Month: February 2013

Sex: The good, the bad and the ugly

Written by Molly Allen on 13th February 2013. Posted in Lifestyle.

Sex. That three letter word. In our collective experience, few of us have had good sex with all of our partners. There’s the guy who basically masturbates but replaces his hand with a girl, the girl who lies there like a corpse and then there’s the overly nervous bunch who just can’t seem to let go at all. But what actually makes sex good? And are my friends correct when they say that the best sex they have ever had was with someone who they were emotionally involved with?

Firstly, I am sure that we will all agree that there are basics for good sex. A physical attraction is key – I have only ever slept with one person I didn’t fancy (after far too much wine I hasten to add) and even writing this, I have to suppress the urge to vomit all over my keyboard.

Secondly, we are not in a porn movie. Overly dirty talk is really not necessary and can just be off putting. The same goes for overly complicated dirty talk. A guy once asked my friend if she wanted to see his penis… in French – she was just confused. One last thing, don’t believe everything you read in magazines. Not all men are going to want you to get off with their armpits for instance (yes, I actually read that in a men’s magazine).

Without stereotyping, the general female opinion does seem to be that relationship sex is the best. You’re connected on an emotional level, so you feel comfortable and relaxed, but it’s still exciting. Equally, I have some male friends who prefer to be involved with the girls they sleep with, rather than picking up some randomer in a very short dress from POUT.

However, we all know that one night stands can be fun and that they will satisfy your needs if you’re withstanding an agonising dry spell. That said, do you want to risk the flash of awkward panic every time someone who looks like them rears their head in Blue 3? Or the pressure of them expecting post encounter text contact?

The conclusion is that a bit of both is fine – enjoy one night stands and relationship sex (although ideally not at the same time, as this may lead to problems). But, if you want truly good sex, find somebody you like (and who knows what you like) and a real emotional connection rather than an alcohol-induced one.

Preview: Trance

Written by Robbie Davidson on 13th February 2013. Posted in Film.

After a year of wowing the world with his Olympic Opening Ceremony, Danny Boyle (no Sir Danny, thank you kindly) is keeping the setting of London. Once again demonstrating his impressive versatility, Trance is the story of art thief, Simon (James McAvoy) who has inconveniently forgotten where his recent steal is hidden. This comes much to the annoyance of Franck (Vincent Cassel) who is keen to unlock the secret from Simon’s subconscious. Enlisting the help of hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) to help recover its location, Simon quickly begins to discover that the stakes are far higher than he originally anticipated.

The prospect of Boyle tackling yet another new genre is a tantalising one. He will likely be hoping it will join the likes of Inception, a film which appealed to a large mainstream audience without having to sacrifice a complex narrative. And with Boyle’s penchant for arresting visuals we can hope for another critical success after his two previous films, 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire, were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the latter winning the award).

Boyle once again has gathered an excellent international cast, with McAvoy hoping Boyle may be looking for another long-term Scottish muse after his acrimonious split with Ewan McGregor (the two famously fell out when Boyle cast Leonardo Dicaprio over him in The Beach). The American Rosario Dawson and French Vincent Cassel join him to emphasise the global nature of the London art scene.

Few directors can claim to have directed films covering everything from zombie apocalypses and crack addicts to Mumbai slumdogs and ill-fated space missions (Sunshine– his most underrated film), but Boyle continues to refuse to be strapped to one genre. Rather than be seduced by the charm of Hollywood after his Oscar success, he’s remained in good ol’ Blighty and continued to defy expectations. After all, who would have guessed that after the huge success of Slumdog Millionaire Boyle would choose his next project to be a 90 minute film about man trapped between a rock and a hard place (if you’ll excuse the pun).

But, if the trailers are anything to go by, Trance could be a new addition to Boyle’s eclectic repertoire and we can only hope that he continues to constantly alter our expectations. Maybe a romantic comedy next? But set it in a mental institution, just to keep it fresh.

Double-choc cheesecake

Written by Eve Commander on 13th February 2013. Posted in Food & Drink.

