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Month: March 2020

MANIFF 2020: Before the Fire

As our world is currently struggling with a health crisis, a film about a global pandemic may have seemed perfectly timed. However, despite a pandemic being the starting point of Charlie Buhler’s Before the Fire, it is not followed up in any meaningful way and is ultimately left unexplored.

Ava (Jenna Lyng Adams) and her boyfriend, Kelly (Jackson Davis) live in Los Angeles when the outbreak of a deadly virus forces them to escape. They both come from the same rural town, but, after being tricked by her boyfriend as he leaves to seek work in Atlanta, only Ava returns.

As soon as Ava arrives at her hometown, we are thrown into a complicated network of relations. She stays with Kelly’s mom and is on bad terms with her mother, but we never get an explanation of what happened between them. There is also a man haunting Ava into coming back to her family, but the screenwriters did not care enough to explain the connection between the characters.

Before the Fire goes off the rails early into the story, engulfed by its own miserable efforts to recreate a bad apocalypse film. There is no sense of the apocalypse itself and the film’s two-dimensional stock characters are not enough to make the viewer care. Even if you somehow enjoyed following the chaotic story, its unedifying ending will certainly be the last straw.

2/5.

UoM suspend all face-to-face teaching and close libraries today

The University of Manchester has announced that it will suspend all face-to-face teaching and close most buildings on campus from 5pm this evening due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Libraries are among the buildings to close, but all halls of residence will remain open.

In an email sent to students, vice-chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell called the arrangements “challenging” and “unprecedented”, but that she was “very proud of the way our University community is rallying together in these difficult circumstances.”

The measures follow Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement yesterday that all Brits should minimise non-essential social contact and travel, and work from home if they can.

The full email reads: “In line with the UK Government’s latest advice about coronavirus and in common with many other universities, the University will be suspending all physical face to face teaching (including laboratories, seminars and tutorials) and will be closing all of our non-essential sites from 5pm this evening (Tuesday 17 March). Our libraries, Manchester Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery and Jodrell Bank, as well as most of our teaching and research buildings, will be closed for physical access. Certain essential services and facilities and halls of residence will remain open.

“I appreciate this is a very worrying time and this decision has been taken to protect the health and wellbeing of our students and staff, which is our primary concern.

“Students can now return home if they are able to, but we realise that for some of you that may not be possible or that Manchester is your home. For that reason, our halls of residence will remain open and essential student support services will continue to be available. Students remaining in Manchester in private accommodation will also be able to access support services and advice.

“I understand that many of you will be worried about your studies, exams and placements and we are moving as quickly as possible to alternative on-line provision. You should stay in regular on-line contact with your school and your tutors for further details of future sessions, assessments and graduation arrangements. Further communications will follow in the coming days.

“A set of frequently asked questions for students is available on My Manchester news and we will make sure that these are updated at regular intervals.

“Please rest assured that we are also working closely with the relevant authorities at a local and national level to monitor the wider situation and minimise any further impact arising from the coronavirus outbreak. We will let you know when buildings and other facilities will reopen and we will resume physical face to face teaching.

“These are challenging times and unprecedented arrangements, but we are all working very hard to make sure that you can stay safe and well, and continue to complete your course of study. I am very proud of the way our University community is rallying together in these difficult circumstances.

“I would urge you all to follow the latest expert advice from the National Health Service and Public Health England. Our University also has extensive support services in place for our students and staff.

“The most important thing we can do over the coming weeks and months is to support each other.”

Review: Calm with Horses

Adapted by screenwriter Joe Murtagh from a short story by Collin Barrett, Calm with Horses takes the viewer to a grim and brutal life of the drug-dealing Devers family. Set in an atmospheric and cinematic town on the Irish west coast, the story offers a blend of a gangster film with a quiet, personal drama.

The film’s main character, Arm (Cosmo Jarvis), was a boxer in his younger days. He is a father of a few-years-old autistic boy, whom he can’t understand or properly take care of. His ex-girlfriend and mother of his son doesn’t trust him and isn’t keen on letting him spend time with a young boy, as she sees that he is far from being a good parent.

Since the twilight of his sport career, Arm has been working as an enforcer for the Devers family, spending a large part of his time hanging out or partying with his best friend, Dympna Devers (Barry Keoghan). Arm’s loyalty and friendship are to be put to the test, as the Devers family orders him to kill for the first time.

The remote and underpopulated town makes for a feeling of entrapment, leaving everyone with nowhere to run and nothing to look forward to. His ex-girlfriend has gotten their son a place in a special school in the other part of the country, and Arm is afraid of having nothing but drugs and violence surrounding him.

The film observes how Arm, who has never spent much time planning his future, is trying to identify his life priorities. Are loyalty and friendship more important to him than the relationship with his son? Or is he so tired of living this kind of a life that he would rather run away on his own? 

As tones are changing from energetic and violent scenes to moments of reflections, so does the editing and the camera movements. The cinematography is stunning and makes the town and other locations feel as if they were separate characters. The technical achievements are impressive as for a low-budget, independent production, and help the film go beyond an average underworld tale.

Calm with Horses is a brutal and gripping story with an emotional touch. It builds universal and apposite moral dilemmas, basing them on a deep understanding of the characters’ thoughts and feelings.

3.5/5.

Advocacy groups express concern about lack of representation in new exec team

Campaign and advocacy groups at UoM have expressed concerns about the diversity of the new exec team.

While it has been reported as the most diverse SU executive in the country in terms of its BAME makeup and international background, none of the newly elected executives openly advertised their identification as LGBTQ+ or disabled during their campaigns.

This has provoked a public reaction over social media from the UoM Disabled Students and the UoM Trans Campaign, both of who have expressed frustration at the lack of representation in the executive. 

Particular concerns have been raised over the new Liberation and Access officer Yueru Du, who made no reference to disabled students or trans students throughout her campaign. These are two of the main groups of students that come under the remit of Liberation and Access Officer. 

The UoM Disabled Students Campaign made efforts to contact Ms. Du during her campaign in order to discuss her plans to improve campus for disabled students. Unfortunately she didn’t respond before she was elected. 

After she had been elected to the position she responded to emails sent by the campaign, but refused a face to face meeting on grounds of university workload. She did however respond to their email with plans that the Disabled Student’s Campaign said they felt was patronising and showed a lack of awareness of the issues disabled student’s face on campus. 

