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Year: 2015

Spending review: What does it mean for students?

Written by William Brown on . Posted in News.

The government’s spending review, announced this Wednesday, has seen a number of key policy implementations and cuts for the student population.

Despite strong protests over the last few months, the spending review confirmed that student maintenance grants for those from disadvantaged backgrounds will be scrapped completely and will be replaced by additional student loans. According to the Chancellor this review could save some £2 billion. However, this highly controversial move could leave students from the poorest backgrounds, as the National Union of Students calculates it, in over £50,000 of debt on leaving university.

The spending review also revealed two other key changes to higher education. Student nurses are to face huge cuts to their education budget. Tuition fee grants are to be axed and replaced with loans. According to Osborne this will help free up some £800 million a year for the treasury.

Parallel to this cut, Osborne has removed the cap on student nurse places. Osborne said: “Over half of all applicants are turned away, and it leaves hospitals relying on agencies and overseas staff.

“We’ll replace direct funding with loans for new students—so we can abolish this self-defeating cap and create up to 10,000 new training places in this Parliament.”

However, the general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, Janet Davies has responded saying that the change would leave the UK in a “precarious position” saying the move would make people worse off, put people off becoming nurses for the NHS, and would be a “big loss for our society.”

The news comes as earlier this month CEO of the NHS in England, Simon Stevens, described Osborne’s funding plan for the NHS as not “workable.”

Wednesday’s spending review also announced a shake-up in the student loan repayment schemes.  Notably, the review reveals that students who took out loans after 2012 will have to pay more in repayments through a freeze in the £21,000 repayment threshold until April 2021. Times Higher Education reports that originally the government had pledged to up-rate the threshold in line with earnings.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated that this freezing of the threshold for repayment means that the average graduate has to pay back £3,000 more than previously thought. Strikingly, the IFS also estimates that disadvantaged students, who will have taken the additional maintenance loans in place of the scrapped grants, will be on average £6,000 worse off.

Moreover, the Student Opportunity Fund will, according to the spending review, have its budget halved by 2019 – 20.

The former head of the Independent Task Force on student finance information, Martin Lewis, has described this as a “disgraceful move and a breach of trust by the government that betrays a generation of students.”

Many of these shake-ups and saving schemes have gone ahead so that Osborne can roll out new schemes for postgraduates and part-time students.

According to the TLS, students wishing to study for a second degree will be allowed to access a tuition fee loan from 2017 – 18, as long their chosen subject is in science, technology, mathematics or engineering.

Moreover, the current age restriction of under 30 will be lifted for those who wish to take post-graduate loans out after 2016 – 17. Instead loans will be available to all those under the age of 60.

Part-time students will also have access to a new maintenance loans from 2018 – 19. The government says some 150,000 students could benefit from this change by 2020.

The director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Nick Hillman, said: “The Spending Review could have been worse for universities and students than it has turned out to be.

“The improvements to postgraduate loans, the new support for part-time students and the protection of research spending are all welcome and better than many people feared.”

Lemn Sissay’s Christmas Dinner

Written by Liam Kelly on . Posted in Features.

Christmas is a time to be thankful for those around us, to gorge ourselves on delicious food and to give and receive wonderful presents. At least, that is what the majority of us have to look forward to this festive season.

It is difficult for the majority of us who are lucky enough to have such a Christmas that there are those in society—people with whom we interact on a regular basis—who do not experience any such enjoyment.

Young people who have left care are one such group. According to poet Lemn Sissay, the newly-installed Chancellor of the University of Manchester and himself a care leaver, big set-piece events like Christmas are the most difficult times for care leavers.

He has, in typically eloquent and emotive style, compared the Christmases of those in care, or who have just left it, as “like playing pass-the-parcel to the tune of Jingle Bells when everyone knows there’s nothing in the box.”

For care leavers, Sissay says: “Christmas Day can be the saddest, most distraught day of the year. I remember when I was in care, and when I left care, that Christmas Day was the worst day. So I get as much out of this as the people who come along.”

However, it does not need to be like that. In 2013, Sissay and a group of like-mined people began organising Christmas festivities specifically for those young people who have left care and will have no family or friends to celebrate Christmas with. They started in Manchester and Hackney, and have expanded to Leeds for 2015.

Members of the group give up their own time at Christmas to help put an end to such miserable Christmas experiences felt by young care leavers.

Now in its third year—and growing—Sissay’s collective is hosting Christmas dinner for over 150 care leavers aged between 16 and 30 in Manchester, Leeds, and Hackney—those who would otherwise be alone without family and friends to be a part of the festivities.

This Christmas, the young care leavers will be given a delicious, home-cooked Christmas meal, and bespoke gifts, bought with public donations.

Homemade Christmas dinners and bespoke gifts will be given out in Manchester, Leeds and Hackney this Christmas. Photo: The Christmas Dinner

Today, the group has volunteers from an incredibly broad cross-section of society: From paediatricians to teachers, surgeons to social workers—even unemployed people have given up their time to help host the dinners. Members of the cast of Coronation Street and EastEnders turned up to the Manchester and Hackney events last year.

Sissay is unequivocal about why he feels such an initiative needs to be undertaken: “So that no care leaver, on Christmas Day, is alone, on the streets, in a B&B, or in desperate need. I want us to start taking our responsibility as a community to look after them on that particular day.”

Facing Christmas alone is staggeringly tough, and part of what Sissay is doing is to provide respite from the hardship: “They need to have fun, they need to have a great, joyous experience, and wonderful presents.

“We want to say: ‘Put your feet up, relax, and let us treat you. Let’s make a memory, so that next year you have something really positive to look back on.’

“It’s not like a group therapy session though—it’s a laugh.”

This year’s festivities promise to be the biggest yet, and future growth seems assured. However, Sissay is adamant that this won’t become a national charity—with all the bureaucracy that would entail—but a grassroots movement of altruistic communities.

“I don’t want to go national and create a formula through a series of management committees and provide justifications to people: It has be born out of the grassroots, it has to be people in the community giving up their own time and giving something back.”

The University of Manchester has provided a (secret) location to host the Manchester event, whilst supermarket Booths, and Bailey’s Turkeys will be supplying the food.

However, Sissay and co. still require donations—and volunteers—in order to ensure that the everything runs smoothly on the day. At time of writing, £16,175 of their ambitious £30,000 target had been raised. It is critical that in the next three-and-a-bit-weeks this target is reached.

