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Month: February 2014

Raspberry Valentine Muffins

Written by Faye Waterhouse on . Posted in Food & Drink.

For someone special.
Ali Ebright

Looking for an outrageous romantic gesture of simply looking to consoling yourself this Valentine’s Day? Either way, these muffins fit the bill every time.

Makes approximately 6 muffins

Ingredients

•             100g ground almonds

•             30g plain flour

•             115g butter (softened)

•             3 egg whites

•             130g icing sugar

•             Zest of 2 lemons

•             100g frozen raspberries

 

1.            Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 degrees Celsius (fan).

 

2.            Line a muffin tin with a little butter and melt the rest.

 

3.            Sift the flour and icing sugar together in a bowl then add the almonds and combine the ingredients.

 

4.            Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl and when they begin to form soft peaks add to the other bowl along with the zest and melted butter and gently fold together.

 

5.            Put a dollop of each mixture into the muffin tin and squash about 3 raspberries in the centre leaving them half visible.

 

6.            Bake for 25 minutes and leave in the tins for a while before turning out to cool. The raspberries will become syrupy in the muffin making them light and moist.

Adventures of a drinks enthusiast

Written by Ben Walker on . Posted in Food & Drink.

I recently got to thinking about soft drinks after trying a mixed berry smoothie at Fuel in Withington. What follows are some musings about some outstanding offerings available in Manchester to students, teetotallers, alcopop bingers, and champagne connoisseurs alike—you see soft drinks are for everyone…

As I watched the waitress glide across the floor, a great vessel nestled in her hands, I was beguiled, literally, by the fruits of her labour. At my table arrived a whole pint and fruit pulp so thick that a spoon was intermittently employed, the rich texture and the tiny crunch of strawberry seeds confirmed by initial feelings: this is one of the finest tasting beverages I have had sourced in Manchester, and since it is cheaper than some beers on sale, and indeed wholly flavoursome, I stuck to slurping the mixed berry smoothies that evening, and what a revelation it was.

This led to some thoughts about the purpose of drinking smoothies—I think our view of the smoothie is somewhat skewed. A government study tells us that apparently you can only get two of your five daily fruit and vegetable portions from smoothies, regardless of how much you drink. Well, this begs an interesting question, so what?

If you buy smoothie for the health benefits I imagine you also enjoy dunking and dipping raw carrot and celery batons into Taramasalata, so I have full confidence that the 5 a day is made up elsewhere. You see, the health conscious amongst us don’t simply rely on Innocent Drinks to get all those delicious vitamins, right? We drink them because they taste so divine, simply sumptuous.

So, with soft drinks of the elite kind on my mind, I figured that the counterbalance to the cool, plummy sensations of the Fuel smoothie was hot chocolate. Too often just the third option in the Alan Gilbert, after coffee and tea, heartlessly assembled with some powder creating a chalky, watery, potentially heart-breaking experience—I’ll never forget the day I spent the best part of a fiver on the Café Nero Milano hot chocolate, and though it was served in a fancy glass, the drink was almost as sorry as I was for purchasing it.

So, hoping to avoid more disappointment that would have surely just sent me right back into the arms of the Fuel smoothie, I focused the mind, and indeed epiphany struck. Chocolate Boutique by Paul A Young in the Northern Quarter is an outpost of the famous London chocolatier, and his little store, across the road from Teapot, I have heard, sold hot chocolate.

Like any good pilgrim I kept faith and upon completion of my journey I was rewarded with a spiritual experience indeed. Salted caramel hot chocolate, ladled from a cauldron, where a lady stands and stirs with devotion, love, and due care and attention. A wooden plate, a ceramic bowl, and the most indulgent hot drink I may have ever have sipped resulted in me buying a second—an orange chocolate one! Even including the solid form of chocolate, this was the best cocoa experience I’ve ever had.

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate heaven

 

Chocolate and pistachio marshmallows

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

 

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp cornflour

1/2 tbsp icing sugar

Drop of vegetable oil

2 egg whites

500g granulated sugar

250ml water

8 leafs gelatin

80g milk chocolate (or dark if you prefer)

100g pistachios in shell (shelled weight probably about 60-70g but don’t quote me on it!)

Method

1. Grab a 20 x 20cm cake tin, and rub a little bit of oil all over the base and around the sides. Seive the icing sugar and cornflour together in a bowl and add a bit of it to the cake tin, making sure it’s coated evenly.

2. Crack the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and whisk to stiff peaks.

3. Put the egg whites to one side. Pour the sugar and water into a saucepan and put it on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then whack the heat on full and boil it until it’s at the ‘hard ball’ stage. I love that name. It’s basically 122 degrees Celcius. It does help to have a sugar thermometer (I used a meat thermometer – same difference, I think!) because I think it would be pretty hard to guesstimate. Whilst you’re waiting for it to boil, soak your gelatine leaves in water for 10 mins.

4. Start whisking the egg whites again, then as you’re whisking, gradually pour in the hot sugar syrup. Whisk it in really well. As soon as that’s all in, grab the gelatine, squeeze the water out of it and put it in the egg white mix. Keep whisking and whisking, until the mixture is firm but still pourable. It will also be incredibly sticky. Messy, but fun! At this point, pour it into the cake tin and leave it to set for two hours. Roughly the amount of time it will take you to wash the marshmallow goo out of the mixing bowl, and the sugar syrup out of the saucepan.

5. Now the fun bit. Sprinkle the rest of your icing sugar and cornflour mixture over a worktop or chopping board. Using a knife, separate the marshmallow from the edge of the tin, then tip it out onto the chopping board and cut it into cubes of a size you deem acceptable. 

6. Boil some water in a saucepan, take it off the heat, and place a bowl over the top of the pan. Put the chocolate in the bowl and melt it down. In the meantime, de-shell and chop the pistachios finely.

7. Now, this bit is fun. Smear half of the marshmallow with chocolate and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. 2 tips. 1 – use a butter knife to spread the chocolate on the marshmallow or it. gets. messy. 2 – Make sure that either your marshmallow slices can stand up on end, or you have some way of propping them up that doesn’t involve them lying on their chocolate-covered side.

8. Leave them to cool for half an hour and you’re done!

These guys make a great Christmas present, or just a great way to feel smug about not paying a bazillion pounds for premium marshmallows in Selfridges.

Don’t eat them all whilst the chocolate is setting!

 

 

Nespress Yourself

Written by Anthony Cornish on . Posted in Food & Drink.