In her email, Ms. Du said she would “Provide mental health counseling for disabled students to help them build confidence and face life more positively and courageously”.

 “I don’t think courage is the issue here.” said Jess, a Disabled Student Part Time Officer from the campaign.

The response made no reference to any kind plans to improve accessibility. Jess reported that there is a general feeling of genuine worry and distress amongst the group for their welfare come the next academic year. They are not confident that the new officer has the appropriate awareness to help improve the lives of disabled students at UoM. 

Jess says that the group are now taking preventative measures by preparing safeguarding policies to put through senate before the beginning of next year, in order to prevent any disruption to disbaled student’s lives on campus. 

The UoM Trans Campaign have responded similarly with worries about Ms. Du’s campaign, expressing concern that there was no mention of trans rights in any of her campaign materials. 

They also received an email from her after her election to the role, stating that she would campaign for more gender neutral toilets and sensitivity training for university staff. 

While they were slightly reassured by her response, they felt that her ideas were extremely surface level and showed a lack of awareness towards deeper issues facing trans students. 

“It shouldn’t be the job of the part time officers to educate someone who’s gone for the role on what they need to be doing.” said Rosa, a Part Time Trans Officer. 

Both groups said they are trying to stay optimistic, and said they are willing to work with Ms. Du and the rest of the exec team on their policies. The exec officers are due to take up their positions in summer for the coming academic years 2020/21.

Review: Nut (MIFTA)

Debbie tucker green’s Nut, which premiered at the Royal Court in 2013, has been thoughtfully reimagined in a University of Manchester Drama Society production directed by Patience Kanjira and Sophia Hadji-Michael, performed as part of the drama society’s MIFTA season.

Kanjira and Hadji-Michael have a clear love and passion for the play – this is reflected in their attention to the details of the text. From a series of post-it notes that adorn the stage floor and walls, which only upon close inspection show us lists made by the semi-reclusive protagonist, Elayne, to the kettle from which boiling water is poured and the steam which rises from each mug, this cumulative focus on the intricacies of the work, which must also be credited to producer and designer Millie Loveday, give the production an immersive and intimate feel.

The performances are equally intimate. They invite you into the isolated world of Elayne who is played by Ebun Osobu, whose quiet strength in this role evokes sympathy even in Elayne’s moments of rage and unpleasantry.

Amelia Jacobs and Thomas Bakker are equally intimidating as Aimee and Devon, respectively, at once friends of Elayne’s and oppressive forces who seem to push her further into her own psyche. Like voices in one’s own head, the pair demonstrate the overwhelming nature and destructive power of a conflicting inner monologues.

Nyah Nish’s voice rings out peacefully through the space.

Her presence resembles moments of quiet in the storm and provide a reminder of everything Elayne has lost: a childhood innocence and instinctive freedom to sing aloud, now replaced by ritual and internal conflict. The dynamic between these performers builds to a crescendo, like a kettle boiling over, which makes wonderful use of tucker green’s rhythmic text.

No-one understands these rhythms quite like Kwame Owusu, however, who explodes onto the stage as ‘ex husband’ and proceeds to spar with ‘ex wife’, performed by a ferocious Patience Kanjira. Owusu leaves the audience hanging on his every word, and in his silence has a magnetic quality that you can’t seem to look away from. Kanjira matches this energy, proving her understanding of tucker green’s play, both through her performance and direction of this moment.

The interplay between the pair is truly jaw-dropping and stays with you long after it’s conclusion.

The production has a vulnerability that shines through to its closing moments. Its focus on language and the dynamic of the spoken word, paired with a stripped back stage and simple but effective costume design, bring the conversation about mental health to the forefront. The play is at times a difficult watch, but it is certainly an important one. At the end of the performance, as the lights went down and Osobu embraced Kanjira, I could not help but feel incredibly moved. This was only furthered by Kanjira’s poignant speech to the audience, highlighting Nut‘s significance as the first play in Drama Society history performed by a majority black cast. The representation of mental health, certainly in the BAME community, is seldom represented onstage, and it is refreshing to see such an honest conversation in motion.

At the end of the show, we were invited on stage to view post-it note testimonials, disguised in with Elayne’s own lists, which discussed experiences of mental health that Kanjira compiled over the course of the production. The door is open, even if the doorbell needs new batteries, and that is something this whole team should feel incredibly proud of.

Coronavirus and cancellations: Navigating complaints in a crisis

The music industry has not been immune to the impact of the coronavirus with the cancellation of a string of gigs.

The Who have postponed a UK tour, while other big acts like Madonna, Stormzy and BTS have also cancelled concerts.

Even across the pond Californian festival Coachella has been postponed and South by South West festival (SXSW) was cancelled for the first time in 34 years.

Now hundreds of bands, most from the independent scenes of their respective countries, have been left hanging – Pigsx7 had to cancel additional gigs in New York and Los Angeles following the cancellation of SXSW.

There are also concerns over what other festivals could be affected. However, last week Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said she was pressing ahead with the 50th anniversary festival.

American musician Laura Jane Grace tweeted that some bands were cancelling because their insurers were altering contracts to not cover damage done by the virus. This was confirmed by Neil Anderson, the tour manager of Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro (see tweet below).

Not only could this be incredibly damaging to the industry it could also cause a backlog of dates with many shows being pushed back, resulting in massive expenses for artists and already struggling independent venues.

 

Tweets on the Corona Virus.

The underground music scene is being dealt a a hefty blow yet again following the Brexit complications which made international touring into UK an ever harder process.

Some of the most innovative venues in Manchester, including the Academy, Yes and even Satan’s Hollow, have had difficulties with bookings. Although there have been underlying restrictions and cancellations of various events, both big and small, it is important to remember that safety measures are the utmost priority. Many of the events announced as cancelled are set to be rescheduled and ticketholders should keep updated using official ticket outlets.

The Long Goodbye: Riz Ahmed’s breakup with Britain

Emmy award winning actor and rapper Riz Ahmed recently released his second album, The Long Goodbye – a conceptual piece of art that Ahmed described as a “breakup album, but with your country”. It’s an ambitious, righteously angry, and urgent piece of work that everyone needs to listen to.

