge the Conservatives are now the second-most popular among students, according to recent research. I ask Leech what his views on tuition fees are now?

Leech maintains “a first degree should be free” but “we just can’t afford to do everything we would like to do”. Instead he outlines how the Liberal Democrats have prioritised education in the early years as they believe “the biggest barrier for people being successful… and going to university is falling behind early on”.

He also argues there needs to be “a proper debate about how many university places there should be” with so many people leaving University and ending up in non-degree jobs.

This argument does not seem to be changing the hearts of young voters however, particularly as Labour have promised to make tuition free; does Leech think he is going to win back student voters at this election?

Leech is not optimistic their message will win against “Jeremy Corbyn’s fantasy manifesto which offers pretty much everything apart from free ice cream for kids”, but argues that young people have not recognised that “if some political earthquake puts Corbyn into number 10 they won’t be able to deliver on it”.

I turn the questions now to local issues facing students in his constituency. In the past few years there have been numerous reports of attacks against young women in the area, which the annual Reclaim the Night marches aim to highlight.

Leech is adamant that as part of the planned redevelopment of Owen’s Park in Fallowfield, which will see more students flood into the area, there needs to be a fully costed patrol system funded by the university “to not only keep students safe but also to ensure that local people are also not having to put up with significant amounts of noise late at night”.

I ask whether he agreed with the use of G4S as patrols in the area and he admits he’s not “massive fan”.

“Ideally the university development [would fund] police community support officers to do that role, it’s far more appropriate for it to be done by the police, rather than by a security firm.”

In addition to Leech highlights that under the Liberal Democrats there would be an extra £16m per year for GMP to increase police presence, particularly in student areas such as Fallowfield and Withington, and Leech claims he has been working closely with GMP around the attacks

The issue of police presence draws our interview to the tragic terror attacks in Manchester, and now London. I ask what more he thinks needs to be done to prevent such an attack?

“I suppose the sad reality is if extremists want to do people harm…there are going to be certain tragic terror events that we can’t stop.”

However he explains there are ways of minimising the risk and claims the Prevent strategy which aims to this currently “simply hasn’t worked”.

Leech explains how his party believes it “needs to be replaced with an alternative, which we would call engage”. This alternative according to Leech would work with different communities to come up with a better strategy.

Alongside this Leech argues we need to “do an awful lot more in schools to ensure that young people aren’t being disaffected… We need to find out what the cause of that disaffection with young men is, where are we going wrong?”

As our time begins to run out I give Leech one more chance to try and win over the young voters of his constituency and he claims that during his 10 years as MP he “stood up for students” and was “constantly attacked for either standing up for students or for criticising students”.

Unsurprisingly however, his final words are on the topic of Europe as he urges young voters to recognise that “the other two main parties have abandoned remain voters”.

“We are the only party sticking up for Britain being at the centre of Europe and young people want Britain to be at the centre of Europe so young people should be voting Liberal Democrat”.

Review: Object Lessons

Written by Isabel Oldman on 6th June 2017. Posted in Arts.

Enter the Object Lessons’ Exhibition room and you will be greeted by one of the collection’s strangest curiosities, a preserved Armadillo. So well preserved is this Armadillo, you may even think it was still alive. Suspended in time, the Armadillo seems to represent the idea that lies at the very heart of the collection, to provide a window to the past through the intricate beauty of objects.

The windowless room in which the collection rests, subtly bathed in moody yellow light, puts the visitor in mind of a mysterious, old, room in a stately home, brought to life by table after table adorned with a charming relics of the past.

At its centre, is one of the loveliest. Papier-Mâché flowers and glass jellyfish sit in their very own bell jar, allowing visitors to admire the life-like craftsmanship of the German Glassworker Leopold Blaschka, alongside scientists worked with his son Rudolf to create true-to -life models of sea animals.

Made in a time when soft bodied animals like these could not easily be preserved, the glass models allowed the animals to be documented free from the limitations that came from analysing them in their organic form. The glassware helped bring exotic creatures, such as the Portuguese Man O’ War to Victorian England, and allowed scientists and biologists to record their existence.

Much of the rest of the exhibition once served as an educational tool and in one corner it even features a collection of old projector slides, formerly used in university lectures, like little stars in a mirrored cubical.

Each one is illuminated, allowing the viewer to appreciate miniature illustrations of everything from plants and flowers to dinosaurs, fish, and human anatomy.

Another corner hosts the Framing Time collection which displays a set of 19th century models representing prehistoric animals along with drawings and fossils, which show Victorian interest in prehistory and what contemporary scientists thought these creatures might have looked like.

Critical to the collection is the Museum’s goal of blurring the boundaries between art and science. Most of the pieces on display belong to the private collection of George Loudon, a prolific art collector who has, for much of this life collected anything from carpentry tools to high art.

The collaboration between Loudon and The Manchester Museum has not only facilitated the public display of historical objects that would otherwise be confined to the private market but also allowed the Museum to display valuable items that are usually kept in storage.

The partnership, which also includes the World Museum in Liverpool also lets the spirit of contemporary art to permeate the arrangement of the pieces. With minimal information provided alongside the objects, the viewer is encouraged not to become preoccupied with factual detail but rather to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the objects presented.

The benefit of enjoying the collection in this way means that the pieces can be fully appreciated for themselves, giving them renewed value.

Removed from heavy factual contextualisation, the collection allows the viewer to appreciate the little details that help to build the wider scientific world, piecing together ornaments of the past. The beauty and charm of these objects facilitates interest in them and helps to bring the viewer closer to a world often overlooked.

Object Lessons runs at the Manchester Museum from 19th May – 20th August 2017

Students evacuated from homes as massive police investigation takes place in Rusholme

Written by Gemma Sowerby on 2nd June 2017. Posted in News, Uncategorised.

Homes and businesses around the Rusholme Place area of Rusholme have been evacuated as police continue to investigate ‘significant’ developments relating to “the movements of Salman Abedi” prior to last week’s terror attack at Manchester Arena, which killed 22 people and left more than 100 injured.

A 100-metre cordon is in place around a white Nissan Micra parked at Devell House on Oxford Place, which police are “assessing” and which is believed to be suspicious. Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson said that the vehicle “is potentially a significant development in the investigation”.

A source told the Manchester Evening News that the vehicle “could be booby trapped, so the approach is cautious and the bomb squad will then be in to look at it. But they won’t come in until the evacuation is complete.”

The bomb squad were in the area for several hours, but are reported to have been seen leaving the immediate vicinity at around 5.30pm. Police are also raiding a house on nearby Banff Road, and forensics officers have been seen in the area.

University of Manchester students living in halls and rented accommodation in the area have been evacuated from their homes, as well as hundreds of people who have been evacuated from shops and businesses in the area, including the Ford Madox Brown Wetherspoons’ and Lidl on Oxford Road, which are now closed.

The Ronald McDonald House on Hathersage Road has also been evacuated.

Police are advising residents and passers-by to avoid the area, and the University of Manchester has advised all students who have been affected by the evacuations to make their way to the Owens Park campus.

In a statement online, the university said: “If you have been asked to leave your accommodation as a result of the ongoing police incident in Rusholme please go to Owens Park in Fallowfield. Staff will be on hand to provide more information or follow the updates from @gmpolice.”

One University of Manchester student who lives on Oxney Road, next to Devell House, said, “we are all unable to access the house,” and that they “were just told to stay away for the next few hours” by police.

Another University of Manchester student described a “heavy” police presence in the area. Twitter user @molliewalker_x tweeted: “Loads of police present in Rusholme. Thank you to @gmpolice for so much hard work over the last 2 weeks”.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have asked anyone with information about the car to come forward: “We are very interested in anything people can tell us about the movements of this car, and who was in it, over the past months.

“We are also interested in any information about who may have had access to the car or who may have gone to and from it.”

GMP confirmed yesterday that they still have 10 people in custody on suspicion of offences contrary to the Terrorism Act, and that six people have been released without charge.

Anyone with information relating to the investigation is asked to call the Anti-Terrorism Hotline in confidence at 0800 789321, and if you have any images or footage that you believe may be helpful to the police, then please upload them to Ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk.

Interview: Conservative candidate Shaden Jaradat

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 2nd June 2017. Posted in Features.

With just less than a week to go until the election, I sat down with Shaden Jaradat, the Conservative candidate in Manchester Gorton and a University of Manchester employee, to discuss how his campaign has been going in a famously Labour safe seat, and why students should cast their votes for his party.

Manchester Gorton was the seat of Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman from 1983 until his death in February this year. Kaufman’s death triggered a by-election planned for the beginning of May, but this was cancelled when the snap election was called.

The seat has been held by Labour since 1935, yet Jaradat told me with conviction he’s “campaigning to win”. He admitted Labour has been dominating this city politically for a long time, “but I think they have failed it, and they have failed it big time, it hasn’t reached its potential under Labour”.