If you are completely crazy about coffee, it’s time to kick out that Kenko and start having breakfast like a barista with Nespresso. If it’s good enough for George Clooney, it’s going to be good enough for you. The Nespresso Magimix coffee machine is elegant yet understated and is a certainty to get you out of bed in the morning. That boost which is so desperately needed in the morning to get you out the door no longer has to be in the form of an instant coffee, rushed together in a Mr Bean-like fashion. As of now, it can take on a whole new dimension involving capsules, buttons and a magical black container with the sole purpose of making your milk wonderfully frothy.

For one thing, you have the option of around 16 different coffee flavours, with suitably exotic names ranging from ‘fortissio lungo’ to ‘arpeggio’, giving you that shot of culture you’ve so dearly missed. (The ‘capriccio esspresso’ is a personal favourite on a Monday morning). In other words, to be drinking instant coffee when the option of owning one of these exists is like dining in a French restaurant and ordering a pint of Carlsberg with your oysters – you tend not to. Of course, I may be accused of naivety in thinking every Manchester student has the readies to invest in such a coffee machine but if, like me, you’re drinking them every day, £100 seems a fair price to pay for what you’re getting (especially divided among your housemates). In addition to this this, my referring to it merely as a coffee machine is somewhat misguiding as it is so much more than just this. A more appropriate description may be that it is a shining beacon of hope that promises a start to the day that is simply not possible if you’re stuck in the dark ages of coffee making. The result is not simply that a symphony of flavours is being conducted in your mouth, but of course, the actual ownership of such a nifty device means you command a great deal more respect among fellow coffee enthusiasts.

So far, my appeal has been to those students clambering out of bed, throwing on some clothes and mixing up a quick (instant) café au lait in the kitchen before hopping on a magic bus to Uni. I am, however, aware of that breed of people who join the lecturers and businessmen in the tedious queues of Starbucks and Nero to get their morning fix. This religious visit to the franchise is based on the belief that they can successfully fill that morning void so often dominated by lethargy, giving you that caffeine hit you desperately crave. These corporations are popular and it is mainly due to their sorting out customers with high-grade produce and with a street value of only around £2.50 a pop. However, the maintenance of this routine, week in week out for a matter of months will have spending the same as you would have on the Magimix machine and have had to go out of your way every day to do so. With the Magimix, you can enjoy the fruits of a quality coffee without the hassles of travelling and queuing.

After all this recommendation and appraisal, I feel it necessary to briefly mention my own personal experience with the machine. It was on returning from the Christmas holiday that my Birkenstock-wearing housemate Dom introduced the machine to our kitchen, armed with a shed-load of capsules. After a brief tutorial on how to treat it with love and care, the machine became one of the family and is now the most popular member. The mutual feeling towards the Magimix is one of pure adoration as it immediately transforms the users outlook on coffee from a mere mug of brown liquid to a chalice of flavours topped gracefully with a layer of perfectly modified milk to ensure beauty, elegance, and taste.

My advice to you here is simple: sack off the instant, boycott the Starbucks, and start enjoying coffee in style with me and Mr. Clooney. (Now I’m off to make a coffee).

The Valentine’s Day guide to picking a decent bottle of fizz

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Food & Drink.

It’s that time of year again where chubby young Cupid has been firing arrows, with the usual mitigated success that a blind toddler has with a bow. As a consequence of this amorous atmosphere, all the shops have in Manchester have been covered up in red hearts, crimson roses and gourmet chocolates. This week, as a result, I have been a busy little cherubin myself, scouring the Wine aisles of some of our favorite supermarkets for a decent bottle of champers – something to guarantee success on a date for those who are organizing a meal at home. For those who have nothing planned for the splendid day of love this year, sitting on the couch scoffing chocolates, reading this article will be good preparation for when you actually do…

Here are three carefully selected bottles, for three carefully planned dates…

‘Oudinot champagne Brut’: a bottle to share with a woman of notable virtue is an unusually classy bottle for this wine column. It is pure Chardonnay and about as consistent as busses on Oxford Road (very) and comes coupled with a generous brioche style, long, positive fruit and heartening signs of bottle age – according to the M&S marketing department. Priced at £25, you may have to extend your overdraft and negotiate a second student loan instalment very quickly, yet it tastes wonderful. In terms of a deal clincher, this is the ultimate winner, the move which check-mates’ your date and guarantees you a second evening. The prickly bubbly nature makes conversation smooth but the bottle presents a fine getaway should that conversation then hit the rocks. Truly wonderful stuff, the only down side is that hefty price tag. As our gruff politics professor once said, “You have to choose quality over quantity, even though by the looks of the track suits around, you probably cannot afford it”. He’s a permanent bachelor, so don’t worry. I hope if you do choose this bottle of champagne, the returns on your investment will make any banker green with envy.

‘Cave de Lugny Crémant de Bourgogne’: a mid-ranged bottle, nothing too flash and nothing to boisterous yet nonetheless quite a good addition to any candlelit meal for two. It is the ‘blanc de blancs’; the ‘whites of whites’, all Chardonnay and a lovely fine taste of crisp apples, apparently accompanied with bready aromas and a lively zesty character. To be honest the label doesn’t do it justice, this bottle is a superb choice, the cherry on top of a fine evening in even finer company. Interestingly, at 11.5% APR you won’t be left red-nosed or on all fours but just enough to kick back and enjoy whatever interesting culinary delights you’ve whipped up for the grand occasion. I don’t usually shop at Waitrose, but when I do I try to pick out the best bottle for the remainder of my bank balance. In this case it was £12.99 and worth every penny!

‘Cava Brut’-Tesco: a bottle not to share unless you openly dislike whoever chubby young Cupid has paired you off with. Or at least that it what I first thought… Priced at a mere £4.99, this curiously underpriced bottle from cava mass-producer Corneliu is supposed to be fruity and very bubbly. I won’t lie; you certainly get your money’s worth with this fine specimen. Secondly, considering you could get 5 of these bottles for one ‘Oudinot Champagne Brut’, it is certainly worth mulling it over. If you so happen to be the type of person who enjoys a different bottle with every course then this is a brilliant choice. Your date may be a little overwhelmed by the bubbles and go down with hiccups, but you’ve still got desert on the menu – so it is a hard call.

I hope this speedy comparison does actually come handy for all those fortunate to end up spending the most rosy of days in the company of someone special. For those of you, like myself, who are sentenced to yet another year on the sofa, miserable and grumpy, wondering what in the world Aphorodite’s useless illegitimate offspring is doing with his bow – I shall see you at Tesco’s wine aisle, shopping for Cava… and much too much chocolate.

Tesco Cava under £5

How you can help cure cancer with your phone

Written by Alasdair Preston on . Posted in Games.

