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Year: 2017

Manchester’s Antarctic meteorite hunters

A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Manchester is planning the UK’s first dedicated meteor hunting expedition to Antarctica for 2020. Antarctica is seen as the best place to hunt for meteors and has yielded tens of thousands of samples over the last 30 years.

Dr Geoffrey Evatt is leading the team and explained in a university press release why Antarctica is such an abundant source for meteorologists. Firstly, there is “a strong colour contrast between the icy surface and meteorites which are much darker” and secondly “there is a concentration of meteorites.”

The surface of the Earth is constantly being peppered with falling deposits and in Antarctica these deposits get trapped in the ice. As the glacial ice moves towards the oceans it sometimes comes up against mountain ranges which can force it to the surface, where it melts and leaves the meteors visible on the surface. This significantly narrows down the search area.

But the Manchester team is specifically searching for iron rich meteorites. The usual ratio of collected iron meteorites across the world is around 5.5 per cent but in Antarctica this falls to 0.5 per cent. The team has predicted that the missing meteorites are likely to be just below the surface.

Iron is a much better conductor of heat than rock so the team predicts that when meteorites with higher concentrations of iron approach the surface they transfer the sun’s rays to the ice below which melts and causes them to sink again.

The team will be using newly-developed advanced metal detectors during the 10-12 week expedition. They will be conducting a preliminary trial in 2018 on the Arctic island of Svalbard.

Dr Evatt said that although they won’t be looking for meteors, this would be an opportunity to test the equipment and “develop protocols for collecting samples” and also for “team bonding.” In 2019 they will go to Antarctica on a survey expedition to identify areas with visible meteorites with the aim of returning the following year to look below the surface at those sites.

They will be flying to very remote areas for the Antarctic expeditions where they will have to remain self-sufficient. During that time, they will face difficult conditions with incredibly high wind speeds of up to tens of metres per second. If the team is successful, Dr Evatt says that when they return home the real work can begin. Iron meteorites can tell us about the internal formation of planets and planetoids — smaller bodies of the Solar System which were largely destroyed through collisions — and thus about the origins of the Solar System.

Greater Manchester tackles hate crime

Ten GMC councils are providing funding towards community-run events throughout Hate Crime Awareness Week.

A large advertisement campaign across the city this week using billboards, newspapers, social media and radio as a way of helping to “raise awareness of hate crime in Manchester, encourage reporting, promote community cohesion and celebrate diversity”.

Home Office figures on hate crime in England and Wales show a year on year increase in reported incidents since 2011/12. The 2015/16 “statistical bulletin” report suggests that this may be partly due to “the improvement of recording offences by the police”. However, there was a sharp increase between June and July 2016, immediately following the referendum.

Speaking at the launch of last week’s events at Cheetwood Primary School, Labour Councillor Nigel Murphy (executive member for neighbourhood services), said “Emotions were really high last year when we had the referendum, and people for some reason thought it was sensible to voice their racism on the streets. Actually what’s been really significant in Manchester, is that people have stood up against it…[and said] ‘no that’s not acceptable…’, so as well as encouraging people to report it we encourage people to stand together against it.”
Jim Battle, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner added that “it’s about being friends with people, it’s about including people, it’s about being involved and being together..” He highlighted the benefit of having events in schools and praised the pupils for their awareness of the issues around hate crime.

The University of Manchester’s Students’ Union’s Diversity Officer Ilyas Nagdee told The Mancunion about the work the Union does in collaboration with the university. He said they “stand against all forms of discrimination” and run events throughout the year such as the We Get It campaign which deals with sexual harassment and discrimination and last November’s Islamophobia Awareness Month. They, along with the university, also provide spaces where students can raise issues anonymously and discuss topics in a safe environment such as the Student Union’s independent Advice Service. There are over 40 different events taking place this week across the city, the details of which can be found at makingmanchestersafer.com, and the week will finish on Sunday 12th February, 12pm on Market Street with the Lord Mayor speaking at the event.

More information about tackling hate crime including advice and support for victims can also be found at letsendhatecrime.com

Cambridge student burns money in front of homeless man

A Cambridge student has been expelled from Cambridge University Conservatives over allegations that he mocked a homeless man and burned a £20 note in front of him.

The burning of currency is behaviour akin to the actions of the infamous Bullingdon Club at Cambridge’s arch rival Oxford University, with the lighting of a £50 note now an initiation ceremony for the Club.

Drunk and wearing a white tie dress and tails from a night out, Ronald Coyne, from Pembroke College, was spotted on February 2nd by a stunned onlooker outside a Cotswold store on Bridge Street in Cambridge. Coyne filmed the incident himself, circulating the video on Snapchat, which was viewed by dozens of people.

A fake profile of Ronald Coyne was made on February 9th, with over a hundred comments aiming abuse, scorn and disgust at Ronald’s actions.

The university’s Conservative Association released a statement on their website, disassociating themselves from Coyne and saying “there is no room for people who behave like that in our Association”, and decided to “revoke his membership and bar him from all future events”.

They also claimed that Coyne was not attending an Association event before or after the incident, dispute his white tie attire.

Coyne was the society’s communications officer, and he is being investigated by senior Cambridge University officials, their spokeswoman stating they are “aware of an incident” but could not add a further comment whilst the proceedings were under way.

Conservative Manchester student Stephen said he “couldn’t believe a person could do something so heinous and spiteful in front of a helpless man”, adding that “men like Ronald Coyne give Conservatives a terrible name.”

Review: The House of Bernarda Alba

Federico García Lorca tells the tale of five daughters and their tyrannical mother, Bernarda, who relentlessly prioritises her reputation over her daughters’ wellbeing and her own emotions. The play is set in 1930s Spain, in a small Andalusian village where everyone knows everyone’s whereabouts and wrongdoings, on the day of the funeral of Alba’s second husband.

The play opens with the maids walking around exchanging angry comments about their boss. The house, in this production, consists of a circle of six chairs. A striking feature of this production is the diverse cast: one of the maids and two of the daughters are hard of hearing, and another is a British Sign Language interpreter; this feature is also written seamlessly into the characters’ speech, with Bernarda often ordering the maid to “sign” for her. The setting is reflective of the oppressive nature of the house — La Poncia, the most outspoken maid and closest out of them to the family, refers to the house as “her little empire” that “she doesn’t want anyone else to see.”

