The Girls in Film Fund is supported by footwear and clothing brand Dr. Martens and offers one emerging female-identifying filmmaker £5000 to realise their creative vision and produce a film that showcases female strength and resilience. The fund is part of Dr. Martens’ “Tough As You” campaign, which recognises the fierce spirit of those fighting to overcome barriers and the resilience of independent creatives across the world.
Girls in Film strives to tackle the problem of inequality within the film industry and offers opportunities and support to aspiring female filmmakers. Speaking to London based producer and film curator, Nikola Vasakova, who founded Girls in Film in 2016, I learned the importance of the organisation. Nikola explained that support was needed for young women such as herself, as she knows from personal experience the alienation and isolation women can feel in the male-dominated field. She spoke of her own experiences of being the only woman on set and feeling uncomfortable, and the way in which women are patronised and held back from reaching their potential. By providing a network for aspiring female-identifying creatives to meet and collaborate, the group is slowly but surely tackling problems such as marginalisation and under-funding for women in the industry. This fund is, therefore, a chance for the group to provide much needed financial support for female directors and producers in the UK.
The creation of the Girls in Film Fund is part of Girls in Film’s long-standing ambition to break down barriers within the industry. Explaining the choice to collaborate with Dr. Martens, founder, Nikola said that having artistic freedom is fundamental to everything GiF does and stands for and that Dr. Martens is a brand which is closely aligned to the indie filmmaking ethos of creativity and self-expression. She also expressed that she was grateful for brands that support creatives and give the organisation the freedom to work on projects that they are really passionate about. She hopes that the fund, as well as resulting in a great film, will show that with a little money brands can positively impact the community.
Girls in Film is a fantastic organisation which is helping many young women realise their dreams and fulfil their potential. Speaking of what the future holds for GiF, Nikola admitted that while things are changing, there is still a way to go. She announced that Girls in Film are continuing to organise events in London and around the world, and expanding to set up a new branch in Amsterdam. Vasakova also revealed that she would love to do an incubator to jump-start talent in the industry, in addition to other activities to really start making a difference in the lives of creative women.
The Girls in Film Fund is open to all female-identifying directors and producers, and applications are open until 4th March 2020. Girls in Film are looking for projects which celebrate female independence and strength, and display creative freedom and self-expression. Nikola advised that essentially they are looking for an original voice with a story they haven’t seen before. If you are a woman with a vision, don’t hesitate to get involved!
Female-identified directors & producers can apply to the fund and find more information via the Girls in Film website.
At a Canadian Film Festival in 2019, an audience member asked the film’s star, Steve Coogan, if his character Richard McCready was based on anyone in particular. The audience tittered, anticipating an embarrassed silence as the actor refused to answer, afraid of a libelous answer. Instead, Coogan said, “Yes, it’s Philip Green.”
Green is known as one of the architects of “fast fashion,” and has been in the news recently regarding the collapse of his old company BHS. Greed is a film that uses this figure as a way of critiquing the ethics of the contemporary fashion industry, lampooning the opulence of the “haves” and exposing the perils of the “have nots.” This takes place in a genre best described as a hybrid of satire and Greek tragedy.
A stylistically heavy concept is typical of the film’s director, Michael Winterbottom. Winterbottom’s partnership with Coogan has led to a variety of interesting and critically acclaimed projects. 24 Hour Party People, a biopic of Tony Wilson, the man who managed many Manchester bands, from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays, and almost singlehandedly started the UK’s 1990s rave scene is one. The Look of Love, another biopic, this time starring Coogan as Paul Raymond, the person who sparked pornography in Britain and became the country’s richest man in the process — is widely seen as Coogan’s best dramatic performance. In A Cock and Bull Story, this semi-improvised picture follows Steve Coogan as he attempts to make a film about the life of Tristram Shandy, a story which has been rendered “unfilmable.” This sparked the idea for semi-improvised The Trip, the show in which Coogan and Rob Brydon travel around the world writing restaurant reviews (the fourth series, The Trip To Greece, comes out in March).
Greed centres around Richard McCready’s 60th birthday party being held at a Greek holiday resort. This is clearly a multi-million-pound event in which no expense is spared, obnoxious behaviour is practically encouraged and a series of surprising celebrity cameos are sprinkled throughout. The picture also features David Mitchell in his first film role, playing McCready’s biographer who has been tasked with flying around the world to gather footage of his employees wishing him a happy birthday — which is how the link is made with the third world sweatshop workers and the world of the party.
The juxtaposition between the two lifestyles displayed in the film is very striking; this is thoroughly a film with a conscience. Its biggest merit is the candid depiction of the work behind the fashion industry, much like Winterbottom’s 2002 film This World, which follows two Afghani refugees on their journey to London. In that film the leads were played by real refugees; in Greed the sweatshop workers are played by real sweatshop workers.
It must be said that the two strands of the film do not necessarily feel successfully married. The farce and caricature of the past and present of Richard McCready feels like it belongs to a different picture, as it clashes with the nuanced depiction of how the first world exploits the third world. That being said, individually, the film’s two component parts would not function as well as they do together. The two halves do not properly fit, but the whole they make is relatively coherent.
Despite this, Greed is a continuously entertaining and funny film. It shines a light on important issues in a palatable manner. I believe that Greed has the potential to become a cult classic; this could be shorthand for saying that it may not be up to mainstream success, but it is a highly watchable picture featuring some marvelous performances from many top British actors and contains subjects that are honestly not talked about enough.
This is an exclusive interview with best-selling author, playwright and producer Melanie Blake.
We first met Blake at the Press Night for her show, The Thunder Girls, which broke all box office records for a new play at The Lowry. The Thunder Girls will tour nationally from September.
It was lovely for us to catch-up for a 90-minute interview, which included an exclusive revelation about the tour.
Critics praised Blake’s knowledge of The Thunder Girls‘ subject matter – revenge, rivalry and betrayal behind-the-scenes in the music industry. They say write about what you know, and it is clear this was a show written from experience.
Blake’s first break in showbiz was landing an assistant role at Top Of The Pops, where she was up close and personal with the world’s biggest stars, including the Spice Girls, Madonna and Mariah Carey. That access behind ‘the velvet rope’ inspired her the first draft of her novel, The Thunder Girls, at 19, after realising all that glitters in the world of showbiz wasn’t golden. Unfortunately ahead of her time, her book was turned down by several publishers who said the story’s focus on a middle-aged female pop group’s attempts to reunite after decades apart was not ‘commercially viable’.
Determined to stay in the game, she focused on a career as a talent agent, and ended up representing the very pop stars who inspired her to write. The agency she founded and still runs, Urban Associates, went on to turn over £30 million, so life was sweet for Blake and she’d abandoned all intentions of writing again until the shock death of her mother at Christmas at the age of 52.
It was then Blake felt compelled to ‘do something for herself’ and revisited and revised The Thunder Girls and took it back to market. Luckily, by 2019, attitudes towards older women had changed; she found her book at the centre of a bidding war. The novel that had spent nearly twenty years gathering dust in a cupboard became a number 1 best-seller, which she quickly adapted for the stage, where it equalled the book’s success.
But it still wasn’t plain sailing. Blake found the publishing process was not “a happy experience”. Once again, surrounded by men telling her how the women in her novel should look like and behave.
“By now I’m the exactly the same age as my characters, and had also lived in their world, and here I was being told by men half my age what was and wasn’t realistic! I was not afraid to use my voice and argue back – I am a woman, and I know better than any man what a woman thinks or feels – so I held to my guns when editors wanted to change a story that, in truth, they had no real idea about.”
But this sort of issue was nothing new to her. Blake’s voice had been dismissed in both her childhood and early career. Although Thunder is a best-selling novel and career highlight – she considers the reworked theatre script her best work – she asserts the novel’s success is “not a victory for me, but for we”.
Indeed, the unprecedented success has paved way for the signing of “new middle-aged female authors” to find themselves with first-time deals; it might not have been a smooth walkway, but at least she’s cleared a path for others, and this means more to Blake than being a best-selling author herself.
The best part of the latter is the recognition it gives, so that she can bring more attention to middle-aged women, who she enjoys mentoring. There are numerous schemes for young people but little help for older creatives. Blake, herself did not get her “voice” as a writer until she was older and still comes up against ageism every day.
