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Month: October 2011

Review: ‘The Debt’

Written by Harry Robinson on . Posted in Film.

John Madden’s outstanding espionage thriller is a triumph. Three young Mossad agents travel to 1960’s Berlin in an attempt to capture war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), “The Surgeon of Birkenau”, and bring him to trial in Israel. This juxtaposes with their story thirty years later, when a dangerous secret from their past threatens to surface. The pace of the film is thrilling, building the intensity with every clever scene.

Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas portray the operatives. As we follow them though their ordeal in Germany, their devotion to this mission becomes increasingly clear, as do the strains that it puts on them and their relationships. The story demands exceptional performances from these young actors, and I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. Chastain’s portrayal of a young Rachel as a woman whose strength outdoes her years, but whose character is laced with emotional vulnerability, is flawless. Csokas and Worthington play Stephan and David respectively, and deliver strong performances as the male leads. Helen Mirren, who plays Rachel thirty years on, achieves impressive symmetry with Chastain’s character, maintaining the theme of emotional instability. Another standout performance comes from Jesper Christensen who depicts war criminal Dieter Vogel. He conveys a sense of pure, calm, sinister evil that sends shivers up and down the spine throughout.

Artistic camerawork coupled with a chilling soundtrack work to create a dark yet inviting atmosphere. The audience is drawn into a world that flits between bleak Berlin and modern Israel, also visiting Ukraine at one point, a world that is not easy to take yourself away from. The intensity of the film is palpable, one identifies with the characters and their situation. We, like them, become immersed in the mission and its outcome.

I cannot recommend this film enough, it is a veritable must-see. Films such as this do not come around very often, and if you get the chance to get away from your busy student schedule for a couple of hours, seeing this in the cinema would be a worthy investment. Finally, at the end of this shower of praise, one question remains… Oscar?

Preview: ‘Puss In Boots’

Written by Bill Knowles on . Posted in Film.

The trailer for this film makes me sad. Puss in Boots swaggers towards the camera to the sound of crap music, and all I can think is ‘why? Why, Dreamworks? Wasn’t it enough to just kill Shrek. That barrage of sequels was horrible. It was brutal, like something out of American History X. It gave me nightmares for years.’ And you know what? On top of all that, Puss in Boots was always a crap character anyway.

The problem is that the original Shrek was so excellent. Too excellent. Dreamworks found itself a winning formula: concealing ice-dry wit and clever pop-culture references in a children’s film, meaning that parents wanted to see the film almost as much as their children. It was immensely entertaining to everyone. But Shrek started something it couldn’t control. It split the atom of kids’ entertainment.

Dreamworks started using the Shrek formula whenever it could. Churning out film after film with the same tired references and recycled scripts. Before long, the world of children’s animation had become a more artistically barren place than it was before. It’s sad, and the same thing that happens in the music world all the time; remember when The Arctic Monkeys first appeared, then ten seconds later the lead singer of every band sounded like they grew up in Sheffield.

Maybe it will save itself, this film. Maybe it’s the point at which the Shrek franchise gets back on track. But it looks, at the moment, as though it’s just another marker for Dreamworks’ gradual decline into creative homogeneity. I’m just glad we’ve got Aardman and Pixar. Because you know what, they might just help me avoid animation’s winter. Right now, I’ll just stick to Toy Story. And it’s sequels.

Live: Death From Above 1979

Written by Joe Goggins on . Posted in Music.

6th October 2011

Academy 1

8/10

The huge backdrop looming over the Academy 1 stage tonight tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Death from Above 1979’s history to this point; zombified, cartoon versions of drummer Sebastian Grainger and bassist Jesse Keeler are depicted emerging either side of a gravestone reading ‘DFA 1979 2001-2006’, and indeed it’s a visual summary with all the subtlety and restraint of the band’s musical style.

Announcing their arrival with an utterly brutal rendition of ‘Turn It Out’, the Toronto duo are clearly hell-bent on making up for lost time, tearing through material from their only record to date, 2004’s You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, with a level of aggression that borders on the disturbing. Eschewing the conventional insistence on rock music being centred around the electric guitar, DFA rely simply on a blistering rhythm section, along with the occasional smattering of synth, to create an effusive blend of raw punk and slick funk rock  that has tonight’s audience moshing and dancing in equal measure. With no new material to air – and, indeed, no indication as to whether any has or will be written – the eighty-minute set is fleshed out with a slew of early EP material that’s sadly lost on large swathes of the crowd, and unsurprisingly it’s the big hitters that truly set the room alight – ‘Blood on Our Hands’ inspires a manic singalong, with ‘Black History Month’s slithering bass proving irresistibly danceable and the riff from set highlight ‘Romantic Rights’ threatening to tear a hole in the roof. They might not record any more music, they might not even be friends, but there’ll be an item less on many a bucket list after tonight – an incredibly vital performance for a band that once, by their own admission, seemed dead and buried.

You’ll be there for me?

Written by Lily Howes on . Posted in Lifestyle.

It’s happened. They’ve done it. Friends has ditched Freeview, bailed on E4 and moved on to the much swankier and more exclusive, Comedy Central.

News of this move was broken to the nation back in February last year so it’s been something we’ve been anticipating for a while but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking.

Freeview is standard for student houses but Sky or Virgin, where Comedy Central resides, is for the privileged only.

Now its replacement, Scrubs, is all well and good but when you got in from uni after traipsing through the rain and sweating it out on a Magic Bus it was nice to know you could switch on E4 for a double (or even triple!!) bill of your favourite American chums.

That comfort is now exclusively reserved for those shelling out on cable TV.

