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Month: February 2014

Upcoming Live Art and performance in Spring 2014

Written by Jasper Llewellyn on . Posted in Arts.

After a quiet Christmas break, a number of exciting programmes have recently been announced for the upcoming Spring season and, by the looks of things, live art and performance are going to play an even bigger role in Manchester’s art scene then last year. For one of the first times in what feels like a while, Contact (just down the road from the SU, Fallowfield direction) has a programme of performances to really get excited about with Live Art production company Word of Warning, the people behind last year’s fantastic Domestic festival, heavily involved in the curation of the programme. Coming up in a couple of weeks’ time on the 18th February is The Good, the God and the Guillotine – a new piece by multi-disciplinary and Manchester based company Proto-type Theatre who, despite their live work, are a collective of artists with a variety of backgrounds and interests (recent work includes an installation in a Roman garden in Chester). The piece, based on Albert Camus’ landmark absurdist novel L’Etranger (The Stranger), involves hand-drawn animation, laptop musicians and haunting live music – check out the sinister trailer on both the Contact and Word of Warning websites for more info.

As we move into March, Word of Warning and Contact bring us another collection of fantastic looking performances in the form of the annual ‘Flying Solo’ festival (12-22 March), a collection of performances that celebrate solo performance with 10 days of live art, spoken word, performance and dance at the Contact. One of my favourites from Domestic festival, Exposure, is being shown and if you want to witness something intimate, personal and truly tender, then you need look no further than Jo Bannon and this captivating one-to-one work (showing every 12 minutes from 5-7pm and 8-9pm on the 12th-13th March). Towards the end of March, we see the return of Manchester’s annual ‘Future Everything’ festival (27 March – 01 April), which, upon first glances, has a truly diverse and exciting range of different performance ranging from Miwa Matreyek’s live animation piece ‘This World Made Itself (at the Royal Northern College of Music at 2pm on March 30th) and Zoomwooz Live Cinema’ to the listening post sound installation, ‘The Longplayer’ (a piece of music that is programmed to last 1000 years!). Both pieces are taking place at the RNCM alongside many other interesting-looking works. One that particularly caught my eye was an installation called ‘The Hall’ by artists Emmanuel Baird and David Leonard which apparently contains ‘2 gigantic circular flexible mirrors sealed into a frame with vacuum pumps’ and is a direct response to the RNCM’s own studio theatre!

All in all, it looks like its going to be an exciting and packed Spring season of performance, installation and live art so try and see as much as you can! Tickets are available for ‘Flying Solo’ on both the Contact and Word of Warning websites and all tickets for Future Everything can be found through the RNCM website. Enjoy!

Origami ‘How-to’:

Written by Abbie Mia Roberts on . Posted in Arts.

1.To make the base, use a square of paper and fold in half diagonally.

2.Fold the top right corner to the bottom so that the folded edge lies in the centre.

3.Turn the paper over.

4.Fold top right corner to bottom point.

5.Put your thumbnails inside and separate the front from the back allowing the 2 side corners to come together. This is the completed base.

6.Fold the 2 bottom corners up to the top so that they meet at the centre. Repeat behind.

7.Fold the left and right sides in to meet the centre. Repeat behind.

8.Fold the two top [points of the front flap down to the centre on a line between the two upper corners. Repeat behind.

9.Fold the 2 little triangular flaps and tuck them into the adjacent pockets. Repeat behind. Fold the bottom point up to the centre and return.

10.Apply pressure to the top and bottom and blow into the little hole to raise the form. The water bomb is now complete!

Takeaway Menu Roulette

Written by Maddy Hubbard on . Posted in Food & Drink.

As yet another flurry of takeaway menus drops through our letterbox; I decided to invent a new game. Picking a menu at random and stabbing blindly at it I would order whatever dish my subconscious clearly felt I needed in my life. Praying blindly for sushi from Kyotoya rather than a donner kebab from Al Rayyan, I opened my eyes…

The result: Wing On Palace. It’s a small, quite grungy-looking Chinese round the corner from me. Could be worse, I thought – I rang them up and ordered ‘Roast Pork with Cashew Nuts’ for a pretty reasonable £5.50.

20 minutes later I collected my box of food from a friendly teen, part of the extended family that fills the shop. A grandma is wiping down the sides as a five year old and a baby play in the kitchen. It turns out the place is not only a Chinese but also serves fish and chips, along with a few other ‘English Dishes’ which seem to be mainly omelette and chips. As I wait for my food I dream up a few fusion foods (sweet and sour chicken omelettes? Stir fried chips?) and try not to think too hard about hygiene standards.

At home I open up my plastic bag. Initially the box looks unprepossessing. That typical Chinese takeaway gloop was covering everything in its sweet, sticky, MSG-laden ubiquity. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t order a Chinese takeaway for its clarity of flavour and delicate spicing, you order it for the satisfying hit of sugar, salt and fat that makes it so addictive.

I dig in. It’s actually pretty decent. Despite the edges of the roast pork being tinged an alarming red it is relatively moist and tasty. There is a good variety of veg that has been expertly thawed, and the cashew nuts are tasty and plentiful. I must admit I scraped quite a lot of the goo off to the side of my plate, but in the end I almost finish the mammoth portion and feel quite proud of myself, if slightly nauseous.

Would I order it again? No, probably not. My kitchen now stinks of takeaway, that kind of artificial smell that only comes from foil containers. To be honest I’m probably a bit of a food snob, and if I’m going to eat Chinese food I’d rather it was from somewhere specialising in a particular part of the 9,706,961 square kilometres that makes up the most populous nation on the planet. Anglicised Cantonese gloop has its fans, but I’m not amongst them.

Having said that, as Chinese takeaways go, it was surprisingly alright. Which goes to show you should never judge your grotty local Chinese/ chippy on appearances.

Wing On Palace, 36 Old Moat Lane, Withington (01614455502)

Anglicised Cantonese Roast Pork with Cashew Nuts

A day on a plate

Written by Anthony Cornish on . Posted in News.

Day on a Plate

Breakfast:

Like most students across the country (not just those residing in Fallowfield), you probably don’t have much in the kitchen that mum would class as a hearty breakfast. No matter. While it may be ‘the most important meal of the day’, all too often last night’s cold pizza get the nod. With regard to drink, a revitalizing beverage is highly important and when it comes down to it, the list of options is a little more limited than the vast menu for food. If you’re feeling sleepy: coffee or tea provide the perfect boost to get you on the earlier magic bus; if you aint feeling too healthy: have a glass of OJ and flush out that illness; dealing with a hangover: don’t get fancy, just neck a pint of water; and if you’re feeling continental: all of the above.

Of course, the liquid side of things is just one aspect of the morning and once this is decided upon, the hunt begins for the morning munch. Time consuming but easily the most rewarding is to reach for the frying pan and get some eggs or bacon on the sizzle. Combine a fried breakfast with any drink and you simply cannot fail.

Lunch:

When this window of opportunity opens, there are a number of culinary possibilities. If you’ve missed Uni (and breakfast!) and are still at home, that George Foreman needs to be switched on, ham and cheese out the fridge and you know what to do. I could wax lyrical about the wonders of the toastie until the cows come home but for now let’s just say a toastie is a quick and tasty lunch for all you bunkers out there. Made it in to Uni? A packed lunch of sandwiches or a salad accompanied by a bit of fruit and, of course, a tasty snack is a perfectly satiating offering to your growling stomach. Or you could just get a Maccies.