Ahmed’s album was accompanied by a short film that carried the same title, which followed a South Asian family getting ready for a wedding. In eleven short minutes, Ahmed was able to develop a real sense of authenticity; there was something incredibly genuine and real about the bickering family members, who couldn’t decide where to put the furniture and siblings who won’t carry their weight.

There was an unmistakable familiarity; growing up with Indian and Pakistani friends I remember their exasperation when there was a wedding about to happen, as they would tell me about how its just taken over their house and their whole life.  There were weeks of preparations for the parties and for the smaller parties before the main party. This was what I had in mind as I was watching The Long Goodbye – it was just a family, like any other.

It was perhaps this authenticity that made the following scenes even more difficult to watch, as racist white thugs stormed the neighbourhood, rounded people up and executed the family on the street.

Towards the end of the short film, Riz begins a gritty spoken word style rap, speaking on issues that most first and second generation immigrants can relate to. He highlights the unremitting internal back and forth that exists for so many of us, as he ponders, “maybe I’m from everywhere and no where, no mans land, between trenches, nothing grows there but its fertilized by the brown bodies that fought for Britain in the wars so when I spit a poppy grows there”.

This is a recurrent theme throughout his album; the looming question of belonging when nowhere really wants you. It is a fissure that many of us have not managed to reconcile, as we cling hopefully to a romantic image of a homeland that does not really exist outside the faculties of our imagination, or as we chase a Britishness that was never designed to accommodate us in the first place.

“Did they ask you where you’re from? Like where you really from?” in twelve words Riz Ahmed tapped into an almost universally shared experience. He goes on “the question seems simple but the answer’s kinda long. I could tell em’ Wembley, but I don’t think that’s what they want and I don’t want to tell em’ more cos anything I say is wrong.” These questions are, at this point, almost a rite of passage for those of us who were never seen to fit the mould of Britishness that has been laid out for centuries.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, a poet, writer and podcast host, tweeted that in response to Ahmed’s short film her brother asked, “do you think our white friends watch and see that as an exaggeration? Do you think they realise we think about it all the time?” and it is here we see that we see the crux of the issue. The visceral viewing experience may perhaps come across as hyperbolic, overstated, and generally too much to those who do not have to experience the continual reality of state sponsored violence in Britain.

It manifests itself in the form of the hostile environment policies that have been championed by the Home Office, the unrelenting state surveillance via policies like Prevent and the exponential growth in hate crimes targeting Muslim (or people perceived as Muslim), with 47% of all religious hate crimes being aimed at Muslims.

The truth is, whilst execution style shootings in the middle of the street may seem a long way off from where we are, it is a constant worry in the back of many people’s minds, who already have to navigate a society that is, at best, indifferent and, at worst, actively a danger to their lives.

Riz Ahmed has told the classic tale of a breakup. He chronicles the abuse and the toxicity of living in a country that not only rejects you but rejects your very humanity. While The Lost Goodbye is a dystopia of sorts it also manages to hold up a mirror to Britain, showing the country exactly what it’s become and where it is going.

Disappointment for the Lionesses

As the warm Texas evening draws to a close, there is a particularly difficult image on display for the England Women’s National Team. They have just lost 1-0 to Spain, and to top things off, they now have to pass over their trophy to the Americans who have beaten Japan.

It’s not a result that the defending SheBelieves champions would have seen coming, following their dominant display in 2019. However, the United States have a particularly special team, with Ballon d’Or holding Megan Rapinoe bossing the middle of the park in the final match.

England started the tournament poorly, losing 2-0 to the USA on the opening day in Orlando. Two goals in very quick succession, from Christen Press and Carli Lloyd, were enough to see off any challenge put up by the Lionesses. However, truthfully, they didn’t pose much of a threat and were easily seen off by the world’s number one side.

Three days later, England took to the field again, this time in New Jersey. They were facing a Japanese side who looked significantly weaker on paper and were coming off a 3-1 loss to the tournament’s underdogs, Spain. It was an end-to-end game, with Bethany England and Lauren Hemp both going close for England and Hina Sugita rocking the woodwork for Japan.

Saviour Ellen White was sent onto the pitch by coach, Phil Neville, in the 69th minute. England grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and were unthreatened for the rest of the second half. In the 87th minute, White slotted the ball in, following a lovely pass across the box from fellow substitute, Toni Duggan. It was their first, and only goal of the tournament.

However, in a game of small margins against Spain, England crashed to their seventh defeat in just eleven matches. Alexia Putellas found herself free in the box due to some questionable defending and made no mistake, heading past Carly Telford.

A couple of things are for certain, the Lionesses are underachieving, and the pressure is continually mounting on Phil Neville’s shoulders.

How ‘the North’ became a baseless political football

On Wednesday, the MP for Richmond and North Yorkshire and now Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, stood at the dispatch box enthusiastically reeling off new spending in the latest budget. Delivering the speech, Sunak seemed well-oiled, computerised, and no-nonsense. A perfect lap dog for enforcer-in-chief Dominic Cummings.

Pledges included half a trillion pounds of nationwide investment to help reverse over a decade of austerity, including six billion to re-energise the NHS at a time of global coronavirus panic, investment in capital spending of six hundred billion over the next five years to revive broken communities, and even an increase in business rate discounts for pubs!

The sound of Tory Tanks rolling into Labour territory in the North and Midlands’ proverbial “red wall” is almost deafening.

And yet, it’s hard to see past this piece of baseless politicking. The government seems to be patting themselves on the back for finally offering a glass of water to those communities starving in the North of England and beyond. It would be impossible to boil down and try to explain the inadequacy of the new government, and their almost mocking hubris after a decade of austerity. Therefore, I’ll focus on a few test cases in the North East of England, where I’m from.

In last December’s general election, the Conservatives made electoral headway in historically unchartered territories. From the jaws of Labour they snatched seats such as the former mining metropolis Blyth Valley, Tony Blair’s former seat in Sedgefield, as well as Redcar, Darlington, Stockton South, and Bishop Auckland. The debate over the how and why is a lesson the Labour party will have to wrestle with and quickly, with the new leader facing an enormous uphill task of reinstating its Northern base.

What I’m concerned with is the real changes these communities will experience from this government. What is Johnson’s quid pro quo for those voters that even he admitted will be lending the party their votes on a one-time occasion?

