by CONNOR FINDLAYWriter

APPLICATION RATES for LJMUprogrammes starting in Septem-ber 2013 have shown a rise in theprevious year, along with a betterthan sector-average in the UK. 

According to the latest figurespublished by UCAS, applicationsto study at Liverpool John MooresUniversity are up 8% compared toSeptember 2012.

The number of applications toall institutions in the UK has alsoseen an increase of around 3.5%.

A breakdown of the report is-sued by LJMU has revealed thatdemand to study at the still devel-oping  university  is  fierce,  andlooks likely to increase. 

The number of applicants se-lecting LJMU as their first choiceuniversity is up by over a quarteron  last year, with an  increase ofstudents applying for STEM (sci-ence, technology, engineering andmathematics) subjects up almost18%. 

The  university’s  links  withNorthern  Ireland  continue  tostrengthen,  with  around  12%  ofapplications submitted  for studyin 2013 coming from the Irish.

LJMU’s Director of Student Re-cruitment  and Widening Access,Carolyn Williams  said:  “It’s  stillearly in the recruitment cycle butwe are cautiously optimistic thatwe  are  on  track  to meet  our  re-

cruitment targets for the 2013 ac-ademic year.

“Our degrees offer students theright combination of academic ex-cellence and real world experienceto make them highly employableeven in times as tough as these.There’s no doubt  that  the Liver-pool-effect is also attracting moreand more people from outside theNorth West.

"Liverpool is a brilliant studentcity  –  affordable,  exciting  andgrowing economically. Add  thesetogether and it makes a brilliant

package  for  would-be  universitystudents."

The fluctuation in applicationsbetween 2011 and 2013 can be at-tributed to the increase in tuitionfees from just over £3000 to £9000,as a record high of applicants in2011 saw students aiming to beatthe new fees.

Predictions for next year arestill uncertain, but it appears stu-dents  are  now  coming  to  termswith  the  large  debts  incurredwhen studying for a degree.

The UCAS statistics relate to

applicants  for  full-time  under-graduate higher education in the2013  application  cycle.  They  in-clude all applications considered'on time' for the January 15 'equalconsideration’  deadline  and  givethe first reliable indication of de-mand for higher education in theUK this year. UCAS will still sendapplications  to LJMU and  otheruniversities  and  colleges  untilJune 30, with those received later

going into Clearing.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Don’t forget to nominate and votefor your future Student Officers inLiverpoolSU, page 4

12

spring 13free

LJMU SEES RISE IN UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS

exclusiveby REBECCA FIELDINGEditor

IT IS NO SECRET that Facebookdistracts students; they have theability  to  communicate  with  afriend at the click of a button. Butthanks to the new trend of ‘Spot-ted’  pages,  it’s  not  only  theirfriends  that  will  distract  themduring their studies.

Comments can range from flir-tatious  compliments  to  observa-tions  of  another  student’sclothing.  The  only  limitation  isthat users can’t reveal the nameof their subject, whilst also keep-ing  their  own  identity  anony-mous.

Such a trend has hit LJMU.Used mainly by students studyingin  the  LRC’s,  the  groups  aremeant to provide comic relief forprocrastinating students. 

Inevitably,  comments  haveturned sour and often range frommisogynistic  and  racist,  to  out-right  bullying.  Going  to  the  li-brary is now a paranoia-inducingexperience,  involving  a  fear  ofbeing shamelessly spotted. 

Comments range from mildlyamusing,  “Girl  leaving  the Ald-ham Robarts library with all thequilts, jumpers and pillows. Sortit out” to cruel, “To the girl in theblue sweater on first floor of AprilRoberts. I like. How much?” Con-tinued on page 3 >>

POSTERS INSIDE We gave girls the chance to share

their natural beauty, page 9

Check our brand new Businesssection, page 4

Read our exclusive interview with

upcoming producer and DJ, Meléon page 13

LJMU SPOTTED

2

EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor/Design Editor: Rebecca FieldingSocial Secretary: Slaine Kelly | BethDockertyNews Editor: Oliver AucklandFeatures Editor: Gemma JonesEntertainment Editor: Sophie CorkSports Editor: Jack McIlroy-ReidBusiness Editor: Sam FoxallCopy Editor: Alex MartinPhotographer: Qi Jiang | Gemma Jones

Writers/Contributors:Michelle HomanGeorgia DryhurstMichelle DaintryBethan Jenkins

Alex GreenTereza KirwanZoe WhittakerNicola FosterLois VentreEmma GrovesConnor FindlayConor WaltonRhys WilliamsJoshua GardnerJamie CraggsAisling DavisFergus Walsh

I hope everyone had a wonder-ful Christmas and New Year, andcame back to university refreshed

from their holiday hangovers.We’ve been lucky enough to

have new members join once againthis semester, as well as continuoussupport from our readers and Liver-pool Students’ Union. And withdeadlines, exams and dissertationspressing down on each member’sshoulders, Looprevil has once againhad a print issue made possible.

Despite January being some-what of a dead period, and withmoods low whilst we manage totackle the atrocious weather, thisissue has some brilliant content in.

I’d like to encourage all readersto look at our Natural Beauty fea-ture; as the new Women’s Delegatefor LiverpoolSU, I thought of no bet-

ter way to combine both my role asEditor and my support for thewomen of LJMU.

Since the last issue, we’ve alsohad a lot of new columns emergefrom dedicated writers writing regu-lar content. We’d also like to wel-come our new Entertainment EditorSophie, and our new Business Edi-tor Sam. They’ve made a great im-pression whilst working towards thisissue.