“I became the first TV columnist for The Mirror and The Sunday People when I was 36 – it had been 25 years since a woman had held that title; that was quite shocking to me,” she recalls.
And even with all the success a #1 brings, when The Thunder Girls play was first pitched, it was the same old story: nearly all the male promoters in the businesses who hold the keys to most theatres were uninterested in staging the play adaptation, even though she already had a cast of stars most theatres would kill to secure.
Melanie Blake and Beverley Callard. Photo: Melanie Blake.
Blake’s first casting was acting legend Beverley Callard, and just like her Corrie character, Callard is blunt: she told Blake she wouldn’t sugar-coat it if she didn’t like the script.
But after reading it, her exact words were: “Nobody’s every playing that part but me – I’m in”.
Coleen Nolan (Loose Women) has worked extensively with Blake, who was responsible for the 2009 Nolans’ reunion tour, which took £2 million at the box office and won a string of industry awards. But like Callard, she is a television legend and had repeatedly rejected major West End and touring roles, including Matron Mama Morton in Chicago, because she doesn’t like being away from home. But after reading the script, she too signed on the dotted line, because she’s “lived this story; I just had to do it”.
Eastenders star Carol Harrison was Blake’s first choice for the show’s antagonist, Chrissie Martin, the former lead singer of the band, who is the hostess of the reunion dinner designed to get them back on speaking terms so they can reform for the pay check of a lifetime. Harisson had retired from acting and was a successful producer and writer herself – but Blake knew she had exactly the right fire to bring to the party, so when she said yes, they had their lead trio complete.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that with a cast of household names and an adaptation from a best-selling book, Blake would have been inundated with theatres wanting to take the show. But she found herself hearing the same old story.
‘How many men are in it?’ promoters questioned. When told there were no men, they asked: “Well, do they get their clothes off, like in Calendar Girls or Full Monty?”
“I really was shocked,” says Blake in her soft northern accent. “It was like being stuck in the 80s.”
Finally, Steven Cowton at The Lowry threw Blake a lifeline, offering them a week’s preview in September of last year. By the time Sandra Marvin (Emmerdale) joined, tickets had already sold-out. Two extra shows had to be added due to demand, resulting in a 9-show week and people queuing round the block to see the show twice in the same day.
Yet, despite the whole of UK now clamouring for her tour, Blake’s humbleness, modesty and appreciation for others is evident in her continued use of “we”/“ours”, instead of “me”/“mine”.
It’s a mystery why she found it so hard to get it off the ground because, having seen the show, it was clear the audiences absolutely adored it.
As soon as Callard entered the set, looking for another character, and called out “Hello?”, the audience responded with “hello” – which was not supposed to happen, yet this happened every single night. The breaking-of-the-fourth-wall, audience-participation and adlibbing was, visibly, one of the audiences’ favourite parts and puts The Thunder Girls up there with The Rocky Horror show, which Jay reviewed last year (and also starred Callard), for audience-participation.
Photo: Nicky Johnston.
Whilst Blake’s life appears perfect, she suffered immensely before being rewarded for her pain, patience and perseverance. Due to an extremely religious upbringing, everything she has achieved is considered sinful by the extreme church upbringing she escaped from.
But her “sins of success” have hardly lead her to Hell; she’s living her dream, by her rules, and loving every aspect of it. So, if she’s a “sinner”, I guess the Devil does wear Prada, after all.
Success has not changed her, though – if you follow her on social media, it’s easy to see she spends thousands of pounds on designer clothes and accessories but would complain about paying £1 for a Mars Bar in a corner-shop. Whilst her lifestyle has changed, her values haven’t. She told us working-class women who find success are “supposed” to become My Fair Lady and suddenly adopt all sorts of airs, graces and lose their accents – she’s the same person, just in expensive heels.
The show’s unprecedented success inevitably resulted in a West End offer, but Blake refused to sell tickets for £90. She wanted to keep the show grassroots so decided to keep it on the road, reaching people who would not usually go to the theatre and show them that theatre is for them, too.
Amazingly, 83% of the Lowry audience had never seen a play before, which reflects the show’s accessibility in both price and content. For the tour’s northern return, Blake could have chosen a more traditional venue like the Royal Exchange, or somewhere in Cheshire, but she opted for the Stockport Plaza, which is where she spent much of her teens.
And the 2020 tour is priced well below the average for stars such as Callard, Nolan, Harrison and Webster: all tickets are £29.50 no matter where you sit.
“Theatre should not be elitist,” Blake said, proud of their strategy, so “all kinds of people” can see it. “We never want to price anyone out of being able to see our show”.
Blake values diversity, which is reflected in the script. “Different is the same – everyone is normal,” and “diversity should be normal,” she said, reminding us of a line in the script: “clothes have labels – people don’t need to.”
Photo: Nicky Johnston.
Whilst the original show was fantastic, Blake asserted it was just a preview. If it was a “glass of champagne and a shot,” this new production is “a case and a whole bottle.”
Unsurprisingly, loads of actresses are after these roles, because, unfortunately, good roles for middle-aged women are uncommon, but the cast are going nowhere. “You’ll get this role out of my cold, dead hands,” Callard said.
Marvin is the only original cast-member not yet set to return, but talks are still in place.
We can also exclusively reveal Blake is directing the tour herself!
The cast all hoped she would, and she has brought along a “brilliant” assistant director. The preview was directed by Joyce Branagh (yes, Ken’s sister), who did a brilliant job. But that was just a preview; which is where you test it on the audience, find out what works and what needs to be changed and then finesse it until it’s perfect.
“I’m delighted to be taking the reins for the national tour, because The Thunder Girls is my baby, and after a twenty year labour, I’m not going to hand it over to someone else to look after! I know exactly what it needs now to take it to the next level. I’m confident that even those who have already seen it and loved it are going to love it even more – this time, we’re hitting a whole new level. I hope audiences will be talking about our show long after the curtain comes down.”
Despite all her success and power in the entertainment industry, Blake is still grounded and wants The Thunder Girls to be a night of pure escapism. She really cares about her audience, and just like at the the Lowry, she’ll be at every single show, signing copies of her novel in the intervals and chatting to fans.
Broadway World described The Thunder Girls as “Dynasty meets Dinner Ladies,” whereas Blake calls it more like the Christmas Day episode of your favourite soap that you wait all year for – but bigger, bolder and wilder. It’s basically the ultimate girls’ night out watching The Reunion Dinner From Hell that you’d hate to be a guest at – but that you will have a riot eves-dropping on!
Recently best known for dating Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, with whom she is seemingly now expecting a child, Grimes – real name Claire Boucher – is unconventional, to put it lightly.
It probably comes as no surprise then that she has described her latest project, Miss Anthropocene,as a concept album about the “goddess of climate change,” with its title referencing the current Anthropocene – or the age of humankind – and doubling as a play on the word misanthrope. Despite the collective eye-roll that this description is bound to induce, the reality is that Grimes’ latest album is truly brilliant, surprisingly accessible and seemingly deeply personal beneath its apocalyptic, sci-fi façade.
Despite a relatively modest runtime of only 45 minutes, Miss Anthropocene feels massive. The sheer range of sounds the album presents is astounding, with a mix of genres that one might never expect to find on a singular record. Relatively conventional and stripped back songs like ‘Delete Forever’ and ‘New Gods’ find their place alongside some of the most ambitious and bizarre songs of Boucher’s career.
Album standout ‘4AEM’ is one of the most brilliantly baffling songs of her career, beginning with a murky, ambient soundscape before abruptly accelerating into a frenetic drum ‘n’ bass beat and sampling audio from a Bollywood song. The fact that the lyrics make no real sense makes it, arguably, even better. Less baffling but no less brilliant is ‘Violence’, a relatively radio-friendly electro-pop banger that manages to be both sonically complex and very danceable.
Death appears to be ever-present on this record. The title of ‘Delete Forever’ may sound like a reference to the aforementioned “goddess of climate change”, but lyrically it references the friends that Boucher has lost to heroin addiction. The album’s thematic and emotional climax has to be is its penultimate song, hazy psych-rock jam ‘Before the Fever’, which sounds something like a Lana Del Rey ballad from the apocalypse. “This is the sound of the end of the world,” Boucher sings, and it really does sound like it. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, with album closer ‘IDORU’ serving as a light and euphoric finale after the doom and gloom of the previous track.
