Skip to main content

Month: August 2015

Quite Good

You may base your interpretation of the title above on the story to follow.

I have a Turkish friend, Su, without the ‘e’, who for a long time thought that ‘quite’ was a word interchangeable with ‘very’. Her mistranslation proved difficult for me in the kitchen, as everything I presented her with was ‘quite good’. ‘Quite’ but not very. What was I missing? While I valued the blunt honesty of her foreign style, I couldn’t seem to surpass that essentially average measure of rating.

Being British, I waited til the fourth or fifth time to make a subtle jolt at the conundrum in question: “Just quite good… not quite good enough?” Yes, a sneaky and well-timed leading question would do the trick for sure. It was also in reference to a drink bought outside of the realms of my own cooking control, so the safety belt protecting my feelings was removed from the equation. ‘Quite? Oh yeah! No, it was really good.’

“…Did you know that ‘quite’ actually means not fully there, almost, sort of…?”

“All this time I thought it meant the same as very!”

What a weight lifted off my chest. Turns out Su wasn’t my harshest critic, the A. A. Gill of my Fallowfield kitchen, but an enthusiastic dinner guest with an innocent mistranslation.

Realising that she was easier to please than I thought, I happily invited Su along to join me for a meal at HOME, the recently moved location of Oxford Road’s Cornerhouse. The Cornerhouse, for those that don’t know, was an iconic picturehouse on the corner near the centre of Manchester that sadly closed down due to poor building conditions. “It was falling apart,” commented a security guard whom I hungrily grilled on the reasoning for its closure. That may sound like a form of inhumane torture, but I mean ‘grilled’ in the sense of determinedly required information.

Accepting the resolution of its relocation, I booked a table and we sat down to eat before watching The Diary of a Teenage Girl on Screen 2. This possibility alone is one of the most defining and unrivalled features of the venue, as where else can you eat a luxurious sit down meal before heading to the cinema in the very same building? Sure, some cinemas may have a few commercial ice cream and coffee brands available, but the quality of HOME’s café bar option feels unique.

The same can be said of the entire venue; as you walk in it feels removed from the bustling atmosphere of central Manchester, almost like another world of bright lights and showbiz. This was the aura that the old location used to evoke, every visit would take my imagination to the cosmopolitan life of New York or Paris, the movies, and I’m so glad that HOME has still managed to capture that feeling.

Our first visit was not with the intention to review, but solely for pleasure, however, due to the difference in experiences each time I decided that it was worth including. The first time, service was excellent. We drank Outstanding Stout—”What’s outstanding about it?” (Su)—ate garlic dough balls and dip, and struggled our way through generous mains, unable to finish but highly satisfied.

Second time round, there was a distinctly different feel to the evening. We were seated next to the entrance stand and so next to the coming and going of customers, less hidden in the restaurant and more exposed. I’d only made reservations an hour before, and seating is an issue easily overlooked, but I would recommend booking a spot more enclosed in the restaurant and, if you can, by the towering wall-windows.

We started with drinks: a mojito—very standard, fresh martini—small but pineappley and delicious, and a large house red—a strong choice. The waitress seemed generally unenthused and we did have to catch her eye to order food and again for another round of drinks, which was surprising as this seemed the kind of place that would benefit from regularly offering refreshments to its customers. We began with the mixed vegetarian sharing platter which included olives, soft grilled pitta, whole chickpea falafel, stuffed vine leaves and feta. Three dips were arranged to complement the mezze but were lacklustre in flavour; baba ganoush, hummus and tzatziki were virtually nondescript bar the exotic names they go by.

Despite this, the platter was enjoyable and left three of us surprisingly full and in dubious anticipation of our abilities to savour what was to come. I went for the Melanzana Parmigana: Chargrilled aubergine with buffalo mozzarella, provolone cheese, parmesan, tomato pulpa, garlic, pine nuts, and warm fluffy sourdough. I love all of these ingredients, and parmigana is a beautiful dish. Its only problem was that straight out of the grill, it was piping hot and burned my mouth instantly, which made the rest of the meal a struggle. The hot plate needed at least 10 – 15 minutes resting time before it reached my table, which meant that I missed the dishes’ peak point and subtle flavours. This was a shame, but definitely something the restaurant could aim to change in future, as the Italian delicacy is a great addition to the deluxe style menu.

One companion went for the beef ragu, which was apparently delicious but very rich and indulgent, which meant that she couldn’t finish it, also commenting that the meat could have been more tender. As someone with a butcher as a Father, I’d expect that this was a valid claim. Su went for the risotto of the day, which was asparagus and mushroom. It looked like what a risotto looks like.

You know what she said? It was “quite good.” As I raised my eyebrows and smiled, she added “and I actually mean quite.”

 

HOME
2 Tony Wilson Place
Manchester
M15 4FN
http://homemcr.org/venue/food-drink/

Stonewall event to be held at North Campus

LGBT+ charity Stonewall will hold a panel discussion with the support of the University of Manchester’s LGBT+ staff network All Out this Sunday, as part of Manchester Pride.

Stonewall, in collaboration with the Albert Kennedy Trust—helping homeless LGBT+ young people—the LGBT Foundation, and Sparkle—the national transgender celebration event—will hold Proud in Manchester on Sunday at 1:30pm in the Renold Building on North Campus.

It forms part of Pride’s annual Superbia cultural programme, which holds events within and around the Pride celebrations, including but not limited to comedy, film and sport.

Panellists from each of the organisations will discuss what Pride means to them, best practice in the city, and issues facing the LGBT+ community.

This year, the university’s theme for Manchester Pride is #Devotion. Staff and students have been posing with placards explaining their devotion to the university and the cause of equality.

The All Out network at the university aims to support and celebrate the University of Manchester’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans staff members.

A little advice for a happy, healthy life

I’ve always been interested in food, and over the past year, my advertised culinary endeavours have lead me to value the importance of food education. I had a vague idea of what was healthy, but I wanted to know specifically about nutrition. If I’m aiming towards a career in this field, learning the facts is necessary—both for my own health and the information I provide to friends and readers.