To start, let us not underestimate the deprivation caused by the previous three governments, and how this austerity has disproportionately affected the North and the North East. A study early last year by the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that more than 130,000 deaths could have been prevented in the United Kingdom, were it not for the Draconian butchering of the welfare state by previous Conservative governments.

The impact of austerity has been particularly concentrated in post-industrial communities in the North East, which have been essentially left to rot.

The 2019 Indices of Deprivation has shown that the Middlesbrough area has the highest number of deprived households, and in terms of the top ten percent of income deprivation areas in the North East like Hartlepool, Redcar and Stockton seem to reappear over and over. Households in these areas in the North East are also disproportionately affected in terms of employment deprivation, health and disability deprivation, and income deprivation affecting children.

Superficially, the new budget screams unprecedented fiscal stimulus, an ideological reverse away from austerity, and a closing of the regional divide with Sunak waxing lyrical about a Treasury led “new economic campus” in the North. However, for all its promises, looked at as a whole, it offers nothing like the changes needed to re-energise the North and the North East.

While the budget is somewhat remarkable for its changes in infrastructure spending, on taxation and welfare it is remarkably, but unsurprisingly, regressive. The government’s own data shows that those benefiting most from this budget’s changes in taxation come from the upper income deciles. For example, in a table from the government’s ‘Impact on households’ document, it can be seen that households in the upper quartile of income earners benefit significantly from new taxation in terms of increased cash per year, with the lowest paid groups actually losing money.

Additionally, the recent local government spending settlement has seen a spending cut for the North East in comparison to huge pledges made to the South East. From the government’s key information for local authorities for the local government finance settlement in 2020-21, it is clear that the North East is just another constituent for Westminster bigwigs to pander to in their game of political power.

The document reveals that regions in the South East such as Essex, Surrey, and Kent will be getting percentage increases of over one hundred percent with Kent getting as much as 138.4 percent. Whereas places like Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland will receive increases in the tens, with Stockton on Tees even getting as low as a 2.4 per cent increase.

Despite excessive bluster and spin, this government is actively perpetuating regional inequalities, the new spending pledges of the budget clearly disproportionately favour the South East, and reinstate regressive taxation. The age of austerity has left a legacy of inequality and deprivation that only a massive restructuring of investment and political power across the country can engender. This government is nowhere near the mark.

Stellify: supernova or black hole?

“I stellify / I’m miles high,” croons legendary Roses rocker Ian Brown in Mancunian anthem ‘Stellify’. It means to change, or be changed, into a star – a fitting name for the University’s most prestigious extra-curricular award. 

Stellify, described as a ‘mark of Manchester excellence’, is at the heart of the University’s commitment to social responsibility. To achieve the award, which is available to all undergraduates, students must complete a range of activities. These range from 40 hours of volunteering to ‘ethical’ challenges. 

Praise has been heaped on the programme. Last October, bosses said Stellify had played a big role in Manchester being named ‘University of the Year’ for graduate employment. 

But despite the praise and a handsome advertising spend, the programme’s conception hasn’t been entirely smooth, with only small numbers taking it up. 

The University hasn’t hesitated in pouring vast sums of cash into marketing the award and at least £30,000 has been spent on advertising since its 2015 launch. 

In the 2017/18 financial year, £25,000 was spent on a University display at Manchester airport in which Stellify featured prominently. An additional £5,000 was spent in 2018/19 on a UCAS ‘Influencer Focus Package’ which includes newsletters to parents and advisors. 

While the University doesn’t have any formal targets for the number of students it would like to complete the award, there was an ambition that 5 to 10 per cent of students would. In the 2018/19 academic year – the third full year the programme ran – 1400 students registered volunteering hours. This is just over 5% of the total undergraduate body. 

And it’s unclear how many actually completed the full 40 hours of volunteering required to achieve the award. The University says students are not expected to complete all 40 hours in any one academic year.  

In an embarrassing error, emails from the University urging students to join the next stage of the Stellify programme found themselves in junk mail. The University didn’t comment when asked about the mistake but said that “of course we always want as many students as possible to take part”. 

The first Stellify gongs were handed out at a ceremony last year. Most students The Mancunion spoke with said they found the experience rewarding but that the University could do more to make the award accessible to busy students.  

Angela Chen, a second-year economics student who has completed two of three Stellify challenges, said working towards the award was a “fulfilling experience”. 

“Completing the tasks on the Stellify award is a fulfilling experience that can boost your CV and increase skills, I would recommend all do the award,” she said. 

When asked why more students hadn’t taken up the award, Angela said students “didn’t think it was relevant”. 

She added: “Lots of [students] have other hobbies which do not overlap with the Stellify award. It’s hard to persuade people who are already busy.” 

Mingwei Zhang, a masters student at Manchester and one of the first to receive the Stellify award, said the University could do more to raise awareness. 

He said: “My friends in final year said they didn’t know about the stellify award and missed the challenges in previous years so couldn’t do it.” 

Chloe Salins, Manchester SU’s education officer who also earned the award, said she didn’t think enough students were taking part. 

Salins said: “The requirements of the award marginalise a high majority of students, especially those with caring responsibilities and that work extensive hours. 

“The award was designed to benefit those students who go the extra mile but the award is unattainable for so many it shows the clear amount of pressure and stress students are under nowadays to achieve so much at University beyond just achieving their degree. 

“The University is currently reviewing the stellify award and looking at the possibility of creating different tiers such as bronze, silver and gold – so work is being done but the more student input the better.” 

A Manchester University spokesperson said: “The University of Manchester is distinctive within the British higher education sector for our commitment to social responsibility, which is embedded in our teaching and learning opportunities through Stellify.

“We offer our students a coherent and distinctive development package that supports and enhances their experience here at Manchester and helps them to determine their next steps following graduation.

“We’re extremely proud of the impact Stellify has had at our institution, the uptake from our students and the positive recognition it has received from across the sector.

“Of course we always want as many students as possible to take part and are constantly reviewing the programme, listening to staff and students to see how we can enhance it for future cohorts.

“Stellify represents the values of this institution helping us to develop distinctive Manchester graduates who are socially responsible citizens of the world.”

The true cost of tuition fees

A 2019 poll reported in the Guardian revealed that psychological distress among students is at an all-time high. The poll, which sampled 38,000 students across UK Universities, reported that 50.3% of participants had experienced thoughts of self-harm, whilst 87.7% of students struggled with feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness with second- and third-year students at greatest risk. In some cases, figures were twice as high as reported rates in 2017.