The maids set the tone of the play: by the time the Alba family arrives, the audience has formed an opinion of Bernarda’s character and is eager to see what this domineering is like. As the mourners arrive, there is a bright ray of light as if to precede the matriarch’s arrival to her empire. Bernarda is a small yet intimidating character whose first word onstage is an order: a foreshadowing feature that is very telling of her role in the play. It is interesting to note the difference in relationship between La Poncia and Bernarda once Bernarda is onstage: the two characters exchange gossip jokingly about the neighbours, and we see that La Poncia also plays the role of mediator and advisor. However, the impersonal employee-employer relationship is reinstated when La Poncia dares to disagree with Bernarda: “You’re impossible to talk to. Do we or do we not trust each other?” “We do not. You work for me and that is all.”

Lorca has written in and omitted features that develop the characters and build tension among them; these features were brought to the stage seamlessly by the director Jenny Sealey. Adela, the youngest daughter who is the most vocally opposed to the 8 years of mourning that have been imposed upon them, is the only character to break free of the monochrome dress code and wear a green dress, which is a foreshadowing sign of jealousy and a physical sign of her rebellion. Maria Josefa, Bernarda’s mother, is a symbol of all of the girls’ desire to be free; she escapes the room she is constantly locked in and declares her plan to run away to the sea to get married. Later in the play, she is a figure of brutal honesty as she says “Pepe El Romano [the love interest of the daughters and fiancée of one of them] is a giant; you all want him,” despite only three of them having declared a desire to be with him. The lack of a male cast member builds the tension among the women; having one prominent love interest allows their love to manifest in different forms: due to claustrophobia, loneliness, self-deprecation and lust.

The context of the play, when considered with reference to the characters and dynamics, is very interesting. Bernarda’s tyrannical nature foreshadows the dictatorship that Spain would live under for 36 years, with a desire to keep everything uniform and without any dissent from the given orders. However, the reversal in gender roles is significant. Bernarda, rather than feeling empowered as a matriarchal head of the house, says her hard work is due to “[toiling] like a man.” The stark difference in reactions to domestic violence by males and females was also made clear when the audience was amused by La Poncia affirming that “it’s true [she] used to beat [her husband].” This proud reaction from La Poncia may have been due to the fact that she resented having had her body taken advantage of by Bernarda’s late husband; both incidents display another facet of the toxic relationship between men and women in this play.

The House of Bernarda Alba is a revealing, entertaining and moving play that boldly shows the different types of women going through life, with one overarching characteristic: survival instincts in a small, oppressive, 20th century Spanish village.

The House of Bernarda Alba, a Royal Exchange Theatre and Graeae Theatre Company co-production, is at the Royal Exchange Theatre until the 25th of February.

Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights

Never Going Underground marks the 50-year anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK. The title of the project is taken from the campaign against the infamous Section 28 which forbade the promotion of homosexuality, which led to the UK’s largest ever protest for LGBT+ rights here in Manchester. The exhibition focuses on the on-going fight for LGBT+ rights, enlightening visitors with events both before and after the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.

The exhibition comes as a precursor to Manchester’s feminist Wonder Women festival which will see a vast array of equality themed theatre, arts, and even conferences across the city. Following the controversial inauguration of President Trump, the general consensus from LGBT+ supporters seems to be that there has never been a more important time to fight for equality, and basic human rights for all.

Never Going Underground explores the societal shift between a time when: it was illegal for men to express themselves freely without persecution, lesbianism was passed off as a medical issue, trans rights were simply non-existent — and society’s attitudes today. Now LGBT+ legal protection and equality is recognised almost nationwide in the UK, though there is still a long way to go.

The exhibition has been two long years in the making, and was aptly curated by 11 members of the LGBT+ community.

The piece follows 60 years of activism, and displays the various types of struggles the LGBT+ community have encountered over this long period of time. According to the People’s History Museum website, the exhibition “will highlight that there is nothing inevitable about that progress, and that in the long and complex story of over 60 years of activism, it’s important to remember that there were steps back as well as forward.”

Never Going Underground promises solidarity, power, and humanity. We are invited to witness the hardships that have been overcome by the LGBT+ community, that have led to the widespread knowledge of the cause, and the relentlessness of those fighting for their rights to equality.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting

Are you an up and coming playwright? Do you have what it takes to write the next great play? Have you already written it? If so, The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is open for 2017 entries.  It is the UK’s biggest national competition for playwriting. They are on the search for the next great play and the great playwright who created it.

Europe’s largest playwriting competition is the product of a partnership between the Royal Exchange Manchester and property company Bruntwood. New and unperformed plays can be submitted and judged by a panel of experts. Four winners will then be picked and will win a part of the £40,000 prize fund.

Since the competition began in 2005 there has been 15 prize winning writers and 8 winning productions have been staged.  Each winner this year will eneter into a development process with the Royal Exchange Theatre. The winning scripts will be announced at an award ceremony in Manchester this November.

Katherine Soper became the fifth overall winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2015. Her play ‘Wish List’ was premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre and has since been transferred to the Royal Court Upstairs. You can find a review of Wish List on The Mancunion website.

For any emerging talent this competition is not to be missed. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 16 and resides in the British Isles. All you need is a finished play that has never been performed and the courage and self-confidence to submit your work. All scripts are judged anonymously and the final 10 are judged by an expert judging panel.

To enter you simply need to go to The Bruntwood Prize website and apply there. The process is quick and easy. Submission closes on the 6th June 2017 at 6pm. So there is still time to finish that play or perfect it further. To apply click here.

Review: Swan Lake

Swan Lake is ballet composed by Tchaikovsky, which depicts a tragic love story between a Prince and the Queen of the Swan. Swan Lake is one of the most popular and well known ballets and is being brought to life by Moscow City Ballet. Moscow City Ballet presents Swan Lake at the Palace Theatre.

Never having seen a ballet I was unsure of whether I would enjoy Swan Lake or not. However, even without the skills or knowledge to critic the choreography, it was clear how high the standard of performance was. The dancers were perfectly in sync and left you wishing you were as athletically skilled. The company were able to create stunning imagery with impressive ballet routines.

Without any dialogue, resting purely on the company’s physicality through ballet, Moscow City Ballet told the story of Swan Lake. The play revolves around a Prince who is looking for a wife. Many princesses arrive at the palace to meet the Prince. This resulted in some excellent and exquisite soloists as well as corps de ballet numbers. The Prince however is unsatisfied and ventures outside towards the lake. Here he meets the Queen of the Swans, whom he falls in love with. The White Swan has been cursed and turned into a swan waiting for a Prince to break her spell. All is not well as an evil sorcerer plots to take advantage of their love, through tricking the Prince into marrying his daughter the Black Swan.  This leads to tragedy for the lovers.

With no pre-existing knowledge of the ballet I was able to follow and understand the main storyline, although more nuance details were lost on me till after I read about the plot.