Although this album is (thankfully) far less pop-centred and saccharine than its predecessor Art Angels, it isn’t quite a return to the largely formless, abstract soundscapes of Boucher’s early career. She shows her continued ability to write a hook that gets stuck in your head on songs like ‘Delete Forever’ and ‘You’ll miss me when I’m not around’. While many of her earlier songs would somewhat blend with each other on each album, every song on Miss Anthropocene is distinct and individually memorable. The eclectic nature of the tracklist means that the album is probably the least cohesive in Boucher’s discography, but that is a minor criticism for what is otherwise a stellar body of work.
Miss Anthropocene is fascinating, complex and mesmerising. While it is too early to say whether it can quite match the incredible standard set by her critically acclaimed breakout album Visions, it represents another triumph in her idiosyncratic career. Grimes’ Spotify biography refers to Miss Anthropocene as her “final earth album.” Frankly, I’m sceptical that her music was ever of this planet to begin with. This is the sound of the end of the world, and it sounds beautiful.
It’s no secret that morning television – particularly that pedalled by ITV – tries to “reflect the mood of the nation.” Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, both hosts of This Morning, have said this on air before and the general format of the programme lends itself to it.
There are segments for news, culture, topical chats and interesting headlines; in this respect, it has everything that a magazine show should have. Perhaps this ‘reflective’ spirit is merely an effort to attract larger audiences – a necessary goal of any TV show – but the problem is, in bending over backwards so forcefully for viewers, This Morning loses any sense of backbone in the process. In doing so, it retreats to conservative values, toeing the lines of tradition and stifling a progressive Britain and is instead content to stare back to a hazy nostalgic fog that never really existed.
The first example of this would be the personas of the presenters themselves. Messages of family are reiterated throughout the programme and Phillip and Holly embody the aspirational friend. The cosy neighbour type. The issue is, no-one in their position can be truly natural; studios, cameras, scheduling, and the various issues the hosts are expected to contend with lends itself to caricature and both must, to a certain degree, inhabit roles.
This leads us to question the roles chosen and for this, Holly Willoughby is an interesting case study. As a reflection of the public mood, Holly Willoughby would be hard pushed not to champion the female cause but she does so through the safest possible approach. In several respects, she is the archetypal 60s feminist; she may be part of a nuclear family but she is also career-minded and ambitious. This is not to slam her for her decisions but it is notable that matters of more contemporary feminism would never be raised. Where feminism errs into the more progressive, and thus controversial, the safe personas of This Morning veer away.
It is also noteworthy that Willoughby, Schofield, (Piers) Morgan, and (Suzanna) Reid are all white. With the exception of Naga Munchetty, of BBC’s Breakfast (which is not under examination here), morning television is a largely white affair and where there are non-white people, they are usually sidelined to secondary roles – Andi Peters (a black man) as the host of the giveaway and Alex Beresford (a bi-racial man) as the weather presenter (both on Good Morning Britain). Perhaps not malicious but still woefully homogenous.
Treatment of racial politics is also worth an examination; where the shows cover issues of explicitly anti-black racism, for example, they will be critical but in situations of ambiguity, such as the recent news regarding Meghan Markle, the presenters will default to familiar options. Either opting for centrism and not giving defined opinions or, in Piers Morgan’s case, actively condemning those making allegations of racism. Compounding this problem is the platforming of BAME individuals only when it is topical; guests are on balance white and where they are not, it is usually pertaining to a news story related to race. Consider again Meghan Markle; Afua Hirsch, a black woman, was brought onto Good Morning Britain in light of Meghan’s departure from the Royal Family, and immediately put on the back foot, expected to respond to an attack-dog line made by Morgan.
Rather than bringing people of colour onto the show to discuss racism at large in the UK, a persistent issue in our society, these matters are addressed only when it is deemed relevant. Of course, the reality of racism is that it is always relevant but this only becomes visible within the scope of the show on these occasions. In short, morning television should not fool itself into believing it is championing the lives of minorities only when they drop into the national conversation. For as long as it does this, it continues to play to the expectations of a regressive, conservative Britain unable to look beyond itself.
The final nail in the morning-TV-industrial complex is its pervasive nature in our lives. Returning to This Morning we can see an attempt to look beyond its traditional audiences through the distribution streams of YouTube and social media. Just as its attempts to”reflect the mood of the nation” has steered it down conservative avenues, the compressed attention of the more modern outlets has rewarded controversy. Outrage attracts clicks and this is particularly problematic for a show with already conservative leanings.
Controversial values held by both the left and the right are different in an important way. Those usually associated with the right i.e. racism, classism etc., are widely acknowledged as wrong and so tend not to be platformed by the shows in the same way – they do not spark debate and hosts cannot be seen to sympathise. Those associated with the left however, the typically ‘progressive’ ideologies such as veganism, trans-rights etc., are, in general society, much more quickly criticised and the usual template for this criticism is from a conservative angle. Thus, as a means of perpetuating their following, these shows intentionally set up convenient controversies i.e. those values held by traditionally left-wing ideologies, and respond to them in the easy and simplistic format of conservative values. This, in turn, is disseminated online and the ‘traditional’, regressive politics of these shows bleeds out into wider society.
Morning television, specifically ITV’s offerings, is designed to resonate with the conservative wing of British society. This is reflected in the presenters, the topics covered and the opinions reached; social media as a force caters to controversy and both of these magazine shows relish this opportunity to attract larger and broader audiences. As Holly Willoughby said, the show aims to reflect the mood of the nation but distressingly, hers, and the offerings like it, seem stuck in a feedback loop staring itself in the eye in a self-perpetuating mirror of a backwards-looking ‘traditional Britain.’
Gabriel Clark is an Italian-English actor/writer/director who is currently studying at the University of Manchester. He is part of the theatre company SwitchMCR, which was founded by graduates of the Royal Exchange Theatre’s Young Company.
When Clark and his friends graduated from the Young Company in 2018, they enjoyed working with each other so much that they decided to start their own theatre company so that they could carry on working together after their year of training. After they did a play with 53two theatre, they became the theatre’s resident young company.
Their name came from their desire to “switch on” the Manchester theatre scene and its young creators. They started with only one rule: everything they do must be accessible; be it workshops, shows or trips. The only thing that they charge for is plays, but they offer cheaper unwaged tickets for those.
Their upcoming show, We Won’t Fall, has a BSL interpreted matinee that is rare for fringe theatre. Clark promises that the interpretation will be involved and not distracting, because the interpreter will be a character in the play.
Clark and Andy Long co-directed We Won’t Fall, SwitchMCR’s upcoming devised theatre production. Clark describes the play as an emotional piece of dystopian science fiction. It aims to both give an audience a break and a warning of the world we are going into. With this play, he wants to tell the audience that there is always hope “no matter how shit the situation is”.
Clark and Long began with a concept: Manchester in 2020, “if the politics was just a tiny bit worse than it already is”. They wanted to devise a dystopian future where politicians would deal with problems facing our society in the worse way possible. Clark commented that some of the things that were fiction when they started working on this project have now become reality.
To make their ambitious idea a reality, they did workshops with 80 actors and ended up with the 12 that now makes up the cast. Clark said that the scale of the production was daunting for him, because he went into it without knowing what the play was going to be like but knowing that it was going to be big. He and Long decided to focus on the characters, and the story emerged from them.
The play takes place in a fictional alternate reality where a far-right government has been in power since 1989, and homosexuality and unplanned pregnancies are illegal. The plot surrounds 12 activist in Manchester who go through a life-altering event, and how they pick themselves back up and learn the value of community, freedom, rebellion and family.
Clark explains that this play will be out of the ordinary because it has already started before the audience enters the theatre and will carry on after they leave. There is no need to wait for the show to start, and no happy conclusion to look forward to. As an audience member, you been allowed to see a snapshot into people’s lives by coming into something that has already started and leaving before it has finished.
In We Won’t Fall, 12 characters are sharing the spotlight simultaneous, nobody has the lead role. The story is carrying the play, not any one character.
Clark explains that it was both challenging and fun creating the story, because he had never worked on something where 12 people have the same amount to do, playing unique characters for a 1 hour and 15 minutes with no interval!