You can donate to, or volunteer with, the Christmas Dinner appeal at crowdfunder.co.uk/the-christmas-dinner-2015, and can keep up to date with developments on social media at #MCRCD2015.

Christmas markets evacuated in “stupid and silly” hoax bomb scare

Written by Tori Blakeman on . Posted in News.

A security scare on Friday 27th of November 2015 prompted a complete evacuation of Manchester’s Christmas markets.

Town hall bosses say a full security alert was put in place after a “stupid, silly” hoaxer made a 999 call in the early hours of the morning.

In connection with the incident in Albert Square, a 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of malicious communication.

 

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “At 4:50am on Friday 27 November 2015, police received an abandoned 999 call regarding the Christmas Markets in Manchester city centre. Later, a man claimed a ‘package’ had been left in the market.”

The 19-year old, thought to be an intoxicated student, remains in police custody for questioning.

During the evacuation on Friday morning, the Christmas markets outside the town hall were sealed off, with PCSOs patrolling the entrances. Other officers and sniffer dogs were seen to be searching the closed stalls in the Albert Square region, reportedly looking between and underneath the outlets for suspicious items.

Trading at the markets was delayed for around two hours whilst police ensured there was no danger to the public. The site was first re-opened to traders at around midday, and then fully re-opened to the public just before 1pm.

Earlier in the day, city councillor Pat Karney said: “This stupid, silly person has triggered our full security response and officers are now searching the stalls. I hope when he sobers up he realises the mayhem he has caused. We believe it will be business as usual again soon.”

Manchester City Council’s executive member for Neighbourhoods, councillor Nigel Murphy, emphasised that “there is no threat to public safety” after the hoax. He also commended the security systems of Manchester’s Christmas markets, stating: “The markets have the appropriate security systems in place, and although we would prefer to never have to test them, it’s reassuring that the markets are as safe as they can be and the safety of our visitors is paramount.”

In a statement by Greater Manchester Police, Chief Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry, said: “Based on the nature of information we received, we conducted a thorough search of the area and found nothing suspicious or a threat to the public. I understand people may have been frustrated by the closure but I would like to thank them for their patience.

“We take all incidents such as this extremely seriously and the safety of the community we serve is our priority. We have plans in place with the Local Authority for instances such as this and they were implemented successfully.”

Walk of Shame tips….

Written by Aj Mal on . Posted in Lifestyle.

For some, the ‘walk of shame’ is usually accompanied by a grin, a confident sexually-assured saunter home and loudly slamming the door in the morning to make sure every house or flat mate knows what time you got in.

But for those who do not like to kiss and tell, here are a few tips to wash away the eau du sexe.

Firstly, hygiene is key. Although this depends on your eagerness to get away, a shower is advisable. Before setting off, one should at least try to wash away the alcohol, sweat and the lasting aroma of that dodgy take away from the night before. Freshly washed hair will confuse your witnesses. Erasing smudged lipstick, club entry stamps and mud stains may even leave you in an acceptable enough state that fellow Magic Bus passengers will not shun you.

Comfort is also of extreme importance. Nothing says walk of shame like a pair of too-high heels, sex hair and smudged makeup. A pair of flats, a makeup wipe and a toothbrush could make all the difference but honestly, who has that kind of space in their night out bag anyway!?

Second of all, timing. Not so early that it seems as if you deeply regret what you have just done. Not too late so that the whole world is already awake to witness your shame.  Staring intently at the ground, red faced and wishing you were elsewhere whilst people pass you on their way to work, families on their way to church and your friends on their way out of the house, is not advised.

Practice walking in dodgy footwear. Even doing this in the gym on the treadmill will be more useful than doing it in comfortable running trainers. Hey, maybe you can even practice after a few drinks to make it even more authentic.

Fourthly, assuming that last night was a sexual extravaganza, you probably did not get chance to fit much sleep into your schedule. However, do not be tempted to fall asleep on the bus home! Yes you are tired, but wait until you are warm and in (your own) bed before catching 40 winks.

Fifthly, keep it classy. That means no to carrying any half finished beers or takeaway with you as you walk — no matter how hungry or thirsty you might be. A hot fresh Dominos once you get in will surely do you more good than the stagnant piece of fried chicken you could not bring yourself to finish last night.

Sixthly, make sure you have everything before you leave. Underwear, keys and phones….all essential, you do not want to have to go back for any of these. A phone call the next day asking for your favourite knickers or boxers back is never sexy.

And finally…sunglasses (God’s gift to hungover beings). These magical glasses not only hide your puffy eyes or smudged mascara, they also hide the ‘I had sex last night’ smirk  glint in your eyes. You can also pretend with your still-drunk-from-the-night-before logic that because it is still dark (in your world anyway) no one can see you…

Music Beats Mines

Written by Daniel Saville on . Posted in News.

The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winning charity that works in areas and communities affected by landmines, unexploded bombs and weapons left as a legacy of conflict. Students here at the University of Manchester are going to contribute to the cause by holding an online auction of music and literary memorabilia from November 26th to the 6th December.

All money raised will go towards aiding MAG in continuing their work. Last year the auction raised £4500 which helped MAG to clear 3000m² of land, making life safer for communities dealing with the threat of unexploded bombs. Worldwide MAG have cleared over 20 million square meters of land of land mines, directly benefiting 1.1 million men, women and children.

This ‘Music Beats Mines’ auction will be selling items from big names such as The Editors, Scouting for Girls and John Bishop. Anyone looking to place a bid should keep an eye on the fundraisers’ Twitter page @MusicBeatsMines where they will be posting regular updates about the auction which will itself be held on eBay.

Sport in the City: The Fifth Manchester ‘Christmas Pudding 5 Mile Dash’

Written by Adam Selby on . Posted in Sport.

Over the course of the academic year, as well as paying close attention to, and prioritising the progress and successes of, our university’s very own societies, teams and campus sports, let our new Sport in the City feature tempt you into a very different sporting day out. Whether it’s a new sport, a team about whom you did not know, or just an event that interests us, we hope that we will be able to entice you to explore the wide sporting variety that the city has to offer during your time studying at the University of Manchester.

In the spotlight this week: The Fifth Manchester Christmas Pudding 5 Mile Dash

Well… what is it?