I’m honoured to once gain haveworked with a fantastic team to pro-duce this issue, and would like tothank the entire team.

I hope you enjoy! Rebecca

Scan the code to go to our site:

TEAM LOOPREVIL

get in touchLOOPREVILPRESS.org

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www.facebook.com/looprevilpresspaper

www.twitter.com/Looprevil_Press

by BETH DOCKERTY

Writer

NOMINATIONS are now open forstudents to vote for the LiverpoolStudents’ Union Amazing Teach-ing Awards 2013. 

Can you think of a special tutor,lecturer,  team of  staff,  a  techni-cian,  librarian  or  a  member  ofsupport  staff who  you  think  de-serves  to  be  put  forward  for  anaward? 

Show  your  appreciation  forsomeone who has made a differ-ence to your time at university bygetting involved in The AmazingTeaching  Awards  2013,  simplyvisit  the  Liverpool  Students’Union  website  at  www.liver-poolsu.com  to  put  forward  theteacher of your choice. 

There are a total of six differentawards  that  students  can nomi-

nate in the awards; The AmazingAcademic Supervisor Award, TheAmazing  Personal  Tutor Award,The Amazing Course Rep Award,The Amazing Course Team Awardand The Amazing Support TeamAward.

In order to complete a nomina-tion  for  an  Amazing  TeachingAward,  students  are  simply  re-quired to state which teacher theyare  nominating,  what  course  ormodule they teach, why this per-son is an Amazing Teacher and ex-amples of their amazing teaching. 

As a way of thanking studentsfor nominating in the awards, Liv-erpoolSU will enter participantsinto a prize draw if students pro-vide their full name. Now that youhave  all  the  information  abouthow  to  get  involved,  show  yourgratitude  by  nominating  in  thisyear’s Amazing Teacher Awards.

by EMMA GROVESWriter

Tensions have risen after plans toopen an  eleventh Tesco  store  inLiverpool  City  Centre  were  an-nounced.

The new Express store, set toopen  on  57  Dale  Street,  hascaused  outrage  amongst  someover  fears  about  the  survival  ofsmaller, local businesses. 

Wayne Colquhoun, of the Liv-erpool  Preservation  Trust,  toldthe Liverpool ECHO: “Every littlehurts in my opinion and being asmall shopkeeper myself I fear forthe sole traders in the locality.”

He added: ““Do we need an-other Tesco? They are taking overthe city. If this carries on we willhave to call the city Tescopool.”

The new shop is to be built inthe old Spar unit of the former Pi-oneer buildings and will be withina five minute walk from stores onOld Hall Street and Lord Street. 

A Tesco spokesperson said: “Weare really proud of investment inLiverpool. We have seen  it withsome  of  our  larger  stores  espe-cially in Park Road, the differenceit has made to job creation in thearea.

“Our Express stores offer cus-tomers  choice  and  convenienceand we are pleased to be invest-ing and opening another store inLiverpool.”

Dale Street is already home toa  number  of  newsagents,  sand-wich shops and other small busi-nesses.

Samir Ahmed, manager of theMuskers News, a newsagent  lo-cated opposite the new Tesco site,said: “Opening the new store willaffect all small business; such asnewsagents,  bakeries,  coffeeshops and off licenses.

“Although Tesco will be creat-ing new jobs, if you look at the job

losses it could create it will be al-most  double.  If  a  shop  were  toclose,  landlords,  shop  workersand the small businessman willall lose their job.”

Plans to build four anti ramraid bollards, new entrance doorsand the installation of a new shopfront. Tesco also plans to extendopening hours to open at 6am. City Cllr Nick Small supported

Tesco’s application and said: “I donot think it is directly competingwith smaller businesses. 

“In the last ten years there hasbeen a significant increase in theresidential population and thesepeople  do  not  necessarily  havecars to get to larger out of townstores. People are shopping oncea day and Tesco are not competingbecause food retailers, not greengrocers for example, are offeringa new service.”

DO WENEED ANOTHERTESCO?

Liverpool’s Dale Street

3

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

by NICOLA FOSTERWriter

IT SEEMS A week can’t go by nowwithout the decline and closure ofanother British high street icon. 

In 2012 50 of the top UK busi-nesses  fell  casualty  to  the  eco-nomic recession and went bust. 

The latest chain to have calledin the administrators is the enter-tainment  giant  HMV,  putting4,350 jobs at risk. The store whichhas been trading since 1921, hashad  to make  the  announcementthat they have been struggling tocompete with online retailers.

They have been in financial dif-ficulties for over a year and havehad one of the worst Christmas’ onrecord. Their month long ‘25% off ’sale  sparked  rumours  that  thefirm may be struggling and weredesperate to shift their unsold sea-

sonal stock.  It has been argued that the 239

HMV  stores  could  have  savedthemselves if they had embracedthe digital  sales  growth when  itemerged as popular. The problemnow is that when you think onlineyou think Amazon, and this  is agreatly missed opportunity for theentertainment  giant.  The  UKrecord industry is fighting the bat-tle to attempt to keep the last ded-icated music retailer on the highstreet.

The company has already soldoff Waterstones book stores whichthey had taken under their brandin 1998. They have also began tosell off their entertainment venuesstarting with their flagship Ham-mersmith Apollo in west London,in an attempt to stay afloat in thecompetitive  entertainment  mar-ket. 

But there may be life in the oldHMV dog yet, with hope that thechain may be bought out. It is re-ported  that  around  50  retailershave shown an interest in buyingout  the  HMV  brand,  includingGame. The console and entertain-ment  retailer  are  owned  by  pri-vate  equity  company  OpCapitaand are thought to want to bid for50 of HMV’s locations.