The 5th annual Women in Media conference will be taking place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of March at the People’s History Museum. It will be a weekend of workshops, panel discussions and Q&A’s from inspirational women from a huge range of fields, with all proceeds going to Manchester Action on Street Health. It’s a great opportunity to learn from people who have carved a space for themselves in the media industry, and there will also be networking opportunities.
Obviously, what your wearing shouldn’t be your first priority, nor should it be anything to worry about. But, equally, this might be a chance to make vital contacts for your career and perhaps even meet your future employer, if you’re lucky, and what you’re wearing is a great way to make a first impression, especially if you’re interested in a career within a creative industry.
There’s no need to adopt a formal dress code but as Kate Jackson, Head of Speakers and Scheduling for WIM, says, “if you do want to take this opportunity to network, maybe go towards more smart casual.”
Smart casual dressing can be difficult to navigate but it’s likely that you’ve already got the clothes in your wardrobe to create a great smart-casual outfit. For example, any style of jeans, a jumper/shirt, a blazer and boots is a simple but effective formula.
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It’s also worth thinking about how you might stand out, though, in order to be remembered by anyone you might network with. Co-chair Anja Samy told me that last year, one girl wore a bright co-ordinating suit so she stood out. A suit, paired with trainers and a t-shirt to optimize comfort and make the look less formal, is a great option for an event like this. If you’re not comfortable with bright colours, stick to neutrals, or a check, but opt for a coordinating set.
If you prefer something a little less formal, a midi dress/skirt with ankle boots (and tights because the Manchester weather is unforgiving to say the least) is a fail-safe outfit. This is also the perfect time of year to invest in midi dresses, with spring around the corner, and prairie dresses are everywhere right now if you’re looking for something trend-forward.
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The most important thing to remember when you’re getting dressed for the conference is to wear something that you feel comfortable and confident in. Co-chair of the conference, Bec Oakes, says to wear “something that represents you as an individual (the media is a creative industry after all) and makes you feel like your best self – it’ll make you feel a hell of a lot more confident when you’re networking with our incredible lineup of speakers.”
And remember, clothes may be a great way to make a first impression but it’s your personality that will carry you further, so don’t step too far out of your sartorial comfort zone in a way that might be of any detriment to your self-confidence or who you are as a person.
You can buy tickets to the Women in Media Conference on Eventbrite and keep up to date with announcements relating the conference on the Women in Media Facebook page.
In The Beauty Bag is a series at the Mancunion Fashion & Beauty section in which we look into a University of Manchester student’s makeup and skincare routine in order to get a glimpse into the beauty secrets of your peers.
Name: Alice Porter
Age: 20
Degree: English Literature
Degree year: 3
Is there a skincare routine that you stick to?
I’m not always strict with my beauty routine but I always cleanse. I wouldn’t leave the house without cleansing. My favourite product is the Glossier Milky Cleanser and I’ve been using it for three years now.
I’ve recently been trying the Beauty Pie “Japan Fusion Pure Transforming Cleanser”, but I will go back to the Glossier because it’s so much better and I miss it.
After cleansing, I use a facial spray which does absolutely nothing, I’m sure, but I just love it. It makes me feel like a bougie woman in the morning.
My moisturizer is Lush’s “Enzymion” which I love because it doesn’t feel too heavy on my skin. I’ve been using it for seven years now, although I recently tried Glossier’s Priming Moisturiser Rich but it was too rich for me. I also use self-tanning drops every other day for a bit of an added glow.
In the summer I wear the Missha “all-around safe block essence sun spf45+++” – when I remember.
In the evening I use the BeautyPie “Jeju Daily Multi-Phase Purifying Cleansing Milk”. There’s no specific reason as to why I use it in the evening other than that it’s in a black bottle, which means I associate it with the evening, but it’s very similar to the Glossier.
I recently started using a serum by Glossier called “Super Bounce”. It’s really moisturizing and makes my skin feel plumper, but I will probably try to find a less expensive version of it when I run out.
I also use the “Himalayan Charcoal Face Mask” from The Body Shop every now and then, which I apply with a mask brush, which is not necessary but it’s a lot less messy. I actually re-bought it and I don’t often re-buy products but it’s great. It can sting a little, but you definitely see the difference the next day.
If could only use three products, what would they be?
Probably my moisturizer from Lush, the Glossier cleanser and salicylic acid from The Ordinary. I could easily live with just these three skincare products.
Anything you’re guilty of doing?
I think I’m quite good when it comes to beauty apart from that I barely wash my brushes, which I know is disgusting, and I don’t change products as frequently as recommended.
Are there any skin issues you struggle with?
I have acne-prone skin so in the past I used really harsh products like tea tree oil, but I think switching to simple no-fuss products has worked better for me. I’ve also been more consistent with my skincare routine which definitely helps, although I might also just have grown out of my acne phase (or my contraceptive pill might have solved it).
I used to use the salicylic acid from The Ordinary and since I’ve stopped using it (they’ve annoyingly discontinued it) I noticed a significant difference. I definitely don’t have acne anymore but I do get the odd hormonal spot every now and then, which happened much less when I used the acid (this is a rallying cry for The Ordinary to bring it back).
Is there anything in particular you like to splurge on?
I definitely splurge on my perfume. I use“Another 13” from Le Labo and it’s so unique and distinctive. I think it’s worth spending more on perfume because it’s so nice to have a scent that is specific to you, although I got this one as a birthday gift and wouldn’t have been able to buy it myself.
How did you learn to do makeup?
I still don’t know how to do makeup, to be honest. I barely wear any, I’m so lazy.
What inspires you makeup-wise?
I love the classic French girl look. I’m inspired by their ‘no-makeup makeup’ look paired with a red lip.
What makeup products do you use?
I only wear makeup about twice a week, and by about Week 8 of the semester I’m almost definitely wearing none.
But when I do remember to use it, I try to use the oil based primer by Ren Clean Skincare “Perfect Canvas”, as it makes a huge difference in terms of giving my makeup staying power and adding a certain glow, but I often give this step up when I’m in a rush. For my base, I use the Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer although I wish I went for the non-illuminating version as it’s a bit much.
I then use Glossier’s Stretch Concealer concealer followed by a Laura Mercier powder, if I’m a bit oily, and after that an Urban Decay Bronzer (which desperately needs replacing but I hate spending money on make-up). When I wear blush I use “Bumpy Ride” by NARS.
I like to use the Glossier Lidstar on my eyes. It’s really subtle but makes you look like you’re wearing more make-up than you are, although it doesn’t last very long. My favourite shade is “Cub”.
I have a dupe for the Anastasia Brow Wiz from Rimmel called the Brow Pro Macro in soft brown that I use to fill in any sparse sections of my eyebrows. And for mascara, I use whatever I was given for Christmas, because I always get given mascara for Christmas by someone or other, and have no real preference. They all seem to do the same thing.
What are you favourite hair products?
I don’t use any in winter, other than shampoo and conditioner, but in summer, I use the OUAI hair spray called Sun of a Beach which is kind of like a more legit version of ‘sun in’. This is another product I love that has been discontinued, which is so sad because it meant I could skip highlighting my hair for a few months. I also use the OUAI wave spray in summer.
My shampoo and conditioner are the Lavender Luminescent Platinum collection from OGX. They’re really great for blondes and inexpensive too.
Do you have a beauty secret?
I wouldn’t call it a secret, but I have a monthly £5 subscription at Beauty Pie which allows me to buy a certain amount of products a week. They sell products at the manufacturing price so, although you’re paying for a subscription, you can get luxury beauty products for drug store prices.
Throughout history, women have always been blamed for men’s downfall, hence the phrase femme fatale. My question is, if women were (or still are) considered the weaker sex physically and mentally, then how can we be to blame when it comes to the destruction of a man’s career or reputation? If we are as weak, unimportant and dumb as men believe, or want us to believe, then how does the term “femme fatale” appear? If we are as insignificant as men make us out to be, and we still manage to destroy them, then shouldn’t men be the weaker sex? The only reasonable explanation to this is that women actually are the stronger sex and men are trying to put all the blame on us while trying to oppress us.