As the calendar in a wide range of sports other than football begins to wind down ahead of the upcoming Christmas break, it is credit to Manchester’s diversity that even in the lead up to Christmas, there are sports and competitions still available to enter. And with end of the semester well and truly on the horizon, why not get into the Christmas spirit in a much more productive way than an afternoon spent shopping in the Trafford Centre. That’s right, this section has searched high and low for sporting activities for you to go to watch, but now it’s time to get physical with a festive charity fun-run, raising money for Greenmount Wild Bird Hospital in Bury. The Fifth Manchester Christmas Pudding 5 Mile Dash, however, is no ordinary 8km run, and on its completion you get more than just a medal to reward your efforts. Throughout the race there are Christmas Puddings and other Festive goodies on offer. What’s more, a mince pie awaits you at the end. Certainly much more of an incentive than usual to get yourself over the finish line, right? Also, don’t panic, the route is suitable for both experienced runners and beginners alike, so there’s no need to have done any real training as such.

How do I get there?

For a fifth time, the annual run will be hosted in Wythenshawe Park, South Manchester, M23 0AB. The run itself consists of a flat offroad course using the footpaths, fields and trails in the park, so make sure to come with proper sports trainers for running in! Luckily, with regards to transport, in comparison to what seemed like an absolute voyage to get to Salford City, Wythenshawe Park is definitely much easier to get to. The Manchester City Council website advises that if you are heading from Manchester City Centre you can catch a 101 bus operated by Stagecoach or a 370 bus from Didsbury. Bus stops are located nearby on Princess Parkway and Altrincham Road, but you really should not encounter any difficulties if you ask the bus driver on either service for Wythenshawe Park. For those lucky enough to have a car with them here in Manchester, take either the M60, leaving at Junction 5, or alternatively the M56, at Junction 3, onto Princess Parkway. The main entrance to the park is located on Wythenshawe Road and should be signposted en route to your destination.

But how much does it cost to get in?

For those wishing to take part in the fun-run, you can pay on the day (subject to the availability of places on the day of the race, please consult http://www.nice-work.org.uk for more information) but it is recommended that you sign up in advance, not just to secure your place in the run but also to receive entry at a discounted rate. And although you can register your interest and sign up for the run by post, I would personally suggest booking your entry to the race through the website listed above. The online cost for a non-club runner in advance amounts to £16.70 for the full five mile race, with the opportunity to pay a lesser £6.20 if you wish to compete in an adult 1 mile scurry. All proceeds again go to the Greenmount Wild Bird Hospital in Bury. So with only 350 spots in the race up for grabs, don’t hesitate to sign up!

What are the facilities like? 

Unlike some of the arenas and stadiums this feature has documented in recent weeks, a public park is probably one of the easier locations that will be mentioned, both for us to describe and for you to imagine! However, take it from me, the park is set in 109 hectares of open parkland in South Manchester, with historic and ornamental woodlands, herbaceous borders, formal bedding, open grassland and beautiful wildflower meadows. In addition, there are three Grade II Listed Buildings located within the park: North Lodge, the Statue of Oliver Cromwell, and Wythenshawe Hall. Furthermore, during the 1926 regeneration of the area—led by Manchester City Council in partnership with Lord and Lady Simon to help Wythenshawe become ‘The Garden City’—the park was given to the city ‘to be kept forever as an open space for the people of Manchester’. But of course, neither the park nor the run are exclusive, and anybody would be more than welcome to compete in this cheery Christmas competition.

Tell me something that I didn’t already know…

Well, aside from the individual details of the run itself alongside the history of the featured facilities, there leaves very little to insightfully inform you about! Yet given we are a only matter of days away from the start of December and the opening of the first door on our advent calendars, as well as the dreaded search all over for that elusive £12 Primark Christmas jumper, it is only fair to try to focus on the true meaning of Christmas; not the giving and receiving of presents or eating enough chocolate until you explode but instead thinking of and helping those less fortunate at this time of year. This is something, however, that our hosts Greenmount Wild Bird Hospital thankfully do all year round, since they are a group dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of injured, ill and orphaned birds. Founded in 1979, the group is run by a team of volunteers who work tirelessly to rehabilitate around 1200 ill and injured wild birds each year and hand-rear hundreds of orphaned or abandoned baby birds. They always aim to release each bird when fit and well, and work hard to treat any species of wild bird.

Finally, when can I see this in action?

The 2015 and fifth Manchester Christmas Pudding 5 Mile Dash takes place on Sunday 29th November at 11am. For more information and if you have any questions, please visit: http://www.nice-work.org.uk/events.php?id=51

If you have any requests for local teams, sports or events taking place in Manchester, or if you wish to be involved, please contact: [email protected].

Council makes move to open buildings for Manchester’s homeless

Written by Rossy Natale on . Posted in News.

Hulme Library and the Beech Mount children’s home in Tauperny have been announced as the first of the new overnight shelters to be opened for rough sleepers.

These two buildings, having been shut since 2013, are the first of the town council buildings being reshaped into facilities for Manchester’s homeless.

Homelessness has been a rising issue in Manchester, with the amount of rough sleepers in the city having surged by 50 per cent in 2014. The issue reached a pinnacle this October with the eviction of the ark homeless community near Manchester Metropolitan University.

In the wake of the eviction, Manchester United stars Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs began allowing homeless citizens to stay in their Stock Exchange Hotel. The council issued statements shortly thereafter about their own plans for reshaping abandoned buildings into overnight shelters.

164 new beds will be created between the two buildings. These are partly funded by the council and partly funded by charity groups. On top of this, the centres plan to provide support for medical, drug, and alcohol conditions.

A transportation system to move the large number of homeless in the city centre to the shelters is also being investigated by the council.

Paul Andrews, the executive member for adult health and well-being on the Manchester Council, describes this as a “lengthy process.”

“We have now identified the first pair which we can open and we’re now continuing to carry out inspections so we can open more empty buildings in other parts of the city.”

“While providing shelter and a roof over their heads is obviously a good start,” Andrews explains, “what’s really important is working with charities, faith groups and our own homelessness services to make sure the right help and support is available to rough sleepers so we can help them make the first steps towards getting off the streets for good.”

The buildings will be available to Manchester’s homeless starting next month.

Top 5: Books the Tories should read

Written by Joely Thomas on . Posted in Books.