The causes of this decline in student well-being are myriad and complex. Not least are the modern strains of maintaining social media platforms and the increasing competitivity of the labour market. And of course, cuts to mental health services for under-18s have heightened the likelihood that young people entering university will have pre-existing mental health issues.

Although these surrounding issues play a huge role in the decline of student mental health, there is one major factor which cannot be ignored – tuition fees.

The problems associated with tuition-fees are becoming increasingly more visible. Since 1998, tuition fees in England and Wales have become incrementally higher, from £1,000 per annum to £9,250.

Critics have also argued that taking education out of the public sphere has precipitated changes to the way universities are run. Universities seems to have become more like customer-driven businesses with policy choices more and more based on financial returns and efficacy rather than guided by the needs of students and researchers.

One area where the neglect of student needs is apparent is in the lack of investment in counselling services. Indeed, students from Bristol, University College London and Goldsmiths protested in 2017 and 2018 against poorly funded university mental health services.

While the underfunding of such services is undoubtedly exacerbating the problem, I believe that paying for tuition is systematically flawed. Critics argue that tuition reduces students to a commodity, that is, an object of economic value which is part of a transaction. They also contend that, now, universities are in the business of selling students to the labour market. The success of students affords institutions more investment and more international attention. Therefore, it could be argued universities are motivated to train students for high-level jobs rather than educate them.

Across the pond, the rise of tuition was accompanied by a transformed understanding of the point of university. A professor of New York State University argues that “as a requirement for competing in the marketplace, educational institutions transformed themselves into country clubs with dazzling technology without much educational value”. In this system, “being trained is much more important than being educated”.

Though the cost of tuition in the US is generally higher, a consequence of the lack of government interference in what institutions can charge, in principle the US and English and Welsh systems are the same. Now, students pay educational institutions to equip them with the knowledge and know-how required of them to compete for graduate level jobs.

In this topsy-turvy world where pedagogy has turned to profit, a student’s academic performance translates into their value to employers. One consequence of this is that students now derive their self-worth from their academic performance.

One vocal critic of this system is Mark Crawford, a postgraduate student union officer at UCL who commented in a 2019 Guardian interview that “driving our universities to act like businesses doesn’t just cannibalise the joy of learning and the social utility of research and teaching; it also makes us ill”.

Crawford’s comments have particular resonance in the exam halls at business-driven universities, where students compete with one another to prove their value to the market, in order to be able to pay back their huge debts. In this Darwinian dystopia, it is perhaps unsurprising that English and Welsh universities are witnessing a spike in mental-health issues.

State-funded institutions do not seem to have this problem. Free Swedish Universities, for example, structure examinations and assessments in ways that takes the pressure off students in exams; they tend to have more simplistic grade boundaries, lenient regulations and longer durations than English and Welsh institutions.

In Sweden, the traditional written examination in Humanities or Social Sciences is usually between three and five hours long, consists of several 200-word essays and one long essay. And most exams are also written on computers, which enforce a word limit.

The grade-boundaries themselves are also much more simplistic. Until recently, students at most Swedish Universities receive either Pass/Fail or Pass with Distinction. And, Students can retake and attain a high grade in exams if they fail the first time, which is very different from England where students are capped to a maximum grade of 40% in a resit.

Additionally, qualifying for mitigating circumstances often involves an arduous process of appeal in British academia. Conversely, Swedish students can choose to miss an exam for any reason and attend the retake without penalty.

These measures, undoubtedly, help to reduce student anxiety which naturally escalates around exam season. But, more importantly, they are the outcome of a more informal system which treats students as people rather than commodities.

University remains a site of growth where students are given room to develop new skills and knowledge to become well-educated. Whereas, with anxiety on the rise in England and Wales, the definition of university as a site of growth is in doubt.

Students occupy university buildings for four nights in solidarity with UCU strikes

A group of University of Manchester students have occupied buildings on campus each night this week in support of striking lecturers.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are currently striking over pay, pensions, workplace conditions, and casualisation, in what they are calling the ‘four fights’ dispute. The industrial action, which has lasted for 14 days, culminated in a full five-day strike last week, leaving many students without teaching.

Students aimed to use each night of the occupation to highlight a different one of the ‘four fights’, and to show that “there are a huge number of students who are supportive of strike action,” according to one of the occupiers, Frazz.

“Our main aim when beginning this occupation was to help increase the morale of the lecturers that are striking. When we had gone to join the people picketing, it seemed many members of staff we worried about students not supporting what they were doing. We wanted them to know that this isn’t true! There is a huge number of students who are supportive of strike action and we wanted to make this something that was more visible.”

Simultaneous occupations took place at other universities across the country, including Cambridge, UCL, Liverpool, Exeter, and Imperial.

“We didn’t have any contact with other unis when we were planning but we were aware of other universities staging occupations that were also in soldiers with the UCU. Since we began our first night we have however been in touch with other occupying groups and have shown solidarity with them.

“In Manchester we have tried to keep a focus on raising awareness of the 4 fights of the UCU. This is why we have taken on the tag #4nights4fights. By looking in more detail at the four fights ourselves we can be more equipped to explain the dispute between the uni and UCU with our fellow students and hopefully gain their support as well.”

Photo: UoM People and Planet

On Monday night, the group occupied University Place to protest the gender and BAME pay gap, which stand at 18.4% and 31.4% respectively at UoM. Tuesday night saw the group return to University Place to highlight casualisation.

On Wednesday, protestors occupied the Samuel Alexander building, focusing on staff workload. Before the third night of the Four Nights Four Fights Occupation, a student from People and Planet told The Mancunion that the theme of that night was a protest “against the enormous workload that lecturers are facing which hampers the quality of education [students] receive and the quality of life of our lecturers.”

 

Thursday night saw the group occupy both University Place and Sam Alex, with one focusing on fair pay and one highlighting the pensions dispute.

Lecturers have reached out to students from People and Planet sending messages of thanks and support, as well as a care package of eye-masks to allow protesters to sleep while occupying buildings with movement triggered lighting.

David Swanson, head of the University of Manchester (UMUCU), told The Mancunion that demonstrations of support from student groups throughout the industrial action have meant a lot to striking staff:

“What the students have been doing has been a real inspiration for us. First of all terms of joining our picket lines and demonstrations and so on, and now these occupations are phenomenal. While [the occupation was] going on last night there was also a fundraiser in Big Hands where they raised a lot of money for us with lots of students there.