My one critic is that due to the lack in speech the ballet lies heavily on physicality. This physicality is showcased brilliantly through the companies dance ability, but had the dancers engaged their faces instead of expressing neutrality it would be easier for the audience to understand the storyline and how specific characters were feeling.  There was a tendency for the dancers to appear disengaged with the events on stage, this is particularly true for the Prince who seemed to lack an emotional depth. Although this can be a critic of all ballet generally.

The character which most easily identified to the audience what was going on within the dance numbers was the Jester, as he was the most facially dramatic, thus illustrated the Princes lack luster approach to his potential brides and his pining for the Swan Queen.  The Jester also stood out for his exquisite dance ability and really did demand your attention whenever he was on stage.

The ballet is accompanied by a live orchestra, The Hungarian Sinfonietta Orchestra. The live music enhances the dancing onstage and helps to create a truly memorable and dynamic performance.  No set except for gorgeous backdrop to allow for maximum space for dancing. The backdrops depicted the castle, banquet hall and a moonlit lake. The stunning costumes depicted the grandeur of the ballet.

Every single dancer performed the complex choreography with ease and elegance. No wonder this is a signature piece in the group’s repertoire. The principle ballerina Liliya Oryekhova was sensational.

Oryekhova moved with seamlessly between the white and black swan and somehow she was able to embody the swan like quality the two main roles desperately requires. All the swans were physicalized beautifully by the dancers. Fantastic leaps, unstoppable pirouettes and dynamic lifts were present throughout the performance. The entire production emitted poise, grace and beauty. It doesn’t matter if you have never seen a ballet before or have been to the ballet countless times Moscow City Ballet’s production of Swan Lake is certainly one to go and watch.

Only on until Saturday 11th February, get your tickets here.

Student loans for sale in move towards privatisation

Pre-2012 student loans are being sold as part of a £12 billion pound programme set to take place over the next four years. The first of the sales, announced on the 6th February, include loans that became eligible for repayment between 2002 and 2006.

The government assures the sale represents value for money for the UK taxpayer, claiming the process will work to repair public finances. The sale had been attempted by George Osborne, in the coalition government, who promised the sale would fund higher education and pay down the deficit. New conditions, however, do not entitle education to the proceeds, despite cutting university funding by £4 billion in 2015/16 to £3.7 billion in 2016/17.

Though the conditions of student loans and repayments have yet to change, critics worry the sale of education for private purchase will cause problems for borrowers. These concerns follow the sale of the pre-1998 student to Erudio in 2013 which left many bewildered by administrative errors.

Roughly 7,000 were affected by the company’s failure to send vital paperwork, including deferral forms, and unexpected demands for early payments. The sharing of customer data with credit reference agencies were amidst the complaints against Erudio as students originally sold the loans were told the debt would not appear on their credit records.

In the recent sell-offs, the administration of loans and collections will remain within the power of the student loans company.

The government’s claim the move will secure future repayments has failed to derail critics. Many fear the marketisation of the industry could enable private companies to use education as a profitable business in order to meet the original face value of the loans.

National Union of Students Vice-President, Sorana Vieru, has called the sale “an ugly move,” allowing bankers to “profit off the backs of graduates who took out loans because they had no other option.” Since the announcement, the NUS have begun a campaign to stop the sale.

Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, claims the sale will have “no impact” on those paying loans. Critics remain sceptical in light of the increasing financial demand placed on students. In 2015, the government announced plans to increase repayments for those who had taken out loans since 2012. This was not in accordance with the plans publicised when many students had taken out the loans.

Many worry the financial pressure being forced upon students will discourage those from low-income households to apply for university.

Chief Secretary to the Treasurer David Gauke said: “This sale makes sense for taxpayers and will play an important contribution in our work to repair the public finances.”

In response, critics have questioned the value of money to the taxpayer. This proved both difficult and controversial in both Gordon Brown’s selling of Government gold and Vincent Cable’s of Royal Mail.
The University of Manchester has refused to comment on the issue at this time.

The Education Officer of The University of Manchester’s Students’ Union, Emma Atkins, stated it was a “moral issue” that “money that could have contributed to public services is now going to line the pockets of the private sector”.

She further added that there is  “already controversy over changing the terms of repayment once a student has started borrowing” and that it’s uncertain whether it’d be at the discretion of the companies not behave similarly. Atkins also highlighted how, even though the loans are from 2002-2006, this could “set a precedence and become the norm”.

During the last sale of the student loan book to Erudio, Manchester’s Students’ Union took a public stance against government proposals to privatise student loans.

Live: Bry

7th February at Club Academy

5/10

Irish singer and songwriter Brian O’Reilly, or Bry, like many others before him, forged his own way onto the music scene through YouTube. His online presence gained rapidly, securing him a worldwide fanbase. It was with the release of his latest album Bry, produced by Greg Wells, that his name really started pricking the ears of those of us outside that fanbase.

While Bry, rather self-consciously, has described his sound as “sad indie music”, there is definitely far more of merit to it than that. It was this self-consciousness, however, that seemed to dominate his performance at Manchester’s Club Academy on Tuesday.

One of the reasons Bry so abruptly seems to have burst under the covers of popular music publications is the fact that a certain, rather popular band, took him on tour across Europe late last year. Unfortunately, this resided over the entirety of Bry’s set like a dark and pervasive cloud; he entered the stage to a slightly altered version of Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Ride’ and unfortunately the ride was almost a consistent downwards slope from then on.

He proceeded to make six more references to the fact that he’d supported Twenty One Pilots on tour and the result was a performance that, completely unnecessarily, rode on this fact. His endless references to them by no means enhanced his performance, but rather dampened it with an imposing feeling of insecurity about his own music and place on the stage.

Bry is a funny guy, and there were moments throughout the set where I genuinely laughed out loud, but self-deprecating humour can only have so much of a place in live music. Similarly, lack of confidence can be endearing, but it needs to be set off by the right amount of certainty in what it is you are delivering in order to truly work out.

What was most frustrating about all of this, was the fact that behind this shadow Bry seemed to hide behind, his music was really very good. Guitar-based and simple, the show carried an air of a genre that is both classic and forgotten, yet new and effortlessly cool. Songs such as ‘Adventure Time’ and ‘You’re Alright’ captured a subtle feeling of nostalgia in bursts of brilliant indie pop. Whilst the song he closed his set with, and his most recent single, ‘Disarm’ is a track that threads the nostalgia Bry has expertly integrated into his music, with a beat that even the parents lingering at the back of the room could not resist bobbing up and down to.

Bry is a truly great songwriter, and with that he carries the essence of a great performer, but he needs to realise and convince the rest of us – and perhaps himself – of what it is he can do. And ultimately, show what he does is good enough to stand alone, not hover behind another band’s success, because in my opinion, it is.