I personally love the phrase “femme fatale”, not because of how seductive and sexual women can be (although there is nothing wrong with that), but because it reminds women how strong and how much impact we have on the world. I aspire to be a femme fatale in this aspect — one who aims to change the world for the better with our intelligence and strength, much like the female superheroes we are finally seeing in movies. When reading the phrase “femme fatale”, a series of female superheroes come to mind: Wonder Woman, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, and Captain Marvel. All of them are gaining media attention through movies and TV series by being powerful and independent women who can save the world. It is very encouraging to see that Hollywood are finally acknowledging female superheroes and portraying them as they are: powerful individuals whose existence is not a plot device to help establish male characters in movies.
Even though some argue that showing female superheroes in movies does not have much of an impact, I strongly disagree. It is undeniable that feminism has gained more popularity in the past decade, but it is not enough. There is still a lot more work to be done. With the lack of strong female representation in the media, many young girls are still expected to look up to princesses and wish a prince will come to their rescue. We are trained to think that men are more capable and that it is good for us to follow their lead while playing the role of a damsel in distress. Female superheroes represent the opposite of this ideology, and they successfully pave the way for girls to see that we are just as capable as boys, and that girls can take action too — and we will.
It may sound like something of a cliché, but I truly believe that every girl/woman is a superhero. We live in a complicated and male-dominated world and as a woman, there are always certain expectations we feel obligated to fulfil. For example, we are not supposed to be good at sports, we should not play violent video games and we should not be aggressive. From these expectations came phrases like “you’re throwing like a girl” or “you run like a girl”. These phrases are not insulting per se, but in our society, these are often used as insults, and it has a horrible effect on us. We all change ourselves in a way to try to fit into what society wants us to be and it is so common that we hardly notice.
Using Wonder Woman as an example, it is crucial that she never alters herself to fit into our world. When she leaves Themyscira, she does not leave her principles behind. Instead, she remains true to herself while people around her try to change her. For me, this is what all of us should aspire to: to unapologetically be ourselves. The world will always try to change us, but as female superheroes show, we have a choice in the matter. We can choose to fall in line and be who others expect us to be, or we can break away from the mold and create our own image. It is time we all take a page from female superheroes and truly stand up for ourselves. After all, we are all superheroes in our own right.
We always hear people talk about ‘the good old days’ referring to their time at university. It is undeniable that people have fun at university, however, is it really the best time? After all, university is only three to four years of our lives and most of us graduate in our early twenties, there is still a lot of time ahead of us, so what makes us so sure that this is the best? For most of us it is the first taste of independence which comes with new experiences and life lessons.
University is the first time that most of us leave the comfort of our homes and enter a strange new world. Even if you live at home and commute to university, you have to admit that there is something on campus that distinguishes university from secondary school. In university we have a very flexible schedule instead of a rigid timetable and we are suddenly blessed with so much free time that we can feel overwhelmed by it. I think this is both good and bad. I love free time because it gives us the opportunity to try new things, gain different experiences, and learn about time management. The bad side is that sometimes I get overwhelmed and I just end up sitting in my room, watching Netflix while I stress out. And unlike school teachers, our lecturers are not constantly on our backs reminding us about deadlines. Instead, they have a very relaxed approach and we have to step up and discipline ourselves if we wish to get the most out of our time here. Needless to say, university is where we learn time management and self-discipline.
University does provide students with many opportunities alongside the academic focus. You can join societies, write for the student newspaper, travel, or learn something new. For most of us, this is the time in your life where you have the least responsibility: you do not have a full-time job and you are not tied down, so this is the perfect time to branch out and try different things. For me, I decided I wanted to travel, so I cut down on all my other expenses in order to travel as much as possible.
Most of us get into university when we are eighteen, having just finished our awkward teenage stage and become legal adults, and these are very impressionable years. Personally, this is where I learned the most about myself and who I want to become. I learned how to set boundaries, how to be independent, which career path I want to pursue and the most important lesson of all – who I am.
There is no denying that we are having a lot of fun at university and we are learning a lot, but if you’re not having the best time of your life remember that you are still only young! Our time here is invaluable, but there are also endless new experiences coming our way after we graduate. Don’t be the person who only reminisces on ‘the good old days’ of university, be the one who is grateful for the experience, good or bad, and the lessons they learned but remember to live in the present. To me, I do not want to say university was the best years of my life because I like to believe that the best is yet to come; but these certainly are very special years for me.
This week, London cabaret duo Bourgeois and Maurice are bringing their first ever musical, Insane Animals, to the stage at Manchester’s HOME theatre. The show is also the first musical commissioned by HOME.
As I discovered first-hand at the press event last week, it’s set to be a wild ride. Director Phillip McMahon said going to see the show will be “the glitziest, most exciting night out”. We got an exciting preview when he kindly sneaked us backstage to show us what they have in store: think glitter curtains, reflective floor panels, futuristic props and the brightest costumes you can possibly imagine.
Written and composed by Bourgeois and Maurice themselves (whose real names are Liv Morris and George Heyworth), the musical’s plot is based on the age-old Epic of Gilgamesh but, as McMahon clarified, it is not the most faithful retelling of the story.
In terms of what to expect, McMahon told us this musical “takes the DIYishness of a drag show and paints it onto the wide stage”.
The cast have been rehearsing for a month now, and the strong bond and friendly relationship between them all was a pleasure to see. When telling us of the amazing chemistry between them, McMahon said that “the planets have aligned on this show”. This didn’t seem surprising to me when I spoke to the other members of the cast, who were all so kind, enthusiastic and passionate about the show, you couldn’t help but want to be a part of it yourself – even if that means just as an audience-member.
When I asked Bourgeois and Maurice what readers of The Mancunion could expect from the show, George instantly replied that it’s “loud and bright and flashy, it’s really queer” and “a very Instagramable show”. But because of the underlying story – the Epic of Gilgamesh – he specifies that it raises an important message to today’s audience, one that young viewers and students will certainly relate to: “the serious question of mortality and how we grapple with that”.
Liv added to expect “lots of songs and silly rhymes” but that “it has a serious heart to it”, which we got a glimpse of when they performed three songs for us upon our arrival in the rehearsal room. The lyrics were extremely clever: when welcoming Gilgamesh to today, the social commentary was evident with the rhyme that we are in the “age of the individual, of the digital”, as well as the innumerable parallels with Trump and what legitimates authority.
In using the deities from this ancient text, the musical is able to question what the power of humanity is and whether we are the gods now, which Liv rightly says younger viewers will be able to relate to.
The third and final song we were shown was a moment of quiet reflection for Gilgamesh, played by Lockie Chapman, former band-member of The Overtones. His brilliant acting of the character’s heartfelt emotion and incredible baritone vocals left us all in silent awe when the song finished.
Sitting and chatting to him was just as much of a pleasure as he welcomed us like we were old friends. With excitement, he told us how amazing the costumes are, with latex, glitter, satin and jewels to name a few. At this point, I expect nothing less since McMahon has already told us the costumes are designed by Julian Smith, one of the designers on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
“It’s going to be bonkers,” Lockie says, whilst also explaining how the text of Gilgamesh is “revealing” but also “refreshing”, because it states that there are “male, female and non-binary gods”.
If it’s not evident enough already, a night out to see Insane Animals will without a doubt be an unforgettable night in every way possible. It’s definitely not one to miss. I for one cannot wait to see more of the incredible snippets I have already seen with one of the friendliest casts I have ever encountered.
Colour, chaos and charisma are the words that spring to mind with this show – and who doesn’t want all those things when out for an evening of entertainment?
Insane Animals runs at HOME Theatre from the 28th of February until the 14th of March.
Inspired by the 2005 novel, Zorro, by Isabelle Allende (itself a prequel to the events of the original Zorro story, the 1919 novella The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley), Zorro is a musical with music by the Gipsy Kings and John Cameron.
It also contains references to earlier Zorro-inspired work, especially the 1998 film, The Mask of Zorro, which starred Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins. The female lead role, a Latina called Elena, was offered to Shakira (who I write about a lot, sorry) by Steven Spielberg, who turned it down because she was not confident in her acting ability or English-speaking skills (and whilst her English has improved massively, her acting, as seen in both Ugly Betty and The Wizards of Waverly Place, has not).
Another option was Salma Hayek. But in the end, the role went to Catherine Zeta-Jones. Who is excellent. But white. And Welsh. But let’s say no more about that.
Hope Mill, though, have wisely opted for an ethnically diverse cast, which include’s Blue’s Antony Costa as Garcia, reflecting the progressive values at the heart of their theatre. They put on loads of plays tackling topics such as race, class, gender and sexuality throughout the year, and I’m sure their adaptation of Zorro will embrace and celebrate diversity and difference.