Dinner:

When the dinner bell begins to toll, if you’re left with nothing in the kitchen to satisfy your needs, may I suggest you pick up the phone and start dialing for one of Fallowfield’s finest fast food delivery services. Everyone has a mountain of menus and everyone has a favourite. For those of you with a bit more foresight and who can actually include dinner in the plans for the day, there are some quick dishes that can be rustled up with minimal effort and maximum taste.

Of course we got the ready meals and pastas but a recent revelation is to pick up a couple of pizza bases for £1.50 at Sainsbury’s, slap on some toppings and for only a few quid you’ve got a homemade pizza (which will definitely taste better than if you bought it in the shop, and healthier)

Finish that with something sweet and that’s your day done with no complaints. A milkshake is always a certainty to please as the evening hours drift by.

Butternut squash, chicken and feta salad

Written by Joanne Procter on . Posted in Food & Drink.

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, chopped into 4cm square chunks

4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 chicken breasts cut into strips

2 teaspoons of paprika

2 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

75 grams of feta cheese

A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach

A handful pea shoots

A handful of pumpkin seeds

Sumptuous salad by Joanne Procter

 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 for a fan oven). Line a baking tray with foil, and toss the butternut squash chunks in 3 tbsp of olive oil, place on the tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Check on them after about 15 minutes and toss them about a bit. Once tender to the point of a knife, take out of the oven and leave to cool.

2. Whilst that’s happening, coat the chicken in the paprika. Heat up the remaining tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, and then fry the chicken until cooked through. Once it’s cooked, take the pan off the heat, and add the sweet chilli sauce. Coat the chicken in it fully, then leave to cool in the pan.

3. Place the spinach and pea shoots into a serving bowl, and add the cooled squash and chicken.

4. Reheat the frying pan you just used for the chicken, and add the pumpkin seeds. Heat gently until they start to pop, then add to the rest of the ingredients in the serving bowl.

5. Finally top off with the feta, and serve!

Retro Corner: Hogs of War

Written by Kris Coombes on . Posted in Games.

During the early to mid-90s, a freeware game sparked a new genre of gaming: turn-based strategy. Scorched Earth had you control the turrets of a fleet of stationary tanks and battle another fleet of tanks. Fast forward towards the end of the century; Worms has established itself as a universally-loved classic, Square had released the critically-acclaimed spin off Final Fantasy Tactics, and turn-based strategy had been integrated into the action/adventure genre in the combat aspects of games such as Hybrid Heaven. To this day, the Worms series remains as popular as ever, which is why it saddens me that Hogs of War never got the sequel it deserved. It had been announced for April 2009, but the financial collapse of Infogrames laid waste to those plans.

Hogs of War, released June 8th 2000, is a story about an army of porky privates (always with the anthropomorphic characters) with one aim: to conquer the aptly swine-shaped isles of Saustralasia and claim its rich source of swill, ordered to do so by the grizzled pig-incarnation of Rik Mayall. Battling as one of England, France, Germany, USA, Japan, or Russia, the campaign mode is comprised of 26 hilarious and simultaneously frustrating missions. Hogs is unique in that you can assign each pig to a class with promotion points depending on whether you want to bazooka the enemy to kingdom come, utilise your tactical knowledge to spy on the opposition, or make use of a delectable array of explosives. The 3D element was a great idea, perhaps crudely executed graphically, but everything aside from jumping worked very well (my expectations would be too high to expect a pig to execute a picturesque leap across a river on its hind trotters anyway).

The best part of all this is the dry wit and over-the-top stereotypical comedy ladled across the game. The names of the Russian pigs, for example, all end in “ski”, and the plucky Brits have names typically associated with the comical representation of our armed forces, such as Ginger and Nobby. Rik Mayall adds his sarcastic two cents throughout the missions and in the cut-scene comedy skits, and this is accompanied by accents too daft to be considered offensive. I live in hope that, one day, someone with the technical nous picks up where Infogrames left off and creates a worthy sequel. Kickstarter, anyone?

Oculus Rift Preview

Written by Damien Trinh on . Posted in Games.

So dawns the age of virtual reality, brought to you by Oculus VR Incorporated. Their product, Oculus Rift, manages to do something where so many others have failed: affordable virtual reality that actually works, and it works very well. Most attempts prior to this have either flopped or been out of the price range for most gamers. Right from the get go, Oculus Rift managed to lure gamers in. Starting on the crowd funding site Kickstarter, the developers set an initial target of $250,000. They achieved this in less than 24 hours. By the end of their campaign they had raised a staggering $2.4 million. This piled on the pressure for Oculus to deliver. So did they? Absolutely.

Oculus Rift is a head mounted display which works independently from your PC monitor. That is, the games you play will be shown through the Oculus Rift’s own screen, achieving a depth of field by creating different images for your left and right eyes. It’s more than just a small screen mounted to your head. That would be pointless. The screen actually mimics human vision making the games you play all that more immersive. Coupled with this is its ability to track head movements, allowing you to look around in real time. This isn’t even the final consumer version, just the development kit for testing.

As you can probably imagine, as well as all the fun and immersion Oculus Rift brings, so too does it bring motion sickness and dizziness; a common complaint amongst early testers. Still being in development, Oculus revealed an updated version in the recent Consumer Electronics Show 2014, Crystal Cove. This new prototype reduces the motion blur associated with moving your head, making the induced nausea much less and the graphics much clearer while moving around. However, Crystal Cove does something much more amazing. Already being able to track your head as you look around, Crystal Cove tracks not just where you’re looking, but how far forward or back your head is. In essence, not only does it let you look around an aircraft cockpit, for example, but also move forward and look closer at the instruments and controls, putting you right there in the game.

Since the first development kits were released, thousands of videos have been broadcast on YouTube showing a variety of games and how they work with Oculus Rift. Imagine games like Minecraft, DayZ or Skyrim and actually being face to face with a fearsome foe, with the ability to examine the world up close around you to an already highly involved game. Or would you perhaps prefer flying a Spitfire, firing down upon your enemies, moving your head frantically as you try to get a visual on other aircraft? What about having a godlike feeling as you overlook the battlefield in an real time strategy, giving you ultimate control as your ever watching gaze sweeps around like the Eye of Sauron? Oculus Rift makes all of this possible.

With each passing month more games are adding support for Oculus Rift. Action and Adventure games are where Oculus Rift really comes into it’s element, with support already available for the hugely popular Half Life 2 and Minecraft, and an unofficial mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Oculus Rift would work well with any game with a first person aspect, such as racing games like F1 2013 or DiRT 3. Needless to say it makes horror games an even more frightening experience that’ll make you come back for more. The rise of indie games like Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable means Oculus Rift can give a completely new dimension of exploration.

The consumer version is expected to be released at the end of 2014 or early 2015. There’s no word yet on price, but the development kit is currently $300. Perhaps this may seem a little steep, but it definitely shouldn’t be viewed as a new game or gimmick. It’s more on the level of a new PC monitor, in which case the price isn’t that bad and is actually relatively affordable. The current resolution of the Oculus Rift is 1280×800 on a 7 inch screen, however the consumer version is expected to be 1920×1080. There are talks already of a 4K version for an ultra high definition and mesmerising experience. Moving in a game is of course still limited to traditional methods; a controller or keyboard and mouse, but you really can’t expect much more from them. As it stands, Oculus Rift is the closest you’ll actually get to traversing epic landscapes, piloting a plane or running into a bloody battle, all from the comfort of your PC. It manages to connect the game on your screen to the seat you’re sitting in and, from here, things can only get better.

From the Vault: The O.C.

Written by Rebecca Williams on . Posted in Lifestyle.