When asked how he was going measure the success of his campaign after June 8th, Jaradat said that his aim was to get the Conservative message out across Gorton and all of Manchester.

We then turned to the horrific attack on Manchester and how the community needs to respond, I asked whether he believed more could be done to prevent anything like it happening again. Jaradat firstly reiterated that “our minds, hearts, and souls are with the families who were affected and with the ones that lost their lives”.

However he admitted the way to stop something like it happening again is not “very straight forward” and stressed there needed to be “a long-term strategy of firstly spotting radicalisation as it happens but in parallel also preventing radicalisation”.

When asked whether this long-term strategy included doing more to integrate communities across Manchester, particularly in Gorton, Jaradat reflected on his own experiences as an immigrant.

He admitted that “absolutely” more can be done and that he said that “as someone who is an immigrant myself. I came to this country around 20 years ago now…the path that I chose was to interact with society, not staying within a bubble of people from a similar background or heritage, even though it’s really nice that in the UK you can do that.

“I think this is what makes the UK such a great country, it’s the fact that people can retain their heritage and the richness of their cultures, but at the same time they can open up and integrate with the rest of society.”

I questioned Jaradat on what he meant by saying that not being forced to integrate is a quality of living within the United Kingdom, to which he explained that he viewed “one of the freedoms of this country [as the] right to be left alone… you can choose whatever you want to do”.

However he stressed that integration was always best for the wider community and that “there is merit in encouraging particularly leaders of the diverse communities” to engage with the rest of their community “particularly the young people, because they are the ones who come up with the new ideas”.

On the topic of young people the interview then turned to what the Conservatives and Jaradat offered young voters. The Labour party have offered free tuition fees, the Liberal Democrats have proposed policies such as ‘rent to own’ to get young people on the housing ladder. I asked why, in light of such tempting policies from others, should students vote Conservative.

Jaradat claimed that the Conservatives “will offer the stable economy that will enable students once they graduate to find better jobs, more high-paid jobs, a more diverse economy that will enable them to utilise the skills that they’ve learnt at university or college or whatever path they chose”.

He ended his answer by saying simply “students might think that this will be happy days because they’re getting free university education, but then they will emerge into an economy with no jobs”.

Labour currently has a poll lead in double figures among under 25s over the Conservatives, and in the 2015 general election, 43 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted for Labour and only 23 per cent voted for the Conservatives.

When asked why he thought the Conservatives tend to not draw in younger voters Jaradat said it was because most vote “based on what they think is right at that time”, but he urged students to “look at the long-term”.

“What I would encourage students to do is think what might happen in five or ten years’ time regardless of what jobs they choose, or what path they take in life and then think which government is going to have that secure, is it us or Labour?”

The Conservatives have faced criticism for not doing more to encourage young people to register to vote, while Corbyn mentioned youth voter registration in almost every single speech he’s made during the election campaign.

While over a quarter of a million under-25s registered to vote on the last possible day, they are still likely to be one of least registered groups, with the number of school leavers registered to vote dropping by more than a quarter over the past three years. I asked Jaradat whether his party could have done more to encourage youth engagement, and whether the Conservative’s lack of attention to this been purely tactical, as many suggest that a larger youth turn-out would be in Labour’s favour.

Jaradat defended the Conservatives actions and said for Labour to decide to run Twitter and Facebook campaigns focused on youth registration “is their choice, but then to accuse the Conservatives of not doing the same I think that’s not quite fair”.

“We encourage as many people within the population to register to vote, I encourage every student to register to vote, if they choose not to then that’s really unfortunate… we’re happy to get the message out at every possible opportunity and this interview is one of them”.

We then turned the polls, which have been tightening over the past few weeks. When asked why he thought this was the case, when everyone expected this to be a landslide victory for the Conservatives, Jaradat claimed it was the media who kept talking about a landslide victory.

“I’m not aware of anyone within my party who actually mentioned that. So I’m not going to apologise on behalf of the media who created the hype and then when the polls fluctuate, people ask us.”

Many have suggested one thing which may have caused the dip in their polling numbers was the Conservatives’ controversial ‘u-turn’ on their social care policy.

I asked Jaradat whether this has made the electorate question the ‘strong and stable’ message — however, he took issue with the term ‘u-turn’.

“We’re very clear that we clarified an aspect of that policy after all the scaremongering that Labour and the Lib Dems did once we published the manifesto… consider that this is actually us saying well look we’re listening and we’re going to quench your fears”.

When asked why the clarification did not just appear in the manifesto originally, and if it was due to ‘scaremongering’ were they not still forced to make this change by the questions posed by Labour and Liberal Democrats, Jaradat turned the question round and said he “would like Labour and the Lib Dems, particularly Labour to provide answers to the bits that we asked about in their manifestos”.

He added that he did not “accept for a minute that we’ve been forced to do something by Labour, if anything they are just trying to divert attention from their own manifesto”.

Jaradat claimed the Labour manifesto was “not costed properly”, however I put it to him that Labour released alongside their manifesto a separate costings document and that there was an absence of any parallel numbers from the Conservatives.

Jaradat defended this by drawing on their record in government, claiming they were presenting a “plan based on the sustained growth in our economy, based on continuing the very robust management of the economy.

“We are in a much more comfortable and solid ground to say, ‘Yes we can afford this manifesto’ than Labour, who are promising to spend billions and billions without really guaranteeing that these billions will be in their bank account.”

The interview then turned to the comments in the media that May has been fighting this campaign in a very presidential manner, with very little mention being made of the Conservatives as a party on election material.

Jaradat, however, said: “Wherever you see Theresa May’s name I challenge you to not spot the conservative logo”.

I conceded that it was there, but that it has appeared in very small print compared to Theresa’s name, specifically referencing their campaign battle bus as an example.

After which Jaradat said: “Well basically Theresa May is the leader of the party, she is the person we believe is going to provide the leadership that this country needs.

“Only eleven days after the election are the start of the Brexit negotiations, and then it’s not going to be the conservative party who is actually negotiating Europe it’s going to be Theresa May representing the United Kingdom”.

Jaradat then joked that he wanted to “turn it around and say I would like to see Labour put out Corbyn’s pictures and name across the country a bit more, why are they not doing that?”

As our time began to run out, I asked Jaradat for any final words he had for our student readers as to why they should vote Conservative on June 8th.

He urged students to “elect someone who will look after the city better than Labour, so that if indeed you leave Manchester after you graduate you leave it in safer hands.”

“The Labour-dominated council and the Labour MPs of Manchester have let Manchester down for so long, so please consider that, and in any case please vote.”

Fundraising pub quiz charges tampon entry fee

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 1st June 2017. Posted in News.

“Help Our Homeless” is a social action group aiming to educate Manchester. They will be launching their campaign with a pub quiz and information evening featuring guest speakers, the required entry fee is a sanitary towel.

The group have requested that guests bring an item to assist someone currently facing homelessness; helpful items include sanitary products, non-perishable food, clothing and toiletries.

“Help Our Homeless” aims to do more than just collect items, instead hoping to create a long-term education resource for Manchester’s public to learn how and where they can help rough sleepers.

“Help Our Homeless” came together when the group of young people attended the UpRising Leadership Programme and were asked to discuss issues they felt strongly about. With reports of a ‘spice crisis’ fresh in the news, the group felt that the gulf between Manchester’s general public and the homeless individuals was growing.

Teaming up with local charities, The Mustard Tree, Lifeshare, The Monthly Gift and Street Support, the event will host a number of speakers discussing different ways in which individuals, groups and organisations can help to make a difference to the lives of our homeless community.

The event is being held at the Cosy Club in the Corn Exchange, Manchester City Centre, on 1st June from 6.30pm. All items donated as will be distributed to the charity partners of “Help Our Homeless”.

Chloe Barker, part of the Help Our Homeless group, said: “Our research found most people are just two months’ wages away from being homeless, yet the gap between Manchester’s homeless and the general public is widening.

“When I walked by rough sleepers in the city centre I felt extremely guilty because I couldn’t give everyone money and food. I wasn’t even sure whether this was the right way to help. We hope the event will give the general public the resources and confidence to truly make a difference in someone’s life.”

The event is free, just make sure you register to attend the event here.

You can follow the work of the Help Our Homeless page on Facebook @HelpOurHomelessMCR and on Twitter: @OurMCRHomeless for more information.

Interview: Women’s Equality Party – Sally Carr

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 31st May 2017. Posted in Features.

This general election is the first to see candidates stand from the Women’s Equality Party (WEP), a move welcomed by some as a chance to put gender equality back on the political agenda, but criticised by others who see it as splitting the progressive vote in key constituencies keeping the Conservatives in power.

