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Month: July 2018

Campaign to recognise misogyny as hate crime to launch this week

All over Manchester this year, there have been events making 100 years since Women’s Suffrage.

And they show no signs of slowing down — On Wednesday 18th July, a campaign is launching that will lobby Greater Manchester Police to recognise acts of misogyny as Hate Crimes.

The campaign is inspired by a similar one launched by Nottingham Citizens, and will see the Greater Manchester Citizens band together to “set the next benchmark of women’s rights”.

The day will involve performances by students at Levenshulme High School for Girls, talks from leading members of the campaign, and addresses from prominent members of the Greater Manchester community.

They have also written a letter to Ian Hopkins, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, stating that “Data shows that an overwhelming huge majority of young women (85 per cent) and nearly half (45 per cent) of all women have been sexually harassed in public places.  Yet, only one in ten received help after these incidents.

It ends by saying: “We urge you to agree that all police forces in England and Wales should record misogyny as a hate crime, so that we can begin to address the underlying cause of violence against women and girls, which is endemic in our society.”

New exec team protest poem by ‘racist’

One of the first acts of the 157th exec team is to paint over a poem on the wall of the Students’ Union building that they deem to be “written by a racist”.

 

Photo: The Mancunion
‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling, before the exec team painted over it — Photo: The Mancunion

The work in question is ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book. It was voted the UK’s favourite poem in 1995 but its author is somewhat of a controversial figure, for works such as The White Man’s BurdenThe Jungle Book itself, despite being a much loved story by many, has received criticism for its apparently colonialist overtones.

New General Secretary Fatima Abid told The Mancunion: “We’re painting over a poem that’s not necessarily racist, but it’s written by a racist person.

Photo: The Mancunion
What the wall looks like now — Photo: The Mancunion

“As a Students’ Union in Manchester, we represent one of the most diverse communities in England and we do not stand for this. So, we’re going to replace it with a Maya Angelous poem [Still I Rise] which we think is far more appropriate.”

Photo: The Mancunion
The poem isn’t the only new painting in the union to have been criticised — Photo: The Mancunion

Other pieces of artwork have sparked controversy within the Students’ Union, namely that of the new mural dedicated to Steven Biko, the building’s namesake. Some have said that writing his name in camouflage print is offensive, given he was a pacifist who protested apartheid in South Africa.

Preview: Pizza and prosecco festival 2018

There couldn’t be a more perfect way to celebrate. You’ve finished finished your exams, and possibly even your time at University. To be honest though, you don’t even need an excuse. This event is just that good.

The Pizza and Prosecco Festival is back once again, returning to the Bowlers Exhibition in Manchester (Near the Trafford Centre). They’re on a whistle-stop tour starting Saturday the 14th of July, following on from their massive success sold-out tour in 2017. The event doesn’t intend on stopping any time soon either; the organisers have hinted at bigger and better things in the future too.

Photo: Pizza and Prosecco festival
Photo: Pizza and Prosecco festival

It’s an amazingly simple, but perfect idea: a touring festival makes  its way through the UK, stopping off at the likes of Leeds, London and Bristol serving pizza and prosecco. Its size and popularity has increased exponentially, and I cannot begin to wonder why.

Upon entry, people will receive a slice of pizza, an Aperol Spritz and even a pizza & prosecco bible to help guide you through the event. As always, there will be a huge variety of flavours of Prosecco and cocktails to try. They also make sure all those bubbles don’t go to your head, with different pizza vendors from around the country helping you line your stomach. They even have pizza cones!

Photo: Pizza and Prosecco festival
Photo: Pizza and Prosecco festival

The jam-packed day event is filled with music, laughter and bubbles, and offers such a great and unique experience to you and your friends. The event will also be hosted by an entertaining drag act providing spontaneous fun, together with various pizza and prosecco related games, with prizes to be won!

So, what are you waiting for?

Tickets are available here.

 

 

 

Preview: 2000trees 2018

It does not even feel like a year has passed since the last 2000trees but here we are again. Another year, and another stacked line up.

