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Month: January 2020

Profiteering off veganism: are fast food companies actually doing enough?

Written by Olivia Stringer on . Posted in Opinion.

With fast-food giants such as KFC and Burger King rolling out brand new vegan and vegetarian options as of January 2020, it would seem that fast-food companies are finally beginning to cater for the growing number of vegans and vegetarians in the UK.

According to The Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the UK quadrupled between 2014-2019 and vegans and vegetarians are set to make up a quarter of the population by 2025. Moreover, The Vegan Society also states that ‘Orders of vegan meals grew 388% between 2016 and 2018 and they are now the UK’s fastest growing takeaway choice.’ Therefore, it makes perfect sense for chains such as McDonalds to jump on the vegetarian/vegan bandwagon in an attempt to increase profit margins.

However, their efforts to do so have been exceedingly poor.

Admittedly, KFC have done pretty well with their vegan burger and have applied their original 11 herbs and spices recipe to a Quorn fillet. The burger is tasty, albeit a little dry. Unfortunately however, it has to be enjoyed alone.

As stated on the KFC website the fries usually served with a meal are unavailable to vegans/vegetarians as they are cooked in the same oil as the popcorn chicken.  The restaurant offers corn on the cob as an alternative, but who really goes to a fast-food restaurant to eat vegetables? The complete ambivalence for the vegans and vegetarians that these products are supposedly made especially for only adds insult to injury.

Burger King have made an even poorer attempt, stating on their website that that their new ‘Rebel Whopper’, although plant based, isn’t even suitable for vegetarians as it is cooked on the same broiler as the original Whopper, which just completely defeats the whole point of the burger’s existence.

And finally, McDonalds, who launched their new veggie dippers earlier this month haven’t even bothered to branch into the wonderful world of Quorn and have instead just presented the consumer with another version of the same bland Veggie patty that they have been serving in their veggie burgers for years which tastes like something my mum would have been forced to eat as a vegetarian in the 80s.

With the launch of Greggs’ vegan and actually very tasty sausage roll causing profit margins to increase so much that Greggs have rewarded their employees with a bonus totalling £7m, it seems ludicrous that all that the aforementioned fast-food chains can muster up are half-hearted attempts that can’t even be fully enjoyed by their target audience.

Considering that the meat and dairy industries are some of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases in the world – if they care about the future of our planet and if they are serious about catering for a vegan/vegetarian audience, fast-food companies need to do a lot more.

Accounting for Style #4: Winter coat investment means spending over budget

Written by Anon on . Posted in Fashion & Beauty.

Accounting for Style is a series at the Mancunion Fashion & Beauty section in which anonymous Manchester students track all of their fashion and beauty purchases over the period of a month. Get a glimpse into the way your peers spend their money on their style, the splurges and the savings…

Age: 20

Degree: English Literature

Degree year: 2

Yearly student maintenance loan: £6692

Rent: £130/week (£520/month)

Part time job? I have a part-time job at Hugo Boss

Monthly budget: £557

Fashion & beauty spending habits: Because of my limited budget, most of which is spent on groceries and social events, I don’t regularly spend money on fashion and beauty. When I do, I look for quality over quantity because it’s really important for me to feel confident and comfortable in what I am wearing. I rarely make beauty purchases simply because I don’t wear makeup regularly.

Monthly estimated spend on fashion & beauty:

I don’t normally set myself a budget for fashion and beauty. However, I am planning to take advantage of the Black Friday and Christmas sales this month to purchase a good quality winter coat that will see me through the unforgiving Manchester winter. I plan to put away £150 from my budget for this purchase. I am looking for something costing around £100, but I’m giving myself a £50 margin. Overall, I’d like to spend £150.

3rd December: I browsed the web for Black Friday sales, looking especially for coats. I was tempted by a lot of items that weren’t what I was looking for but I managed to not buy anything. 

4th December: I was browsing some of my favourite retailers’ websites, and I spotted a beautiful cream faux fur coat in Reiss’s outlet. It was reduced from £325 to £160, a massive £165 reduction! Reiss is one of my favourite retailers, and I trust them completely because I have felt confident wearing every single thing I’ve bought from there so far. They do not normally participate in Black Friday sales, so I could not believe my luck when I saw this piece. When possible, I will always try an item on in store before I spend my money, so I went to the Reiss store on cathedral street, but I could not find the coat. So, I decided to buy the piece online! £160

6th December:  My new part time job demands that I wear formal black shoes as part of my uniform, so I went to Primark to pick up a cheap pair. I almost never shop at Primark because it is a cheap, fast fashion brand, which is reflected in the quality of its products. Nevertheless, after spending what to me was an insane amount of money on my coat, I wanted to be frugal for the rest of the month. £7

08th December: I received my coat that I’ve ordered online. It’s perfect! Warm, soft and fits like a dream.

10th December: I bought some replacement shoe insoles for my Stuart Weitzman boots. I bought my SW boots on sale in my size, but when they arrived, they were way too big for me. However, I love them to death and I cannot imagine a life without them. I have worn them basically every single day since I bought them, so I think it’s worth parting with the extra cash for the insoles. £7

12th December: Another maintenance purchase for my boots. I some bought waterproof suede spray because I was running out and it has been raining dreadfully for a week. A necessary, albeit boring, purchase. £18

21st December: Okay, I am not proud of this. Christmas was approaching, and I was tempted by the high street’s December sales, so I impulsively order some cheap H&M skirts online. I told myself that I needed some new party wear for upcoming Christmas celebrations and was tempted by H&M’s promise that they would delivery before Christmas. £23

22nd December: I impulsively booked myself an appointment to get my eyebrows threaded in preparation for Christmas parties. I also ran out of hand cream, so purchased some more from Boots. £31

26th December: My H&M order did not arrive on time, which is unsurprising based on previous experience. But because I’d already planned some festive outfits around the skirts I purchased, I went to their store to purchase a similar one. £13

31st December: My skirts finally arrived when I no longer needed them, so I took them back to the store to return them. +£23

Overall spent: £281

Fashion: £250

Beauty: £31

Overall verdict:

I have spent way above my planned budget this month, I am not proud of this and I have no excuse, other than the fact that I easily fell prey to the siren call of December sales. This means that I need to be more frugal in other aspects of my life to make up for these purchases.

Even though my winter coat cost more than what I had planned to spend, I have worn it almost every day this month. I have received so many compliments on it so I believe that I have spent my money well.

On the other hand, I am not proud of my impulsive purchases, and I must work on preventing these in the future. Above all, I want to spend less money on fast fashion as it is not only bad for my wallet but also harmful to the environment.

The Future is Feminist: lessons from our Latin American sisters

Written by beatricepearson on . Posted in Opinion.

Latin America is experiencing a wave of feminist protests linked to movements across the world. Here’s what we can learn.

Over the last few years, Latin America has been gripped by a wave of feminist protests that have remained underreported in Western media. Confronted by widespread gender-based violence and institutional barriers to equality, women have taken to the streets to demand real change.

The protests centre around two key demands: an end to violence against women and the legalisation of abortion. Latin America and the Caribbean suffers from some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world, with an estimated 12 women murdered a day in the region.

The Ni Una Menos movement emerged in Argentina in 2015 to demand that ‘not one more’ life was taken, a galvanising slogan quickly taken up elsewhere. In addition, while abortion is currently only legal in Mexico City, Cuba and Uruguay, pro-choice campaigning has gained traction following several high-profile cases of young rape victims being forced to give birth.