This has brought new hope tomany  of  the  independent  recordlabels who rely on HMV to stocktheir content.

The announcement follows thelikes of Jessops, Comet and morerecently  the Home Video  icon  ofBlockbuster. Coming at the sametime  as  the  Government  an-nounces that UK unemploymentis at a high of 2.49 million, the fu-ture  looks  bleak  for  the  highstreet.

THE DECLINE OF THE UK HIGH STREET

By MICHELLE HOMANWriter

RECENTLY THE entire  worldbasked in the overnight frenzy thatsurrounded  one  of  our  very  ownLJMU students. 

As she uploaded a spontaneousimage onto her Instagram, Twitterand  Facebook  accounts,  peoplewere  amazed  by  what  they  saw.Who would have thought that oneimage  of  the  Liver  Building  sur-rounded by the cold fog could havebecome a viral success. 

The image was taken by Norwe-gian student, Ida Husoy, and noth-ing  could  have  prepared  her  towhat was to  follow. She was con-tacted  by  the  likes  of  LiverpoolECHO and Robbie Fowler himself.

LP: We have heard about your lat-est success.Why did you take thephotograph? Did something inspireyou?

IH:  I  looked  out  the window andsaw that there was a lot of fog, so Igrabbed my phone and took aroundten pictures. I chose the best oneand posted it on Instagram, Twit-ter and Facebook later on that day.

LP: What’s  it been  like since youposted your photograph online?

IH: I first posted the picture on In-stagram and Twitter an hour or soafter taking the picture, but it did-n’t  take  off  before  I  posted  it  onFacebook later that day. Then theday after I did two interviews be-fore  university  and  several moreafterwards; on the same day I alsosigned  a  contract  with  MercuryPress to sell my picture to newspa-pers and magazines worldwide. 

Since  then,  people have  con-tacted  me  because  they  want  tobuy the picture and people are ingeneral being very nice to me. Rob-bie Fowler used, and is still using,my picture as his cover picture onTwitter. It’s been surreal and crazy,but very enjoyable. 

LP: We’re aware that you’re origi-nally  from Norway, has the newsgot out there also?

IH:  Yes,  I’m  Norwegian  and  thenews spread quickly in Norway. Ihave had articles about the pictureand  I  in  four  or  five  newspapersand several newspapers have done

follow-up  stories,  so  I  have  beenquite busy since the picture wentviral.

LP:  Since  gaining  viral  successhave you been approached by anycompanies or important people? Ifso, who? 

IH: I have been contacted by sev-eral people who want my opinionon  their  work  and  who  want  tooffer me jobs. The Telegraph usedmy  picture  on  Saturday  January12. 

LP: Did you expect to get this reac-tion when you first uploaded yourphotograph?

IH: I was not expecting this muchattention for my picture. I couldn’tin my wildest  dream  have  imag-ined  this.  It’s  been  very  over-whelming but I’m so grateful thatpeople seem to love this picture.

LP: Are you nervous about upload-ing anything new due to the expec-tations and success of your recentphotograph?

IH:  I  thought  in  the  beginning,

‘how can I top this?’ But it’sreally  not  about  toppingthat experience when it getsdown to it. It’s all about en-joying  the  art  of  photogra-phy.  I’m  taking  picturesbecause  I  like  taking  pic-tures, not because I’m look-ing for fame.

LP:  Do  you  have  any  experiencewithin photography?

ID: I have always liked to take pic-tures and I have always been tak-ing a lot of pictures, so for me it hasbeen  learning by doing.  I haven’thad  any  particular  photo  educa-tion. 

LP: We have a lot of readers whoare studying photography and whoalso have a personal passion for it,are  there  any  tips  that  you  canoffer?

IH:  I  feel  honoured  to  even  beasked  to  advise  people  who  arestudying  photography  on  how  totake good pictures. One thing I dothink is very important when tak-ing pictures  is  to keep a straighthorizontal line in the picture, un-

less there is a good reason why youdon’t want  that.  It  is also  impor-tant to have fun. Take pictures ofeverything and try and see an ob-ject  from a new angle. Also,  takemore than one picture of each mo-tive, because there might be some-thing wrong with the first shot. I’malways taking four or five picturesof  the  same  thing  before  lookingthrough them.

LP:  What  are  your  near  futureplans? 

IH:  Oh,  what’s  next?  You  neverknow. That’s the good thing aboutsocial  media  as  well.  You  neverknow what’s behind the next door.I’m definitely enjoying taking pic-tures, but a professional career inphotography? I highly doubt that. 

STUDENT’S PHOTO GOES VIRAL

(Cont) Architecture student Lucysaid: “I don’t see the harm in hav-ing the pages, they’re sometimesmoderated. It’s fun when it’s usedcorrectly,  and  you  can  identifywhat  person  the  comment  isabout.

“But I have seen commentsthat are very rude. They ruin it.”

Students who choose to utilisethese types of pages are breakingtwo LJMU Library and StudentSupport policies; that computersmust be used for academic pur-poses only and basic courtesy intreating users and LRC staff withrespect and consideration.

Other universities have hadtheir  campus  ‘Spotted’  pagebanned from being used in theirlibraries, some going as far as tohave  the pages  shut down. TheUniversities of York and Exeterhave both had  the pages  closedafter ‘Stopped’ pages emerged tocombat the ‘Spotted’ groups.