What started off in 2007 between six friends has taken on a life of its own. The festival has won several awards, including the ‘Best Grassroots Festival’ award at the UK Festival Awards last year, and has seen praise from various publications such as The Independent.

Its commitment to providing an affordable high-quality line-up and a great atmosphere has shone through every year and as such, the festival has gained a reputation as one of the best in the country.

This time we see headline sets from At The Drive-In, Twin Atlantic, and Enter Shikari, all of which are sure to bring an incredible set with them.

While the headliners are sure to deliver its always lesser known acts further down the billing that make it a weekend to remember. Here are a few of those acts playing further down the bill that get my recommendation.

Turnstile – Even if you can only see one act at 2000trees this year, make sure that this act is Turnstile. The NYC hardcore punks have been making waves recently after releasing their incredible sophomore album, Time & Space, earlier this year. Already having a reputation for a furious show, they are not one to be missed.

See them on Thursday evening at The Cave.

For Fans Of: Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, Minor Threat.

Touché Amoré – It’s been nearly two years since the emotive post hardcore released their 4th LP, Stage Four, and we’ve still not heard much since then. But to give them credit they have been on tour for a good while and they even dropped a new song earlier in the year. Will they surprise us with another? Who knows, but what is known that they will be a highlight of 2000trees. Their passionate and intense performance will be a sight to behold and is not one to be missed.

See them on Friday evening on The Cave.

For Fans Of: La Dispute, Pianos Become The Teeth, Title Fight.

Conjurer – Conjurer have slowly been proving themselves as one of the most interesting and best British Metal bands in recent memory. Including a dense blend of sludge metal, doom metal, and post hardcore their visceral sound will blow anyone anyway. It may seem tempting to see the goth punks Creeper instead but trust me, you won’t regret it if you spend you’re Friday night watching Conjurer.

See them on Friday night on Neu.

For Fans Of: Electric Wizard, Employed To Serve, Code Orange.

Blood Red Shoes – Despite a string of new singles, the Brighton duo have been fairly quiet over the past few years. It seems like forever since they released their last album and another one feels like a murmur. Still, the fuzzy alt rockers still have a impressive back catalogue to pull from and the chance of one or two surprises should make their set one to watch.

See them on Friday evening on the Main Stage.

For Fans Of: Drenge, Death From Above, The Joy Formidable.

Gallops – You wouldn’t have thought a mix of math Rock, synthwave, and electronica would work but here are Gallops to prove everyone wrong. Their dark and ethereal sound makes them truly stand out on the line up of mainly rock guitar based acts. They’re a bit difficult to describe sonically but if you decide to check them out you will not regret it.

See them on Saturday night on Neu.

For Fans Of: 65daysofstatic, Three Trapped Tigers, Talons.

Scott Hutchinson Tribute – Okay, I’m cheating here as it’s not really an act but this is not to be missed. The Scottish musician Scott Hutchinson (Frightened Rabbit, Owl Johnson) sadly passed away earlier this year. Frightened Rabbit were due to play this year and have always held a special place at 2000trees. So, to celebrate his life there will be a special set in the Forest dedicated to him. Expect to see special guests making appearances playing his songs. While there will be several tributes to him across the weekend, this is the main one and will certainly be the most heartfelt and emotional.

See it on Friday afternoon at The Forest Sessions, but also remember there will be tributes to Scott all across the weekend.

And on top of that, check out these bands (listed per day) if you can. Acts doing an additional Forest Sessions set are marked with an asterisk.

Thursday – Shvpes, Palm Reader, Press To Meco(Forest Sessions Set on Friday), Turbowolf, Boston Manor, Arcane Roots*, Turnstile, Marmozets, Black Peaks, At The Drive-In

Friday – Grumble Bee, Phoxjaw, Nervus (also doing two solo sets on the Thursday and Friday night in the campsite), Fatherson*, Jamie Lenman, And So I Watch You From Afar, Ho99o9, Twin Atlantic

Saturday – Luke Rainsford, Ghouls, Haggard Cat, Muskets, Woes, Beans On Toast, Bloody Knees, Basement, Skinny Lister, Gallops, Enter Shikari*.