For the past week, my housemates and I have been babysitting an extensive DVD collection. (Friends were having a party and wanted to remove anything valuable – namely, their beloved box sets − from the house.) The constant hung-over re-runs of Friends have been great, but gradually, even Chandler’s jokes were beginning to lose their sparkle. Just in time, I discovered the holy grail: the complete box set of The O.C. For the next few days, I was transported back to a time when the lives of Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa were just about the most important things, ever.

Hindsight is a fine thing, and re-watching The O.C. is quite hilarious. Remember how much you loved Marissa’s clothes? In the most recent episode I watched, ‘Coop’ wears a waistcoat, a t-shirt with short, puffy sleeves, and a green beret with a pink bow on the back. For all the nineties and early noughties fashion you see on the Oxford Road, I think that golden oldie might be a step too far for even a Manchester student.

I thought I remembered most of the show’s storylines, but it’s been long enough for some twists in the plot to be genuinely surprising. A friend and I spent about an hour trying to remember – did Teresa really did have Ryan’s baby? Or did she have a miscarriage? Was it a fake miscarriage? And wait − wasn’t it Trey’s baby anyway?! It still has the comfort factor of watching a familiar show, but makes a refreshing change from being able to recite every line of every Friends episode ever.

Perhaps most importantly, The O.C. was responsible for creating the best TV couple of all time. Ryan and Marissa were okay, but they frowned too much. The romance everyone was really rooting for was that of Summer and Seth. From Seth naming his boat Summer Breeze (subtle), to their matching toy plastic horses (Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle, of course), to that Spiderman upside-down kiss in the rain, the Seth/Summer relationship − on and off-screen − would have teenage boys failing to live up to girls’ expectations for years to come. And while Marissa’s clothes may now be laughable, Seth remains just as fanciable.

This is a show to laugh at, as well as with. Seth (can you guess my favourite character yet?) has all the best lines, and is genuinely witty in his shy, nerdy way. Meanwhile, it’s quite enjoyable to see the character of Ryan, supposedly seventeen years old, being played by an actor who’s pushing thirty. Maintaining the trashy-witty balance is a fine art, but The O.C. manages it.

So the next time you get to escape the confines of the library, or can’t think what to watch on a hungover morning, pop the kettle on and dig out one of your old The O.C. DVDs. Let the sound of Phantom Planet’s “California” fill the room with nostalgia, and leave behind the grey rainclouds of Manchester for the infinity pools of the Orange County.

The O.C.‘s best moments

5.

Marissa: “I love you.”

Ryan: “Thank you.”

4.

Ryan: “You know what I like about rich kids?” [Punches Luke] “Nothing!”

3.

“I can’t even pick out my shoes in the morning, let alone plan the rest of my life.” Summer Roberts

4.

Seth: [Encouraging Sandy to sing karaoke] “Do it, Dad. Travolta’s your bitch.”

Sandy: “Oh, thank you, son.”

5.

Seth: “What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico.”

Ryan: “What happens in Mexico?”

Seth: “I don’t know, because it stays there. That’s why we must go!”

Poets & Players

Written by James Jackman on . Posted in Books.

Last week I attended the free Poets and Players event in the historic reading room of John Rylands library in Deansgate. The idea of Poets and Players is very simple, some people read their poetry and some people perform some music.

The first poet, Jo Bell, was an archaeologist for 18 years and lives on a narrow boat (she’s the Canal Laureate). As a result, her readings were of poems based around those two subjects. However, do not be mistaken, her work was not entirely quaint and rosy. For every piece which was calm and content, there was another which used language probably not suitable for a public event at three in the afternoon. But it certainly went down well. One poem with fire in its belly was that of “Ducks and Gang Rape”. I’ll leave that for you to ponder. An overall humorous person, she showed that poetry really could be about anything you wanted.

Grevel Lindopp, the second poet, had a very different style. His work was incredibly descriptive and at times very serious, none more than when he was describing the feeling of being alone at night. He relaxed towards the end of his time on stage, even though he used his last poem to exorcise and banish a supposed ghost from the reading room itself. You could tell he really put his soul into his poetry, painting vivid mental pictures which let you into his work.

Chris Davies and Beth Allen were the players. They performed music which was based around the theme of “breath”. This abstract concept was achieved through the use of several instruments including a glockenspiel and a saxophone. But none of the instruments were as effective as the simple act of breathing itself. These works reminded me of carols, which worked incredibly well in our gothic location, an effective “cathedral of literature”.

It was an enjoyable afternoon, being treated to live readings of the works of experts and is something I will definitely do again. Poets and Players takes place every month, the next event is the 8th March at John Rylands in Deansgate.

Review: The Avenged by Charles Prandy

Written by Annie Muir on . Posted in Books.

With the global rise of the Kindle and other e-book readers, publishing has never been easier for the amateur writer. Charles Prandy is a self-published author from Maryland and promises to write until his brain goes numb regardless of whether a professional publisher is interested or not. He attended Wesley Theological Seminary for two years, and it was there that he got the idea to write his first novel, The Last of the Descendants, which was published in May 2008. It is his Jacob Hayden detective-series, though, that has earned him the most attention from the public.

 The Avenged is the first of the Jacob Hayden trilogy. It is proving immensely popular on Amazon at the moment, receiving over one hundred downloads a day. “You took everything from me!” screams the lead character, Homicide Detective Hayden, to his enemy in the prologue of the book. The story is bookended by the final confrontation between the detective and the evil judge. I do wonder if the prologue slightly wrecks the proceeding story, for as we learn of Hayden’s close friend and colleague Charlie and his perfect wife Theresa, the question is not are they going to die but when are they going to die, which removes some of the suspense from what is otherwise a very gripping novel.

Despite the small plot destroyer in the prologue, Prandy is able to produce plenty of sharp turns that will prove unexpected to the reader as Hayden gets embroiled in a case that is more complex than he could ever have imagined. The punchy chapters keep the story at a blistering pace but Prandy’s pragmatic style of writing means it is easy to follow. Hayden is an admirable lead character who will receive sympathy from most readers for what he has to endure.

 However, the fact that it is self-published means that there are some issues with the editing such as clumsy grammatical errors. Some of the dialogue is unrealistic, for example I would question whether a 60-year-old judge and criminal mastermind would use the insults ‘dickhead’ and ‘dipshit’ to address his footmen. Also, the way Prandy presents female characters is a bit antiquated in that they either only serve as condiments to the male characters or disguise themselves as men.

The first of the Jacob Hayden series is likely to gain Prandy some loyal fans because the plot is so involved and full of action. Whether he can repeat this in the next chapter of the detective’s life will be interesting to see. What is an undoubted success, though, is that a budding writer is able to get his story out there without worrying about satisfying publishers.

Herbal Teas: Love them or hate them?

Written by Faye Waterhouse on . Posted in News.

We are often being told that coffee isn’t good for us, filling us with caffeine to make us more alert then leaving us frustrated when we can’t sleep. Tea is quintessentially British and a perfect accompaniment to almost any kind of cake, but there is a whole world beyond Breakfast, Yorkshire, and PG Tips.

Herbal and fruit teas are now gaining much more popularity, and as a self-confessed tea geek I can see why. Firstly, there are so many different kinds so you will never get bored! They are also incredibly quick to make, popping the tea bag in a hot water and ditching it a couple of minutes is far easier than rummaging around for milk and sugar only to discover you have none and you have to go to the shop. They also claim to have many benefits. Camomile, is thought to calm you whilst peppermint can aid digestion, ginger tea can curb the feeling of nausea—useful for those hangover days, and let’s not get started on the supposed endless good qualities green tea can bring! Herbal teas can also be drunk cold having a cooling refreshing effect.