Faced with these overwhelming institutional challenges, along with the persistence of Catholic social conservatism, feminist movements have shown an impressive dynamism.

Protest symbols often emerge from specific cultural contexts, but soon spread beyond them. For instance, victims of ‘femicide’ or gender-based murders receive special vigils in Mexican Day of the Dead commemorations, while the green headscarf worn by protesters in Argentina and Chile is now a universal symbol of the abortion rights campaign.

The most powerful recent example of this cultural exchange is the spread of the chant ‘A Rapist in Your Way,’/‘Un Violador en Tu Camino’ from Chile to the rest of the world. The feminist anthem was first performed as anti-government protests linked up with the 25 November Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It has since spread throughout the continent and beyond; the Mexico City performance featured thousands of blindfolded women all performing in sync.

This intercommunication and unity among feminists isn’t limited to Latin America, but seems to be part of a global movement for female empowerment. In India the murder of a gang-rape victim has sparked mass demonstrations, while popular protests in Sudan recently led to draconian laws on female conduct to be repealed.

And the movements are making progress: this year the Mexican state of Oaxaca will legalise abortion, while the new President of Argentina has suggested change is coming. Femicide is now recognised as a legal category in ­16 Latin American countries, a measure that helps with data collection and prosecution of perpetrators. Yet there is still much further to go.

These global movements set an example of how to resist seemingly-impossible barriers and demand change. In the UK, where legal battles over abortion rights, equal pay and discrimination legislation seem on the whole to have already been won, it can be easy to forget the reality of patriarchal violence faced by women around the world.

The recent push towards intersectional feminism, which recognises the diverse challenges faced by women of colour, LGBTQ+ women and other groups, has done great work; but this push won’t be complete without recognising the resistance of our sisters around the world.

Their movement offers us inspiration with its energy and protest methods, and deserves admiration – but more importantly, demands solidarity.

For more information on how to support Latin American feminist organisations, visit:

If you are a UK resident looking for advice and support on issues of sexual violence, help is available at The Pankhurst Trust and Sister Supporter.

Photo: XAndreWx @ Wikimedia Commons

New digital solutions could end £9 million yearly energy wastage

Written by Sam Honey on . Posted in Science & Tech.

A combination of new digital technology and financial incentives could help to encourage businesses across the Greater Manchester area to lessen the effects of poor energy management.

15,000 homes across the metropolitan area could be powered by the energy wasted by 750 office buildings. This wastage is an equivalent to the carbon footprint left by approximately 12,000 cars annually.

The news comes amid a wider examination of the environmental impact of commercial buildings in the UK, so far relatively unaddressed in climate policy.

Energy wastage is not merely a climatic concern, but also a question of financial interest for businesses across the region. An estimated £9 million annually is spent on unused or wasted energy in the Greater Manchester region.

Caterina Brandmayr, a senior policy analyst at Green Alliance, expressed surprise that businesses were not more concerned about the financial implications of energy wastage:

“We all work for or know businesses that waste energy, whether it’s leaving lights on at night or wasting heat. It’s hard to see why dealing with this problem isn’t yet a priority, for companies in terms of cost savings or for the government in reaching its carbon targets.

“Digital technology is an obvious and inexpensive way to track and control energy use, cutting business costs and carbon emissions. Manchester would be a great place to start the UK’s business energy efficiency revolution.”

A combination of smart technologies and business incentives could lead to an £83 million drop in business energy bills over the next 10 years.

Artificial intelligence is a possible option, and can be used to optimise energy use through grid-learning processes, which then produce forecasts and recommendations for energy use. American AI company C3.ai, offer a wide range of utilities management systems, and boast a high profile range of clients, including the U.S Air Force and Royal Dutch Shell.

Smart sensors and algorithms can also be used to help regulate energy usage levels across different parts of buildings. Such recommendations were made by a Green Alliance-authored report.

Financial incentives could also be applied, for example, applying penalties to organisations that do not meet certain targets, or refuse to disclose energy performance reports for their company. In Australia, the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) has resulted in a 40% drop in energy use across Australian buildings.

A range of policy revitalisation and development is needed to cut commercial energy use and fulfil the UK’s target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Rodney Turtle, the Vice-President for public policy and government affairs at Schneider Electric stressed the need to incorporate digital solutions.

“Much greater ambition is needed to improve the energy performance of UK buildings, ensuring that new buildings are much more efficient and promoting extensive refurbishment of existing ones. Digital solutions to accelerate progress are already available and other countries are already racing ahead in making the most of these new opportunities.”

Manchester students plagued by Erasmus uncertainty

Written by Josh Sandiford on . Posted in Investigations.

Manchester students have raised concerns over the embattled Erasmus programme as the UK prepares to leave the European Union at the end of the month. 

Several undergraduates expressed doubts over the government’s commitment to the scheme – after MP’s shot down a motion that would have made it a priority in the post-Brexit negotiations.

The EU-funded exchange programme allows British students to gain international experience for up to 12 months. More than half of UK students who study abroad do so through the scheme and receive a grant to help with living costs.

The government insists it will continue with ‘full participation’ of the programme until the end of the 2020 EU budget period but it’s currently unclear what happens after this.

Several students said they had already missed out on funding due to Brexit uncertainty and some expressed worries about their impending placements.

Richard, a second-year studying Politics and Modern History, who is about to start a placement in the Netherlands, said he was anxious about receiving his grant.

He told The Mancunion: “I don’t believe my placement will be cancelled at this late stage but I do worry for receiving the Erasmus+ grant which will be vital to me being able to afford the cost of living there.”

The University said that the current round of Erasmus funding is still in place and that there is no reason why students should miss out on Erasmus opportunities in the coming academic year.

Bella, a third-year studying French and Italian and currently on the Erasmus scheme said that without the grant her living costs would be substantially more.

Working in Nantes as a radio presenter, she said it was “tragic” that other students might not get the opportunity to work and study abroad:

“The scheme has massively improved my language skills, beyond my expectations. To deny students this opportunity will deny the job market of those with language competences. Britain is already seeing a reduction in language teachers, this will only make matters worse and cut ourselves off as a country.”

Liv, a journalist and recent Manchester graduate echoed this: “It’s such a shame to lose something like this. The Erasmus scheme gave me the opportunity to improve my language skills and meet people from all over the world. I absolutely loved my time on the Erasmus scheme and hate to think other people would be deprived of it.”

Several people told The Mancunion that their Erasmus placements were a formative experience and that without the grant they couldn’t have been able to participate. Some said they chose Manchester over more prestigious universities simply because of the Erasmus opportunities.

The University says it is fighting to highlight the importance of the Erasmus programme and lobbying the government regarding its continuation post-Brexit.

As part of a new Strategic Plan, university bosses have also committed to providing more international opportunities than ever before.

A Manchester University spokesperson said: “We realise that the uncertainty over the future of Erasmus will be worrying for students, particularly for those for whom a study or work placement in Europe is integral to their programme.

“While there are a number of issues which require guidance from the government, the University is working on contingency arrangements with EU partners to develop agreements which will allow mobility flows beyond Erasmus. We are also in the process of quantifying the financial impact in case government funding is not forthcoming beyond our participation in Erasmus in 2021.”

@molotovrainbow instagram

Art in Mancunia: William McCullion/Tilda James

Written by daisyculver on . Posted in Arts.