LJMU Vice-Chancellor NigelWeatherill said: “The Universityis  aware  that  some  Facebookgroups have been set up to allowanonymous  comments  to  beposted  about  people  spotted

around the campuses. “We have reviewed some of the

comments  posted  and  considerthem to be completely unaccept-able.  

“We are committed to provid-ing an appropriate environmentwhere students are able to studyand make full use of the facilitiesavailable.

“We have reported the groupsto Facebook and asked for themto be closed down. In the mean-time, we are issuing communica-tions  to  all  students  to  remindthem  that  bullying  or  harass-ment of any kind will not be tol-erated at LJMU. 

“Any student found to be en-gaging in this type of activity willbe subject to the University’s dis-ciplinary procedures. 

“We encourage any studentwho  has  concerns  about  thesegroups to make an official com-plaint to the University and wealso  offer  a  confidential  coun-selling service for students whohave been victims of any type ofbullying,  including  cyber-bully-ing.”

COME TOGETHERby REBECCA FIELDINGWriter

Liverpool is losing £252 per head in cuts. Manchesteris losing £209, Newcastle is losing £162, Birminghamis losing £166, and Sheffield is losing £140 per head.

The Come Together campaign was jointly launchedthis January by Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson andThe Rt Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool. 

Liverpool hosted the Come Together conference inresponse to the unfair distribution of cuts, being forcedonto local authorities by central government. 

Mayor Anderson was joined by leaders of Sheffield,Bristol, Newcastle and Birmingham as well as faith

leaders from across the country. Despite the average cut being just £62 per head, the

country’s  large northern  cities  are  losing  over  fourtimes as much. 

Between February 26 and March 1, students andyoung people will be encouraging people to sign thepetition on the #cometogethertour at ten key locationsover the four days, includingLiverpoolSU, Liverpool Guildof  Students  and  LiverpoolCommunity College.If you would like to join the

campaign,  email  LabourCouncillor  for  Allerton  andHunts Cross Rachael O’Byrneat  Rachael.O’Byrne@liver-pool.gov.uk

by SAM FOXALLBusiness Editor

AS  A NEW part  of  LooprevilPress, I’d like to begin by lookingat  the  progress  of  the  newlyformed  LiverpoolSU  Investment& Trading Society.

Founded at the beginning of teacademic  year  by  Tom  Callandand Alan Riddoch,  the society  isone of only a handful of its kind inthe  United  Kingdom,  placingLJMU and LiverpoolSU in somevery illustrious company.

Set up primarily with the in-tention of providing a platform forstudents who are interested in theworld  of  trading  stocks  andshares,  the society has given  itsmembers  presentations  on  tax,student bank accounts, graduatebank accounts, as well as arrang-ing  exchanges with  current  pro-fessionals  within  the  financesector. 

In addition the society runs anonline fantasy trading league forits members, manages an onlinefantasy account of its own, whichhas  currently  returned  17%growth, and is in the process of in-vesting a portfolio of real moneyon the London Stock Exchange. 

The society meets monthly atLiverpool  Business  School,  withrecommendations given for poten-tial investments by members andvoted on by the society. Previousmeetings have seen lively debatessurrounding investments for thereal account with the location andstrategy  of  the  portfolio  deter-mined.

The team have attracted con-siderable attention with over 30members attending meetings froma variety of subject backgrounds.New members are welcome, par-

ticularly  first  or  sec-ond  year  students  tohelp  ensure  the  soci-ety’s  continued  suc-cess.  Various  seniorpositions  are  also  upfor grabs as the soci-ety seeks to formaliseits operations in orderto  attract  a more  di-verse range of fundingand grow its portfolio. 

This  really  is  amust for anyone who’s interestedin this integral but often misun-derstood part  of  our  economy.  Italso represents a fantastic oppor-tunity for those interested in a ca-reer in finance to build their CV,do  some  networking  and  gain  agreater understanding of the in-dustry. 

Sawfly Studios Set to Take OffIn local business, Sawfly Stu-

dios  have  revealed  plans  to  re-lease  their  first  game  targetingthe burgeoning market of Tabletsand  Smartphones.  The  Studiobased  in  the city was created  inOctober  by  four  of  Sony  Liver-pool’s former employees but onlyrevealed its existence last month.

Sony closed its Liverpool Unitslast August  as  part  of  the  com-pany’s on-going turmoil’s. 

The factory, which was one ofSony’s earliest operations  in  theUK, was responsible for the devel-opment  of  the  famous  WipeoutRacing  Series.  Over  100  peoplelost their jobs following the facto-ries closure but most have foundwork due to the relatively high de-mand for their skill sets. 

Sawfly’s Managing Directortold the BBC recently: “We wantto grow our studio over the comingyears.

“If the opportunity arises we’lldefinitely be looking to grow in thecity.”

Monthly Round UpJanuary was a bullish month

for  Equities with  the  FTSE  100Index breaking through 6300 forthe first time in nearly five years.

Meanwhile  the  mood  wasequally bullish at  the  recent G8Economic Forum in Davos. Doubtsover a stalling Chinese economy, aGreek exit from the Eurozone andthe US going over the fiscal cliffappear to be residing. 

The mood  is  unlikely  to  lastlonger  than  the  snow  here  inBritain however with  the recentflash GDP figures showing Britainheading  towards a  triple dip  re-cession.  Britain’s  much  covetedAAA  rating  also  appears  to  beunder threat with the three maincredit rating agencies downgrad-ing Britain’s outlook to negative.

Conditions in the real economyare  still  flat,  with  inflation  out-stripping wages and output stillover 3% below pre- recession lev-els. The focus will now switch toGeorge Osborne’s Budget in April.