There is no medium as powerful as a novel for providing a chilling reminder of the past, a stark reflection of the present, or a prophetic vision of the future. Here are five the current Tory government could learn from…

1. 1984, George Orwell (1949)

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”

1984 displays a society in which customs, language and social pressures induce passivity; a world in which even thoughts can be crimes under the tyrannical rule of ‘Big Brother’. Though often read as a critique of Fascism and Communism, we now find ourselves in a world where one-party dictatorships are no longer necessary for social control. Disempowerment is more subtle with pacification rebranded as securitisation. By making us fear the unknown, governments are able to track our movements and now, with the proposed Investigatory Powers Bill, decide whether or not we constitute a threat to society on the basis of our browsing history.

2. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932)

“The optimum population… is modelled on the iceberg—eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above.”

In Brave New World, consumerism rules the World State. Individual initiative and awareness have been sacrificed to the mass consumption of goods, whilst babies are produced in factories to fit the requirements of society. We see in the World State’s disregard for creativity, beauty and freedom the current Tory State’s prioritisation of science and business, at the expense of humanities and the arts, as we are told that economic growth is the meaning of life. Meanwhile, adverts and the media condition us from an early age into believing that happiness is to be found only in consumption.

3. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939)

“If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it ‘cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he’s poor in hisself, there ain’t no million acres gonna make him feel rich.”

Steinbeck’s novel is set in the Great Depression and follows a family from Oklahoma heading to the “promised land” of California in search of work. Yet, despite the rumours, they find the job market depleted and move from one camp to another in search of food and work. The large landowners, fearing an uprising, do what they can to keep the migrants poor and dependent. In this novel, California can be seen the promised land of capitalism, where expectations of more jobs and higher incomes are soon replaced with greater unemployment, poverty and social inequality. Police violence and their attempts to shut down a camp find resonance in the current treatment seen towards the homeless, squatters, and protesters.

4. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

“…racism exists but racists are all gone. Racists belong to the past… if you haven’t lynched somebody then you can’t be called a racist.”

Americanah brings to light the racism still present in purportedly liberal societies. Through an examination of the pervasive institutionalisation of racism and its changing language, Adichie highlights the injustices still endured. Whilst Nigerian-born Ifemelu goes to study in America, her teenage boyfriend, Obinze, travels illegally to the UK. Their romanticized notions of ‘the West’ also call into question such countries’ romanticisation of themselves. Much rhetoric surrounding immigration stems from the idea that, if given the chance, people would flock to the superior UK, yet Adichie paints a realistic and sobering picture of British life and both characters soon become disillusioned with life abroad and return to the place they call home.

5. Men in the Sun, Ghassan Kanafani (1962)

“He dragged the corpses one by one and threw them onto the end of the road, where the municipality’s dustcarts usually stopped to dump their rubbish…”

Men in the Sun centres around three men who seek to escape the economically-suffocated refugee camps of Lebanon for the oil boom in Kuwait and find transport in a water tanker. At checkpoints they must hide in the sweltering tank that eventually takes their lives, and in today’s climate of othering and inhospitality, the book has lessons to teach us all. It is worth noting the title—not Migrants in the Sun, nor even Refugees; these are simply men risking their lives to escape a desperate situation. Though heading for Kuwait, their destination could easily be exchanged for Turkey, Italy, or the UK. Kanafani thus humanises the dehumanised and, 50 years later, we are left wondering why people are still forced to die in the pursuit of freedom and dignity.

Anxiety: The Unwanted Guest

Written by Perisha Kudhail on . Posted in Lifestyle.

Alongside the fun and frivolity of university, social anxiety is that unwanted guest at the party. The expectation is that first years will experience social anxiety and then as soon as they make friends it will disappear. Although social anxiety is an experience that most first years go through, it does not mean that it is not an issue for other students.

Social anxiety is an excessive fear of social situations; this may sound extreme, but it is becoming an increasing commonality amongst students. Self-consciousness and fear of being judged is a large factor to the contribution of social anxiety. Classed as the third most common health problem in young adults, it is a surprise that social anxiety can often go undetected. Health psychologist Graham Russell outlines that social anxiety can often be mistaken for shyness and simply considered a personality trait. There are many situations that students encounter that can trigger this state of mind, and in turn it becomes very difficult to break.

A social setting where you don’t know anyone can seem daunting to anybody, yet for someone with social anxiety it can trigger a feeling of self-deprecation. The fear of being judged negatively can impact a student’s decisions and influence them even attending. This avoidance of social settings can prevent a student from interacting with their peers and even impact their educational welfare. Social settings can include parties, gatherings and even lectures.

Surveys have shown that amongst university students, approximately 10% of students were diagnosed with severe social anxiety. Although there is very little empirical research on how social anxiety can affect student well-being and learning, there have been focus groups which give us an insight into real situations that sufferers of social anxiety face on a day to day basis.  Presentations, a common form of assessment in university, triggers fear of embarrassment for 80% of students and for those with social anxiety-induced distress. In order to avoid this distress, students often remain inconspicuous in order to avoid public speaking.

In contrast to an academic setting, the drinking and socialising culture that is deemed a necessity at university can be considered as a challenge to social anxiety sufferers. They may be discriminated against and labelled as anti-social if they do not participate. This was an issue that sufferers raised in Russell’s focus group, and it was suggested that less pressurised social settings ought to be recognised. The notion of forced interaction is one that can be very uncomfortable, hence the focus being placed on proactively forming bonds rather than just the element of communication.

As many students remain undiagnosed regarding social anxiety, the desire for it to be explained more to students in university remains an issue. Many social anxiety sufferers feel that the issue of social anxiety should be tackled by the university. By offering services and support groups, social anxiety suffers may not feel as exposed, and could have access to a port of call.

Indeed, there are many situations in university that can be considered a challenge and maybe even a trigger for students with social anxiety.  Even in your friendship group, there may be someone suffering from social anxiety.

The University of Manchester offers Nightline as a way to chat about anything, no matter how big or small. The issue of social anxiety is often misunderstood, and Nightline is one way to speak about it, to a non-judgemental receiver, anonymously. The number can be found on the back of your student card.

Domestic abuse call actually for a spider NOT FOR ONLINE

Written by Georgie Hines on . Posted in News.