What do we do now?! How do we get by on a day-to-day basis without a generous helping of Joey and they gang? I wish I had an answer for you, I truly do. I’m just going to go back to my box set and pretend that the whole sordid switch over never happened instead.

You might have mail

Written by Hattie Allsop on . Posted in Arts.

The Postal Project Tour is a UK touring postal exhibition that was displayed within our very own John Ryland’s Library in Deansgate last week. Jade Blood and Melanie Alexandrou, the curators, warmly invite visitors to become a mail-artist as part of their ever-expanding project. The Project encourages post enthusiasts to collect addresses of people they wish to mail-swap with and then create their own postal art in the ‘mail-making section.’ And this all in the spirit of the Free for the Arts festival, a weeklong series of events that seeks a unique and meaningful experience with its audience, asking nothing from them except participation and engagement.

Walking in and out and the various nooks and crannies of the Library, along the Hogwartsian corridor beneath the fan-arches, the Postal Project leaps out in its surprising location just before one enters the Reading Room for long hours of post-less labour. And participating in this surprise visitor encapsulates that special feeling you get when a hand-written letter comes clattering through the post-box a hundred times-fold. There are various homemade stamps, empty postcards, pieces of scrap paper, a real authentic typewriter all just inviting you in to create. The project is ‘interactive’ without the touch-screens and computers and graphix that we’ve all come to associate with the word. The main focus of the exhibit is the pin board, filled endlessly with smile-inducing postcard art. The whole exhibition offers up a sense of community and personality through the ancient art of handwritten mail, and all this achievable simply through leaving your stamp (apologies for the pun) on the Postal Project.

The Postal Project is the perfect medium through which to creatively connect people from a distance, without relying upon the, dare I say, impersonal nature of the internet. So if you’re meandering around Deansgate, chatting to your friends on your interactive Blackberry and you spy John Ryland’s, take a look inside. You might just be inspired to become part of the Postal Project.

A class above the rest

Written by Georgia Miles on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Whilst innocently sat in a lecture, on Marxism, expecting to be told lots of ‘Marx wasn’t looking for a Utopia’ and ‘Marx thought it would be nice if there were no poor people’ I heard something from the lecturer that made me listen.

“Just being here, in this university, makes you middle class.”

Now, I am not looking to start a debate on whether we live in a classless society, or whether some of us have caviar for dinner and some of us climb out of the mine and tuck into a bowl of gruel.

My first thought was, ‘does it?’ At the time, I had been at University for six months, and coming from a very Northern, working class background myself, experienced a bit of a culture shock in those first few weeks. I found myself picking up the lingo, saying dinner instead of tea to avoid any confusion. I read books instead of watching Coronation Street and ate butternut squash on more than one occasion. But does this make me middle class?

Sat in said lecture, I thought, how can I have been working class for the past twenty years, and now, because I am sat in a room with a desire to learn new things, I am middle class? My parents don’t live in gated communities; have fat pension funds or holiday in the Caribbean. And therefore neither did I.

I don’t deny that my motivation for being at university is to make a better life for myself. I’d like to be able to put money aside for a pension and live in an area where I don’t go to sleep hearing Jeremy Kyle’s most recent guests argue over who ate the last tin of beans and sausage.

But I am proud to be working class. John Lennon once said that “A working class hero is something to be, if you want to be a hero well just follow me.” And I am following John, all the way to a caravan holiday in Skegness.

A night on the tiles: students sleep rough to raise money for the homeless

Written by Stevie Spiegl on . Posted in News.

Manchester medical students spent the night on the streets of Manchester to raise money and awareness for the homeless. Medical students belonging to HomED, a student charity aimed at encouraging engagement with the homeless, set up camp in front of the Oxford Road chaplaincy from 6pm to 6am. They offered soup in exchange for donations.

The sleep-out raised money for Cornerstone, a drop-in centre serving the Moss Side area, which provides food, clothes, entertainment and education for the homeless. HomED also aims to draw attention to the need, from a medical perspective, for greater social interaction with those living on the streets.

The average life expectancy for the homeless is 42 years, due to a high rate of substance abuse, mental health issues and suicide. The lack of a fixed address prevents most from registering with a GP, resulting in a reliance on A&E.

The evening also saw the medics providing food and company for those in need; as one homeless man and two women without a bed for the night joined them. The organisers said they were pleased with the response. Apart from the money raised by participants in the sleep-out, there was a regular flow of donations from passers-by.

‘Prior to the event we had raised about 140 pounds,’ said Ellen Morsman, chair of HomED, Manchester. ‘Then on Sunday morning our total stood at £500 pounds. Since the weekend it has jumped up to £660 and I have high hopes over the next few weeks/months we will reach our target of £1000.’

In addition to fundraising schemes like the sleep-out, medics also arrange clothes and food collections for around Christmas, and organise activities which clients might not normally be able to enjoy, such as the pantomime or bowling.

The society is hoping to widen its membership. ‘This year we’re trying to become a student union society, rather than just being a medics’ society,’ Morsman said. ‘There’s no real reason why it should just be a medics’ charity; we want to try and expand it and get more students involved.’

National Hindu Students Forum

Written by Ceri Wills on . Posted in Societies.

Writtten by Roshni Shah and Raj Basu

 

At the National Hindu Students Forum (NHSF) Manchester, we believe it is important to be a part of the local community. As the biggest Hindu society in Europe, we want to be able to do our best to use our resources to help those who are less privileged and need help.

In Manchester, we have various programs throughout the year organised by the NHSF Sewa Team. Sewa means selfless service, and our Sewa is raising money for our local, Ancoats-based charity, Mustard Tree and our national charity, Manav Sadhna.