What I have learnt is that if you are going to put something into your body, at least some of it might as well be good for you. Good for you by no means has to translate as boring or tasteless. Roast veg and chana dal prove this. When I first scanned the list of acceptable ‘whole foods’ I was a little daunted by the lack of sugar. I used to be a chocolate addict, proudly claiming that I couldn’t go a day without it. Now I don’t even crave chocolate—because I allow myself to have it whenever I want.

Eating healthily is not about deprivation or restriction.

You can pretty much eat whatever you want, whenever you want. And you’ll probably find eventually that you don’t want—you’re too full from all those nutritious ingredients. The mentality that you are allowed to eat also seems to work in a reverse psychology kind of way; everyone wants what they can’t have, so if you can have it, it’s less desirable.

Here is the list of whole foods ingredients to generally follow. If you’re like me, this won’t be too different from your normal shopping list, I had to include more fruit (I actually didn’t like fruit before and had to teach myself—gagging on a banana on the train because of the texture…)

Complex Carbohydrates

…As opposed to ‘simple carbohydrates’ such as refined white bread, pasta, and rice, which cause a sharp increase in blood sugar causing the body to crave more food. This leads to the cycle of sugar addiction which is often the major problem in gaining weight and other health problems. Instead, rather than restricting yourself with a no-carb diet, swap those pieces of cardboard nutritional value for wholegrains: Brown rice, wholemeal bread, beans, pulses and vegetables.

Protein

Protein should be a part of every meal or snack and is not limited to meat as a source. I have recently become a vegetarian and do not notice the absence. Whole food sources of protein are: Eggs, yoghurt, cottage cheese, peas, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, grain, quinoa. Soya and tofu are also in this list but are not generally something I use.

Fat

Don’t be scared of fat! It’s okay when it’s coming from the right source. I probably eat on average 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut butter, and extra handfuls of nuts throughout the day. As long as you replace the source of fat in your diet with the right things, rather than just eating them on top of the bad fat (i.e. stirring a handful of nuts into your melted Dairy Milk bar and ice cream) you will be fine.

Butter is also absolutely fine and nothing to be scared of, a little on toast is good for you, heaped tablespoons directly into the mouth is not. (Who does this anyway?) And, like I said before, the lack of restriction will help you to avoid overeating. Other fat sources: Nuts, oils, seeds, fish, avocados.

 

Generally, the rule is don’t buy anything with an ingredient list of over 3 items, or anything you can’t pronounce. Avoid ‘refined’, ‘reduced fat’, and especially ‘diet’ foods that are filled with sugar, salt and additives.

Another important thing to note is to not worry about following this guide to the letter. I value mental health to an equal rank as physical, and you should not panic in a situation where you can’t access these ingredients. It is NEVER better to go hungry. If you are in need of  a meal and only have access to a cheeseburger and chips, eat the cheeseburger and chips and don’t feel bad about it.

Also, if you want to make brownies, make brownies. Your body can handle it, just know that you might want to maintain more restraint when reaching for the second slice, because sugar is addictive. If you are trying to get healthy, try to follow this diet around 60 – 80 per cent of the time. There are so many delicious things to make that it really won’t feel like a diet. In fact, it isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle.  There are loads of whole food blogs out there to get you started, and I will generally only post recipes of this nature, but as said above I do still make cakes so don’t be confused if the section posts a recipe that goes against all of this advice. Go with the flow, take a relaxed approach and do not get hung up on reaching an aim. Your goal is to (or to continue to) be happy, so don’t worry. Be happy.

TL;DR

Indulge: Grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, lentils, yoghurt, multigrain/wholewheat bread, beans, eggs, oil, herbal tea.

Inhibit: Greasy takeaways, meat, chips, foods with additives, foods high in sugar, carbonated drinks.

Whipped Coffee Coconut Vegan Cheesecake with Cinnamon Crust

That title looks so delicious I could eat it. But instead I’ve been eating the real-life version of it, by the spoonful.

This morning began innocently with a plan to replenish my jar of homemade date & fig jam. As those soaked fruits whizzed round the food processor a perfectly ripe banana caught my eye, so I threw that in. Also, I had some leftover coconut cream, in it went. Before I knew it I was spooning heaped tablespoons of peanut butter into the mix and sprinkling maldon sea salt in spontaneous dessert-induced elation.

Resisting the urge to pour the whole thing into my mouth, I refrigerated and swirled in a half teaspoon of azera coffee. I also had to brush my teeth as a kind of safeguard for the dessert’s existence.

But what would I use as a crust? It was refined-sugar free and vegan thus far, so biscuits and butter were out of the question. Hmm. Of course! The oven pinged. I’d make a baked oatmeal base.

I began by toasting my oat, spelt and rye mix in a saucepan, adding pulsed hazelnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The kitchen smelled like heaven. I added water straight from the tap and the oats instantly softened and turned into a porridge-like consistency (definitely a new way to make my beloved breakfast). I emptied the goods into a lined baking tray and in it went to the oven at 150°.

Then I started writing this, so I had better go back and check it.

Deciding that a third filling layer of dark chocolate would complete the equation, I spooned another dollop of coconut cream into a bowl with some cocoa powder, plain chocolate chips and walnut oil. I warmed for 30 seconds and poured onto my freshly baked oat-nut base, leaving to cool while I went for coffee with a friend (conversation centred mostly around the cheesecake).

An hour or two later, I poured the glorious coconut-coffee mix into the tin and scattered some extra fine-ground coffee on top for good luck. I then made room for my Vegecake in the freezer, where it will now be kept until myself or another human of refined tastebuds delights to have a slice.

Ingredients:

Buttery biscuit base

– 4 heaped tbsps oats or oat mix (spelt, rye, flaked quinoa, buckwheat)

– 1/2 tsp cinnamon

– Handful hazelnuts and walnuts, pulsed or finely chopped

– Water

Toast the oats in a saucepan with the cinnamon until smeling fragrant and warm, add the nuts and cover with water straight from the tap.