The musical opened in Eastbourne in 2008, before transferring to the West End that same year, where it played for 9 months. It has since gone on to play all around the world, including a UK tour in 2011, but this will be its first professional performance in the UK since then.
The show has grossed over $70 million in ticket sales worldwide. It has also earned several awards and nominations, including the Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for the show’s star, Matt Rawle, and for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Lesli Margherita.
The plot of the musical follows the masked hero, El Zorro, as he fights for justice and freedom. Set in 1805’s California, a pueblo is under attack from its autocratic leader, and only the titular masked crusader, who appears from nowhere and saves lives, can help them.
This is an immersive and thrilling new production, with passionate, ‘get-on-your-feet’ music by the Gipsy Kings, including international hits, such as ‘Bamoleo’, ‘Baila Me’ and ‘Djobi Djoba’, as well as original musical, to tell a fresh new tale of love, courage and spectacle.
According to Hope Mill:
“The show will see action spreading from the stage through the audience as they become part of the story and witness the thrills and spills of our hero as he battles for everything and everyone he holds dear. Spanish Gypsy pride and fire runs deep throughout the show with great flamenco choreography, Cante jondo singing, magic, music and, of course, sword fights.
The flavour and passion of Spain and 19th Century California comes to Hope Mill and will leave you with racing hearts, dancing on the tables, tasting the tapas and shouting out the name ‘El Zorro’!”
Zorro the Musical plays at Hope Mill Theatre from 14th of March until 18th of April.
Over 2000 people took to the streets on Thursday night as part of the UoM Students’ Union’s annual Reclaim the Night march.
The march, which began at Owens Park in Fallowfield and ended with a moving rally at the SU, is a powerful declaration of defiance against the misogyny, sexual assault and gender-based violence which women and female-presenting people face every day.
The Student Union’s Women’s Officer, Ayla Huseyinoglu, worked to organise the 2020 march alongside various groups of students and SU staff, including the Liberation and Access Officer, Sara Khan, part-time liberation officers and various student societies including the Feminist Collective.
In her speech at the rally, Ayla, outlined the reasons why the Reclaim the Night campaign is still so important: “We have marched for our safety. We have marched for more street lighting. We have marched to make misogyny a hate crime. We hope that local authorities will listen to us on this.
“What we have marched for tonight is so easily achievable if the political and social will demands it. We also need things from our universities which should not be hard to implement. We need better education on consent, sex and relationships. This march should not be necessary and I hope that one day it won’t be. But for now it’s so so valuable that you are here.”
The demands of the Reclaim the Night campaign, which were put to the Greater Manchester authorities this year, were outlined as follows:
Recognise Misogyny as a Hate Crime before 2021.
Put more street lighting in student residential areas, on unlit streets in Fallowfield, Withington, Hulme, Salford and Rusholme.
Bring the Safezone app into residential areas by working with Universities to do this.
The campaign also addressed issues that students at Greater Manchester Universities face, and demanded that University leadership “do more to ensure places on and off-campus that are frequented by students are safer and ensure students, who fall into their duty of care, are protected as far as possible from sexual violence.” These demands included:
Universities in Greater Manchester fund all their bar staff (including SU bar staff) to become trained and accredited by the Good Night Out Campaign, ahead of the start of the 2020/2021 academic year.
Give detailed, valuable, inclusive information on consent out to all students, both home and international, of all genders, on-campus and distance learners, who enter the University and have training for all staff on dealing with disclosures of sexual violence.
Get the SafeZone app, and broaden it to include residential areas in Fallowfield, Withington, Hulme, Salford and Rusholme and Manchester city centre, working with the council to do so.
Photo: Clem Lawrence
Alongside the march, the Reclaim the Night campaign raises money for a number of charities that work with survivors of sexual assault of all genders through the sale of t-shirts.
This year’s campaign put more emphasis than ever on the intersectionality of issues of gender-based violence and sexual assault. In her speech, Hatty Ruddick, Part Time Women’s Officer, expressed her anger that these issues of gender-based violence are still prevalent in the world and addressed perceived shortcomings of previous campaigns:
“We should all be able to walk home at night, or go on a date, or go on a night out, having as much to drink as we want, without knowing that there is a possibility of being assaulted. But these aren’t the only reasons that I am angry. I am angry because for far too long we have focused on a certain sector of women.
“We have ignored women of colour and queer women and trans women and disabled women and migrant women and women of faith. We have ignored the effect that our reporting systems can have on these women. We have ignored the violence that these women can experience when reporting their experiences to the police. We have belittled those that are too scared to report their experiences, so yes I am angry. But to see the amount of people that come here year in and year out I feel empowered.”
This year, Reclaim the Night partnered with the Misogyny is Hate campaign which is “calling on Greater Manchester police to recognise misogyny as a hate crime”. Sylvie Pope, the lead campaigner on the Misogyny Is Hate campaign spoke at the rally, about the importance of using your voice to stand up for the rights of oppressed people:
“The most powerful thing we can do is speak. I hope that if there’s one thing that you can all take away from tonight is that your voice is beautiful and it’s powerful and you have every right to use it whenever you can and want to.”
Sylvie told her story of the misogyny she faced throughout her life including “the first time she was wolf whistled” at just 11 years old. She explained how, after moving to Manchester, “the suffragette city,” she found the strength to stand against injustices such as those she went through:
“I found my voice, strengthened by amazing women who have worked tirelessly to name misogyny as the problem that it is. Because of them and with them and all of you tonight, I no longer feel small. I feel powerful.”
“From this moment on, you are not alone in this fight. You are not the only woman, or man, or Muslim, or Christian, or jew, or white person, or asian person, or black person, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary person fighting against social injustice and hate.
“The issues we all face are all interlinked and they are so often underpinned by misogyny. From tonight, you are a collective determined to live in a city where 11-year-old girls aren’t harassed on the way to school, where we are no longer sexually assaulted, and where we don’t have to put up with demeaning jokes.”
In December 2019, the UoM student TV station, Fuse TV, partnered with the MisogynyIsHate campaign to help spread awareness surrounding hate against women and girls. They asked members of the public to read out first-hand testimony from women in our city. You can watch people’s reactions to the statements on the Fuse TV YouTube channel.
The latest round of University and College Union (UCU) strikes are underway, with University of Manchester staff among academics from 74 universities across the country set to strike for 14 days.
Industrial action began on Thursday the 20th of February, with UCU members gathering in St. Peter’s Chaplaincy to hear speakers including Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey.
One student who attended the strike meeting to hear Long-Bailey talk was third-year History student George Walker, who called the speech “inspiring”.
The strikes are set to take place over four weeks, with teaching days missed ramping up from two in week one, to a full five-day week in week four. Lecturers are striking over pensions, pay, and workplace conditions.
On the picket line, one academic, Caroline Martin, said: “It feels like we don’t have any choice. We’ve already been on strike for eight days and if we don’t carry on until we achieve something it would seem as if we just wasted the eight days.
“They [University leadership] haven’t offered us anything substantial and believable that would make us not carry on with the strikes. It would be brilliant if all the rest of our colleagues came out on strike with us because obviously if we could shut down the university to a great extent, and if the same thing happened at other universities, the strike would be over so quickly because the employers would just be on the phone straight away saying we want to talk.”
Martin told The Mancunion that students who are frustrated with the strikes should email the Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, or the registrar Patrick Hackett, telling them to get back to the negotiating table.
“Student Staff Solidarity” UoM students support striking staff. Photo: Anja Samy @TheMancunion.
Students also joined UCU members on picket lines in support of the strike. Wilf Kenning said he was marching with lecturers “Because I’m increasingly tired of how university is becoming marketised and commodified and how throughout my whole life increasing cuts and targets that are making education more of a commodity than an actual resource for people to benefit from.”
“These four issues that the UCU are striking against which is pensions, pay parity and casualization, gender and BAME gaps, the way they intersect they are increasingly making education a commodity and so I’m going to be marching with them and standing shoulder to shoulder with them on the picket lines because they are fighting for my right to have a better education.”
