Anthony Joshua resumed his incredible knockout run after a stunning seventh round victory against Alexander Povetkin at Wembley. Povetkin, who has lost just once in 35 fights against Wladimir Klitschko, looked as if he could defeat Joshua with some impressive combinations in the earlier rounds. Joshua weathered the storm though, and gradually grew into the match as his opponent tired.
Half way through the seventh round Joshua landed a brutal right hook that dazed his opponent enough to land a heavy follow up with his left. Povetkin was now staggering and unable to hold his guard. More combinations rocked the Russian before a left and right hook send him crashing to the floor.
After falling over twice trying to get up, Povetkin rose to his feet as the count reached nine. However it would have been foolish to think this was now over. Joshua himself had been in this position against Klitschko but fought back to win, keeping focused was pivotal to see out this bout. He said before the fight that he feared losing to that “one punch”, Povetkin was a fighter who had the ability to turn a fight with just that.
It took less than ten seconds from the restart though for referee Steve Gray to intervene. Povetkin slumped into the ropes after a powerful left hook before ultimately tumbling to the floor again. Joshua had done what Klitschko could not manage five years prior, a win by TKO against the mighty Russian.
After the fight Joshua said: “Povetkin is a very tough challenger, he proved that with good left hooks and counter punches. I came in here to have fun, and give it my best. I knew he was strong to the head but weak to the body. I was just mixing it up.”
“It could have been seven, maybe nine, maybe 12 rounds to get him out of there, but the ultimate aim was to be victorious.”
The victory for Joshua comes less than a day after the WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury sealed the deal for their fight on 1st December. The next fight for the Englishman comes on 13th April back at Wembley, with the opponent yet to be decided.
“I’ve carried the burden of the heavyweight division for some years now,” Joshua said. “It was all about me fighting Wilder, fighting Fury, fighting Klitschko, fighting Dillian, fighting Povetkin. That’s all they were interested in, me fighting them all.
“I will always knock them down, one by one, but people have to be patient. I’m happy Wilder and Fury are fighting and good luck to both of them. I have no interest in who wins. I’ll fight both of them.”
Who he fights will have to be decided before the pair clash in LA later this year. “I don’t want to wait until December for him to win the fight, have his rest and then start negotiating because I’ll start training for the fight in early January,” Joshua said. “I want to get the fight pencilled in as soon as possible, this side of Christmas so I know what I’m doing next year.”
‘Queen Margaret’ was a dynamic and sustained exploration of history’s lost female narratives. Jeanie O’Hare writes Queen Margaret to stand among Shakespeare’s most tragic heroes in her modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V.
When approaching any Shakespearean production, I must confess, I approach with trepidation. How will they make this engaging? How will it translate to a contemporary audience? Will I understand what’s going on? Elizabeth Freestone’s direction is illuminating, playful and engaging. The potential for comedy is utilized in the modernisation of text. Sound is implemented tacitly in the mounting of intensity, and song is also adopted in a mournful reflection of war and its destruction. This was a much welcome change in the texture of the piece as an unrelenting ferocity reigned dominant.
Set in the round, there was a strong sense of isolation and loneliness created by a wash of blue, speckled with sea foam surrounding a green, circular platform. This theme of isolation permeates throughout the piece; as Queen Margaret (Jade Anouka) navigates her political role as wife to the King and bearer to his heir. She is left marooned with the enormity of managing established expectations against her more aspirational intentions. The audience in the round positioned them as the people of Henry’s England, side-lined, merely spectators of political game.
The set represents a hearing room for parliamentary affairs. In its modern adaption, however, it’s more Lord Sugar boardroom-esque, fraught with bickering and name calling, than a respected high court steered by a resolute monarch. Amanda Stoodley’s set is easily adaptable in its simplicity. A set of three circles hanging over the centre of the stage gradually fall out of alignment, exhibiting the culminating destruction to not only Queen Margaret’s character, but to England and its people.
The density of Jeanie O’Hare’s ‘Queen Margaret’ is undeniable: constructed with a richness of characters and a luminosity of political game and corruption. What she most explicitly presents is the abilities and the circumstances surrounding female leadership. In its modern placement, it’s hard to ignore the all-blue wardrobe of Queen Margaret calling to mind the party politics of Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher’s cabinets and parallels to be drawn to Henry VI’s.
Even the narrator-like Hume (Helena Lymbery) draws connections between the disenfranchised people of Henry VI’s England and the overwhelming disconnection felt by people in Britain today. Hume rejoices in the uprisings against Henry only to realise that it is the people who fare worst from war. she becomes powerless and morality can no longer be held when faced with the mere practicality of survival. She protests “I don’t even know what side I’m on anymore,” and perhaps that simple cry for explanation or clarity exemplifies our current political climate just as aptly as Shakespeare intended to speak of just and rightful rule in Tudor and Elizabethan England.
HOME cinema, as part of the Asia Triennial Festival Manchester, will be showing early films from four highly experimental, genre-bending directors. These craftsmen of cinema, namely Tsukamoto Shinya, Ishii Sogo, Ogata Akira and Sion Sono, helped spark a new wave of creativity in the Japanese film industry in the 1980s.
First up is Shinya’s gore-ridden cyberpunk film, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. This is not a film for the faint-hearted with its opening scene containing the cutting of live human flesh. Moreover, the film only doubles down from thereon out. The story continues as a black-and-white feat of manic revenge, told through shock, cutaway scenes and complete absurdity. The 67 minute film is low-budget, and it shows, but that doesn’t take away from Shinya’s unique vision.
The Adventures in Super 8 programmes 1 and 2 comprise two nights of the festival. Programme 1 includes another gift from Shinya, his 1988 creation The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo, along with Sogo’s The Isolation of 1/880000. The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo, also referred to as The adventures of Electric-Rod boy, concerns a metal-human monster and also involves time travel. Sogo’s The Isolation, meanwhile, tells the tale of a lonely man living in Tokyo. It employs slow-motion animation and pixellation to create a unique example of Sogo’s early cinematic storytelling.
Programme 2 is another double bill. With a run-time of under forty minutes, I am Sion Sono!! is an intimate artist’s journal, documenting Sono’s move from notable teen poet prodigy to young director. The self-portrait is arrogant in how nonchalant Sono is in making a film all about himself and his work. It is also energetic, raunchy and seemingly scriptless. In quite an odd pairing, next up comes Tokyo Cabbageman K, the 1980 work of director Akira Ogata. Unless anyone dares a remake, it may well be the only film you ever watch whose entire plot centres around a man waking up to find a cabbage in place of his head.