End of year report: exec team 2017-18

The Mancunion has seen documents that provide an astonishing insight into the activities (or lack thereof) of 2017-18’s Executive team.

Some Officers, such as Riddi Visu and Jack Houghton, have had exceptional attendance at Committee and Board meetings, as well as achieving most (if not all) of their manifesto points.

However, some have been found to be either largely unavailable or completely absent at key points in the year.

Leading the line, Campaigns Officer Deej Malik Johnson racked up an expenses tab of £985 between late October and mid December 2017 — coming close to the Exec’s £1000 total annual expenses budget.

However, The Mancunion has seen attendance records which show that, during this time, and other than in the Students’ Union Senate, Deej was largely inactive in his role.

His attendance at the University’s University-Union Relationship Committee (UURC) — which scrutinises Executive officers and the Students’ Union as a whole — was the worst of any of Exec officer, at 33 per cent. He made no apologies for the meetings he did not attend, which is a requirement for Exec officers and other invitees.

He has also not submitted any UURC reports over the course of the year, which is also a requirement of the Exec officers.

Attendance at trustee board meetings is another crucial tenet of Executive officers’ roles. At these meetings, the trustees of the Students’ Union — including the eight Exec officers, external representatives, and the Union’s directors — meet to ensure the accountability of the Union’s leadership. Deej did not attend any until January 2018, and did not apologise for his December absence.

He did attend Senate in November, and passed a policy which proposed Academy 2 be renamed to Academy X, in honour of human rights activist Malcolm X. However, since this policy passed, no signage has been installed to indicate this change, nor is there any recognition of the change on the Students’ Union’s or Academy’s websites.

Deej told The Mancunion that his absences were due to “serious issues” in his personal life, and that, as a result, his mental and physical health throughout the year has been “stretched.”

He continued: “I’ve tried to make the team aware of what’s been happening — hopefully things have been communicated on from that, I’ve tried to meet my commitments as an officer as well as I could do given extraordinarily difficult circumstances this year.”

During this time though, he attended various NUS conferences (in his capacity as Student Parent and Carers representative), and claimed travel expenses from the University of Manchester Students’ Union.

During Deej’s absences, there was also another notable absentee: Wellbeing Officer Saqib Mahmood. According to SU staff, as well as friends of his, he left his position due to mental health problems in December 2017 and has not returned to work since.

However, a document on Companies House shows that his employment was formally terminated on 13th April 2018. As Companies House records require updating within 24 hours of a termination of employment, this would suggest he was still employed and paid by Students’ Union for four months after he stopped working as an Exec officer.

Additionally, Senate attendance records show that he has not officially been a member of Senate since at least February.

It is also not clear whether the position’s remit was distributed or managed in any way between the remaining Exec officers.

When confronted with this information and asked for comment, the Students’ Union said that the resignation had been made in March, Companies House had been updated in April, and that he had been a member of Senate until his resignation. They claimed that the records The Mancunion have seen are incorrect.

When asked whether they were aware of Companies House’s requirement for organisations to update records within 24 hours, the Union changed their answer, claiming that Saqib’s resignation was actually made on April 13th, in line with the records shown on Companies House.

When approached, Saqib refused to comment.

Another notable resignation was that of Education Officer Emma Atkins. Companies House shows that she left her post in March — at the height of strikes over lecturer’s pensions.

It is not clear who was responsible for taking up the mantle of dealing with this pertinent issue during her absence, although General Secretary Alex Tayler has liaised frequently with the University, as has Communities Officer Jack Houghton and other Students’ Union staff members.

Julie Henri, a representative of Take Action, the student group protesting for strike compensation, told The Mancunion that Emma could have done more to help at the time of the strikes, and at one point the then-Education Officer had said “that there was nothing she could do.”

However, incoming Education Officer Olivia Meisl said that “Emma’s departure hasn’t affected the PTOs [part time officers]”, and that “we’re also lucky to have a very supportive education team at the SU who are always there if we need anything.”