Fill saucepan about two inches deep and stir to develop a gooey and sticky mixture, not too thin but thick enough so that the oats are not completely solid and have water to absorb.

Press into a lined round baking tin and bake until crisp in a 180° oven. About 20 minutes, adding water if necessary to make the oats soft with a little crunch.

Chocolate layer

– 2 tbsps coconut cream

– Handful plain chocolate chips

– Tsp cocoa powder

– Tsp walnut/any oil

Mix the ingredients in 20-second bursts in the microwave until melted and thick. Spoon onto the baked base and let cool whilst preparing the filling.

Creamy filling

– Handful dates/figs, soaked in hot water

– 1 can coconut cream

– Mashed banana

– 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter

– A sprinkle of sea salt

– 1/2 tsp finely ground coffee

Pulse the dates in a food processor until blended into a jam-like consistency, then add all other ingredients to make a delicious light-as-air faux-cheesecake topping.

Sprinkle some extra coffee on top and swirl over the previous two layers. Freeze and transfer to the refrigerator when you’re ready to serve. I prefer this just slightly cooler than fridge temperature; cold, but still spoonable and creamy.

Jamaican Me Crazy

I was so happy when I discovered this combination. Spice, banana, pineapple and nuts all in one delicious place: The Hummingbird cake.

Why is it called Hummingbird? It’s thought to have been invented in Jamaica around the late 60s, which is unsurprising when considering those classic Caribbean ingredients. The name comes from the idea that the cake was sweet enough to attract the Jamaican hummingbirds or ‘Doctor Birds’, as they only eat nectar, but some say the yellow of the banana represented the bird’s colourful plumage.

Either way, two days after my own discovery of the Southern classic, I had an invite to a Bolivian Fundraiser and thus an excuse to bake.

The Cake:

– 1 cup oat flour (food processed oats)

– 1 cup plain wholemeal flour

– 1 cup plain flour (if 2 above unavailable, do all plain flour)

– 1 tsp baking powder

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 1/2 cups sugar

– 1 tsp ground cinnamon

– 1 tsp ground ginger

– 3 eggs

– 3 ripe bananas

– 1/2 cup oil (I used a mix of coconut, walnut & olive, vegetable is fine)

– 1 tsp vanilla extract

– 1 (8oz) tin pineapple, undrained

– 1 cup nuts (I used half toasted walnuts, half pistachios)

 

How to make:

Preheat the oven to 180° and prepare two greaseproof cake tins by sprinkling with white flour.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir in the beaten eggs. Mash and puree two of the bananas and fold in gently along with the oil and vanilla extract.

Cut the remaining banana into chunks and chop the pineapple into similar shapes, add to mixture along with all the remaining ingredients.

Evenly disperse the batter an bake for 25 – 30 mins until set and brown on top—the fork method may not be as effective for testing the done-ness of the cake because of the mashed banana.

Let cool in the tin for ten minutes, remove and set on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese to-die-for Frosting:
– 4 oz unsalted butter or baking spread

– 4 z soft cream cheese

– 2 cups powdered sugar

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract and smooth onto the middle and the top of the cake.

Fi decorative purposes top with sliced banana, extra nuts, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Enjoy mi bredren.

Souper

Let it be known that I am one of soup’s biggest advocates. When Absolutely Souper opened in my local shopping centre (Milton Keynes, I admit with slightly less pride) I grinned at the witty beauty of its name and shed a small tear that finally a whole building had been dedicated to the hot pot of runny love that is a hearty bowl of soup.

I’m here to share with you that souping is the way forward. It doesn’t have to be the ‘light option;’ choice of extreme dieters and people who don’t like to eat a lot of food. In actual fact the condensed nature of a bowl of soup causes it to have a natural ‘put more in’ attitude. Far easier I find to eat-drink seven squashed down, juiced tomatoes than seven all on their own. It’s a chance to use up a lot of vegetables that perhaps just don’t make the cut in their natural form… A strange shape? About to go off? They’ve made a new cut folks; chop them up, give them a chance. The onion that’s sprouting its own forest might not be ready to be thrown, but instead crying out to be cocktailed alongside its other veggie friends in a cauldron of soup magic.

If you live with other people ask if they would like to contribute some of their vegetables to your concoction and make it a communal affair, make a soup baby together. The beauty of soup is that you can load it with virtually any vegetable you want and always—or mostly always (I try to forget the time I tried soya milk mushroom soup)—get something delicious tasting. Don’t forget the rock: The potato. The great thickener. Neither is this limited to the pale, knobbly spuds we all know. The potato has an exotic cousin, the sweet potato; long, slim and orange, she is a rival to any girl at a night club. However she’s not packed with Jägerbombs, but with essential vitamin A, which supports eyesight and is recognised as a lifesaving super-vitamin in many third world countries.

If, like me, you normally cook when at the point of starving, chop the veg up as small as possible so that you can soften everything quickly and eat sooner. Still unsure of what you’re going to be eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner?—And yes, it absolutely works for breakfast—then here is an encouraging foodie fact: When everything is crushed down in soup form the nutrients in the food can be absorbed into your body faster. It is very easy to pack in your five a day when you soup it up because as I mentioned above, the more you blend the more you can add.

Soup is great because it’s for everyone. When you boil the kettle for your morning tea, overfill it and add some to a pan of veg. Just let it simmer away for a bit with some spice or herbs and now you’ve got lunch sorted too.

Not sure where to start? Grab a bag of basics carrots and boil them down with some cumin, coriander and salt for an instant and money saving classic. For a more gourmet option, try throwing in some dumplings or frozen spinach. Leftover curry is perfect for a filling mulligatawny with some chickpeas and boiled rice. Oh, and if you can help it, avoid the canned variety! Trust me, it will be so much more satisfying when you’ve made your own—for both your waist, your palette, and your wallet. So go on, get the kettle on.

Student drug kingpin jailed

A Leeds student has been jailed for four years after running a lucrative drug ring using the Dark Web.