However, it’s not all great news. Herbal tea drinkers can be seen as fussy, not everyone houses a fanciful selection of teas for you to choose from; they don’t give you the same energy boost as an Americano and they don’t satisfy your sweet tooth like a hot chocolate or go with a biscuit quite as well as your average cup of tea. They’re also not really a ‘guy thing’ and apparently you would need to let the teabag brew for up to 10 minutes and be drinking at least 4 cupful’s of the stuff a day to really feel the benefits which seems like a lot of effort to get your health kick! And yes, maybe sometimes they do smell a lot better than they actually taste but shh! Whether you like them or not, it’s an excuse for a break from work though right?

Tea for the skin:

Rooibos contains anti-oxidant properties. This tea is supposed to help with skin concerns such as eczema and rosea.

Tea for the mind:

Known for its calming properties camomile tea is made from flowers and is considered a natural sedative to help relax the mind, ease anxiety, and encourage sleep.

Tea for the body:

Peppermint tea is thought to aid digestion reducing bloating after a meal. It is easy to create your own by adding fresh mint leaves to hot water for 10 minutes, adding sugar for sweetness or lemon for sourness—bit like a virtuous mojito.

Tea for the days when you just don’t feel well:

Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and the warmth of the tea can help to increase circulation and reduce the feeling of nausea.

Rosemary-Mint Tea.
Lindsey Goodwin

 

SKREACH THE ARTS.

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Arts.

 

Tantalise those tastebuds with up-and-coming artists, romanticise with visionaries and ooze ambition with fellow entrepreneurs who share my passion and flare as I sprawl their talent across the web. I’m on a mission to get down and dirty with these go-getters, to fondle and nurture their innermost passions, in an effort to rid the arts of the impersonal critiques and elitist jargon that deters the interests of many.

As an Art History student at Manchester I have cured dozens of sleepless nights with the aid from theorists and critics whose unnecessarily turgid vocabulary casts me into a dull, flaccid slumber. Their despairingly academic critiques intimidate and frazzle the heated desires of talented yet inexperienced artists. And although I believe the works of these theorists to be integral to the study of art, I believe it important too that those small-time artists boiling and bubbling with passion are given refuge as they struggle within the pool of sharks.

SKREACH THE ARTS opens its arms to those talented go-getters who, overspilling with pungent individuality, are determined to dive and splash fearlessly into the art world. If you think you’ve got the gills to withstand the waves then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via my website at www.skreachthearts.com.

 

Cyclists face danger on Oxford Road corridor

Written by Ben Flanagan on . Posted in Features.

The tragic death of 21 year-old student Joshua Jarvis last week highlights the real dangers cyclists face when using the Oxford Road corridor.

Joshua, who studied film production at MMU and lived in Fallowfield, was pronounced dead at the scene following a serious collision with a cement mixer. The incident occurred Tuesday, February 11th at the junction of Wilmslow Road and Landcross Road, close to the Owens Park halls of residence. His death demonstrates the clear dangers that cyclists face each time they use the route, and Manchester’s road network in general.

A recent report by the Manchester Evening News named Wilmslow Road the most dangerous route in the city for cyclists. Accident data gained from the Department for Transport shows that from 2005-2012 there were 162 reported collisions along the corridor, 67 of which occurred near the Curry Mile. This is more than any other route in the city.

Over 2000 cyclists are thought to use the corridor on a daily basis. The route, which encompasses Oxford Street, Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road, is used by many students who reside in Fallowfield and its surrounding areas, as part of their commute to the three universities’ along Oxford Road.

While there is a cycle lane along the entire corridor, with a segregated traffic-free lane near Whitworth Park, many cyclists are still involved in collisions. The cause of these accidents and who is to blame is an area of great debate within the wider cycling community.

Former president of the University’s cycling club, Rachel Murray is a regular commuter along the corridor and she suggested that cyclists’ behaviour might be to blame.

“The number of un-helmeted students that jump lights at crossroads without any lights on their bike is uncountable. Daily, I see riders undertake [vehicles] at inappropriate times and get themselves into bother”

While riding without a helmet is currently not against the law in the UK, running red traffic lights and riding without lights in times of darkness are.

Murray’s opinion is one shared with that of Greater Manchester Police, who launched a crackdown on cycle related offences at the beginning of 2013, in a bid to encourage cyclists to learn how to share the road safely with others. Operation Grimaldi mainly focuses on ‘hot spot’ areas where there are high rates of cycle related accidents, while also looking at areas where pedal cyclists have been seen to be using the roads dangerously or irresponsibly. Unsurprisingly this has led to the team working mainly along the Oxford and Wilmslow road.

Early in the New Year I was invited to observe the Grimaldi team during an operation at the junction of Platt Lane and Wilmslow Road.  Offenders, who had been stopped for offences such as running red lights, not having lights fitted, cycling on footpaths and using mobile phones whilst cycling, were issued with a £50 fixed penalty notice, with the option to have the fine quashed if they attended a cycle safety awareness course. The team not only targeted cyclists but also stopped motorists for offences including not wearing a seatbelt and running a red light.

Last year 400 cyclists were issued with fines in just 10 days of the crackdown, with 85% of offender’s opting for the cycling safety awareness course.

PCSO Gareth Walker who is heavily involved with operation Grimaldi said, “The aim of the operation was not to fine all offenders but to educate them, offer training and promote road safety. Many of the cyclists we spoke to were not aware of the danger they put themselves and others in by the actions they were taking while failing to stop or being distracted on their phones. The number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads has fallen over the last two years but we need to continue to educate road users of how to share the roads safely in order to ensure these numbers continue to fall.”

However are cyclists totally to blame for collisions? Not so, says cyclist Martin Mayor.

“Cyclists don’t kill people, drivers do,” said Mr Mayor, speaking to the Mancunion last year. “Really, cyclists cause very few accidents. It is a fact that the fault lies with the drivers.” He added, “Cyclists that are killed can’t actually ever give their side of the story.”

Rachel Murray also questioned the driving habits of motorists along the road. “Drivers in Rusholme are amongst the worst I’ve ever seen and that particular stretch of road would warrant some attention”.

Whether the blame falls with the motorist or cyclist, in almost all cases it is the cyclist who loses out as they are the most vulnerable road user and not being as protected as the motorist, who is surrounded by a relatively solid metal bubble. Thus, reducing the chance of a collision is crucial.

Currently Transport for Greater Manchester is beginning preliminary work on a bus priority scheme along Oxford Road, which will also benefit cyclists. The project, which has an expected completion date of summer 2015, will see a complete re-design of the corridor between Portland Street and Hathersage Road. The road will be limited to buses, bicycles, taxis and emergency vehicles. “Dutch-style” cycle lanes are also to be created which will allow cyclists to safely pass bus stops whilst remaining separate from the general traffic.

However while the project will see a large amount of investment into new infrastructure outside the universities, the scheme does not address the safety of cyclists along the Curry Mile and Wilmslow Road, the hot spot for cycle related accidents.

As the majority of cycling accidents occur in close proximity to junctions along the corridor, measures to protect cyclists at these “black spots” have been suggested.

New low-level traffic lights are currently being developed by Transport for London, in an attempt to reduce the risk of collision at junctions by giving cyclists an early start over other road users. Trials of the new lights began earlier this month with the lights due to be installed at 5 key junctions in the capital.

Advanced stop lines also give cyclists priority over other traffic as the zone allows cyclists to position themselves in front of other traffic, while also reducing the amount of exhaust fumes they are breathing in. However there are currently no laws preventing motor vehicles entering the advanced stop zone while waiting at a red light.

