Month: September 2015

Overnight wholemeal cranberry raisin seeded walnut boule

Written by Elena Gibbs on 29th September 2015. Posted in News.

This will keep you coming back for more.

Inspired by M&S’s cranberry & toasted pecan baton, I aimed to produce something similar, but on a larger and more-affordable scale.

Buying all the staple ingredients like flour, walnuts and berries might mount up to just under £10 initially, but the amount of loaves produced from said ingredients makes it worth your while. Not to mention the sense of achievement and satisfaction derived from making your own bread—that’s priceless.

Ingredients:

3 cups whole-wheat flour
½ cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup mixed seeds
1 tsp salt
½ tsp dried yeast
2 cups water

Method:

Begin toasting your walnuts in a dry frying pan while you measure out the other dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix the dry ingredients and add the walnuts when slightly browned and fragrant. Ensure that everything is incorporated, then add the tepid water to the mix, stirring for about 30 seconds until you get a wet, sticky dough. Cover the bowl with a cloth or cling film and leave in a room-temperature place for 12-18 hours. If you get up at 7am, prepare the bowl at 8pm the previous evening. If you want the bread warm for the evening, prepare in the morning and bake at night, etc.

When awake, or returned from your day—however you wish to time it—tip the dough into a round cake tin and leave uncovered for another hour to rise. Meanwhile, place a tray of water in the bottom of the oven and heat to its highest temperature. When the proving time is up, place the dough covered with an upside-down cake tin—or other lid-type object—into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20, remove the lid and let rise for another 20 minutes, until it is a rich, mocha-brown, and sounds hollow when you knock the bottom of the tin.

As a test of willpower, leave to cool before slicing. Enjoy alongside soup, torn over a tomato bake or ripped straight from the crust.

Gamescom 2015 – from the view of a Square Enix fan

Written by Jasmin Kaur Tiyur on 29th September 2015. Posted in Games.

This August I was lucky enough to visit Cologne, Germany, for the annual Gamescom convention with my friends. We arrived at the venue on the Thursday afternoon—day one of the convention—and were immediately consumed by the world around us.

Thousands of people, many of whom were dressed in cosplay, swarmed through the convention centre, entering and exiting the various halls that were packed with experiences. After picking up a map, we made a plan for the day ahead.

Following the straight path in front of us, we entered our first hall. Here, the first thing that caught our eyes was the set up for an Oculus Rift virtual reality experience. The concept itself was quite simple—put on the headset, get onto a bike and start riding; but the actual results were hilarious. Falling off the bike at least once was guaranteed, and had it not been for the staff standing around the bike to catch people, there would have been a lot of cuts and bruises. It was amusing to see everyone convinced that they were the ones who would not fall, so they would start off slowly, build up a bit of courage and then begin pedaling away; until they had to take a corner and swung themselves off the bike!

Taking the safer option, I decided to adorn the headset and look around. My eyes fell into a field leading towards high trees, fathered by clear skies and a distant, burning sun. Trippy, right?

We left the virtual reality station pumped with excitement; now we had to decide which set up to go to next. Some of us wanted to visit Konami, a couple others were eager to head straight for Bethesda and Ubisoft; however, my own personal priority was Square Enix.

We decided to split up.

Photo: SQUARE ENIX CO. LTD.

After finding my way to the hall, I stared into the face of what I had been desperate to see: Final Fantasy XV. I had made it just in time to catch the Q&A panel with the development team.

Although most of the questions and answers were lost on me due to the conversations being translated into German, it was nonetheless a wonderful experience to see everyone around me so passionately engaged with such a beloved series and, after the panel was over, we were all invited to take pictures and receive autographs from the team, as well as try to catch the various goodies thrown into the crowd—I caught a very nice wristband.

My assumption that this station had finished was wrong. We were all then thrown into a frenzy of shock and excitement as the team revealed that they had a surprise for us all—a brand new trailer. The hundreds of us who stood there fell silent as we stared up into the huge screen that gave us a glimpse into what we were all waiting for. A prequel to the events of the game, showing a young Noctis clinging onto his crying father, who contemplated his son’s fate with grief. It was a short scene, but it was powerful. For those of us who had played the demo, we were aware of Noctis’ particular relationship with the “stars,” which grant him powers and aid him; however, the trailer suggested that these powers must come at a painful price.

Finally finished there, I wandered around the hall, visiting the other setups. In front of FFXV stood an impressive stage that hosted approximately 40 computer screens, all of which were engaged in a Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward tournament. Having played FFXIV: A Realm Reborn very briefly, I hadn’t developed too much interest in the series because I was quite disappointed by the initial online attempt of Final Fantasy XI Online, and upon the release of FFXIV, the server and patching issues that took over the game were another put off. However, Heavensward managed to change all of that. As someone who plays MMORPGs on and off, it was refreshing to see a game that lived up to my expectations of what makes a fantastic MMO, had a vast, active population and, of course, was Final Fantasy! The graphics were beautiful, the gameplay was smooth and the overall atmospheric feel of the game exuded everything that is loved about the Final Fantasy series. The only downside was not being able to play it myself due to queue length; however, I will definitely be purchasing the game.

Photo: IO-Interactive, SQUARE ENIX CO. LTD.

A few yards to the left of the FFXV setup, Hitman came into view. Here, I was reunited with a few of my friends; however, another lengthy queue crushed their hopes of testing its gameplay.

Although Hitman had not been a priority game for me, I was still eager to check it out. From my very limited and basic understanding, the game has evolved now into a dynamic experience, consisting of “real life” aspects. In short, what this means is that whatever you do is whatever stays. Missed a target? Tough luck, they’re gone for good. There are no second chances in Hitman, and I love that! Perhaps when the game is released I may give it a shot, and who knows, I may become a fan and grow to love it!

Our attention was drawn towards something much more in line with my tastes—Dragon Quest Heroes. I love RPG games, especially those with a turn-based system reminiscent of Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest had it all! The art style and graphics were cute and cheery—a chibi anime-style similar to that of MMOs such as Eden Eternal and Grand Fantasia. I instantly fell in love and wasted no time in grabbing the nearest controller and having a go. Out of all the games I had seen, Dragon Quest was immediately at the top of my list of games to buy.

While Dragon Quest Heroes takes a step away from the typical JRPG roots of previous Dragon Quest titles, it is still the type of game that makes you feel happy to be a gamer. For those days when you do not want to be emotionally crippled or mentally scarred by fear, and instead want to just slash up monsters with your friends, Dragon Quest Heroes is there!

Photo: Seasun Inc.

That was everything from Square Enix. After leaving Square’s hall, we decided to try out another and eventually settled on a part of the map that was not particularly to my interests, and upon getting there, it was a surreal experience to see WWE superstar Daniel Bryan, on stage, hosting a Q&A session with the crowd, who stood around the set up for WWE 2K16. Uninterested in this, I decided to wander off until I came across a set up that, again, intrigued my fantasy genre RPG senses—Relics of Gods. Before I decided to join the queue to have a go, I was a bit sceptical. How good could a mobile platform game be in living up to my expectations?

In short, quite. The concept of the game is similar to the MMO League of Legends, in that you are able to unlock and play with a number of different heroes, each possessing their own abilities, and, once more, the game made use of a turn-based battle system.

While the gameplay was not as smooth as it could have been, for example not responding in time to the actions made, and the interface being confusing at times, it was still fun to play and an interesting experience on a phone (both Android and iOS!). I’m hopeful about this game, especially since we players were each given a survey to complete after playing the demo to suggest any improvements that we thought could be made.

Although in terms of games there were many, many more to be seen and played, the ones I have mentioned were my particular favourites. Among some of the bigger names were Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Fallout 4, Assassins Creed: Syndicate and Halo 5: Guardians; however, I must admit to not being a fan of any of these series. The crowds around them, though, were going wild, which I’m sure must mean great things! It was evident that these were the games that stole the show and stood out the most, if not because of themselves then definitely because of the hype that their fans created.