The final solo screening, Sono’s Cold Fish, is the only film of the series not to have come out of the 1980s (instead it was released in Japan in 2011). The parallels in the picture with the now-controversial director’s earlier work in the decade is perhaps the reason it was chosen. Fitting with the theme, this is a story loosely based on real-life homicides, with some black comedy thrown in for good measure.
The Early Films of Japan’s Punk Generation runs from 9th to 23rd October. Tickets can be purchased from www.homemcr.org.
Grimmfest is returning to Manchester in its 10th year to celebrate independent horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. It takes place on the 4th-7th of October at the Odeon Manchester Great Northern. The festival promises to be a thrilling weekend.
Festival coordinators, Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones created Grimmfest 10 years ago to showcase horror films to a greater audience. This included Splintered which the pair directed and was their film debut. To celebrate the 10th anniversary the film will be re-shown on the 1st of October at the festival’s preview night at the Plaza Cinema in Stockport.
Over the weekend there will also be screenings of short films with F-ratings. A film is given this rating for supporting fair representation of women and is a rating I’m glad is being used throughout Grimmfest. A film with an F-rating must have a female director or a female writer. A ‘triple F-rating’ which is the system’s gold star can also be awarded to films which include significant female characters.
The film opening the festival is Re-Animator which features Barbara Crampton, this year’s Grimmfest Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Due to it being the only classic film shown, it will help pave the way for exciting new releases. At The Mancunion, we will be covering Summer of ‘84, Piercing and The Cleaning Lady. However, other notable releases include: Nightmare Cinema, Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, Girls With Balls and Await Further Instructions, which are sure to please and excite all horror-lovers in attendance.
With hours of feature films and short films being shown – with many including post-showing Q&A sessions with the cast and crew – over the weekend, you will be spoilt for choice. Take a look at their website, http://grimmfest.com/grimmupnorth/2018/09/grimmfest-2018-schedule/ for more information about the films being shown.
The RSC’s touring production of the musical ‘Matilda’ (based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name), is a story about a brilliantly clever little girl with the ability to move things with her mind. The curtain opened to reveal a remarkable set of hundreds of spelling blocks providing a visual delight from the very beginning.
Behind any great musical is, of course, a great composer and Tim Minchin’s satirical genius proves no exception to this. In songs such as the opener Miracle, Minchin manages to write lyrics aimed at children but underlined with adult humour. Just as his songs can make us laugh, beautiful wistful numbers such as When I Grow Up remind us that even as adults we can often still look at the world and feel the same awe and uncertainty as we did when we were children.
When I Grow Up proved to be one of the highlights of the musical numbers with its simple but clever choreography using swings, representing and evoking the free-spirited nature of children and of Roald Dahl’s original Matilda. Besides, what child didn’t love to play on swings?
A fantastic cast brought the musical to life. Matilda’s parents, played by Rebecca Thornhill and Sebastian Torkia, brought great pantomimic comedy to their roles. Carly Thom’s beautiful voice gave an extra sweetness to Miss Honey. Craige Els was also a standout as the formidable Miss Trunchbull; it was hard to hate the character when the actor was making you laugh so much.
However, the real star(s) of the show were the children. As a group, they gave the performance its raw energy and despite the show being a little over two hours, their pace never dropped. Dylan Hughes and Louella Asante-Osuwu were fantastic as the characters Bruce and Lavender respectfully and Sophia Ally, did an impressive, absolutely adorable job playing the title role of Matilda. All of the young actors proved, just as Matilda did, that you should never underestimate the power of children.
Overall, ‘Matilda’ is a delightful, funny and heart-warming performance of a spectacular musical that sings to our inner child and shows that “sometimes, you have to be a little bit naughty”.
Joe Large’s original play, A Game of Two Halves, returned following a successful run at Three Minute Theatre in February. Having missed the original run, I was thrilled to have another opportunity to see the acclaimed dark comedy “about competition between couples and our constant need to one-up each other”. There was never a dull moment in this hilarious, tension-fuelled exploration of social dynamics.
Large’s script was skilfully directed by Jack Allwright, with assistance from Jess Johnstone. All four of the characters, Brendon, Maddie, Martin and Bethany were played to perfection, drawing comedy from even the smallest moments of suspense. Brendon’s (Charlie Diver) uncouth attitude drew laughs from the first scene, as he appeared in his underpants and behaved like a stroppy teenager. Diver’s flawless Scottish accent must also be applauded. Maddie, his long-suffering wife (Becca Hatch) maintained an impeccable façade as a put-together housewife, making the unfolding events in the second act even more shocking.
Allwright primarily played on potential for awkwardness in Large’s script, never being afraid to stretch out a pause until the last possible second. The entrance of Martin (Lucio Gray) and his young girlfriend, Bethany (Scarlett Gorman) laid the foundation for a deeply uncomfortable evening. They removed their shoes at Maddie’s request, then, under Brendon’s mockery, put them back on again – very, very slowly.
As the narrative progressed, the tension grew palpable and the power dynamics more overt. A scene in which Brendon hounds Martin into daring him to eat all the prawn crackers was as funny as it was uncomfortable, forcing the audience to wonder what was going on beneath the surface. While Brendon gorged himself, spraying spit and guzzling foaming beer, Martin’s contrasting impassivity only enhanced the humour.
The constant competition between the couples was also a source of tension, with the game of charades in the second act providing some priceless moments. Maddie’s depiction of the film ‘Inception’ was particularly funny, as was Martin’s vigorous portrayal of The Wind in the Willows. Gray’s humour as Martin was understated, but always effective, as with his ridiculous over-pronunciation of Spanish words – from “San Luca” to “San Miguel”.
The one weakness in what was otherwise a compelling, hilarious piece of original theatre, was that the women seemed flimsily drawn. Maddie and Bethany were often merely accessories, reacting to and not instigating the main events. Gorman’s comic timing was spot-on, and her delivery of one particularly risqué joke produced the biggest laugh of the night. Hatch, too, was effortlessly funny with her faux-casual remarks about Martin’s “stunning” ex-wife and cutting critiques of her husband. Yet, I couldn’t help but wish that they’d been given more to work with than these scarce moments.