If you want something indulgent, this double chocolate whopper is right up your street. Better still, it requires no baking. It’s worth paying a bit more for the chocolate – especially the white – but Bournville will do nicely for the dark. The fruit-averse could miss off the blueberry pie topping, but I think it cuts through the rich sweetness of the chocolate. For me, the superstar and only real extravagance in the recipe are the ground hazelnuts in the base, which is so good you may end up stopping right at that stage. Did someone mention a buttery biscuit base?

You will need a large cake tin with a removable base. Alternatively, you can do as I did and line a tin with Clingfilm or foil, overlapping so that you can pull it out.

Ingredients:

Base (I do double and give you the ingredients for that amount)
230g crushed chocolate digestive biscuits
115g butter
115g ground hazelnuts (you can buy toasted hazelnut bits in a pack and then pound them up with a rolling pin)

Cake
140g white chocolate
140g dark chocolate
115g caster sugar
2 x 200g tubs full fat Philadelphia or similar
284ml carton double cream

Topping
1 tin blueberry pie filling (Hartleys do one, but you can also use jam)

Method:

Melt the butter, stir in nuts and biscuits and press to make base.

Melt the white and dark chocolate in two separate bowls. Whisk up the cream a little to thicken slightly before whisking in the cream cheese and sugar. Mix in half of this to each of the bowls of melted chocolate. Then scoop alternate dollops of white and dark chocolate over the base and swirl together a bit – you want each slice to have bits of both and no gaps between.

Chill for at least 3 hours, and when set cover with the pie filling.

Multiple thefts at Warehouse Project

Written by Jonathan Breen on 13th February 2013. Posted in News.

Police caught a man with over 40 stolen mobile phones on him outside the Warehouse Project.

Greater Manchester Police officers and event security seized 42 phones from Lulian Cojocaru in the early ours of Saturday Februry 2, after a night at the popular venue headlined by DJs Chase and Status.

“Hopefully this will send out a signal that the Warehouse Project is doing everything it can to combat this,” Director of the Warehouse Project Sacha Lord-Marchionne said.

Cojocaru, 28, from Dagenham, was charged with 25 counts of theft and was due to appear before Trafford Magistrates’ Court on February 4.

The theft is part of wider issue facing all large scale events added Mr Lord-Marchionne, with the arrest this month being the second time this academic year a man has been caught with a large number of stolen phones from the Warehouse Project.

He said, “Talk to any large-scale venue, whether it’s the MEN, the O2 Arena, or Fabric in London, everybody is suffering from organised crime where people are going in with the intention of what I call ‘dipping’, which is stealing phones.

“We actually noticed a bit of a pattern starting to emerge when we moved to this new venue in September.

“Warehouse Project spent in excess of £46,000 during last season on undercover police, extra stewards, and extra security. And we pay for private policing at every event.

“Because of all these procedures and measure we put in place, this was actually our second catch of the season – we had caught another person prior to that, who again had 40 plus phones on him. It is a great result, and as far as I’m aware we are one of the only venues who actually have done this.”

The Mancunion spoke to fourth year French and Spanish student Sarah Yellowley, who had her phone stolen at the same ‘Metropolis’ event where Cojocaru was caught.

“I literally put my phone back in my bag and they must have seen me do it, because straight away I felt them take it, but I couldn’t do anything about it, they were gone,” she said. “They must have been ridiculously fast because they took three of my friends’ phones as well.

“I went straight to the cloakroom and told the staff it had happened, and they took down a description of the phone, but they couldn’t do anything really.

“I went to the police as well, and I heard from my friend that they had caught someone with 40 phones, so I told them the details of my phone and I had to go in to the police station and check if mine was there but it wasn’t.

“My phone was an HTC 1S, and it is actually really annoying because I found that HTC don’t make that phone anymore, so there is I can’t get the same one.”

Miss Yellowley added that she will still go to similar events, but will think twice before taking anything of any value.

“It hasn’t really put me off going again, because it always happens at these mass events, like at Pangea,” she said. “But I don’t know if I would even take a phone next time, but you kind of have to in case you lose your friends. I just don’t really want to take anything valuable, except money.”

In a statement last December the GMP said that Eastern European gangs were thought to be largely responsible for these phone thefts, which are part of a national increase in pick pocketing.

They also said the gangs look out for party-goers who use their phones openly and may be drunk.