Speaking about Rebecca Long-Bailey’s address, Walker said: “I was impressed by Long-Bailey’s effort to attend what may seem in the grand scheme of things a fairly minimal strike, it really shows her credentials as someone who will stand up for the interests of all those shortchanged by employers or wielders of power.
“With regards to her speech, while it was short, it contained some really inspiring ideas around the principle of education and its ability to liberate and emancipate the mind and the person.
“Something which should not be deterred by ability to pay, or compromised to line the pockets of the academic managerial classes. Overall I was very impressed, and took away a great sense of much-needed solidarity.”
Last week, a University of Manchester spokesperson told The Mancunion: “We have contingencies in place to ensure that any impacts on learning are mitigated and that future decisions relating to their progression, degree outcome and graduation can be taken irrespective of the impact of this industrial action.
“We expect all eligible students to be able to graduate as planned, and continuing students to be informed of their progression status.”
In a statement released earlier this week, the club insisted it would continue to tackle “damaging attitudes and behaviours” and become more “socially responsible”.
Full SKUM statement, published on the club’s Facebook page
In a statement published Tuesday on its Facebook page, the club said they would also no longer endorse the controversial “game of GNAR” – a game played by some members of the club on bi-annual ski trips which consisted of a series of challenges completed in order to gain so-called ‘GNAR points’. Some challenges described in the rules included: “Complete line [a run] butt naked. If jailed, you lose your points” for 10,000 points and “On a line, black [run] or harder, stop mid-line and urinate. Must empty bladder,” for 200 points.
SKUM have also made the decision to discontinue production and distribution of the “SKUMday Times” – a newsletter sent out on trips, detailing self-styled “shenanigans and debauchery” of club members.
In the statement, the club committed to “encouraging both our committee and our members to take part in workshops covering topics such as wellbeing, sexual consent and violence, and sustainability.”
SKUM, one of the largest and most prominent clubs at the University, said The Mancunion’s article being shared on Facebook had resulted in “many hateful comments”. The club condemned online trolling as “a serious issue [which] can damage the mental health of individuals.”
“We want to make clear that the content of the recent article published in The Mancunion is not representative of SKUM’s values.
“We would like to ask everyone to think before they type hiding behind a screen, and to be kinder to one another. SKUM is a society with respect, inclusion, and fun at its heart. SKUM is a community of people with similar interests, open to all, to which people can belong.”
The University of Manchester said it would launch an investigation into the “troubling” and “totally unacceptable” revelations. It is understood that Director of Student Experience, Simon Merrywest, will be leading the University’s response.
Shortly after The Mancunion published its original report, Manchester SU’s Executive Team released a lengthy statement demanding members of SKUM be refused access to SU resources.
Among other things, the SU called on the Athletics Union (AU) to suspend the current SKUM committee and asked that they ensure any new committee members receive “consent training”.
Manchester SU’s Women’s Officer shares Executive Team statement on Facebook
The Executive Team discussed the behaviour of the club within the context of a wider culture within society: “To know that we live in a racist and sexist world is one thing, to confront it is another. And we must confront it, each and every one of us, but we cannot do it alone. This story isn’t just about one University society, it is the reality of the world we live in.”
In response to the SU statement, SKUM said: “Whilst we believe some of [the Executive team’s] demands are somewhat short-sighted, they are right in pointing out the underlying issues within society that has allowed this behaviour to appear acceptable.
“We believe the best way to change individuals’ attitudes is by engaging with them as peers, and having a mature conversation about respect. That way, we can seek to actually change harmful attitudes, rather than just expelling individuals without them learning any lessons about why such conduct is inappropriate.
“We would like to engage in a formal conversation and work collaboratively with the SU, the AU and the University to this effect.”
As a Politics student I’ve heard a lot of concerns and frustration voiced regarding the upcoming strike – remarks like “again?!”, “I’m paying 27k for my lecturers to strike?” and “Why do we have to lose out on our education?”
What I’ve realised is that, as students who are directly affected by the strikes, many of us know little about what is going on, why, and how to get involved.
We need to understand that lecturers aren’t trying to disadvantage or antagonise us. They love what they do – they’re passionate about working and teaching in their academic field. That’s why they’re taking this action – they feel that way the Senior Leadership Team are running the University is stopping them doing their jobs properly.
Despite the trebling of university tuition fees, and taking into account inflation, staff real term pay has declined by 20% in the last decade – while the vice chancellor pockets a cool £260,000 per year.
There is extreme job insecurity – 68.2% of staff at the University of Manchester are not employed on fixed-term contracts – this means they are often on hourly pay or short-term contracts, leading to worries about whether they will need to seek different employment once these end.
Key stakeholders in the strike are Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) – this resonated with me as most of these GTAs are post graduate students who deliver most of the face-to-face teaching we undergraduates get. They are students too. This is the group who are extremely badly effected by precarious contracts and unfair working conditions – being overworked (paid for just 20 minutes per essay they mark!). There have been a lot of cases of GTAs not receiving contracts or being paid on time. There is one case of a GTA who started teaching in September who didn’t receive his contract until January and still has not been paid.
Despite a constant rhetoric of inclusiveness and equality perpetuated by The University of Manchester and its management of the Gender Pay Gap & Ethnicity Pay Gaps – the mean gender pay gap at the University of Manchester has increased to 18.4% while the mean ethnicity pay gap is 10.5%.
Staff workload is also astounding. In a letter to students, the UCU told us that full-time academics are assumed to work a 37.5 hour week. In reality most academics work over 45 hours a week and many work more than 50 hours – which is one or two full days of unpaid work per week. My own lecturer worked out her salary to be less than £5 an hour.
There have also been serious cuts to pensions – in 2011 changes meant that the typical Universities Superannuation Scheme member will get in total £240,000 less in retirement and now the employers are demanding further concessions.
What’s more, in 2018 the University of Manchester reported a surplus of £43m, plus cash reserves of over £315m, as well as net assets of £1.7 billion! UK universities reported a combined surplus of £2.27 billion pounds in 2017.
The question of whether students could claim compensation for the loss in teaching time has been raised. After all we are paying £9,000 in tuition fees a year – but only 48% of this is actually going towards teaching. Personally I want my money going towards my hard working teaching staff, rather than supporting the increasing marketisation of the University and profit seeking of the institution.
One way to voice your opinions on the strikes is to email the management – expressing your total support for the UCU but demanding compensation for the teaching time lost because of their management and seeming unwillingness to compromise with the demands of the UCU. Their email addresses are: [email protected] and [email protected].
Photo: Anja Samy @TheMancunion
Join the picket line! The best way to get voices heard is through the mobilisation of the masses and solidarity with the staff. There will be picketing outside the University – starting on Thursday the 20th of February 8:30am-11am. Striking staff and supporting students will be marching down Oxford road and there will be a number of speeches and performances discussing the strike and showing support. As well as a number of teach outs as a demonstration of independence from the University of Manchester’s management and that education can continue despite them. I would recommend following the Facebook page of Manchester Student Support Network to keep updated on this. If you can’t join in, please avoid crossing the picket – this really undermines the UCU’s actions.
We can’t ignore the hostile way international students have allegedly been treated during strike action. In the November strikes in Liverpool international students claimed that they were threatened and told if they do not cross picket lines to attend teaching sessions they “risk jeopardising their visa”. If a tier 4 student misses the contact hour of a non-striking member of staff then this will constitute as an unauthorised absence.
To me this highlights a sinister discrepancy between the treatment of international and non-international students at universities, tying into a deeper issue of the hostile environment that many foreign/international students and workers find themselves in in this country. So, if you are an international student who must cross the picket line – the Union have made stickers which show you are supporting the strike which you can wear.
Lastly I just want to remind you that this is everyone’s fight. In the last decade we have seen market economics drive universities into profit hungry businesses, competing with one another for students and finance. Students have been turned into consumers, saddled with debts they’ll likely never pay back. What’s more, in 2018, following a question about the University’s ability to provide a satisfactory education during previous pension strikes, Professor Clive Agnew (Vice-President for Teaching, Learning), told students “we have taken advice on this and the contract is to deliver a degree, that is the focus”. Students report that this was followed by an outraged cry of “not an education?” from the audience, which was unanswered.