We kicked off the year with a bang. Our first major event of the year was Sewa Day on the 25th September, which was part of a global event. Over 50 society members took part to make it a successful day. We went down Mustard Tree, who help the homeless, unprivileged and women in need. We helped them out with activities which they normally do not have the numbers to carry out.

We also planted a tree in Whitworth Park to help the environment, in the hope that we will plant more during the month to come. We hope to continue this success with events during the current Community and Student Action Week and Sewa Week in February. Find us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nhsf.manchester

The extravagance of staying in

Written by Lloyd Henning on . Posted in Opinion.

Tight shirts and short skirts flock to the cash points and then onwards to the bars of Fallowfield. Another big night. Once again – not to be missed. And of course, every one is coming out. Well, everyone apart from the stay-inner.

Down a quiet suburban road, in a room unstained by fake tan and lip gloss lies the creature that does not go out, but curiously stays in. Not the staying in that follows the statement “I’m going to take tonight off”, where the participant is found spread out like a Jabba the Hutt on the sofa in its comfiest slippers, using a slice of Domino’s to spoon Ben and Jerry’s down its gullet and squealing with delight as it watches mean girls for the billionth time. I’m talking about staying in as in sitting at your desk and doing something incredibly foreign to most students – getting shit done.

The stay-inner will be sat at their desks knowing that if they start taking care of this studying business earlier than later, then they can ensure that they will be familiar with the texts, have a good grasp of the key concepts and be prepared to ask any questions they have on some of the more advanced topics. Resisting the temptation of having a pint with your humorous, yet delinquent, friends to ensure that you have read a chapter of a book written by a revered, yet dull as a pack of ready salted crisps, old git is not an easy path to take.

“Woah, woah, woah! Staying in? What about my social life? What about the 90p red bull flavoured afterbirth I could be drinking? What about the bog bowl that won’t be wiped clean with my face? What about the pictures of me staring unconsciously into the hollow lens of a camera that won’t be smeared over my online profile? What about the kebab that won’t be fired out of my arse?”

I’m afraid by staying in you will have none of those amazing things. You will just have to be satisfied with expanding your knowledge of the world, deepening your understanding of the universe and learning what will one day enable you to use your creative powers to help further push the human race to the stars.

The point of the first world and moreover civilization is so that society offers services for us for the things that that we don’t want to do; like take care of the goldfish we flush down the toilet (and the other non-goldfish objects we flush down there). We have a layer of abstraction that gives us the time to be able to do productive, intelligent activities that flex us as owners high-functioning cranial matter.

However, the same freedom to spend our time as we please also allows us to indulge in what is essentially primal functionality – going out of the house to a club (leaving the cave and heading to the communal fire pit), socialising with friends (sniffing the rectal regions of same species companions), dancing to a temporally consistent noise (performing the some precoital rutting) and then trying to secure someone to share an awkward feeling with the next morning (ensuring the continuation of your genetic makeup).

All of which seems rather silly and pointless to the stay-inner, so they buy a tweed jacket, sew on some leather elbow patches and start pursuing the life of an intellectual.

But their agoraphobic crusade comes at a most damning of costs. In the brave struggle to become educated, they will no doubt end up completely alienated from everyone know and more worryingly far less aware of the current state of the kebab in the Greater Manchester area. You can’t tell someone a “legendary story” of how last night you stayed in and found some great material for that literature review due in two weeks time

Years later at their desk job working for Mega Corp Inc. whilst escaping the tyranny of the other half and the disappointment that are their offspring, they will wonder whether it was worth taking the hard road of working at university. Whether they should have enjoyed the prime of your life, deposited their body fluids around town and done anything but their degree. Then as they begin to drift off on their leather office chair, day-dreaming about that cute undergrad they almost had a thing with and all that could have been; the years of caffeine abuse from overworking on coffee catch up with them and their heart is thrown into a violent thumping. The sporadic jolts strain their pulmonary artery and in one final bulge their heart explodes. All they leave behind is a suited corpse of a nothing being – maybe they should have tried a better balance of both work and play.

‘Free university’ founded in Liverpool

Written by News Editor on . Posted in News.

A free university is being established in Liverpool as a protest against the current state of the country’s higher education system and a plea for its reform.

The Free University of Liverpool is the culmination of work by a committee of activists, artists and academics currently employed by formal education institutions who have come together to try provide an alternative for students whose current system they see as increasingly susceptible to marketisation.

From this month the project will open its doors to students to allow them to begin a six month foundation degree and a further additional three year BA in what the creators have termed “cultural praxis”, meaning the study of culture from radical, critical perspectives.

Functioning on a voluntary basis, the staff will rely on financial support from monetary donations to fund the renting of space in community centres and art venues to books to fill the university’s own library. Pledging their time and expertise to create the project, they hope it will encourage a fightback “against the ConDems ruining of civil society” and a vision for a fairer, more progressive education system.

The committee said, “The overall mission of the university is to engage in an education that is not for-profit but for the public good. At the Free University of Liverpool we are free of that particular kind of disease and we plan to keep it that way.

“The current system perpetuates injustice. That’s been the case for many years since the decision was made to move higher education to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and introduce into it for-profit models.

“The ConDem government want to take that a step further and create a tiered higher education system that includes elites who charge top dollar and look down at everyone else competing and a struggling set of cut-throat universities that work much more like businesses. Unless government policy is repealed and the selling of education to the markets is reversed we’ll keep on with the project in some form or other.”

Although the courses will not be formally accredited, through the granting of the status of University by the Privy Council and the validation of degree awards the project is finding an increasingly large amount of international academic support.