Offenders then approach victims in busy areas and quickly pickpocket them, passing the phone to an accomplice immediately afterwards. Cases are removed to reduce the possibility of identification and the phones turned off so they cannot be traced.

According to a Students’ Union staff member there have been instances at Academy events when police outside the venue check peoples’ bags for stolen phones, after there have been a large number of phones reported stolen.

Mr Lord-Marchionne said he believes the thieves practice how to steal phones and are motivated by the high prices they can sell them for abroad.

“These people study how to do this, it’s an art to them,” he said. “This isn’t your local scally that’s going in to try and knick a phone. They are actually musically intelligent, they know which nights to choose, they know the demographic, and they know the music taste.

“So they are hitting the 18 to 21 market, where there tends to be the more boisterous crowd. It tends to be the urban nights, and low and behold, Friday was Chase and Status, which is obviously quite a moshy crowd. And it’s not a seated event, people are shoulder to shoulder. If you know what you’re doing it’s quite an easy thing to do.

“The reason they are doing this is because you can walk into a phone shop in Manchester today and take out a contract and get an iPhone free of charge, I believe. But in other countries you’re paying five, six, seven hundred pounds for one of these things, so it is very lucrative for organised crime.

Books every foodie should read: #1

Written by Maddy Hubbard on 13th February 2013. Posted in News.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Boudain

In his biography, Bourdain writes engagingly – and at times maybe too graphically – about his life in and out of the kitchen. Originally from small town America, he is best known in England for his television shows like No Reservations, but in the US he has been head chef in several respected New York restaurants.

Kitchen Confidential follows his journey to get there, as he describes the thrill of learning to love food, his passion for restaurants and, above all else, his love for the atmosphere in a kitchen, which he describes as a pirate crew. In Bourdain’s world, kitchens have the heavy-drinking, drugs and sex to match any rock and roll stereotype. His story covers, with brutal honesty, everything from working for a restaurant run by the Italian mafia to his descent into drug addiction and alcoholism while head chef in restaurants across New York.

Beyond the shock factor and vicarious thrills, Bourdain also provides a really interesting and genuine insight into the daily life of a chef at different levels in the food business, from small local restaurants right up to prestigious fine dining where ingredients are put onto the plate with tweezers. He’s certainly not one to hold back on an opinion, describing veganism for example as a ‘Hezbollah-like splinter faction of vegetarianism.’ I will also never forget his advice on what to never order and why, which is what makes this such a compelling read even if you’re not a foodie, and essential reading if you are one!

Game Over

Written by Mancunion on 13th February 2013. Posted in Theatre.

Andrew Georgeson

‘Game Over’, the latest production of Iraqi-born Manchester graduate Abas Eljanabi, is a play centered on the recent uprisings in the Middle East, which, as a native of Iraq, will be an issue close to Eljanabi’s heart.

The play was strongly framed from the outset as primarily discussing the Arab Spring, however, the subjugation of middle-eastern women was also discussed. It was told as an adaptation of ‘Arabian Nights’ and a continuation of the legendary 1,001 stories that Scheherazade told Shahryar in order to save her life.

The production opened with Scheherazade prophesying a dictator, Sadam Hussain, followed by an invasion of by the ‘new world.’ Despite being billed as a ‘work in progress,’ the use of visual media initially seemed very complimenting to the presence of the two actors, providing shocking images of events throughout the gulf-wars and civilian response to tyranny that proved effective amongst the audience. The emotion from the script poured out when Shahryar, played by Eljanabi, questioned ‘what kind of devil would allow this?’ in response to the government turning on it’s own people Scheherazade responded ‘human-being is the worst kind of devil.’ Eljanabi’s performance was strong throughout in the elaborate production, even managing to inject a brand of dark humor when discussing the place of women within the Middle East, especially with his own actions towards women in his life-time.

The unfortunate thing regarding the production was, despite the strength of the script and characters; the story at times became disjointed. This was most notably shown by the heavily relied upon visual media which, despite contributing to the play at the start, quickly became out of sync with the drama on the stage. This was first shown through the almost random outburst of music throughout the latter half of the production, which instead of adding emphasis to the characters performance simply acted as a distraction. The technology failed again in the dying moments of the play as the DVD that the images were shown on ended early leading to the screen which had consistently shown images of atrocities, now offering the audience a choice to either ‘play movie’ or ‘scene selection,’ something which did not attribute to the drama of the climax of the play.