Will  the government persistwith austerity or will the chancel-lor loosen fiscal policy as hinted atby Christine Lagarde?

PLEASE VOTE FOR LOOPREVIL

SO? ARE YOUGOING TO VOTE

by REBECCA FIELDINGEditor

Every year, students are given theopportunity to step into the shoes ofthe driving forces behind thechanges, improvements and cam-paigns within LiverpoolSU to im-prove their student experience. Butwhy should students nominatethemselves?

The recent Impact Report 2012demonstrates how LiverpoolSUworks towards making studentvoices heard. Since last year, theteam at LiverpoolSU worked to-wards successfully achieving a12% increase in Course Reps. 1 in4 students are now involved in Liv-erpoolSU events including network-ing, Give It A Go trips and clubs andsocieties, with a 58% increase inmembers for clubs and societies.

With a student body of over24,000 members, that means 1615students have participated in activ-ities that enhance your studentlives.

To nominate yourselves, as anindividual or in a team, would placeyou in the foothold of change, work-ing with students to enhance theirstudent lives, their experience andworking to improve their futureprospects.

Nominations opened on Janu-ary 28, and will remain open untilFebruary 22 and students who think

they have what it takes are stronglyurged to put themselves forward. Allfour Student Officer positions will beavailable: President, Vice PresidentAcademic Quality, Vice PresidentCommunity Engagement and VicePresident Activities. Any studentcan stand for election, whether theyare halfway through their degree orgraduating this year.

LiverpoolSU prides itself onbeing student led, with the Sabbat-ical Officers working full time as theleaders of the organisation. Nomi-nees will have the chance to lead aprofessional organisation, to makepositive change and to get involvedin once in a lifetime opportunitiesthat will make them stand out fromthe crowd.

All nominees will be assisted andsupported from LiverpoolSU tobuild their campaign.

Voting will take place betweenMarch 7 and 15, in which the stu-dent population will be able to votefor and elect their new Presidentand Vice Presidents.

If you are passionate about yourtime at university, want to makechange for your fellow students andwould like to put yourself forwardfor this opportunity, visit:

so-elections.com

by ALEX MARTINCopy Editor

ON APRIL  3,  the  iconic  Super-lambanana  will  be  sold  to  thehighest bidder at the Adam Par-tridge  Auctioneers  on  JordanStreet. 

The sculpture, which stands 17feet  tall  and  weighs  almost  8tonnes, was designed by Japaneseartist  Taro  Chiezo  but  made  byfour local artists - Andy Small, Ju-lian  Taylor,  Tommy  Reason  andRay Stokes - for the Art Transpen-nine exhibition of 1998.Liverpool City Council currently

pay  a  fee  to Chiezo  to  lease  thesculpture  but  the  artist  has  de-

cided to sell it on. The auctioneers have appraised

its value at £200 000 – £250 000and  hope  that  a  benefactor  willmake  the  purchase with  the  in-tention of donating it to the city ofLiverpool.

A television crew will be thereon  the  day  filming  for  the  BBCprogramme  Antiques  Roadtripand  renowned  auctioneer  AdamPartridge  will  be  selling  the  lothimself. 

About the sculpture, he said:“It is a pleasure to be selling suchan iconic piece of Liverpool historywhich has been seen by millions ofpeople. 

“We hope that it will remain inthe  city  forthe  foresee-able future.”

Beatrice Thwaites who worksat  the  auctioneers  and  is  also  aHistory  of  Art  student  at  JohnMoores has raised a plea for theuniversity to buy the sculpture onbehalf of the city. She said: “The Superlambanana

is already associated with the uni-versity  because  it  is  outside  theAvril Robarts library. “If JMU bought it then we could

ensure  the  sculpture  would  re-main in Liverpool indefinitely. Itwould look great in front of the Artand Design Academy as both thebuilding and sculpture are a cele-bration of modernity and innova-tion.” 

The Superlambanana will besold in a public auction. It will bethe first lot of the day at approxi-mately 10am. business

FATE OF ICONIC LIVERPOOL SCULPTURE

5

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

WHAT’S ONSpring is near and to welcome the

warmer weather, lot’s of things are

going on across the city:

Valentine’s ClassicsLiverpool Philharmonic HallFeb. 16, 2013No matter what your idea of ro-mance, this Valentine’s night con-cert is guaranteed to put you in themood. There’s good reason whythey say music is the food of love!Take a special someone. £16 - £40tickets.

The Phantom of the OperaLiverpool EmpireFeb. 20 - Mar. 9, 2013Far beneath the majesty andsplendour of the Paris OperaHouse hides the Phantom in ashadowy existence. £10 - £54 tick-ets.

FoalsO2 AcademyMar. 13, 2013With two top 10 albums alreadyunder their belt, Oxford five-pieceFoals return to the stage ahead ofthe release of their third and mostexhilarating album yet, Holy Fire.

The Hobbit: An UnexpectedJourney Liverpool Philharmonic HallMar. 12, 2013Watch one of this year’s hit moviesin the astounding vicinity of thePhilharmonic Hall. £6 - £7 tickets.

Live T-Shirt Screen Printingw/ Wasted HeroesPery Gullivers, The Shipping Fore-castFeb.19, 2013Come along to see how its doneand even print your own t-shirt.Each month we will be printing alimited edition tee designed byguest artists. £10 per tshirt / wast-edheroes.com

RudimentalO2 AcademyApril 24, 2013Off the back of chart toppers Feelthe Love and Not Giving In, Rudi-mental are looking at another an-them with Hell Could Freeze, ftUrban rising star Angel Haze,catch them at O2 Academy Liver-pool this April.