Already the university has attracted a host of scholars and artists who have agreed to hold lectures, seminars and workshops. Distinguished professor David Harvey and social theorist John Holloway are some who will offer their time for free over the course of the next few years.

Lisa Newman, a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester, will be another such visiting scholar. She said, “I think it’s important to create a method of education that focuses on exchanges of ideas and skill building and exists outside of economic and financial structures. I feel that there is often a sense of ‘buying’ one’s education in tuition-based schooling, and this sets a bad precedence for approaching other non-commodifiable experiences in life.

“This project could set examples for not only new ways of learning, but new ways of teaching through creating a curriculum based on participants’ interests rather than a standardized syllabus. I think this is an important project to create anywhere and encourage more to start.”

The committee say that although they can not offer financial support due to “contradictions if you seek or accept funding from sources you are fighting against” the course will appeal to people from any background who agree with the university’s aims and will focus on their needs and desires.

What force for change it will encourage and whether it will be able to fully engage with a broader range of people including those from lower income backgrounds will be something that remains to be seen over the next few years.

Sadiq Khan event gives Labour faithful reason to be cheerful

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

In a week where Ed Miliband’s keynote conference speech was met with decidedly mixed reviews, and opinion polls saw the Conservatives regain the lead for the first time in a year, one might have expected Shadow Justice Minister Sadiq Khan to have been somewhat subdued on his visit to the University of Manchester Students’ Union last week. He was, however, defiant. “I’m only interested in two polls – the one last May, and the one in 2015.”

Khan took to the stage with the kind of steadfast optimism that was distinctly lacking in the run-up to the party’s autumn conference in Liverpool. Despite his cheerful disposition, the Labour Party is undoubtedly at an ideological crossroads which will shape Ed Miliband’s leadership. Faced with the possibility of his party “never being forgiven” (according to Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis) by union members if they fail to back the planned pension strikes in November, or the risk of alienating the Blairite wing within his party – and a considerable number of potential voters – if he does back the strikes, the fledgling leader looks set for a defining chapter in his political career.

In response to a question from The Mancunion, Khan – a key ally of the younger Miliband brother having run his successful leadership campaign – was clear that any strike action would represent “a failure on both sides”, particularly whilst negations are ongoing. The same response attracted chants of “shame” during Miliband’s speech at the Trade Union Congress in September.

Khan’s refusal to be drawn on the issue of union dissent demonstrated a more considered approach to policy making, as part of the party’s new three year policy review; indeed, Ed Balls has forbidden all members of the Shadow Cabinet from making pre-election promises. Our visitor was clear that the party could not afford to “over-promise and under-deliver… because then the public won’t believe us.” Yet critics fear that without any firm policies in place, Labour will struggle to communicate their new ideas to the electorate as they seek to regain voters lost between 1997 and 2010.

It has been widely suggested that Labour’s first year or so in opposition has been marred by an atmosphere of apology which has prevented the party from making significant gains on the Tories, even considering the gargantuan scale of planned spending cuts. Much of this criticism has been levelled at Miliband – both in the national press and, perhaps more worryingly, from his own supporters, many of whom feel the party should be doing more to propose an alternative to the coalition’s budgetary agenda. Whilst Khan was keen to emphasise the importance of “getting back in the game” he explained that Labour now have to “earn permission to be heard” and believes that Ed “apologised for the right things” at the recent conference.

Despite the gloomy outlook, Labour HQ feels that this new attitude to opposition shows a more reflective and measured side to the party, something which was lacking in Gordon Brown’s administration. Khan himself was quick to denounce “cheap party politics,” and welcomed a return to “a more phased approach to policy making.” With current forecasts suggesting that the Coalition are likely to serve a full five-year term, the party has time on its side but cannot afford to rush this vital transitional period.

In response to a seemingly unconvinced questioner, Khan argued, “I always support Ed’s ideas” – merely hinting at irony in his tone. However, Miliband has come under excessive criticism of late. After only a year at the helm and with little in the way of a tangible policy programme, the leader could hardly be said to look Prime Ministerial, despite seizing minor victories on issues such as the phone hacking scandal.

The political rumour mill does, however, provide the Labour faithful with several glimmers of hope – including suggestions that former Blair ally Lord Falconer, ex-Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson and Ed’s brother (and defeated leadership rival) David Miliband could all make swift returns to frontline politics. If such political heavyweights do get behind Miliband, we may see a far stronger Shadow Cabinet taking on the Coalition come 2015.

Since the close of polls last May, Labour has increased its membership substantially by over 60,000 people. A third of these members are under 25, and Khan stresses that these figures support his claim that “Labour can win in 2015.”

But can Labour really bounce back? Let us not forget – the party was embarrassed in 2010, and it will take a unifying leader to reassert Labour’s status as a natural party of Government. Blairite-Brownite divisions still run deeply within the party, and Labour must solve its internal problems and unify the backbenches before they can fully focus on converting a still sceptical electorate.

With well over three years to go until the proposed 2015 election, Labour is certainly in no hurry. But the way in which Miliband & Co. handle the ‘union problem’ over the next few weeks will be a vital litmus test for their long term ambitions.

Guess who’s back? Back again – Putin’s back!

Written by Cat Hanson on . Posted in Opinion.

Vladimir Putin has one almighty CV. A former KGB agent, ex-President, and current Prime Minister of Russia, Putin has the look of a man with the conceivable ability to slam a revolving door. There would be little surprise if he were airlifted via helicopter into the Kremlin astride a growling Harley Davidson with some unruly political opponent in a headlock.