The billed statement of ‘work in progress’ shone through strongly due to how the stage was arranged, as the story was often complicated by the use of the sparse set. At one point, Scheherazade picked up a small box she referred to as ‘magical’ in the centre of a very long-winded speech explaining it’s meaning that, at least for myself, was confusing. Out of said box she also plucked a conker, without explaining its significance, nor even referencing the conker again. The message also became difficult to follow as to what side Shahryar agreed with. Although he did not agree with Sadam’s actions, referring to the USA as ‘liberators’ evoked fury and comical pictures of George Bush were shown every time his name was mentioned. The idea of ‘blood for oil’ was also circulated as the main cause for the war, rather than actual liberation. The play unfortunately came to an abrupt end, not really explaining who could be victors of this war, or whether or not the civilians could triumph against such outstanding odds.

The productions concept was admirable, and the use of visual media juxtaposed with the ancient Arabian Nights story was initially effective, however, once the audience got used to the media the cracks in the production started to show. Work is needed on this play in every respect, from learning lines and accents to syncing with the technology and stage craft, however, once these problems have been addressed, it could have the makings of a very good production.

Rachel Hastings-Caplan

In his new production ‘Game Over’, actor and playwright Abas ElJanabi fuses traditional Arabic storytelling with modern media in an innovative reinvention of the popular collection of tales known as ‘One Thousand and one Nights’ (or ‘Arabian Nights’).

The play merges two subplots: firstly an airport official (played by ElJanabi) interrogates a woman (Sepideh Nazari Pour) about the contents of her novel, which she reveals to be ‘One Thousand and one Nights’. She reads aloud from the book, transforming the two actors into the novel’s protagonists. This subplot acts as a continuation of ‘One Thousand and one Nights’, in which the female protagonist Scheherazade tells Shahryar, the king of Persia – medieval Iran – a series of tales in order to delay her impending execution. Having won her liberty, she is requested to tell the king a story that he could not possibly imagine, to which she responds with a foreshadowing account of recent events in the Arab world. She tells him of the Arab Spring, the tide of revolutionary unrest that has been rising since 2010. The title ‘Game Over’ refers to the slogan that has been used by Arab Spring demonstrators towards the oppressive regime. The changes between settings are done effectively, and helped by a minimalistic set.

The play blends the traditional and the new by including a projector screen in the background that is used both as a backdrop and to accentuate the horror of what Scheherazade describes, by showing images of the Arab world’s recent struggles. This mixing of media reflects not only the form of ‘One Thousand and one Nights’, which uses many different modes of storytelling but the methods of the Arab Spring, which employs traditional form of protest with the use of new social media.

There were a few aspects of the performance that I found distracting and unfortunately detracted a little from my enjoyment of the piece. The music was often introduced suddenly and at points that did not feel appropriate, which often destroyed the atmosphere of the more climatic scenes. Furthermore, the end was rather abrupt and left me unsure as to whether the play had actually ended. If I had not seen ElJanabi being handed flowers by a member of the audience I would have been waiting for the second half of the play for some time! Although the performances were strong both of the actors’ parts, the dialogue was not always clear due both to the volume and thick accents of the performers. As the play is driven greatly by the dialogue, this did affect my enjoyment of the production.

Despite this, I found the performance of ‘Game On’ to be interesting and thought provoking, both in concept and execution. The play claims to ‘[encompass] themes of gender and power in the Arab world’, which I felt was done effectively through the juxtaposition of the female author and male airport official and king and queen of Persia. Although the situations take place in different times and places, the dynamic of the powerful male and the threatened female is shown to have stayed constant.

Three stars out of five

Valentine’s Day: the debate

Written by Mancunion on 13th February 2013. Posted in Lifestyle.

Commercial hoax, says Lauren Arthur:

Birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day. The three days of the year that I can count on my mother to send me a card. Even now at eighteen years old, 240 miles from home, I will be receiving a pink envelope with my carefully calligraphed name and a question mark at the bottom. The Bridget Jones within me hates her for it – why, mother dearest, would you point out once again that I am still single? Yet what annoys me more is that she feels obliged to send it to me in an attempt to make me feel loved.