Noisy TableFACTHere until Feb. 24, 2013Noisy Table is the first project andthe launch of the FACT Connectsprogramme, which is committed toreaching out to local artists, musi-cians, organisations and inde-pendent businesses, allowing theirpresence to be felt in the FACTbuilding. Free.

by MICHELLE DAINTRYWriter

WELCOME TO SPRING.  Well,the  wet,  murky,  just  mildlywarmer than Winter months thatwe like to call Spring. 

We may not have the sun to relyon, and wellies and rain-coats arethe accessories of choice for mostbut one  thing you  can  rely  on  ischocolate.

From the get-go we are bom-barded with a plethora of reasons

why we as con-sumers  shouldchocolate  coatjust  aboute v e r y t h i n g .From chocolateVa l e n t i n e ' shearts  to  theworst offendingsweet-toothedSpring holiday,Easter. 

We seem to be unable to getenough of  it! But  the  reason  I'mtaking a bit of an exception to thesheer  blanket  bomb  tactics  ofspringtime chocolatiers is the wayit overtakes the real point behindthe holidays. 

We all love a chocolate truffle,but  last  time  I  checked  Easterhadn't been renamed ‘Truffle-day’. 

We  barely  have  a  chance  toallow our stomachs to settle afterthe all-you-can-eat buffet that  isChristmas  before  eggs  dominate

the  shelves  and  demand  to  beeaten with relish. 

I'm not telling you to stop buy-ing chocolate to celebrate Easter.I'd be a hypocrite, plus the choco-late  carrot  I  ate  the  other  daywould  probably  come  back  tohaunt me. 

What I'm suggesting is that wedon't forget why we are buying thechocolate in the first place. 

Okay, there is the obvious reli-gious message behind Easter butif you aren't particularly partial tothat,  there  is  another more  uni-versal message we  can  think  onover yet another hot chocolate.

Easter is about new starts andnew life. It's about shaking off thecobwebs  and  facing  the  brighterdays with a smile. It's yellows, andgreens and sunny thoughts, evenif  the  British  weather  doesn'tmatch them.

Chocolate is an endorphin pro-ducing product, and eggs do sym-

bolise new life - so taken in thatcapacity  it  seems  rather perfect.We  buy  chocolate  because  it's  aconvenience, and it leaves us feel-ing  all  warm  and  fuzzy  inside.Just  imagine  how  much  betteryou'd feel if you buy that chocolatefor someone else. Even more so ifyou share it together. Happinessand a  reason  to  start  somethingnew, however, leave an even betterfeeling  behind,  and  they  arekinder on your waist line.If you are feeling less sure about

the  chocolate  egg  that  is  sittingnext  to  your  paper,  don't  worry,just enjoy it. But I still can't rec-oncile  myself  with  Easter  eggstempting  me  a  whole  threemonths before it's actually Easter.My ever tightening jeans can't set-

tle themselves with that either.  

AS USELESS AS ACHOCOLATE TEAPOT

by BETH DOCKERTYWriter

THERE IS A new dating websiteon the student scene, which hasbeen aptly named FreshMeet. 

The site was inspired by Chan-nel  4’s  university-based  sitcomFresh Meat, a show that has hadtremendous success with studentsacross the country.

The two graduate founders ofFreshMeet are cashing in on thepopularity of the show with theirbusiness venture. But the ex-Liv-erpool and Lincoln University stu-dents  are  demonstrating  thatthere’s  more  to  it  than  just  aclever name.

What  sets  FreshMeet  apartfrom other dating websites is thatit has been created by students,exclusively  for  students.  Userscan only join once they have en-tered their official .ac.uk email ad-dress  when  completing  theprocess of registering, as proof ofstudent authenticity. 

Another student friendly as-pect  of  FreshMeet  is  the  smallmonthly membership  fee  for  thesite. As co-founder of FreshMeet,Anthony  Purkiss  explains:  “It’sdating for the price of a pint.”

The  site matches  single  stu-dents based on their likes and dis-likes, giving them the opportunityto chat and flirt with one anotheronline. One of the taglines on theFreshMeet  site  being:  “You’re

young. You’re  at Uni. You’ve  gotthree years to have some fun.”

Looprevil explained the Fresh-Meet’s  concept  to  a  handful  ofLJMU  students  to  gain  insightinto what they thought about thisnew student-only dating website.

When  asked,  one  studentreplied:  “There  were  that  manyFresher’s and  flat groups set upon Facebook that students end uptalking to loads of other studentsanyway. I do believe dating sitesare needed but I don’t think onesfor  students  are.  I  don’t  thinkmost  students  have  a  problemfinding and talking to each other.”

However, another student said“As a third year, going out on thetypical  mad  Medication  studentnight is getting so old. I’ve been inthis city almost 3 years now andit’s  harder  to  go  out  and  meetguys. I think the FreshMeet is agood  idea  because  you  can  putyourself out there and meet a po-tential  partner,  but  spend  thosewell needed nights in doing yourdissertation. At least this way youwon’t not miss out on meeting apotential date.”

According to co-founder TomWitcherley: ‘Being a student isn’tjust  about  studying,  it’s  aboutfinding your next adventure,’ hecontinues. ‘And with FreshMeet,it could be closer than you think.’

DO STUDENTSNEED A DATINGSITE?

by GEMMA JONESFeatures Editor

NEVER BEFORE has going out forcoffee with friends been so invogue or hipster.