Australian police rushed to a New South Wales home after neighbours reported a series of female screams from a nearby house. Once officers reached the property, around 2am, they heard a male voice shouting “I’m going to kill you! Die! Die!”Worried about a potential domestic violence incident, police on the scene were surprised to find the man was alone. He had been chasing a spider around his house with a can of bug spray for several hours.

When asked about the women screaming the man became shy and replied: “Yeah sorry that was me, I really hate spiders”. Police said they left “after a long pause” and “some laughter”. One member of the force said “judging by the size of the spider, it is not a shock that the man decided to scream at it”.

Genetically modified mosquitoes may eradicate malaria NOT FOR ONLINE

Written by Rossy Natale on . Posted in News.

Researchers at the University of California Irvine and San Diego campus have finished  engineering a new strain of malaria resistant mosquitoes.

 

A new type of genetic engineering, involving cutting out segments of mosquito DNA and replacing them with malaria resistant genes, has been used to generate the mosquitoes.

 

A technique called ‘gene driving’ has also been used. This involves inserting the resistance gene in not one, but both of the mosquito chromosomes. This ensures that the malaria resistance is passed on to all of their offspring.

 

Gene driving is incredibly efficient; the researchers believe  that malarial resistance has the potential to spread throughout the world in as little time as one summer.

 

Since the implications of releasing genetically modified animals in the wild are up in the air, the mosquitoes are being kept in a lab while their release is debated.

Trump insults disabled reporter NOT FOR ONLINE

Written by Georgie Hines on . Posted in News.

Donald Trump is yet again in hot water after performing an imitation of a New York Times reporter with a congenital joint condition. He started his bizarre impression by stating “the poor guy, you gotta see this guy”. The Republican presidential candidate then proceeded to flail his arms and jerk uncomfortably in a mocking fashion.

Mr Trump was using an article written by Mr Kovaleski, the reporter in question, to support his claims that Muslim Americans celebrated 9/11. Kovaleski, has said “the sad part about it is, it didn’t in the slightest bit jar or surprise me that Donal Trump would do something this low-rent”. Trump has since attacked the New York Times calling it “poorly run” and the staff “dopes” on his Twitter.

Thousands of pounds stolen from Withington café Fuel

Written by Gemma Sowerby on . Posted in News.

Popular Withington café bar Fuel was broken into in the early hours of Monday 23rd of November, with thieves taking a till with up to £4,000 of cash inside.

The thieves made their way in through the roof, causing devastating damage inside the café, as well as stealing cash and various other items. They then fled through the fire escape. It is thought that the theft happened between 1am and 10am on Monday.

Manager Michael Dumbabin said: “I came into work and there was stuff literally all over the place. They had come in through the ceiling and kicked the ceiling from above and then climbed down on a ladder.

“They’ve not taken that much stuff, just cash from the till.”

A police spokesperson said that Greater Manchester Police received a call about the break-in and attended. She said: “Entry was made via the roof and exited via the fire escapes. Various items were stolen, including a till.”

Michael added: “There is so much equipment that could have been taken I can’t understand why they just took cash.

“The real problem is the absolute mess they have made. We have got builders in fixing the roof so it will be back to normal as soon as possible.”

This will be good news to the many students of Fallowfield and Withington who frequent Fuel, on Wilmslow Road, for their student-friendly vegetarian fare, and weekly ‘Quiz and Chips’.

Fuel was also targeted back in July 2011, when robbers threatened staff and stole money and one employee’s iPhone. At the time, Detective Constable Chris Cox of Greater Manchester Police said: “This was clearly a very distressing experience for the members of staff, though I would stress that incidents of this nature are rare in Withington.”

If you have any information about the incident, call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Fallout 4 – Review

Written by Robert Parris on . Posted in Games.

Fallout 4 is the best game that Bethesda has ever made. Everything from

the world, to the gun-play, to the engrossing story, has been crafted with a punctilious attention to

detail. Despite the fact that the basic formula remains the same, Fallout 4 retains the

engrossing, addictive qualities that have made Bethesda’s games so popular in the past.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Boston, you are free to explore this vast and beautiful open world

comfortably within its first half hour—a stark contrast to Fallout 3’s extended opening sequence. I

chose to play as a female character after botching up an approximation of myself on the admittedly

advanced character creation tool. Maybe I just have a weird face. However, I found that this fitted

thematically with the overarching plot of a desperate mother looking for her lost family in a hostile

world, which gives Fallout an emotional weight not seen in many games. Whilst it starts slowly, the

story builds over time and towards the end there are some truly palm-sweating decisions to be

made. It gets that intense.

Fallout 4, Photo: Bethesda Softworks

Over the course of my journey I came to appreciate more and more the sheer time and effort that

went into the making of this huge world. Almost every aspect of Fallout 4 is a monumental step up

from its predecessor. Fallout 3.5 this is definitely not. The refined combat system is the most

significant of these. Weapons are far easier to aim and fire than previous entries, and your tools of

destruction have a realistic weight and feel to them this time around. However, traditional shooting

is only one part of the combat system. The legendary V.A.T.S. mode makes a welcome return,

allowing the user to periodically slow down time and target the various body parts of your foes. You

are rewarded with a frequently gruesome cinematic ‘kill cam’ after each of these, so be warned: This

is not a game for the squeamish. You can now choose to pull out of V.A.T.S. at any time, and also

unlike its predecessor, V.A.T.S. does not stop time but instead slows it down, which creates some

truly tense moments. The changes that have been made to the combat are so compelling that it

might be enough for those who avoided the previous games in the series, for this reason, to

reconsider this title.

 

Despite the strengths of the main plot, the foremost appeal of Fallout 4 is the bevy of side-quests

available for you to undertake. They are numerous, they often take you to surprising places and all

are worth your time. Due to the strength of these missions, expect to sink hundreds of hours into

this game if you’re foolish enough to try to finish everything on offer. The best part is that you

probably won’t regret it. For the more nomadic player, you may occasionally come across a

legendary enemy, which is guaranteed to reward you a weapon with a unique modifier, and you are

frequently gifted with useful loot drops through mere exploration.

 

A huge new addition is the crafting system. Every weapon you find is heavily customisable, varying

from the optic sights to the gun barrel for your weapon of choice. Previous Bethesda games had

numerous items in their worlds, but most were vendor trash. Not so with Fallout 4, since these items

can be broken down and used to customise your weapons, and provide resources for building your

own settlements. However, I eventually avoided the settlement building mechanic, since my towns

failed to provide me with the adequate resources for the time and effort required to manage their

cumbersome interface.