Tom Brady: The Greatest of all time

The 51st Super Bowl was arguably the greatest of them all. The New England Patriots, down 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons with little more than a quarter to play, produced a thrilling comeback, rallying to an overtime victory of 34-28. This was a feat unparalleled in any previous Super Bowl: the largest deficit previously overcome was 10 points.

Since the match, several explanations have been given for the overcome. As a team, New England’s 4th quarter performance was flawless. Moreover, Atlanta’s Super Bowl naivety was evident: their play-calling in the game’s latter stages was foolish and their aggression in defence was simply unsustainable. However, it was Brady, his ability as a quarterback and a leader of the highest quality, who was ultimately able to exploit Atlanta’s flaws.

Brady’s post-game interviews have been fascinating: he maintained that he, as well as the team, never believed they were beaten. Head Coach Bill Belichick added that the halftime message was the “Same thing we told them in the first quarter and the second quarter — just kept coaching and just kept trying to get better.” It is difficult to believe doubt hadn’t entered the minds of the New England players, with the unprecedented scale of the comeback task they faced. However, anyone who has watched the Patriots over the years will understand that Brady and Belichick have unwavering belief in both their own ability and each other’s. This shone through in the Patriots commitment to their game-plan, and their subsequent victory.

Brady’s performance set new records for QB’s in the Super Bowl: Championship game records for most passes (62), completions (43) and passing yards (466) were recorded. It was extremely fitting that these records were set in the game where Brady surpassed Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the most successful QB in Super Bowl history: Brady now has five Super Bowl wins, to Montana and Bradshaw’s four. I, for one, was delighted that Brady surpassed the record. It is now indisputable evidence that he is a player of the highest calibre, and true testament to the level of consistent excellence that he has demonstrated over his 16-year career.

While Brady’s achievements are unparalleled, his beginnings offered no indications of the career he would have. Unlike Peyton Manning (drafted first), Brady’s main QB advisory throughout his career, Brady was selected 199th in the NFL Draft. New England really stumbled upon a diamond. Initially serving as back-up QB, Brady only became a starter in his second season, 2001, when the starter Drew Bledsoe got injured. Brady secured his first Super Bowl that year, illustrating his capabilities and leadership qualities. Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to Super Bowl victories in 2003 and 2004.

Two of Brady’s best season statistically, 2007 and 2011, ended in harrowingly narrow Super Bowl defeats to the New York Giants, led by QB Eli Manning. In 2007, Brady amassed 4806 passing yards and threw for 50 touchdowns. Brady benefitted from having Randy Moss, a Hall of Fame-level receiver, to hit. Analysts have argued that his 2007 season was one of the best ever produced by a quarterback. However, despite having a 16-0 record, the Patriots were unable to cap off the perfect season, narrowly beaten 17-14 in the Super Bowl. In 2011, Brady amassed 5,235 yards passing and 39 touchdowns.

2011 was about Rob Gronkowski, the juggernaut Tight End that Brady has formed a fantastic footballing relationship with. While 2007 was about offense, 2011 is considered by most to be the most archetypal Patriot season, killer in all phases of the game. Again, however, Brady and the Patriots were defeated by Manning in the Super Bowl, this time 21-17. Joe Montana won all of the Super Bowls he played in. Having won 5 and lost 2, Brady is player that has experienced both the glory and the despair.

Super Bowl losses have provided greater fuel for his drive and determination to be successful, despite being nearly 40. Super Bowl losses have made him a more complete player. 2014, Brady’s other Super Bowl victory, consisted of the Patriots taming the mean defence of the Seattle Seahawks. In similar style to this year, the Patriots completed a 10 point comeback in the 4th quarter. Brady has accumulated a magnificent repertoire of Super Bowl victories, the latter two, 2014 and this year undeniably made sweeter by the defeats in 2007 and 2011.

While blessed with talent, Brady’s consistent level of excellence is down to his sheer dedication to his craft. Even following Super Bowl winning season, he rarely takes more than two weeks off, desperate to get back and begin preparing for the new season. An example of his dedication is his diet. He follows a strict 80% alkaline, 20% acidic diet; in a 2014 interview, he described it as providing “balance and harmony through my metabolic system”.

Despite his unrivalled dedication, the single most important reason for Brady’s success has been Bill Belichick, his head coach throughout his playing career. Brady and Belichick have a true symbiotic relationship: Brady’s consistency marries perfectly with Belichick’s system. Together, they have reached 7 Super Bowls while largely lacking the amount of star players other teams have had. Brady and Belichick’s respective successes cannot be divorced from each other’s. Ultimately, they have formed an unrivalled dynasty, comparable to the one Alex Ferguson and the class of ’92 achieved.

Brady, in partnership with Belichick, has the quality that all sportspeople crave. By whatever means, they win. They have winning in their blood. In Super Bowl LI, Brady immortalised himself. He is the greatest QB ever.

Still not in space suits: the comeback of millennial fashion

1) Puffer Jackets: Saunter around Manchester and I guarantee you will pass a bevy of bright young things sporting the puffer jacket. Once worn by the likes of The Backstreet Boys, it has fast become a staple in every student wardrobe (also doubles up as an extra duvet in the icy depths of student housing). Today, everyone from Skepta to The Duchess of Cambridge have invested in this marshmallowy delight. It has filtered down to mainstream fashion so that even Annabelle from Surrey can strut down the isle of the magic bus in her infamous green puffer.

2) Silky. Short. Sassy. Underwear is the new outerwear. Kate Moss of course did (and still does) reign Queen of the slip dress. It was a go-to during her modelling (and Johnny Depp) years. No wonder as they can be worn with everything, for literally every occasion. Night out? Sling on the heels. Daytime? Combat boots/trainers. Bed? Slippers.

3) Logos. Logos. Logos. In the past few years anything with a cocky logo has been avoided by the self-respecting citizen, a preserve of the daring fashionable few. However, during the teen movie era of the early 00’s, we learn two things: don’t trust anyone named ‘Chad’, and the bigger the logo, the better. Now, once the SS17 runway shows tell us we are at the height of logo mania, with Gucci and Dior graphic t-shirts, Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with Supreme and of course Vetements collections. Labels, logos and lettering is everywhere.

4) In a time long ago everyone owned a tracksuit/shell suit (just look at respected judge Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince). Once again, athleisure (roadman chic) is making strides on the runway. Peep it-model, Bella Hadid for the ultimate tracksuit styling goals and of course sporty spice! Cigarette cut trackies are super comfy and versatile, wear when attending lectures, shopping, legging it from the feds, exercising etc. I will also add that if you are feeling brave and over the Adidas thing, there has been an alarming comeback of the two-piece Juicy tracksuit (available at Topshop), synonymous with Paris Hilton in the early 00’s.