Aside from the games, Merchandise Village and Cosplay Village were a gold mine for fans of every genre and series. Both of these sections were a perfect way to end our two-day tour of Gamescom—meeting many of our beloved characters brought to life, and then buying them!

Even though by the end of it we were exhausted and aching in agony, our feet killing us with each step taken and our minds shutting down from the extreme heatwave that had hit Germany, it was all worth it, and it will be worth it next year and every year after that.

Preview: Cuphead

Written by Connor McBride on 29th September 2015. Posted in Games.

Hidden among the other “Coming to Xbox One” games, Cuphead is a co-operative run-and-gun shooter, where you play as the titular Cuphead and his friend Mugman. The storyline? Cuphead and Mugman have lost a game of craps with the devil, and now have to do his bidding for eternity. You take part in a variety of fun and varied boss battles, which constantly throw new obstacles and challenges your way.

The main charm of the game is the art style. It mirrors the style found in old cartoons such as Felix The Cat, old Walt Disney cartoons and Popeye. It would have been very easy for the developers to animate in a slightly cartoon-like fashion and be done with it, but they went the whole nine yards. The attention to detail is brilliant, from the characters’ gentle bouncing motion when idle, to the scratches and marks that run across the screen to imitate an old projector. It takes the “faux-retro” feel other games go for when they use 8-bit graphics and turns the dial back to 1932.

Gameplay-wise, this game is difficult. Each character only has three hearts and when you lose them, you’re gone, and the fight doesn’t get any easier when you’re down to one person; however, when you reach “game over,” it is easy to get back into the fray. As hard as it was though, it never stopped being fun for me and my new friend, whom I met in the queue. We were having a blast right up until we got the polite tap on the shoulder. The difficulty never became frustrating and it was not the game’s fault when you died, it was never unfair, all the impetus was on you to stop sucking.

Short of the developers completely changing the game before release into a text-based adventure, I am really looking forward to this one. It is a quirky shooter and is a refreshing break in the land of first person shooters and realistic racers.

Historical hangovers threaten Northern Ireland’s peace

Written by Isaac Atwal on 28th September 2015. Posted in Opinion.

Over the past few months, Northern Ireland has seen increasing levels of political turmoil with the power sharing deal that was a product of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement coming under increasing strain. A recent upsurge in dissident republican activity, with the deaths of two former IRA hitmen being the most high profile, has brought about accusations from unionist politicians and others that the IRA is still active. This claim has been refuted by Sinn Féin, who maintain that the IRA does not exist anymore and is not orchestrating violence. The IRA ordered a formal halt to its armed campaign in 2005.

Disagreements have arisen in the fallout of the murders and have plunged Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly into crisis, with the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) First Minister Peter Robinson stepping down in protest against what the DUP claim is the prospect of the IRA still being active. This comes after deadlock in the Northern Ireland Assembly over the implementation of welfare reform that has been blocked by Sinn Féin, who are opposed to changes, despite initially approving them in March.

Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary, had previously said that if a solution could not be found to the deadlock then the Westminster government was prepared to step in and suspend the Northern Ireland Assembly and rule from London as a “last resort.” This is something that the DUP isn’t entirely adverse to. With Northern Ireland Assembly elections to be held next year, a suspension now, with a view to restoring power sharing next year, could give the opportunity for a renegotiation of the power sharing agreement that would yield more favourable terms and to tar Sinn Féin with the dissident brush.

Since the start of the year there have been five bombs found in Northern Ireland. Of these, one exploded outside a probation office in April, and two partially exploded near an army reserve centre in Londonderry in May. This time the devices were placed close to residential houses.

These are not an immediate assessment of the IRA or the Provisional IRA; dissident republican action has continued in dribs and drabs since the end of the Troubles. However, the shootings of two ex-IRA hitmen in four months has called into question the continued existence of the Provisional IRA from unionist politicians. After the murder of Kevin McGuigan in August—who was one of the suspects in the murder of Gerard Jock Davison, a fellow ex-IRA man killed only three months earlier—First Minister Peter Robinson stepped aside after the police claimed that there may have been Provisional IRA involvement in McGuigan’s death.

Robinson remarked when stepping aside and leaving one DUP minister to remain First Minister that he was taking this action “to ensure that nationalists and republicans are not able to take financial and other decisions that might be detrimental to Northern Ireland.” However, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has said that the IRA has “gone and is not coming back.”

In addition to this, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), George Hamilton, said that the Provisional IRA still exists with respect to command structures and that some of its members were involved in the murder. However, Hamilton stated that there was no evidence of the murder being sanctioned by the group. He also added that the organisation’s purpose had “radically changed.” He stated that the police assessment was that the Provisional IRA remains committed to politics and is not engaged in violence. Instead he placed blame for the murders on a fall out within parts of the republican community involved in “personal gain or personal agendas.”

Now, there seems to be confusion over whether the IRA or any associated organisations are still in existence and functioning, or if the recent spate of violence is being committed by people who used to be involved in these organisations during the troubles, but are now settling personal scores.

Indeed, a look into Kevin McGuigan’s past shows that, having worked previously as a hitman with Gerard Jock Davison, the man he was suspected of the killing of months earlier, the murders may have more to do with personal rivalries than a revival of republican violence. These two men were part of a campaign group, Direct Action Against Drugs, an assassination unit consisting of ex-IRA members that would target alleged drug dealers in Northern Ireland who had fallen foul of the IRA.

A catalogue of violent incidents attributed to McGuigan in these years eventually came to a head when his volatile nature ended in a dispute that required the IRA’s internal discipline unit to be called in. McGuigan’s sentence was a “six-pack” which meant gunshot wounds to the feet, hands and elbows. It is alleged that after this incident McGuigan harbored a grudge against Davison. A former IRA prisoner turned author, Anthony McIntyre, who visited McGugian after the shooting, recalled that McGuigan felt Davison has “hijacked the army and punished him for reasons that were unfair—the result of favouritism and personalities.”

It would seem that the murders of these two men maybe have more to do with organised crime, a shared legacy of violence, suspicion and vying for dominance in quasi-political and paramilitary organisations than the full scale resumation of organised political violence in Northern Ireland. The Westminster government said last week that they would establish a commission to assess paramilitary organisations and organised crime. The DUP have said that they are “content” with this announcement and will be entering cross-party talks due to start soon. Sinn Féin have also said that they are entering these talks and the PSNI have welcomed the clear focus on organised crime. It is no doubt that cross-party talks will now see all involved trying to secure a better position for themselves.

It remains however a great shame and evident that, for whatever reason, structures put in place during the Troubles still exist and political point scoring invoking the past still goes on. Furthermore, whilst widescale organised paramilitary action seems to be a thing of the past, organised crime is still prevalent and as long as this remains the case, so will personal score settling that has a long and bloody history to feed on.

The Murder Marketplace

Written by Grace Iona Annesley-Mair on 28th September 2015. Posted in Opinion.

You don’t need to be a genius to know that generally speaking, weapons equal death. The annual Defence and Security Equipment International Exhibition (DSEI) was hosted at the ExCel centre in London earlier this month, guaranteeing the glitz and glamour of a fair that caters for technologically innovative and efficient murder.

While David Cameron travelled to refugee camps near the border of Syria, lambasting the atrocities he saw around him, his government hosted the world’s largest arms fair in the heart of London. With the guests including countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel, the UK Government must take its share of the responsibility of the human cost of supplying the arsenals of these regimes, and yes, that includes helping refugees.

The hypocrisy of UK Government policy in relation to the arms trade is nothing new. In 2006 Tony Blair quashed investigations by the serious fraud office into the alleged corruption of the Al-Yamamah arms and oil deal with Saudi Arabia, which had been set up during Thatcher’s administration. In 2011, during the height of the Arab Spring, the UK government was kind enough to export potassium and sodium fluoride to Bashar Al Assad, which are both used in the production of chemical weapons which would later be used against civilians.