Fallout 4, Photo: Bethesda Softworks

Another point worth mentioning is that the enemies, despite being some of the most intelligent and

freakish foes that we’ve seen in this universe, do occasionally succumb to erratic AI weirdness. Yes,

this is a Bethesda title, and there are some minor glitches and bugs that you will see across your

adventure. Whilst nowhere near the scale of the issues plaguing Fallout: New Vegas at launch, they

are noticeable when they happen, but they are not significant enough to break your immersion. If

anything, the glitches and inconsistencies are somewhat charming by this point. No, the real super

mutant in the room is the graphics. I have played Fallout on PS4 and PC, and simply put, they’re not

that hot. Fallout is artistically beautiful, but it just falls short of that next gen WOW! factor that I was

expecting. Non-prominent character models fall flat, and in parts the lip-syncing is so poor that they

are more reminiscent of a Team America character than an actual person. However, the graphical

inconsistencies and glitches get a pass from me simply because the developers focused on what

mattered most, in modernising the Fallout formula for current gen hardware. Other than the

aforementioned settlement mechanic, the gameplay is borderline flawless, and the game remains a

consistently entertaining experience over the 30 or so hours required to beat the main storyline.

Dripping in atmosphere, and a devil in the detail, Fallout 4 is a more than worthy successor to Fallout 3,

and makes me wonder how on earth Bethesda is going to top this with their next project.

 

In my opinion, Fallout 4 is a better game than Skyrim. I know, I’m as surprised as you are. Buy it. Now.

Belated Belieber or Bieber Berater?

Written by Eva Katz on . Posted in Music.

Despite being widely despised by the music industry and general public alike throughout his teenage years, Justin Bieber somehow managed to score the front cover of NME last week. His new album, Purpose, has unsurprisingly big expectations—with a pre-empted sales figure of 450,000 copies in its first week.

Not only does this album feature some chart-topping hits, but what’s more, Bieber seems to have taken this opportunity to humanise himself to both his fans, and the world, too. He even goes so far as to assert that he’s “not made of steel” in his song ‘I’ll Show You’. You may even start to sympathise with the unbelievable pressures, and continual abuse subjected onto this pop star—who, not so coincidentally, has a net worth of $200 million. This brings me to question whether the ‘good teen gone bad’ trend has finally come to an end for Bieber’s generation of young pop stars, or whether we have simply become immunised to their behaviour.

Although not completely unaware of Justin’s religiousness, I, for one, was surprised to learn that the meaning behind the album’s title was none other than God. One cannot help but wonder if this toned-down bad boy persona and commitment to faith is a promo stunt co-ordinated by his oddly named manager, Scooter; or an honest realisation at the atrocity of his own past behaviour.

As I listen to this album, there’s no denying that my previous flame of dislike for Bieber is gradually warming to him. His voice has finally lost its pre-pubescent whine and has consequently become rather sexy, and more appealing to the ear.

However, I cannot say that I am not mildly disappointed with Bieber. This album is clearly his attempt at showing the world that he has become a man, yet he has chosen to do this through revealing his sensitive side with a string of seemingly heartfelt ballads. Whereas I would have preferred him to have taken a leaf out of Justin Timberlake’s book, with his rite of passage album Justified, embracing his inner sexiness and thrusting it upon the world with provocative force.

Ultimately, I must admit that despite previously hating on the teen pop sensation, I have been converted to the reformed church of BELIEBERS. It must be said that the album contains multiple hits, and that makes it hard to deny that Bieber has succeeded in producing music that will even leave a Bieber hater’s feet tapping.

10th anniversary Bruntwood prize for playwriting 2015 winner announced

Written by Elise Gallagher on . Posted in Theatre.

Out of 1,938 submissions, Wish List by Katherine Soper was declared the competition’s winner on Tuesday afternoon. The winner was announced at a glitzy ceremony attended by His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, which was hosted at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre by Kirsty Lang.

Katherine Soper, who currently works in a perfumery on Regent Street in London, is the winner of the 10th anniversary Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2015—Europe’s biggest playwriting prize. She wins a prize of £16,000, and a residency at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

Wish List is Soper’s first play, and it tells the story of Tamsin, the sole carer of her brother Dean, whose crippling OCD leaves him housebound. Now that ‘Help to Work’ has cut all his benefits, she’s taken a zero-hour contract. If she doesn’t pack faster, whilst keeping her brother on track, she’ll lose out to the next in a long line of temps, and soon they could both lose their lifelines. A sensitive and delicately powerful play about trying to survive, when every system is against you.

Currently working in a perfumery on Regent Street, Katherine has also worked in Manchester’s Harvey Nichols. She said that, “This is the best boost of writerly confidence I could imagine.” Wish List was written as her dissertation play at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She also took part in Royal Court’s Writers’ Group in Autumn 2014, and developed a short play, Sundries, with the Young Friends of the Almeida earlier this year.

The competition, which runs every two years, is a unique partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre and property company Bruntwood. The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is open to writers in the UK and Ireland aged 16 and over. In the award’s ten year history the Bruntwood prize has given more than £160,000 to 17 different playwrights and has also developed 16 complete productions with 28 UK theatres.

Due to the sheer mass of submissions—the second highest tally in the competition’s history—the judges decided to present an additional Judges’ award! The plays chosen were: Sound of Silence by Chloe Todd Fordham, Parliament Square by James Fritz, How My Light is Spent by Alan Harris and The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver. Chair of Bruntwood and fellow judge, Michael Oglesby said on deciding to award an extra prize: “The extraordinary strength of this year’s shortlist led us to make the unprecedented decision in our tenth year to award an extra prize to reflect the exciting ambition and unique talent that made it to the final ten.”

Writers of all levels of experience are invited to enter plays, which must be original, unperformed and unproduced. To find out more information about 2017’s competition, go here.

Jonah Lomu: A tribute

Written by Toby Webb on . Posted in Sport.

The tragic news of Jonah Lomu’s passing swept the world last Wednesday (18/11). The immense outpouring of homages to the player proved to be a measure of how loved he was. Widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest players, he accumulated 63 caps for New Zealand, scoring 37 tries in the process.