Overall, A Game of Two Halves was expertly staged, well-acted, and written with consistent wit. Large’s play was extremely funny, yet the dramatic undercurrent also gave it gravity. This paid off in the brilliance and intensity of the final scene. While it was not perfect, it was still incredibly impressive. The cast and creative team undoubtedly deserve recognition.
Headlong Theatre is responsible for some of the most iconic theatre in the last decade, ‘Chimerica’ and ‘People, Places and Things’ being their most eminent recent works. Meek comes as Headlong’s latest production in collaboration with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Whilst this production had an impressive reputation to live up to, Meek packed an intense punch that so distinctly reminded me of Headlong’s craftsmanship.
It’s difficult, and seems somewhat unfair, to boil Meek down into a simple plot line and theme; it is so steeped in huge moral dilemmas and political implications that face our current society. At the heart of it, our protagonist, Irene, has been convicted of performing a sacrilegious song and unintentionally inspires a revolution in reaction to this fanatical dictatorship (think Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tail). On a personal level, we see the conflict this causes between her and her best friend, Anna, in a realistic and unique portrayal of female friendship that keeps shocking us until the very last moment.
MEEK by Penelope Skinner. Photo: Helen Murray
Yet, through combining so many huge ideas, a distinct feeling of tension, dissonance and incongruity is created. Director Amy Hodge made this apparent in every aspect of the production, from the battle of the secular and fanatically religious to the contrast in the actors’ movement within a claustrophobic space. The intense feeling of uneasiness this created really forced us to look into our own politics and principles, and confront the possibility that this play presented only an exaggerated version of our own society.
The design of this show by Max Jones and Zoe Spurr (lighting), deserves its own special mention. The set was unrelentingly grey and authoritarian, made up of simple grey blocks and walls, with one cross engraved into a wall, that seared with light, blinding us with the wrath of this religious regime. Rarely have I seen a set that so indisputably conveyed a sense of the time, place and ethos of the society the play exists in.
Betrayal, pride, shame, social media, radicalism, diplomacy, even Brexit – after only 65 minutes and a cast of three, all these themes were on the tip of my tongue in the aftermath of this production. Penelope Skinner has written, in my opinion, something of an era-defining text and the performances by Shvorne Marks, Amanda Wright and Scarlett Brookes were commendable in their roles, drawing out all the potential of this production.
“Even if you only sing in the shower, you belong here.” Caroline arrived confident and bubbly, fresh from a BBC breakfast interview for Rock Choir, the first of many that day.
She told me about beginning her training at 4 years old as she’d shown an affinity for music. This led to a scholarship at a Girls’ school where she learned violin, piano and singing. Caroline laughingly recounted her days of singing in Birmingham night clubs under-age. And seemed right at home in Media City, having studied popular music and recording at Salford university.
She then moved to Farnham, studied at night school and began to teach A level performing arts. She explained that her students were strong dancers and actors but struggled with music and the more technical, academic side of performance.
In light of this, Caroline began a Wednesday afternoon music lesson in which her “organic” way of teaching by ear led to her students acing their exams. It quickly became more than that, becoming something of a social movement. Her students’ grades were going up across the board and parents were approaching her to ask what she’d done to make such a change in their child. Her answer was simple: “we’ve been having a lot of fun on Wednesday afternoons.”
The effect she had on these students led to their parents asking her to do it for them too. Caroline, imagining “running a choir every day of the week” put a poster in a Farnham coffee – everyone welcome, no experience needed, no need to read music.
70 turned up to first meeting and a “highly emotional” practice ensued.
Caroline described how Rock Choir has a “set of ingredients that have all been created organically”. Firstly, “the singing which releases endorphins”. Secondly the social side – “it’s anti-loneliness”, as Caroline put it. And finally, dance routines – all things that “keep them alive.” Her passion for community and bonding through music was evident. She explained how starting a community choir in Farnham grew into a phenomenon where 28,000 members now participate. They sing across 400 towns, run by professionals hired and trained by Caroline herself.
When I asked how she maintains the same community and support when 70 people has grown to 28,000, Caroline explained that everyone is linked by learning all the same songs. And each Rock Choir leader has multiple choirs that they bring together for “big sings.”
Caroline was delighted to let me in on the Rock Choir surprise for Proms in the Park (Hyde Park). Last week, unbeknownst to anyone, 12,000 ‘Rockies’ were among the audience in Hyde Park. This culminated in a flash mob to Dancing in the Street, certainly a sight to behold!
Caroline chose the Cohen classic Hallelujah for Rock Choir’s single. She explained that picking songs we all know demonstrates the effect of music that everyone knows and feels. Despite the bigger scale of Rock Choir, Caroline continues to arrange all the songs they sing. Her arrangements of classics like Somebody To Love, Mr. Blue Sky and Something Inside So Strong all focus on the emotional effect the songs will have on the audience.
When I asked Caroline to sum up the essence of Rock Choir she said, “Singing fantastic songs you feel good about and the friendships”. Rock Choir puts great emphasis on being a support system that applies to those from all walks of life. Helping people through loss, illness and giving people a new community to belong to.
Looking to the future, Caroline commented: “I’m a teacher and this is the bit I like the most – just being in the room with them.” We discussed her plans to teach younger people and students. Caroline admitted that although, in her opinion, the 80s hits she arranges for Rock Choir are some of “the greatest songs ever written”, there would need to be a change in some of the music and the approach to a younger demographic.
The Rock Choir founder came across as a humble and impressive woman. What struck me most about Caroline was her obvious care and pride for all the successes of Rock Choir, and the community it stands for.
The Times and The Sunday Times have published their 2019 Good University Guide, in which The University of Manchester has been ranked 19th best in the country and second best in the North West of England.
Lancaster University was named the most prestigious in the North-West, with Manchester Metropolitan University ranking sixth and the University of Salford coming in at ninth once again.
The University of Manchester has been placed consistently at around the top 30 for a number of years. The news that the institution will be returning to the top 20 is likely to be welcomed by staff, particularly given that the university reached its highest ever position in the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities table this August.
The University of Manchester has made its way back into the top 20 despite the 2018 National Student Survey placing The University of Manchester in the bottom half of the league table for student satisfaction. In addition to this, The University of Manchester only received a silver Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) award last year as opposed to the top prize of gold. The TEF assesses teaching at UK universities to help students make a more informed choice.
The Times and The Sunday Times rank institutions by looking at a range of measures, such as student satisfaction, teaching excellence and research quality among others.