While students increasingly seek employability, courses suffer – especially creative courses which are axed in favour of supposedly more lucrative ones. The university sector has become a market, like most sectors in our society, which university was never intended for. It was supposed to be, as Owen Jones puts it, a place to “foster imagination and creativity, enriching society in the process. When university staff strike they will be abandoning their lecture rooms and desks for a far greater cause than their own justified grievances. It is a battle that will help determine not just the future of our imperilled universities but our society and culture with it.” I hope you agree with me that this is our fight – I’ll see you at the picket line!
Blending ambitious targets with real-world success, Greater Manchester has set the standard for climate action in the UK and has now been named “a bastion of climate action” in the country
Once a hub for industry, Greater Manchester has left its smoky coal-powered past behind and embraces a greener future as global environmental campaign CDP applaud the region for its ambitious policies that seek to both slash the region’s carbon footprint and encourage environmentally sustainable development.
The region hopes to have achieved carbon neutrality by 2038, a full 12 years earlier than the government’s national goal. Targets alone, of course, mean little without the policies in place to achieve them, Greater Manchester hopes to achieve theirs through a 5-year plan released last year. The plan aims to unite citizens with the public and private sectors to encourage collective action against the threats of climate change. With a Low Carbon Environmental Good and Services sector -the third-largest in the UK, which is continuing to grow – the plan is clearly working.
Air quality is one of the key environmental issues the region faces and it currently has an N02 rating which exceeds the legal limit, most of which comes from vehicles. As such, the council have made strides toward developing efficient and effective public transport systems and have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on tram networks for the region and usable cycle paths in and out of the city centre.
The city also recently received a £5.4 million grant from the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles, which they will use to introduce 23 electric buses in the region which is expected to cut CO2 emissions by 1,000 tonnes per year.
The infrastructural changes being made in Manchester are significant and have been successful in constructing what the CDP has described as a “new normal” for citizens and businesses in the region as they collectively tackle climate change together.
Speaking on the regions ambitions and successes, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “From our plans for an integrated cycling and walking network to putting environmental sustainability at the heart of public decision-making, to working with businesses to support innovation in decarbonising the economy, we recognise that the climate crisis requires change at every level.
“Here in Greater Manchester, we’ve set out our vision for reaching net-zero by 2038, twelve years ahead of the national UK target. Transitioning to net-zero carbon presents its own opportunities as well, with the potential for new jobs and growth in everything from renewable energy to our thriving digital and tech sectors.
“The message from our towns and cities is clear: the time to act is now, and we need to be setting – and holding ourselves to – the highest standards.”
We all know the negatives of fast fashion. In fact, according to the Fixing Fashion Report textile production contributes more to climate change than international shipping and aviation combined. It also consumes lake sized volumes of fresh water and creates chemical and plastic pollution.
In the UK we buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe. With websites certain encouraging over-consumption by constantly offering 20% off or free next day delivery, it is becoming increasingly difficult to resist the temptation to buy a new outfit for every occasion, thus excessive waste is generated.
But that’s OK right? You can just sell your new outfits online once you’ve worn them. Although online peer-to-peer second hand fashion marketplaces aim to encourage users to recycle their unwanted clothes by selling them on, in actual fact could they be helping to fuel the fast fashion industry?
One argument is that they are stopping people from giving their clothes to charity shops (which help people who are actually in need). These sites could also be seen to reinforce the idea that its okay to buy something that you know you’re only going to wear once, because you can just sell it to someone else afterwards and maybe make a bit of profit on it.
Countless items listed on peer-to-peer selling sites are listed as ‘only worn once’ or ‘new with tags’, suggesting that people scroll through fashion websites buying a multitude of outfits, without a second thought to whether they will actually ever wear them. If people don’t like them when they arrive or they don’t fit, then they can easily sell them online. Could it be that the rise in peer-to-peer selling has only helped to promote a culture of over consumption and waste?
Not only is this culture of consumerism in the age of fast fashion detrimental to the environment, it also means that in order to keep prices low to entice buyers, workers get paid pitiful wages, with a report by Channel 4’s dispatches claiming that workers in factories that supply to a number of well-known UK Fashion chains are paid as little as £3 an hour.
The desire to feed into the social media illusion of decadence and wealth has made it almost impossible to be seen wearing an outfit more than once. Many people have a fear of being seen in an outfit more than once and subscribe to the idea that you must be seen to have a wardrobe that seems to be endlessly increasing with no room for last years (or last months, or some in cases yesterdays) rags. In our absolutely bizarre world it is okay, and even encouraged, to get rid of outfits after one or two wears.
If we are to stop the Fast Fashion industry from continuing to impact the environment on a mass scale, it is imperative that we change our attitudes to clothes, seeing them not as disposable or sellable items, but as an investment that should be bought in moderation and that should be treasured and worn for years to come.
Central Retail Park in Ancoats – former home to Toys ‘R’ Us, Mothercare, Argos and JD Sports – is set to be redeveloped into green business space, creating a bridge between the area and its’ neighbour New Islington.
Manchester City Council purchased the disused land in 2017 for £37 million and plan to transform the area into a “high quality, commercial-led mixed-use development with the highest regard to sustainability to meet the zero carbon ambitions for the city”. The council believe that the development will allow them to recoup the cost of the initial investment and expect to see further returns after its completion.
The area will be fully accessible to all and aims to connect Central Retail Park with surrounding neighbourhoods and the city centre. More workspaces and offices will be built as part of the development to meet the demand of the continuing regeneration of Ancoats.
Speaking on the development of the Central Retail Park, Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The former commercial units at Central Retail Park have for too long acted as a physical barrier on Great Ancoats Street, creating an impasse for the emerging community of New Islington to seamlessly interact with the city centre.”
He added: “Crucially, Central Retail Park will be a marker for the city’s carbon ambitions and the aim to create the city’s first zero-carbon district will be an expectation for developments in the future, aligned with the Zero Carbon Action Plan.”
Alongside Central Retail Park, the council are also planning to expand the development of the “globally recognised” regeneration of Ancoats to the low level industrial and commercial accommodation at the ‘back of Ancoats’ to create a mixed-use area including green spaces, new housing and office space. The new spaces reflect the council’s hope to increase investment in housing and workspaces closer to the city centre to develop more environmentally sustainable communities to continue the decline of the city’s carbon footprint.
Cllr Suzanne Richards, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and regeneration, hopes that the development opens an opportunity for affordable high-quality housing to be built in the city centre. She said:
“The regeneration of Ancoats has been hugely successful over the last two decades. This next phase of regeneration gives us an opportunity to deliver affordable homes in a city centre setting, along with high-quality public areas and green spaces to create neighbourhoods people want to live in”.
She added: “New housing in the city must also meet the sustainability challenge head-on if we are serious about meeting our zero-carbon ambitions by 2038, and these two development areas will be an exemplar for future development in the city.”
Speaking generally on the changes taking place in Ancoats, Sir Richard Leese said: “Ancoats, including New Islington, should be considered in the top ranks of urban regeneration anywhere today. Central Retail Park and the wider Ancoats area represent the next crucial step in the neighbourhoods’ journey.”
It is expected that a public consultation of the plans will begin in the next few weeks.
Manchester City Council has commissioned a major review of the city’s famous Gay Village in an effort to better understand the significance of the district for people who live and work in the area, and those who visit it. It is hoped the review will inform how Gay Village can be protected and enhanced.
Manchester’s Gay Village has long been a renowned and celebrated part of the city and the identity of Manchester as a modern, cosmopolitan city. Centered around Canal Street, Gay Village is a safe space for the city’s LGBTQ+ community and is special to many people both in and outside of Manchester.
The council have commissioned Hatch, an independent Manchester-based consultancy firm, to investigate what local people deem important about the area, as well as exploring possible ways to improve it in the future.
However, the review is not a regeneration plan for the area, and will not result in any drastic changes being made. It aims simply to listen to local people’s thoughts about the area.
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The historical importance of the Gay Village for the city’s LGBTQ+ community cannot be underestimated. The area is a beacon for tolerance across the UK, and its reputation internationally renowned. There is no question that the heritage of the neighbourhood – and its future – must be protected.
“We promised that we would undertake this review and it’s important that we do given the significance of the Gay Village to a huge amount of people. To be able to act as guardians, we need to speak to the people at the heart of the community, and listen to their views.”
A survey about the Gay Village which encourages individuals to share their thoughts on the area is now open. It will close on Friday 6th March.
The survey can be found online on the Manchester City Council website.