In 2012, MPs carried out an inquiry into how the BP and defence giants BAE systems were involved in the loan of £35 million of taxpayers money to the admirable humanitarian Robert Mugabe. Only six months into 2014 £63.2 million worth of arms export licences had been granted to states that had previously been on a blacklist for systematic human rights atrocities. I’m sure that the realisation that UK Government armed both Iran and Iraq during the Gulf War during the 1980s comes as no surprise. Nor is there any shock at the fact that the British firms, with government approval also supplied Sarin—one of the most important ingredients used in chemical weapons—to Syria during civil war.

Quite often when we discuss atrocity, or chemical weapons such as Sarin, it is done in a way which is quite clinical and detached from their immediate and physical effects. For those that don’t know, Sarin is a chemical agent that inhibits our enzymes from breaking down neurotransmitters (those clever little things which mediate the signals around your body). Because the body can’t break down these neurotransmitters, the same signals are sent over and over in rapid fire.

Within seconds of being exposed to this odourless and tasteless gas, these signals go into overdrive, meaning that whatever your body initially does to deal with the foreign gas repeats in quicker succession. That means you cannot stop your eyes from watering, you cannot stop your lungs from coughing into convulsions, and you have no control as your stomach empties itself of bile and would be entirely powerless to do anything as your bowels give out. This can quickly move into convulsions and paralysis, and with enough exposure, you could be dead in ten minutes.

Sarin takes away the control you have over your body and nervous system. That’s right, the UK Government doesn’t seem to mind our domestic firms selling this stuff. Considering the impacts Sarin has, I’m sure we can all appreciate the irony of David Cameron’s kindness in dealing with the so called “swarm” of refugees in Europe. As much as I might wish it, the UK’s track record hasn’t improved. Despite widespread condemnation of the actions of maniacal dictators across the world, arms sales continue. By March this year, the UK government had issued arms licences that are worth more than £5.2 billion.

What makes the situation slightly more difficult to grapple with is the level of state intervention within the arms trade. The arms sector is one of the most heavily subsidised areas of the UK economy with estimates sitting between £450 – 930 million per year. What seems most bizarre is the willingness to invest in arms, which means by default the state is not only happy but willing to sponsor murder. Amnesty International estimated that around 85 per cent of the killings they document are a direct result of guns, with a further 60 per cent of all human rights abuses being directly related to the arms trade.

In the context of the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War, it becomes impossible to ignore the intrinsic link between arms sales and the systematic dehumanisation, brutalisation, and murder of human beings globally. If anything, when we see refugees they are after all, human beings like the rest of us—with families, hopes, dreams and fears. Our humanity should extend beyond borders, crossings and checkpoints. It should be a reminder that refugees are not just running the risks of drowning in the Mediterranean for the sake of it. When we see what is reality for so many other human beings, such as the haunting images of Aylan Kurdi, our hands are not clean.

Refugees are running to survive, and more often than we would like to admit, they are running from the same regimes that the British arms industry has funded, equipped, and armed. They are also running from regimes that have been able to reinforce their false legitimacy through violent power, and it is the same violent power that the UK Government has been happy to supply.

Will Murdoch pollute National Geographic?

Written by Alex Daniel on 28th September 2015. Posted in Environment, Opinion.

The National Geographic Magazine has, in its own words, been “inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888.” It is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organisations in the world and one of its chief interests is the “promotion of environmental conservation.” It is, without doubt, a tremendously valuable institution to anyone who takes even a remote interest in the planet upon which we live. It is obvious then, why 21st Century Fox’s recent majority purchase of the magazine has made waves.

21st Century Fox is the same company that has publicly (through their news channel, Fox News) called climate change a “superstition” a “scam” and a “hoax.” Their founder and executive co-chairman, Rupert Murdoch, has said of rising sea levels that “we’ve just got to stop building vast houses on seashores and go back a little bit.” How can the interests of a magazine that is committed to reducing global warming and exposing the truth about the harm humans are doing to the environment be reconciled with those of such a cancerous enterprise as Fox? Clearly, something isn’t right here.

There has been an element of confusion surrounding the deal, so the basic facts of the transaction are thus: 21st Century Fox have taken over 73 per cent of the magazine for $725 million, while the National Geographic Society, the owners since its inception 127 years ago, retain a 27 per cent stake. This has been described as merely an expansion of a venture that has been going on for some time; Fox have owned the associated Television channels (still under the NatGeo name) for 18 years, and they have thus created a new entity called National Geographic Partners.

Upon hearing the news, many voiced their concerns that the National Geographic Magazine will take a U-turn in its editorial line on the issue and follow that of its new owner, with desrisive tweets including “I give National Geographic 18 months before publishing its first piece of climate change denial.” Irish Green Party Politician Dan Boyle was one of many who posted mock-up covers of future editions, with titles including “If Global Warming is real, why is it so cold out?” and “Who needs animals anyway?” as well as “How rising seas are giving whales more room to swim.” Satire it may be, but it is a huge worry.

National Geographic has been leading the way in exposing and addressing the human impact upon climate change for many years. Is all of this going to take a backseat now that the magazine is owned by a multinational corporation that has little to no interest in climate change, aside from displaying its occasional scorn for those naïve enough to trust science?

Meanwhile, Murdoch himself, aside from his farcical comments about rising sea levels, has made it fairly clear how much credence he gives to the irrefutable evidence pointing to an impending environmental crisis. In a 2014 Sky News interview, he claimed that in the wider scheme of things, Australia isn’t contributing much to climate change and so doesn’t need to take action, while China does.

True as it may be that China has a far bigger carbon footprint than Australia, that is because it has more people. This phenomenon, known as the Travesty of the Commons, is equivalent to you or I leaving the lights on 24/7, “because one person won’t make a difference.” It is essentially the process by which humanity is driving, flying and burning its way towards catastrophe. Murdoch, one of the most powerful people on the planet, is a major proponent of it. His company’s takeover ofNational Geographic seems a pretty damning example of capitalism conquering a cause.

The trouble is that the magazine is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Like so many other print publications, it has been in decline with the growth in popularity of online journalism, not to mention the vast freedom of information that the web now provides. In short, people no longer need to subscribe to the National Geographic Magazine to gain awareness of the scientific, geographical and historical issues that it has led the way in exposing for so long, and it has been on a low trajectory towards extinction for quite some time.

The National Geographic Society has admitted as much in a statement, and their CEO Gary Knell said the venture will help to “continue to fulfil our mission long into the future,” while Susan Goldberg, the magazine’s Editor-in-chief was more sheepish, saying that Fox “have not always represented the National Geographic brand… in a way we loved or even they loved.” She added, “holding still and doing the same thing is not a sustainable position.” National Geographic needs the money, and the sad fact is that a partnership with Fox is the only way to preserve the company’s longevity.

Those most worried might take comfort in James Murdoch’s—son of Rupert and CEO of 21st Century Fox—comments, saying he revered the magazine, which he has purportedly read from a young age. It must also be noted that Fox would potentially be shooting itself in the foot from a PR perspective in ruining the good work that National Geographic has been doing for so long.

That said, one must ask the question: since when has bad publicity ever bothered a Murdoch-owned news outlet? One can only hope that this is merely the end of the magazine’s non-profit status, and that nobody intends to meddle with its content or cause. Only time will tell.

Oversharing and Generation Facebook

Written by Cecilia Bicknell on 28th September 2015. Posted in Opinion.

In her book Not That Kind Of Girl, Lena Dunham was widely criticised for sharing that she had harmlessly explored her sexuality and body with her sister when they were both young children. Anyone who has read the book and understands the context of the situation will know that Dunham acted as many young children do on the cusp of puberty. It is not, as some tabloids reported it, paedophilic, depraved or malicious. Dunham has always been a self-confessed ‘over-sharer’, and her large fan base has praised her for it. And yet over this intimate confession of childhood innocence, she was deemed a pervert. It would appear that for Dunham, the public embraced and rejected her openness.