Liam Reynolds and a group of friends, who studied International Business at what was then Leeds Metropolitan University (now Beckett), used the now-disabled Silk Road website to buy and import drugs using the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

The operation was run out of a student house in Headingley Mount, a suburb of Leeds, where members of the group lived.

Using the Dark Web—a part of the internet not indexed by search engines, which needs specific software to be accessed—the gang ordered shipments of illegal drugs including LSD, MDMA and cannabis from abroad.

Once the deliveries had been received, they profited by selling it on to fellow students. They were able to get away with this by using the untraceable bitcoin.

After police received a tip-off that the gang had involvement in the trade of illegal drugs, they uncovered the operation and seized, amongst other things, a large shipment of cannabis and the men’s phones and laptops.

They found text messages making overt references to drugs and photos of the friends with drugs and money. The gang was charged in May last year.

Reynolds had apparently modelled himself on Breaking Bad character Walter White, a man who leaves his job as a teacher and builds a drug empire. Text messages and a T-shirt referring to the American TV show were found by police.

Liam Reynolds was sentenced to four years in prison at Leeds Crown Court last week for conspiracy to import and supply ecstasy, conspiracy to import and supply LSD, conspiracy to import and supply cannabis, and money laundering.

The other nine received two-year suspended sentences of between eight and 24 months and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Detective Inspector Jaz Khan, head of the district’s specialist drugs team, said: “This was a very sophisticated and highly organised criminal enterprise that for a sustained period of time imported substantial quantities of controlled drugs into the UK and supplied them in the city’s student community.

““They thought that they could frustrate law enforcement by using the internet’s Dark Web to avoid detection but that proved not to be the case.

“These men were studying at university and had opportunities open to them that many others don’t but instead of putting their efforts into their legitimate academic endeavours they chose to operate a criminal trade in drugs.

“We hope the sentences they have received will serve as a stark reminder to others of the penalties they will face if they choose to involve themselves in the supply of controlled drugs.”

The Silk Road was a market hosted on the Dark Web where international purchases of illegal products, including drugs, weapons, and stolen credit cards, were made. In May 2015, Ross Ulbricht—understood to be the Dread Pirate Roberts, the pseudonym under which the Silk Road was run—was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.

BME applicants “unfairly rejected” by Russell Group universities

University applicants from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are significantly less likely to be offered a place than equally-qualified white counterparts, according to research from Durham University.

The paper, titled ‘Exploring ethnic inequalities in admission to Russell Group universities’, was written by Dr Vikki Boliver, senior lecturer in Sociology at Durham University. It explores the reasons why ethnic minorities are “strikingly under-represented” at reputable universities.

Being commonly regarded as “liberal and progressive places,” universities are often assumed to be free of discrimination and racial bias. “However, research… finds racism to be commonplace.”

Out of a sample of 150000 applications made by students in 2010/11 and 2012/13, 54.7 per cent of applications made by white students resulted in an offer, whereas applications from black African applicants were only successful 22 per cent of the time.

For black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi applicants, the proportion was still only around 30 per cent. On the other hand, mixed ethnicity and Chinese applicants had a level approaching half.

The paper acknowledges that BME applicants tend to apply in greater numbers to oversubscribed courses such as medicine and law—44 per cent as opposed to 17 per cent in white students—but even after tailoring the results to negate this effect, finds a substantial disparity between the numbers of BME students given offers and their white counterparts.

A plausible explanation, says the paper, could be that the admissions process is being driven by a desire to reflect the ethnic makeup of the wider population—actually leading to the unfair rejection of young BME people who have applied for highly competitive courses.

“The goal of ultimate representativeness is inevitably at odds with a concern for equal treatment during the admissions process. This is highly problematic since the 2010 Equality Act expressly forbids the unequal treatment of individual applicants on the basis of ethnicity, including as a result of the use of quotas.”

Boliver calls upon universities to carry out analysis themselves to directly address the sizeable gap between successful white applicants and BME applicants.

Institutions should “conduct detailed analyses of their own admissions data… undertake thorough reviews of their own admissions policies and practices… publish their findings openly and transparently… [and] commit to making the changes required for a fairer and more equitable admissions system.”

Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said “our institutions are fair and treat each individual application on its own merits.

“Real progress has been made over the last few years: the numbers of black students accepted by Russell Group universities went up 40 per cent between 2010 and 2014 and the number of Asian students by 13 per cent. But we are keen to see this trend continue further.

“The research takes no account of the entry requirements for the courses that students apply to. Many good students haven’t taken the subjects needed for entry.

“In addition, the research does not take account of the quality of the application overall, including factors such as the personal statement, or an applicant’s performance at interview.”

Internet not responsible for plagiarism, says report

The widespread reputation that the internet has for a rise in plagiarism in academic work seems to be a false one, after a study showed that levels of plagiarism in doctoral theses was slightly higher in those written before the advent of the internet.

In a paper published in the Journal for Academic Ethics, researchers compared 184 doctoral dissertations from before 1994 with 184 from after 2010. Using the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin, they measured the mean similarity index and found a level of 14.5 per cent in the pre-internet papers as compared to 12.3 per cent in the newer papers.

On the whole around 50 per cent of both sets of theses contained some sort of material that lacked attribution.

David Ison, assistant professor of Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, who produced the research, said the preconception that the internet bred plagiarism was based on “unsubstantiated or perfunctory reports of the internet causing a significant negative influence on student work.

“Most of the blame on the internet for a degradation of academic ethics or its subsequent effect of increasing plagiarism is unjustified, relying… on news headlines, student self-report studies and conjecture.”

According to Times Higher Education, over 3000 papers have been written since 1999 on plagiarism and the internet, despite there being “little statistical analysis of cheating,” according to Ison.

He hopes to “provide faculty, administrators, researchers, and the media with relevant empirical evidence to guide discussions and policies about plagiarism in academia,” and wants to move beyond the demonisation of students, to a focus on educating students in how to produce proper academic work.

Guidance muse be “provided to all levels of students to better inform them about proper citation methods and academic ethics,” rather than just using indiscriminate software to spot cheaters, he says.

