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Month: September 2015

Manchester travel deals

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in Freshers' Guide.

With all the penny-pinching in food shopping and pint finding when you start university, it’s often easy to forget that travelling can set you back a serious amount too. Even with Manchester’s Magic Buses trundling up and down Oxford Road at all hours of day and night at an amazing £1 a journey, travel costs can really build up. If you’ve travelled from a long way away to move to Mancheter, a trip back to visit your parents will cost a seriously steep amount. Also, when you and your housemates stumble out of a club at 4am and can’t quite retrace your steps back to the bus stop you got off at, flagging a black cab down off the street can turn a cheap night out into a pretty expensive one.

However, there are some solutions:

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”6″ gal_title=”Student travel”]

 

The transfer kings: Manchester City

Written by Harry Newton on . Posted in Sport.

Manchester City may not have been able to retain their crown as Kings of England last season, as Chelsea eased past them to the finish line, but they have definitely taken the crown for Kings of the transfer window. This window saw City add English talent, statements of intent and a few shrewd moves—all whilst offshoring some dead wood. Whilst Arsene Wenger remained motionless, Jose Mourinho panicked late-on and Louis van Gaal tried to work out what to do with David de Gea—Manuel Pellegrini brushed himself down and showcased City’s muscle to the world.

The British are coming!

After the exits of Frank Lampard and James Milner, it was important for the blues to get English talent. First in was Fabian Delph. This transfer was never going to look good—City had lost out on Pogba and United had just signed Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin. To make matters worse, Delph circled the roundabout outside Villa Park for three days, deciding if he wanted to leave or not, before coming to Manchester. But, in times where English players cost twice as much as any other player, the Villa captain and England international signed for a cool £8 million. Comfortable on the ball, a proven leader and a bargain means that Delph is a great acquisition for the blues.

In 2008 City spent just £6 million on Vincent Kompany—to then splash out £32 million on Robinho the day later—and City did something similar again in 2015. In typical City fashion, they followed up their bargain by spending £44 million on Raheem Sterling. Despite the price tag, Sterling has lit the premier league on fire in these early games and been one of City’s best players with a fresh injection of pace. City also added Patrick Roberts from Fulham to their books.

These players tick the home-grown box, and will only improve whilst in City’s set-up. Maybe one day they could help England reach a semi-final before the next millennium!

Star quality

City are a team filled with stars—and yet they have been struggling in the Champions League the last few years. This year City have addressed this and bought real powerhouses.

Vincent Kompany has always been the main man in defence and one of the best in the world, but he has never been given stability with a defensive partner as good as himself. Enter Otamendi. As one of Europe’s best in his own right, Otamendi could be the answer to City’s European woes! That is, if he can get into the team past in-form Mangala.

City didn’t just stop here though, they then bought another of the world’s greatest stars—the Bundesliga Player of the Year. Kevin de Bruyne, after months of pestering, joined the blues this August. Despite Silva, Agüero, Toure and the gang all being great attacking players, they have struggled in the Champions League, and de Bruyne will add that necessary bit of attacking talent to the team. It’s been a while since City have attracted a world class talent to the club, so to steal away the best player in Germany last year from the oncoming claws of PSG and Bayern Munich, is a great deal.

Arrivederci!

The Italians are good for many things—tailoring, wine, lasagne, and taking away the deadwood from Manchester City. This window saw Edin Džeko and Stevan Jovetić jet off to Italy.

Džeko may have scored some of the most important goals in City’s recent history, (let’s not forget that for Sergio Agüero to score the winner against QPR, somebody had to equalise) but the goals had dried out! A lethargic performance can always be justified if you finish the game off with a neat header in the corner of the net, but unfortunately Džeko‘s neat headers ran out and so did his energy, as he became more lethargic each game. Džeko leaves the club at just the right time—he will go away and score important goals for Roma and still be remembered by the City fans for the good he did.