5) Dear all boys and girls owning snapbacks, bucket hats and bandannas, please if you haven’t already (particularly snapbacks — you know who you are), throw them out to sea like Rose with the diamond in Titanic or burn them on a pyre at least. Instead, welcome the baseball cap. Specifically- skater style. Think late 90’s skater culture. Somewhere between full on Thrasher and Hansons MMMBop music video.

Album: Elbow – Little Fictions

Released 3rd February via Polydor Records

6/10

Elbow are a modern curiosity. Despite having a cult following for years, it was only with the release of 2008’s The Seldom Seen Kid that they were finally legitimized as one of Britain’s most soulful bands. However since then, Elbow have been somewhat hit and miss in recapturing the magic of that seminal album; they’ve always taken the prettier, but slower scenic route to reach their destination.

So along comes Little Fictions, their latest album. If you caught the release of ‘Magnificent (She Says)’ prior to the album dropping, with its rousing symphonic arrangements and gentle swooping approach to romance, you’d be forgiven for assuming that it was business as usual for the Ramsbottom lads. But not so, as this album represents the band’s most palpable shift in sound yet.

This isn’t to say the band have dropped everything in pursuit of a new avant-garde punk direction. Rather, the band have allowed themselves to swoon more, to relax into some patient, elongated grooves, and new, spacious arrangements that certainly suit the powerful husk of Guy Garvey’s splendid voice.
Their exploration of percussion and new sonic palettes certainly adds to the flavor of Little Fictions. From the samba-infused intro of ‘Gentle Storm’ to the handclap-laden ‘Firebrand & Angel’, the band rely on their backbeats like never before, and they pay off, on the whole.

There’s a great deal more melodic space incorporated to allow for these new, busier drum arrangements, and there are occasions where it really works, particularly in the aforementioned ‘Firebrand & Angel’. Sinister and atmospheric, it’s by far the best track on the album. The ringing piano lines dance slyly and seductively around Garvey’s growling vocals. It’s a very different, but very rewarding track from the band; you can forgive it for having a title that sounds like a Lynx Christmas Gift Set.

Other tracks benefit massively from this new patience. The U2-esque ‘Head For Supplies’ is a beautiful, laid back ballad, and ‘Trust The Sun’ is equally pretty, filmic in fact. It would sit comfortably in the background of a tense BBC drama. However, this album’s lacking sense of urgency is also a major drawback, and not just for casual listeners. Undoubtedly, Little Fictions’s arrangements are more subtle, and they’re pleasant. But is this album exciting? Do the next tracks beg to be listened to? No, not really.

The songwriting just isn’t quite there, something about it doesn’t quite come together. Hard as it is to admit, part of the problem is Garvey’s vocal performance. Yes, it’s beautiful, but it lacks clarity. He doesn’t stay on a melody long enough to establish a strong memorable hook. Furthermore, there’s little distinction in the structure of the songs; they all bleed into each other, and some songs finish seemingly without having even really started. For an album that’s only ten tracks, it feels long, and at times uneventful.

Overall, whilst Little Fictions sports exquisite production and some of the band’s most delicate pieces yet, it doesn’t have the unshakable foundation of fantastic songs to make it anything more than a passive listen.

Top 5: Pre-Summer Warm Ups

We’re on the home straight, we can almost see the summer sun from here and it’s time to start working-out. A couple of reps of this playlist every month and you’ll be summer-ready just in time to hit the beach.

5) ‘For Free’- DJ Khaled (feat. Drake)

There’s nothing like last year’s summer anthem to remind you to get in shape for the mad one you’ll be having this year. But take it light with this one – you don’t want to overdo it.

4) ‘Money Made Me Do It’ – Post Malone (feat. 2 Chainz)

At only 21, Malone is one of the hottest artists in music right now. His light beats and chilled vocals are the perfect accompaniment to your morning run, so get up and go!

3) ‘Let Me Show You How’ – Royal Deluxe

Let Royal Deluxe show you how to get ripped with an intense session of modern jazz. With sounds reminiscent to James Brown, this track will have you up, moving, and out of breath in no time.

2) ‘By Design’ – Kid Cudi (feat. Andre Benjamin)

A collab of Cudi and Andre is what the world has needed for a long time now. This track is just what you need to conjure up motivation for that gym session you’re dreading.

1) ‘Run Up’ – Major Lazer (feat. PartyNextDoor & Nicki Minaj)

Feel the heat with Major Lazer and Nicki doing what they do best. We finally got PND regressing back to his island beats similar to the tracks off his debut album – it’s good to see the mind behind ‘Work’ has found is sound again.

#PogStop

Paul Pogba seems to care more about his image rather than the way he performs on the pitch. He signed for Manchester United in the summer for a world record fee of £89 million. Since his arrival, although producing some good moments, has performed below par. Some people think this is due to his off field antics.

He frequently treats us to his rehearsed dance routines through social media, which is embarrassing to say the least. Also, he broadcasts a variety of eccentric haircuts that look slightly odd. It can be said that he’s just trying to have a bit of fun, but what is this achieving?

Some of the people we spoke to this week claim that he’s put too much effort into boosting his franchise. Yes, Pogba is well-known for the dabbing and dancing, but it would be better if he went down in history as a fantastic footballer, not a showman.

However, being in the limelight and having the pressure of the media on your back every day must play a part in all of this — it’s understandable that a popular footballer would want to embrace the fame.

Still, it’s evident that there’s perhaps a lack of discipline in the way he’s being managed. Rio Ferdinand blasted Pogba live on BT Sport this week by saying that he “hasn’t won anything yet” and dancing like this would “never have been allowed under Sir Alex Ferguson”.

There’s a strong argument that sponsors can be held accountable for affecting his image. In the summer of 2015, Adidas struck a £750m sponsorship deal with United, and since 2016, Adidas have made Pogba into a brand and appear to have evolved the trend of #Pogboom. They’ve done this through adverts, mostly of him performing weird dance moves which, to be honest, make him look like he’s got something wrong with him.

It could be said that Adidas have almost brainwashed Pogba into thinking that he’s God’s gift to the footballing world, when in reality, he hasn’t made his mark on the pitch enough to be considered influential at all. He’s done everything to broaden the fan base of his club, but has failed to play well consistently, which is surely the number one priority?

We spoke to Manchester City fan Emptyhad, who said that “some footballers act like they are in a circus”. He then added that it’s their obligation as professionals to “get the job done and bring success to the clubs they represent”.

After asking twenty random yet experienced fans who they thought was the best Premier League midfielder in the last 20 years, seventeen of them said Paul Scholes.