The University of Manchester also rose four places to 18th in the 2019 rankings published by The Complete University Guide. The Guardian’s 2019 University Guide has The University of Manchester ranked at 34th in the country, down from 28th in 2018.
In August this year, The University of Manchester was listed as the 34th best institution in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
As a student, its hard to consider ways of eating other than ‘cheap, quick and easy’. But let me introduce you to the idea of seasonal eating. You’ll save money, make your food even more delicious with no extra effort, and you’ll be helping the environment along the way.
The Taste Test:
By keeping an eye out for fruit and vegetables that are in season, you get more flavour for no extra cost. The produce is fresher as it hasn’t spent time being shipped across countries, and the flavours are better. Strawberries are sweeter, aubergines are richer, and your cooking becomes more simple. With better, fresher ingredients, you can use fewer elements in your dishes. This keeps them simple and magnifies the flavours of the fruit or vegetables alone.
Saving Money:
With supply and demand, it means that buying produce in peak season is cheaper as more of the certain type of fruit and vegetables are grown during those months. You’ll be supporting British, local producers while reducing cost from your own purse – win win!
A Greener Way to Shop:
Not only does eating seasonally mean your produce travels less distance, therefore reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles, it also becomes less likely that food is not kept in greenhouses and is grown organically.
Give it a Go:
Eating seasonally can benefit you in innumerable ways, including widening your horizons and helping you discover new food to try. But, also, nature always has its ways of helping us along, and plants are one of them. Fruit and vegetables contain the nutrients we need at certain types of year, so eating by season will also help you feel your best and look after your body.
At the moment, root vegetables are starting to come into season, so why not try making a beetroot and carrot coleslaw with greek yoghurt as a tasty addition to your lunches, or create an autumnal dessert from blackberries and apples or pears. I love a good crumble, but if I don’t have the time, quickly stewing some fruit in water and honey can make a great topping for ice cream for a quick but delicious pudding!
Seasonal eating is such an easy way to improve your diet and budget, so I implore you all to give it a go. Try something new and help other people and our planet too!
This October the University of Manchester Students’ Union is launching an Alternative Lecture Series.
Run by the Education Department, the series is promoting a diverse and challenging education for students at the University.
The organizers want to touch on topics that students won’t find in their curriculum, making education more exciting. The aim of the series is to encourage the students to become involved in the lectures, come up with new ideas for future speakers and ultimately take ownership of the event.
The lectures are described as “unofficial TED talks” by experts on everything and anything.
The first lecture will take place on the 4th of October from 4-6pm in Theatre B, University Place. Neil McInroy, the CEO of Manchester-based think tank CLES, will outline the current issues and obstacles facing inclusive economic development. He will then describe CLES’s vision for promoting local economic development and explain what students can do to help.
In the second lecture, which will run on the 11th of October from 4-6pm at SU Council Chambers, Daniel Davis will address the themes of his latest best-selling book The Beautiful Cure. It describes the scientific quest to understand how immunology works and how this understanding unlocks a new approach to medicine and well-being.
The last lecture will take place in the SU Council Chambers on the 18th of October from 4-6pm. During this Jeff Forshaw will share with us his Physics interests (topic unconfirmed).
The events are free and attendees can simply show up on the night. To find out more, visit the events’ Facebook page.
One of the simplest ways to realise what you think about a film is to ask how it made you feel. In the case of this sluggish, ugly, and disassembled product known as the Slender Man movie, I just feel unequivocally angry.
At one point during the film, I found myself demanding that it make me feel something other than rage and frustration. ‘Scare me!’ I wanted to scream at the loosely tied together assembly of clips that was barely passing for a movie. ‘Invest me in these characters!’ ‘Have a jump scare which actually works!’ ‘Shoot something so it actually looks interesting!’ Anything, other than anger at the fact that I had handed over £4.99 of my money to sit here, would have been welcome.
Despite my frustration, the film was not justified in causing this emotion; the movie was simply nothing. The character development literally began and ended with ‘the ginger one,’ ‘the sassy one,’ ‘the weird one,’ and ‘the main one.’ The plot, or what passes for it, sees said group look for ways to summon Slender Man and, shock of all shocks, suddenly face a race against time to escape his clutches as they are picked off one by one.
Imagine A Nightmare on Elm Street if all the suspense and tension was replaced with failed jump-scares, if none of the characters had any noteworthy or memorable traits, and if it was entirely shot with a dull-grey colour palette. On top of all that, the film was just completely and utterly forgettable. About all I can remember is that at every moment it went out of its way to rip off better, classic horror movies that I could have been watching instead.
It did not have to be this way. It is not as if Slender Man, as a character, would not make for a compelling horror villain. He is an ageless entity that preys on children and anyone who so much as manages to glimpse it. That could work in a very Lovecraftian fear of the unknown sense. Instead, we have Sony desperately holding onto whatever credibility they now have; they pull together the bare amount of shots, with the bare amount of care to reach the bare length for a feature film and throw all of that onto a screen. ‘Thank you for buying a ticket, now go home and we’ll try to forget this whole thing ever happened’ appears to be their mantra.
To drop the final nail in the coffin, it is easy to tell that the actors are really trying. The child-actors are actually good, desperately trying to bridge a sisterhood connection between these friends a-la a female version of IT or Stranger Things. The rushed script added no material to work with and the hasty editing managed to do a good job of chopping to pieces any effort the actresses attempted to put into this film.
I have rarely come across a monstrosity that managed to make me feel so strongly, whilst doing so little and trying even less. In a year where horror movies have come so far, A Quiet Place, Hereditary, and Ghost Stories, for example, it is disappointing to see a film treat audiences with such disrespect. It is not even funny enough to qualify as daftly entertaining horror. Instead, it is just ugly, dimly lit nastiness which Sony should be thanking their lucky stars they can soon bin and forget about.
Theresa May’s recent trip to Africa saw her visit Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, in order to recuperate relationships outside of the EU in the wake of Brexit. A perfectly legitimate course of action in the face of the terrifying economic isolationism on the horizon, however this trip was not just a coffee and a catch up. Rather, it was a calculated search for an easy replacement to the EU trade partners, preferably this time one which doesn’t demand as much in return. The Conservatives are seeking to retain dominate the economies of the Commonwealth and reap for themselves the benefits of new and innovative science and technology industries.