Jovetić, however, didn’t actually do very much in his time at City—it is difficult to pinpoint a standout moment or a standout goal. Jovetić is a classic ‘could-have-been’ story. Despite the small return made on these sales, their exit (on such high wages too) will allow more chances for youngsters and Wilfried Bony.

They grow up so fast

This may have been City’s best window for a long time, but it wasn’t all good news at the Etihad! Despite millions being spent on a brand new training complex to further the City academy, we’ve seen a few of the youngsters treated harshly this summer. The entrance of Otamendi and De Bruyne saw chances limited for Jason Denayer and Rony Lopes, despite both being given assurances of playing time before the new enforcements arrived. Due to this, Lopes completed a permanent transfer to AS Monaco, and Denayer has been sent out on loan to Galatasaray. In addition to this, highly-rated Karim Rekik went to Marseille, and long-time City boy Dedryck Boyata left for Celtic.

Despite this, positivity does still linger! Academy prospect Kelechi Iheanacho (try saying that four times standing on one leg) has been promoted to the first team and became third choice striker behind Agüero and Bony. Furthermore, it is presumed that Denayer will return next season when Demichelis departs. With so much talent in City’s youngsters, it is expected that many won’t make the cut, but this won’t stop disheartened blues keeping an eye on the departing youngsters, to see what could have been.

Banana skins

Despite a fantastic squad at City ready to take on the world, there are a few potential banana skins to be aware of. City have left themselves with just three strikers—and Iheanacho has only played a few minutes of premier league football thus far. One injury (and heaven knows that Agüero and Bony are prone) could see City in trouble. Furthermore, Yaya Toure and Fernandinho may be more than capable to contain the midfield, but their back-up fellow centre midfielders—Fernando and Delph—may not be to the same standard. The big question for City this season is, will their depth be good enough? If the transfers of the other big teams in the Premier League are anything to go by… then yes it will.

Album: Synkro – Changes

Written by Adam Rogers on . Posted in Music.

Released September the 18th

Apollo

8/10

After seven years of releasing music under the moniker Synkro, Joe McBride finally unveils his highly anticipated debut album Changes. The LP is being released under R&S off-shoot Apollo after several previous releases with them, picking up from where he left off with the Transient EP last year.

Changes continues the subtle shift in production style found in the Transient EP—as McBride explains, “I got addicted to vintage synths after a trip to Japan last year—I came back with a Juno6 & SH101, both of which play a big role in the album.” The album is all the better for it. Everything on Changes still has the classic Synkro approach: The raw emotion, the pitched vocal samples and the deep, brooding bass—but it sounds more organic than his previous material, and carries a higher level of production.

The album opens with ‘Overture’, an ethereal ambient piece that drips with emotion and swells with anxiety, before fading out into ‘Shoreline’, featuring previous collaborator Robert Manos. ‘Shoreline’ sets the tone for the album with huge, sparse kicks and an epic soundscape. There’s a feeling of immense space between the elements, held together by an earthly sub-bass that is surfed by Manos’ breathy vocals.

A highlight of the album is ‘Let Me Go’, showing a rarer aggression from Synkro. With a kick that can only be described as bludgeoning, there’s plenty of angst and tension which is a nice change to the ever-present melancholy. On the flipside to the heavier aspects of the album is the almost radio-friendly ‘Body Close’ with the lush vocal work of singer-songwriter Lyves. Clocking in at just over three minutes, the track retains a lot of pop-sensibility—it’s short and sweet but you’ll catch yourself singing along to it after a couple of listens.

The only real gripes to have with the album is that the tonal palette is a bit limited, where the bleak and cavernous sound becomes a little too obvious and repetitive, and that tracks like ‘Empty Walls’ that pass the five-minute mark just don’t really seem to progress anywhere. Regardless, Changes is still an excellent, well overdue debut album from Synkro, and one that showcases a more mature step for the artist.