The concept of “oversharing” is prevalent in both journalism and social media, with more selfies being taken than any other form of photograph on Facebook. It would appear that Generation Y has become Generation “is this my best angle?” While selfies are occasionally mocked, they are accepted as the social norm; the idea of sharing intimate, often nude, photos of oneself for thousands to see is a naturalised phenomenon in the present day. The same can be said for posting personal beliefs (even if they cause great offence to others) on various platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. And this is apparently a “normal” form of self-expression.

When talking to my technophobic mother the other day about starting a Facebook account, the differences occurred to me between her generation and mine on the line that divides personal and public information. I wouldn’t hesitate before uploading a picture of my puppy playing in our living room, whereas my Mum’s immediate reaction was “what about weirdos seeing our house, where we live, my furniture!” I asked myself whether the 30-year age gap between us was the answer to her pedantry about keeping our private lives private, or whether it was because I have become fundamentally hardened to the chronic “oversharing” cultivated by my fellow Facebook friends.

While sharing the odd selfie on a particularly good hair day isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, the constant barrage of personal pics flowing daily through Instagram can lead to the promotion of so-called fantasy relationships. We’re all guilty of it, stalking girls we despise simply because we stumbled across them on Instagram and they have better clothes, better skin, and a better body. After seeing 50 pictures of some poor girl you’ve never even met and whose birthday party you weren’t even invited to, you begin to feel like you know her. She’s out of reach, but only just. If you look at her long enough on Facebook you can learn every detail about her life, you’re basically friends. But what happens when this turns nasty? She may think she’s posting a harmless photo of her family, but does she really want all 653 of her “friends” to see her Nana’s 90th?

It feels as if we have become deadened to the notion of privacy. When does sharing cross over into the frightening realm of giving up your discretion in favour of a form of public ownership?

Without going into too much sordid detail, I have recently been rather embroiled in a love tryst. Of course, I’m over-exaggerating, but in basic terms a boy thought I was “leading him on” because I would occasionally reply to his rather bizarre Facebook messages. Not wanting to appear rude, I’d try to be congenial and subtly deter his somewhat full-on advances. Foolishly I thought this would be the end of it, little did I know the guy had been cultivating a fantasy relationship between the two of us and my off-hand replies were the fuel to his burning passion. While I don’t know for sure, I dread to think of my profile pictures being the object of sweaty desire for an afternoon’s self-fondlings.

Anyway, to avoid being crass, it’s over now. However, it did get me thinking—if those brief and frankly quite boring Facebook conversations had happened in real life, would the outcome have been the same? I am left thinking that when things happen over the Internet, they take on a whole new code of social conventions. Facebook succeeds in both giving and taking away anonymity—you can know everything about a person and nothing at all.

I suppose the crux of my argument lies in my deep fear of the power of “oversharing” in desensitising our generation to the wonderful intoxicant that is secrecy. When every moment has to be retweeted, regrammed, and relived, nothing is sacred anymore. You can “hate” a person you’ve never even met just for their poor choice of Instagram filter and you can fall in love for the very same thing. It sounds jaded to say this, but maybe we all need to take a step back from our laptops, and put the iPhones down, just in case we’ve given our lives away without even realising it.

Housing crisis tensions continue to escalate

Written by Liam Kelly on 28th September 2015. Posted in Features.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter has consistently sounded warnings about the chronic shortage of affordable housing available in the UK.

One of the starkest warnings yet was its recent report that, since the broadening of the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme in 2012 under the coalition government—which allows council tenants to buy their council home at a discount of up to £75000—one in three local councils had failed to replace a single home sold through the scheme.

The charity said just 8 per cent of councils had built enough homes to replenish half of its stock.

The growing need for more affordable housing is a cause that has consistently united politicians from across the political spectrum in calling for more to be done.

However, despite these emphatic and repeated calls to action from all sides, house building in the UK continues to be in a state of inertia.

The government says it is committed to building 275,000 affordable homes before the end of this parliament.

Statistics compiled by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)—which are hosted on the Shelter website—show that the number of homes owned by Manchester City Council decreased by almost 1,500 between 2010 and 2014.

After the broadening of ‘Right to Buy’ in 2012, the council sold 245 houses under the scheme, to the end of 2014. Since the year 2010/11, the amount of new houses built by the council—both completions and starts—totals only 40.

With less and less affordable housing available in Manchester, more and more people are finding themselves homeless or sleeping rough.

Compounding the issue is fact that the Salvation Army previously managed a 120-bed homeless shelter on Wilmott Street, but it closed two years ago. The Manchester Evening News reported in June that an estimate of the rough sleepers in Manchester in 2014 showed a six-fold increase since 2010.

Since the spring, there has been a marked escalation in the tensions resulting from the dearth of affordable housing and increasing levels of homelessness, and continue to rumble on as the new academic year starts.

Firstly, in April, a group calling themselves ‘Homeless Rights of Justice’—made up of around 30 people who had been homeless for a long time—organised a protest outside Manchester Town Hall to raise awareness of cuts to funding to aid homeless people, such as mental health provision and housing benefit.

When facing eviction, the group then moved to St. Peter’s Square, outside the Central Library. Tensions increased during a row over the use of library facilities by members of the group.

This bizarre cat-and-mouse game between the council and the homeless activists continued into June, when the group were evicted from St. Peter’s Square and set up a new camp in St. Ann’s Square, just around the corner. The evictions kept coming, and the group subsequently moved on to Castlefield, and then King Street.

Eventually, in August, the council applied for an injunction to prevent anybody from erecting a tent in the city centre in protest at its homeless policies. A judge granted the injunction, and now those who are found to be in breach could face up to two years in prison, or a fine of £5,000.

Then, in early September, a new camp made up by homeless people sprung up under the Mancunian Way overpass, between two buildings owned by Manchester Metropolitan University.

‘The Ark’, as it was known, attempted to take on this issue of almost biblical proportions.

‘The Ark’ before demolition. Photo: The Mancunion

I went to The Ark to talk to Ryan, a 24-year-old man who has led the charge in this crusade, a modern-day Noah taking on those desperately in need of help. He is uncomfortable at the idea that he is the “leader” or “boss” of this group, but instead claims to be someone doing whatever he can to help. So, how did The Ark come into being?

“This bridge has been used by homeless people since I was a child… I used to see people sleeping here, and when I first became homeless myself I used to stay here in a cardboard box. A series of events and strange happenings led to a friend and myself living here, homeless, living together in a tent.

“And I built a windbreaker to the side of us, which I ultimately made into four walls, and the council said I was ‘protesting’. And because we’re ‘protesting’ they’re trying to forcibly remove us.”

Obviously, The Ark was a makeshift set up: Pallets and sheets of plastic created windbreaks, a tattered sofa and a picnic table provided a sitting area and, most distinctively, the group slept in tents.

Adorning the outside walls of The Ark were pleas for support from passers-by, donation buckets, and denunciations of both the council and Manchester Metropolitan. One said:

“THESE TENTS ARE HERE TO PROVIDE HOMES AND SHELTER. THEY ARE NOT HERE AS A PROTEST.”

One of many signs that were outside ‘The Ark’. Photo: The Mancunion

However, as Ryan pointed out to me, The Ark was much more than a group of people sleeping in tents under a bridge: “It really feels like a home… We’ve got hot rings so we can cook food, we’ve got a TV, and we can watch DVDs.

“We’ve got 230-volt mains power, we’ve got 110-volt power, and we’ve got 12-volt power. Some of the equipment has been bought from the donation bucket; some of it has been donated by lovely people who wanted to help us.

“The whole setup probably cost about £300, but it gives somewhere for homeless people to come, get warm, eat some hot food, charge their phones and sleep a bit more soundly.”

This is the crux of the issue: those who found themselves homeless felt abandoned, and took it upon themselves to create a safe space.