William McCullion – nom de plume Tilda James- is a first-year American Studies student as well as one of Manchester’s finest budding poets.

Having been writing for three years, their work explores extensively the intimate worlds of the body, gender and mental health, as well as introspections on the student experience, since moving to Manchester last year.

William’s interest in writing piqued in secondary school when they became, “quite by accident”, the lyricist for a band they’d started with friends. This proved to be a very happy accident, though, with these first forays into lyricism treading the path for some enchanting poetry to come.

The poet. Photo: William McCullion/Tilda James

Though it tends towards the confessional, William’s work is also peppered with the kinds of universal Manchester student references which stop the reader in their tracks. For instance a deeply introspective poem about wrestling with one’s own inner turmoil and jealousy snaps you into reality with references to the Students’ Union building and the short-comings of Fallowfield.

It is crystal clear where William draws their inspiration from. References to Kendrick Lamar songs and an entire meditation on mental health and mortality, addressed to Lil Peep, place William’s work squarely in 2020.

This is despite a confessional element which goes beyond the contemporary. Impressively, these introspections would feel every bit at home with the Beat poets of the 1950s, who William also cites as inspirations.

https://molotovrainbow.tumblr.com/post/190126254491/choirboy?fbclid=IwAR2-Q-Q6vveTMi4Xz1hlmQZb6ss0b22T0rCcG1dEiwI5t-DlRY9jpt65Akc

Much like Lil Peep – a rapper credited with the an emo revival twist on rap and rock – poetry is used as something as a salvation for William, who sees writing as their ‘coping mechanism’ during harsher times.

William’s aphorisms on gender and identity, and the difficulty of wrestling with these abstract concepts in modern society lean into the political, even when they are intensely personal.

As a self-proclaimed ‘profoundly confused non-binary person’, William is all too aware of how these meditations on gender become political in a modern climate, yet one of their greatest successes is in making these feel both universal and deeply frank and personal. This is no mean feat for a poet not even out of halls yet!

You can read more of William McCullion/Tilda James’ poetry on their tumblr: MolotovRainbow.

Art in Mancunia: Molly James

Written by rosieplunkett on . Posted in Arts.

The Art in Macunia team first came across Molly James during the ‘Manchester Modest Fashion Show: Electric Bazaar X Whitworth’, a runway event which debuted the work of local ethical clothing brand, Electric Bazaar. 

While people mingled and chatted about the evening, Molly was perched on a bench creating life drawings for the audience after the show. Engrossed in her practice, she sketched drawings of people and their outfits to distribute out as a small token of the evening. 

Taking inspiration from artists such as Jamie Hewlett, Jermaine Rogers and Posy Simmonds, Molly creates ‘cartoon-esque illustrations’ all based on her ‘Bib and Biblets’ humanoid characters, that can be worked into many different scenarios or personalities.

This fun and creative style allows her freedom to imagine a range of unique individuals that can function alone or as a collective, whilst placing James’ work into a distinguishable category that is unmatched in style.

The comic drawings are often met with eerie stylistic aspects. This challenges the viewer, creating a sensation of walking on the edge between humour and unease. The film ‘Coraline’ comes to mind, a beautifully illustrated and deeply loved piece, but supplemented by a power to unnerve the viewer and stir a ‘monster under the bed’ type of childlike anxiety.

In Molly’s case, this comes in the form of the sunken eyes and lanky bodies of the Bib and Biblets, giving them human-like aspects that we can relate to, but also detaching them and separating them from us at the same time.

Alongside combining ideas about philosophy and culture, James’ drawings not only show abilities to portray a story or idea in a more informal and engaging way, but also allows for her opinions and views to shine through. This, in turn, creates moving, relatable and personal narratives. 

Her ability to alternate between her own specific style of personal practice and the commissioned work of Electric Bazaar, makes James a versatile and talented artist in not just hand drawn work but the technical and digital skill of her posters and illustrations.  

Molly recently graduated from the Manchester School of Art and is paving a way for herself to become an illustrator and artist.

You can find more of Molly’s work at her instagram: @landofbib or her Behance online portfolio.

Art in Mancunia 2020: Yang Sweeps

Written by saoirseakhtarfarren on . Posted in Arts.

The first time I met Yang Sweeps was after a gig at Jimmy’s. Eccentric and unpredicatable – I thought they were perfect for Art in Mancunia.

Last years performance for Art in Mancunia rigorously tested the infrastructure of Antwerp as choppy waves of heads banged and mosh pits emerged inside the crumbling walls of the Mansion. It is safe to say that as the final act, Yang Sweeps blessed us with an outstanding performance and now 2020 anticipates round two. 

However, the newly reformed “quintet rock outfit”, as a result of a new face who dared to join the intriguing “cesspool” that is Yang Sweeps, can only mean one thing – something new and more daring…

Despite the various bumps and turns that the 2019 road threw at Yang Sweeps, the successes of their 2019 EP ‘Dad Rock’ demonstrates the quality of their music. The band are ranked 24 out of 30 by MIMR Alternative Indie Music Blog and their achievements do not halt here. 

Yang Sweeps have performed more gigs in the past four months than in their first year voyage into the indie ocean, keeping their sails afloat with the recent release of a brand new EP, CHICKEN RUN SEQUEL CONFIRMED (C.S.R.C.) which dropped on the 1st January this year.

The EP begins with ‘Mustard Tears’, in which I cannot help but visualise Sonic The Hedgehog cloud-hopping and rolling in slow motion through space, eventually obliterating into a thousand megapixels. Piercing through the multicolored haze, an unforgiving guitar rift pulls the listener down to where the story begins, a breezy sunflower meadow with the wind blowing in their hair. 

The seamlessly chaotic enchantment of this EP oozes out from all angles. Moreover, the EP cover design by @judemstedward_art enhances the artistic dynamism of Yang Sweeps, and has much to be credited for. Whilst the design suggests a political critique of state control, ready yourself to find each of the four tracks as entities in themselves, independent from some themes communicated in Stedward’s design.

Serious reflection on and reworking of the Yang Sweeps sound is what has been most apparent from this EP, but mostly the band’s attitude. 2019 saw the transition from a more colourful melody that teased with optimistic chords, to the C.R.S.C EP which demonstrates a creative contrast between light and dark. C.R.S.C is a compilation that intimates with unexpected digital frequencies, harrowing guitar solos, and tenacious drums.

You can follow Yang Sweeps before the exhibition on Instagram, @_yangsweeps_, and catch them playing at local gig venues and bars across Manchester.

Opinion: Unisex sports must capitalise on Fallon Sherrock’s success

Written by Kate Jackson on . Posted in Sport.

Less than two years on from the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) decision to stop using ‘walk-on’ girls at their tournaments, Fallon Sherrock became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship. 

Fallon Sherrock’s success at the most recent World Championship (2019) has been rightly applauded by fans and celebrities alike around the globe, especially following her second round win against Mensur Suljovic, who was seeded eleventh in the tournament. 

A win for a woman at the tournament has certainly been a long time coming. 

Since the PDC’s formation in 1992, women have been allowed to qualify for all of the PDC tournaments but only five women have ever featured at the World Championship.  

This number will only grow, however, as the PDC have recently changed their stance on female competitors in the competition. Not only can women continue to qualify through the normal channels, but two positions have been reserved in the event for female competitors. 

