Editorial
Izz the Labour party having a laugh?
April 26th, 2010Beneath the lashings of silly-politik you expect to accompany an election race for one of the country’s most marginal seats, comments made last week by parliamentary hopefuls John Leech and Lucy Powell indicate a depressing reality for voters in Withington. Causing a stir in Fallowfield, Powell was out campaigning [Full Article]
Equal opportunities
March 15th, 2010Congratulations to Robyn McKeown, who was declared the editor-elect of Student Direct last Thursday. McKeown, who will take over as editor of this paper in June, wowed voters with her creative and charismatic campaign in a race that was one of the closest to call in the entire election. Since [Full Article]
A new low
March 15th, 2010The usual mutterings about student engagement can be expected to gather in the various nooks and crannies of the Steve Biko building following the lowest voter turn out UMSU has ever seen in its annual elections. While comparing voting figures year on year is complicated by the Single Transferable Vote [Full Article]
The mechanics of student politics
March 1st, 2010The recent crisis in the Mechanical Engineering department – with a student petition complaining that the standard of teaching is way below par gathering over 200 signatures – presents an interesting conundrum inherent to the tactics of unionised students. Broadly speaking there are two schools of thought as to [Full Article]
A crisis of democracy and freedom of speech
February 22nd, 2010Last Thursday truly saw student politics at its lowest ebb: divisive, tokenistic and misinformed. The protest and counter protest about the Israeli Deputy Ambassador’s intended visit to UMSU as part of a Politics Society event saw both groups wilfully interpret the series of events leading up to the clash to their own ends [Full Article]
Horses for courses
February 15th, 2010Government research that suggests students may not oppose a higher education system which charges more for certain degree subjects is surely a portent of doom for those yearning for a more equitable university culture. While there is a certain logic to being willing to pay more for a course that [Full Article]
Oh look what we did...
February 15th, 2010Despite Frontier’s kind offer of £500 to one of our reporters, Student Direct: Mancunion decided to run with our story detailing the mishaps and manipulations of the gap-year company regardless. Turns out freedom of the press gazumps half a thou’. The revelation that Frontier –with its questionable record of looking [Full Article]
Letters 15-02-10
February 15th, 2010(Im) Partial to a spot of election coverage… I was surprised to read about the change that the UMSU Council recently made to election regulations (News, Feb 8), which gives Student Direct: Mancunion Edition leave to mention candidate’s names whilst covering the elections. I think that this change has a [Full Article]
A Little help goes a long way
February 8th, 2010They say a little help goes a long way. And in Kate Little’s case, her help on devising a new feedback policy has seen it go all the way to University Senate [Full Article]
Letters 08-02-10
February 8th, 2010'The last few editions of the paper have had attack after attack on women. It’s about time to make a stand against this recent misogynistic wave, and to defend the women’s rights movement' [Full Article]
Oh Lammy…
December 14th, 2009Supporting the community service scheme put forward by think-tank Demos is, in the words of tweenagers and ironical students everywhere, an Epic Fail on Lammy’s part. [Full Article]
State of emergency
December 14th, 2009Figures obtained by Student Direct: Mancunion this week confirmed what many have long suspected; that thanks to the near implosion of the Student Loans Company, students are having to be bailed out by universities and students’ unions. [Full Article]
Letters 14-12-09
December 14th, 2009This week: Action Palestine, MENS Society and 'ranting-by-numbers'. [Full Article]
Ivan Lewis’ Big Conversation
December 7th, 2009Frankly, if Thursday’s efforts were anything to go by, students would do well to follow Chris Mullin’s line and take a dim view of such pointless, vote-grasping activity. [Full Article]
Suspicion and censorship at Salford
November 23rd, 2009The news that a Salford student, Steven Maguire, has been banned from the University of Salford Students’ Union (USSU) for calling their President Matt Webber a bully, coupled with the rejection of several motions put forward to the Salford Annual General Meeting, should raise serious questions about USSU democracy. [Full Article]
Do really we’s needs grammar?
November 23rd, 2009I has the pleasure of taking part in a debate for William Hansons debate show last week on Fuse FM stickler that I’m I am putting the case forward in favour of adhering to the rules of grammar it were mooted by mine worthy very opponent James Naish thats in [Full Article]
Blame the parents
November 15th, 2009Gordon Brown announced to the assembled under-25s at Manchester Art Gallery last week that in an ideal situation the cost of higher education “should be shared between the government, the student and the parent.” This is surely the last in a long line of indicators that someone advising the Prime [Full Article]
(Ca) Marooned
November 15th, 2009It must be nice to live in David Cameron’s world. Shored up on a metaphorical island of (relatively) progressive social policy, with only beautiful, bohemian SamCam for company, and a stash of cold hard economic proposals in the chiller (in case anyone accuses one of being a bleeding heart). How nice. [Full Article]
Sweating over the smalls stuff
November 9th, 2009There’s something causing a bit of a stink over in Cambridge and it isn’t the River Cam. The Tab, Cambridge University’s first online tabloid, which launched over the summer, includes a feature called ‘Tab Totty’ featuring, well, Cambridge totty stripped down to their smalls. It’s fair to say that the online red-top attracted a fair amount of attention, with both the CUSU Women’s Officer and the Guardian queuing up to condemn it as sexist [Full Article]
Does this turn you on?
October 30th, 2009General Meeting’s aren’t sexy. To most students, they're meaningless and about as dull as a 5pm seminar on semiotics. [Full Article]
Where's our shopping list, Mr Cameron?
October 16th, 2009Emerging from the true-blue haze left behind by the Conservative Party Conference, there is little doubt that George Osborne’s shopping list of planned spending cuts has been etched deepest into the public imagination. Although the brief analytical forays into what Samantha Cameron should wear did prove an amusing respite [Full Article]
The impotence of asking students to be earnest
October 5th, 2009The rant wall in the south campus Students’ Union foyer had barely been up a day when some original soul took it upon them to add their (detailed) drawing of a large penis. The length of white-board was erected by the Students’ Union Executive Committee as an outlet for student [Full Article]
Too much information
September 28th, 2009It would be naïve to be particularly scandalised on hearing that 50 per cent of hall-dwelling students at the University of Manchester are unaware of their insurance rights. [Full Article]
An error of comedy
September 28th, 2009To sartorial inelegance, procrastination, snobbery, arrogance, complacency, pedantry and, infamously, lust, the academy must now add one more deadly sin. Having batted away tempestuous volleys of criticism over his Times Higher Education vignette hailing curvaceous female students as an occupational perk, Professor Terence Kealey’s editor has defended his comments as supposedly sophisticated satire. [Full Article]