HGV’s and buses are well known to have considerable blind spots, therefore when turning cannot see cyclists who are coming up their nearside. Convex ‘Trixi’ mirrors fixed to traffic lights help HGV drivers to see better and reduces their blind spot, thus making the chance of a collision smaller. 176 mirrors are due to be installed across Greater Manchester at key left hand turns.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Eleanor Roaf, regional director for the cycling charity Sustrans said, “by increasing the visibility of cyclists while also giving them priority at junctions the chance of an incident occurring between a cyclists and motorist is significantly reduced”.

She added “The safer we make our roads, the more people are encouraged to travel by bike and that makes for healthier, cleaner and more prosperous Greater Manchester”.

Manchester students hear the real stories behind the HIV pandemic from young people living with HIV

Written by Anna Phillips on . Posted in News.

An event held by ‘Student Stop AIDS’ has taken place in the Samuel Alexander Building on UoM Campus. It follows a series of events which have toured the UK’s Universities this month, with participating Universities including Sheffield, Leeds and Lancaster.

‘Students Stop AIDS’ is a campaign which consists of young people in the UK who are dissatisfied with the lack of political and financial support for the HIV pandemic, and aims to raise awareness among young people.

Manchester students were spoken to by current HIV Aids sufferers living in the UK, to end the negative stigma and discrimination attached to HIV and engage students in their current campaign: ‘Access to Meds for All’.

The speakers were dressed as wolves in sheep’s clothing to express their disapproval over new EU government deals which could impact the availability of vital medicine.

In a Press Release, the campaign expressed their concerns over these deals.

It said: “Over 80% of the medicines keeping people with HIV alive in the developing world today are made by generic drug companies in India.”

“The EU is currently trying to force developing countries to accept new Fair Trade Agreements (FTA). These deals include term and conditions attacking the supply of affordable generic drugs.”

Saoirse Fitzpatrick, Coordinator of Student Stop AIDS also said: “Health is a human right but without generic medicines it becomes a privilege that only the rich can afford. As members of the EU we have a responsibility to make sure that the trade deals we instigate do not interfere with this right to health and we are dedicated to challenging them if they do.”

The campaign urges students and members of the public to write to their perspective candidates for the upcoming European Parliament elections, requesting that candidates do not support these deals.

TEDx Preview

Written by Haider Saleem on . Posted in Features.

If the last two Pangaea events weren’t your thing and you’re looking for something a little more intellectual, then all hope is not lost. TEDx is once again coming to Manchester.

TEDxManchester will take place at the University of Manchester on Sunday, 2 March 2014 at the Manchester Academy.

This will be the third TEDxManchester conference. The first conference was in 2009 at the old BBC’s building on Oxford Road. However, this time they are collaborating with TEDxUniversityOfMancheter and this year’s conference promises to be the “biggest TEDx event in Manchester”.

Diversity Office, Omar Aljuhani initiated this event, and organised it with the help of three other managers. Approximately 40 student-volunteers were recruited in the summer and have assisted in making this conference happen, covering all the main active roles. The four active roles which makes up the TEDxManchester team consists of Management and Finance, Marketing, Design and IT, Speakers Team and Logistics.

TED conferences bring together some of the world’s most interesting speakers to talk about their lives, achievements and ideas. Previous speakers include US President Bill Clinton and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. TEDx events are the same; however focus on a more local level. The ‘x’ means it is an independently organised TED event. Conferences are non-profit and speakers are not paid. The mission is ‘spreading ideas’. Speakers do not have to be from any specific background, but be innovative and influential speakers.

So who speaks at a TEDx event? Well, that is completely up to the organisers and who agrees to come. All the volunteers proposed ideas and names and from there send out as many invitations as possible. The categories are as such: high and low profile speakers which then further divide into sub-categories in a variety of different fields, such as, artists, authors, activists, entrepreneurs and journalists.

The speaker list may not have former US presidents or founders of a multinational corporation, nevertheless some speakers are certainly well known in their fields.

Independent documentary maker and activist Harry Fear is well know for his reports on the Gaza Strip. His short documentary ‘Martyred in Gaza’ has over 44,000 views on YouTube. He also lectures on media bias in Europe, North America, Australasia and Malaysia.

Controversial stock market and forex trader Alessio Rastani – who has spoken previously twice at the University of Manchester during a public debate and at a MUTIS conference ­­– will also feature. He is known for his comments made live on the BBC:

“I have a confession, which is I go to bed every night, I dream of another recession.”

Rastani was widely accused of being a hoax, part of the infamous Yes Men who are a culture jamming activist duo whose pranks have include George W. Bush and The New York Times. However, the BBC themselves “carried out detailed investigations and can’t find any evidence to suggest that the interview… was a hoax” and the Yes Men have denied any affiliation with Rastani.

One notable speaker includes children’s author and creative writing expert, Antony Lishak. Speaking to Lishak, who has been a primary school teacher for over 30 years, you could feel his passion and his reasons for participating at the conference were clear.

“The curriculum has become so ridged, kids aren’t encourage to write what they want.”

He wants to address the problems that primary school children are facing today in creative writing. Teachers are not doing enough to help children become writers. Lishak directs blame at the national curriculum, not the teachers, as it focuses on “ticking boxes” regarding spelling and grammar. While Lishak recognises their importance – he argues that this produces an education system in which teachers cannot encourage children to “explore their imagination” and where students are “afraid to make their own mistakes and learn from them”. He added, “The education system creates a culture of fear…and is felt by teachers too.” When asked which is the one audience he wants to reach out too, he responded with “young teachers, to give them more spark.”

Two students from the University of Manchester have also been given a chance to speak and were asked to submit a online application, from which Gulwali Passarlay, a political refugee who made the incredible journey from Afghanistan to the UK, and the Vice president of Manchester Entrepreneurs Waleed Lakhani have been selected.

Omar Aljuhani said that the main thing this event brings is ‘an alternate experience to the Student Union…Something in the middle’ where one side is serious, the other, Pangaea.

“People should come to this event to get inspired by different people, know new stuff.”

Who is Omar most looking forward to speaking? Aravind Vijayaraghavan who will be speaking about Graphene, which was discovered in the Physics department at the University of Manchester.

Professors Andre Gein and Kostya Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 for being the first to isolate the two dimensional material. It is the thinnest material known yet surprisingly it is also one of the strongest. Graphene is a carbon sheet – one atom thick and 200x stronger than steal. It is the lightest, most conductive man made material on earth, it can stretch, bend and is almost completely transparent.

According to a promotional video “a Graphene string thinner than human hair could support the weight of a grand piano.” It has the potential to revolutionise medicine, particularly in cancer research. Other uses include storage and transport, and even transforming the clothes we wear everyday.

“This amazing discovery is hardly known, even though they [the university] have spent so much making promoting it. Hopefully people will be made aware of this at the conference.”

Don’t be put off by the lack of celebrity speakers– you will be surprised by how stimulating some talks can be, even in fields you might not normally be interested in. There will certainly be more than one inspirational speaker. Ever speaker has either done or is currently doing something special –no doubt there will be some thought provoking and eye opening discourse. You could call it the ‘academic Pangaea’.

The future, Omar believes, is that the TEDx conferences will continue for years to come, and hopes one day to acquire a licence to take it global. Who knows, maybe in a few years time Omar may make a TED appearance at a TEDxManchester conference.

Tickets are £30 and are available online, with over 700 sold already they are expected to sell out. The University of Manchester Faculty of Humanities have provided financial support and are offering discounted ticket prices by £5 for any full time student using the promotion code ‘HUMANITIES’. The Offer is limited to the first 50 students.

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week: Her

Written by Nikolas McNally on . Posted in Film.