Sherrock thinks that given more opportunities women will be beating men in the sport more regularly. “I don’t see myself at a physical disadvantage,” she told Radio 5 Live. “We just do not get the recognition or the opportunity to play against these men, so obviously you don’t see it that often. Us women, we can beat these men. We just need more recognition.” 

The PDC do not have women’s only tournaments so most female darts players compete in the opposing organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO). 

The BDO is not as popular or profitable, however, and the female competitors suffer as a result. 

Sherrock’s two wins in the PDC World Championship bagged her £25,000 whereas the winner of the BDO’s Women’s World Championship, this year Mikuru Suzuki, received just £10,000.

There have been calls for the PDC to run a women’s tour concurrent with the men’s in order to raise the profile of the game but there has been some hesitation from chief-executive of the PDC, Matt Porter, who wants to make sure the appetite is there. 

“We need to make sure that women are keen to be involved in darts. Whether it’s as players, spectators, officials, television viewers, whatever – we need them to feel the door is open to them.”

The problem, as it is generally is when it comes to unisex sports, is that even when it is open to competitors of all genders, there is still an inherent bias or imbalance between men and women. Most of the top female darts players, for instance, do not have the means, financial or otherwise, to give the sport the same dedication as the top men playing in the PDC.

Matt Porter believes “grass-roots participation” has to be the key if more talent like Fallon is to be produced.

But that’s the problem, how do you get that participation?

Snooker, another sport that is open to men and women to compete alongside one another, sees women hindered by the culture surrounding snooker clubs. 

Just last year, Rebecca Kenna, who was ranked third in women’s snooker at the time, quit her snooker league after she was barred from playing matches at the Grafton Club and Keighley Cycling Club.    

No woman has made it to The Crucible, the venue for the World Snooker Championships, and legendary player Steve Davis does not expect it to ever happen.

“The male of the species has got a single-minded, obsessional type of brain that I don’t think so many females have,” he said back in 2014.  

Having to deal with an intimidating environment, in the form of snooker clubs, and comments such as these from the sport’s iconic figures is problem enough for women without adding in the problems of funding and financial incentives.

It seems to be a lose-lose situation when in comes to gender-neutral sports: keep these sports unisex and give women the opportunity to have a higher profile in the sport but also see fewer women competing; or, alternatively, keep these sports segregated, allowing more women to compete, but consequently have a lower profile and less financial opportunities.

The answer, of course, is to try and do both.

Give women the platform in which to compete with men on the main stage while also investing in the women’s game. Giving women a bigger financial incentive means they can rely on the sport for their income and therefore have the means to become more prolific in the game.

This is how talent will be uncovered and allow sports such as darts and snooker to change the ratio of men to women competing in the bigger tournaments.

The PDC have taken a step in the right direction by reserving places for women in events, but they must go further if they are to capitalise on Sherrock’s success and give women a true opportunity to be equal with men in darts and other gender-neutral sports.

Credit: Fighting Spirit

Find your new year Fighting Spirit with Boxing Fitness

Written by Felix Hanif-Banks on . Posted in Features.

Christmas time is well and truly over but you’ll be forgiven for still feeling the fatigue, especially with relentless exams and deadlines not giving you a moment’s rest. New Year’s resolutions and that ‘New Decade, New Me’ mindset can get you in the gym for a while, but it’s only so long before motivation starts waning again. There’s no better way to get yourself motivated than diving into something new and helping a good cause, and Fighting Spirit have just the boxing fitness programme for you!

Fighting Spirit are a local organisation committed to providing an activity that can help physical fitness as well as mental wellbeing. Their programme of non-contact boxing fitness combined with a mental health resilience workshop covers a lot of ground in just over 2 hours, providing a well-rounded experience for anyone looking to get into the best shape they can.

The workshop has been set up to promote Manchester Mind, an independent local charity that has been supporting the area in mental health for 30 years, and Red January, a charity set up to encourage people to get active for a short time every day throughout January. The two charities have been working together with a number of fundraising events for 3 years now, and Red January say 87% of those who participate in their programme feel significantly better physically and mentally.

Boxing training, often referred to as ‘boxercise’, has fast become a popular method of exercise, with many seeing it as having similar potential to yoga in its reach. It’s undeniably effective, combining aerobic and anaerobic exercise and working out a broad range of muscle groups, working your legs, hips, back, shoulders and core, not just your arms.

Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise is full of praise for boxercise. “In addition to boosting your strength and cardio, boxing improves a number of skill-related parameters of fitness, including balance, coordination, reactivity, and agility,” she says.

Fighting Spirit’s boxing fitness programme is perfect for anyone looking for a new way to challenge themselves or bolster either physical or mental health. Any exercise will come with many mental health benefits, but an organisation specifically dedicating themselves to achieving that is refreshing, especially given the negative stereotypes that can surround boxing as being overly brutish.

Gwen Richards, founder of Fighting Spirit, set up the organisation after experiencing the positive benefits of boxing fitness for herself. She aimed to create a community of like-minded people who could act not only as training partners, but a support network within an area. Through open discussion, Gwen wanted to show mental health problems can be a universal experience and shouldn’t be shied away from.

Fighting Spirit’s Boxing Fitness Workshop is on the 28th January at 5.30pm in Zion Community Resource Centre, Stretford. Tickets can be found on Eventbrite for £18 along with all the necessary information for the session.

Author: DimSummer/Wikipedia

Alasdair Gray, Scottish avant-garde provocateur, dies aged 85

Written by Will Stonier on . Posted in Books.

Alasdair Gray, one of Glasgow’s most celebrated artists and writers — ever the eccentric and unafraid of the avant garde — died, on December 29, at the age of 85 years old.

Alasdair’s first novel, Lanark: A Life in Four Books — published in 1981, when Gray was 46 years old — was praised by Manchester’s own Anthony Burgess, with Burgess calling Gray ‘the best Scottish novelist since Walter Scott’. It is a text that oscillates between parallel universes, between the ordinary and the extraordinary, and is a narrative that is spliced alongside illustrations by Alisdair himself in his own trademark style. With his work — such as 1982, Janine — Gray demanded full artistic control over the publication of the text as, for Alasdair, a book is not just a place for words, but a domain for typographic and graphic experimentation. He never worked within two dimensions. 

Whilst undertaking my undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow I first encountered Alasdair Gray through his novel Poor Things, a Victorian parody that engages with experimental narrative techniques; a text that is as much of a game as it is a novel. It was a novel that I loved. During my time in Glasgow, it seemed that everyone had an anecdote about Alasdair.

They ranged from hearing him read at poetry nights, bumping into him on Byres Road, or one particular story where after being told by his wife he was only permitted one glass of wine, he filled said glass to the very top, with the wine spilling down the lip of the glass. His presence could be felt all across Glasgow; he was a conduit through which his readers could access worlds and terrestrial domains that exist outside of our own. He not only allowed for Scottish literature to flourish — Alasdair imbued experimental fiction with a new sense of direction, with authors such as Irvine Welsh and Janice Galloway to follow in his footsteps. 

I myself saw Alasdair speak at one of the University of Glasgow’s Creative Conversation sessions. Alasdair, now wheelchair bound following a fall outside of his home answered questions from the crowd about his novels. He responded to questions on James Joyce, Franz Kafka whilst reciting lines of poetry fusillading the audience with his love and passion for literature and art. 