Scholes was the  perfect example of a player dictated football matches, won multiple trophies and received a phenomenal reputation from the footballing world; he wasn’t interested in haircuts or inane dance routines, he just wanted to play. Scholes is the fitting example to use because Pogba has all the attributes to reach this level, but favours theatricality over simplicity.

Admittedly, though, Pogba has helped in providing encouragement for young disadvantaged fans from the Manchester United Foundation, making him a popular figure amongst supporters. Footballers are role models, as a child you always wanted to emulate a Beckham free kick or a Ronaldinho step over — young fans today will instead copy Pogba’s clothing and his dancing, not the way he plays football.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the definition of hard work and dedication to the sport. Even though showing signs of arrogance, Ronaldo can back this up with stellar performances and frequently breaking records. Pogba on the other hand, cannot support his cockiness due to his inconsistency.

Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer to play the game, recently bleached his hair white. Even though it looks like polar bear fur, his image hasn’t affected how much of an outstanding footballer he is week in week out. Pogba bleached his hair and proceeded to get outplayed by Stoke City’s midfield.

There are a number of supporters who criticise his image, calling for the return of the way football used to be, a no-nonsense profession, with players who don’t care about style over substance. It’s obvious that Pogba’s image, in some way, has surpassed the importance of playing football to the best of his ability.

The sad reality is that he’s become a brand, although that’s an obvious statement — his image is very much a part of the player he is, but ultimately, the football should come first.

Gary Neville vs. Arsenal Fans

Gary Neville was completely wrong when he branded an Arsenal fan ‘an idiot’ for holding a banner, after witnessing yet another dire Stamford Bridge performance, telling Arsene Wenger: ‘Enough is enough — time to go.’

While he did seem to sympathise slightly with the fan’s sentiment, saying “obviously the Arsenal fans are disappointed”, he said it was ‘a joke’ to ‘pre-empt’ the defeat by bringing such a banner in before the game. What Neville seemed to forget here was the side’s embarrassing loss to Watford last week, and the rising belief among fans that it truly is ‘time to go’ for Wenger.

Neville claimed “Arsene Wenger doesn’t deserve that”, but why not? If I was an Arsenal fan, supporting one of the biggest teams in the country and paying the highest prices in Europe to do so, I would feel it was reasonable to expect my team to win the Premier League and consistently challenge in Europe. In this respect, regardless of the constraints placed on the side by the move to the Emirates, I would feel I had witnessed Wenger oversee twelve years of failure.

Not only that, it seems the manner of Arsenal’s failure is the same every season. Poor Novembers, not progressing from the Last 16 of the Champions League for 6 years, frequent Stamford Bridge drubbings and an apparent lack of physicality and fight on the pitch must make fans feel they are stuck in Groundhog Day. Arsene Wenger has singularly failed to fix these glaring problems, yet is given year-after-year to repeat them.

It would have been ‘a joke’ for the fan to have not predicted such a capitulation at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal have not won there since 2011, were thrashed 6-0 there in 2014, and before last week’s consolation had not scored there since 2013. Once again, history repeated itself for Wenger’s Arsenal. In fact, the fact he brought the sign showed this wasn’t just a reaction to a derby-day defeat but a display of a long-held dissatisfaction with the direction the club is heading.

That Neville had such a strong, emotive reaction to the sign is particularly surprising when you consider how civil a protest it was. Compared to the equal parts brave and stupid Crystal Palace fan that confronted Damien Delaney on the pitch following their 4-0 drubbing to Sunderland on the same day, this was absolutely civil — and had no effect on the game itself, unlike Blackburn and Blackpool fans throwing tennis balls onto the pitch during their FA Cup tie the previous weekend. This was a fan, who had paid good money to support his team despite having little hope for a positive result, peacefully displaying his dissatisfaction at the man leading his team.

Perhaps Neville, having played his entire career under Alex Ferguson, is particularly sympathetic to Arsene Wenger both as his former manager’s main title-rival for much of his playing career but also as the last Ferguson-style manager in top-flight football.  It may be that Neville’s own managerial experience at Valencia, where he himself was subject to fan protests much harsher than this, has also made him more sympathetic to managers under pressure — and especially appreciative of those who succeed in the job as he did not.

However, I believe the reason I and so many others were so taken aback by Neville’s reaction to the sign have more to do with his lack of understanding of what it means to be a supporter of a football club. Yes, Neville played for his childhood club — a club he loved and served all his career with distinction — and would have felt the heartbreak and disappointment along the way as intensely as any fan, but there is a crucial difference between his experience and that of a fan.

Neville would always know that he could influence his team’s performance, he could have a say in the direction his club was heading, he would never have to resort to protesting at a match to have his grievances heard. Most importantly, Neville has never had the frustration of paying hard-earned money, for many a considerable proportion of their income, to watch the team he loves fail time and time again to meet his expectations. This is why he could not understand the fan’s actions, because he has never been in his shoes.

Alastair Cook and the end of an era

Alastair Cook, the England Test captain, resigned from his role last week after four years in charge.  Although he has said that he wishes to continue playing for the foreseeable future, it is in many ways the end of an era.  This may seem like an overstatement. When Rachel moves out of Monica’s apartment in Friends, Monica calls it ‘the end of an era’.  The two debate the meaning of ‘era’.  Rachel thinks that six years is too short a time to be called as such.  Monica, on the other hand, takes a broader view.

For her, an era is not defined according to a specific length of time but rather a ‘significant period’ of time.  In the latter sense, then, an era’s definition takes on a subjective dimension: if the period in question was significant in some way, perhaps emotionally significant, it may be deemed an ‘era’.

Under this broad definition, Alastair Cook’s captaincy tenure was, in hindsight, an era.  It was enormously significant.  The bare facts are that he captained England in 59 Tests, a national record, and of those he won 24, the joint-second highest number after Michael Vaughan (his 22 defeats as captain were also a national record).  In 2012, he became the first captain since David Gower in the 1980s to win a series in India; he triumphed in two home Ashes series wins in 2013 and 2015; and in 2016 won in South Africa, the then top-ranked team in the world.  These are all mighty achievements.

Over and above his successes, however, Cook’s era will be remembered more for the groundwork he laid in preparing the next generation of England cricketers.  Cook’s predecessor as captain, Andrew Strauss, enjoyed an England team at the peak of its powers.  James Anderson, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen were either approaching or passing the age of 30, the prime of a cricketer’s career.  When Strauss’ team achieved the top rank in 2011, these players were veterans and had the habit of winning.  By the time Cook became captain in 2012, however, this ageing team was beginning to creak.  It won in India, but fell apart spectacularly the following year.  A fresh start was needed.