The party was founded in 2015 and currently has 65,000 members and supporters across the country. They list seven key policy areas on their website which include: equal representation in politics, equal pay and opportunities, equal parenting and caregiving, equal education, equal media treatment, an end to violence against women and equality in healthcare and medical research.

The party have seven candidates standing in total, including Sophie Walker the leader of the party standing in Shipley, West Yorkshire against Tory MP Philip Davies who Walker describes as having a “track record of misogyny”.

Walker has gained considerable media attention for this move and has promised the “Women’s Equality Party is set to make its mark on this election.”

One place they are aiming to make their mark is within Manchester Withington, which has a large student population and according to the party a considerable membership base across the constituency.

I sat down with Sally Carr the WEP Withington candidate, who has formerly stood for Labour in council elections, to discuss what a vote for her party would offer students and why she decided to leave Labour to stand as a WEP candidate.

We began by discussing why she believed she needed to stand in Withington as a WEP candidate, and she explained bluntly that she fears “equality for women has stagnated, there is a fear that it will stop and an even greater fear that it will go backwards.

“I’m now 50 years old, so I’ve waited half a century for things to change for things to get better”.

I asked whether she was ashamed that she felt she had to stand as a candidate fighting for women’s equality in 2017 and Carr conceded she “really thought by my age now things would be significantly different, but they’re not.

“In the positions of power in politics and in board rooms there is not equal representation of women and therefore you’re only getting a particular perspective on how things should be. If you’re not looking at things from a feminist lens, through the lived experiences of women, then how can you best serve women?”

Carr added she believed “under austerity some of the first considerations to go are around equality, so it’s a fight that needs to be fought, it has to be put back on the agenda.”

One of the things that makes the WEP stand out is their call on other parties to “put us out of business by implementing our policies first, and fast.” They don’t intend to be around forever instead they want their seven policy areas to infiltrate into the policy of the established parties, as Carr also admitted within the interview when she said she wanted to “ensure that whoever is elected as the MP for that fabulous constituency takes on Women’s equality seriously“.

I asked Carr how the party was planning on measuring the success of such a plan, and she claimed some are already recognising the message, “but we want them to actually go further than what they’re currently doing … So that women’s concerns are not a footnote, they’re there from the start, and the lens from which we view the world is there from the start.”

Many have suggested the WEP candidates are risking splitting the progressive vote, making it more likely the Conservatives get back in. When I put this to Carr she blamed “misogyny and sexism… there are five parties standing in Withington, and the only party that seems to be receiving this criticism seems to be the Women’s equality party”.

Carr has previously stood as a Labour candidate in council elections and when asked why she decided to change her allegiances she said it was because when she questioned the local councils about where the women leaders were “nobody can answer me and people look at their shoes”.

I asked whether with this experience in mind she believed Labour has failed to represent women, and she responded by suggesting “all parties need to address through which lenses they are viewing the world” as often their decisions “have impacted negatively on women’s lives and we want to ensure that that stops”.

While Carr seemed hesitant to be critical specifically of Labour, the leader of WEP Sophie Walker has been less reluctant. In recent interviews Walker said the Labour party has been the ‘hardest to work with’. Unlike all the other party headquarters Labour refused the copy of the WEP manifesto delivered to them, with the words ‘steal me’ attached.

I reminded Carr of this incident and asked why she thought the Labour party is refusing to open a dialogue with the WEP. Carr admitted it was a difficult to explain, but said if Labour as they claim to be are the party of women then “talk to us. Talk to us, find out about our policies, look at how we can work together so that actually as a majority party you’re implementing what women want.”

During the interview we also touched on what she perceived as media bias, the party has 65,000 members and supporters, making it bigger than UKIP, but Carr complained they’re not “getting the same media exposure”.

When asked why she thought this was she once again linked it to “sexism and misogyny”, claiming those who get media attention are the ones “who shout loudest” but “getting into conflict and aggression and violence the very thing that we’re against”.

The interview then turned to what the WEP could specifically offer students, with them making up such a large proportion of the Withington constituency. Carr claimed the WEP “seven policy areas will ensure that those young women who are graduating and going into the workplace will be able to access equal representation on board, that their voices are heard in the media, that their healthcare is respected.”

However most of the discussion surrounded the “horror stories that come out of the student experience” referencing the many reports of sexual assaults against female students within the Withington area.

“We want to stop violence against women and girls and that includes sexual assault on female students, and we’ll work really hard to do that.”

I asked specifically how she thinks this violence could be stopped, and what more needs to be done by Greater Manchester councils. Carr suggested there needs to be “a consistent and constant message that says this is unacceptable and that we will hold the perpetrators to account and we will talk to communities who are not coming forward to expose the perpetrators as well”.

She also pledged to lobby Manchester police to include misogyny in their hate crime reporting, “it will be a step forward in addressing how women are viewed and hopefully to prevent the attacks on female students”.

Carr added: “You’ll be told that actually the majority of people who get attacked on the streets are young men, and that’s because they’re on the streets, because they feel they have permission to be on the streets, whereas women don’t”.

As our interview drew to a close I asked how Carr saw the future of the Women’s equality party, and whether she thought there will still have to be candidates standing at the next general election, given their aim to put themselves out of business.

She was not optimistic they will have achieved this by 2022: “I think there will have to be candidates standing. As I say I’ve waited 50 years to get to this point I think there’s a long way to go and we’ve got a lot of people to take on our policies.”

Carr was also not confident the current policies would be enough to secure the kind of equality they are after, admitting “once those policies are achieved it will reveal where the other deficits are that we need to work on, and then we’ll be pushing a hard message then to achieve those”.

Interview: George Galloway

Written by Charlie Spargo on 30th May 2017. Posted in Features.

I meet George Galloway in his campaign office just next to Levenshulme station, in a room filled to bursting with campaign banners on garden stakes featuring his beaming face.

Our meeting was initially postponed following the tragedy of the evening of Monday the 22nd in Manchester. He tells me he “went to the vigil in Albert Square, and we for 24 hours maintained a self-denying ordinance — then took the view that terrorism can’t be allowed to stop democracy, and so have in a more moderated way, begun campaigning again”, though without the bus, music or large public platforms.

The builders renovating what was formerly a kebab and curry shop that his campaign base has taken up one half of are asked for some quiet while we get our chance to speak with him. The unmistakable black hat is on and his piercing light blue eyes shine out from beneath it, and you can understand why his reputation for charisma and passion precedes him.

People should vote for him in Manchester Gorton, he says, because “after 47 years of Sir Gerald Kaufman, who was no ordinary MP… the people of the constituency should not settle for ordinary.

“I have a proven track record, not least in double harness with Gerald Kaufman, over many, many years”, he continues, “travelling the country and farther afield with him, raising the big issues that impact on all of our lives, and those are not just local, but they are local, they’re not just national, but they are national; but they are international.”

What Manchester Gorton needs, is a “big figure to stand up for them, to speak up for them, to defend them and to try and alter a situation here which is, frankly, dangerous.”

He is careful not to promise too much before the election — “politicians can’t offer anything in advance of an election. It’s better in this case to look at what someone has actually done.” I press him on what he can offer students, and he recalls defying a three-line whip, to oppose introducing tuition fees.

“The Chief Whip intercepted me at the door of the lobby and berated me for breaking the government’s line, and he said ‘It’s only £1,000’, that’s what he said. I said, ‘it’s the principle. Once you breach that principle that £1,000 will one day be £10,000’. And he laughed — how he laughed — and nobody’s laughing now.

“Manchester University, and other colleges and universities here are all in the same boat of high fees, high costs, no grants, high rents, high cost of living, and I want to do something about that” he says. “What I want to do is abolish tuition fees, starting this September, so if I’m elected… my vote will help to put a Labour government in to office, and the scrapping of tuition fees will be the first but not the only thing that needs to be done.”

Galloway has positioned himself as an alternative Labour candidate, despite standing against their chosen candidate, Afzal Khan, in the constituency. “This is a choice between two different types of Labour — the Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn Labour that I represent, and the Tom Watson, Tony Blair Labour that Afzal Khan represents”, he explains.

I ask if he’s concerned he risks damaging Labour’s chance of victory by standing in Gorton independently. “There’s only me or the Labour candidate can win this election. If you look at the simple arithmetic, Labour has 28,000 votes, and the nearest competitor is the Green Party with 4,000 votes.

“There’s no danger at all of splitting votes and letting The Conservatives in. The Conservatives, as far as I know, are not even really in this campaign, they haven’t delivered a leaflet or turned up at a hustings or anything else.”

He harshly criticises how Khan was selected by the Labour Party, saying that it was rigged against any Corbyn supporters. “If the Labour candidate had been chosen fairly, then I probably would not be standing, but the Labour candidate was chosen in a rigged selection, in an all-Asian Muslim shortlist, the first time that has ever happened”, he says.