Alasdair was born in Riddrie, Glasgow into a working-class family to Amy and Alexander Gray. In 1957 he graduated from the Glasgow School of Art and began to paint murals around Glasgow, each an individual love letter to the city that raised him. (They can be found at Hillhead subway station — though the most famous being the ceiling of the venue Oran Mor, his greatest artistic achievement.) He was also a staunch Scottish nationalist — he published his manifesto for an independent Scotland, Why Scots Should Rule Scotland, in 1992. 

Writing for The Guardian, Janice Galloway said: ‘Alasdair Gray’s writing offered me something freeing. He made me feel acknowledged, spoken to, listened for. Twenty years after the initial gratitude for this book having been written at all, that alone is worth re-saying. These days, Scottish confidence – a regained parliament of sorts, a more admissible literary, musical and artistic culture – is in notionally better shape, and that partly in direct response to this book.’ 

As Alasdair’s character Lanark says: ‘But I do enjoy words—some words—for their own sake! Words like river, and daw, and daylight, and time. These words seem much richer than our expectations of things they represent—’. What Alasdair’s writing did and still does, then, is constantly entrap his readers in the worlds — and words — that his fiction creates.

Guidbye, Alasdair.

Reads for 2020

Written by Shaheena on . Posted in Books.

We’re into a new decade, hopefully one which promises as many inspiring, harrowing, heart-wrenching, freeing, interrogative and overall impressing reads as the last.

Looking at the upcoming titles for 2020, this year is shaping up to be a great year for fiction. Here is a list of just a few reads to look out for this year, though we’ll have reviews up for you to compare with your own reading soon enough.

Agency, by William Gibson, 21st January

Agency is a novel that lets you indulge in the political ‘what-ifs’ of the last few major elections. We’ve all surely asked ourselves what the world might have looked like had Hillary come into office in 2017, or rather had Trump not come into office.

Gibson’s Agency, described as a ‘prequel’ and a ‘sequel’ to his 2014 novel The Peripheral, allows a reader to explore this reality, or his version of this reality. The novel explores diverging time lines. One being an alternative outcome to the 2017 elections and another a millenia ahead of us.

It is a novel that uses a familiar landscape to map a larger story of the potentialities of time travel, and creates space to indulge in the what-ifs some of us can’t help but contemplate.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, 30th January

Anappara’s debut novel Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line hands over its narrative agency to nine year old Jai. Jai is a young child living in Kerala with, like all young kids, an excitable imagination.

Jai’s perspective enables a reader insight into the every-day life lived by the community of Kerala, with a poignant twist. People are disappearing in Jai’s home town. Specifically, children. Children are going missing and, after a school friend disappears, Jai makes it his responsibility to figure out what is happening.

If you’re interested in Anappara’s novel, you can read through a short extract on the Penguin Random House website.

The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel 3rd March

Wrobel creates an intricate though unhealthy relationship between mother and daughter in her novel The Recovery of Rose Gold. Lee Child calls Wrobel ‘a writer to watch’ in response to her novel.

Her novel sees two women, one who has been immeasurably wronged by her controlling mother and one whose vying for control has left her daughter suspicious, living together again. With Rose Gold’s infant son in the mix, her relationship with her mother, Patty Watts, is characterised by suspicion.

Wrobel asks, through her novel, whether what lengths we should go to in order to accept somebody who has wronged us back into our lives. The relationship of mother and daughter makes this an especially tense read to navigate.

Poor by Caleb Femi 30th July

Caleb Femi recounts his experiences in his collection of poetry, Poor. Growing up young and black in North Peckham, Femi’s experiences include episodes of police violence and profiling, the support of his community living on his estate, and his pursuit for love.

These experiences are reflected in his collection of poetry. Imagery in his poetry is reflective of the architecture of the now demolished estate he grew up in. His poetry is punctuated by his own photography, interwoven in the pages of the collection.

His poetry is an interesting exploration of how place shapes and shaped the community, the experiences and the body of his work set to be published in July this year.

Whilst there are many more books we’d like to recommend all at once, these are just a few of the titles we’re anticipating for 2020.

Sport in a decade of sustainability

Written by Harry Deacon on . Posted in Sport.

As we enter the 2020s, one topic seems set to dominate the discourse of the ensuing decade. Paradigms on climate change came to the forefront of conversations all over the world in 2019, with climate strikes led by Extinction Rebellion and moving speeches made by teenage activist Greta Thunberg just two of the countless aspects of action taken against climate change.

Yet, the way the new year has erupted in a blaze of catastrophic fires stretching across the surface of Australia, causing devastation to humans and wildlife alike, proves a great challenge lies ahead that must be tackled in the next ten years.

Sport is not exempt when it comes to the united action that must occur if irreversible damage is to be avoided. However, it may be difficult to see just how much our favourite sports contribute to climate change and how they can become greener without drastically changing the way they operate.

For example, it has become the norm to expect our favourite Premier League clubs to make the return mid-week trip to Eastern Europe in the Champions League group stage before trundling up and down the M1 to battle for three valuable points at the weekend.

Without even thinking of the fans travel and the energy used at the all-seater stadiums on match day, the carbon footprint of our football clubs begins to look embarrassingly large, thus beckoning the question: what is being done to limit the sport’s environmental impact?

Some positives can be found in the Premier League: Arsenal switched to renewable electricity for the Emirates back in 2017, Manchester City have created wildlife corridors at their training complex, and Burnley’s Ashley Barnes and Ashley Westwood started a car share scheme to and from training in a self-funded mini bus.

However, these individual cases are clearly not enough.

Lancaster University’s professor Mike Berners-Lee quite rightly pointed out that there was much more to be done. Speaking to the BBC, he said:

“Whilst is it great to see Premier League clubs taking steps and whilst there are some good actions here, it is only just scratching the surface and not yet addressing the most important areas.”

Delving a little deeper into the footballing league and a true example can be found of a club that is thriving, while making sure they do their bit to make football greener. Forest Green Rovers made waves in the media when they announced the club would only sell vegan produce back in 2017.

Now, in 2020, they have plans for 5,000 capacity stadium called Eco Park. Situated in ‘parkland where some five hundred trees and 1.8km of new hedgerows would be planted’, according to the club website, the new stadium will become the epicentre of the club’s environmentally friendly ethos that is already making impressive contributions to sustainability.

While football seems to be slowly but surely turning to green initiatives, other sports may find it harder to adjust. Lewis Hamilton’s £262,000 donation to fire and animal rescue services in Australia will be greatly welcomed but has done little to detract from the public backlash he receives for speaking out on environmental matters.

With the upcoming Formula One season set to reach 22 destinations across the world and poignantly commencing in Melbourne, the sport is under huge pressure to commit to sustainability while simultaneously promising the millions of fans the same combination of drama, tactics, and speed that is synonymous with motorsport racing.

Towards the end of last year huge statements were made by Formula One regarding going greener. An ambitious plan has been set to become carbon neutral by 2030 by offsetting current emissions that cannot be cut while using innovative ideas to increase efficiencies on race day.

Formula One, via the BBC, says it will “move to ultra-efficient logistics and travel and 100% renewably powered offices, facilities and factories”, and thus tackle the enormous 256,551 tonnes of carbon emissions omitted by the sport in 2018, not including the contribution made by the travelling fans.

However, with 45% of the carbon emissions coming from the logistics of the competition, rather than race day itself, the organisers will have their work cut out reaching their proclaimed 2030 carbon neutral deadline.

Elsewhere, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have pledged that their beds will be made of recycled plastic and that the medals will be made entirely from recycled consumer devices.