Straight-A* student denied student loan due to immigration status

An Iraqi-born student who has lived in the UK since the age of nine achieved four A*s in his A-levels—and was denied a student loan, under the rule that only UK citizens or those with indefinite leave to remain in the country qualify.

Hassan al-Sherbaz was brought to Britain in 2006 with his parents who fled Iraq, where he witnessed daily “killings in the street.” However, his immigration status of discretionary leave to remain means that he must pay full international fees of £26000 per year, if he wants to attend his dream university Imperial College, London.

The Milton Keynes resident attended both primary and secondary school in the city, and achieved the top grade in his maths, further maths, physics, and chemistry A-levels. He met the offer to study Chemical Engineering at Imperial, but was told he did not qualify for a student loan.

He wishes to go into a career in oil, and wants to “[help] society and the environment.

“It was a very big shock [when they refused],” said al-Sherbaz. “I was thinking what am I going to do and how am I going to afford this. But I was very motivated to prove myself that I can get through this.”

Back before the family left Baghdad so that Hassan’s father could take up a Ph.D. in this country, the capital was “very dangerous. There were killings in the street. It was something that was part of our daily lives.”

Just for Kids, the legal firm that brought a similar case before the supreme court—resulting in a ruling that stated that total, unquestioned exclusion for anyone not a UK citizen or with indefinite leave was unjustifiable—said: “Our experience suggests that young people find not being able to go to university, when that would be a natural educational progression alongside their peers, incredibly difficult. They have worked hard to do well at school and at college, and aspire to achieve the best they can.

“Seeing their friends and peers go to university when they cannot, and being aware of being held back for as long as ten years in pursuing qualifications that are essential in a competitive job market, inevitably causes these young people to feel marginalised.

“They feel that it is deeply unfair as they are not asking for a grant of money but only to be loaned the money which will allow them to progress, alongside their peers, into well-paid work so that they can pay that loan back.”

Bowie professor to live artist’s lifestyle for whole year

To better understand the mind of the music icon, a Cultural Studies professor will spend a year living as David Bowie’s various personas, even down to imitating his diet and reading choices.

Professor Will Brooker, from Kingston University, has been commissioned to write about the life of the glam rock star, and has immersed himself in Bowie’s lifestyle, currently sporting the bright red wig and heavy eyeshadow of his 1974 Philadelphia soul period.

“The idea is to inhabit Bowie’s headspace at points in his life and career to understand his work from an original angle, while retaining a critical and objective perspective at the same time— a kind of split persona,” says Brooker.

He has started his study from the late 60s era, when Bowie first made his breakthrough with Space Oddity. He listens only to the music the musician would have listened to, watches the films he did, and reads the same literature—including sci-fi, occult fiction, and the philosophy of Nietzsche.

Brooker has deprived himself of sleep and admits to only eating red peppers and drinking milk some weekends, to really live the life of the artist.

“If you’re reading some strange science fiction and books about magic you can kind of get into Bowie’s head and see it’s sometimes quite a strange place. A dangerous place, a place you wouldn’t want to live too long.

“So it’s fortunate that I’m going through his career chronologically. Because I think by 83 he was pretty clean. I think I’ll get a tan, get fit, get my hair changed again. Get my teeth whitened,” he said.

In a tweet, Brooker claims to have “dreamed a whole new Bowie song,” but forgotten it upon waking.

He hopes that the musician would approve of the experiment. “I hope he would be interested in and amused by my research.

“I do feel, though, that everything he says and does in public is performance, so if he did hear about it, we would be unlikely to know what he genuinely thought.”

Student accommodation reaches breaking point as half of students struggle with rent

The NUS have called the state of student housing a “crisis” and called for controls on rent as data shows rent prices skyrocketing and half of students struggling to pay.

Between 2010 and 2013, general rent prices nationwide rose by 13 per cent. Student housing charity Unipol has revealed that student rent prices rose in those three years by 25 per cent. Unipol will be releasing further data in November, expected show a further rise of seven per cent.

“Students are facing a housing crisis with an ever-narrowing gap between their incomes and what they are expected to pay in rent,” Shelly Asquith, NUS Vice-President of welfare, told The Observer. “There needs to be enforced rent controls to put an end to this.

“Universities have failed to secure affordable accommodation and have either invested in expensive stock themselves or sold off old stock to private developers. It has become such an explosive market and is cutting huge amounts of poorer students out of university.”

Housing charity Shelter released data to The Observer, showing that 50 per cent of students struggle to pay their rent, and 40 per cent have resorted to borrowing money to fund their living costs.

“Sadly, it is no surprise that, with sky-high rents, students are struggling to find accommodation in the private rental sector,” said Roger Harding, Director of Communications, Policy and Campaigns at Shelter. “And even when people do find somewhere, we too often hear from students dealing with issues like poor conditions, unprotected deposits and unfair terms in tenancy agreements.”

For a single room, the cheapest that the University of Manchester offers is a no-basin room in Oak House for £92 a week. This totals £3700 per year, hardly lower than the lowest maintenance loan allowance—given to students from households earning over £62000—which stands at £3731 for the 2015/16 academic year.

“The past few years have seen huge growth in ‘luxury’ student accommodation, and it is not coincidental that this has come at the same time as the increased marketisation of higher education,” said Tom Robinson, Welfare and International Officer at University College London Union.

“It is symptomatic of a society that sees education not as a right and a social good, but as an investment in future career options, and the ‘student experience’ as a package to be sold to entice whoever is able to pay the most money.”

Manchester claims racial equality charter mark

The University of Manchester is one of eight universities that have been awarded a new charter mark recognising racial equality.

Run by the Equality Challenge Unit, which also runs the Athena SWAN Charter for women in STEM areas and a charter for women in arts, humanities, social sciences, business, and law, the Race Equality Charter is awarded at gold, silver, and bronze levels.

Our of 21 universities surveyed, the University of Manchester , along with De Montfort University, KCL, UCL, Staffordshire University, the University of Hertfordshire, Kingston University, and Royal Holloway, received a bronze award.