Newly released smartphone game Play to Cure gives you a way to do something useful with your gaming time that isn’t just beating your friend’s high scores. Cancer Research UK and  have teamed up with Guerilla Tea to bring you a smartphone game with a difference.
On the surface, Play to Cure is a simple game about flying your spaceship through a flight path predetermined by you and collecting as much ‘Element Alpha’ as possible. It provides all the usual challenge and competitive edge we’d expect from our quick play games on mobiles. Players can level up by completing flights successfully and dodging the asteroids that whizz by, and spend points to upgrade ships. There are no microtransactions, adverts or annoying pay walls to contend with.
In reality, the space nebula dust you’re aiming to collect is a representation of genetic data. Without you, the player, scientist would have to painstakingly analyse this data by eye to try and identify genetic faults that may contribute to cancer. Ordinarily, this could take years according to Cancer Research UK.
The game aims to utilise the many, many hours we waste playing games that don’t cure cancer to help crunch this data and save scientists time. It sends information on the flight path you choose and how you fly through the course back to their data centres to provide valuable information.
Play to Cure: Genes in Space started life at a GameJam in 2013,  a weekend in which many developers from organisations such as Amazon, Google and Facebook come together with the aim of conceiving and creating a full game in just 48 hours.
Play to Cure: Genes in Space is available for free on iOS and Android, so everyone has a chance to lend a hand in curing cancer.

inFamous: Second Son Preview

Written by Alasdair Preston on . Posted in Games.

Part of Sony’s strong exclusive performance on the Playstation 3 was down to inFAMOUS. This fresh IP starred Cole and his electric powers in an open world superhero (or supervillain, depending on your choices) story.
Since the 2009 release of the first inFAMOUS, the franchise has become an important feather in the Sony cap, spawning a sequel and a DC Comics series. Second Son, the third installment in the series and the first to be on the new Playstation 4, has a new central character who has his own unique abilities. Developers Sucker Punch promise that, beyond simply controlling smoke, protagonist Deslin can absorb the powers of other conduits (people with powers), and that the smoke is only ‘the tip of the iceburg’.
The plot follows on from the ‘good’ ending of inFAMOUS 2. Cole’s very public and destructive defeat of his enemy has lead the U.S. Government to label all conduits as bio-terrorists.
Gameplay in this new title appears to preserve much of the former titles signature style, with open worlds, parkour and upgradable powers. One notable change is in the aiming system. Players are no longer required to ‘aim in’, and instead can shoot thunderbolts, fireballs or whatever else Deslin may be capable of freely, hopefully speeding up combat and making things more precise. The game touts new motion capture technology, used to accurately capture the performances and look of each character’s real life actor.
Developers Sucker Punch are previously known for their work on the inFAMOUS franchise, and the Sly Cooper series on Playstation 2, another stellar Sony exclusive.
inFAMOUS: Second Son is out worldwide on March 21st, only on Playstation 4.

Private Galleries

Written by Matilda Roberts on . Posted in Arts.

Private art galleries offer a very different experience to public ones. Less about giving the opportunity to contemplate, learn about and enjoy art they instead sell art and give the opportunity to contemplate the value of individual artworks. Public galleries are often overlooked as places to observe art. The commercial side of the art world often intimidates people, particularly students, or the commercial art displayed within them is dismissed as ‘kitsch’. I visited Spinningfield’s Artzu Gallery and the Manchester Craft and Design Centre in the Northern Quarter to see how valuable a visit to these private galleries could be.

 

‘Seeing Difference’, a group exhibition showing at the Artzu Gallery, displayed different artist’s vision of the world through his or her own particular perspective.

Identical locations are portrayed with differences, revealing the artist’s hidden world.

 

Matt Wilde portrays busy Manchester scenes in which people are doing normal everyday things like waiting for the bus or reading the newspaper. His paintings are bold and cartoonlike; the scenes are colourful while his figures are often painted with black and sketchy lines. When you look closer into his paintings you notice his use of newspapers, receipts or tickets underneath the surface of his paintings.

 

Michael John Ashcrot also paints scenes of Manchester. His paintings capture beautifully the contrasts between light and dark, shadows and reflections in the city.

 

Anna Gillespie sculpts the human form from natural materials such as acorns and bark. Her sculptures appear to be an expression of her growing concerns about the environment.

 

These were the artists I found most interesting in the gallery, finding the rest to be more obvious examples of commercially appealing art. The experience of visiting the gallery itself was not ideal. I would have liked to spend more time observing the art. However I felt slightly unwanted in there, despite the gallery’s website proclaiming the gallery ‘proudly stands like a beacon’ not just for private collectors and corporate art buyers but for ‘art lovers’ and ‘artists’ too. I was the only person to enter the gallery while I was there without being greeted at the door and I didn’t feel comfortable getting out a notebook and sitting to draw what I saw.

 

The Manchester Craft and Design Centre was a wholly different experience. Home to eighteen working studio boutiques where the resident artists both make and sell their work, as well as a café and an exhibition space this former fish market is the perfect destination for personal gifts and new craft ideas. Selling jewellery, bags, ceramics, interior accessories, furniture and paintings all the artists were friendly and welcoming whether or not you seemed likely to buy anything.
The exhibition showing there at the moment is Alinah Azadeh’s ‘Gifts of the Departed’. Alinah Azadeh is an interdisciplinary artist using processes of public ritual, dialogue, gift and narrative exchange. This is an exhibition dedicated to her mother who died in 2004 Asian Tsunami. Her Gifts of the Departed are objects taken from her mother’s kitchen, wrapped in cloth and wool and bound with texts taken from the artists blog at the time, which documented some of the almost unbelievable signs, dreams and events around her mothers death. The artist describes the process as beginning as a ‘creative making ritual of grief’. The collection then expanded into using found object and Sufi texts to create what feel like three-dimensional poems. I found the objects to be really beautiful and personal expressions of grief and belonging. The artist literally binds up the belongings of her mother with her own memories of her.

 

I would really recommend a visit to the Manchester Craft and Design Centre, a fun place to brows for gifts and craft ideas, to meet interesting people and to see a unique and intimate exhibition. Artzu gallery I would recommend to those either interested in the art market and its changing fashions or to those who practice their own art as a place to go for possible ideas. But don’t expect a smile!

Career Corner: Michael Lawson

Written by Moya Crockett on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Michael graduated in 2005 with a BSc(Hons) in Environmental Science. He then went on to do a PhD in isotope geochemistry, also at Manchester, graduating in 2010.

Currently living in Houston, Texas, he works as a Research Geochemist at ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company.

What does your current job involve?

We assess new techniques and applications in geochemistry, and develop more traditional technologies to find out where to drill, what the quality of oil or gas is likely to be, and what challenges we might face in getting the oil and gas out of the ground.

What do you most enjoy about working for ExxonMobil?