In theory, it is evident that sports across the globe have committed to sustainability. Yet, the efforts of the 2010s are individual, fragmented, and minimal. Pledges for greener initiatives are becoming increasingly common, but there is a long way to go until the sports we rely on for entertainment conform to the growing demands to tackle climate change.

The question remains on whether our favourite sports can continue in the way we have grown accustomed to, while simultaneously contributing to the global effort to tackle climate change.

Review: Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Written by Kayleigh Crawford on . Posted in Theatre.

A Christmas production of Peter Pan that is emphatically NOT a pantomime, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a Mischief Theatre production where everything seemingly goes wrong. It follows Mischief Theatre’s well-known The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. A play within a play, Peter Pan Goes Wrong was funny, daring and undoubtedly festive.

From the moment the audience step into the theatre, the production is already underway. Lights are flickering on and off onstage, troubling sounds can be heard from backstage, and a number of technicians are running up and down the rows of seats in a frenzy. The atmosphere was perfectly created from the start, and when the lights eventually dimmed (after some false starts), it felt like the play had already begun.

Although the play relied on the humour of things going wrong, at no point did the associated jokes become predictable or overused. In fact, some of the funniest moments came when the audience were expecting something to go wrong in a certain way. This anticipation and build up are what often made the punchline hit. One area where this was exemplified brilliantly was through the character of Dennis (Romayne Andrews). Dennis appears onstage as John Darling wearing a very conspicuous headset; it is explained that he doesn’t know his lines and is being fed them in real time. Every time Andrews opened his mouth to speak, the audience would wait with barely contained grins to hear the robotic, emotionless delivery of the line.

The brilliance of the play lies within the fact that the characters have a dual identity. They are characters in Peter Pan but they are also the actors who are playing those characters. The drama happens inside and outside of the performance as Sandra (Katy Daghorn) and Jonathan (Ciaran Kellgren), who play Wendy and Peter Pan, respectively, become part of a love triangle with Annie (Phoebe Ellabani), who plays Tinkerbell. These relationships, whilst unclear at first, unfurl as the production goes on, making it all the more entertaining as the relationships between characters is revealed.

Max, played by Tom Babbage, soon became an audience favourite, after eliciting sympathy for being ridiculed by other cast members. Max appears throughout most of the performance as Michael Darling, but also plays a Mermaid and the crocodile that taunts Captain Hook. Babbage was fantastic in this role, capturing the overenthusiastic and eager nature of Max in all three of his Peter Pan characters.

The banter between Robert (Oliver Senton) and Chris (Connor Crawford) as director and assistant director was some of the best dialogue of the play. Appearing onstage before the play started and ‘stalling’ after the interval to buy them more time to set up, the back-and-forth interactions between them made for hilarious viewing.

The integration of technicians into the performance made it stand out, especially when sound-technician Trevor (Ethan Moorhouse) was drafted in to replace an unconscious Peter Pan during the second act. The technicians also regularly ran onstage to fix a problem with the set. Without this element, the performance wouldn’t have been half as convincing or half as funny.

The highlight of the production was the ending scene, where the revolving stage ‘malfunctioned’ and kept turning through the different sets. This led to a chase scene where the characters moved through different settings that were wildly inappropriate for what was supposed to be happening. Peter Pan and Captain Hook duelling in the Darling children’s bedroom was a particularly absurd moment, with a lot of laughter coming from the audience.

With regular breaks in the fourth wall and perfect comedic timing, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a show for all ages, guaranteed to make even the most stony-faced audience member crack a smile or two.

Review: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Written by Alana Cook on . Posted in Theatre.

The story of two drag performers and a transgender woman who hit the road in their bus named Priscilla for a raucous road trip into the outback of Australia, came to life at the Palace Theatre in Manchester as part of the show’s tour, with name-draw Joe McFadden (the winner of Strictly in 2017) as the lead, Tick, and actors Nick Hayes and Miles Western as Adam/Felicia and Bernadette, respectively. 

As often seems to be the case with touring shows such as this, the brightest and best performers are often the least well-known. Joe McFadden gave a solid performance in the lead role, clearly a talented singer and dancer, but failed to add that extra bit of sparkle to the role and, at times, the emotion felt overly forced, whereas it came effortlessly to the two secondary actors, Nick Hayes and Miles Western. Whilst their Australian accents seemed very believable, McFadden’s struggled to sound convincing.

Priscilla is a jukebox musical that incorporates some of the best disco and dance songs from the 20th century, including Hot Stuff, I Will Survive, and Finally, sometimes sung by the Queens themselves, and other times mimed as “the Divas” did the singing (with each Diva corresponding with a Queen, for the first time in Priscilla‘s history, according to Nick Hayes when he chatted to The Mancunion).

The writing was witty and sardonic, with a sprinkling of meta. For example, the moment when McFadden commented on three drag queens going on a journey through the Australian desert sounding like the plot of a film. Hmm…

The show was undeniably a spectacle, with the set design and costumes (Phil R Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith, respectively) taking centre-stage, drawing us into the glitzy underground world of drag. This production is noticeably less grandiose than previous productions, which is probably due to the show’s budget.

Further, there are unfortunately elements that just didn’t match up to the level of glamour we are led to expect. Tom Jackson Greaves’ choreography often lacked any real pizzazz, with many of the ensemble out of time, which proved distracting. There’s only so much that glitter and glam can hide! Similarly, the lighting design just was not up to scratch. From the opening, we had spotlights visibly hurrying across the stage when they had missed their mark, completely failing to light Tick’s entrance, which just made the production feel sloppy and careless. 

The show was undoubtedly carried by Nick Hayes’ show-stopping performance as Adam/Felicia. He managed to captivate an audience both in and out of full scale drag. Most notable is his ability to switch seamlessly between comedic and serious moments in Priscilla. The homophobic physical and sexual assault allowed for the most heartbreaking moment of tenderness between Felicia and Bernadette. Both Hayes and Miles Western gave stellar performances, reminding the audience that although the show is a joyous celebration of all things queer, we still have a long way to go. Adam/Felicia also represented the seldom talked about transphobia within the gay community itself.

Even though the original motion picture was released in 1994, the abuse our Queens face on stage today in 2019 still rings true, something we hope will eventually begin to feel outdated and out of place.         

Overall, despite its flaws, the show was a glittering, camp musical adventure filled with enough cheese and smutty jokes. For those wanting a complex and intellectually stimulating theatre experience, this is not for you. But if it’s flamboyant, dazzling and silly you’re after, then buckle your seat-belts on this rowdy road trip – you’re in the right place.

Authorised Press Shot

Album Review: Reflections by Hannah Diamond

Written by Alan Thomas on . Posted in Music.

Bubblegum bass, hyper pop – whatever you call the futuristic, experimental sound crafted by the PC Music label, there’s no doubt that the genre has seen a sharp rise in the late 2010s.

The label was founded back in 2013 and pioneered a unique sound which exaggerated traditional pop tropes over artificial synths to a warm reception.

Charli XCX embraced the movement back in 2015 and hasn’t looked back, achieving critical acclaim with a duo of mixtapes released in 2017 as well as her latest album Charli released back in September. Scottish producer and PC Music affiliate SOPHIE received a Grammy nomination for 2018’s OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES and has worked with the likes of Madonna, Vince Staples and Flume. 2019 has perhaps been its biggest year yet with releases from the aforementioned Charli XCX, Dorian Electra, 100 gecs, Slayyyter and Caroline Polachek all pushing the sound in new directions. Hannah Diamond joins that list with the release of her debut studio album, Reflections.