Under Cook’s captaincy, many players were introduced.  A fair number of these will enjoy long careers, and one or two may even become England, and perhaps international, greats.  Haseeb Hameed, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood have serious potential.  Meanwhile Joe Root (the probable new captain) and Ben Stokes are already world class players.  What’s more, these men are all in their early to mid-twenties and are likely to be around for a long time.  It is possible that only James Anderson, who is 34, and Cook himself, 32, will retire at some point in the next few years.  This allows the next captain to build the team after his own fashion.

If Cook had to contend with several powerful personalities when he first took the job, the next captain has young players whose only desire is to win cricket matches.  The England team of today has an ebullient, carefree attitude which may be down to its youth.  But it is also explained by Cook’s desire to revolutionise its style from dour but relentless to entertaining but lovably naïve.  There is an honesty around English cricket which cannot but be celebrated.

Much of this fresh attitude is down to Cook himself, an utterly decent man. Andrew Flintoff, the former England all-rounder, once said: “When my daughter grows up, if she brought a bloke like Alastair Cook home, I’d high five the wife.”  Off the pitch, Alastair Cook is endearingly old school.  He is not on social media and spends his down time working on the family farm in Essex.  Like the ancient Roman Cincinnatus, who was called from his plough to defend Rome from attack, Cook returns to the farm when off-duty.

It keeps him grounded, he says: “I like perspective and the farm gives you that. Whatever else, come rain or shine, the farmers meet for a beer at the local on a Friday evening. It signs off the week in a communal way that says we take care of our own.”  As captain, Cook was brilliant at ‘taking care of his own’.  Keaton Jennings, who debuted against India in December, said recently that “Cookie was brilliant for me: he was very welcoming, warm, friendly, I suppose caring, in terms of being very aware when I came into the tour of the need to make me feel part of the group immediately.”

Cook’s personal qualities endeared him to the public and his teammates.  He was not a tactical genius like a Michael Vaughan, nor as inspirational as Andrew Strauss.  But his integrity, honesty and sense of duty was unrivalled by previous captains.  When he returns to the playing ranks, a veteran among young guns, these qualities will continue to command respect as both the mark of an old era and the beginning of a new one.

Climbing Mount Fuji overnight

After being fortunate enough to receive one of the Travel Awards given out by the University, I explored Japan for a month last summer. With only a couple of days remaining on my trip, I found myself aboard a coach leaving Tokyo, bound for Mount Fuji. As soon as I stepped foot in Fujikawaguchiko I stopped, stood, and stared at the mountain. Isolated and perfectly formed, it suddenly became obvious why ancient Buddhists considered the cone so divine. I broke my glazed look, trundled down to the town’s lake and stared some more. The temperature was 40°C. In A.M. hours. Burning, backpack burdened, I sat. Even in t-shirt and shorts alone I sweltered. Intending to leave as much weight behind in lockers as possible, and swayed by heat, I decided I needed a light kagoul ready for action and no more. Foregoing the bus, I walked to the mountain station straight from the lake: 26km in total, coiling gradually steeper onwards and upwards. Night had fallen when I arrived, though it was not yet cold. There I met others set to climb. “Shorts? That’s not brave,” I said. “It’s worse in England.”

Mount Fuji fifth station view – Photo: Jack Greeney

Like all clueless characters, I overlooked my foreshadowing of doom and set off. In darkness I needed light, and rooted in my bag to find a Japanese coin had somehow perfectly lodged itself into my torch: useless. It was a good job I’d made friends. The journey began. A stroll soon evolved into a hands-and-knees climb. The higher we reached the colder the winds became, the mountain exposing chills and my own underestimation. I gritted my teeth and shivered my way on upwards. We blindly clung onto jutting mountain edges in fear of the gales throwing us off it. I like to think the monk who first climbed Mount Fuji 1,353 years earlier probably did so with the gift of sight. And longer trousers. Dammit, why hadn’t I worn actual trousers? We huddled at each station, shielding ourselves from relentless wind. We sapped morsels of warmth from doorways of rest houses. Windiest for some time, said one housekeeper. Humoured looks came my way. “I’m fine!” I lied. My shaking limbs didn’t agree.

Passing 3,250m on my way – Photo: Jack Greeney

The view though, we agreed, was unquestionably worth it. Far away, hives of city lights sprawled around themselves. We speculated which city was which. Not long after we entered the clouds, removing all sense of distance from what little sight we had, we rose above and peered over them. Excitement pressed us onward as the climb grew steeper still. Suddenly I placed foot onto carved stone: steps! We raced to the top and waited, early and frozen to the core for it. I sat, knees in shirt, anticipating the sunrise. The only problem was the barrage of thick cloud. Disappointment bred around our group, fearing the famously shy peak would hide the sight we had all come to see. Groans surfaced and despair grew as time drew closer. Then, like a miracle, the clouds blew away with moments to spare and the sun rose. For the first time on that mountain I thanked the wind. Unless you’ve been up there too you’ve never seen anything quite like a Mount Fuji sunrise, soaring from beneath the horizon. People stood completely awestruck.

Fuji sunrise above the clouds – Photo: Jack Greeney Sunrise silhouette on Mount Fuji: Jack Greeney

I was one of them. I stood and gawked for hours, stole myself a small chunk of rock and trampled down the zigzag quicksand of the descent pathway. As light flooded the world the view became simply jaw-dropping: I almost fell down the whole path, unable to take my incredulous eyes away. There are sights from that day that will be etched into my memory for as long as I live. There’s one thing I’ll remember most of all, though. If you’re climbing a mountain: don’t wear shorts.

Volcanic rock above the clouds – Photo: Jack Greeney Descending down the zigzag pathway – Photo: Jack Greeney

The University of Manchester offer three different Travel Awards for students wishing to travel as part of their degree or within vacation periods. Applications for 2016/17 are open now and close in March 2017.

Review: Toni Erdmann

As 2016 came to a close, one film that was on the lips of numerous esteemed critics was Toni Erdmann. Voted Sight & Sound’s best film of the year, I longed to watch the magazine’s most acclaimed film. Written and directed by Maren Ade, this 3 hour German comedy focuses upon Winifred (Peter Simonischek), a junior school pianist, who adopts the alter ego of Toni Erdmann to prank his 30-year-old daughter, Ines (Sandra Hüller). With a flowing brown wig and a set of decaying yellow teeth, Toni is equipped well to embarrass Ines and her modern working life. Working as an exploration of modern life and its repercussions upon family relationships, the film is not without its poignant moments. It is strangely within the empathetic scenes of Ade’s work that charm you — a stark contrast to its overly long comedic acts.