The opportunities are massive at a company like ExxonMobil. At the moment, I’m applying cutting edge technology to challenges that have a big impact on the way we do things. I get to attend international conferences and scope out interesting and exciting geochemistry to identify future areas of research for our group. Training is first rate, and the chance to work with really smart people from all kinds of backgrounds is second to none.

What did you most value about your course at Manchester?

The Earth Science department has a great atmosphere at Manchester – all of the faculty and students get along and socialize, which is really important when you’re going to spend the next few years of your life living and working with them.

My time at Manchester gave me the opportunity to work with the top people in my field, and there are excellent analytical facilities on offer. The skills I developed during my undergrad and PhD have given me a really solid platform to understanding and contributing to the requests we receive at the research company.

While I was doing my PhD, I attended many international conferences and gave talks about my own research, and through this I gained a lot of confidence in public speaking. This has been particularly useful when working in a field like mine – you have to be able to get your message across to people who don’t speak geochemistry!

What advice would you give to Environmental Science undergrads, or those thinking of applying for the Isotope Geochemistry PhD at Manchester?

I’d encourage anyone to make the most of doing research at Manchester by agreeing to working on what may seem like unrelated projects. These actually give you a much broader knowledge than you would otherwise have, and the people you work with may be the ones that help get you a position in academia or industry in the future.

Networking outside of the group at conferences is really useful – these are the people that you’ll see year in, year out at conferences, so it’s nice to know a friendly face should you move on to another university later in your career.

But most of all, enjoy your time at Manchester – it’s a great city.

With thanks to Rosie Haynes at the Alumni Association.

Are you in your final year?
 
If so you can join our online alumni community, Your Manchester Online (YMO) and stay connected to the University after you graduate. Discounts, networks and updates on events and activities are just some of the features available to registered members. 
Go to www.manchester.ac.uk/ymo to sign up today.

I swapped Facebook for knitting and won’t ever look back!

Written by Abbie Mia Roberts on . Posted in Arts.

So the exam season’s finally over and with it ended the obsessive compulsive procrastination that grips each and every one of us– the endless refreshing of newsfeeds, the sudden onset of urges to go on a jog and hoover our room– “The oven’s dirty!”, “The pencils aren’t sharpened!”, “The cereals aren’t in alphabetical order!” For most of us, by the end of exam week, our accommodation has never been so clean, our shelves never so organised and our Facebook friends never so thoroughly stalked. But this year I took procrastination to a whole new level – more extreme than cracking open a brand spanking new box set with the familiar “just one more episode” resounding in my ear – instead, I learnt to knit and “just one more row” haunts my pre-results-day dreams. Instead of walking out of my final exam feeling purposeless because there were no more seasons of Breaking Bad to curl up with, I was twitching to get to town and into Poundland (yes, Poundland!) to further fuel my knitting addiction.

Now don’t be fooled by the innocent reputation knitting has – once you get the hang of basic knit1-purl1 and you’re producing endless reams of woollen delights, you start to see the world in a completely different way. Before you know it, everything you see can be improved with a bit of wool. This starts off fairly harmlessly – that jacket of yours never did have enough pockets – but then it changes, you change – that man’s head really is bulbous, why not quickly fashion him a nice beret right there in the queue to the self-checkout?  But there’s no stopping you then. It gets darker. Knitting is a gateway drug to crime itself – that park bench really could be spruced up a bit, oh and that pothole does need covering over, knit1-purl1-knit1-purl1.It’s not vandalism you’ll tell yourself, it’s art. But deep down you’ll know it’s wrong, but it’s done now and the only way to remove your knitted work from the handlebars of that stranger’s parked bike is to cut it off and you know that to apply scissors through your own knitting is the greatest pain you could possibly inflict upon yourself. But it’s ok, you checked for CCTV beforehand, just walk casually away.

Of course I wouldn’t want to put you off, knitting is a wonderfully relaxing hobby and not everyone goes into such a frenzy – you could just become one of those ‘home-made gifts’ people. Everyone loves homemade gifts or at least everyone says that when really they’d rather have a professionally made hole-less scarf that they’re not obliged to wear every time they see you, but it’s very easy to ignore that little fact. After all, you put a lot of time into it and it’s the thought that counts.

To conclude, knitting instead of going on Facebook does seem like a more productive alternative to the inevitable procrastination of January exams, but that argument probably won’t hold up in court.

The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Restaurant Guide

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

Personally I don’t really see the point of Valentine’s Day. And this isn’t some bitter singleton speaking – I have been accused by multiple friends of being a “serial monogamist”. No, I’m just turned off by the idea of love as a consumer spectacle. I don’t really see why you’d want to be in a relationship where your partner only remembered to value you on one pre-determined day of the year…

But hey, enough cynicism. Even if you don’t go in for the chocolates/ roses/ cheese-y Hallmark card there is an upside to Valentine’s Day – it provides the perfect excuse to push the boat out a bit and treat yourself to a nice restaurant meal. With this in mind I thought I would provide a handy guide of restaurants in Manchester that might suit the occasion:

For the couple still in the honeymoon phase:

Ah, the start of a new relationship – the bit where you don’t even fart in front of each other yet and are still pretending to be richer/ funnier/ have a better taste in music than you really do. These restaurants will allow you to dress up and be a bit flash, although you might regret it when you next check your bank balance…

San Carlo

A favourite of footballers and minor celebrities, this swanky Italian joint is sure to pull out all of the cheesy and clichéd stops in the classiest possible of ways. Try the sharing platter of fish and shellfish cooked in white wine with “a touch of tomato and garlic” or the ‘Tagliata Di Filetto Di Manzo’ (doesn’t Italian sound romantic? That’s basically just steak) then finish with something chocolatey.

Australasia

Ideal for couples who are beautiful but rather dull, the music will drown out some of your conversation while the glamorous surroundings are perfect for people watching. Perhaps more trendy than romantic nevertheless it’s the kind of place you want to be seen. The menu is a slightly confused sounding fusion concept, but the cocktails are sure to be fabulous and beautiful people tend not to eat much anyway.

The French

For proper foodies only, this one will require an investment of about 4 hours and £79 a head for their 10 course tasting menu. The food is guaranteed to be stunning but it’s probably best to be sure you are both up for eating ‘Ox in coal oil’, a raw meat tartare, or ‘lamb belly and sweetbreads’ before you commit to spending over three weeks of your food budget on one meal.

For the Valentine’s Day refuseniks:

So you secretly would quite like to do something for V-Day but don’t want to come across all soppy. Here are a few restaurants that would mean you can have a fun night out but avoid the cringe-factor of candles and roses.

SoLiTa

Despite being described as ‘Dude Food’, I don’t reckon the menu here is particularly gendered. The appeal of deep-fried mac ‘n’ cheese, aged Dexter prime rib steak or one of their epic burgers is pretty universal, and the place is very Northern Quarter but not in an exclusive way. And don’t worry, they wouldn’t be seen dead playing love songs.