The openness with which government spokespeople described it as a mission to open up African markets for UK businesses smacks of a cynicism which denies, from the start, a genuinely egalitarian global partnership. This is despite the fact that Brexit provides the UK with the opportunity to expand trade outside of Europe, not only to distribute more evenly the benefits that globalisation provides but to deepen the cultural dialogue that should be the result of international trade and labour migration as well. Yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, this is not the attitude that the Conservatives and government departments such as the Department for International Development (DFID) have taken.
This is because the word ‘global’ has become skewed; fair trade, diplomatic equality, and ‘special relationships’ have become the preserve of Western Europe and America. The burgeoning relationships with Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya are not replacements for the ties with the EU. The UK is not taking its African partners seriously, as it does with Western Europe, America or Australia, because international trade is still inextricably intertwined with imperialistic ideas of race and global hierarchy.
As is evident in a lack of commitment by May to change the system for Nigerians and Kenyans to attain work or study visas in the UK. This process is currently incredibly complicated and can be expensive. It has been raised by a number of African leaders, in particular the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, as an impediment to an equal and genuine partnership. However, despite the solidifying of all the agreements which benefit the UK, this particular sticking point has been glossed over. Arguably, the Conservatives are seeking to keep the friends in need at an arm’s length, willing to feed them with scraps but not to invite them to the dinner table.
The economic details of the new ‘partnerships’ announced in the wake of May’s visit reveal how the British government are prioritising their own financial gain regardless of the implications for those nations it claims to support in the Commonwealth. In Kenya DFID will be donating funding to a number of research projects whilst the Department for International Trade (DFIT) are supplying a “one stop shop of UK excellence and support”. A surprising gift given the UK’s lack of technological renown; it is doubtful anyone is particularly looking for British guidance when it comes to innovation. This quasi-missionary venture is clearly an attempt to be a mentor, which is perhaps not so much harmful as just patronising. When looked at alongside the refusal to equate with more open borders or study opportunities in the UK, the venture leaves a bitter aftertaste.
The rhetoric adopted towards the newly exploited African markets is deeply paternalistic and heavily rests on the idea that any interactions between the UK and African countries, namely those in the Commonwealth, is and always be, a form of international aid. For example, once major aspect of the renewed partnerships with African economies is the opening of new High Commissions in countries that up until now Britain has had little diplomatic interaction with, such as Lesotho and Eswatini. As well as the opening up of embassies in Chad and Mauritiana. However, the money for these is being taken out of the fixed Foreign Aid budget, despite it being borne out of our own necessity for partnerships outside of Europe. Furthermore, there is a distinctly military dimension to much of the future collaboration, the government are spending even more of the foreign aid budget on funding anti-extremism programs in Nigeria and Kenya.
Whether this paternalism is always intentional isn’t always easy to discern, but the British government, especially under the Conservatives, are finding it hard to shake an imperialistic tint to their actions. This points to the aforementioned skewing of globalisation which seems to excuse the UK being able to pick up or drop its African fellows as and when they chose, having the power in the global hierarchy to decide who reaps the benefits of growing economies.
It’s already apparent that a generation that has never known life without the internet is invading the scene. A generation that is now climbing the ladder in film, television and music. Pop superstars supported by giant labels have had to make way for a wave of self-made artists that have built their career on the internet. Music is now accessible instead of acquirable. Social instead of solitary. Even now on my Spotify account, I can see the songs my friends are enjoying in real time.
The days of LimeWire and shoddy MP3 apps are over. So too are burned CDs with a mix of songs bought for $1.29 each on iTunes. In with the new; music sharing apps like Soundcloud and Spotify and amateur music production apps like Garageband make the process of crafting your own music and discovering others’ that much simpler. These platforms are the foundation of a swathe of newbies bending and twisting genres to find their niche in what is now such a saturated scene.
I’d like to talk about two artists who are prime examples of this, pushing for their own unique sounds. “It was like a terrible day, my hair was disgusting, my skin was so gross,” pop artist Clairo recalls in an interview with Fader speaking on her music video of ‘Pretty Girl’. “It was bad but I decided that it was the perfect day for me to make the music video.”
Like many aspiring artists these days, Clairo started her career as a hobby on Soundcloud, uploading unusual covers of songs before writing her own songs. In August of 2017, she posted the music video for ‘Pretty Girl’, at the time one of her first originals. Made in half an hour with zero budget, the video features the artist dancing in front of her webcam in her bedroom. She has since become a big name in ‘bedroom pop’, a term she herself has deemed limiting.
With the bedroom pop Spotify playlist having almost 200,000 followers, it could be argued it is the trendiest new sound of 2018. Gus Dapperton, Rex Orange Country and my next artist all feature in the playlist. In his TEDxTeen talk, Steve Lacy recalls sending his “random ideas and horrible beats” to mutual friends The Internet, eventually leading to his contribution to their album Ego Death.
Lacy in 2018 is a hugely in-demand songwriter and producer, working with names like Frank Ocean, Tyler, the Creator, Kali Uchis and Goldlink. His 2017 EP Steve Lacy’s Demo has been critically acclaimed for its depth and maturity from an artist of such a young age, despite using zero professional equipment or software.
With this in mind, watching Lacy anxiously rub his hands together as he stumbles through his presentation at TEDxTeen makes one realise how remarkably normal he seems. He comes across as an average Joe with a hobby and not a great deal of money. He has succeeded off the back of his own talent with only GarageBand and his phone’s in-built microphone to carry him forward.
On the Beatles’ first tour of the US, their gigs were attended by so many screaming fans the music was only semi-audible. They were superstars. Escorted in nothing less than armoured cars and limousines, their followers would crusade to airports and hotels just for a glimpse of their iconic haircuts. How the world has changed since. Artists have come and gone since then but have still sat atop these great pedestals. The internet’s rise has accomplished the most wonderful thing. Not only are we immeasurably more connected with each other, but also with our idols. These days we can see them liking posts, sharing their breakfasts or tweeting for song requests for their setlist later that night.
The new generation of performers and producers have proven that there is still space to innovate even from your own dimly-lit bedroom. The pedestal has been lowered. The pathway to musical success is becoming clearer to young aspirers, all thanks to the internet.
Anti-immigration stickers have been placed across campus by far-right group Generation Identity.
The stickers, which appeared across Oxford Road on Monday afternoon, called for readers to “Join the patriotic revolution.”
The text on the stickers read: “Against mass immigration? Want to protect your free speech? Love your English identity?”