The Race Equality Charter aims to “inspire a strategic approach to making cultural and systemic changes that will make a real difference to minority ethnic staff and students.”

This will include drawing attention to the BME attainment gap, supporting and developing staff from BME backgrounds, and other efforts to remove barriers to those from a minority background.

The Charter was introduced after calls from the Higher Education Race Action Group, an organisation composed of diversity professionals, academics, and students, with an interest in racial equality in HE.

The ECU carried out a pilot lasting a year, which ended with the awarding of the eight bronze marks.

“It is an incredibly exciting initiative and it has been fascinating to see how universities have interacted with it over the course of the trial,” said Sarah Dickinson, head of equality charters at the ECU.

“I’d like to personally congratulate those institutions that have received an award in this round. They have all worked extremely hard and I’m delighted that they are now able to celebrate the fruits of their efforts.”

250 IT jobs ‘at risk’ due to structural shake-up by university

Unions are outraged after proposed outsourcing of services by the University of Manchester will lead to the axing of 68 jobs in IT Services.

The university is hoping to move to a “new IT delivery model,” leading to 68 redundancies. They have asked for employees to voluntarily leave but will resort to compulsory redundancies if they do not make their target by the time the voluntary severance options expire.

Because of this, more than 250 employees have been told they are ‘at risk’, according to Unison, raising disputes about fairness.

In April, 37 staff on the redeployment register were deemed ‘at risk’ of compulsory redundancy, and are now required to choose between a voluntary severance package or potentially be laid off later in the year.

At the end of July, 219 staff in IT were also given the option of voluntary redundancy, placing them ‘at risk’. At least 68 staff will be let go, totalling one in three.

UCU, Unison and Unite have all opposed this action by the university. A meeting was held in the Kilburn Building on the 4th of August, which saw many staff turn out to register their displeasure at the motion.

A post on the University and Colleges Union Manchester website read: “We are saddened to have to report that further redundancies have been announced in IT Services and that the way in which these announcements have been made only underlines our concerns.”

According to Unison, “the university claims that their dramatic change of approach does not constitute an official change in policy, because technically the Statutes and Ordinances always gave them the power to make staff compulsorily redundant at 3 months notice, even if this was never put into practice…

“On this narrowly technical basis the university has claimed that it therefore does not need to negotiate with the campus Trade Unions on any of this, but is only obliged to engage in ‘meaningful consultation’.

“The university has even announced that the consultation process is now concluded, when we do not consider meaningful consultation to take place.”

The hashtag #DontWantToTalkAboutIT has been used to criticise the university for denying that there is any dispute between them and the Unions.

There will be meetings next week by the unions to discuss further action.

In a statement on their website, the Students’ Union Exec Team said: “[We are] very disappointed in the recent actions of the university in regards to redundancies in IT Services, as well as the changes they have made to the redeployment policy. The refusal to even admit that there is a dispute going on is a violation of the rights of workers at the University of Manchester and we fully support the unions in any action they take to protect the rights of the people they represent.”

A university spokesperson said: “The UK Higher Education sector is facing a number of challenges including further substantial cuts in government funding, increasing costs and the need to invest in students and research to compete on a global stage. In this context, the university has recently initiated some changes to its redeployment register and is undertaking a restructure of its IT Services operation.

“In July, following consultation with the campus Trade Unions, the university announced that it would no longer allow staff who had no specific job roles to remain on its redeployment register indefinitely. The university’s judgement was that in the current economic climate, it was simply not financially justified to continue paying staff if no role could be found for them in the university within a reasonable time frame.

“The 37 staff affected have been offered support in finding alternative roles and a generous voluntary severance package. The university has been open with the Trade Unions and with staff that compulsory redundancy is a potential outcome for those who do not obtain alternative roles or choose to take the severance package offered.

“A separate review has recently concluded that the current structure and delivery model of IT Services will not meet the future requirements of the organisation. The university has therefore decided to move to a more flexible model of IT support to meet the needs of staff and students. This model will involve reshaping the core IT team alongside investment in new facilities.

“The move to this model will involve the loss of 68 existing IT staff roles and the creation of 21 new roles. It is hoped that the reduction in roles can be achieved through retraining, redeployment and a generous voluntary severance scheme. The university is currently consulting with the Trade Unions about the detail of the voluntary severance scheme. The university will move to a compulsory redundancy programme only if the target numbers are not reached through these routes and this would then be the subject of a separate consultation with the Trade Unions.

“The university fully recognises and values the role of the Trade Unions and is keen to work in partnership with them in managing these difficult changes. The university is fully compliant with all formal agreements it has with the Trade Unions and its legal requirements, and has been consulting with the Trade Unions about these changes.

“All changes involving staff that are undertaken by the university are given very careful and serious consideration. The university is committed to ensuring that these processes are conducted fairly and transparently and will always seek to explore opportunities for the avoidance of redundancy.”

 

Clarification: a previous version of this article quoted the Students’ Union referring to Life Sciences. Their statement has now been updated.

Octogenerian tigon returns to Manchester

An 83-year-old tigon, the rare big cat hybrid, has now joined the extensive natural history collection at the Manchester Museum.

After 65 years in a Museum storeroom, the skin of Maude the tigon, who was a popular attraction at Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo—which closed in 1977—has finally been used for a recreation of the creature by a master taxidermist, and gone on display near an Asian Elephant that also used to live at the zoo.

The tigon and her brother Kilou, offspring of a Manchurian Tiger father and African Lion mother, were popular attractions at the zoo. They were brought to this country by Gerald Iles, a Manchester University zoologist and manager of Belle Vue Zoo, in 1936.

Maude was described by Iles as being good-natured and quiet, and her popularity drew people from across the country.

Kilou died at age 10, and Maude died in 1949, at the age of 17. Her skin was donated to Manchester Museum by Iles, who had also provided many other animal specimens.

The hide remained there for 65 years unused, until recently. The time spent in storage had taken its toll on the skin, leaving it weakened and fragile. The taxidermist who carried out the preparation described it as both the most challenging and the most rewarding job of his career.