Luck Lust Liquor and Burn

Another NQ favourite, and ok I’ll admit this one is a bit more up itself. They have a neon sign saying “Jesus Loves Tacos” and I don’t think they hire anyone without tattoos. But it’s not their fault; they can’t help that they’re the sister restaurant to Almost Famous. The food and cocktails are great and the place manages to be romantic – dimly lit, pink fairy lights, candles etc – but not in an embarrassing way.

For the Tinder date you accepted for the company:

You don’t want to be alone on the 14th but you’re not sure about this one. In fact you might both have accepted out of pity/ desperation, so bearing that in mind it’s really not worth splashing the cash.

Fallow

But you never know, it could be the (unlikely) start of something beautiful. In that case the low-key but friendly charms of Fallow are the answer. They’ll be offering a tasty 3 course menu with a glass of wine for £20pp, and you’ll probably be pretty close to home if you decide to do a runner…

Dosa Xpress

Functional doesn’t even begin to describe the décor, but at least they’ve made an effort with some fairy lights. At the end of the day the tasty South Indian food is so cheap you really can’t complain, and they might even put a fake flower on the table as you gaze into each other’s’ eyes and struggle for conversation.

Wetherspoons

To be honest, if you really think that Spoons is your best option I’d say cancel and stay in getting fabulously drunk with your mates.

Retro Corner: Army Men

Written by Tuan Dao on . Posted in Games.

Army Men was one of the very first games I got the chance to play and enjoy. It was my 7th birthday present from my uncle, who was also an avid gamer. Army Men was supposedly only a spinoff from the phenomenal animation Toy Story, but the first game was so good and unique that it developed into a fan favourite.

In Army Men, you play the role of Sarge, a Green plastic soldier who commands every operation set by the Green headquarters in their war against the Tan Army. The missions are usually carried out in a huge map, with a variety of weapons and vehicles you can pick up to serve your strategy. Of course, enemies’ troops are scattered across the maps in important sections, creating fortifications that aim to prevent our hero from accomplishing the mission. The types of mission also vary, from hostage rescue to assassination.

A big plus of the game is that it does not limit your ways of achieving the objectives, creating a non-linear gameplay. You can choose from a variety of weapons to serve different strategies and approaches, whether a guerrilla attack or a full-blown rampage. It gives the game a tactical feel and makes you think, and as a kid I always felt like an actual commander ready to conquer the battlefield. I still remember a mission where Sarge was on an operation to rescue a Green official held captive in a Tan camp. There were a few tanks with many soldiers guarding the place. I called for an air bombing in the west area, divert their attention and used a few Green soldiers to keep the Tans busy there. Meanwhile, I moved my main troops with combat vehicles from the west, with me as Sarge holding a rifle sniping most of the remaining Tan soldiers near the hostage. Or alternatively, I could use a quick car to lure the tanks into my minefield before going on rampage killing the remaining Tans. Consequently, no mission is accomplished the same way, and this element is what keeps players engaged in the battle of the little plastic soldiers.

Despite being a followed-up product for Toy Story, Army Men was able to stand on its own. It was one of the good old games in the end of the 20th century, and a must-play for gamers that enjoy tactical games.

Polish Parfumerie

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

If, like me, biting your nails is a persistent (and very unwelcome) habit that you are yet to triumph, then I hate to say this but; unfortunately it’s going to get worse.  Allow me to introduce you to Revlon’s scented nail polish, springs most scrumptious nail decoration, all the way from the US.

The collection has 20 succulent shades that are separated into three different groups: ‘fruits and florals’, ‘sweets and spices’ and ‘freshes’. Designed by Revlon’s Gucci Westman the bottles look like cute little French perfume bottles and despite the ball-shaped cap, apparently it is easily applied. The smell does not reveal itself until dry, which means that there is no prior purchase smell-test. But not to worry, I have conducted some minor research and ‘Italian Leather’, ‘African Tea Rose’ and ‘Autumn Spice’ seem to be popular choices in the US. The smells are slight and subtle (if you hold your hand four inches from your nose you can smell it) and the essential oils will not overpower your perfume.

Two applications are advised and scents last 24 hours.

Available from March at Boots stores, £6.49 each.

The CoD-Fathers’ Newest Game

Written by Alasdair Preston on . Posted in Games.

The state of modern console FPS games has remained pretty much the same for a few years now. The two powerhouses, Activision’s Call of Duty and EA’s Battlefield, dominate the online multiplayer world and everyone else just tries to get by. Ever since the world-renowned Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare released, the competition have been playing catch up. Modern Warfare redefined the genre as we knew it, and elevated the already popular franchise to the very top of the video game world. Records fell to it every year. Cut to 2014, and a challenger emerges with some serious pedigree.

 

From Respawn Entertainment comes Titanfall, a multiplayer only shooter that hopes to put a dent in the lion’s share of the market that CoD and Battlefield have enjoyed for so long. What makes Titanfall stand out from the competition isn’t so much the game itself, but the guys who made it. Jason West and Vince Zampella, former heads of Infinity Ward and the men responsible for the FPS renaissance that was CoD4 have struck out on their own and created something new.

 

The story of how Titanfall came to be is long, and involves the word “lawsuit” many, many times. In March of 2010 publishing powerhouse and owners of Infinity Ward Activision fired the duo for “breaches of contract and insubordination”. This started a complicated and lengthy legal battle between Activision and the developers, that later included EA on the defendants side. The plaintiffs alleged that West and Zampella were talking to EA about leaving, that EA poached their developers and other infractions. In return, West and Zampella claimed that they and the rest of Infinity Ward were owed massive sums of money in royalty payments from the proceeds of the hugely successful Modern Warfare 2, and potentially that they had a claim to ownership of the Modern Warfare brand.

 

The case was eventually resolved with a private settlement in 2012, Activision having already paid out $42 million in overdue royalty payments earlier. Representatives of the Infinity Ward Employee Group said “although it is a meaningful payment it is only a small portion of what we are seeking in litigation”. It remains unclear if any further payments were made. Regardless, the outcome that matters to us is that Zampella and West founded Respawn Entertainment, brought in 38 of the 46 Infinity Ward employees that left in the wake of their feud and developed Titanfall.

 

Explaining Titanfall in one sentence is impossible. It aims to bring together many different elements to create a fresh, new take on the online FPS. A common criticism of the major FPS titles is the often-lacklustre solo modes. Most of the budget is poured into these cinematic blockbusters that are over in a flash and forgotten about even quicker. Titanfall doesn’t have a single player mode. It still has a story to tell, but it does this with it’s multiplayer matches.