When indulging in post Christmas shopping, before the influx of chocolate eggs hits, one must mentally prepare themselves for the onslaught of heart-shaped boxes, dozens of roses and cuddly toys. Call me a cynic, but whilst Christmas has become commercialised enough, it seems that Valentine’s Day was born from card companies and florists, with few people knowing the origin of the day or anything about St. Valentine’s story.

Countless establishments benefit from the holiday, and for all the wrong reasons. From what I gather, love is supposed to be spontaneous and passionate, personal and thoughtful, not restricted to one day a year in which couples feel forced to show their adoration. For those without romantic love in their lives, the commercialist humdrum of St Valentine has the potential to cause indifference at best and annoyance or upset at worst.

However cynical you are about the occasion, few can truly say that they are actually indifferent to the mention of 14^th February. It puts pressure on those in relationships to show their emotions whilst belittling lone individuals to feel as if they are somehow inadequate. How is it an emotion as powerful and all-consuming as love has been reduced to a single day of materialistic red rubbish? Surely you should show your other half you love them on a daily basis?

Whether you choose to embrace the romantic occasion or dodge the dreaded day, I shall be taking my Bridget-sized measure of vodka, pre-drinking to Chaka Khan before heading down to Sankeys and perhaps ‘accidentally’ bumping into any PDA couples that get in my way.

Either or, says Dana Fowles:

At the grand old age of twenty, I am still yet to receive my first Valentine’s card. Yes that’s right, I was never sheepishly handed one during my primary school years, my mum and dad have yet to take pity on me and I have certainly never received one of the genuinely romantic variety. Cue the violins.

The truth is I’m not really all that bothered. I don’t think that it has impacted on my psychological health; I don’t feel unloved, in fact, far from it. I have wonderful family and friends, and until Ryan Gosling proposes, that will do me just fine.

The day is easily ignored and just as easily celebrated, even if you aren’t part of a couple. It really is just another day in the year, which you can choose to remain indifferent to, or you can use as an excuse to indulge in some self-love and buy yourself a good bottle of wine and a nice box of chocolates. You could just go about your normal daily routine; believe it or not, this isn’t put to a stop just because it’s Valentine’s Day. Or, at the risk of sounding like a hippy, why not spread the love and plan an evening with your housemates or coursemates?

I won’t be crying into my pillow because I’m not spending February 14^th with the love of my life, nor will I be giving the middle finger to any blissfully happy couples whom I encounter. If the mood takes me and I happen to feel the need to acknowledge the day in some way, shape or form, what I might just do, is put a bit of a twist on the traditional theme of romantic love and let my aforementioned family and friends know that they are fabulous human beings. Cheesy though that may sound, it’s got to be better than being bitter and it’s not quite as vom-worthy as writing reams of Shakespearean sonnets to some poor guy . . .

Truly romantic, says Beth Currall:

Ever since I was young enough to know what ‘love’ is, I have found myself in love, with love. My first crush was Nick from Heartbeat, and despite the thirty year age gap (I was six at the time of said obsession), I was convinced that ‘Nick’ would one day requite my love and express his feelings in the form of gifts, love letters and poetry. To this day, I still believe that Valentine’s is the one day in 365 that people can feel comfortable with following their hearts over their heads, expressing their emotions; whether it is towards a husband or a wife, a partner or to someone you are plucking up the courage to ask out on a first date.

Sometimes it seems like it is completely unacceptable to be seen as romantic nowadays; being ‘soppy’ is often regarded as a weakness. This is exactly why I feel that it is more important to emphasise the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. An increasing number of people lose sight of the significance that is held within a simple card, a chocolate heart or even in those three little words.

Valentine’s is slaughtered by those who brand it commercial, but that is not the way it has to be. A home-cooked meal requires so much more thought and attention than splashing out on a three-course meal in a Michelin starred restaurant ever would. A single rose has more romantic connotations than the most expensive diamond ring, and a card containing the kindest words is kept within the heart, long after the paper version has been discarded in the bin or put to the back of a drawer.