Because of our “disposable” stu-dent loans, we don’t even bat aneyelash when the cost of a merecake and cup of caffeine comes toan insidious price of £7.99 exclud-ing VAT. And what is more fun thesedays than taking an Instagram pic-ture of a pretentious Starbucks cupwith your name on it?

Yet what with the recent Star-bucks tax scandal, many coffeelovers are now starting to breakaway from the large consumeristchains and venturing for new cocoabean pastures.

The new “cool” place to go nowis to the more intimate, intricate andindependent coffee makers andplaces.

So if you want to thrive in yourcoffee individuality, then here are afew lovely and charming coffeehotspots you should go to whilst inLiverpool. Bon appetite.

Bold Street Coffee: Of courseBold Street has a unique statusamong the Liverpool City Centre re-tail life for the sheer number of in-teresting, independent traders. AndBold Street Coffee is no different.

The independent coffee shopscreams individuality from its com-petitors and has deliciously freshlymade coffee that is brought to yourtable at a very reasonable price. In-side, there is something about theplace, which could in part be to dowith the décor, a pleasing coalitionof whitewashed walls, scatter gunposters, elegant low slung lights,padded seating all down one wall.

There is a vibe that makes youwant to stay and experience more.

Franklins At Fact, WoodStreet: Don’t let the fact you’re notin the mood to watch a film stop youfrom going into Fact and experi-encing the charm that is Franklins.

Ideal to stop in for a spot of lunch,the café is brimmed to the barrel ofcool/bohemian-esque people fran-tically clicking away on their laptopswith cool music playing effortlesslyin the background. From Lattes toCappuccinos and from bacon sand-wiches to yummy pasta, Franklinscertainly caters for a majority oftastes.

Shirley Valentines, MountPleasant: Now this place is ideal ifyou are looking for value.

This lovely little café and coffeeplace is in the basement of a prettytownhouse painted in black andwhite on Mount Pleasant. A merejacket potato with beans andcoleslaw, with a crispy and freshside salad plus a coffee, costsaround £3.50. It’s freshly made too,in a home cooking style surroundedby a comfortable dining area.

Central Perk, Hatton Gardens:It was a sad day when Friend’sended. However the recentlyopened Central Perk coffee shopsmeans we can experience a NewYork way of life all over again. Youcan savour a whole range of Amer-ican products starting at breakfastwith bagels and waffles with a vari-ety of toppings. There’s a great se-lection of coffees and cakes onoffer as well as New York deli-stylesandwiches like Pastrami with dillpickle and American Mustard, aswell as Sundried tomato Humus

with mixed salad. WE HEART NY.

COFFEE HAVENS

6

byMICHELLE HOMANWriter

WITH THE rise of each New Year,comes more unfinished resolutionsand they seem to becoming moreambitious as the years grow.

In 2012, I achieved most of myset resolutions; I passed my driv-ing test, I got into a serious rela-tionship and I passed my first yearat LJMU with flying colours.

So now that 2013 has arrived, Ican’t help but wonder what I willachieve next? 

After much deliberation I cameto a final agreement and realisedthat  it’s  time  to  address  an  un-wanted  and  pressurising  matterthat is constantly on my mind – lifeafter  LJMU.  Even  though  I  amcurrently within my second semes-ter  of my  second  year,  I  have noclue about what I’m supposed to doafter  I  leave  the  Dean  Walter’sbuilding. 

Where  am  I  supposed  to  go?What will I do? Where will I get mymorning  toast  and  cuppa,  if  “tealady Gee”  isn’t around? The onlything that I know is LJMU.Since 12:01am, January 1st 2013

I have  battered my brain with  agrimy, wet fish and forced it  intomaking  a  near  future  decision.  Idon’t technically graduate until thesummer  of  2014,  but  I’m  awarethat I need to have some plan onwhat to do after graduation. I can’tstay in education for the rest of mylife, can I?

A postgraduate degree - yes!This is not a distraction from try-

ing  to  find a  full-time  job withinthe media industry. I decided on apostgraduate  degree  course  be-cause it’s the final step of my edu-cation;  it  gives  me  a  chance  tospecialise in whatever I wish and Ihave one last opportunity to fly thenest  and  leave  Liverpool  for  awhile.

In order to achieve this ambi-tious aim, I need to start early. I

have started by assessing all of myavailable  options;  I have  scoutedout all of the UK Universities andordered printed prospectuses fromeveryone that offered a broadcast-ing  or  journalism  postgraduatecourse.

I can’t stay in ed-

ucation for the

rest of my life,

can I? A postgradu-

ate degree, yes!

My next step will be to assess allof  my  options,  alone.  I  want  tomake this decision for myself be-cause  it’s  a  big  one  to make;  I’mgoing to narrow it down to the finalfive, apply  for  them all and thenjust wait. What do I have to lose?If you’re in the same boat as I am,then make sure that you apply forthe  postgraduate  course  that’sright for you.

If you are currently batteringyourself  with  a  grimy,  wet  fishthen keep going until you get yourfinal decision. Having a short-termor even long-term life plan is noth-ing that you should dismiss; it al-lows  you  to  be  ambitious  andcreative  while  offering  you  thechance to embrace opportunities.

If you are considering, applyingor are even inches away from start-ing your postgraduate degree thenI  urge  you  to  continue.  You  canthank  me  for  the  cheeky  purplenudge  when  you’re  successful  inthe future.Good  Luck  fellow  students,  letyour education continue.

Elle.