However crude the nature of the shelter’s construction, it did not dampen the spirits of the members of this “self-serving community.” There was a real sense of community at The Ark. Resources were shared in a selfless way; whilst discussions were had about how to save the camp from its impending destruction.

You would be forgiven for thinking that The Ark was a desolate place, but it really wasn’t. Members of the group were laughing and smiling sat around a fire in the middle of the complex, much as students do in their accommodation. The apparent contentment may well have resulted from the security they felt at being in that place.

During the brief time I was there, they welcomed a new member into their midst without interrogation or prejudice, immediately offering him a place to stay until he gets back on his feet.

A petition organised by the members of The Ark against the group being evicted gained over 3,500 signatures on Change.org.

The members of the group are also a dab hand at social media—which is so important in getting recognition for a campaign today—and their Facebook page has over 2,000 likes. The page has been used to update the supporters of the group, organise demonstrations, and even meditation sessions.

Early in the morning of Friday 18th of September, as reported in The Mancunion, the camp members were evicted from their position under the bridge by a combination of police officers and bailiffs.

Videos from the scene show physical altercations between the members of the camp and the enforcement officers whose job it was to clear the camp, remove the infrastructure and, according to some reports, the personal effects of the camp members.

A reporter for The Mancunion, who was at the scene when the camp was removed, saw artist and homeless activist Jen Wu forcibly dragged from her tent screaming, before later seeing her be carried into an ambulance on a stretcher.

During the afternoon of 18th of September, Manchester Metropolitan University released a statement about the eviction of the camp members, claiming that the majority of those removed “are not recognised as homeless individuals, either by the City Council or by Greater Manchester Police.”

The site that previously played host to The Ark has now had a metal fence erected around it, and is now used for the storage of refuse bins.

Ryan was arrested for breaching the peace on the day of the eviction.

Last week a protest led by students from the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University was held in solidarity with the members of the group, urging the university to return the land to the group. Over 70 people took part in the demonstration, with placards that read “Lives not Land”, and “People before Profits.”

Students from both the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University protest the demolition of The Ark. Photo: The Mancunion

The increasing tension between the homeless and the authorities is symptomatic of the housing shortage in the area, as well as cuts to mental health provision and insecure jobs. However, this problem is not merely confined to Manchester, but to the UK as a whole.

All sides would likely view the current situation as being unsustainable, as the pattern of eviction-relocation-eviction appears to be never-ending. I asked Ryan how, in an ideal world, he would see it resolved: “It’s not going to be resolved overnight; it needs a massive strategic plan and total overhaul.”

And would he try and keep the community together?

“Of course. You have to.”

Refugees United: Football shows support for refugees

Written by Harry Newton on 28th September 2015. Posted in Sport.

Football is often used as an escape from everyday life, as we watch or play to empty our minds—but football in the last couple of weeks has utilised its reach and power to impact the world and spread an important message. While various governments look at how, and even if, they should help Syrian refugees, football rose up and simplified the situation to say “these people need our help!”

A proposal put forward by FC Porto, and backed by the rest of the UEFA Champions League teams, has been put into action by UEFA. Each team’s first home match of the Champions League will result in €1 of each ticket sold going to help in the refugee crisis. This movement took the internet by storm as FC Porto tweeted their initial proposal and German side FC Schalke tweeted back the Portuguese team; “Great idea @FCPorto! #Schalke are in—let’s play for the migrants! #Standup #SO4.” These were the first two teams to sign up, and now every team in the competition has done.

Considering that the attendance for Real Madrid’s Champions League opener against Shakhtar Donetsk was 66,389, this is a great way to raise money for the crisis, and it doesn’t stop here. PSG and Real Madrid are two of many European teams who then went on, of their own volition, to give money to the crisis, both donating €1,000,000 in this instance.

The Premier League showed its support for the refugee crisis last week too, as the ‘Get on with the Game’ flag, which is usually erected before games, was swapped for a ‘Save the Children’ flag. This will continue for one more week before being swapped back. Further support includes action from Chelsea, who will auction off their match-day shirts from their game with Maccabi Tel-Aviv; Arsenal, who have donated £1 from each ticket they sold against Stoke; and Everton, who fielded a team of Syrian refugee children as their mascots against Chelsea last weekend.

Despite these great acts by Premier League sides, it seems to be German football teams who are making the greatest contributions, which may come as no surprise, since the German government has been so forthcoming about the crisis. Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have created training camps for Syrian refugees, where they can learn German, have meals and use the football equipment that they have been provided. They also invited Syrian refugees to stand alongside their usual German match day mascots last weekend against Augsburg as a “symbol of integration of refugees.” Borussia Dortmund have also been showing their support—they invited 220 refugees to watch their 7-2 Europa League demolition of Norwegian team, Odds Ballklubb.

The German Football Association (DFB) have been very active in their help for refugees. Last week they lengthened their migrant-aid initiative until 2019. Furthermore, in order to integrate migrants into smaller communities, the DFB created “1-0 for a welcome,” which offers €500 to any German amateur club that provides footballing opportunities for refugees.

It is in the eighth tier of German football, though, where you will find one of the greatest footballing acts for refugees. A local Christian refugee aid organisation in Egelsbach has joined forces with SG Egelsbach to set up their very own football club for refugees—Refugees United—in a fantastic act of kindness, to integrate refugees into the community. Their opening match against another local side was introduced by the DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach, who described the team’s creation as “exactly what we had in mind”.

Teams from all countries and from all tiers of football, just like SG Egelsbach, have shown their support for refugees in the last few weeks. FC United of Manchester, Charlton Athletic, Clapton FC, Middlesbrough and Arsenal are a few of many in England who held aloft their “Refugees Welcome” banners at games last week, coinciding with the National Day of Action. The message even spreads all the way to Australia, with North Melbourne Kangaroos having displayed a “NMFC Welcomes Refugees” banner on the pitch before their game last week.

Despite these fantastic strives towards helping and integrating refugees, two notable banners have been seen at matches of two Champions League teams that convey the complete opposite message. Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s fans held aloft a “Refugees not Welcome” banner before their game against Kiryat Shmona, and Lyon fans did the same last Saturday in their 0-0 draw with Lille. Both teams will still be giving €1 to the crisis for each ticket they sell for their first Champions League home match, along with every other Champions League team. These minority groups of fans stand rather alone in their anti-refugee stance.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel this month hammered home the importance of Europe’s need to tackle the current refugee crisis. In the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, Merkel urged Europe to act together, stating that “if Europe fails on the question of refugees, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed.”

Regardless of Merkel’s cries for help, imitated by politicians and people alike, the British government are still potting below par. David Cameron has announced that Britain will take up to 20,000 refugees in the next five years, whereas Germany will take in 25 times that amount in one year alone, through their willingness to take in 500,000 each year.

In spite of the couple of anomalous examples of fans not welcoming refugees, the world of European football is doing what the British, and other, governments are struggling to do: Prioritising the refugee crisis and meeting simple social implications. Despite any bad press football fans may usually get for their antics, clubs and fans have come together in this instance to fight this crisis head on. When Merkel addressed Europe to come together and act, Europe listened, but it was Europe’s football.

Referee respect

Written by Harry Newton on 28th September 2015. Posted in Sport.

With the arrival of the much-anticipated Rugby World Cup last week, the country has contracted Rugby Fever! A sport that generically plays second fiddle to football has fought its way to the forefront of people’s minds and the backfront of the presses. In comparison to football, rugby is a game with more aggression, more players and more scoring, but despite this scope for potential problems for referees, they are treated with respect and protection, unlike within The Beautiful Game.

Last Saturday saw Garth Crooks, BBC pundit, launch a tirade at football referee Mike Dean, after his performance in the Arsenal vs. Chelsea game, which involved Arsenal being reduced to nine men through ill discipline. The ex-Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City man became visibly heated as he continued his rant about Dean. Crooks stated that, “the only people who were interested in sending the player off… were the officials,” when discussing Gabriel’s departure.