“I think there’s just a real spirit of unity between lecturers, support staff and students and a common view that we need to change how the University is run.”

With UCU strike action ending Friday, March 13th, a representative from People and Planet expressed a hope that the occupation has added: “increased pressure to the University, in solidarity with the strikes, so that they can come to an agreement with the UCU.” However, students told The Mancunion they are prepared to carry on protests in the future if necessary.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said:

“The University of Manchester supports the right of any student to protest peacefully and legally. However, our responsibility as a University is to ensure that we do everything we can to minimise disruption to other students and to our staff.

“With regard to the current industrial action, the issues of pay and USS pensions are negotiated at a national level and constructive discussions are continuing at present.

“As an institution, we take our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion extremely seriously and share many of UCU’s concerns on conditions and are seeking to address these.

“For example, this is demonstrated by our *published targets to increase the percentage of women in senior academic positions to 44% and to redress the under-representation of BAME men and women in Professional Services (PS) and academic positions.

“The actions we are taking focus on ensuring we have fair recruitment, selection and promotion policies in place. These procedures are actively reviewed to ensure they are accessible and free from bias.

“We understand there is still work to do, but we take pride in the wide range of support that is available to all our staff.”

Art in Mancunia: Evie Spicer

Central to Manchester-based photographer Evie Spicer’s practice is her unrelenting passion and ability to demonstrate the power of women.

Spicer’s current project ‘Wasteland’ is inspired by the Novel ‘If Woman Rose Rooted’ by Sharon Blackie which recalls the tale of Blakie’s Native mythology. The power and strength of the Celtic goddesses was attributed to their connection to the landscape and nature. However the power of these feminine entities began to be lost when Christianity and the spiritual relationship between humanity and a monotheistic God pushed by the ruling elites of that day.

In order to address this role that women have had to conform to within society, Spicer indulges in both landscape and studio work. The role of the environment plays a central role in her work which is evident in a series of self portraits that use performance as a way to demonstrate her place in whichever setting she works within. Spicer’s images intimate between questions of how landscape has over time, become a male dominated space, so much so that women in society no longer feel safe to explore the bounds of wildernesses.

Many cultural references depict a women alone within the landscape as a ‘damsel in distress’. The tale of ‘Red Riding Hood’ is an example of how young girls are warned in children’s stories to not stray too far into the woods and remain within ‘safety’ of domestic settings. Indeed, it is the man who proceeds into the land to hunt and forage, whilst the woman is confined to the home. All of this creates the impression that a woman’s place is not within the landscape, and the femme fatal narrative that is infamously bound up in the history of children’s fiction narratives, is a stark juxtaposition to the women described in the folklore of Celtic tribes.

Photo: Evie Spicer

Through this work Spicer reclaims the landscape. Her image of dark rock stresses the sublimity of nature which presents Spicer as a smaller character within the wider setting of holism in the land. However, within the image there is no intimidation or fear; Spicer’s direct eye contact with the camera penetrates the image almost accusing us of ever doubting that she did not have a place there. Her pose, protective rather than daunted, seems to blend into the rock and they become one – Spicer is defending her right to be within the landscape as a woman. In her other landscape images, Spicer’s direct contact with trees and earth she photographs herself alongside, demonstrates a connection with nature which works to increase her presence within the space.

Her studio images have allowed her to experiment with her performance work and develop her power poses, she has just as much of a presence inside as she does within the landscape. The wrestling we see within the images of her hands reflects the idea of how she must fight to be a woman, not just within the landscape, but also a woman who works within the genre of landscape photography and portraiture. Landscape photography has been a male dominated subject for as long as it has existed and within photography, and women have always been hyper-sexualised by media and the male gaze within the subject.

Photo: Evie Spicer

Currently, Spicer is working to explore the idea ‘edge dwellers’. This discusses how we are drawn to the edges between two environments and the space between them. Speaking of this she describes the term, ‘The ecologies where the sea meets the cliff, the forest meets the meadow. I think that we are drawn to the edges of spaces because we are fascinated by them, and also because we relate to them. We are ever changing, constantly redefining ourselves.”

The project is an empowering question to females; if we reclaim the nature we are a force of, what kind of accomplishments could we achieve? The work is an accusation and a challenge, from a cultural stance and also from an artistic stance, and by embarking on this project Spicer is taking ownership of the genre and abolishing the expectations and standards that have been built up of women within the landscape and women as artists.

Photo: Evie Spicer
Photo: Evie Spicer

You can find more of Evie’s work on her website or on her instagram @espicerphoto.

Are our Students’ Union elections fit for purpose?

Students’ Union Executive Officer elections are a key part of any university’s annual calendar, offering a selection of students the opportunity to spend a year working on issues that matter to them around campus and related to student life – if they can win the support of their peers. Executive Officers can make real change, working both on individual cases and broader structural change. Equally, some Officers are forgotten as quickly as they started, failing to implement any meaningful policies and leaving little impact on their student community.

The origins of Officer elections are difficult to pinpoint exactly, but the idea of a sabbatical role is generally acknowledged to have begun around the 1970s, as students fought for greater representation on campus. The Education Act of 1994 lays out the role and requirements of students’ unions in the UK, stating that “appointment to major union offices should be by election in a secret ballot in which all members are entitled to vote”. Most unions already adhered to this regardless, so a reasonable estimate suggests that SU elections have existed in a recognisable format in the UK for over 50 years.

During this time, the election format has seen little change –  sometimes updating and revising available positions, but rarely making dramatic modifications. In one form or another, students have elected representatives from the student body to work for them for a year since approximately 1970.

But recently, students at a number of institutions in the UK have expressed concerns that there are cracks in the system.

Take Durham for instance. This year, students across the university launched a ‘RON campaign’ – encouraging students to vote to reopen nominations (RON), instead of electing candidates – in an effort to protest the Union’s position in their student life. Founders of the campaign say that they believe a RON vote is “the only way” to “force the SU and university to address the issues that common rooms and the wider student body have with the way SU democracy is being enacted and the power imbalance between common rooms and the SU.”