The key factor of Valentine’s Day is that it is solely a celebration of love, and that requires no money or materialism. So enjoy being in love, and for those without a partner, enjoy the excitement that comes with finding love! But just a note to my influx of admirers, who I’m sure have been reading this: don’t send those 42-carat diamonds back just yet…

Interview: Netsky

Written by Daniel Jones on 12th February 2013. Posted in Music.

It’s been four years since Belgian whippersnapper Netsky first plunged his eponymous debut into the world of liquid drum n bass. He was actually still in his third year at uni at the time. Following the release of imaginatively named sophomore album 2, Netsky, aka Boris Daenen, is still riding on the ripples of his inital success. Speaking to us from his old stomping ground of Antwerp, Boris explains why he is returning to Parklife for a third time this summer, despite the inevitability that it will, at some point, piss it down.

“I won’t forget my wellies this time,” he snorts, “No, I do love Parklife. It’s one of the few festivals in our schedule that we [Hospital Records] get the chance to play together as a label on the same stage. That only really happens in the UK now. In Europe, we’re often part of more mainstream line-ups, sometimes with no other DnB acts on the bill at all. These big festival stages are a completely different world to club gigs. A lot of the time you can’t hear or see the crowd at all, which takes some getting used to. There’s no real connection, but it’s still a thrill to perform on that scale with the lights, the sound and everything that’s going on. Playing clubs is so different. We played a few smaller places in Asia last year and I’d nearly forgotten how nice it was to have that intimacy.”

Having to sacrifice any intimate DJ sets for a while then, Boris reveals that the focus this year is primarily on the live show. “It’s me, a keyboard player and a drummer on stage. A few guest vocalists too. There’s a very free environment between us all, a lot more like a live band. Every show has been different, from the very beginning. Nobody feels obliged to stick to a formula, we’re always trying to develop the show as a group. If our drummer throws in a new fill one night and it works then we’ll look to build on that for the next show. If it doesn’t work then that’s fine too; we’re not scared to learn from our mistakes.”

“Percussion has always been very important to me. I started playing drums myself when I was about 7 but it wasn’t until about 14 that I got properly got into breaks. I remember hearing a jungle track around that time and being blown away by the energy. Before that I was listening to a lot of Troydon and Joey Youngman, trying to conjure up deep house on eJay and Fruityloops. DnB hadn’t really taken off in Belgium at that stage. From that point on though, I locked myself away in my bedroom and became such a computer nerd, messing around with drum loops and producing as much as possible. I ended up on Ableton, mixing down on Logic. I’ve used that combination for so many of my tracks.”

Netsky’s reclusive approach certainly paid dividends when Hospital came a-calling just before he was about to graduate. It was this proposition that saved him from the aftermath a dodgy degree choice: “I was studying Multimedia and I hated it. It had nothing to do with what I do now. When the offer came along it was amazing, but also such a relief to know what I was going to do. I know I’m lucky in that sense. If it hadn’t happened, I would have probably ended up in web-design. And I’d probably be pissed off with my boss.” No disrespect to any web-designers out there.

In terms of what’s next on the release front, Boris does let slip that he’s recently been in the studio with a certain production juggernaut, Mr. Diplo. His DnB faithful might not be overjoyed with that news, but the risk of alienating some fans is something that Boris acknowledges himself as a consequence of trying to develop as an artist.

“When you build up a fan-base, people associate you with a certain genre. There’s a lot of people in DnB who want to protect their genre and it’s hard for them to accept that producers want to experiment with different styles. Those types of people can be so emotional when it comes to veering away from the genre they love. I suppose it can be a good thing and a bad thing. But even if I do make something that isn’t 170, it’s still me. I think you can still maintain a certain feel in a different genre. There should be more divisions between artists and less between genres. I’d rather make a Netsky tune than a DnB tune.”

The guy’s individual ambition is unquestionable. Whether you enjoy his music or not, his rise to popularity at such an early age is quite impressive. If you consider how fast he has been able to propel himself into the mainstream, then God knows where he’ll be in another four years time. Probably sitting by a pool in Miami somewhere, celebrating super-stardom with High Contrast and Major Lazer whilst sipping on a tall drink with a little umbrella in it.

Bastard.