 

The idea at the heart of the game is the Titan, a powerful mech suit that towers above a normal man and carries the heaviest of weaponry. A sort of killstreak reward, the Titans come crashing down from the heavens into the middle of the action and players can hop on in and cause some real damage. The catchphrase we keep hearing from the guys over at Respawn is “asymmetrical gameplay”. Obviously, one soldier running up to one of these goliaths with his shiniest pistol out isn’t going to have a good time. From what we’ve seen, the game takes a cue from Halo here and encourages tactical use of the multileveled environments and soldier’s jetpacks to tackle a titan. The jetpacks can provide a little boost in mid-air rather than flight, and enable you to zip around the levels Mirror’s Edge style, wall running and ledge hopping up buildings and across chasms to gain the advantage. Gun combat looks familiar to those experienced in Call of Duty, fast paced and unforgiving.

 

The matches themselves support 6v6 players, with a twist. The arenas are also populated with many AI controlled grunts to increase the carnage. How this plays out in full matches is yet to be seen, the blurry footage we’ve seen from the closed alpha test doesn’t involve competitive AI opponents.

 

So what does Titanfall do to make itself a next generation game? Titanfall will take advantage of the Xbox Live Cloud to make the troubles associated with player hosted and dedicated servers a thing of the past. Respawn developer Jon Shiring bigged up the benefits of the cloud on his blog, giving a nod to Microsoft and their pricing policy for use of the cloud making it an excellent option for developers who want to keep costs down without compromising the player experience.

 

Titanfall launches across Europe on March 13th for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.

Don’t set yourself up for failure, eat lobster!

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

The New Year is heralded as the starting point for creating a new, improved version of ourselves. We make resolutions to ban everything fun, with the latest fashions – generally based on “scientific” studies mixed with sub-D list celebrity endorsement – extending from alcohol to sugar to gluten and now even fruit juice. But by the time the grey clouds of January turn into the grey clouds of February (don’t you just love winter in Manchester?), the vast majority of people will have let their good intentions slip by the wayside in favour of comfort food, nights out and the everlasting lure of the ‘drunchies’.

While there is nothing wrong with deciding that life is just more fun with everything in moderation, including moderation itself, I can’t help thinking that our New Years mindset is decidedly unhealthy.

The whole of December seems to be set aside for indulgence, even gluttony (another chocolate orange? Why not, it’s Christmas. Stilton? Of course! And don’t forget the port…) Yet even during this we are bombarded with the idea that this should be making us feel guilty, and that we will have to face the consequences and repent our hedonistic consumption come January.

Suddenly these resolutions don’t seem like a positive message of self-improvement, but a guilt-ridden manifestation of our warped relationship to our bodies and to food.

The cynical amongst us might point to the multi-billion pound diet industry, often owned by the very corporations making us unhealthy in the first place. Clearly this is big business, evident in the sudden ubiquity of the “5:2 diet” and variations thereof. My housemate tried it and the only result was a very hungry and grumpy student unable to think about anything other than food. A couple of people I know who have stuck it out longer mumble phrases such as “intermittent fasting” and “IGF-1”, but it’s fascinating how such a simple concept can have been so successfully monetised.

At the same time it’s important to look at how people themselves feel about this, not just to assume they’re being manipulated by mysterious capitalist forces beyond their control. Surely they must recognise how daft it is to spend January subsisting on salad and lentils? This is the time when what our bodies really want are stews, hearty soups, roasts and a bit of stodge to keep the cold at bay! January is miserable enough as it is, what with exams, cold and rain. You’re really just setting yourself up for failure if you buy into the cringe-inducing ‘Banuary’.

So in the spirit of indulgence in moderation and banishing guilt from food, here are a couple of ideas of ways to cheer yourself up through the winter in Manchester.

First up is the new brunch offering from SoLiTa, a fab Northern Quarter restaurant already famous for its inventive burgers and excellent value steaks. They are now serving up brunch on weekends until 1pm, and I can’t wait to go and try their inventive offerings including the ‘Full English Toad in the Hole’ (£8.90), ‘Steak and Eggs Benedict’ (£9.90) or ‘Waffles with Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Sausage Gravy, and Maple Syrup’ (£7.90), washed down with a cocktail such as the ‘Blood Orange Mimosa’, a mix of Prosecco, Grand-Marnier and blood orange juice – a bargain at £5.

However if you’re not really a morning person, how about celebrating the start of a new semester with an indulgent dinner at Steak & Lobster at ALTO? £17 will buy you either a 10oz rib eye steak or a whole lobster, both served with unlimited chips and salad. Sure, you could buy a whole lot more tofu and kale with that amount of money, but think which will truly add to your happiness and create a memorable experience rather than a rather ascetic and overly ‘wholesome’ meal of the type that tends to cause flatulence rather than true satisfaction.

Ben Walker

What I’m trying to say is that this time of year does not have to be defined by atoning for our collective ‘sins’ over the holidays. It is perfectly possible to eat a balanced but interesting diet, be kind to yourself and stay healthy without a generous dose of self-denial which would make all but the most iron-willed amongst us reach for the biscuit tin.

Go out and enjoy the wonderful, interesting and most of all delicious dishes the Manchester dining scene has to offer. Remove guilt from the equation and treat food as a positive and enjoyable resource for your body rather than some sort of indicator of your moral worth with dieting the ‘virtuous’ path to bodily beauty. Everyone knows that someone who enjoys their food is far more attractive than a protein shake or juice diet obsessive anyway.

Club: Hi Ku presents Graeme Park

Written by Patrick Hinton on . Posted in Music.

24th January

The Roadhouse

7/10

As news filters through at 5pm that Terrence Parker has missed his flight and won’t be fulfilling his DJing commitments this evening (a common occurrence by all accounts), this seems like a night doomed before it has even begun. Yet Hi Ku move quickly and rather than er’ing over what to do, they cut out the hesitation and book a replacement in the form of slightly shorter named Graeme Park – a Hacienda legend no less – and the show goes on.

Despite an undoubtedly stressful day, the residents on the night prove their prowess and are upbeat and on form, delivering sets that arouse a joyous mood in The Roadhouse. Whilst strings are often associated with a mopey atmosphere, those on Carl Craig’s remix of Tom Trago’s ‘Use Me Again’ boom euphorically through the room and gets fists pumping. There’s perhaps even an edge of defiance directed at Mr Parker with the choice of set closer; Hi Ku aren’t here to be messed about and used, they’re here to have a party.

Graeme Park expertly continues this theme, showing not only his experience but the reason for his continued relevance by dropping the likes of Inner City’s club classic ‘Big Fun’ into the mix alongside more recent releases from artists such as Tensnake. One thing that stays constant through his blend of old and new music is a feel good vibe. “It’s my mission in life to let people hear good music” was the quote from Park emblazoned on the event page. For tonight at least, he can consider that mission accomplished.