Granted, Durham operates under a collegiate system similar to that of Oxbridge, where many students will participate in college sport and societies rather than SU organised ones. “Each college is formed from three bodies of members, the Junior, Middle and Senior Common Rooms,” explains one Durham college website. Common rooms are described as “an organisation providing support, events and community for a specific group of College members.”

Because of the heavy involvement that a student’s respective college has in their everyday life, many Durham students have expressed a belief that their SU’s failure to adapt to suit this system is concerning.

RON was eventually disqualified after breaking campaigning rules, meaning candidates did fill all Officer roles, but regardless, it’s clear that the RON campaign had a significant impact.

RON isn’t a new concept, although its implementation on this level is unprecedented. In 2016, students at the London School of Economics (LSE) opted not to elect a General Secretary, making it the first election of RON in any British SU vote and forcing the union to hold another election.

Perhaps the biggest indicator that SU elections are failing to reach student sympathies is the consistent lack of turnout across the board. Only 6,926 students voted in Manchester’s recent elections – less than 18% of the total student population. Even in Birmingham, where turnout was considered to be high, only just over 9,000 students cast a ballot – around 30% of the student population.

Low engagement is typical of SU elections around the world, and despite SU staff’s best efforts, changing this is a challenging task. Manchester SU have been known to offer plants, ice cream, and chips in exchange for completed ballots, but this often results in students simply picking the first name off the list rather than active engagement.

There are no easy answers to the question of student engagement, but it is worth recognising that the current system is struggling to fulfil its purpose of representing students.

For many, the SU is just a building, or a place where they eat, or dance, or meet. But the SU is a democratic institution, too, yet it appears this fact is getting lost on a demographic group usually known for political engagement and activism.

Student politics is still politics – just on a micro level. For example, electing an environmentally conscious candidate can make a huge difference to the sustainability of students’ immediate local environment. SU officers have successfully lobbied universities to introduce vegware, and even divest from fossil fuel companies, as well as introducing changes within their own institutions.

Local elections of course do not capture the same level of interest as general elections, so its unsurprising that these hyper-local votes garner even less. However, there is something to be said for encouraging students to see SU politics as real politics, with real power and real consequences.

I don’t have the answers – if anybody did, I’m sure student engagement would be sky-high already. But students shouldn’t underestimate the difference SUs can make to their lives, and SUs need to ensure that they represent all students – even if this means changing up the way things have always been done.

MANIFF 2020: Sweethearts

In 1973, Swedish psychologist Nils Bejerot coined the phrase “Stockholm syndrome” to describe a psychological condition in which hostages form positive bonds with their captors.

Karoline Herfurth’s 2019 film Sweethearts takes this phenomenon and uses it as the basis for a ‘romantic comedy’ which is, perhaps unsurprisingly, neither romantic nor particularly funny.

The film follows the story of Franny (Herfurth), a Berlin office worker who suffers from debilitating panic attacks. After being asked to take time off work to deal with them, she is taken hostage by low-level criminal Mel (Hannah Herzsprung) following an ill-fated diamond robbery. This then devolves into a questionably consensual Thelma & Louise-style road-trip as the pair try to evade the police and pay back a Berlin crime gang, whose leader has close personal ties with Mel.

At its best, Herfuth’s film is a tonally confused, but extremely artfully shot crime thriller. Daniel Gottschalk’s cinematography provides glorious wide-angle shots of all aspects of the seedy Berlin underworld and features epic Matrix-style action sequences that The Wachowskis themselves would be proud of.

However, at its worst the film borders on truly offensive. The issues inherent in Franny performing an erotic dance on top of an unconscious, handcuffed police officer to the dulcet tones of Foreigner’s iconic 1984 power ballad ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’, probably don’t need to be explained.

The same can be said for the film’s attitude towards Franny’s panic attacks, which seem to come and go at any given point to suit the film’s plot. The most baffling part of this entire situation is that there are so many opportunities for the film to tackle this issue, but they are consistently squandered. There is one early scene during which the entire conversation revolves around getting help and not suffering through things alone. This is later referenced in terms of helping Mel out of her predicament, but somehow totally avoids any relation to Franny’s. A decision which is, frankly, more than a little bit irresponsible.

As far as female-led crime thrillers go, Sweethearts is a good effort. As far as responsible and principled filmmaking goes, it is far less so.

2/5.

Safety concerns over Fukushima opening the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay

In February Fukushima Governor, Masao Uchibori declared that the area was safe to host its leg of the Olympic torch relay.

The rebuilding project has been taking place since the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami hit in 2011, causing the most severe nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernoybl disaster. 

The disaster in Northern Japan has since left over 18,500 people dead with numbers rising due to radioactive fallout causing long term fatal health implications. 

Governor Uchibori’s statement comes after a report was published by Greenpeace in December 2019 declaring that high-level radiation hot spots can be detected at a sports complex where the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay will kick off next year. 

The study revealed that radiation levels around the J-Village sports camp were over 1,700 times higher than prior to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. 

The Japanese Government pledged to keep the radiation level ratings at 0.23 microsieverts per hour, however Greenpeace found levels as close to 21 microsieverts per hour. Which is exposure to a greater amount of radiation in a day than you would naturally be exposed to in a year. 

Since the report Japanese authorities have begun further clean up work to decontaminate the area, which will also host the opening matches for Olympic Baseball and Softball, and declare it as safe. 

Fukushima was chosen for the opening leg of the torch relay to show to the world a narrative of recovery. The Olympics has always been a stage for countries to showcase what they have to offer, and in this case it shows solidarity between regions to move forward from a tragedy that stunned so many. 

However, with speculation increasing that the Olympics could be cancelled due to coronavirus outbreak, Japan’s excitement over the possibility of displaying values of unity may have to wait.

International students flee UK as home countries lockdown

Saudi Arabian residents studying in the UK have been forced to make the difficult choice of either remaining in the country or returning home, after Saudi Arabia gives 72 hour warning for lockdown in response to increasing cases of coronavirus.

Aya-zoe Atallah, a final year undergraduate student at the University of Manchester, has made the decision to return home before all international travel to and from the country is suspended:

She told The Mancunion that she felt she had little choice in the matter but is worried about the impact this will have on her degree: “I couldn’t risk being stuck away from home, but I’m stressing about how this will affect my studies more than anything else. As a final year student I’ll have no access to the libraries or contact hours with lecturers, so on top of all the strikes I’ll have zero support for my upcoming deadlines and dissertation.