As such, the recent announcement of the ambitious 58-year-old’s intention to once again run for the Russian presidency in 2012 – inexorably taking the reins from his protégé, Dmitri Medvedev – was hardly a bolt from the blue. The news stemmed from the recent United Russia annual congress, where a beaming President Medvedev proceeded to welcome Putin to the stage amid rapturous applause.

Should he win the election (as some believe is inevitable), it would be Putin’s third stint at the presidential helm – and with recent constitutional changes, he could be set to hold the position for as long as 12 years.

But how should the international community react? By shaking their collective heads despondently? Shrugging indifferently? Or applauding enthusiastically while struggling to prise the lid off their official PuTin pickled cabbage?

Thus far, the worldwide reception has predominantly been lukewarm – a few blithe words from certain quarters rejecting the oxymoron of a ‘managed democracy’, but little in the way of outright condemnation. Why the indifference? Of course, Putin has been a key player on the world stage for well over a decade, and one can only admire the audacity of a man who is willing to shake hands with Fidel Castro and Condoleezza Rice at virtually the same time.

However, the significant monopoly he holds over Russian politics is causing some unease. Putin’s United Russia party is the predominant political force in Moscow, with its’ rejection of traditional left and right-wing ideals in favour of pragmatism earning the party a comfortable 315 of 450 seats in the State Duma. Clearly, therefore, many will be delighted to see his return – with the obvious exception of protestors, ‘dissidents’ within United Russia and high-profile liberal nemeses such as former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov.

No amount of Putin-branded t-shirts can cover up the more undemocratic elements of his premiership – namely, accusations of censorship, limited freedom and the elimination of high-profile rivals. It’s precisely these factors that have strained relations with the West and prompted accusations that Russia could be reverting back to its grainy-pictured Soviet days. Although the prospect of scarlet posters demanding that grain quotas be tripled by November emerging from St. Petersburg seems unlikely, the imposition of an authoritative long-term leader (possibly until the year 2024) does prompt some nervous sideways glances.

Another cause for anxiety in the corridors of the UN is that Putin, the master of persuasion, is notoriously unyielding when it comes to international discussion, making it all the more difficult to address the aforementioned problems. David Cameron’s recent trip to Moscow gave us a glimpse into the slippery nature of dialogue with Vladimir; setting out with the intention of tackling the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, the Prime Minister instead came away with confirmation – from Medvedev himself – that yes, Cameron might have got along quite nicely in the KGB if he had actually been recruited. So at least one burning question had been laid to rest, but perhaps it’s not quite the indicative, fiery sermon of democracy which we hope Russia is aspiring to.

Speaking of President Medvedev, what will become of the man described as Robin to Putin’s Batman once he stands aside for The Great Man? Medvedev had previously shown glimmers of liberal reform, claiming that he would, “strive to protect civil and economic freedoms.” Alas, his ties to Putin are binding, and few reforms have been enacted.

Putin himself looks set to maintain his popularity for a while yet – especially if current criticisms of him give way to tangible improvements. But why is Putin adored by so many Russians? It seems that our answer will ultimately be found in the history textbooks of the mid-2040s. He might even still be the President by then.

Rudderless EU is stifled by bureaucracy

Written by Kevin Bennett on . Posted in Opinion.

Considering our geographical position, it seems bizarre that we in Britain are so ready to snigger at the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis. We might be removed from the mainland – separated from Calais by the protective moat which we call the English Channel – but long before the conception of the Channel Tunnel, the futures of Britain and its major European counterparts were inextricably linked.

From the establishment of the ECSC in 1951, to the creation of the Euro, prosperity through liberal economics and free trade has been the European Union’s driving force. Not content with economic co-operation, there are an increasing number of Europhiles on the continent who are keen to engender closer political integration; however, the severe economic difficulties which have engulfed Europe have served to highlight the fact that any real increase in the political power of the EU’s institutions is still a long way off.

On the face of it, one would think that the onset of a massive debt crisis would provide our representatives in Brussels with the perfect opportunity to show that they have the ability to fight to help improve the lives of ordinary Europeans without prejudice or favour shown to individual member states.

However, top EU politicians such as President Herman Von Rompuy, who are calling for more power to be handed to various EU institutions, are putting the cart before the horse. The EU has been, and continues to be, a primarily economic union, and if they want to increase Brussels’ political clout they not only need to show greater leadership during this current crisis, but they must reduce the ludicrous layers of bureaucracy that leave the EU open to so much ridicule from the tabloid press and others.

The EU’s biggest ‘white elephant’ is a monthly event which sees the entire European Parliament travel to Strasbourg at a cost of £160 million per year. This charade is even protected by articles embedded in EU treaties. As long as the EU is prepared to waste such an extraordinary amount of money purely to stroke France’s ego, even the most absurd tabloid claims will continue chime true.

Another stumbling block to further political integration is the complexity of EU institutions. There are five different Presidents of the EU and a plethora of political institutions, including  the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission – four entirely distinct, if similar-sounding organisations. Until this organisational hotchpotch is reformed into one simple, efficient system which is seen to positively impact upon the day-to-day lives of European citizens, there will never be a groundswell of support to give more political power to EU institutions.

Whether the leaders in Brussels have the will or political skill to push for positive reforms to solve these endemic problems is currently unclear. It would, however, be a good start to take the lead in tackling the current economic crisis – something which they have categorically failed to do thus far. Before we can even begin to consider giving up further powers, the leaders of the European Parliament are going to have to step up and be more vocal on streamlining operations in Brussels and eradicating such wasteful jaunts as Strasbourg.