Live: Bank & Mekka presents Objekt

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

13th December

2022 NQ

8/10

Along with many of today’s musical innovators, Objekt shuns the limelight. His sparse yet varied back catalogue of just six releases makes him hard to pin down. From dubstep’s last breath on ‘Cactus’, to the recent clinical march of ‘Stutter’, he’s not afraid to explore. Albeit, explore across a handful of tracks, on a few handpicked labels. Objekt is the sound of restraint. Such self-control makes each release feel like an event. How refreshing.

Unsurprisingly then, you’re not going to catch him at Sankeys every week (sorry Mr Syrossian). So, hats off to Bank and Mekka for another solid booking at a decent venue. That being 2022 NQ, a newish basement spot. Punctuated by the odd pillar, its airy dancefloor is suited to this sort of affair.

That dancefloor was then well and truly pounded by Objekt. Lit dimly by a single bulb, his lanky frame worked relentlessly for three hours. The same ferocious energy which winds its way through his productions was on full display. A rare vocally moment came in the form of Thomas Bangalter’s boisterous ‘What To Do’. Beginning with breaks, it morphs into a four-to-the-floor stomper until the two are combined in a frenetic climax.

A similar synthesis was found across the set, which gracefully moved between contrasting tempos and rhythm. Progressing through records at a faster tempo than techno is normally heard, you’re reminded that Objekt’s roots are firmly grounded in the UK. Like the Hessle boys, he provides a uniquely British and dubstep-inspired take on the 130 bpm genre. As the night came to a close, I felt a familiar sensation. Like listening to an Objekt track for the first time, my ears begged me for more. Is there higher praise for a DJ?

Interview: Graham Hunter

Written by Thomas Turner on . Posted in Sport.

“I moved to Spain in 2002. I couldn’t speak the language, I didn’t have a job. Barcelona were rubbish”, explains Graham Hunter in a bustling National Football Museum foyer prior to a promotional event for his second book – “Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble”.

The seeds of Hunter’s journey from Aberdeen to the Nou Camp were first sewn in 1982, as the author embarked on a three day train journey to Marbella for the 1982 World Cup. Having intervened to stop an English supporter attacking a Spaniard on the train, Hunter found himself held at gunpoint by the Guardia Civil -only to be released in the nick of time after protestations by a fellow traveller.

These days however, Hunter is the envy of football fans across the world. Not only has he enjoyed unrivalled access to the development of a golden era at Barcelona, he has also witnessed the Spanish national team achieve a feat experienced by none before them. The book recounts in vivid detail this historical treble – consisting of two European Championships and a World cup. But has he witnessed the two greatest sides to ever play football, I ask?

“That’s feasible – but isn’t something which I will be advancing myself. What I will say, is that the international teams which came closest to what Spain achieved (notably the German team of the early/mid seventies) did so in much easier conditions”.

Indeed, the stats are astonishing. In the past two European championships and last World Cup, Spain contested a total of 19 fixtures. The Germans on the other hand, who were denied the treble on penalties by Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final, played just 11.

With regards to Barcelona, Hunter claims this golden generation has “taken club football to a level we have not seen before”. But is, I ask, this golden generations reaching its curtain call? In the wake of last season’s all German Champions League final, a whole host of respected columnists and amateur enthusiasts pronounced the death of tiki-taka. We were, they claimed, on the verge of a new era to be dominated by pace and power – which the current German crop happen to possess in abundance. The much heralded ‘Spanish model’ was giving way to the ‘German model’, they said.

“Current German football is a process which began in 2000-01. The German FA conjoined with the clubs, and they started to replicate some of the things which the Spanish have” Hunter said. “German teams like to hold the ball and pass it. The German national team is more Spain than Spain – with the advantage now of being stronger, fitter and younger”.

Hunter’s admirations and respect for the German national team is quite obvious. He recalls a conversation with Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas prior to the World Cup semi-final against Germany in 2010, in which Casillas revealed that the Germans scared him, and that they were “building an era which could dominate for a generation”.

However with regards to club football, Graham is a little less convinced.

Making direct comparison between La Liga and the Bundesliga, he argued the underbelly of the latter (including teams such as Schakle, Leverkusen and Hamburg) cannot yet be classified as a golden era – with each of them “light-years” behind Bayern.

On the other hand, he cited La Liga teams such as Valencia, Sevilla, Real Betis and Villarreal – all of whom have made waves on either the domestic or European stage in recent years. Hunter’s overriding message is an important one – that “we need to be more careful about how we assess changes in eras”.

Switching focus back to home soil, Hunter agrees that the disconnect between the football association and clubs in England is self-defeating. Citing the breakaway of the Premier League and the vast fortunes it brought for those in its upper echelons, Hunter says that ironically, “what has made the Premier League so huge globally, is the same as what has weakened it so much domestically”.

I then ask whether Hunter misses the Premier League. He admits that upon leaving for Spain over ten years ago, he had stopped enjoying Premiership football as much as before. “The Premier League used to be about technical players – Scholes, Poyet, Carbone”.

As the emphasis moved to pace and tricks, Hunter says that too few Premier League clubs put a premium on intelligent, strategic players. “I do miss English football culture though”, he adds.

In his talk later in the evening, Hunter revealed how English and Spanish football differ with regards to the access journalists like himself have to players. He regularly recalls long conversations with some of the most pre-eminent footballers of our generation and also reveals his trick – not to ask people “the same old shit they’ve already answered before” (in hindsight, I hope I wasn’t guilty of this myself!).

With an emphasis on quality and the trust he has developed with players who he has watched throughout almost their whole careers, Hunter is without doubt one of the most respected writers of his generation. The negative upshot of this is that you may well encounter a few bogus transfer tipsters around this time of year using his name to give their nonsense credibility.

Towards the end of our conversation he says he was born with a “natural ability – verbally at least – to tell a story”. Having read both of Hunter’s books, I can testify that he does it far better than most.

Competition Time

Win a copy of “Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble”

 Q. Who did Spain beat in the final of the 2010 World Cup?

 a) Germany

b) Netherlands

c) Uruguay

 To enter, either email the answer to [email protected] or tweet your answer to @Mancunion_Sport

Entries close at midnight on Sunday 9th February 2014.

All entrants must be students at the University of Manchester.

The quest for equality is inciting the wrath of God…through seasonal floods?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

So recently one of our country’s top theoretical climate scientists, philanthropist and (in his spare time) UKIP councillor David Silvester has published an article in a respected, peer reviewed scientific journal (called ‘The Henley Standard’ – I’ve never heard of it so it must be really elite) about how the copious amounts of water vapour emanating from the mouths of our MPs as they passionately delivered their arguments concerning the equal marriage bill in parliament have caused an increase in the overall humidity level, arguing that
“Since the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, the nation has been beset by serious storms and floods”.