“I’ve been told by student support to apply for mitigating circumstances so hopefully that helps, but how much can they do without knowing the future of the virus? The uncertainty about the whole situation is what scares me the most. What happens with my education is all up in the air at the moment.”

On Thursday March 12th, the Saudi Press Agency released information from the Ministry of Interior about the country’s precautionary measures, stating that, “the kingdom’s government has decided to temporarily suspend the travel of citizens and expatriates and suspend flights.”

People have been given 72 hours to either exit the country or return, before the country goes into temporary lockdown. This follows the decision of the Italian government on March 10th to restrict international travel to and from the country, allowing only those who can provide medical certification that they do not have coronavirus to cross the border.

Claudia, a Bio-Chemistry student at UoM, who lives in Spain, expressed fears about being stranded in the UK without her family. She told The Mancunion that she rebooked her flight home for Easter break to tomorrow because she “didn’t want to get sick and have nobody around me, since my other friends are also going home and my family lives abroad.”

Claudia was ” pleasantly surprised” by how understanding the University was about her wish to leave the UK: “I set up a meeting with my project advisor and he told me that this takes priority and said that I wouldn’t be penalised for this.

“The university understands that they aren’t able to provide definitive answers yet, but they also mentioned that we had to be cautious about being able to fly back on time.”

The impact of coronavirus on those studying at UK universities continues to grow as not only are many students studying abroad and within the UK being forced to make decisions regarding returning home, but also a number of UK institutions, including Durham and KCL, have recently announced a move towards online teaching and examinations.

Coronavirus: UoM expected to use Week 8 as transition week towards online teaching

Live updates as universities across the UK start to take measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Universities across the country are taking steps to move all teaching online following a step-up in coronavirus measures.

The Mancunion understands that the University of Manchester are planning to use Week 8 (commencing Monday, March 16th) as a transition period between face-to-face and online teaching.

Durham University and Liverpool University are among those ending face-to-face teaching and telling students that from next week, they will not be expected to attend classes. Earlier today, it was announced that all schools and colleges in the Republic of Ireland would close over the virus.

An email sent to Durham students says that, starting next week, all classes will be moved online in order to “reduce the risk of immediate infection”. A source from the University of Liverpool told The Mancunion that students on non-clinical degrees will also not be expected to attend lectures and seminars next week.

King’s College London (KCL) have sent an email to students confirming that all exams scheduled for the summer examination period will be changed to alternative methods of assessment, saying they “will not hold conventional unseen exams over this period”.

Manchester Metropolitan University have told students that face-to-face teaching will not resume after Easter break, but could halt “potentially sooner, if requested by the government.”

However, university vice-chancellors have told the government that a complete shutdown of UK universities would be “impossible” as it would leave thousands of students stranded.

Speaking to The Guardian, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England (UWE) Professor Steve West, said: ““My bottom line back to government has been that they can’t treat universities like big schools because we aren’t.

“I’ve got 4,500 students living on campus: some of them are care leavers or estranged from their families and many are international students. We can’t just shut down as they would have nowhere to go.”

Is it Art?: French Orbeez Bath

I’ll level with you. This semester is going faster than I can write my dissertation. In a few months, I face being unemployed as my job search is unfruitful. The only emotion I feel is stress.

Or thought I could feel. That’s until a French Youtuber, Cyril Schreiner, filled his bath with Orbeez. Orbeez are little polymer balls that kids are apparently obsessed with. For a bit of clout, Schreiner decided to fill his bath with these beads. So far, so good? I guess?

Anyway, for some reason, once his bath was full, Schreiner thought he could just… empty his bath? Like turtles don’t exist?

So, then, somehow these emerged in his toilet, and beads overflowed.

The stress of this situation was so intense that Schreiner began to speak German, which is known as the peak level of stress.

Funny enough. But then, his hoover caught on fire. A solution emerged in salt, only for him to have a litre of sh*t emerge from his sink- and apparently his neighbours’. His neighbour then emerged at the door, and Schreiner realised he was dans le merde as the whole neighbourhood’s water system had become a faecal boba tea. A letter then emerges, showing that he is France’s most wanted for his polluting ways.

I’m not (surprisingly?) the first person to question whether this is art. Some have noted the bad-to-worse trajectory is almost scripted. But does it matter? There’s a panic that transcends language barriers, a beauty in the universality of f*ck-ups.

Verdict: With a careful combination of drama and comedy, this is indeed art.

Mental health struggles among UK students increasing

Student mental health problems are rising exponentially, according to a new report by the Insight Network and student organisation Dig-In.

The report questioned over 80,000 students across three years. Almost half (42%) of students surveyed were found to have suffered from a serious personal, emotional, behavioural or mental health problem. Depression and anxiety were also found to be the most common student mental illnesses.

Two-thirds of students said they would approach a mental health professional if they could do so online. This finding raises questions about whether services need to adapt digitally.

Research regarding the prevalence of stigma is equally worrying. Eight in ten students with a mental health diagnosis said they have concealed their symptoms due to stigma. This fear explains student’s reluctance to access support services offered by their university; athough 82% of students said they are aware of available services, only 13% have accessed them.

To inform successful intervention, the study identified sub-sections of the student population most at risk. Those identified as high risk include students who are non-binary, third-year, female, or international.

The research confirms the findings of a 2018 Prince’s Trust survey, which revealed that every item in the happiness index had fallen among young people in the UK. This measurement was the lowest recorded since research began in 2009.

Significantly, the report aims to further raise the profile of mental health issues among the UK student population. It is hoped that the findings will act as a call to arms for key stakeholders and the NHS.

Brian Dow, CEO of Mental Health UK said,  “How can it be that, for all the progress we’ve made in the last decade, so many young people still feel the need to conceal their mental illness for fear of the reaction from other people? Dig-In’s report reminds us that, no matter how readily available you make services, the stigma of mental illness can still present a very real challenge for many.”

Dr. Stephen Pereira, Director of the Insight Network said:

“Students may be vulnerable to psychological difficulties due to the interaction of a vast array of university-specific challenges. These stressors include moving away from home for the first time, establishing new networks, developing new identities, new intellectual demands, and financial strains. Therefore, it is pertinent that as a society we support and educate students on how to recognise stress, the early warning of mental health problems and where to seek support.”