Emma also defended her record to The Mancunion, saying she left because she was offered a job which was “exactly” what she was looking for, and discussed it with the rest of the Exec and other staff at the Students’ Union before accepting, to ensure her leaving “wouldn’t put anyone in a difficult position or be troublesome.”

She insisted: “I didn’t leave the SU in the lurch at the height of the strikes, I did loads of work and lay lots of foundations down to support students and hope that the other members of the team continued after I left.”

She also said that the initial policy passed through Senate to support the strike should have fallen under the remit of the Campaigns Officer (Deej) anyway, but “probably” did the most work on the campaign regardless.

Other student leaders have noticed the absence of some of the officers. The Society and Citizenship Committee scrutinises the work of the Campaigns Officer, namely Deej Malik-Johnson. In the Student Union bye-laws, it states that these committees are required to meet twice per semester. This particular committee met just twice over the course of the academic year, and Deej did not attend the first meeting on the 5th of December 2017.

Jack Swan, a member of this committee, told The Mancunion that the other members of the committee were “very keen people” who were “willing to take up some of the work” that would have arose from the meetings. However, he explained that “the workload was unclear and the fact that we only met twice in the whole year definitely meant that we didn’t achieve a lot.”

He continued that, in his capacity as a scrutiniser, “obviously there wasn’t a huge amount of work to scrutinise”, but that this was due to Deej’s “personal issues,” and that therefore this should not be taken as a criticism of his work as a whole.

Adding to his previous comment, Deej accused the Students’ Union of not providing him with appropriate support during a difficult time in his life: “next year, as Welfare officer, I’m going to prioritise making sure that student officers and volunteers get the health and mental health support they need. It’s something that the union hasn’t been as good at as it can be, but that will change.”

However, last year’s General Secretary Alex Tayler refuted this: “student officers at the University of Manchester Students’ Union are provided with an excellent support package.”

This package, he says, includes each Exec team member being allocated a staff mentor, an “extensive training package”, and free counselling.

He went on to say that “if an Officer did not make the most of such support mechanisms then I am not sure what additional support the Union could provide.”

Finally, he said of Deej’s prolonged absences that “it is not easy to accommodate someone that is completely unable to meet the requirements of an extremely demanding role.

“It is recognised that the performance of some officers has been below the standard that students can reasonably expect and we are in the process of reviewing [our] scrutiny and accountability processes.”

Manchester Eats Festival to take over Heaton Park this weekend

In Manchester for summer? Waiting around before you graduate? Well, we have a great idea of how you can pass the time: by having some great food in the sunshine at the Manchester Eats Festival!

Photo: Manchester Eats Festival
Photo: Manchester Eats Festival

The Manchester Eats Festival will include talks and workshops from top celebrity chefs and mixologists, classes including vegan & vegetarian cooking, a chocolate masterclass and even cooking for kids.  It will celebrate Manchester’s growing restaurant and bar sector, and its reputation as the food capital of the North. Guests will also have the chance to preview new recipes and exclusive tasty treats across areas including a prossecco tent, gin garden, global food court and a healthy living zone.

Photo: Manchester Eats Festival
Photo: Manchester Eats Festival

Official charity partners the Diane Modahl Sports Foundation will be providing an activity zone on both days with interactive, accessible sporting activities for both children and adults. The event also features a dedicated children’s village and live DJ.

Photo: Manchester Eats Festival
Photo: Manchester Eats Festival

We’ve also teamed up with the festival to give you some free tickets!

For your chance to win a pair of tickets for access on both July 7th and 8th, please head over to our Instagram page and follow the instructions on our most recent post. Winners will be announced on Friday 6th July at 5pm.

If you don’t win however, here are the prices for the festival this weekend…

Ticket prices:

Advanced Saturday/Sunday Passes : £7.50/ £9 on gate

Advanced Weekend Passes : £12/ £13.50 on gate

Kids : Under 14’s get in free!

Tickets are still available here.

 

T&Cs:

The winner will be picked at random. The winner will receive two weekend passes to Manchester Eats. The winner will be contacted by The Mancunion to inform them that they have won. In order to claim the prize, they must respond by midnight on Friday 6th July.