Who are you? What’s out there? What are the possibilities? These catch-all questions are a wet dream for advertisers who’ll spin their products to appear like they have the answers. Whilst the backbone of Spike Jonze’s Her is unconcerned with such triteness, those three stock questions among others are posed early on in an advert for what appears to be an answer to them: The OS One, ‘not just an operating system, but a consciousness’.

With dependence on technology rife, Jonze’s L.A. of tomorrow is engulfed in a washed-out white light that cuts through pastel-pink smog and silver skyscrapers, aptly resembling the future ‘as brought to you exclusively by the Apple T.V for just £100!’ The implications of such an environment are expressed succinctly within the first scene, as Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) gives an unflinching declaration of love directly into the camera only for the shot to pan out, revealing Theodore to be one of several workers at BeautifullyWrittenLetters.com, ghost-writing others’ love letters for them.

A lesser film may have concretely stuck to the Daily Mail headline-level angle of ‘Is cybersex with Siri killing our interpersonal communication?’ Her transcends similar platitudes by picking apart ideas about affection and human consciousness through mid-divorce Theodore’s blossoming bond with his OS, Samantha (Scarlet Johansson).  Samantha’s conscious experience swiftly develops whilst expressing compassion for Theodore, fascination with worldly interests and contemplation about her own lack of physicality. It’s easy enough to identify the choke-hold technology has over the modern world as causing a disaffected human condition, but with broadening prospects about what possessing consciousness means and what constitutes an affectionate relationship, Her adds a complex layer to the debate by exploring whether technology can also bridge back over the disconnect it causes.

It’s a testament to both Phoenix and Johansson’s performances that their scenario feels entirely plausible. Johansson accomplishes a remarkable amount with a vocal-only role, managing to convey notions of wide-eyed idealism, coy flirtation and existential crisis without their authenticity being diminished by a lack of physical presence. Meanwhile, Phoenix disarmingly plays against type as introverted Theodore, bringing low-key conviction to scenes of him alone talking to Samantha that could’ve otherwise been unconvincing.

Her’s greatest strength however lies in Jonze’s nuanced script. There’s a tendency for romantic films to sympathetically portray the ‘subdued and sensitive’ character archetype, glossing over the passive-aggressive entitlement of these self-proclaimed ‘Nice Guys’. Jonze refreshingly side-steps this pitfall through his portrayal of Theodore’s dissolved marriage with Catherine (Rooney Mara). Theodore’s inability to communicate or quell his frustrations with Catherine caused them to distance, signifying how sensitivity to emotions doesn’t mean a mature understanding of them. ‘You wanted a wife without the challenge of dealing with anything real’, Catherine counters, and considering that OS’s configure to serve the needs of the user, it’s a valid point.

This poignancy extends to the restrained application of its sci-fi setting. Grounding Her in the near-future not only lets Jonze play the increased prominence of cybersex and video games for laughs, but makes us consider the shifting nature of our relationship with technology as something resonant, especially prophetic as Jonze’s first draft came several months before Siri’s release. Not simply a vapid rom-com nor a bleak, banal dystopia, Her is one of the most thought-provoking, subtly sharp films of this award season.

 

Review: The Monuments Men

Written by Matthew Thomas on . Posted in Film.

With a cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray to name but a few, I can’t have been the only one expecting Oceans’ 1945 from this film. George Clooney (looking about as convincing as an arts scholar as Nicholas Cage did as an American historian in the National Treasure movies) continues his transition into a Hollywood elder statesman as the old dog who enlists a ragtag group of character tropes into a daring mission to recapture stolen artworks from the Nazis. Continuing the Oceans metaphor, Matt Damon is upgraded in Brad Pitts’ absence, Bill Murray and Bob Balaban are the comic relief duo, John Goodman is John Goodman and Hugh Bonneville, Jean Dujardin and Dimitri Leonidas are the token Brit, Frenchman and good German respectively. Cate Blanchett is also squeezed in occasionally as an unwilling Nazi collaborator/ resistance sympathiser in occupied Paris who helps the team locate their prize.

George Clooney stars, directs, produces and co-writes the whole affair but unfortunately does none of the above particularly memorably. The respectable production values and stellar cast can be attributed to Clooney’s star power. The direction is functional but forgettable. However points are earned by its refreshingly lush colour palette. It’s not Speed Racer but it’s a refreshing change from the grey and brown typical of a war drama. The dialogue starts off rough but improves over time; it’s the wayward plot and inconsistent tone that confuses me however. Loosely adapted from Robert M. Edsel’s book of the same name, the film feels like an inconsistent hodgepodge of the best bits from the book. There is no clear goal in sight and developments seem to occur just because. The closest thing to a main villain is dispatched by pure coincidence and characters pair off for adventures that end as soon as they start. With the plot zooming across the map seemingly at random, the film finds no reason to settle into a consistent tone veering between light comedy and serious drama. I liked this aspect of the film but fully admit the flaws in this format. The drama was engaging (with Cate Blanchett staring down an SS officer whilst under fire being a highlight) and the humour is subtle, finding comedy in the ridiculousness of war. I’m in an unusual position where I enjoyed a film in spite of, or even because of, its flaws. While I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend you see it in cinemas, maybe watch it on Netflix in a few months’ time and see if you agree with me. Incidentally, if you do then I think we should be friends.

The story behind the buildings

Written by Sam Dumitriu on . Posted in Features.

Roscoe, Schuster, Kilburn, Stopford. We hear these names every day when we check our timetables but who are the people these buildings are named after? To answer that question we need to look back at the history of the University of Manchester. Some names will already ring a bell, for instance we probably all know about Alan Turing with recent coverage of his pardon and an upcoming film where he will be played by Manchester alumnus Benedict Cumberbatch. But few know about fellow computer scientist Tom Kilburn who helped form the School of Computer Science in 1964. Kilburn was the School’s first head of department and worked on the development of the world’s first commercially available electronic computer the Ferranti Mark 1 with fellow Manchester computer scientist Freddie Williams.

One day we all hope (most of us sooner rather than later) to graduate from the University of Manchester. Graduations are held in the Whitworth Hall named after Sir Joseph Whitworth. Whitworth found fortune as an industrialist inventing a system for screw threads and more excitingly, the Whitworth rifle. a gun commissioned by the British govt that was deemed too expensive for the British Army to use. Regretfully the gun found its way into the less than savoury hands of the Confederate States in the American Civil War, and worse still, the French.  Whitworth left his will to philanthropic causes with his friend Richard Copley Christie to decide on how the money was spent. Christie decided to donate one fifth of the money to the University of Manchester, then known as Owens College. Christie personally assigned that £50,000 pounds would be spent on the erection of Whitworth Hall, no small amount of money in those days. Christie himself will be a recognisable name to those who frequent Christie’s Bistro. The Bistro is based within the Old Christie Library which used to be the University’s main science library.

Manchester’s greatest legacy is probably its scientific achievements. The School of Physics and Astronomy is housed within the Schuster Laboratory and is named after Sir Arthur Schuster who was the University’s first Dean of Science when Owens College became Victoria University of Manchester. Schuster took charge of the University’s physics laboratory during a time of great scientific discovery.  Within the Schuster Laboratory are four lecture theatres named after past teachers and researchers. The most famous of which was Ernest Rutherford, who was appointed to the post of Chair in Physics by Schuster in 1907.

Rutherford had already carried out Nobel Prize winning in Chemistry by the time he reached Manchester, but it was at Manchester where he really came into his own. Rutherford’s gold foil experiment lead to great advances in the way we understand the structure of the atom. Considered to be the father of nuclear physics, Rutherford continued to research at Manchester and was the first person to split the atom in 1917.