“I strongly disapprove of that. It would be a very risky adventure in identity politics, even if it had been meant sincerely, but it was not meant sincerely. It was the product of Keith Vaz’s manoeuvrings, and the words ‘sincerely’ and ‘Keith Vaz’ shouldn’t appear in the same sentence.

“They couldn’t have an open shortlist, because the Corbyn supporter, Sam Wheeler, would have won it. They couldn’t have a woman-only shortlist, because the Corbyn-supporting councillor Julie Reed would have won it. So they came up with this wheeze”.

In the past, following Ken Livingstone’s suspension from Labour, Galloway called the Labour leader’s behaviour “shameless opportunism” and “utterly dishonest”. Having positioned himself as still standing up for Labour, I ask whether he would really work well alongside Corbyn as he says he would.

“I have been with Corbyn almost 40 years, and sat next to him in Parliament for almost 30 years. My last speech in Parliament, in the last Parliament… was a filibuster, and the three filibusters were me, Jeremy Corbyn, and John McDonnell.”

Galloway was a supporter of leaving the European Union. “Almost all of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s manifesto would have been illegal if we remained within the European Union — public ownership, nationalisation, state intervention in the economy and so on, are all illegal, deliberately so, in the articles of the European Union, that’s why it was set up, to stop that kind of Socialist politics.” He campaigned against it in 1975, he says, for the same reasons he opposed it in 2016.

I ask him if Corbyn is a credible candidate for Prime Minister. Before the attack on Monday which suspended campaigning, Corbyn’s campaign “was really picking up momentum, if you’ll forgive the pun”, he says. “He climbed from around 25 per cent to around 35 per cent in the course of the election campaign thus far.

“Theresa May was on the ropes, anyone who saw her interview with Andrew Neil on the BBC after the incredible fiasco of the social care issue, knows that Jeremy Corbyn was beginning to breathe down Theresa May’s neck.

“Jeremy Corbyn is very much a credible Prime Minister, and those ‘fake news’ outlets that seek to pretend otherwise, are just that, they’re fake news, in the service of the power, in the service of the Tories.”

When asked what could help Labour’s current struggles, he makes it very clear that Labour’s poll results are catching up quickly to the Conservatives’ — but is it enough? “Good question… Let’s put it this way, Labour started on 25, the last poll they were almost 35, with two weeks to go, so that shows Labour steadily rising in the polls, not falling.

“But insofar as there is a credibility gap which you’re identifying, it’s hardly surprising, given that hundreds of Labour MPs have spent the last 18 months stabbing Jeremy Corbyn in the back, and given that the entirety, virtually, of the mass media, has for the last 18 months — and including, in the case of the BBC, in defiance of the law — has continued to maintain an unremitting bias against him.

“It’s hardly surprising. The surprising thing is, despite all that, he’s going up and up in the polls.” He chooses to suspend his judgement on what can bring them eventual success “because it’s not yet clear what the impact of the events of this week has been.”

I turn finally to the issue of anti-Semitism. Galloway has publicly supported the University of Manchester’s BDS campaign, and concerns have been raised by some about anti-Semitism on campus and in the political Left. “If there is actual anti-Semitism on the campus at Manchester University, I’d first of all be a little bit surprised, but I’d be shocked and horrified too”, he says.

“Anti-Semitism is a vile strain of racism which murdered six million Jewish people in the Holocaust, so it’s not a small thing. If there is anti-Semitism it must be rooted out wherever it raises its ugly head… But the question of Israel has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, the question of Israel is about something else altogether.

“It’s about politics, it’s about ideology, it’s about apartheid, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with the religion of the people who are practicing that repression, any more than you can blame the killer of Jo Cox on white people or Christian people, or the mass murderer in Manchester Arena on Monday on Muslim people.

“I have been on the Left for half a century. I have never met anyone on the Left who was anti-Semitic. If you were anti-Semitic, then, ipso facto, you couldn’t be on the Left. Jewish people have played a leading role in the vanguard of the development of Left politics since the middle of the 19th century until now.”

The Mancunion Present: Summer House Party at Black Dog Ballroom

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 30th May 2017. Posted in News.

The Mancunion will celebrate the end of term in style with a free daytime party on the roof terrace at Black Dog Ballroom New Wakefield on Wednesday 7th of June.

Exams are almost over and the end of the academic year is in sight. After working your socks off, you deserve to let loose and forget all about text books and lectures.

This will be the first time Black Dog and The Mancunion have joined forces and we intend to unite the students of Manchester for this final shindig before the summer break begins. Treat yourselves with Black Dog’s extensive range of cocktails which start at just £4!

A guest DJ will be pressing play on a bunch of modern and nostalgic summer bangers – not much of a dancer? Don’t worry about that, there will be a PS4 set up with FIFA ’17 if you just want to kick back and bag Leyton Orient a historic win over Barca.

There will be burgers (from £3.00) and hot-dogs (£4.00) grilled on the BBQ and free snacks alongside the exclusive student drinks offers all day. Free pool, beer pong and a photo booth will be added to the party that promises to be more fun than a roast dinner on a Tuesday.

Every hour, The Mancunion will be giving away loads freebies including bowling at Dog Bowl, buckets of beer, karaoke vouchers and more.

Starting at 3pm and finishing around 7pm, the student summer house party promises to be the best end of term party in Manchester.

Black Dog Ballroom NWS is located at 11-13 New Wakefield Street, Manchester, students are urged to RSVP to [email protected]

Did we mention the first 50 people to register will get a free burger?!

For more information visit the Facebook event here

Manchester entrepreneurs win £50,000 in Venture Further competition

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 26th May 2017. Posted in News.

Eight Manchester entrepreneurs have been awarded a slice of a £50,000 cash prize through Manchester Enterprise Centre’s Venture Further competition, to help take their start-ups to the next level.

Venture Further invited students and researchers from the University of Manchester, as well as recent alumni, to submit their business proposal to an expert judging panel of enterprise and business professionals. The competition offered an opportunity to win a vital cash injection to help realise their business goals.

Of 16 finalists, four winners were selected across the business, research, digital and social categories, each winning £10,000. Four runners up in each category also received a cash injection of £2,500 for their businesses.

A total of 73 entries were submitted to this year’s awards programme, and the winners were:

In the business category, Neurolytics, which uses biometric data to enhance marketing solutions;

In the research category, MicroSpray Technologies, a new method of particle manufacturing using aerosol generation;

In the digital category, Otterly, an app allowing you to place restaurant orders on your mobile; and

In the social category, Bounceback Education, a tutoring service that sponsors disadvantaged students in the North West

Martin Henery, Venture Competition Director at the Manchester Enterprise Centre, said: “Our economy is changing at a staggering rate, and more people than ever are embracing their entrepreneurial spirit and looking to set up their own business.

“It is so important that we are able to nurture this talent to give these budding entrepreneurs the best possible chance to thrive in the constantly-changing business environment. Regardless of whether they win, Venture Further finalists are put through their paces explaining how they intend to develop and grow a successful, sustainable business to a panel of business and commercialisation experts.

“We were incredibly impressed with the standard of entries from all our finalists this year and we’re confident that, like the many Venture Further finalists before them, this year’s winners will go on to make great achievements through their highly successful ventures.”

This year’s Venture Further competition was sponsored by Waters Corporation, Manchester Science Partnerships and Jacobs.

For more information, visit: www.manchester.ac.uk/ venturefurther

Interview: Whitney

Written by Joe Casson on 25th May 2017. Posted in Music.

Last time Whitney played in Manchester back in November, frontman Julian Ehrlich commented: “We’ve been on tour too long”. It’s been six months since then, and now the band is promoting a return to the UK with a headline slot at Now Wave’s Sunday Session at the Ritz on 4th of June. It will be their third Manchester date — and fifth UK sojourn — in a year.

Usually, when bands are taking interviews, they are sitting on a new album and preparing to re-enter the world. Whitney, on the other hand, never stopped: their acclaimed debut record Light Upon The Lake came out just short of a year ago, and the band have been on the road since.

“I think the longest stretch of time we’ve had without touring was three weeks, a few months ago”, Ehrlich explains, deep into a three-month stretch of touring. He seems nonplussed about it: the days get longer and more boring, he says, but his bandmates are some of his best friends from back in Chicago, and this keeps spirits high.

Their life on the road is well-documented — one tweet from early May depicts Ehrlich baptising his bandmate Josiah at an outdoor show near a body of water (“life is one big shrug emoji”, he commented).

On stage, the band have corralled fans into video-calling the bassist’s parents while they’re playing, and the group regularly lock lips on stage to play with the audience. Ehrlich fondly tells me about a recent trip to Salford, where they found themselves pole-dancing on the stage in Islington Mill.