He then went on to comment about Dean himself; “I think Mike Dean is a really good referee, but he’s got one fault—he wants to be the star too often, and it’s really getting on my nerves. It’s not about you Mike, it’s about the game.” He went on to liken him to a “petulant school teacher,” labeled him “over officious” and suggested he looks for excuses to send off players. A pundit may be paid to express their opinion on the game, but this is a step too far from Crooks, who made this debacle personal.

This is not the only time that somebody has come out into the media to slam Mike Dean, as in March of last year Nigel Pearson, ex-Leicester City manager, described Dean as “one of the most arrogant people” he has met.

Whether or not the views of Crooks or Pearson are in any way accurate is irrelevant. Both of these comments are just two examples that have been cherry-picked from a pool of hundreds of other examples where pundits, managers and footballers have shown a complete lack of respect for the officials. In a world where managers will not comment on a player’s individual performance after a game, they have absolutely no problem criticising the referee’s individual performance. Strange.

Week in, week out, we see footballers harass the referee. Whether it be the infamous sending off of Manchester United’s ex-player Ángel Di María last season for tugging at a referee’s shirt, or the constant moans of Diego Costa, players simply do not treat the referee the way that they should. Rules indicate that a referee can show a yellow card to a player for arguing an official’s decision. This has not changed the situation much, however, because if they booked every player that argued with them, the game would eventually become into the referee playing crossbar challenge, alone.

Differences in rugby show how a referee can be treated correctly. Whilst watching England beat Fiji in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup last Friday, the commentators fell silent whilst the referee walked over to an offending player. We heard the referee speak, via a microphone, to the offender, telling him calmly what he had done wrong. And the player accepted the referee’s explanation. This happened time and time again without complaint, because the microphone gave the referee protection, so that the world could hear what was being said between the two. Football referees already have a microphone during the games; making this device’s output public would make footballers think twice about what they are saying to the referee, and would open up understanding as to why referees make the decisions that they make.

Of course, it is not just the microphone that makes players respect the referee, since respect is instilled at lower levels of the game and from a young age. This is something that English football is trying to do via the “Get On With The Game” initiative. Going to a game played between children does not always turn out to be as joyful and carefree as you would expect, with some referees getting a much harder time than even Mike Dean has received from Garth Crooks. Starting to eradicate the problem at this level is progress; however, it will only work if Premier League players act like role models to these children and do the same.

Whether the sport is rugby or football, one thing is apparent—you will not change the referee’s decision. No referee will give a foul, only to then change their mind once Diego Costa has sprinted over to tell him that he is wrong. However, one thing that is different in rugby is that the referee’s decision is given more with a greater explanation, because he can discuss with officials watching overhead and consult a video replay. This instills more confidence in the players towards the officials and gives us a much more accurate sport.

The problem with football is that we find ourselves in a vicious cycle. If we introduce this, it will mean more correct calls and gain referees more respect. However, with the current lack of respect from players, this would lead to officials calling for a video replay on most decisions, undermining the referee’s trained decision-making skills.

There is no doubt that the introduction of video would help a referee in instances of difficult decisions; would make the game run more smoothly; and would overall gain the referees more respect as authoritarians of the game. But football does not deserve this until players, managers and even pundits treat referees with the respect that they deserve.

Singles Selection

Written by Sam Harrison on 27th September 2015. Posted in Music.

The Dead Weather – ‘Cop and Go’ from Dodge and Burn

Third Man Records

The release of this single serves as a sigh of relief to those who are chronically nostalgic about the old Jack White. ‘Cop and Go’ from The Dead Weather’s forthcoming album Dodge and Burn exudes that raw tenacity we so dearly missed in the form of rolling basslines and savage guitar riffs. Mosshart’s vocals are particularly ravenous in the chorus as she snarls “please, would you give a little back to me?!” As the song nears an end, a crescendo of howls and a venomous guitar lead serves as a clear indication of the kind of ferocity we can expect on this long-anticipated release.

Floating Points – ‘Silhouettes (I,II &III)’ from Elaenia

Pluto Records

This three-part epic is punched into existence with a deep horn subsequently followed by a gradual jazzy breakbeat which has become common practice in Mr Shepherd’s music. As the song materialises, cello and piano begin to weave their way enticingly through the musical landscape. There’s a beauty in the way Shepherd is able to still remain true to his sound without becoming too orchestral. The best example of this is the breakdown wherein a harmonious and quite breathtaking collation of voices and strings ticks over that trademark Floating Points-esque beat. This track is a wonderful demonstration of Shepherd’s eclectic taste and highlights his unique twist on electronic music.

Battles – ‘FF Bada’ from La Di Da Di

Warp Records

‘FF Bada’ opens up in typical Battles fashion. The imposing organ sound that has become somewhat of a trademark of theirs in recent years, bellows over some jittery guitar-play. The New York math-rock trio then plunge their way into a crisp, intricate groove; the highlight of which being John Staniers’ tub-thumping, resonant drums. Regardless of the pleasant interplay however, ‘FF Bada’ seems to lack personality due to the mechanical nature of them being an instrumental outfit. The loss of frontman Tyondai Braxton in 2010 is a void that still, based on this track, is yet to be filled.

Hundreds of foreign students gather outside Barclays to set up accounts

Written by Joe Astill on 27th September 2015. Posted in News.

Recently, hundreds of students have gathered outside Barclays banks across Manchester in order to set up new bank accounts. One queue in particular attracted attention as it was so long that it looped around St. Ann’s Square in Manchester city centre several times.

Barclays have given international students the chance to set up current accounts in just a few minutes upon arrival to a branch as long as they present the required documentation that includes a proof of identity, a proof of address and a proof of study.

Barclays bank are the only bank that have the new technology. Head of corporate relations in the North West for Barclays is David Bruce, who explains that recent investment in top-range technology has allowed the bank to overtake others in terms of setting up accounts for international students.

This has meant that Barclays have had a huge influx of international students who have been able to set up accounts without the stress of waiting to get an appointment with other banks.

Unfortunately though, this has had the knock-on effect of meaning that Barclays have had to turn some people away because of overwhelming demand. And with no other banks offering the speedy service some students could be waiting over a month for an appointment.

Ivy Church: Providing students with a friendly face

Written by Alex Daniel on 27th September 2015. Posted in Lifestyle.

Halls can be tricky, nights out can be daunting, and the new workload can overwhelm even the most committed fresher by the end of week three. In short, every now and then one just yearns for a friendly face and this is what Ivy Church can provide for students in need.

Based in Didsbury, this Christian faith group have been unremittingly standing outside Owens Park every evening during Freshers’ Week, and will continue to offer care and support (for those so inclined) for as long as it is required. Their mission towards students is simple. They seek to provide refuge for those who are finding that the start-of-term whirl of beer pong, freshers’ excitement and Fifth ecstasy more difficult than expected.

They hope that those who are struggling with the intensity of weekly seminar reading, early morning lectures and fast-approaching coursework deadlines can approach them for advice. It is important to remember too, that for most freshers, this is the first prolonged stretch of time that they have spent away from home. This only compounds the issue when it becomes difficult to cope with your new life. Some turn to alcohol to deal with these problems, while some go into their shell and find themselves feeling alone. Some even turn to drugs. Ivy Church is there to help with any problem, big or small.

Ivy Church maintains that the most important thing you can ever learn is “How much God the Father loves you, because Jesus Christ has done everything necessary for you to live an amazing and powerful life, now and forever.” You don’t need to shell out nine grand a year for that piece of education either.

Indeed, if you’re a Christian looking for a new community, they recommend that you approach them as they are a “going” church. On their website, they state: “We want to see Jesus’ love reach the last, the least and the lost both in the UK and to the ends of the earth.” Whether you’re a Christian or you’re just looking for a new community, they will welcome you with open arms. They are also missionaries, willing to spread their message beyond the confines of those already committed to Jesus. If you need advice on faith or a new direction in life, it is as simple as talking to those friendly people at Ivy Church, who have been stationed outside your new home every evening this week.

