“We don’t teach people who live in areas with high instances of gun crime to dodge bullets” Rachel Cranshaw discusses why carrying an attack alarm is always a choice.

Sarah McCulloch investigates our relationship with Mephodrone, until recently the drug du jour among many students, and asks whether our entire debate on the use of legal and illegal drug use needs to change.

What can newcomers expect from their time here? And what challenges lie ahead for students? University is a strange and daunting new world. But embrace all it has to offer and it will be an experience you won’t forget.

Lily Howes sees how accommodation companies are making the most from the student buck.

Etiquette expert William Hanson discusses the banes of being an etiquette consultant in the dating game.

Tory, Gaz Morris, discusses whether ‘Red Ed’ offers a threat to the Conservatives.

Cuts to culture are set to only get worse in the new government. Catherine Sargent studies whether they’re set to go too far.

William Maclure looks at Islamaphobia and the Ground Zero Mosque.

I go to a party, you offer me a toke, what do you want me to say? I say “No, thanks”, even though from the look on your face I suspect that’s not the etiquette. The truth is, I feel uncomfortable with drugs.

Melody Nairn’s view on ancient theatre and how modern entertainment is not much different.

The Edinburgh Fringe – what it is, who it’s for, and one Manchester University student’s experience of it.

Preview of the Broadway musical “Rent”, being performed at the RNCM by South Manchester Amateur Operatic Society.

Exclusive interview with the new Chair for the Drama Society 2010-2011

Challenge your perception of reality at the Abandon Normal Devices Festival.

Parade, The Lowry, 27th – 28 Any members of the audience taking their seats as the cast broke into ‘The Old Red Hills of Home’ would have thought that they had arrived two hours late for the evening’s performance. The opening chorus of Parade possessed all the qualities of a number preceding a curtain call […]

Doctor Faustus, Royal Exchange, 10th September 2010 When Robert Johnson went to the crossroads to sell his soul to the devil, he did so in exchange for an awesome mastery of the guitar and revolutionised the blues forever more. The tale of Faust recounts how he did the same thing in his quest for knowledge […]

An introduction to the theatre scene in Manchester

Why are so few international students studying humanities subjects? Daniel Zuidijk investigates. For three days now, I have been sitting at my desk attempting to find a way to write about this subject without either sounding racist or as if I am plagiarising an equal opportunities leaflet. As a small disclaimer, I’d just like to say now that I am neither racist nor a hand-wringing pseudo-racist (you know, those ones that are so anxious about being perceived as prejudiced that they’re generally the most offensive of the lot).