It was all very scientific and well thought through, and nobody could think of any criticisms whatsoever. Because as we all know, correlation absolutely always and with no exception implies causation. It made me wonder if we really should be striving for equality, if all the impassioned talking makes it rain a bit too much. I I hate to be the one to bring God into this (basing one’s argument on an entity that is by definition improvable, and far from universally accepted does tend to weaken that argument somewhat) but I thought we we’re all created equal, in his image? Galatians 3:28. Kind of. I Googled it. I know there’s this whole health and safety concern, with all the flooding etcetera, but isn’t it worth the risk just to live the way God made us to? I’m sure Silvester meant well, but this new information puts us in a bit of a sticky dilemma…

Right, so apparently, I’ve got my research a little bit wrong. It seems that Silvester isn’t actually a scientist, and he was the one doing the talking about God. Actually, he thinks what happened is that God changed his mind about everyone being equal and got quite cross that our government wasn’t able to keep up with his modern views, but instead of sending the Angel of Death to take all of the MP’s firstborns, or a plague of locusts to destroy all of David Cameron’s favourite foods, like he used to do before the credit crunch, now all he can afford is a bit of a flood, something that happens anyway, equal marriage bill or not, in a town that didn’t really have anything to do with the bill.  I hear Heaven might go the same way as Greece without these stringent austerity measures. They’ll be in my prayers.

Also, it turns out, anybody with a primary school Key Stage 1 knowledge of ‘The Water Cycle’ can tell you that rain actually happens because the sun shines on the sea, which makes the water vapour rise, which then condenses into clouds, which then rain on the mountains, and then the water runs down the mountains as streams and rivers and things and ends up back in the sea, and God doesn’t have anything to do with it because it’s all fully automated and He might not exist. I guess I must have had the flu that day.

But Silvester’s boss, Nigel Farage, was around for that lesson, and so knew that Silvester had to be stopped. He tried to achieve this by filming a passive aggressive rant disguised as a weather forecast that rated in political cringeworthyness as being roughly somewhere in-between Boris Johnson leading London’s LGBTQ pride march in a pink cowboy hat and Nick Griffin starting his own cookery show.

Unfortunately for Farage, his rant was overshadowed by a rogue shipping forecaster, Nicholas Pegg, who broadcast a completely genuine and not at all fake episode, based around Silvester’s hypothesis.

I just have no idea what to think anymore. Is the evidence based logical reasoning and falsifiability of modern science correct to say that there is no proven direct link between government legislation and the weather? Or is it a safer bet to believe the unverifiable musings of a right wing extremist?

Does the UK need to change its “Benefits Culture”?

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Opinion.

YES

Emily Thomas

The subject of Government allocated financial benefits is never far from the media spotlight. The debate has rumbled on over the years as to the efficiency and fairness of the system. The series Benefits Street currently airing on Channel 4 documents the lives of residents on James Turner Street in Birmingham where it is estimated 90% of people on the street are unemployed. After its first showing, Benefits Street was the most talked about television show in the UK. Viewers flocked to social media to express their opinion and there weren’t many positive comments. Is the anger felt by the British public justified, or are we just demonising the poor?

In theory, welfare money is given to people who need extra support to get by on a day-to-day basis, making sure that everyone in the UK can survive if their situation means they cannot get a job. Ranging from heating and housing benefits to Jobseekers allowance, there are a variety of reasons that one could claim benefits. Currently in the UK, 64% of families are receiving some form of benefits to help them through the difficult financial climate. Certainly, no-one would argue that in valid circumstances, benefits are the only option. Some illnesses prevent people from being able to work and being a single parent can hinder one’s availability but the cases shown on Benefits Street did little to convince people of any genuine situations that validated the jobless lifestyle that was flaunted.

The financial climate in the UK has been difficult since the recession, people lost their jobs bringing income to a grinding halt at the same time the cost of living was sky-rocketing. For some, the only option was to grudgingly sign on for benefits.

People took any job they could get their hands on in a desperate attempt to get back into work and get the money coming in again.

These are not the people shown on Benefits Street where most admit they have never worked and aren’t looking for a job. Why? In short, they are better off living on government and taxpayers’ money than getting a job, which would see a significant decrease in the money they could claim.

The anger felt by the public is justified. To be a hard-working citizen and manage to scrape by without claiming off the government, seeing how those who don’t work can live comfortably smoking and drinking away taxpayers’ money is the ultimate kick in the teeth.

The system has become flawed, allowing claimants to take as much as they can for as little effort as they can give. Benefits are being directed to the wrong people and used in the wrong way.

A balance is needed between helping people in the right way and reducing the abuse of the system. Living on benefits does not entitle one to the latest smart phone and computer. The situation will continue to divide opinion for the foreseeable future.

 

NO

Alice Rigby

Picture the scene: an aerial camera descends onto a terraced street in an ordinary midlands town. As the houses and their occupants become clearer the show’s title pops into view. Immigrant Street views the plight of those who have been granted the right to live in the UK permanently, having been born overseas. Ninety per cent of the people who live on the street conform to this status and we’re going to get to see what they’re up to. After all, it’s our country; we’ve let them in so we’ve got a right to see what they’re doing right?

Obviously you can’t picture this scene. Of course, even the prospect of such an ‘entertainment’ programme leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The idea of singling people out simply because of their national origin? Unthinkable. Yet, Benefits Street does the very same thing, only with those asking for assistance from the government. In this country, poverty makes people fair game. Defenders of shows like Benefits Street suggest that we have a right to scrutinise the actions of the people claiming money from the government.

It’s because it’s ‘our’ money, we pay taxes and they don’t – or at least they don’t at the moment. This is just another case of treating those in need as subjects of those who aren’t.We don’t ask to scrutinise every patient coming through the NHS. We’d never dream of suggesting that the education provision needs to be cut, so that parents are motivated to work harder and send their children to private schools.

Even though many of us may end up needing to claim some form of benefit in our lives, it’s still assumed that those people who’ve been forced to do so by economic circumstance or a myriad of other reasons could somehow be doing things differently. Our society’s duty of care concerns the elderly, the young and the disabled but for some reason seems not to extend to the poor.

This is a problem precisely because benefits aren’t one in this country. The estimated extent of benefits fraud? £1.2 billion. The estimated amount of benefits unclaimed? £16 billion. Tax avoided or evaded? Anywhere between £30 billion and £120 billion, depending on who you ask. No one in his or her right mind would focus on the first figure. Yet, this is what our politicians and our popular media repeatedly tell us to do.