My Political Hero: Christopher Hitchens

Written by Andrew Williams on . Posted in Uncategorised.

Nobody has better encapsulated the vitality of Christopher Hitchens’ contribution to modern political discourse than the novelist, Joseph Heller. “Christopher Hitchens is a remarkable commentator. He jousts with fraudulence of every stripe and always wins. I regret he has only has one life, one mind”, he lamented. Tragically, his remarkable life looks set to be cut brutally short; the 62-year-old is currently undergoing a punishing regime of treatment for oesophageal cancer. He has said that he will be lucky to be alive in five years time. As such, this seems to be an appropriate time to look back at the impact of arguably the greatest polemicist of this or any generation.

Like myself, Hitchens was a PPE student. During his time at Balliol College, Oxford, he turned to socialism, to some extent in response to what he saw as the horrors of the Vietnam War and the escalating race to stockpile nuclear weapons. This was the start of a complex political journey during which his philosophy would be in constant development. Whilst it may sound like an oxymoron, Hitchens now considers himself to be, “a very conservative Marxist”.

I am no ‘conservative Marxist’ (there can’t be many of those around, after all); but Hitchens is my political hero not because I necessarily sympathise with the myriad of views which he has so eloquently espoused, but rather for the way in which he conveys his fierce intelligence and searing honesty through the pages of his essays, and during often-ferocious debates. No political philosopher that I have ever read (perhaps with the exception of the late John Rawls) sets out his argument so logically, forthrightly, or with such vigour.

Hitchens’ genius lies in his determination to challenge long-held orthodoxies time and time again. Where most are prepared to accept the status quo, Hitchens is constantly questioning himself and others. His scathing 1995 critique of Mother Teresa argued that, far from being a saintly figure, Teresa was “no friend to the poor” – merely a tool manipulated by the Catholic Church to further political ends. Perhaps this controversial point of view was infused by his long-standing atheistic point of view. Whilst he has been accused of being particularly anti-Catholic, Hitchens is equally dismissive of all organised religion, describing it as, “the main source of hatred in the world”. Indeed, he opened his seminal work God Is Not Great by branding Christianity, Islam and Judaism collectively as, “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children”. Strong stuff, indeed; Hitchens does not hold back, but even when I vehemently disagree with his analysis I cannot help but respect his tremendous conviction.

Over the past decade, Hitchens has collided with the mainstream once again, this time by publicly and fervently arguing the case for the war in Iraq. It was over this issue that he perhaps came in for the most criticism – yet, even for the staunchest of opponents to the war, he reasoning was more persuasive than most. A masterful orator, Hitchens met his match during a debate with George Galloway, a leading critic of the war. Galloway’s characterisation of him as a “drink-soaked, former Trotskyist popinjay” would have fatally wounded many, but not Hitchens. “I can still hold a Martini without spilling it”, he responded in print. Christopher Hitchens does not only possess devastating logic – he has a sense of humour, too.

Better off Ed? In defence of Ed Miliband

Written by Rob Fuller on . Posted in Opinion.

There are three ways to judge a political leader. First, judge him on what he believes; second, on his actions; and third, on whether or not he can ultimately win an election and return his party to power.

It has now been a year since Ed Miliband won the leadership of the Labour Party and, given the manner of his victory, it is hardly surprising that he has faced criticism from across the political spectrum. Led by The Sun, the right-wing tabloid press branded him ‘Red Ed’ because of the support he received from trade unions, and his perceived radical left-wing agenda. Within his own ranks, he was seen as disloyal for running against his older brother David, and perceived to be ineffective for focusing on bringing about an end to the New Labour era rather than an end to the Coalition government. But one year on, is this criticism valid, or is Labour better off with Ed after all?

In order to accurately evaluate Miliband’s first year in office, we must consider the events which have shaped Labour’s first year in opposition. The unrelenting media narrative has been that Labour is a party in decline; Ed has been an instant failure as leader and the party has lost its’ way.  When it came to May’s local elections, the SNP swept to victory in Scotland when many had expected a Labour win. Miliband was lambasted for Labour’s apparent failure.

However, the triumph of the SNP was not the direct result of mistakes made by a dysfunctional Labour Party – none of our political parties have been able to arrest the rise of a party that believes the United Kingdom is on its last legs as a nation. The rise of the SNP began long before Miliband took the helm last September, and in any case the anti-Ed narrative ignored the massive victories Labour won (returning to government in the Welsh Assembly and winning huge numbers of council seats across England). Indeed, almost every poll since Miliband became leader has seen Labour hold a convincing lead over the government.

So what exactly does Miliband believe? The night before the leadership election, Ed came to the University of Manchester as the underdog to answer the questions of our students. He was criticised for a number of bold things he said on that day. He said that New Labour was dead and that capitalism was broken; that the economic system had to be made better; that we need our system to work for the people who make up our society rather than the financial institutions that govern it.

For those on the right, such statements were a red rag to a bull – to them, it sounded like dangerous left-wing ideology. Blairities considered his views sacrilegious. How could the party abandon the winning strategy of New Labour, with its unabashed commitment to free market economics? But the Blairite agenda is outdated and simplistic. New Labour IS dead, regardless of what its supporters say. It died when it was dumped from power last May. It was fatally wounded from the moment that the unregulated financial system, which it so proudly endorsed, collapsed.

On the economy, Miliband has been proved right. Austerity measures undertaken by the government have failed to kickstart a recovery; indeed, the economy has worsened over the last 12 months.