It’s hard not to contrast this with Smith Westerns, the glam-rock band Ehrlich played in with guitarist Max Kakacek and whose dissolution spawned Whitney. It’s hard to tell how much bad blood remains: former frontman Cullen Omori’s account seems to place Ehrlich and Kakacek’s decision to pursue their own project at the heart of why the band’s 2014 hiatus turned into a split, and he closed one of his first solo shows by stating “fuck Whitney”.

On the other hand, he maintains he remains close with the pair and insists the latter statement was a joke. It is clear, though, that the tour preceding the hiatus was unpleasant: a young, messy and ambitious band spreading in different directions but cooped up in the same van to collide. Ehrlich described the winter of Whitney’s formation, shortly after this, as a period of “sad and strange transition”.

In contrast to these tales of touring woes, Whitney’s never-ending tour seems positively blissful. A lot of the songs on Light Upon The Lake are about the end of romantic relationships — Ehrlich and Kakacek were both going through break-ups when writing the songs — but you don’t have to work hard to tie them to the professional implosion they experienced at the same time.

The relief of a reinvigorated vehicle for songwriting and touring is ingrained in songs like ‘No Matter Where We Go’, which makes for a perfect soundtrack for a carefree road trip. More broadly, though, the journey the album paints a picture of is one of abandoning your concerns with the knowledge lingering in the back of your mind that you’ll have to confront them again one day.This bittersweet feeling contributes a soulful edge to the music that was never evident in Smith Westerns (the label on the vinyl edition of Light Upon The Lake is reminiscent of an old soul record).

Photo: Sandy Kim

Perhaps, though, this newfound harmony is just down to the band’s bigger tour van. Erhlich elaborates, “when little things get annoying, there’s a lot of room in the van to avoid them”. He’s refreshingly unambitious when it comes to talking about the band’s goals, when I put it to him that every time Whitney return to Manchester it’s to a considerably bigger venue. “We’re just trucking along, I guess”, he shrugs.

The only point Ehrlich seems genuinely wowed by Whitney’s remarkable success is when he speaks of a recent encounter with Elton John, who publicly declared his love for Whitney’s debut and later interviewed the band due to a mutual connection. Elsewhere, though, the main benefit of Whitney’s growing popularity is not prestige, but comfort.

Ehrlich speaks of an awkward transition from playing someone else’s songs at the back of the stage in Smith Westerns to performing his own emotionally-upfront work front-and-centre, which led to some nervous early shows.

Reflecting this initial uneasiness, Ehrlich and Kakacek initially began writing from the perspective of a fictional persona (named Whitney, if that wasn’t clear), though they are now increasingly assertive and conversational on stage and, two-and-a-half songs deep into a new record, have long since ditched the persona.

A year on from the release of their debut album, Whitney feel both enterprising and deeply relaxed. Progress on new material is sedate, with Ehrlich preferring to spend his scant time at home recuperating in bed, eating tacos and drinking kombucha. This results from a decision not to write on tour due to “too many emotional highs and lows on the road” — I’m reminded of Whitney’s last Manchester show, which took place on the night of the US Presidential Election, no doubt one of the “gnarly experiences” and “extreme headstates” Ehrlich mentions.

This means it might be a while before Whitney are touring behind any new material. Nevertheless, wherever you are, they’ll no doubt be passing through soon, sounding more confident by the day — and the old standards sound as good as ever.

Whitney headline the Now Wave Sunday Session on Sunday 4th June. The event also features Bill Ryder-Jones, Tops and many others. Limited tickets are still available.

Album: (Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

Written by Harry Sherrin on 25th May 2017. Posted in Music.

Released 19th May via Domino Records

6.5/10

Rocket is multi-instrumentalist Alex Giannascoli’s eighth full-length album, and his second with big label Domino. Up until the release of 2014’s DSU with label Orchid Tapes, Giannascoli had recorded his scrappy bedroom pop entirely by himself, distributing it for free on Bandcamp. Just a year or two later, and he found himself signed to one of the biggest and most respected indie record labels, supporting the likes of Built to Spill and even playing on Frank Ocean’s Blonde, providing the guitar lick for ‘Self Control’.

More of a collective effort than Giannascoli’s earlier releases, Rocket hosts contributions from touring bandmates Sam Acchione (guitar) and John Heywood (bass). Giannascoli’s girlfriend, Molly Germer, even appears on the record, providing the violin sections. Don’t be fooled by the abundance of musical contributors, though – this remains very much a Giannascoli project, and totally the product of his sole creative vision.

Unlike previous releases, the group have released Rocket under their new moniker, ‘(Sandy) Alex G’. This change was forced upon them due to copyright disputes over their previous name, Alex G. This probably worked out for the best in the end, though – the now official holder of the title ‘Alex G’ isn’t someone you’d want your music confused with – a cutesy YouTube starlet armed with the ability to fashion detestable chart hits into equally detestable stripped-back covers.

Aside from the name change, though, Rocket in many ways doesn’t tread far from its predecessors. This is especially true of its recording and production. As per his composition method, Giannascoli builds the songs from the bottom up, beginning with a sole guitar section and then steadily adding instrumentation as he sees fit.

This is perhaps why Giannascoli’s albums – and Rocket, in particular – exhibit such a striking variety of sounds; Giannascoli approaches each song individually, rather than as the pieces of a unified whole. Although on the whole this is an asset, allowing Giannascoli to fully exercise his creativity by not restricting himself to a studio project, it also makes Rocket a little indigestible as an album, at times even verging on chaotic.

Opening track ‘Poison Root’ eases the record in nicely, with the rambling banjos and violins establishing Rocket’s more folksy tones. ‘Proud’ follows, with its bare-bones instrumentation and charming lyrics that tread the line between humility (“Wish I could be strong like you, Wish I had something to prove”) and witty absurdity (“Wanna be a fake like you, Walk around with rocks in my shoes”). But after the appearance of standout single, ‘Bobby’, an endearing duet with fellow Philly resident Emily Yacina, the record begins to topple from its seemingly steady foundations.

‘Witch’ and ‘Horse’ hark back to some of the darker, more experimental sounds of Beach Music, with effects-laden textures replacing the primarily acoustic tones of previous tracks. Giannascoli’s delicate vocals and melancholy instrumentation just about manage to keep these songs agreeable. With ‘Brick’ and ‘Sportstar’, however, Rocket really begins to career off course.

‘Brick’ is a lacerating two minutes of pounding drums, droning synths and maniacal yelping. It offers listeners an insight into the group’s more energetic live sound, but its appearance is a jarring hurdle that blocks the album’s progression.

‘Brick’ is followed by ‘Sportstar’, a further impediment to the album’s cohesion. Bouncing piano and droning synths emerge promisingly, only to be followed by the agonising whines of Giannascoli’s vocals pumped through an auto-tuner. This may be a somewhat subjective opinion, but auto-tune in my mind (one that survived the glory days of late-noughties R’n’B) simply has no place in music anymore. Just let it die, Alex.

Thankfully, after this mid-way stumble, Rocket really begins to shine. Standout tracks ‘Powerful Man’ and ‘Big Fish’ showcase Giannascoli’s song-writing at its zenith; here, his bizarre lyricism seeps through in dreamlike narratives of blood-soaked beaches and trippy fishing adventures. Whispered in soothing falsetto, it’s songs like these that afford Giannascoli such frequent comparisons to Elliott Smith, who he cites as a huge influence on his work.

All in all, Rocket is a captivating showcase of sounds that darts between ferocious hardcore-electronica, cocktail jazz and sun-drenched indie folk. The product of a somewhat chaotic artistic vision, this is a record that demands exploration. Though at times it lacks coherence, Rocket’s textural depth and atypical compositions, along with Giannascoli’s lyrical charm, confirm it to be an album worth persevering with.

Competition: Win Marika Hackman limited edition vinyl and signed postcard

Written by Mancunion on 25th May 2017. Posted in Music.

The Mancunion is pleased to announce a competition, giving readers the chance of winning a limited-edition coloured vinyl copy of Marika Hackman’s upcoming album I’m Not Your Man, as well as a personalised postcard signed by Marika herself.

The singer-songwriter has returned to the indie scene in recent months with a string of successful singles. After her 2015 debut We Slept At Last, Marika Hackman returns with the louder and darker I’m Not Your Man, set to be released via Sub Pop on 2nd June. She will also play a sold out show at the Deaf Institute on Wednesday the 31st of May.

Readers interested in winning should sign up to Marika Hackman’s mailing list via this link and send an email to [email protected] by 4pm on Thursday the 1st of June. The email should be titled ‘Marika Hackman competition’ and the entrant’s full name should be attached in the main body text.