Reflections is entirely produced by PC Music founder and producer A.G. Cook who has quite a rich history of working with Diamond. Originally a photographer and visual artist, Diamond had been collaborating with Cook on websites but when a vocalist dropped out of a session, the pair began working on music together.

A track from Reflections, ‘Fade Away’, was released all the way back in 2016. Hannah Diamond tackles a typical pop theme about losing a loved one and adds PC Music’s feel to it, making her voice icy and robotic and incorporating lyrics about the new digital era: “Wish we could talk things through / Wish I could click undo” and “I always thought I’d be / The picture saved on your screen.” The contrast between the melancholic lyrics and the upbeat electropop beat makes for a brilliant listen.

Despite extending the album rollout over three years, Hannah Diamond included all the music she released in that time period on the album, suggesting Reflections is an important project to her and she wanted it out a certain way. Almost half of the album was already out before the official lead single ‘True’ was finally released in late 2018.

The album runs approximately 40 minutes and is quite cohesive. All the tracks seem to follow a template which somehow doesn’t get old. Hannah Diamond pens sad love songs with a child-like innocence over glistening synths. Unlike contemporaries in the genre, her music isn’t as provocative or hedonistic, instead preferring a low-key, bittersweet touch. The lyrics aren’t too varied as she sticks to fawning over a lost lover. ‘Invisible’ is a sad party song about seeing your ex with someone else, ‘Never Again’ describes being used in a relationship and the subject matter of ‘Love Goes On’ can easily be implied from its title.

However, she manages to keep things exciting, usually through intriguing production choices. Reflections is very well-produced featuring smooth, slick beats with subtle touches to complement Diamond’s vocals. There are frequent vocal bursts and glitches which become necessary on her somewhat monotone voice. ‘The Ending’ sees Hannah Diamond describing an on and off relationship in her verses before the chorus explodes into appropriate repetitions of “going or gone” with warped vocoder effects.

The highlight of the record is ‘Concrete Angel’, a cover of Gareth Emery’s track of the same name. An emotional performance from Hannah Diamond is paired with some of Cook’s best production. The progressive trance production is replaced by muted synths and shimmering keys which thump behind the vocals before slowly growing into the mix. Halfway through the track after a voice note, Diamond’s vocals fade out before zooming back to normal. She continues to croon the chorus before static crackles and a ballistic explosion in the last 30 seconds or so.

Reflections is by no means a perfect record, suffering at times due to the similar sound of the whole project as well as the rather simplistic lyrics. Fans of PC Music will undoubtedly enjoy this record but new listeners may disengage and find Hannah Diamond’s deliberate lack of personality and the limited diversity in her songwriting boring. Overall, Hannah Diamond has produced a solid debut which proves that this brand of pop has room for emotional exploration and could soundtrack the next decade.

7/10

Photo: Bundesarchiv @ wikimedia commons

Review: Jojo Rabbit

Written by Michal Wasilewski on . Posted in Film.

The winners of Toronto Film Festival usually follow a similar pattern. From Slumdog Millionaire to Green Book, they tend to be safe crowd-pleasers, often pretending to be more valuable by involving a serious subject matter in the story. The recent TIFF winner, Jojo Rabbit, fits into this description perfectly, with even more flaws than the Canadian festival has accustomed us to.

Taika Waititi’s “anti-hate satire” takes us to Nazi Germany during the 1940s. The Second World War is going on, and our main protagonist, a 10-year-old boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is fascinated by the hateful ideology. He is not popular nor respected at school, and with only one friend (Archie Yates) he clearly struggles to fit in.

This lack of popularity may be the reason why he found himself believing that being a Nazi would solve his social problems. Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi himself) became his imaginary friend, fighting against the Allies is now his biggest dream, and he eagerly awaits going to the Hitler Youth bootcamp.

Soon after, young Jojo discovers that the bootcamp reality is not exactly what he expected it to be. His mother’s actions and beliefs slowly start to undermine the boy’s principles and he must carefully consider his priorities.

However interesting this moral dilemma may sound, Waititi’s decision to fill the story with childish and at times primitive one-note jokes destroyed the film’s dramatic potential. In the 108 minutes runtime there is only one scene which aspires to have a fully emotional tone (and yet it still fails to do so). And significantly more should be expected from the story of the Holocaust.

Another reason of the film’s faultiness are its puerile, zany characters played in an over-the-top, sloppy manner. The most pitiful and incompetent acting is presented by Taika Waititi and Sam Rockwell. Luckily, not all actors deserve harsh criticism. Scarlett Johansson as Jojo’s mother gives yet another great performance this season, and all the young actors (Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie and Archie Yates) can be highly praised for their work.

Visually, Jojo Rabbit closely resembles Wes Anderson’s films. Its warm, pastel colours emphasise the satirical tone. The costumes, although not historically accurate, seem perfect for the story. Technical aspects of the film, from editing to sound, are at the highest level – exactly what you would expect from a Hollywood production.

Overall, Jojo Rabbit is far from being an intelligent satirical take on the horrors of Holocaust and on every other topic it tries to touch. Regardless, it will surely find many fans among the less demanding audience and may well be a pleasant experience.

3/5.

Review: 1917

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

Sam Mendes’ latest blockbuster is a monumental cinematic achievement. Presented in the “one-shot” format, the film’s personal plot and sprawling sets are all linked together by mesmerising camerawork that never seems to cut, showing the soldiers’ mission in the pace that they would be perceiving it.

1917 explores the personal impact of war through the story of two soldiers tasked with delivering a crucial message. This may sound counterintuitive, as most viewers would probably correlate war with huge setpieces, an uncountable amount of on-screen fatalities, and constant gunfire and explosions. Instead, the film dials back the stakes of the action to two men, Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay), as they embark on a perilous journey to save 1,500 soldiers — and Blake’s brother.

By scaling back the stakes, the impact of the story is more palpable, with the exploration of how the horrors of war affect two soldiers serving as a prism that refracts these tragedies and makes it easier to understand the sheer scale of destruction the Great War caused.

I cannot stress how impressive a visual feat 1917 is. The “one-shot” is one of the most coveted types of shot in cinema; it’s incredibly hard to pull off, as every element on set, from the decoration, to the layout, and the actor’s performances, have to be absolutely perfect. Mendes has cleverly made a film that ties together several “oners” with sneaky editing and invisible VFX which, when combined with the brilliant eye of cinematographer Roger Deakins, makes for a visual spectacle of the highest calibre. The time frame of the film is definitely longer than two hours, but I feel that it’s intentional, as the pace of the film isn’t an exact depiction of the story, rather, it depicts how the events of the film felt.

 

 

It’s the huge, detailed sets that impressed me the most. The trenches are unbelievably long, filled with hundreds of soldiers, and no-man’s land is filled with treacherous terrain, fallen soldiers, and artillery impact craters filled with water. Of all the sets, however, I found the burning rural town that is seen in the climax of the second act to be the most impressive. There seemed to be dozens of streets and alleys blasted away to rubble as the centre of town was ablaze.

The experience is further enhanced by the performances by the star-studded cast, featuring Colin Firth as a stern General, Mark Strong as a generous Captain and Benedict Cumberbatch as a Colonel with an iron-will. The soundtrack and sound design are also noteworthy; when the soundtrack isn’t heightening the tension, the brilliant use of silence makes the tension palpable from start to finish. As the credits roll, a message dedicated to Mendes’ grandfather and all the fallen soldiers of the Great War appears, a sweet touch to top off the heroic tale.