If you are struggling with your first few weeks at the University of Manchester, or have encountered new problems at the beginning, second or even third year and beyond, go and have a word. They will listen to what you have to say, and you never know where it might take you.

Overheard on Campus

Written by Alice Williams on 27th September 2015. Posted in Lifestyle.

“But how would they know there’s no semen in the Ali G sleeping pods? I wouldn’t want to lie in semen.”

-Overheard in Ali G

“This carpet is the carpet I’d give my Sims when I was going to kill them.”

-Overheard in Samuel Alexander

“Russell Brand would definitely let you do what you wanted with him.”

-Overheard in Owens Park

“That would be the title of your autobiography—Lights Off, Clothes Off, Turned Off.”

-Overheard in Withington Sainsburys

Kick the Habit with Stoptober

Written by Aj Mal on 27th September 2015. Posted in Lifestyle.

Lingering smells, brown teeth and fingers, and less money in your pocket. There have never been more reasons and more ways to give up smoking. As well as the obvious benefits to anyone standing nearby, giving up could reduce the risk of heart disease, gum disease, and cancer.

Whilst smoking has been banned from bars and clubs, this has led to some rather appealing outdoor smoking spaces and pub gardens. However, there is no need to avoid these as they can be a lovely place for an alfresco drink or meal on the odd sunny Manchester day—it does happen!

The fantastic Stoptober campaign offers help and advice in stopping smoking. This year’s campaign features a variety of well known comedians, including Al Murray, Shappi Korsandi, and University of Manchester Medical School graduate, Lee Nelson (Simon Brodkin).

As well as television adverts, there will be live comedy performances, roadshows and a website full of tips on how to kick the habit. Advice includes ways to make giving up easier, including nicotine patches. Taking up a new hobby is also recommended as a way to keep your hands and mind occupied, with suggestions including waving at friends or making heavy metal hand signs!

If you and a few of your friends wanted to get involved, evidence has proven that ‘social quitting’ can dramatically improve your chances of successfully stopping for good. In fact, you’re 36 per cent more likely to quit if your friend does with you. On the flip side, the research also shows that you are 61 per cent more likely to smoke if your boyfriend, girlfriend, or best friend does, showing the powerful effect that your peers have on your own smoking behaviour.

Over a quarter of a million people across the country signed up to Stoptober last year with more than half making it to 28 days. This year, it is expected the campaign will welcome the millionth sign up. By stopping smoking for 28 days you are five times more likely to stop for good.

So check out the campaign for help to quit, and a lot of laughs at the same time, and let’s make this a successful and smoke free Stoptober!

How you can get involved with Manchester’s theatres

Written by Elise Gallagher on 27th September 2015. Posted in Theatre.

Many of you reading this article might want to work within the theatre industry one day. Some of you might be wondering how to go about getting vital work experience or how to approach working in a particular field. With an abundance of university societies advertising hands-on experience, here’s how you can get involved inside Manchester’s theatres.

Contact Theatre is leaps and bounds ahead of its neighbouring theatres in regard to enticing younger audiences and participants. Encouraging minority groups to get involved is something the company particularly champion.

This week Contact Theatre is holding two taster music workshops specifically aimed at women aged 13 – 25. The workshops, running on the 28th and 29th, take place in Contact’s recording studio and will focus on participant confidence, music production techniques, and will provide an introduction to skills such as producing and recording. Regardless of ability and experience, these sessions are open to everyone in the age bracket, and they are completely cost-free. Just make sure you book.

Contact also offers ‘Young Identity’ workshops. Young Identity is Manchester’s young writers’ collective, which started off in Moss Side in 2006. This community-based writing project specifically for young people performs locally, nationally, and internationally.  The first project is ‘Young Identity at 6’, which is a weekly creative writing workshop run on a Tuesday, seeking to aid new, budding writers in the development of their craft and performance skills. It is encouraged that you attend these as an introduction to the Young Identity Project.  The Young Identity workshops operated at Contact gravitate towards poetry and spoken word workshops, which are suitable for 13 – 25 year olds. These workshops are free.

Whether your interests lie in art, film or theatre, HOME offers a ‘Young Creatives’ scheme, open to anyone aged 15 – 25. Every year the group puts on a series of workshops and projects—which are again completely free—as well as commissioning countless opportunities that are led by industry professionals. With a multitude of events and opportunities lying in exhibitions, cinema, theatre and festivals, HOME could be giving you the perfect leg up into your creative career.

Finally, the Royal Exchange Theatre offers a variety of ways to get involved. The theatre advertises opportunities to get behind-the-scenes experience, to be a part of community projects, as well as professional development and training opportunities.

‘Discover Young People’ have plenty to offer. For example, ‘Young Company’ is the resident company for anyone aged 14 – 21. Each year, 130 people join theatre staff in the hope of developing their skills in their chosen area.  Similar to this is the ‘Truth About Youth’, which is the Royal Exchange Theatre’s programme made in partnership with the Co-operative Foundation, which is designed to challenge the negative connotations attached to people aged 14 – 21.

If you’d prefer experience behind the curtain, the theatre also offers a programme specifically-designed to appeal to wannabe theatre makers. The ‘Young Leaders’ programme is a training and development scheme for aspiring producers and event managers aged 16 – 25. Each year, the theatre recruits 12 young leaders to work with the theatre themselves, giving you, if you are selected, guaranteed sought-after experience.

The theatre has really got all bases covered. For example, if English is not your first language, the ‘World Wide Workshop’ is a project aimed at adults in order to motivate individuals to meet new people who share an interest in theatre, whilst developing their English skills. On top of all of this, the Royal Exchange openly welcomes queries regarding work experience, training, and volunteering.

Concerning awards, the Royal Exchange’s ‘Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting’ is one of the most popular, with the competition being inundated with over 7,000 entries. This biennial playwriting competition is open to anyone who has written a play and who lives in the UK. The competition was inspired by bilateral ambitions: “to encourage and uncover new writing, and to build a national platform for exciting new talent.”

Since it began in 2005, the prize has grown into a nationally-recognised competition. With 15 prize-winners and £160,000 of prize money, it is clear why it has become the largest playwriting competition in the UK. The anonymous nature of the competition means that submissions are judged solely on their content. Winning plays have gone on to be staged not only at the Royal Exchange but at the Lyric Hammersmith and Soho Theatre with past judges including Michael Sheen and Maxine Peake.

Does your student house have ‘Britain’s ugliest carpet’?

Written by Eve Chaplin on 27th September 2015. Posted in News.

As students move into their new accommodation, a competition has been announced, one that could be an easy win for students across Manchester.

Posh Flooring are looking for “Britain’s Ugliest Carpet” and are offering a prize of a £150 Red Letter Day voucher to the winner.

With student accommodation being notoriously outdated, students should have a high chance of making the list.

On their website, Posh Flooring announce that “even people who have made a changeover to tiled or laminate flooring in their kitchens, bathrooms and hallways still have garish carpets lurking around in studies and spare bedrooms. Everyone who lived through the 1970s has certainly made a few home improvements that they wish they could take back, and we want to find the worst offenders!”

You are almost certain to find a less-than-flattering carpet somewhere in the midst of student central, Fallowfield and Withington. There is bound to be some ugly flooring lurking somewhere in Manchester student accommodation.

According to Posh Flooring, “spiralling flowers, art deco designs and patchwork colours adorn our floors around the UK, but not everyone agrees they make a fine addition to the home.”

Posh Flooring are inviting everybody to submit “Britain’s Ugliest Carpet” and whether it’s your own pride and joy, or if you wish to name and shame a friend’s carpet, simply send in any entries that you think deserve a mention on the Britain’s Ugliest Carpet list. More information can be found here.