Visiting his daughter on a surprise birthday lunch, Winifred is taken aback by Ines’ distance and over attachment to her phone which constantly rings with business calls. Working in the dizzy heights of the oil industry in Bucharest, Romania, Ines is the epitome of the hard-working independent woman. Visiting from the city, she makes little effort to engage in human contact with her now-divorced parents. Fathoming her distance, Winifred leaves the surprise party early. When he arrives home, his overly chubby dog has passed away. With this, he decides to surprise his daughter in Bucharest to restore some balance to their relationship.

Arriving in Romania’s capital, it soon becomes clear to Winifred that his daughter is even more religiously attached to her job than he initially thought. Using Toni to sabotage her working life, he does not shy away from intruding upon his daughter’s working and social life. Their first encounter is hilarious in its narrative execution. Working as an accumulation of the opening, Ines’ first encounter with Toni lingers long after the film has finished. The cinematography of Patrick Orth is still and calm within the upper echelons of numerous Romanian Kardashians and Ines’ co-workers. Capturing the hustle and bustle of modern city life, Ade’s film attaches itself upon the diegetic sounds of taxis frantically racing about the city. Through setting this tale in an Eastern European city, Ade creates the impression of sleaziness and overindulgence in Ines’ VIP executive life. One scene that springs to mind on this matter is a scene based in an EDM-based night club. In the relationship of Ines and Winifred, it foregrounds the volatile nature of their ongoing joke — one that is starting to have serious repercussions for both parties.

Numerous emotional moments, such as these, work to deepen this relationship. Over its duration, little comedic moments clearly channel European absurdist work, such as the recent The Lobster. Yet, a climatic nude scene leaves an aftertaste of too much self- knowing and Office-esque awkwardness. It is not that these scenes are not funny: it is that a work’s self-embarrassment has had its day in the sun. Some would claim the verisimilitude of such scenes are the beating heart of the film, but largely its impact is one of tediousness. Although some scenes do indeed drag with this conscious comedy style, moments of affection and sadness are allowed to breathe like their trip to the Romanian oil fields and a glorious Whitney Houston number.

Like a fine wine that needs time to breathe and come up to room temperature, Toni Erdmann will either leave you wanting more — which audiences will get in an American remake with Jack Nicholson and Kirsten Wiig — or want to throw the bottle down the sink. Although I am neither of these categories, I can see the pleasure in such a film.

 

3/5

Poet of the Week: Alle Bloom

Alle Bloom is a 2nd year Sociology and Politics Student, she is a performance poet who recently competed with the Manchester team at Uni-Slam and is a member of Young Identity. 

Flowerbeds

I should have known from the dirt under your fingernails where you’d been,
you had the roots of my sisters tangled around your thumb,
i couldn’t see then,
that you were the one who had pulled them from our flowerbed.

the soil beneath my toes had always grounded me,
and though soft petals scarred faded brown around me,
i did not heed their warning,

the shadow you cast made me feel safe,
i made sure i always turned my head to face you,
lest you stop looking at me,
and fell for sweeter rosebuds,

when you wrapped your hands around me,
i could only see that you were pulling me closer,
paid no mind to my leaves as they crushed inside your fist,

you did not give me the same look you gave my sisters,
instead,
recoiled back,
red bloomed on your soft palms,

you do not have the hands of a gardener,

i guess you should’ve learned by now,
though we may look fragile,
some of us have thorns.

How social media is sculpting politics

As of late, a very definitive trend has arisen in politics. Whilst slightly older generations have swung to the right of the political spectrum, the generation of teens and young adults heavily influenced by social media seem to have adopted a left wing agenda. In the Brexit vote, 75 per cent of people between the ages 18 and 24 voted to remain within the European Union, whereas 61 per cent of those older than 65 voted to leave.

Furthermore, it is estimated that voter turnout amongst 18-24 year olds was a mere 36 per cent compared to the 83 per cent of over 65s that voted. Though this trend is not an entirely new phenomena, one explanation of this might be that this newest generation of young voters are inexplicably lazy; they have an unrelenting common goal to be apathetic towards everything and everyone. However, whilst social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook have populised the nonchalant attitude that all is futile, they have also charged young people to care far more about what’s going on in the world and to react to it accordingly with their own opinion.

Social media now has gifted everyone a voice and a soapbox on which to present their opinions to fellow beings. This has led to an extremely rapid dispersion of ideas — whether they are dangerous, stupid, or brilliant. Suddenly, in every moment, we are presented with something entirely new and exciting. This group of young people is presented with politics, opinions, and bias every day.

This effect is the ‘super-spreading’ principle, a term originally coined for diseases which spread extremely quickly, but also applicable applied to social dynamics. The people with many followers and multiple connections beyond the averages of their peers are ‘super-spreaders’. When these people share ideas, their influence is spread very quickly, especially when super-spreaders interact with others like them.

This effect may be said to be responsible for the recent popularisation of memes. The combination of super-spreaders and memes as a profound impact on youth culture. And, since memes are often politically charged, they are part of the rush of insight and opinion that this generation faces day-to-day through social media. However, there is a somewhat darker side to such memes. A very basic understanding of politics is required to enjoy them, therefore making Wikipedia and the like the primary pool of political research for the younger generation.

Though this is a somewhat banal form of political participation, it has an impact on the the thinking of young people, pushing them to think more about politics, whether they like it or not. With the strong platform of social media outlets, this increased political awareness has led to more general engagement with the issues of the day, as the rising in number of petitions shows. One particularly contemporary petition stands above the rest: the petition to prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit in the UK has over 1.8 million signatures. Since 100,000 is the usual amount of signatures required for the Petitions Committee to debate their subjects, the petition’s ridiculous amount of signatures perfectly  demonstrates the super spreading effect of social media.

However, the current wave of political engagement also has roots in the wider political climate. 2016 was a year of momentous events. Outrage and joy were simultaneously voiced through social media. A tsunami dragged everything in its path with it: those who were once apathetic to politics found themselves swamped by a bombardment of tweets and statuses. The sheer volume of such a social media outpouring was too much to ignore, and hence brought the once-apathetic to express their opinions.

The shock of politics in 2016 has successfully borne new interest and engagement in young people. The problem, however, is that this engagement remains, for the most part, in the glowing corners of social media. Tweets and statuses do not actually count towards polls. If they did, I’m sure the outcome of 2016 would have been entirely different. No Brexit, most certainly no Trump in office. Instead, we might have found Harambe being sworn into office.

What the future holds for political engagement is unclear. The technologies available to us make it easier than ever to spread ideas. Amongst many of their challenges, young people must work against the propaganda of the many racist and offensive groups that exist, whilst not impinging on others when they themselves share their views. One thing is certain in this uncertain world: the future is the clay in our hands!