Lomu’s playing career is astonishing given his problems with illness. At 21, he was diagnosed with a rare and serious kidney condition, nephrotic syndrome. He contended with this ailment through most of his career, taking several breaks from rugby because of it. That he is considered one of the greatest, despite having a debilitating illness, illustrates how good a player he was.

Lomu broke into the New Zealand XV in 1994, aged just 19. Despite having only two caps, he was included in the squad for the 1995 World Cup, which turned out to be one of the most justified decisions in the whole of sport. Lomu set the tournament alight, wreaking havoc on several of the home nations. He scored seven tries in five matches, two against Ireland, one against Scotland and four tries in the semi-final against England. His performance against England would go down in history. It was an utter embarrassment on our part. Lomu brushed past the opposition with such ease. Lomu was a thorn in the side of England throughout his career: he played 7 times against England, winning 5, losing only once, and most importantly, scoring 8 tries.

Lomu holds the joint record for tries scored in a World Cup (15). He was equalled by Bryan Habana in this year’s tournament. However, Habana has accumulated his tries over 3 tournaments and Lomu only two: he was a prolific scorer. Despite this, he never won the World Cup.

Lomu was a rare breed. Many rugby players have one or two outstanding attributes: Lomu had everything. Firstly, he had lightning pace. Playing on the wing meant he scored many tries by simply running around the opposition. However, when faced with defenders in his path, he could utilise his mass (he weighed over 18 stone). This led to the infamous moment when Lomu bulldozed his way over England’s Mike Catt in the 1995 World Cup semi-final. Lomu’s height (6 ft 5 in) meant he remained nimble despite his weight. Combining all of this made Lomu terrifying to play against: He had so many ways of bettering you. The decision to move Lomu from a number 8 position to the wing for the 1995 World Cup was another factor in his success. No one had ever dealt with a presence like that before. Rugby in that era was a lot to do with agility, avoiding contact by finding the space. Lomu pioneered a new style of rugby: using brute force to break tackles. The fact that he had blistering pace too meant that he could excel in the traditional style of rugby.

Lomu’s impact on rugby as a whole was and will always be enormous. Having such brute force and power in the backs was innovative. It was the beginning of the progression towards modern day rugby, where size is a universal trait rather than exclusive to the forwards. He went on to be viewed as a template for success. The current Wales team perfectly exemplifies the transition from agility to brute force. The 1995 World Cup team had David Evans at centre and Ieuan Evans on the wing. They weighed 80kg and 84kg respectively. The 2015 equivalent, Jamie Roberts at centre and George North on the wing, weigh 107kg and 109kg respectively. This illustrates the transition to power and weight in rugby. The weight increase in rugby as a whole can be linked to the increase in professionalism: dietary planning and physical conditioning. However, Lomu was the template.

Lomu’s career will go down in history as one of the greatest. While there are players, and will continue to be players, that surpass him in caps and tries scored, none will have the impact that he had on the game. He shaped modern day rugby, and this is what he will be remembered for.

In other rugby news, England have appointed Eddie Jones on a 4 year contract as their new head coach, following the termination of Stuart Lancaster’s contract. Jones is England’s first ever foreign coach.

Top 5: Surrealist Sculptures

Written by Ashley McGovern on . Posted in Arts.

5) Alexander Calder, Mercury Fountain (1937)

Dangling above a pool of mercury, Calder’s collection of thin arches and tipping tiers was originally exhibited, opposite Picasso’s Guernica, at the 1937 World’s Fair. It was intended as a political protest over General Franco’s siege of the mercury mines in Almaden during the Civil War. Like all of Calder’s mobile works, they really resemble renaissance scientific instruments; they are avant garde astrolables or the dismantled insides of an astrological clock awkwardly put back together—his motorised sculpture, A Universe (1934), in the Tate’s exhibition, turns every 45 minutes to represent planetary movement. Part political gesture, part alchemical interplay of metals, the piece hangs above a small pool of poisonous quicksilver and is far too dangerous for anyone to take a dip or even get up close to.

4) Meret Oppenheim, Object – Le Dejeuner en fourrure (1933)

Modernist apocrypha tells us that the idea behind the famous bowl and spoon wrapped cosily in Chinese gazelle fur was the result of a quip over lunch. Picasso joked to the young Oppenheim, who went around Paris wearing homemade furry wristbands, that she could wrap anything up in pelt, and so she did. It’s been the subject of much interpretation over the years. A feminist platter symbolising the greedy style in which male artists were tucking into aspiring female artists? A satire on the macho nostalgia for primitive objects that was rife throughout period? This iconic tableware offers a host of possible meanings to feast on.

3) Max Ernst, Capricorn (1947 – 1964)

Excited by the arrival of piped water to his house in Sedona in 1949, Max Ernst began to mix the newly-arrived element with cement, car springs and milk cartons to create a hulking portrait of man, woman and child. His wife Dorothea Tanning treated this totemic group of square-shouldered king, thin queen, and baby prince like a protective grotto sculpture, a stiff assembly of “benign deities that consecrated our ‘garden’.” As regards it’s zodiac title, astrologers believe that being born under the transit of Capricorn means that you will turn out to be very ambitious, philosophical and highly suited to government. No wonder Capricorn looks so stately.

2) Giorgio de Chirico, The Archaeologists (1969)

A male and female—a pair that have the polished, featureless faces of his well-known mannequins—sit on a couch with their insides crudely on show. However, rather than coiled intestines, we see fragments of ruins, temple facades, idols and some other antique finds. The pair seem to have ingested the ancient world.

1) Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone (1936)

Lobsters make a wonderful and rewarding sexual fetish, except of course for the crabs. Bad jokes aside, Dali does seem to have been genuinely aroused by the blushing pinks and hot reds of the steamed crustacean. At the 1939 World’s Fair, Salvador Dali staged The Dream of Venus, in which he dressed models up in a seafood fashion range, the lobster providing a erotic, surreal cover for the models’ modesty. His strange fetishisms didn’t stop there. His autobiography contains a passage on ideas for using telephones in a more creative way, including strapping them to a live turtle and ‘Edgar Allan Poe telephones with a dead rat concealed within.’

 

A student’s guide to the Christmas markets

Written by Polly Brown on . Posted in Lifestyle.

If a whimpering sound is heard, never fear, it’s just your bank account cowering from the Christmas cheer. As anyone with a student loan can testify, the dawning of the Christmas Markets is bitter sweet.