Graduate unemployment returns to pre-recession levels

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

A survey of young people three-and-a-half years after graduating suggests graduate unemployment has returned to pre-crash levels, though a high proportion of these are in part-time work or further study.

The study, conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), shows that 2.6 per cent of 2011 graduates living in the UK were unemployed three-and-a-half years later, the same level as that of the class of 2005.

However, the data on those in full-time employment does not suggest we have returned to a pre-recession economy. The level of graduates employed full-time rose to 1.4 per cent to 73.4 per cent in the 2011 group, but this is still short of the 76.1 per cent high among 2005 graduates.

The level of graduates in work other than full-time—including voluntary, freelance, and further study alongside work—has remained high at 15.7 per cent, where the 2005 levels were only at 13.6 per cent.

The data suggest that while unemployment is falling, it is still not easy for students to find reliable full-time employment.

The gender pay gap remains present in the data, and while median salary for female first-time degree graduates in full-time employment is £24000, for men this stands at £26000.

While men were more likely to have secured full-time work three-and-a-half years after graduation at 77 per cent compared to 70.5 per cent, female graduates were actually less likely to be unemployed—2.3 per cent to 3.3 per cent.

Jo Johnson, Universities Minister, said the government aims to “ensure everyone has the opportunity to work hard and secure a better future.”

“These latest statistics are a further welcome sign that so many graduates enjoy high levels of employment, but there is more to do to ensure students get the teaching they deserve and employers get the skills they need.”

NUS call for “all-out defiance” of Counter-Terror strategy

Written by Charlie Spargo on . Posted in News.

The NUS has announced it will be organising a national campaign titled ‘Students not Suspects’ to oppose the government’s Prevent strategy to monitor students in educational institutions.

The tour will visit London, Birmigham, Swansea, Manchester, and Glasgow, in collaboration with civil rights organisation Defend the Right to Protest.

The events will cover the importance of knowing your rights, organising non-compliance campaigns, and talks from individuals who have lost loved ones at the hands of police.

Within the last month, the NUS has called for UK Students’ Unions to oppose Prevent, and the University and College Union (UCU) has advised its members on boycotting the Act.

Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, better known as Prevent, states that particular bodies, including educational institutions, must “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”

NUS Vice-President (Welfare) Shelly Asquith named examples of when the Prevent strategy has had a negative impact on freedom of expression on campuses: A campaigner for the living wage was monitored by police; three female students who raised concerns about the Act to their student bodies were suspended; a boy who took leaflets promoting a boycott of Israel was told he had “terrorist-like views”; and a conference on Islamophobia was cancelled.

“With the focus on preventing what the government terms ‘Islamic extremism’, the prospect of racial profiling and state-sponsored Islamophobia is all the worse: Black and Muslim students are bearing the brunt of a reactionary, racist agenda while freedom of speech across the board is curtailed,” she says.

For this reason, the NUS will not comply with Prevent, and support Unions and staff who practice non-compliance. It calls for Unions to work with UCU, organise a campaign, collaborate with national organisations, and pass Union legislation against Prevent.

NUS Black Students Officer Malia Bouattia said: “In bringing their battle ‘for hearts and minds’—and against dissent—to spaces of education with the new Act, the government is inviting to our campuses the same brutality that plagues Black and Muslim people at the hands of the police and state in wider society.

“After decades of racist laws and abuse, it is time students alongside their communities finally fought back.”

Asquith added: “Whether it’s campaigning for education or environmentalism, when students choose to take action we are often met with the long arm of the law. Spied on, beaten, arrested. We need all out defiance towards the lack of justice that is limiting free speech and impacting students’ lives.”

The tour will visit KCL on the 14th of October, the University of Birmingham on the 15th, Swansea University on the 16th, Manchester Metropolitan University on the 21st, and Strathclyde University, Glasgow, on the 23rd.

The University of Manchester Students’ Union has been approached for comment.