The words were set against a backdrop of pictures including figures in burqas standing outside the Houses of Parliament. Another picture showed a protest to free far-right activist and ex-English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
A tweet from the Generation Identity North West twitter account showed stickers placed around the University of Manchester Students’ Union. One was pictured under the ‘Safe Space’ sign on the top floor of union. Another was stuck on the mural that the Students’ Union exec painted over with a poem by Maya Angelou during the summer.
The tweet was captioned “Reject safe spaces! Reject Left-Wing echo chambers! Reject the destruction of our Heritage!”
In response, a spokesperson for the University of Manchester said: “The University of Manchester completely rejects the views expressed by these stickers and posters and the organisations responsible for them.”
“As an institution, we are proud of the University’s diverse staff and student body and will continue to promote a message of inclusivity across campus.”
A student-led protest took place on Wednesday afternoon in response to the stickers. One of the organisers, Conor Cooley, third-year Maths student and student campaigner for Stand Up to Racism told The Mancunion:
“Generation Identity is a fascist and deeply racist group. Given that they have been putting stickers up across our university, we think it is really important to have a really public message and show that we don’t believe in and support that kind of ideology and we want a more welcoming atmosphere for the university as a whole.
“Protests like this can really make a difference to students who might feel attacked by these stickers”.
Generation Identity describe themselves as a “Pan European Patriotic Identitarian movement”. The group started in France as the youth-wing of the far-right Bloc Identitaire. The group has factions across Europe, prominently in Austria, Germany and Italy.
The UK and Ireland branch was launched in October 2017 after Generation Identity hung a banner from Westminster Bridge in London, reading “Defend London, Stop Islamisation.”
Their website describes their main aims as: “Stop the Islamisation of Europe,” “Oppose globalisation,” and “Stop and reverse the Great Replacement.”
In March 2018, identitarian writer and prominent Generation Identity member Martin Sellner was barred from entering the UK. He was due to give a speech at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London. His girlfriend, Brittany Pettibone, was also barred.
Regarding the incident, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Border Force has the power to refuse entry to an individual if it is considered that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.”
The Students’ Union have been contacted for comment.
City became the first English side to lose four consecutive champions league games, as they were beaten by Lyon at the Etihad. City were strong favourites going into their European opener but started the game without Benjamin Mendy or Sergio Aguerö due to injury.
After a slow start, the sky blues fell behind as Maxwell Cornet swept in following a Fabian Delph mistake. The French side extended the lead just minutes from half-time when Nabil Fekir held off three defenders to smash home from just outside the box after Fernandinho needlessly lost possession in midfield.
The home side improved in the second half, and although Bernardo Silva gave City almost half an hour to find an equaliser after slotting home, the unusually sub-par hosts could not avoid defeat for the first time this season. The extent of Guardiola’s absence from the touchline will be debated, but it certainly seemed as if they were lacking the kind of energy and intent so often present in his sides. The carelessness of City was alarmingly apparent to see – sloppy mistakes allowed Lyon to easily create chances and keep city stretched at all times. It’s a rocky start to the new Champions League season for the Manchester club, who are learning the hard way that there is no drifting through games in Europe’s premier competition.
Starting 11:
Team Prospect/Analysis:
As Pep Guardiola’s third managerial experiment, Manchester City are slowly monopolising English football, with a high-pressing, total football approach that saw them blow away sides on their way to a 100-point league title victory. Pep has worked to mould his team, not just through high-profile signings like Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva, but also by working to improve players already at the club – Raheem Sterling a starring example. Using a 4-3-3, City are driven by their use of width, supported by wingbacks Walker and Mendy. There is also an emphasis on a creative midfield, who create dangerous opportunities by building from the back – often the side’s sheer intensity and rapid movement of the ball that make them difficult to play against.
After last season’s quarter-final disappointment against Liverpool, the club looks to have asserted their status as serious challengers in the Champions League, alongside the annual favourites – the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid. Pep Guardiola’s team have the players to compete with such teams and can be forgiven for already thinking ahead to the knockout stages. In the group, Lyon have proved their ability, but City should have enough quality to aim for close to maximum points in their meetings with Hoffenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk. Their only weakness is the inexperience of a squad that includes many players that have never made the semi-final stage in the competition. As they found out at Anfield in April, they can also be vulnerable to the counter-attack and have at times struggled against sides that open them up by mirroring their total football tactics.
Despite this, Guardiola’s side would not look out of place in the final four, and it will be their big-game mentalities that determine their chance for a first European crown.
Individual Group Rival Profiles:
Hoffenheim:
Under the guidance of one of Europe’s brightest young coaches, Julian Nagelsmann, Hoffeinheim have broken into the group stages of the Champions League for the first time, having lost to Liverpool at the play-off stage last year. Nagelsmann has achieved top-four finishes in both of his first two seasons at the club and tends to employ a 3-4-3 formation that can be easily transformed into a 5-man backline. Look out for Arsenal starlet Reiss Nelson, who has joined on a season-long loan, and Nicho Schulz, considered a possible heir to Mesut Ozil’s throne, having made his Germany debut this month.
Shakhtar Donetsk:
Ukrainian heavyweights Shakhtar are experienced UCL competitors, having appeared in the group stage in five of their last six seasons, making it to the round of 16 in three of those. Driven by Brazilian stars Taison and Junior Moares, who has scored 7 in 8 so far this season, they are notorious for supplying some of Europe’s top talent in recent years, including Fernandinho, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian, and Douglas Costa. Manager Paulo Fonesca prefers to use a 4-2-3-1 system, with two wingers that can move central to create a dense midfield and used such tactics when they were the first team to beat Man. City last season. With history in the Champions League and a strong squad, Shakhtar will be expected to rival Lyon to escape the group.
Lyon:
The French side have been in and out of Europe’s premier competition in recent years and peaked with by reaching the semi-finals in 2010. The team impressed domestically last season, finishing just 2 points behind 2nd placed Monaco in Ligue 1, but disappointingly exited the Europa League in the round of 16. One of the Champions League’s more youthful sides, the likes of Nabil Fekir, Moussa Dembele and Memphis Depay will all pose a threat in a fluid attacking system. The club’s pitfalls will likely be inexperience and the liability to get hit on the counter, but there’s more than enough quality in this team to overcome that.
Manchester United kicked off their Champions League Group H campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Swiss side Young Boys. Paul Pogba grabbed two goals in a game which he began to show signs of the dominance shown in his World Cup victory this summer.
The first was the product of some great link up play with fellow midfielder Fred. Pogba showed some tidy footwork to work an opening to shoot and left the keeper with no chance as the ball sailed into the top left hand corner from 18 yards out.