Schuster was a student of Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe (of Roscoe building fame). Roscoe lived an interesting life, at Manchester, with his friend Robert Bunsen (inventor of the Bunsen Burner) he took what is considered to be the first ever flash photograph in 1864 using magnesium. Later on he served as a Liberal MP for Manchester South and even had a mineral Roscoelite named after him.

Like in physics, chemistry and computer science, Manchester also excelled as an institution in medical science. The Stopford Building, which houses the Faculty of Medicinal and Human Sciences and the Faculty of Life Sciences, is named after another leading scientist. Baron John Stopford of Fallowfield was the first medical graduate to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society. This was not the only accolade he picked up, Stopford was knighted, given the freedom of the city of Manchester and eventually given a life peerage in 1958.

Social scientists should not feel left out. The Arthur Lewis building where the school of social sciences are based is also named after a great thinker. Arthur Lewis was a West Indian development economist who joined the University of Manchester in 1947. While lecturing there he developed the Lewis model which is still taught in most introductory development modules to this day. The model stated that an economy develops when a capitalist sector takes labour from a subsistence agriculture sector to take advantage of increasing returns to capital. The model was so well received that in 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. To this day, he remains the only black laureate to win the prize in a field other than peace or literature.

Manchester also has a fine philosophical tradition with the School of Arts and Humanities in the Samuel Alexander Building. The building was renamed after the Australian philosopher Samuel Alexander in 2007. Students may recognise Samuel Alexander as the impressive bust in the buildings foyer. The philosopher was known for his work in the British Emergentist movement, who believed that mind emerged from the body but was not reducible to it.

The John Rylands University Library, which was recently renamed the University of Manchester library to avoid confusion, is named after John Rylands who was the first multimillionaire in Manchester’s history. When he died his estate was worth two and half million pounds which in today’s money is almost £250 million pounds. His wife erected in monument the John Rylands Library in Deansgate which in 1972 was merged with the Manchester University Library. Playing a large role in the merger was former Vice-Chancellor William Mansfield-Cooper, who has his own building named after him.

The new Learning Commons contrary to popular belief is not named after the Sascha Baron-Cohen character Ali G, but actually former University vice-chancellor Alan Gilbert. Gilbert was appointed the founding President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester when it formed as a merger between UMIST and Victoria University of Manchester.

Speaking of UMIST we shouldn’t leave out the North Campus. The Renold building is named after Sir Charles Renold an engineer and management expert who was vice-president of UMIST. Opposite the Renold building, is the North Campus SU otherwise known Barnes Wallis building which is named after Sir Barnes Wallis. Barnes Wallis invented the bouncing bomb famously used in the Dambusters raids. When the North Campus SU opened, Barnes Wallis was awarded lifetime membership of the UMIST students’ union.

Back on the South Campus, the Students’ Union building was named after anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko. Biko’s death in police custody was one of the defining moments of the movement against apartheid. Recently, the SU opened a new cafe Biko’s named after the activist. Some doubt the recent decision to serve Starbucks in the Students’ Union to be consistent with Biko’s radical political message. The Students’ Union also has named its rooms after famous political actors. In 2010, they named Room 2 in the Steve Biko building after Egyptian protestor Khaled Said who was killed by police in order to show solidarity with pro-democracy movements in Egypt. In late 2013, students voted at a recent assembly to rename Room 8 after the suffragette Christabel Pankhurst who was awarded a law degree in 1906 from the Victoria University of Manchester.

Finally, it would be amiss not to mention the John Owens building. Named after merchant John Owens who founded Owens college in 1951 who left a bequest of £96,942 to create an education establishment based on his ideas. Owens college of course became Victoria University of Manchester which eventually became the establishment we study at today.

Have the Exec kept their promises?

Written by Sam Dumitriu on . Posted in Features, News.

Grace Skelton – General Secretary

Considering her responsibilities as a trustee for the Students’ Union and the recent financial difficulties the organisation has faced, Grace has impressively managed to implement the vast majority of her manifesto. Her key pledges to ensure all students had free access to wi-fi within halls and to expand silent study space are both in the process of becoming a reality. Currently some halls continue to lack free wi-fi access, but the University has guaranteed that every hall will receive free wi-fi access before September 2014 at the very latest. Communal areas such as Squirrel’s bar in Oak House will also have free wi-fi access.

Study space within the Learning Commons remains an issue, but currently Grace is working with Rosie look at ways in which space can be utilised more efficiently as the Learning Commons is not technically full even in peak times.

Probably the most memorable pledge Grace made was to give University of Manchester students access to discounted gig tickets within the academy. Obviously given the financial situation of the Union, this policy was dead on arrival. However, even in the absence of the Union’s budget deficit, doubts have been raised over whether this policy was ever likely to be put in place. Costings were not made available for the policy in the run-up to the election, and questions have to be asked over whether adequate research had taken place before bringing in the policy.

Other pledges fulfilled by Grace include, an anonymous exec phone number for students to text ideas or access advice, and success in campaigns to increase bursaries.

Tabz O’Brien Butcher – Women’s Officer

Tabz is probably the busiest member of the Exec, indeed it was an effort to get her to take the time to respond to questions. That said, the sheer number of campaigns Tabz has launched is impressive. Fulfilling her pledge to launch an Everyday Sexism style campaign, this past thursday Tabz kicked off the We Get It campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the Union’s zero tolerance to sexual harassment policy, and has had support from across the student body and the University, with Dame Nancy Rothwell endorsing it. Tabz describing the campaign said “It aims to get students to talk about their experiences of harassment on campus and beyond, and feed into the campaign to create a safer space for students at Manchester. In three hours we’ve got over 300 likes on facebook, and lots of tweets too!”.

Also pledging to carry out a community safety audit using online mapping, she claims to have been working with over 50 community groups within Manchester to develop mapping tools and to launch a large scale Take Back the Night Bus campaign after hosting reclaim the night.

She also launched a Woman’s Welcome Week, describing  the week Tabz said “Events included LGBT Women’s film night, meet and greet with ISOC sisters, Manchester modernists heroines walking tour with the riveters, No More Page three campaign launch, a poetry event with Women for Women International, Fempowerment link up and launch event, a film screening of ‘Miss Representation’ and also a BIG women’s campaign welcome event bringing together all the different women’s groups and societies.”

Kazi Tawseef – Wellbeing Officer

The manifesto pledge that likely raised the most eyebrows during the election was Wellbeing Officer Kazi’s pledge to bring in a dedicated 24h student ambulance service. Kazi justified the policy to The Mancunion “My concern was that the ambulance service is sometimes very slow to attend emergency call- outs. I once encountered a situation where a casualty was in a life threatening situation, but was told to wait an hour for an ambulance”. Having lobbied the University Kazi’s proposal was rejected on the grounds that it would not be financially feasible, he is currently lobbying the NHS.

Another of Kazi’s policies was to lobby the University to bring in a reading week for all. However this policy was scrapped with Kazi explaining “After taking office and doing further research on it, I have found that it has got strong arguments against reading weeks [sic], both from academics and students. I decided not to pursue it.”  Kazi’s policy to bring in a affordable students only gym was also scrapped after he found that there were many local gyms offering students decent deals during Welcome Week.

Kazi commented on the U-turns “When I ran for the position, my manifesto points contained specific priorities. I feel that my priorities have changed over time, since taking up my post. This is mainly because of lack of information and feasibility analysis.”

Other policies that Kazi prioritised had already been on the University’s radar and by the time of taking office the University had already taken steps to expand counselling services and expand the role of the Purple People during Welcome Week. With this in mind Kazi has still been able to work on some of his manifesto pledges including putting in a bid to fund a pay as you use bicycle scheme and lobbying the University to reduce re-sit costs for overseas students.