Despite being hybrids of the same two species, tigons are distinguished from the much-larger and more common liger, the offspring of a lion father and tiger mother. Most surprisingly, tiger-lion crosses have been found not to be sterile as with the vast majority of hybrid animals.

Henry McGhie, Head of Collections and Curator of Zoology at Manchester Museum, said “Maude was far too beautiful and unusual an animal for her remains to be kept away in a storeroom.

“We want people to be able to admire her, and to hear more about the now-forgotten time when Manchester was home to such unusual animals. I hope that people will find her story as fascinating as we do.”

UK university admissions hit all-time high

In the first year since the cap on university admissions was lifted by the government, the number of students admitted to university has hit a record high.

By early Thursday morning, UCAS announced that there had been 409000 successful university applicants, an increase of three per cent since 2014.

“This is great news and shows that by lifting the cap on student numbers we are helping more people than ever benefit from higher education and gain the skills that businesses seek to boost productivity and support growth,” said Universities Minister Jo Johnson.

Successful EU applicants rose by 11 per cent, while the separation between numbers of women and men attending university continued to grow. Of the entire number of young people admitted to universities this year, the number of women has risen four per cent to 57 per cent.

Successful applications by female applicants in Scotland rose by 12 per cent compared to last year.

“The equivalent of 32,000 young men are missing from our university campuses as young women are on average a third more likely to go on to higher education,” said UCAS Chief Executive Mary Curnock Cook.

“Young women are powering much of the improvement in demand for higher education from disadvantaged groups, so tackling the lower progression overall by men would also do much to accelerate improvements in the gap between rich and poor.”

There is speculation that the fact that this incoming cohort is larger than any other years’ means that students have not been put off by £9000 tuition fees. While this may be true for undergraduates, the Scottish intake of mature students rose by 37 per cent and fell by 2 per cent in England. Scottish students do not have to pay fees if they stay in Scotland.

This also comes alongside news that while the pass rate has risen, the number of top grades has, in fact, fallen for the fourth year in a row.

De Montfort University’s decision to honour PM for gay marriage comes under fire

Students at Leicester De Montfort University have reacted with displeasure at the awarding of Prime Minister David Cameron with a university honour to recognise his supposed support of LGBT+ rights.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard and Pro-Chancellor Mike Kapur made the PM a Companion of De Montfort University (DMU), placing him alongside other equality campaigners such as Nelson Mandela, for the introduction of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act which was passed in March 2014.

Under the act, same-sex couples could legally marry and have the same rights as heterosexual couples.

However, the decision to honour him has caused a backlash amongst students of the university who dispute Cameron’s championing of gay rights. They reacted angrily that students had not been consulted prior to the gifting of the award.

The LGBT+ Society of DMU stated: “Whilst David Cameron was the leader of the coalition during the passing of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, we feel it is unfair for David Cameron to be the focal point of this achievement.

“It is important to note that David Cameron had, in the past, opposed LGBT rights. This included voting against the repeal of Section 28,” a policy only repealed in 2003.

“Economic policies put in place during the last government disadvantages LGBT youths. This includes cuts to funding for various LGBT charities. Whilst David Cameron may be personally pro-LGBT in recent times, as the leader of the Conservatives, we believe he should hold some degree of responsibility for his party.”

David Cameron has also made MPs who voted against the bill members of his cabinet, namely Nicky Morgan, currently Education Secretary, and Caroline Dineage—who has said that “preventing same-sex couples from being allowed to ‘marry’ takes nothing away from their relationship”—as Minister for Equalities.

The award was given to the Prime Minister by Labour Peer Lord Alli, who nominated Cameron for the honour, at Downing Street. A university spokesperson stated: “This award is not about political colours but recognises the overwhelmingly positive change that equal marriage has brought about for thousands of people across the UK.

“We were delighted that students and staff from the university’s LGBT communities were able to be part of this historic day.”

Students’ Union LGBT+ Rep Daniel Murgatroyd said: “It is hard to credit a single man, even a Prime Minister, with ever getting a bill passed, especially considering that 45 percent of his party rebelled against him and voted no.”

The 40-strong delegation to Downing Street included Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and businessman Dr Jonathan KS Choi, a major sponsor of DMU.

The LGBT+ Society has started a petition to make the university explain its decision to give the award, and neglect to consult students. Another petition calls upon the Vice-Chancellor to withdraw the award.

In the past, DMU has also awarded controversial FIFA President Sepp Blatter, with an honorary degree for being “forthright, visionary, ethical and, above all, professional.”

Warehouse Project release 2015 line ups

The Warehouse Project have released the line ups for their forthcoming 12-week season.

Featured across the bill are a number of the world’s biggest and best DJs, including Dixon, Ben UFO and Rødhåd.

Tickets are on sale now. Full line-up details can be found here.

Festival: British Summer Time

18th & 20th June

Hyde Park

The Strokes and Blur both played incredible Hyde Park shows as part of British Summer Time festival. While in the past BST has been more of a series of huge individual concerts than a typical festival, a lot of work has paid off this year into making the event much more than simply a concert, with three stages of support acts throughout the day, and many impressive and custom designed bars and food stalls.

The Strokes

Photo: ennuiislife @Flickr

It being their first London show in five years, and their first UK show since 2011, anticipation was particularly high for The Strokes’ British return. The band have certainly been on the rocks in recent years: Its members reportedly barely speak to each other, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has suffered from severe drug addictions, and the non-touring of their last album Comedown Machine contributed to its failure to match the commercial success of the group’s early albums. There is no doubt the band are a long way from the group that released seminal album Is This It? 14 years ago. Spurred by comments from Albert Hammond Jr. threatening that Hyde Park could be their final show, combined with individual band member’s solo projects taking off, there was certainly a feeling in the air that this was going to be the last Strokes show for a long time.

In defiance of these naysayers, The Strokes played a career-spanning set that could certainly be considered one of the highlights of their career. Playing songs from each of their five albums, there was not a single bad song in their set, right the way through from opener ‘Is This It’, to closer ‘Take It Or Leave It’. While obvious hits such as ‘Last Nite’, ‘New York City Cops’, and ‘Reptilia’ sent the London crowd into collective nostalgia, it was the less familiar ‘You Talk Way Too Much’ and ‘Heart In a Cage’ that really stood out on the night.