The Frenchman made it a brace from the penalty spot after a dubious call from a Luke Shaw cross. The ball did strike the arm of the defender Kevin Mbabu but there was little more he could do to move his arms out of the way. Later in the game a similar incident happened this time with Shaw getting hit on the arm but the referee was unmoved. The brace is Pogba’s third in his 101 appearances for the club.
Anthony Martial, who came into the starting 11 in place of Alexis Sanchez, sealed the deal just after the hour mark. He made a positive run into the box and was rewarded with a deflected shot that Young Boys keeper David von Ballmoos could do nothing about.
The game wasn’t all one way traffic though, and Young Boys had several opportunities that they perhaps should have put away. Guillaume Hoarau headed wide from close range while Mohamed Ali Camara kept de Gea on his toes with a good long range effort.
The scoreline is a little unflattering for the Swiss team but they played some incredibly attractive football from the first whistle to the last. Despite the home fans relentless support at the Stade de Suisse, their players lacked the clinical edge that decides matches on the highest stage.
Jose Mourinho’s next test in Europe is again Spanish club Valencia at home on 2nd October. They lost 2-0 to Juventus in a game which saw Ronaldo get a red card on his Old Lady European debut.
Starting 11:
Prospects:
There is a feeling of uncertainty around Manchester United’s Champions League campaign this season. Whether they topped the group or dropped down into the Europa League, the fans would not be particularly surprised. The general sentiment about the current regime is one of underperforming, both as a team and individual players.
Pogba for example has received a lot of criticism. His dominance in the World Cup this summer showed he has the ability to be a true leader, one worthy of the captain’s armband, however this hasn’t been seen consistently for his club. Lindelöf too has lacked that sureness he demonstrated for Sweden.
Conversely there are other players really pushing on in the early stages of this season. Luke Shaw especially looks to be making this year his own, with a string of powerful performances. The 23 year old is crucial to United’s defence with Ashley Young nearing the end of his career. Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford will see many more minutes through squad rotation with the hope that both of them can push on in their development and really make it difficult for Jose Mourinho to pick his starting 11.
The squad is definitely both deep enough and talented enough to qualify for the knockout stages. How far they progress after that is tough to predict. A kind draw and they may find safe passage to the Quarter or Semi-finals. Alternatively, they could be drawn against one of the favourites such as Barcelona and really struggle. Mourinho has refused to speculate about how far he feels United can go but he will surely be hoping to guide his side to at least the Semi Finals.
Three other teams in the group preview:
BSC Young Boys:
Swiss side BSC Young Boys make their Champions League debut this season. The team is fairly unknown on the European stage and are a wildcard in Group H. Under new manager Gerardo Seoane they play a very attacking style of football and won’t be intimidated by the likes of Manchester United and Juventus.
An important point to note about Young Boys is that their pitch is artificial. This means that they will have an advantage over other teams when playing at home who are used to grass. The harder surface will affect the bounce of the ball and increases the risk of injury to those on the pitch.
Juventus:
Turin based team Juventus are undoubtedly favourites in Group H. The Old Lady have reached the final twice in the last four seasons and, with the addition of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, are looking to to win the competition for the first time since the 1995/96 season. A side that featured Didier Deschamps, Antonio Conte and Marcello Lippi as manager.
Their only stumbling block will perhaps be Ronaldo’s former club Manchester United. Except in the event of a major upset the Red Devils are the only side that can hold a candle to the strength of this squad.
Valencia:
Marcelino’s Valencia have returned to the Champions League after a two year absence. The side, who reached consecutive finals at the turn of the millennium, will be hoping to keep a strong home form and will try to steal points away from home. Realistically coming second in this group would be a phenomenal achievement, but the expectation is to at least get third place to get into the Europa League.
After coming forth in La Liga last season Marcelino will be hoping to push on and challenge for a top three finish. They have a lot of work to do though following no wins in their opening four games.
Georgia-based Hi-Rez studios are known these days for games such as Smite, Paladins, and their upcoming jump on the Battle Royale bandwagon, Realm Royale. Back in 2012, however, they released the now largely-forgotten FPS, Tribes: Ascend.
The fifth (and to date latest) instalment in the Tribes series was the first to be developed by Hi-Rez, headed by cofounder and COO Todd Harris. Speaking in 2011, Harris described the game as a “modern successor” to fan favourite Tribes 2. And a worthy successor it proved to be. Tribes: Ascend received over a million downloads in its first month alone, receiving widespread critical acclaim; a rare feat for a free-to-play multiplayer game. Its early reviews were aglow with praise: Eurogamer awarded it a rare 10/10, and the average Metacritic score to this day stands at 86%.
Tribes as a series has always had a set of unique and innovative features that make it like no other FPS around, and their modern implementation in Ascend left nothing to be desired. Chief among these elements is the game’s movement system. Every playable class comes equipped with skis and a jetpack. These skis allow the player to remove friction between them and the ground. By utilising the hilly terrain in the game’s massive maps, the player can quickly gain massive amounts of speed, then use the jetpack to traverse the air.
This works in tandem with the game’s weapon system; unlike most traditional FPS games, guns in their traditional sense are de-emphasised. The player is instead presented with a selection of primarily explosive projectile weapons, very few of which are hit-scan (i.e. when a weapon is fired, the projectile does not travel at an infinite speed). As most of these weapons are explosive (and the player is not immune to their own weapons), these can be combined with the movement system to either trade health for speed, or stop an enemy in their tracks.
On top of this, each team has a defensive aspect. The team’s base has destructible devices that, when functioning, help players around the base. For example, radar scanners reveal the locations of enemies in the base without a line-of-sight. These systems are all also dependent on a generator being online – if it is knocked out, the team will lose these boons including health and armour recharge stations. This provides yet another dimension to this already impressively intricate game.
The game also features a voice chat system that needs no microphones and isn’t plagued by screaming children or mocking teenagers. Each player character has dozens of voice lines that can be used to ask questions, inform your teammates of your actions, or taunt the other team. These range from informative statements to rampant cries of ‘Shazbot!’, a reference to Robin William’s Mork and Mindy that has persisted throughout each instalment of Tribes to date.