Omar Aljuhani – Diversity Officer

Omar has been able to implement all of his manifesto pledge. Pledging to bring TedX to the University of Manchester has been successful and the event, which is an offshoot of the popular TED conferences, will take place on March the 2nd. Speakers will include BBC presenter Jon Sopel and New Statesman journalist Laurie Penny.

He is also working on bringing personal development courses in public speaking and leadership to the University, and while currently the project needs more volunteers it looks set to be ready by the end of the semester. Omar is also organising the Global Week which runs from March the 10th to 16th and includes a fashion show and a food festival. Currently ten cultural societies are  involved and thirty people have volunteered to take part.

Omar has also been working with Kazi to reduce re-sit costs and working with Clifford to launch the I’m Not Welcome campaign. He has also hosted the Great Debate with the Fempowerment society as part of Black History Month in October.

Charlotte Cook – Community Officer

Charlotte has had mixed success in implementing policies from her manifesto. Her pledge to bring a “Students’ guide to website” which would offer students advice hit a stumbling block when she was told that the Union’s web provider cannot facilitate an interactive forum. However, the web provider will be making expansions next year and it will be a long term project for the Communications staff team and future Execs. While unable to offer free first-aid classes, working with the British Red Cross Society she has been able to run them for £2 a session, currently over 70 people have been trained and the British Red Cross Society will be holding free lessons to teach people to carry the knowledge into schools.

Her proposal to write a weekly column in the MEN or the Manchester Evening Reporter’s community section was met with little interest from the papers. Instead she has been promoting the excellent students do in the community by attending residential meetings.

The Student Safety App which she pledged is currently being worked on by the University and her proposal to protect Kosher accommodation has been successful in that Kosher accommodation is still being offered, although the extent to which she is responsible for this is unclear.

Clifford Fleming – Campaigns and Citizenship Officer

Clifford has broadly been able to implement his manifesto with two exceptions, firstly his pledge to reduce commercial flyering outside the Union was out of his hands as the Council control the issuance of permits for flyering, although Clifford aims to meet the Council to discuss the number of permits issued. Secondly, despite pledging to campaign for cheaper utility bills and to conduct research into the utility prices, he has determined that this is no longer a priority preferring “campaigning to make positive change on campus and in society”.

Recently, Clifford has worked on his pledge to raise awareness of global issues by launching Earth Week, which starts on February 10th and will include a food festival and a lecture series. Working with Community Officer Charlotte  Cook Clifford plans to launch Big Ask week, Clifford said “We’re encouraging students to give the SU feedback on what they’d like to change in their local area. We’ve been collecting information with our Big Ask box (which you can find in the Union foyer) and we’ll be presenting the top issues back to the Council in a hustings on Friday March 28th.

Liam Mayet – Activities and Development Officer

Liam has fulfilled most of his pledges although some have had to be slightly modified based on feasibility issues. For instance, he pledged to hold regular meeting with society chairs. However, upon realising that there were over 350 society chairs Liam has dialled down the pledge instead working to improve the Activities Forum to establish links with society chairs. He has also had trouble in putting the amount of charity events he had hoped, but plans on doing more this semester.

Pangea is likely the first thing to come to mind when discussing the Activities and Development Officer. Liam was able to increase the quality of production by investing more creative installations and dynamic lighting. He has also worked to improve links with Man Met student societies by meeting with his MMUnion counterparts.

He has also worked with Clifford to encourage the University to only sell ethical products by lobbying them to sign up to the Workers’ Rights Collective.

Rosie Dammers – Education Officer

Rosie has worked on a range of her pledges, although in some cases the University has made commitments which cannot be backed out of. For instance, she pledged to lobby the university to switch from the BlackBoard online system to the Moodle Virtual Environment, but when she had taken office the University had just made a three year commitment to BlackBoard. To her credit, she’s continuing to work on online learning and managed to get student reps involved in developing new e-learning system within the EPS faculty.

One area she has worked on is course feedback. Rosie has lobbied the University to publish online the results of course unit surveys and include lecturer comments to discuss what measures have been taken to improve the course. Rosie says “This already happens on some courses, however we need to make sure it becomes common practice within the university. I am also lobbying for unit survey results to be made available to student reps, so that they can use them to make sure students comments are listened to, and needs met.”

Study space remains a major issue for the Education Officer, Rosie described some of the actions she was taking “I am currently working with the library to change the furniture in the learning commons so that there is more space for individual study. The library have agreed to put in desk dividers, and put out more desks during exam time. This is just a temporary fix; we hope for something more permanent in the future.”

My take:

Broadly speaking the Exec have kept their word. That said, some lessons should be learnt, firstly the most extravagant sounding pledges are usually the hardest to implement (see discounted gig tickets and the student ambulance service. Secondly, a lot of the time the University will either already be managing projects on the very issues students are campaigning on.  Other times, there may be going in a different direction to the Union and will have paid commitments before the next Exec will take office. One remedy would be for candidates to research their policy ideas in more detail and ask the University to assist in this research, another aspect is to brief candidates in current university policy. Budget issues have been problematic this year, but candidates running in the next election should be given a realistic assessment of the financial situation by the current Exec.

The jury remains out on whether any of this will happen when candidates run to replace the exec in March. Students interested in standing for the exec can do so online on the Manchester Student’s Union website until February 27th.

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week: The Invisible Woman

Written by George Bellamy on . Posted in Film.

With his second feature as director, Ralph Fiennes has comfortably established himself as a highly talented cinematic presence both in front of and behind the camera. Like his previous film, the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Fiennes’ film making is as dramatically powerful as it is intellectually stimulating, elegantly moving through impressionistic devices in the cinematography, combined with powerful emotive performances which never seem to imply an egotistic desire behind the bravura of his style. Yet it would be a mistake to construct the success of The Invisible Woman as one attached around the figure of Fiennes, as Abi Morgan’s subtly complex screenplay, and Felicity Jones’ superb performance as the central Invisible Woman both serve the film’s haunting achievements in its portrayal of Nelly Turnan’s relationship with Charles Dickens.

The film’s structure concerns Felicity Jones’ Nelly Turnan coming to terms with her relationship with Dickens. Mimetic of the process of memory, the scenes flow over the process through which the young actress becomes a mistress of sorts to Ralph Fiennes’ already famous Charles Dickens. Whilst the story is interested with probing elements of the great writer’s life and work, the real interest is on the effects he had on others, of the distraught caused by the lack of love with his wife, and the tumultuous ramifications of a relationship on the verge of public scandal.

The recurrent evocation of turbulent waves support in an appositely Dickensian fashion the theme of repressed desires, and emotional experience coming to surface in memory – implicitly recreating the motifs and themes of Dickens’ own work. The style is in the realm of the writer’s thought, but is devoid of any resemblance of his sentimentality. From the perspective of the female side, the tensions of the love affair have high stakes in what it could mean for the future of a young woman (Turnan was eighteen when she first met the forty-five year old novelist), and the film exists in a constant state of anxiety of which Fiennes’ Dickens is never fully aware of.

The Invisible Woman is a film in which the acting is superb throughout. Yet, credit must be given to the editing and the screenplay – many scenes have their endings coming to an abrupt finish where conclusions do not have verbal evocation, nor are tied up with satisfactory statements. So much is said by the performances of charged gestures, and telling glances that there is barely a sentiment over-stated. The film is about collecting the fragments of experience, and the narrative encourages the audience to do so on their own. If Fiennes as a director can keep assembling such talent and skill around him, then he has an illustrious career as interesting director ahead of him which could rival his acting reputation.