Admittedly, Miliband did not walk into University Place and propose a striking new doctrine that evening. There was no huge ideological overhaul, no bold programme for government. However, he got his party thinking about a post-New Labour politics, and this is crucial; it took three leaders prior to David Cameron and over a decade of opposition before the Conservatives managed to re-brand and re-energise – Miliband has begun this arduous process in just a few months. In this context, Ed’s reorganisation and intellectual stimulation of his party seems positively heroic.

None of mattered to his unrelenting critics until the phone hacking scandal erupted this summer. The government was crippled by its previous support for News International and Cameron’s own cosy relationship with the key players in what now seems to be a deeply suspect organisation. With renewed moral authority, Miliband managed to take Parliament by storm. Labour submitted a motion condemning phone hacking, and the government was forced to support it. For a brief moment, Labour seized the agenda and looked like a party that might be ready to govern again.

The jury is still out on Ed Miliband. His opponents may yet prove correct, but this first year has been nowhere near as bad as many feared. Miliband has quickly put Labour back on the road to recovery. Contrary to tabloid spin, Labour has not lurched to the far left – it has merely abandoned the failing New Labour project. He might not be on his way to winning an election just yet, but to me it seems that Labour may well be better off with Ed after all.

The Manchester Tart

Written by Jemma Gibson on . Posted in News.

If you’re interested in food with the prefix ‘Manchester’, then look out for the Manchester Tart. It’s a pastry tart, with a smear of raspberry jam and a custard filling (sometimes containing banana slices), topped with coconut and a cherry-a former school dinner favourite.I can’t say I’m a fan, I don’t know if I got a particularly bad example, or if us Southerners are born without the taste buds for this delicate balance of flavours but either way I won’t be eating another.

The tart is thought to be based on the equally mysterious combination of ingredients in the Manchester Pudding, which was made from breadcrumbs, milk, sugar, eggs, damson jam and lemon juice. I ate a Manchester Tart once – no, I ate half of one. It was suggested I do so by the editor of a publication for which I was interning and I felt it was the kind of situation in which one does as they are told. In hindsight it was clearly a sick joke and I’ve reevaluated my principles when it comes to following recommendations from anyone.

If you’re interested more in tarts than ‘Manchester’ food, there are a huge range of regional tarts to try, I’d suggest starting with the tart of my native Kent, the super-sweet gypsy tart. The Manchester Tart was last spotted in the café at the John Rylands Library on Deansgate. It’s not for the faint hearted.

 

 

Clubs depend on students for both work and play

Written by Scott McEwan on . Posted in News.

Fresher’s week 2011 was seven days of first impressions, not only for students and their future friends for life, but also for those nightclubs who depend on the student population’s propensity to spend an evening at their establishments.

Every year the nightclubs in proximity to the university and local student hives swell their promotional presence and compete fiercely with each other to try and capture the lucrative student market. The importance of particularly student-festive periods can not be underestimated for clubs which experience business cycles so closely linked to the student calendar. Luminar Entertainment, a nightclub operator which has been experiencing net losses for the past two years, recently made pleas to its debtors to stave off considerations forced administration until after fresher’s week.

It’s a familiar story for Manchester clubs.

“Fresher’s week is our most important week,” said Matthew Iceton, Advertising Manger for 5th Avenue nightclub.

“Fresher’s week is like our New Year: everything changes- including our club night advertising and artwork.”

Sophie Robson, bar manager of Joshua Brooks, said 80 percent of the club’s clientele is students and feels a promotional spotlight on fresher’s week is paramount for rousing repeat custom.

“New students coming into Manchester don’t know where to go and so first impressions mean a lot…If they have good first impressions they’re more likely to come back.”

By operating in sync with the student calendar, which begins with fresher’s week and is dotted with exam periods; nightclubs make appropriate marketing manoeuvres to attract the most students when demand for nightlife activity is high. Clubs don’t tend to compete on price- though discount entry for students is essential- but in promotional muscle, posting more of their marketing team on the steps of the Union and pushing more leaflets into the hands of students.

Students are valuable to clubs in more ways than one. Venues experiencing declining trade in pre-exam and summer periods require a flexible workforce which is able to work fewer hours when needed. Students seeking part-time work with the option to leave for home in the summer are positively sought after by such clubs.

Joshua Brooks hosts club nights throughout the week during term but over the summer months club nights are limited to Fridays and Saturdays. Therefore, the convenience of shedding employees over quieter periods of the year is a necessity and explains why almost of all their employees are students on part-time hours.

It’s a long-standing two-way relationship that’s been for the benefit of both parties.

Student suspended after anti-Clegg protest – NUS silent

Written by Ruth Wildman on . Posted in News.

An elected student officer and tuition fees activist has been suspended from the University of Birmingham after a protest that led to his arrest.

Edd Bauer, who was elected as the Vice President of Education at Birmingham’s Guild of Students, has been suspended from this role as well as the University.

Bauer was arrested for allegedly causing danger to road traffic users at the Liberal Democrat conference by hanging a banner that read “Traitors not welcome- hate Clegg love NCFAC (National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts).

Bauer and two other protesters were arrested and held over the weekend, but the two were released without charge on 26th September after a hearing at a magistrates court. All three pleaded not guilty.

He was suspended as a student after being relieved of his duties as Vice President of Education for the guild.

Bauer posted on his Facebook account that he had been suspended without a disciplinary hearing or warning and was banned from entering the University’s campus, as well as having his university email accounts blocked.

The National Union Students initially agreed to comment on Bauer’s suspension but have since refused to offer a statement. The NUS told The Mancunion they could not comment while the investigation was ongoing.

A statement from the University of Birmingham said, “We have been informed by the Guild of Students of their decision to suspend the Vice President (of Education).