When it comes to the Christmas Markets, timing is everything. Timing is the fundamental component to the kind of shopping experience you want to have. If you are looking to have an efficient shopping experience, with minimal collisions and minimum stress, then going during midweek is best advised. There are no crowds, no queues and, usually, no push chairs to get in your way.

Of course, if style over substance is the aim of your venture then going at peak times such as weekends is when you’ll get the most vibrant atmosphere. With stowaway taverns and mulled wine stands around every corner, just the smells alone will mask the bitterness of an empty bank account and a rainy night.

This being said, for those of the student population that are, indeed, strapped for cash and still clutching onto the hope of giving half decent Christmas presents, the time to go to the markets is late. The success rate for bartering is much higher and the rewards more worthwhile. Many store holders are eager to get rid of stock during this time and will make deals they wouldn’t usually make. Let’s face it, no one wants a Reindeer ornament after Christmas.

The debate of whether your needs are greater than others is a moral battle all students must fight and one that gets greater still during the festive season. To buy or not to buy is always the question. It’s also a question that might never get answered if you don’t keep your personal belongings within close contact. Mancunions have been advised to watch out for pickpockets this year, as there have been a number of reported thefts.

As many of the beer taverns and bistro cafes do not have an abundance of seating areas, make sure to put your leg through any bag straps and keep carrier bags within eyesight. The markets attract a lot of crowds towards the end of November and it is easy to lose not only possessions but people. If you’re thinking of going in a group, it might be helpful to wear something distinctive.

Several of the stalls look identical and some of them even appear twice in various different locations. To prevent confusion and an angry call from your friend, wearing something easily noticed is, actually, a big time saver. No one likes to play ‘Where’s Wally?’ when there’s food around.

Thanks to extra visitors, the roads and buses are even busier during rush hour, so it may be advised to set off earlier than usual.

Don’t worry, however, your ride through curry mile into town will be rewarded. With food stalls selling hog roasts, waffles, and schnitzels, you’ll be in food coma central.

As the markets are spread out in various locations around Manchester, wear extra warm clothing. The weather is turning colder and the day will feel longer traipsing around the stalls. As already mentioned, many stalls appear twice but this does not mean they are selling goods for the same price. Make a comparison before any purchases. It could mean you can afford that beer at the end of the day. The beer that will drown your sorrows thinking about all the money you just spent.

Patriarchy vs. Matriarchy

Written by Grace Iona Annesley-Mair on . Posted in Opinion.

Germaine Greer’s recent transphobic comments have pissed off many people—including myself. When asked about her ban from talking at Cardiff University in a BBC interview during October, she responded by stating “just because you lop off your dick and then wear a dress, doesn’t make you a fucking woman.” She also stated that “most women” didn’t think that post or non-operative transgender people “look like, sound like, or behave like women.”

After watching the BBC interview, while observing the media firestorm, I felt irritated at the language Greer used and disconcerted by the way in which she discussed trans issues in such a blunt, inconsiderate and uncomplex way.

I’ll take this opportunity to say that while she may assume that “most women” think they way she does, I am not one of them. Greer’s comments seem to be laden with problematic assumptions about what it is to be a woman. First and foremost, the focus of her rhetoric seemed to miss a key tenet of feminist thinking: The distinction between sex and gender, the latter being a socially constructed phenomenon rather than an absolute truth. Secondly, Greer only seemed to mention one dimension of transitioning, namely the transition from male to female rather than the other way around. From the interview it would have appeared that gender reassignment is something only men do, which of course, is not at all true.

Even more troubling is the implicit assumption behind Greer’s words that by virtue of having a vagina from birth, that somehow each and every individual woman has the same life experience, and that we all “look,” “sound” and “behave” the same way. To put it bluntly, she—whether intentionally or not—reinforced the rigid biological and gender binaries which feminism has sought to challenge. It’s a problematic assumption and is a little too reminiscent of the ‘biology as destiny’ argument.

I hate to burst bubbles, but what constitutes being a woman is far more complicated than anatomy alone. What Greer does in this interview is what so many feminists campaigned against: Society’s obsession with our genitals. Being a woman—whichever way it comes about—is complex, and we know that womanhood is subject to a myriad of other factors which shape individual experience: sex, gender, ethnicity and disability, to name just a few.

By focusing on one side of transitioning negatively, Greer overlooked the importance of how the stories of the trans community can offer another layer of complexity to how we understand our fellow human beings and the world around us. It is worth mentioning that that trans people can offer important insights for feminist analysis. What better way to understand the workings of male privilege, or constructions of masculine and feminine identities than from someone who has seen these constructions from both sides? More to the point, people who have transitioned to become a woman will, inevitably and regrettably, have to live under the same oppressive norms that women are subject to, such as sexism and sexual harassment.

In the context of transphobic comments from feminists with public platforms like Greer and Julie Bindel, who stated that she didn’t have “a problem with men disposing of their genitals, but it does not make them women,” the need to build an inclusive feminist movement which does not shout down the experiences of others becomes clear. Of course, one can argue that Greer and Bindel were excluded or censored. However, I think its worth asking if they would be outraged if a man with misogynistic views was banned from the safe space of university—would it still be a problem then? Or is misogyny somehow palatable when directed at trans woman from a cisgender woman?

I always want to value the insights of feminists who have come before me and to take seriously their lessons and contributions to the movement. I also believe that its a two-way street. It is important for Greer and Bindel to do the same: Feminists across the board should listen to and acknowledge the voices which have been so routinely stifled and marginalised. They should also not try to reinforce the criteria of womanhood as something defined by biology alone.

Most significantly, Greer has a platform. Of course, Greer is known to have an appetite for the controversial. However, an appetite for the controversial doesn’t mean that we should take such comments lightly. While her statements did not explicitly endorse alienation or violence, they implied that the trans community did not belong and could not belong in the feminist camp. Her words stigmatised the trans community, and that is something as a feminist that I will not condone.

Safe spaces are few and far between, and university is one of them. This kind of rhetoric, whether intended or not runs the risk of legitimising bigotry and ostracising trans people by making them outsiders. To reduce a community to a product of their sexual organs alone is to demean, degrade and to belittle. The trans community is campaigning for the same thing which feminists do: safe spaces, bodily autonomy and the right to choose your own destiny, regardless of your sexual organs.