Good luck!

Eurovision 2017

Written by Elizabeth Rushton on 25th May 2017. Posted in Music.

For many sophisticated music fans and culture lovers, Eurovision is everything they hate – a smorgasbord of tasteless, tacky Eurotrash and voting blocs. For everyone else, Eurovision has everything – shameless golden nuggets of catchy pop, accompanied by glitter, flags, and, most importantly, drama.

This year’s offering, hosted by Ukraine, was no exception to the above rule – a full scale diplomatic incident had been unleashed before anyone had even performed, with Russia’s contestant being banned by the Ukrainian government from travelling to the competition, resulting in the country’s refusal to broadcast the final and complete exclusion from the event.

The announcement of an empowering theme for the festivities, ‘Celebrate Diversity’, seemed encouraging. Then the show began, and three white male presenters took to the stage, each more frighteningly enthusiastic than the one before. By the time the opening number came around, most viewers were probably ready for it to all just calm down and get the whole thing over with.

The opening act, Israel’s Imri, ensured that calming down was the last thing that was going to happen, with epilepsy-inducing graphics, pyrotechnics and the kind of threateningly sharp choreography we have come to expect from Eurovision. Fire led to a series of performances paying tribute to other elements of the natural world, including a dancing gorilla in Italy’s act in an ode to the wonder of evolution (I’m guessing here, I’ve really got no idea what was going on there to be honest), and a horse in a suit dancing atop a ladder as part of Azerbaijan’s performance.

Azerbaijan’s singer Dihaj also wins The Mancunion award for the performer who most looked like they’d stepped straight out of Fallowfield and onto the stage, having given a memorable performance of her song ‘Skeletons’ complete with choker, silky trench coat and slick silver haircut.

Another memorable moment came from Croatia’s Jacques Houdek, who went all out for his performance, appearing alongside two digital versions of himself on the screen behind him and switching frequently between singing in dulcet pop tones and a strong operatic bass, like an insecure Pavarotti. He ended his performance with what appeared to be a spectacular act of trolling by his graphics team, as the stage was lit up with rainbows – presumably not an idea that will have come from him given allegations made against him of previous homophobic remarks.

Even without Russia taking part, politics of course had a role to play in the evening. Eurovision 2017 held a mirror up to the real world, and showed us just how much modern Europe has changed. In one of the biggest shocks of 2017 so far, David Guetta has now been revealed to be German, and in fact not French as previously thought, as revealed by his apparent hand in the Germans’ reworking of his 2013 hit, ‘Titanium’, for their offering this year, “Perfect Life”.

France was keen to make clear that it stood strong in the wake of the loss of such a cultural juggernaut, with singer Alma performing in front of a screen displaying such classic scenes as the Eiffel tower, just so no-one forgot about it. It isn’t just citizenship that is changing, but cultural traditions too – those of us who were previously unaware of the strong tradition within Romania of yodelling, mistaking it instead for an object of Austrian or Swiss lore, certainly stand corrected now.

The biggest continued source of confusion at Eurovision returned to haunt us all, with Australia, a country known for its location in the south Pacific and not in Europe, crashing the party yet again. However, all was forgiven by song fourteen, when everyone was forced to acknowledge that Australia had gifted us all with the most incredibly-named contestant in the history of Eurovision in the form of seventeen year-old Isaiah Firebrace. It’s an achievement that Australians will surely take comfort in as they wait another year to try and claim Europe’s most coveted title.

The announcement of the results turned out to be a moment of reckoning for Britain. As the results approached, the nation could be heard asking itself: will the others all gang together to vote for us, make us win and then have to host next year, crippled by divorce bills and having to offer our famous politeness to hordes of unruly Europeans lacking strong and stable leadership?

Or would they enact the ultimate revenge, leaving us out in the cold with the dreaded nil points? Would this be the example-making Guy Verhofstadt keeps talking about?

The answer was, in fact, no; we ended the night in fifteenth place with a respectable 111 points, and it turns out the rest of the world genuinely enjoyed our song and actually doesn’t really care that much about our political tantrums. How embarrassing.

In the end however, perhaps the biggest surprise of all came in the form of the winning performance itself. Eurovision 2017 began in a way fitting to the world in which it found itself; dramatic, bitter, and unpredictable. However, Portugal’s win turned the latter into an enormous asset, providing us all with a refreshing change to victories mired in controversy and animosity.

As Salvador Sobral performed the sweet ballad ‘Amar Pelos Dois’ once more to bring the evening to a close, accompanied by his sister Luisa, the song’s composer, Europe was overwhelmed by the loveliness of it all and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Eurovision often echoes our world in more ways than is comfortable, but it is always far more entertaining. Bring on next year — I’m already counting down the days.

Interview: The Parrots

Written by Irune Vega on 25th May 2017. Posted in Music.

During the second half of their European tour, The Parrots talk to The Mancunion just minutes before they begin their sold-out show in Soup Kitchen. The Madrid trio set a friendly atmosphere in the crowded room of the venue’s basement, where Spaniards outnumber the rest — a second guitarist and a photographer chat with me in Spanish.

The Parrots are young as well as enthusiastic, and there’s no lack of jokes when the band reply to my questions: “Yeah, there are many differences between Spanish and English crowds — they speak a different language, use pounds…!” replies cheeky singer Diego. Alex (bass) states that the differences are perhaps not related to what the people are like but to the band’s attitude, although they admit being slightly worried at first when the crowds stood still.

“People here listen to the music” says Diego, while Dani (drums) boasts: ”They feel such respect that they calmly listen to us, pint in hand, and once the gig is over they approach us and tell us which bits of a particular song they’ve enjoyed the most”.

When I ask them about their opinion on Manchester’s music scene, they all agree on one thing: it is Madchester that they like: Alex comments “I would choose all the bands in the film 24 Hour Party People”, while Diego expands “Happy Mondays. The film starts with Joy Division but then it goes on to talk about The Haçieda and all that rave sort of stuff, that’s what we like”.

Though the band’s official debut album Los Niños Sin Miedo (which translates to ‘Fearless Children’) came out last year, I decide to ask them about their older digital album Aden Arabie, and the reasons behind such a title. “It’s a very cool book, but we decided to use that name because of a film called La Chinoise by Godard, in which a terrorist communist group that does artistic performances has the leading role. They call themselves the Aden Arabie cell”. Alex adds “it is the unifying element that takes us back to where we met, as we were all doing a Film, Media and Communication undergraduate course”.

When I ask the pair what song they feel most proud of, Diego is bashful and asks if he can choose someone else’s song. Alex, on the other hand, identifies ‘To The People That Showed Me Their Love While I Was Here’ as one of their best-received songs when playing live. For a deeper cut, Dani recommends ‘Run Baby Run’, stating “we never play it live but I’m crazy about its rhythm, and Diego’s singing is awesome”. Dani’s claims aren’t far from reality, and it’s worth finding not just for the song but also for the video, which shows us the band’s look back in their early twenties.

Though the band has been together for almost nine years, they feel its only been around three years since things started going their way: they laugh when I reference the infamous ’27 club’ in response to finding out their ages, “if we die now we’ll get more famous” says Alex. Diego asserts “we are waiting to see who’s gonna get killed by another band member — Cluedo Rock style”. In spite of their increasing success and burgeoning dedicated fanbase, he playfully whispers “we’re still waiting for the free buffet though”.

Mosh pits are an inevitable occurence at The Parrots’ gigs. Frenetic and danceable rhythms take charge of the trio’s shows with songs such as ‘All My Loving’ leaving the crowd euphoric and breathless. Though they tell me ‘Terror’, one of their more popular songs, is about getting high, I’m more interested in the message behind ‘Windows 98’.

“It’s the equivalent to what a kid nowadays would name Tinder”, Diego informs me. “For us, Windows 98 was an ultimate revolution — remember the paperclip on Windows that talked to you?”. “We already went mental when Windows 95 was introduced”, Alex adds wistfully, “but 98…that was it”.

Finally, I ask the band about when I’ll be able to find The Parrots on Wikipedia. Untrue to form, they take it seriously and enthusiastically reply “we can get it done in a couple of hours. We just need to start working on it, maybe that would be the key!”.

The garage rock band, whose plan after the tour is to write new songs as well as to release a new album, remains a down-to-earth group of friends wanting to enjoy life. That’s why, as the title of one of their songs suggests, there’s only one thing left to tell The Parrots: “no me gustas, te quiero” (I don’t like you, I love you).

“We keep fighting back with Greater Manchester spirit”

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 24th May 2017. Posted in News.

Albert Square was packed with thousands of mourners on Tuesday evening, as Mancunians came together after the horrific attack that took place at Manchester Arena on the night of Monday 22nd of May.