To enter, submit your picture and a short background explaining why you think that this carpet is particularly dreadful to @poshflooring.

Cash or No Cash?

Written by Eva Katz on 27th September 2015. Posted in Lifestyle.

A student job can either be a lifeboat in the storm that is university life, keeping your bank balance afloat above £0, or it can be the anchor that drags your attention and time from the whole reason you’re here—to study. The big question is: Can you achieve the balance between student employment and everything else that a university student has to juggle?

With work comes sacrifice, that is unless you have some awesome magical unicorn job which fills you with eternal joy and slots snugly into your life in the clouds. It’s simply a question of what you’re the least attached to: Your social life, your studies, your sleep, or keeping out of your overdraft. Chances are you’ll have to miss out on a few parties or hours in the library in order to earn some extra dollar.

As you make your way through the years of university, your priorities should hopefully change. Time management is an essential life skill which, if you haven’t already mastered, university will teach you. However, to some this does not come naturally. If you are unfortunate enough to be one of these people, a job alongside your studies is probably not the best idea.

Another dilemma is finding the right job for you and your capabilities. Ideally, you want something that will fit in around you. However we live in the real world so achieving this (particularly as a student) is unlikely. Saying this, Manchester, being the bustling city that it is, holds some casual work opportunities that most students can only dream of.

Check out the job opportunities at the Manchester Arena or Old Trafford if you think you may need a cash injection every once in a while. On the other hand, try to find an opportunity that will compliment your studies whether that be some holiday work experience or some freelance work for a relevant company or brand. Keep track of new skills that you learn to really boost your CV.

Unfortunately, not all of us have access to the same level of financial support and therefore for some, getting a job is mandatory to fund the expenses of student life. The kind of job you choose could impact your studies in a different way. If you’re a bit of a night owl, guilty of watching television into the early hours of the morning and deliberately choosing lectures that don’t start until after midday, a bar or restaurant job could be for you.

Those of you who prefer the light of day, on the other hand, may prefer a role in retail, but be prepared to sacrifice those weekend house parties in favour of an early start in the Arndale Centre! But don’t be fooled into believing that student jobs are limited to the retail or hospitality industry, you can do anything you like—as long as it fits around your lectures!

Piggate and the darker side to university initiations

Written by Jack Howell on 27th September 2015. Posted in News.

An unofficial biography of David Cameron written by the former Conservative Party donor Lord Ashcroft made headlines this week after making some of the most bizarre allegations in recent political memory.

The book, to be published serially in the Daily Mail, not only claims the Prime Minister was aware of the peer’s offshore tax status before the 2010 general election, but also asserts that he was involved in drug taking and a somewhat unconventional initiation ceremony involving a dead pig during his time as a student at Oxford University.

Co-written by award winning investigative journalist Isabel Oakeshott, the biography claims to have seen photographic evidence of the hog-related incident from its only source. Number 10 refused to comment but, inevitably, bemused journalists, politicians and commentators competed on Twitter and in papers to make the best pig-related puns.

‘Typical!”, Paddy Ashdown tweeted. “David Cameron once again hogging the headlines at the Lib Dem Conference.” Even the Russian embassy rose to the occasion, following @CameronPig—a spoof account which had amassed almost 20,000 followers by Tuesday morning.

Of course, ceremonies like this are not exclusive to Oxbridge dining clubs. Students across the UK are familiar with initiation horror stories which are, although perhaps less disturbing, similarly humiliating and degrading. In April 2014, The Independent reported at length how a student in the Midlands was made to eat fish heads and drink spirits from a pig’s heart during an initiation ceremony.

Similarly, a Welsh university’s rugby team was reported to have forced their players to eat dog food and drink milk until they vomited into a bucket, the contents of which—after being urinated into—was then fed back to them. Even more shockingly, students at Welsh universities have been forced to eat tampons which had been inserted into their teammates’ anuses, according to a report from the Huffington Post earlier this year.

Stories like this are disgusting, degrading, and numerous. It is also often the case, especially with male sports clubs, that such ceremonies are also sexist or homophobic. Last year, a leaflet distributed to freshers by the LSE Men’s Rugby Club described women who play sports as, among other things, “beast like,” and claimed that the club would “not tolerate any homosexual debauchery.” The incident received wide coverage and the club was disbanded.

Similarly, in November 2014, The Guardian reported the suspension of Oxford’s Pembroke Rugby Club following the distribution of an email entitled ‘Free Pussy’, which encouraged players to spike the drinks of female freshers during an initiation party.

‘Rape banter’ and pressure to engage in overtly misogynistic and predatory behaviour like this appears to have become integral to not only many initiation ceremonies at British universities, but the very functioning of some of our sports clubs and societies. With one in seven women having suffered sexual assault according to the NUS, and as many as 90 per cent of rapes going unreported according to Rape Crisis England & Wales, many believe the attitudes and ignorance such ceremonies reflect and encourage is simply unacceptable.

Jess Lishak, University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer, said: “We take lad culture and sexual harassment very seriously and have a zero tolerance approach to any form of harassment, discrimination and bullying, whether that’s through initiation ceremonies or in everyday student life.

“With the ‘We Get It’ campaign, we have developed an online report and support tool, so that you can report such behaviour either anonymously or for further support.”

If you are concerned or worried about any behaviour you’ve witnessed or experienced you can contact Jess at [email protected] or speak to the confidential and independent Students’ Union Advice Service.

TV Binge: Narcos

Written by Barney Weston on 27th September 2015. Posted in Film.

Netflix is the primary way to engage in any TV binge, especially when what you’re watching is a Netflix Original TV Series. Despite having seen a trailer for Narcos go viral on YouTube, I hadn’t come across anyone declaring this show a must-watch. Having now waded halfway through Season One, I still don’t understand why I haven’t found anyone with whom I can share my passion for this incredible show.

Narcos is a take on Pablo Escobar and the efforts of the Colombian authorities and US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents to stop him. A notorious Colombian drug lord, regarded as the wealthiest criminal in history with an estimated known worth of $30 billion, the ‘King of Cocaine’ is often regarded as the reason why life in Colombia was, and is, so bloody.

The series’ violence reflects this brilliantly. Each episode is filled with dramatic, tension-filled stand offs where friends will be talking menially, before pulling guns on each other; DEA agents are continuously raiding cocaine labs; drive-bys are frequent (leaving you nervous every time a conversation takes place in a car); and assassination attempts come out of nowhere, leaving the series with a kill-count that puts Game of Thrones to shame.

The truth behind each of these scenes of violence also makes the series stand out. Archival footage is mixed into the plot to emphasise this and it is refreshing to see an actual photo of Pablo Escobar instead of the man who is portraying him (something that is unfortunately not done in almost any other form of entertainment based on a true story nowadays). This footage, as well as the use of the main DEA agent’s narration, played by Boyd Holbrook, are both extremely well-woven into the series threads, taking time to inform viewers of the specific details, instead of throwing them away.

The characters, too, are well integrated into the series. Drug lord José Rodriguez Gacha, played by Luis Guzmán, and another DEA agent, Javier Peña, played by Pedro Pascal, are both to be lauded. Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar, as well, is fantastic. It is difficult not to like this man, and the show does well to test whether you’re comfortable with this or not.

All of this fits into a different narrative in regards to the drugs scene of the 1970s and 80s. One far away from the cocaine-filled streets of Miami and instead closer to the cocaine labs of Colombia. Here, macho men drug lords reminiscent of Al Pacino’s Scarface, as well as some of the characters from Breaking Bad, rule both the day and the night, and they always speak in their native language, leaving the series littered with extremely satisfying scenes full of Spanish (don’t worry, there are subtitles).

Luckily, viewers are slowly catching on to this fantastic series and the fact that Season Two has already been confirmed for next year assures me that Netflix is committed to producing great content.

All ten episodes of Narcos are available to stream on Netflix. The release date for the show’s second season is yet to be revealed.

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Month: September 2015