Playing the game for the first time is admittedly very daunting, and the learning curve is immensely steep. In Ascend, you can’t just pick up the game and carry the match straight away. Aiming requires a complete rethink from traditional FPS games; standing still is almost a guaranteed death for any but the most armour-heavy of loadouts. The effort is worth it, though; flying towards the flag at 250km/h, popping a quick ‘spinfusor’ pellet towards the enemy, catching them in mid-air, grabbing the flag and flying away all within a second makes you feel godly. The skill cap is very high – you can play for hundreds of hours and still have things to learn and weapons to master.
I spent a great deal of time playing Ascend in its heyday. The free-to-play economy was well balanced; extra weapons were not hard to obtain but all nine initial classes were powerful enough with their default loadout.
At the time, Tribes: Ascend also had a brilliant community. Some very funny memes were spread around (often involving the similarly speedy Sonic the Hedgehog), the game’s pre-recorded voice lines were parodied, and there was a healthy, competitive spirit.
Going to the game now, however, is a different story altogether. At the time of writing, the game has a 24-hour peak of 31 players. There are two active servers, and they are full of the absolutely die-hard playerbase whose skills are too intense for me to even begin to have fun playing.
The dire state of Tribes: Ascend today.
I suppose it’s worth looking at the Hi-Rez’s rocky relationship with the game in order to ascertain what went wrong. Within a year of its 2012 release, the studio announced there were to be no more major updates to the game; staff were taken off the development team to focus on much-maligned MOBA Smite. That same year, the studio announced via Reddit that Smite was already more profitable than Ascend. Despite Hi-Rez saying that they were going to release an official development kit to allow users to create their own maps and servers, one never materialised. In response, the community created an unofficial development kit, but this has never been condoned by the studio.
Two years of radio silence from the developer followed, and the game’s player base seriously dwindled. Then, the game received near-complete overhaul in September 2015. This completely rebalanced the game, rolling the nine defined-role classes (such as sniper, technician, etc) into three meta-classes. These classes (light, medium, and heavy) were much more customisable and fluid than previously. The previous system of ‘perks’ was also dissolved into the meta-classes. This was met with initial ire from what was left of the community. They thought that they had been left behind and were confused as to why Hi-Rez would release such a major patch ‘out of the blue’. However, it did bring the experience closer to that of Tribes 2, and so for the hardcore player base, the changes were appreciated.
Looking at the Steam charts for the game, this major update did little to improve the number of long-term players. Hi-Rez stuck with the game for a short while longer, releasing a few more patches before finally giving up in September 2016 in the face of a dwindling player count, announcing that the game would not receive any further updates.
Since then, various login issues and a general decline in the player base have completely stripped the game of life. While a few do remain, the game is a shadow of its former glory; something I think is a real shame. It’s such an innovative and unique game that provides a play experience that can be so challenging, yet so rewarding. It really shows the best of the FPS genre, and it’s a sad thing to see it in the state it is now.
It’s a game I think any PC gamer who enjoys a challenging FPS should play. It still holds up today, graphically and performance-wise. It’s just unfortunate that there will be very few people to play with.
But does the game have to die? I don’t think so. I don’t expect Hi-Rez to resume work on Ascend; if they just released the official development kit they promised all those years ago, there’s no reason the game shouldn’t experience a resurgence. New community maps and community hosted servers (rather than the private servers you still have to pay for) could breathe some much needed new life into the experience. I’m sure I speak for the whole Tribes community when I say to Hi-Rez that we’d hate to see one of the best games in this oft-samey genre die.
Homelessness is a visible problem around the city of Manchester, and one that many students would like to help resolve. One University of Manchester student is leading the way to fight the battle.
Sylvie Copley has been heavily involved in The Big Change Society. She talks about how students can get involved in the society and make a difference.
The society’s three main aims are fundraising, volunteering and holding conferences. They work to increase awareness about homelessness and interact with charities to improve the lives of people without permanent accommodation.
Sylvie suggests that the best way to tackle homelessness is to get involved. The Big Change Society provides a platform through which students can be put in contact with charities and those in need. It also offers ambassador training. This helps equip students with the skills needed to engage effectively with the homeless community.
As well as direct involvement, Sylvie has some suggestions of what not to do when interacting with those living on the streets. She says “don’t look away or purposely avoid their eyes.” Recognising that it can be uncomfortable being asked for change, Sylvie still suggests responding directly to those requests. “So much of their day is spent alone”, she says, “talk to people, get to know their names”. Interaction and conversation are as, if not more, valuable than money.
“Students have a lot of time, but not a lot of money,” says Sylvie. This is why The Big Change Society encourages volunteering. The society is connected to another group called Love for the Streets. It holds regular events and club nights to raise money and awareness for homeless charities. Attending charity events is the most accessible and fun way to make a difference. There are many upcoming events run by these societies, well worth checking out.
Kenyan athlete Eluid Kipchoge took an incredible 78 seconds of the previous marathon record, recording a time of 2 hr 01 min 39 sec. Incidentally, this was previously held by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto and was also set in Berlin. 78 seconds is the largest margin of difference in a new marathon record since 1967 when Derek Clayton broke it by 2 minutes and 24 seconds. Kipchoge adds this record to his gold medal won at the Rio Olympics and a third London Marathon win earlier this year.
“I lack words to describe this day. I am really grateful, happy to smash the world record” said Kipchoge. “It was hard. I ran my own race, I trusted my trainers, my programme, and my coach. That’s what pushed me in the last kilometres.” From the competition at the start of the race, it was clear that the victory would be his. The only remaining question being how fast could be run.
In 2017 Kipchoge was at the centre of Nike’s controversial attempt to break the two-hour marathon record as part of their Breaking2 project. The time was not officially recognised due to there being 30 elite athletes rotating to keep up the pace. This experiment, however, with a time of 2 hr 00 min 25 sec, showed that while the two-hour barrier may not be attainable yet, the world record certainly was.
Kipchoge’s time is certainly an amazing breakthrough in the marathon, however the 33-year-old Kenyan has been in a league of his own for many years now. Victory in Berlin made it 10 victories out of 11 starts with this occasion being his ninth straight win. A streak of this kind has not been seen in the modern era. Until now, the only accolade he was missing was the world record.
His last two visits to Berlin showed that all he needed was the right conditions. In 2015, he won with a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes dead. This time is especially impressive considering he ran most of the race with the insoles of his shoes flapping with every step. Then in 2017, he ran 2 hours 3 minutes and 32 seconds in the wet. Finally, in his third trip to Berlin, the weather was perfect. This was his chance to break the record and it was a chance that he took full advantage of.