Placards throughout the crowd read “I heart Manchester” as a diverse range of people stood in silence, many in tears, to remember those lost. Listening to speeches by the Lord Mayor Eddy Newman, Greater Manchester police chief Ian Hopkins, and the Bishop of Manchester David Walker, many were visibly moved.

Frankie, a 19 year-old student who spoke to The Mancunion at the vigil told us how important she thought it was for the city to come together at the vigil, including students, “to show that we don’t stand for this kind of terrorism and that the city is stronger than what they are trying to divide us into”.

Flowers left behind after the vigil. Photo: The Mancunion

The loudest response of the evening was for Tony Walsh who performed as Longfella, reading his poem ‘This is the Place’.

Walsh’s passionately delivered lines lifted the spirits of those in the crowd, with the poem celebrating everything that makes Manchester so unique, with many lines receiving outbursts of applause including: “So we’re sorry, bear with us, we invented commuters. But we hope you forgive us, we invented computers.”

The poem also celebrated the welcoming nature of Manchester, which has become the home of so many diverse communities over the years: “Some are born here, some drawn here, but they all call it home.”

This sense of diversity and community spirit was seen from the Manchester Sikh community. Sikhs from five different temples attended the vigil and as one person from this group explained to us, they were “gathered here as a Sikh community trying to help humanity… we can’t do much but we are trying to be helpful and trying to be a part of the community.”

Manchester Sikh community handing out free food to those at vigil. Photo: The Mancunion

The final lines of Walsh’s poem read: “We keep fighting back with Greater Manchester spirit, northern grit, Greater Manchester lyrics/ And it’s hard times again in these streets of our city/ But we won’t take defeat and we don’t want your pity because this is the place where we stand strong together with a smile on our face, Mancunians forever.”

Walsh’s inspirational poem received rapturous applause and cheers from the thousands gathered in the crowds, and has now been shared widely on social media with many commenting how much the words resonated with them.

Graham Cooper, a 26-year-old web developer from Stoke-on-Trent spoke of how the many in attendance may not have all been directly affected by the attack, “but we’re definitely indirectly affected by it”.

Cooper also commented on how the vigil showed how “all ethnic minorities [are coming] together as a team and showing support”. This was highlighted as the crowds were dispersing after the vigil when a old woman hugged young people from Muslim Aid, while a paramedic approached them to shake their hands and thank them for their support.

A woman hugs young people from Muslin Aid at Tuesday’s vigil in Albert Square while a paramedic shakes their hands Photo: The Mancunion

Maureen, who came with groups of Samaritans from across the North West, shared her personal perspective on the attack: “I’ve got a Grandaughter who’s 10 years old who thinks Ariana Grande is the bees knees, and it could quite easily have been her… so I felt that I needed to do something to show that I cared.”

She added that if anyone needs to talk to someone in the aftermath of the attack the Samaritans are available 24 hours a day, urging people to never “sit and think that you don’t know who to talk to or how to talk about something”.

James, 26, who described himself as a local lad from Manchester, summed up the atmosphere and spirit of the Mancunians at the vigil: “We’re united together, it is a tragedy and it is something we need to face together regardless of where we come from, regardless of who we are, we just need to stick together and be strong.”

Manchester attack: He called this city home, too

Written by Tristan Parsons on 24th May 2017. Posted in Opinion.

The reaction to this week’s attack at Manchester Arena has been warm and strong, but ultimately predictable. Yet again, on both sides of politics, emphasis has been placed on the comforting generalisations: religion, ideology, love, and unity.

The reaction

In the hours and days following such an attack, public calm, resilience, and respect for the victims should be priorities. On these terms, taxi drivers, hotel managers, politicians, and the public could have done little more.

The following evening, we stood in Albert Square, heads held high, emboldened by the words of Tony Walsh and others. We celebrated Manchester and, for half an hour, came together in loving unity. We were imaging a city rocking and rolling to northern soul: an “atomic” city of invention, industrialism, and “Northern grit, Northern wit”. There were hugs, knowing moments of eye contact, and the hair-raising chant, “Man-ches-ter, Man-ches-ter”.

Some reacted differently. Geraldo Rivera, US Fox News presenter, labelled Manchester a “hotbed of Islamic radicals” in a series of tweets hours after the attack. He claimed that “kids formerly into gangs and guns are now being recruited, converted & radicalized by Islamofascist preachers of hate.”

Though inappropriately timed, he was basing this comment on February’s Guardian investigation. They found that a total of nine convicted or dead jihadists were found by The Guardian to originate from a one mile radius of Moss Side, South Manchester, as of February this year.

This group of young men were found to be part of a radical network, sometimes attending the same mosque. A further five terrorists were found to originate from a 2.5 mile radius of the area.

The Fallowfield home of Salman Ramadan Abedi raided on Tuesday is within that one mile radius. It has been reported that he shared connections with this terror network, as well as local gangs.

LovinManchester wrote that the people of Manchester had “the perfect response”, citing tweeted replies such as “that doesn’t sound like the place I’m from, you reaction seeking numpty.” These sorts of claims to the city’s spirit have been made, understandably, to comfort in the aftermath of such a traumatic attack.

But scratch beneath the surface, particularly into the history of south Manchester, and we can see that Mr Rivera isn’t right, but he certainly isn’t wrong. This tragedy is likely a climatic reach of over forty years of pain in certain corners of our city.

A history of violence in south Manchester

Amidst the slump of the 1970s and large-scale housing demolition in the area, an underground gang-run firearms and narcotics economy emerged in wider south Manchester, including the Longsight and Hulme neighbourhoods.

In the 1990s, the city’s nickname, ‘Gun-chester’, was coined, as the Moss Side Gooch Close Gang and the Cheetham Hill Gang fought for control in the city centre.

Then, two major Moss Side gangs, Gooch Close and Doddington, engaged in violence over control of local drug-selling areas.

A truce of the mid-1990s did little to stop the violence. With unemployment at three times the national average (30 per cent) Moss Side rumbled on through the pain and fear of regular tit-for-tat shootings.

In the 2000s, rates of gun crime were falling and significant grassroots efforts were being made to keep young men away from the gangs.

Today, despite those efforts, violence remains a feature of life in the area. From December 2015 to April 2016 there were two murders in south Manchester, associated with conflict between the Moss Side Bloods (an offshoot of the infamous Doddington gang) and the Rusholme Crips.

In February this year, a man linked to the Moss Side Bloods was shot and seriously injured. Investigators at the time suspected that the man was involved in a gang conflict between those of Libyan and Somali decent. Greater Manchester Police believe that this signals a rise of tensions in Moss Side, and locals believe that young Libyans are particularly at risk.

In the aforementioned Guardian article, North of England Correspondent Nazia Parveen quotes local boxer-now-trainer, Maurice Core: “Moss Side has always been linked to a gang culture but now that is dying. I can’t say for sure whether [Islamic fundamentalism] is a new home for youth who want to be part of a gang but something is drawing them towards it.”

Regardless of the overlaps between gangs and radicalisation, tensions have been growing for some time.

The government, and particularly then-Home Secretary Theresa May, is coming under scrutiny for cuts made to community and armed policing. In 2015, Damian O’Reilly, ex-Manchester Community Police Officer, speaking at the Police Federation Conference, warned Mrs May, “intelligence has dried up, there aren’t local officers, they don’t know what’s happening, there’s no proactive policing locally…[with these cuts we will be] risking national security”

A different reaction to terror

There were the usual platitudes: he was a “psychopathic murderer” (George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian); “Unity & Resolve make us strong” (Brendan Cox, tweeting); “This wicked ideology must be obliterated” (Donald Trump).

Quite right, too. But in the coming weeks, months, and years, we must go beyond this. We must understand these people come from places like Moss Side and Molenbeek (the neighbourhood in Brussels that the Paris attackers called home).

In this week’s instance, he travelled to Syria and Libya, but his radicalisation, though still unclear, had roots in Manchester.

Our conclusions must go beyond simplistic notions of madness, religion, and love. Instead, we must turn to issues of poverty, crime, policing, alienation, integration, and more.

Take this comment from Moss Side Councillor, Sameem Ali, in February: “We are aware of some young people becoming radicalised. High areas of deprivation are targeted by groomers, and we have been working with the counter-terrorism unit on a number of projects to overcome this.

“We don’t know why they join Isis but we are trying our best to protect our young.” Specific, clear, and humble. That is how we make progress.

Anti-terror police raid house in Fallowfield

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 23rd May 2017. Posted in News.

Police have confirmed reports that heavily-armed anti-terror police have conducted a controlled explosion in Fallowfield. Two arrests have been made in Whalley Range and Fallowfield, as part of the investigation into last nights terror attack.

Fallowfield residents took to social media to report on ‘loud explosions’ and the presence of armed police in the area.