AIESEC

Written by Rachel Heward on 12th February 2013. Posted in Societies.

With over sixty years of history, 38,000 student and graduate volunteers from over 113 countries, and a network of over one million alumni, AIESEC is not only the world’s largest student-run organisation, it is also one of the most successful. Vice President of Marketing, Patrik Nordqvist tells The Mancunion about how the society ‘provides members with the skills and experience needed to transform them from high-potential students into the leaders of tomorrow’. AIESEC find companies and businesses in branches around the world and matches them with eager students, providing leadership experiences and global internships.

Being a member of AIESEC gives students key advantages, such as acquisition of real-world skills and experiences. By volunteering in AIESEC, students gain valuable skills such as leadership, teamwork, interpersonal skills and time management. Members volunteer between eight to twenty hours a week, which may seem like a lot of time alongside studying, but as Patrik explains, ‘it is recognised as an investment in their future’ and is valued among potential employers.

Last semester AIESEC had socials and events including themed parties, conferences and events where students could get to know each other as well as well as learning to network. They also held evenings with major global companies such as Optu, Usana and Deloitte.

Be A Global Player

Their next event is on the 21^st February at 4pm in University Place, Theatre A, and is a conference called “Be a Global Player”. This event emphasises the importance of a global mindset and cultural awareness in the corporate world. The agenda of the conference is based on intensive skill training, uniting students as they participate in three hours of comprehensive personal and professional development. “Be a Global Player” is an event which will widen students’ horizons, enabling them to be more successful after university when they will be competing with other rising economies. Five global companies from five different industries, including fashion, consulting, finance, food and media have been invited. There will also be some guest-speakers and members of AIESEC Manchester’s Alumni will be contributing. The format of the conference will involve a panel discussion, where students are encouraged to ask questions related to the industries, the company itself and the skills needed in a globalised business world. There will also be skills sessions provided with each company as well as networking sessions between students and companies. Sven Ekert who is in charge of the conference said, ‘the event is open to everyone, so whoever wants to improve his/her employability is more than welcome’.

If you would like to get involved or know more about AIESEC visit aiesec.co.uk/local/mancheser, Twitter @AIESECMANC or their Facebook page by searching ‘Aiesec Manchester’. Alternatively, email [email protected] for more information.

MIFTAS Performance Schedule

Written by Kate Bullivant on 12th February 2013. Posted in Societies.

Every year the Drama Society holds its very own version of the Edinburgh Fringe festival called the MIFTAS. Over the next couple of months, there will be a huge range of acts by members of the society. The plays are an eclectic mix from journeys of World War Two to a ‘’twenty four carat disaster’’. According to the Chair of the society Helena Davies ‘This performance season is the centre of the Drama Society’s year, and not to be missed.’ Tickets are £5.50 for adults, £4.50 for students, and concessions and £4.00 for Society members. Below is a schedule of the upcoming plays, so don’t miss out on this showcase of talented writers and performers.

Paper Shield, written and directed by Piers Black-Hawkins

‘Paper Shield’ follows the story of Nick Searson, a young journalist who has just started his career at The Shield; the biggest selling tabloid in England. Young and ambitious, he takes his work incredibly personally, seeing it as his obligation as a journalist to inform the public to the best of his ability. The newspaper is covering the high profile case of Sammy Norton; a young girl whose recent kidnapping has touched the hearts of the nation. As the play unfolds, and more leads are discovered, Nick’s involvement in the case borders on obsessional. He eventually spirals out of control and surfaces amidst one of the nation’s darkest scandals.

20^th-22^nd February, 7pm

John Thaw Studio – Martin Harris Centre

My Boy Jack by David Haig, directed by Rob Beck

The year is 1913 and war with German is imminent. Rudyard Kipling’s determination to send his myopic son to war triggers a bitter family conflict which leaves Britain’s most renowned patriot devastated by the warring of his own greatest passions; his love for children – above all, his own – and his devotion to King and County.As well as dealing with the hardships at The Front, the piece accurately details the effects warfare has on those left behind and the personal battles that rage when one is forced to balance a sense of duty with love of a child.My Boy Jack is a moving account of the anguish at the heart of a man whose storytelling continues to delight millions all over the world.’

24th-26th February, 7pm