The lack of focus on most recent album Comedown Machine may have been an obvious sign that this is a band relying on past hits over new material, but the uncharacteristicly positive mood of the band made this a special show —being a band of notoriously few words, frequently not uttering a word to the audience at their shows (which only ever spurred more rumours of impending break up). Yet tonight frontman Julian Casablancas bantered readily with the crowd, and from the smiles on his bandmates’ faces, the rest of the band clearly enjoyed the occasion too.

Not even an overly drunk crowd could drag down the euphoric atmosphere of The Strokes’ set, but I couldn’t help feeling that the abundance of onstage banter almost had a sentimental twist, and as the band charged into ‘Someday’, it was to ignore the uncertainty of the band’s future.

A host of impressive bands supported The Strokes on the day, including Temples, Beck and Future Islands. While Beck’s set was energetic, his eclectic mix of styles failed to impress the crowd. The best support act of the day was Future Islands, with new track ‘The Chase’ combined with frontman Samuel Herring’s dad dancing making their set one of the highlights of the day.

9/10

 

Blur

Photo: heldavies @Flickr

While Blur weren’t blessed with the same sunny weather as The Strokes, that didn’t stop tens of thousands of people flocking to Hyde Park. Those who braved the downpour throughout Metronomy’s support act were treated to strange set opening of an onstage ice cream van preparing rows of 99 flakes (a reference to the Blur’s recent album The Magic Whip). Bounding onto the stage Damon Albarn proceeded to hand out these out to the crowd, which, as they were inevitably crushed by the many clutching hands of the baying crowd, forced even Albarn to admit “it’s all going horribly wrong.”

This was Blur’s third Hyde Park show, and the band certainly knew what they were doing. Their two-hour greatest hits set barely dipped in pace, with classics such as ‘Beetlebum’, ‘Tender’, ‘Song 2’ and ‘There’s No Other Way’ drawing huge singalongs from the crowd.

With Damon Albarn as energetic as ever, and Alex James nonchalant as ever with cigarette in hand, one could be mistaken for thinking Blur have barely changed in the last 20 years. But what made this show overwhelmingly different from Blur’s Hyde Park show in 2012 was the presence of new material (unless you count their 2012 single ‘Under the Westway’). ‘Go Out’ and ‘Ong Ong’ from their new album sounded brilliant live, and certainly fitted in amongst their older material. New song ‘Thought I was A Spaceman’, with its crashing guitar lines, was actually the highlight of the whole set. However it was the appearance of Phil Daniels, the original voice for 1994’s ‘Parklife’ that instigated the biggest audience reaction of the night.

As the band emerged for the encore and dived into ‘Girls & Boys’, nobody needed reminding of the ludicrous amount of hits the band have in their back catalogue, but it was excellent to see the new material matching up to it. While having seen a much more intimate Blur show in the Blackpool the previous week, the atmosphere in Hyde Park was slightly disappointing, but it was hard not to be blown away by their energy and confidence.

Perhaps the most touching moment of the night was Damon Albarn thanking and acknowledging Graham Coxon’s role in making sure new album The Magic Whip was actually released and not simply forgotten as the Hong Kong jams they could have been.

As the crowd emptied from Hyde Park after perfect set closer ‘The Universal’, there was a collective joy of having seen one of the best ever British bands back at the top of their game. It certainly feels like the band is back at full strength again.

8/10

Exam board’s “lack of understanding” could have dire effect on students’ prospects

A-level students waiting all summer for their exam results could have their dreams of attending their first choice university crushed, after news that thousands of exam results are guessed, and that a leading exam board “lacked understanding” over how critical results were in the early days of place allocation.

With only days to go until results day, it was recently revealed that thousands of exam results are “guesstimated” every year, which may leave some students with lower marks than they deserve. The number of successful appeals is expected to reach record levels in 2015, but many students will already have missed out on their place at university or chance to use Clearing due to timing constraints, causing long-lasting repercussions.

“OCR demonstrated a lack of understanding of the critical role that the data from exam boards plays in the very early days of allocating university places,” said the report.

“It appears that only after the joint meeting between OCR, Ofqual and UCAS on 31st July did OCR senior managers understand fully the significant effect that an anticipated shortfall of marked A-level papers would have on a significant percentage of students going into Clearing.”

The scrapping of January exams, a policy introduced last year by then-Education Secretary Michael Gove, caused a shortage of available markers. Coupled with this, OCR suffered IT problems in 2014, leading to serious delays in marking.

An admission by Mark Dawe, OCR Chief Executive, revealed that “papers will get lost in the post or they will get put in wrong envelopes. That happens every year with every exam board and that’s where the estimated grade comes in.”

According to him, to avoid punishing a student for someone else’s error and forcing them to resit exams, previous performance is used to award the student a mark, “for the benefit of the student.”

Last year, over 450000 exam result appeals were lodged, of which one in ten were successful, leading to a change in grade.

Ofqual expressed concern about the numbers of appeals they expect to be made, which have been significantly rising yearly since 2008.

“Pressures on exam boards following constant changes by the Government to course regulations and timing of exams has made accurate, timely marking hard to manage,” said Peter Hamilton of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC).

“It is also difficult to recruit sufficient high quality examiners. However, young people are reliant on accurate grades issued at the right time to get into top universities and this has the potential to ruin a student’s life chances.”

The HMC, which represents independent schools nationwide, has said: “If students and their teachers feel that a grade could be the result of inaccurate marking, they should ask the exams office at their school to trigger a review.”

The serious concerns that have been raised around the marking of A-level exams have led ministers to consider scrapping exam boards altogether and replace them with one governmental body. Nick Gibb, Schools Minister, said “I have commissioned officials to look seriously and urgently at the case for reform.”

He said the marketisation of exams has led to bodies that were “revenue-driven” and “quasi-commercial.”