Rosemary Ward, 21, speaking to the PA described that police sealed off Elsmore Road this morning and conducted the explosion at about 11.30am.

She said: “They were all running out of the house when a big bomb went off. That’s obviously what it was because the whole house was shaking.

“Everyone was panicking. I heard there was 20 people in that one house. It was scary.”

In a short statement Greater Manchester Police said: “Police have executed warrants, one in Whalley Range, and one in Fallowfield, where a controlled explosion took place, as part of the investigation into last night’s horrific attack at the Manchester Arena.”

This is following last night’s terrorist attack at Manchester arena where 22 people died and more than 59 were injured, some in life-threatening conditions.

Police confirmed this morning that a 23-year-old man was arrested in connection to the attack.

We will update this story as we hear more.

If any students have been affected by the attack at Manchester Arena and would like to share their experiences, then please get in touch via our social media or by emailing [email protected].

Manchester suicide bomb attack: 22 dead and 59 injured

Written by Jennifer Sterne on 23rd May 2017. Posted in News.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have confirmed that 22 people have died and more than 59 are injured, some in life-threatening conditions, after last night’s terrorist attack at Manchester Arena.

The bomb went off in the foyer of the building at the end of a Ariana Grande concert, causing hundreds to flee in terror, many being teenagers and young children. Police have confirmed that the attacker used a improvised explosive device and also died in the blast.

GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins called the attack “the most horrific incident” Greater Manchester had ever faced. He added that the investigation was now attempting to establish whether the attacker had been “acting alone or as part of a network”.

Greater Manchester Police are still urging the public to avoid Manchester city centre while emergency services continue to work at the scene of the attack, with a large area still cordoned off.

Emergency services were called following reports of “loud bangs” at the end of the concert. Video footage shared on social media shows thousands of people fleeing the scene, both inside the arena and in the surrounding area.

There are still a number of people missing after the attack, and the emergency numbers 0161 856 9400 or 0161 856 9900 have been set up by the police to help anyone still in search of loved ones.

A Holiday Inn near the arena reportedly took in dozens of unaccompanied children who fled the arena, with social media users sharing the information widely.

The hashtag #RoomForManchester trended on Twitter as strangers opened up their homes to anyone stranded in Manchester, and free rides were offered by taxi drivers to get people home.

A number of roads around the Manchester Arena are still closed. You can get the latest travel updates from www.tfgm.com or @OfficialTfGM.

A number of vigils have been planned for this evening, including one organised by the University of Manchester Students’ Union, “in order to allow students and citizens of Manchester an opportunity to pay their respects given the devastating news that so many are waking up to”. Anyone who wishes to take part can meet outside University Place at 5.30pm and make their way together to the vigil at Albert Square.

The Union in a statement this morning said that “for anyone who has been affected by this news, our Advice Service, open to all staff and students, can be located on the first floor of the Students’ Union. Tea and coffee will be available in the Activities space, also located on the first floor, for those that wish to come together.”

The University of Manchester said “the thoughts of everyone at our University are with those affected by the shocking events which unfolded at the Manchester Arena last night.

“Our University will come together to offer support during this difficult time to our students, staff and others in the wider Manchester community.”

If any students have been affected by the attack at Manchester Arena and would like to share their experiences, then please get in touch via our social media or by emailing [email protected].

If you wish to sign the book of condolence you can do so at: www.manchester.gov.uk.

Fatalities confirmed following ‘explosion’ at Manchester Arena

Written by Gemma Sowerby on 22nd May 2017. Posted in News.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have confirmed that 19 people have died and more than 50 are injured after an explosion was reported at Manchester Arena on the evening of Monday 22nd of May.

The explosion is said to have happened at around 10.35pm, following a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande. The emergency services were called following reports of “loud bangs” at the end of the concert.

The North West Counter Terrorism unit has confirmed in a statement that they are treating the incident as a “possible terrorist incident”, and bomb disposal squads were seen arriving at the scene.

GMP released a statement in the early hours of Tuesday 23rd of May confirming that 19 people have lost their lives in the incident, adding that the incident is “currently being treated as a terrorist incident until police know otherwise”.

Video footage shared on social media shows thousands of people fleeing the scene, both inside the arena and in the surrounding area. Police are asking that the public avoid the area for their own safety.

In a statement released on social media, the GMP said: “Emergency services are currently responding to reports of an explosion at Manchester Arena.

“There are a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured. Please AVOID the area as first responders work tirelessly at the scene.”

The British Transport Police said in a statement that the explosion happened “within the foyer” of the stadium. Manchester Victoria Station has been closed, and all train travel in and out of the station has been suspended.

GMP have also confirmed on Twitter that a casualty bureau is being mobilised: “Details of a casualty bureau for incident at Manchester Arena will be shared as soon as available. Please stay away from the area”.

Eyewitness Sasina Akhtar, speaking to The Manchester Evening News, said: “She did her last song, we were in the lower tier and there was an explosion behind us at the back of the arena.

“We saw young girls with blood on them, everyone was screaming and people were running. There was lots of smoke.”

The Guardian Northern correspondent Frances Perraudin tweeted footage of bomb disposal squads arriving at the scene, adding: “Armed police and helicopters overhead in Manchester, around the corner from the arena. All roads into town blocked off.”

The Sun‘s Tom Newton-Dunn tweeted: “NHS sources are saying the explosion at Manchester Arena was a nail bomb attack. Still unconfirmed.”

Residents across Manchester are offering their homes as a refuge for people caught up in the incident using the hashtag #RoomforManchester, particularly as transport in and out of the city has been severely affected by the events.

A Holiday Inn near the arena has reportedly taken in dozens of unaccompanied children who fled the arena, with social media users sharing the information widely.

ITV News’ Alistair Stewart tweeted: “With #RoomForManchester & free rides offered by taxi drivers – humanity stamps its foot.”

This is a developing story.

Review: The Wharf

Written by Miriam Mizzi on 22nd May 2017. Posted in Food & Drink.

As summer is just around the corner, it’s essential for everyone to have that one go to place to grab some nice food and drink in a luxuriously sunny spot.

This summer, my place will be The Wharf. Situated in the canal covered area of Castlefield, it is a fair way from Fallowfield, in terms of distance and scenery, but let us all admit, that’s not exactly a problem.

Walking down to The Wharf allowed me and my companion to take in some of the more aesthetically pleasing parts of Manchester city centre and once we had crossed the Castlefield Bridge, The Wharf was the only place to be.

It’s huge outside area filled with tables and chairs, all focus around a centre-piece water fountain, allowing every last spot of sunlight to be caught.

We headed inside to get ourselves some drinks before taking a seat in amongst the cheery crowd outside. After taking in the afternoon’s gentle warmth, we headed inside to take up our dinner reservation.

The immediate sight of the bar felt welcoming and homely, and the grand patterned rug is a style anybody would be happy to welcome into their home. We were led around the corner and into the more formal setting of the dining room which boasted bookshelves filled with weathered books and black and white photos of what must have been the pub in its past.

As we admired the beautiful room, we were brought over menus. Classic British options were first noticeable but after further inspection, a wide-range of cuisine choices were also available. Hungry from our action-filled day, we both decided to indulge in a starter and a main each.

We joined in with the quiet hum of chatter and in good time, our vibrant looking starters were with us. My companion’s coronation chicken flatbread consisted of a hefty pile of carefully shredded chicken, covered in the classic spiced mayonnaise sauce. The portion was generous and the additions of cherry tomatoes and rocket added to the look and taste of the dish perfectly.

My starter was, admittedly a somewhat strange order from a pub, Asian style pork ribs. A sucker for any Asian inspired food, I felt obliged to give them a try. The meat was soft and flavourful, however they did feel as if they had either been cooked long in advanced or microwaved. Feeling slightly subdued, I tentatively waited for my main.

Luckily, my main dish was rather departed from my starter. I ordered hake accompanied by mussels, saffron potatoes, samphire and a creamy sauce. The fish boasted crispy, salty skin and light flesh underneath and the other ingredients combined with the more-ish sauce to create and all together delicious dish.

My table’s other main was the classic, deep-fried cod, chips and mushy peas. A pub menu staple, I always expect the most from this dish, there’s nothing like a good fish ‘n’ chips. The batter was crispy and the fish inside was flaky, once dipped into the tartar sauce it made for a delightful mouthful. We battled to finish the large platefuls, but welcomed the liberality of the portions.

We happily settled the bill whilst chatting to the amazingly friendly Scottish waitress, before heading back into the garden to continue the evening with another drink.

I highly recommend taking a summer’s day trip to Castlefield, to enjoy the mismatched scenery of canals, old industrial warehouses and high rising modern builds, and whilst there taking a comfortable seat at The Wharf pub.

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Year: 2017