1917 will inevitably be compared to Christopher Nolan’s excellent Dunkirk but, despite not having a soundtrack by the renowned Hans Zimmer, Mendes’ WW1 epic can easily stand toe-to-to with Nolan’s WW2 time-bomb — the smaller scale of the trenches makes for a film with smaller yet harder-hitting stakes. If you are to see one film in cinemas to kick off 2020, 1917 is worth every minute of your time.

 

5/5.

Dirty Hit’s dream pop to rock showcase

Written by Georgina Davidson on . Posted in Music.

Artistic expression has never been an issue for the ‘Dirty Hit’ record label with their wide variety of successful artists, from festival bill toppers to young, fresh talent. It really does seem at that this moment they truly have a lot to offer within an ever changing and evolving music industry.

The British independent label was founded in December 2009 by Brian Smith and the late, former England footballer Ugo Ehiogu. The company has manager Jamie Oborne at the helm and continues to power forward with the growth of indie giants such as Wolf Alice and Manchester’s very own, The 1975.

It was exciting to hear then, that the company would be touring a showcase of their newer talents across the UK at various venues including the cavernous Gorilla, located just across the road from the legendary 02 Ritz venue.

I arrived a little earlier to meet with the artists before the show to discuss the tour, their current music, and a little bit about their plans for the upcoming year.

I initially spoke to Beatrice Kristi Laus, better known as Beabadoobee, about her experiences on tour and performing for the very first time in Manchester. She explained that she was really looking forward to an energetic room having performed at a pretty raucous show just two nights before at Glasgow’s King Tuts Wa Wa Hut. The show had apparently been a great success with two new tracks previewed to a very excitable crowd.

The second you hear Beabadoobee’s distinctively guitar-laden sound, however, its clear that her success comes from her ability to capture a crowd. From the second she entered the stage space and launched into her set she appeared to give everything she had with her brand of effortlessly cool indie-rock. What makes this all the more impressive was the discovery that she had started playing the guitar only two years previous to the release of her first singles.

Her performance as the final act of the night portrayed quite the well honed, quality rock sound. In technical terms, Bea really has mastered a great sound and in such a short space of time at that. Nothing but credit for her determination and her persistence as a performer.

Juanan A.Garcia @Juan.Agh

The third act also had collaborations of his own to discuss and had quite a different take on the experiences of touring. After supporting The 1975 on tour, the aesthetically driven, No Rome, had his own particular style of music that he was keen to talk about. Akin to his predecessor at the label, he felt that his music was falling into a pattern of ‘eras’ in which he saw himself evolve the more he performed in different environments.

“So much has changed since I started performing.” He explained, “I am 24 and I think I am finally starting to see a kind of electronica style now but it comes from the way I dress too, definitely.”

For Rome, it appears that the quality of his aesthetic output is vital, if not the most important element of his performance. He fears the loss of a “tangible” nature in music, explaining that he has recently got really interested in vinyl, taking inspiration from interesting cover artwork and design.

Juanan A.Garcia @Juan.Agh

This need to feel a connection to the material qualities of music creation likely stems from the central role that social media and online streaming has played in the realisation of these artists and their growing fan bases in recent years. The ability to sell records has fallen away and reaching fans across new and rather exciting online platforms has become the norm.

When the show finally came around later that day, it became clear that the crowd had a firm favourite, even though their enthusiasm for the all the artists hardly faltered throughout.

The night began with Oscar Lang and his lively band who ripped up the stage and really made the most of their time on stage. There were no crossover moments with Bea but he did reference her as they launched with ferocious energy into the track ‘Speed Dial’ which the crowd lapped up with growing enthusiasm.

There was a fair amount of anticipation surrounding the No Rome set but when he finally appeared on stage there was little change from anything seen in his previous performances. This along with a heavy reliance on pre-set sound and pedals gave the show a distinctly bland, shoegaze style that seemed out of place with the otherwise lively gig. It was a shame considering his potential after working on the creatively interactive track ‘narcissist’ and it seems that without the addition of Matty the track falls quite flat.

Rome had explained before the gig that he intends to work on new music for the 2020 festival season but progress had been slower due to perfecting and producing the sound himself. Perhaps the new year will see new direction to match an emergence of new material.

The showcase offers a promising window into the future of Dirty Hit which is driven by a need to appeal to a hunger for live performance. A collective aesthetic brings the bands together under a genre blend of post grunge, dream pop to rock styles and sounds.

Six Nations 2020: England confident amongst flurry of Head Coach changes

Written by tomreynolds on . Posted in Sport.

It was the day before St Patrick’s day last year when Wales cruised to victory against Ireland 25-7 in Cardiff to secure the six nations trophy and their second Grand Slam victory of the decade. Warren Gatland was the first coach to win three Grand Slams in the five or six nations era but departed from the Wales team after their excruciating World Cup semi-final loss against South Africa. 

The former Scarlets’ boss and fellow New Zealander Wayne Pivac is now at the helm for Wales and fans will hope he instils the same attacking and exciting style that he installed at the Llanelli side in order to defend the title this year.

With Ireland also facing managerial changes and, after an impressive World Cup competition in the summer, England fans would be right to feel this could be their year if they can reproduce the rugby that they played in their incredible 19-7 victory over the mighty All-Blacks. 

England arguably put in the best performance of any of the northern hemisphere teams in Japan this summer, but the domestic issue of the Saracens salary cap scandal may prove a distraction. Coach Eddie Jones announced this week that they would be holding talks to address any anger in the squad over Saracens relegation from the Premiership, with seven members of the England squad currently playing for Sarries. 

Jones is clearly being as bold as ever going into the 2020 Six Nations. It has been announced that eight uncapped players have been included in the 34 player squad, while established players who helped England to the World Cup final, such as Jack Nowell and Dan Cole, have been left out.

Fans may also be made anxious by the announced departure of second-in-command Steve Borthwick who has been accredited with the impressive development of some of England’s younger players, such as Mauro Itoje.

For Ireland fans, it will be interesting to see how the newly appointed Andy Farell, the father of England fly-half Owen, fares in his first job as a head coach. Farrell has made Johnny Sexton, a fly-half and second highest point scorer ever for Ireland, captain. Sexton, 34, succeeds the retired Rory Best despite a knee injury which could make him unavailable for the start of the tournament. 

There is promise in the squad with new in form players pushing for their place on the team sheet, such as Ulster scrum-half John Cooney whose fantastic form could mean he replaces long standing number nine Conor Murray.

We could see plenty of fresh faces in this years competition with France coach Fabien Galthie choosing to leave out some well known players such as Yoann Huget, Camille Lopez, and Maxime Medard. Meanwhile, Scotland will lament the loss of goal kicking talisman Greig Laidlaw after his retirement from international rugby and Italy have announced that their new captain will be the hooker Luca Bigi, as they prepare for life after the suspected retirement of rugby legend Sergio Parisse.

This year could mark a fresh start for the Six Nations teams and a chance for squads to implement a new system, with many changes being made to the personnel on the pitch and the coaching staff. 

England have the chance to improve on their fine form of the summer and whilst Wales still have a very strong squad, this year presents a clear opportunity for England to take the trophy. Especially as the Welsh and Irish are undergoing periods of transition after the departures of their respective long standing head coaches.