“Having graduated this summer his technical status as a registered student is held by virtue of his Guild Officer position and therefore will be in abeyance for the duration of his suspension.”

“The University considers that its position should reflect the decision by the recognised student representative body.”

After his release from jail Bauer continued to plan for a protest that was due to take place 3rd October.

A spokesperson told student newspaper Redbrick that by continuing to protest and promote a ‘Defend Education’ meeting Bauer had violated the students’ charter, which says that any student found to be in contempt of the disciplinary procedures of the guild by failing to cooperate with the University, will face disciplinary action.

Anti-trespass legislation may criminalise sit-ins

Written by Stevie Spiegl on . Posted in News.

The National Union of Students (NUS) fears that government proposals to criminalise trespassing will see student sit-ins outlawed.

The legislative changes, which appeared in a Ministry of Justice consultation paper, are allegedly intended to speed up the eviction of squatters. But, the NUS, along with trade unionists and lawyers, have expressed concern that the unspecific wording will make it difficult to distinguish between squatting and political occupations.

“It will be a fundamental affront to the right of students to protest if occupation was criminalised,” said Michael Chessum, an NUS national executive member, told the Guardian. ‘I have no doubt that if the government tries to criminalise occupations … we would mount a campaign to make it politically impossible to stop student occupiers occupying.’

Trespass is currently a civil offence, meaning that property owners have to take offenders through the civil courts, a lengthy process which has little or no bearing on short-term occupation-protests.  If it becomes a criminal offence, however, sit-ins could potentially become a matter for immediate police intervention.

The Ministry of Justice has denied any intent to criminalise occupations, arguing that the proposed changes are aimed specifically at squatting. Yet while the consultation does consider whether student/worker sit-down protests should be covered under the changes, it remains quite open-ended: ‘Some may argue that the disruption [a sit-down] causes to the property owner may justify criminal sanctions while others may argue that certain types of squatters should be exempt.’

“The potential for grey areas is huge,” said Giles Peaker, a housing solicitor. “The consultation suggests that certain kinds of occupation might possibly be excluded, including things like students occupying university property, it doesn’t say that they will be, and the suggestion appears to be you would have Ministry of Justice licensed protests – permitted and not permitted.”

 

University Of Manchester triumph in Varsity encounter

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Sport.

The University of Manchester rugby teams came through bruising encounters to achieve victory at the Ernst & Young Varsity Match at Sale FC’s Heywood Road on Wednesday 28th September.

The men’s 1st XV endured a torrid first half against rivals Manchester Metropolitan. Despite taking an early lead with the boot, Manchester’s early momentum did not last. Man Met pack dominated set pieces and started to control the pace of the game, constantly pinning Manchester back, completely starving them of possession. The pre-match underdogs looked increasingly dangerous coming close to crossing the try line on several occasions, with only excellent defensive work keeping them out. Fly half James Sargent eventually brought the scores level after infringements at the breakdown by Manchester’s under pressure pack. Man Met then stormed into the lead after a loose pass in the backline went to ground allowing Richard Broadley to hack forward, the winger’s committed chase was rewarded as a lucky bounce saw him able to gather and crash over the line. Half time was called with the score at 8-3 to Man Met. Manchester looked shell-shocked.

The start of the second half heralded little change as another cheap penalty handed Man Met another penalty opportunity, which they duly took to build on their lead. This seemed to finally bring the Manchester team into life. Aided by the arrival of Martinez, Murray and Cross as replacements, the Manchester pack restored some parity to the forward battle. They began to pressurize the Man Met line and scored soon after with Martinez touching down following an impressive line out and maul, full back Kohler adding the conversion. The try proved to be the turning point in the game. Manchester were now in the ascendancy with the backs finally showing some flair in the form of an intelligent chip by replacement stand-off Oli Lancaster which wasn’t dealt with by the Man Met back three, allowing Kohler to release Liam Nicol to score in the right corner. Kohler failed to add the extras however.

Manchester’s forwards were now on top as the Man Met pack tired, winning constant penalties to drive their team up field, one such penalty was taken quickly just outside the opposition 22 catching Man Met off-guard as scrum half Allison offloaded to the strong running Rob Saltrick to go in under the posts, Kohler converted. With the score at 22-11 the game degenerated into a scrappy affair until Manchester produced a moment of magic to finish with Kohler scoring in the corner after more good work from Lancaster saw Manchester get behind the Man Met defensive line. The successful conversion marked the end of what was a gritty comeback in a game where the 29-11 score line was not entirely reflective of the performances of the two sides.

The women’s game earlier in the day against The University of Salford was a relatively one- sided affair with Manchester dominating from the off. Strong running and offloading from the tackle helped Manchester take a 26-0 lead into the end of the first third, notable contributions came from the front row who had the beating of their opposition from the off at the scrum. In the backs meanwhile, centre Suzanne Broadhurst marked an excellent display with an excellent solo try from deep inside her own half. The half back pairing of Claire Knapp and Harriet Smith also had excellent games, with constant forays into Salford territory.

Credit however must go to Salford who agreed to the game at very short notice. Despite being comfortably beaten, they never gave up. Their impressive full back Susan Bagnall proved to be a constant thorn in Manchester’s side with some storming runs which saw her complete a magnificent hat trick, nevertheless Manchester continued to run riot scoring a further 31 points to win the match 57-19.

Both games provided great entertainment for the large crowd that watched from the stands. While the Ladies were clearly happy with their display, the men’s team despite victory has much work to do in the pack, although they will take heart from their recovery in the 2nd half. The backs, starved of ball for so much of the match, finally started to look like the destructive force they can be in the games latter stages.