THE NEXTSTEP

by GEMMA JONESFeatures Editor

ANOTHER VALENTINE’S DAY. An-other year of being a crazy cat spin-ster. Another year of grosslyinvolved couples sending eachother social media proclamations oflove.

Who needs it? Not us. In the im-mortal words of Destiny’s Child for“all the woman [or men] who are in-dependent”, here are ten essentialtips on how to spend your antiValentine’s day gloriously alone andnot wanting to throw yourself into asea of menopausal speed dating:

1. First and foremost it is a CARDCOMPANY MANUFACTUREDDAY.

It has no real depth or signifi-cance in society. It is a moneymaker. This cynical outlook on theday will give off the illusion that youdon’t care, that you are highly lib-eral and probably a hipster.

2. If you are feeling melancholic orblue, then stop immediately. Do aBridget Jones and perk yourself upwith vodka and Chaka Khan.

3. Avoid Facebook. Completelyavoid it. It’s going to be a virtualrealm of over the top and insecuredeclarations of ‘love’.

And don’t even think about goingon that person’s page you clearlylike to stalk every so often. Theyhaven’t split up with their significantother/they didn’t send you that mys-

terious Valen-tine’s Day card/they will neverlove you. Sonever like any oftheir statusesagain.

4. When the post man delivers themail, don’t expect that there isgoing to be anything for you. Em-brace the disappointment.

5. Watch loads of horror films. Saw,Texas Chain Saw Massacre, TheHuman Centipede. All disgustinglyviolent gems that will make your lifelook so much more glamorous incomparison.

6. If you are sitting somewhere andhear the voices of Ryan Gosling,Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, RichardGear, Julia Roberts and GerardButler in the background then RUN.As fast as you can. Keep runninguntil you hear those voices nomore. Plus if you run, you get fit andtherefore you improve yourchances for batting for the otherValentine’s team next year.

7. Don’t eat out. You don’t wantthose pitying “oh look she’s alone”or “she has a great personality don’tyou know” looks. Eat in. If you havenothing in, go to the supermarketearly. Don’t look at pink paperhearts in the shop though or theywill turn you into stone.

8. Pamper yourself. Instead of all

the other suckers spending the dayappreciating another person, youshould appreciate how hilariousand fun loving you are.

Paint your toes, have a bath,wear a full face of make-up aroundthe house and take an Instagrampicture of yourself. There you see…The perfect relationship.

9. Classic mantra of “keep busy.”Sadly you haven’t been inundatedto various black tie dinner parties oron a private yacht with ChristianGrey so now might be a good timeto catch up on some work.

Do a bit of reading. Expand onsome knowledge. Be creative.Apply for some jobs. See if you cantouch your elbow with your tongue.That kind of thing.

10. Although you may secretly hateyourself, hate other couples and theworld around you, don’t show it. Behappy for your absolutely and in-sanely gorgeous friends who haveboyfriends who shower them withgifts every 30 seconds. They couldend up breaking up with them even-tually or one this could be you too.So put on your best Cheshire catface. They might ask you to thirdwheel. If you’re lucky.

SURVIVEVALENTINE’S

DAYAlone this Valentine’s? Let Gemma Joneshelp you get through it

READ MORE  PURPLECOLUMNS ATLOOPREVIL PRESS.ORG

by REBECCA FIELDINGEditor

AN LJMU STUDENT and localcouncillor have teamed up in a bidto make 2013 Liverpool’s Capital ofKindness year.

People from Liverpool arerenowned for their charitable dona-tions and helping each other in acommunity.

Law student Nathan Selby andCroxteth ward councillor StephanieTill are keen to get the people of Liv-erpool to share stories of generousacts of kindness that they have en-countered.

Nathan said: “The project came

about after Steph led the ‘KeepWarm Collective’ project in late2012, which collected winter cloth-ing; coats, hats, scarves and glovesfor homeless women in the city.

“The project was a massive suc-cess and collected over 400 coatsfor women in the city.

“Steph came up with the idea forRandom Acts of Kindness in Liver-pool (RAK) and I instantly fell in lovewith the idea - we both acceptedthat Liverpool is one of the friend-liest and kindest places in the UK,so we set out to prove that Liverpoolis the ‘Capital of Kindness’.”

Individuals are able to participatewith RAK by tweeting

@RAKLPOOL withacts of kindnessthey have commit-ted as well as actsof kindness theyhave received from others.

The campaign recently proved itssuccesses and mass support afterbeing contacted by a social workerwho has a passion for helpingyoung people with disadvantagedand vulnerable backgrounds.

Nathan said: “We got behind‘The House that RAK built’. ClaireCaddick got in touch because shehad this house with spare roomsand wanted to help out by housinghomeless teenagers so that they

could stay on in college. “Just she had the house and

nothing else - it was an empty shell.“We used RAK to promote and

ask for donations of furniture, tow-els, kitchen utensils and what not. Itwas such a success in a short pe-riod of time and has totally blownboth Steph and I away.

“Within hours the project hadgone viral and we were retweetedand followed by flocks of people andwe had over 1,000 unique web hits.

“Peoplein the citys h o w e dtheir kind-ness and

now Claire has her house and shehas almost everything she needs.

“We have a few more ideas upour sleeves that we won’t reveal justyet, but the idea is to keep encour-aging kindness and it will find itsway around.

“A small act can make such a bigdifference to someone’s day; holdthe door open, show someone asmall. It’s the little things that havethe biggest impact!”

by SOPHIE CORKEntertainment Editor

DO YOU FACE  a  daily  internalbattle to get out of bed? Are you aserial  abuser  of  the  snooze  but-ton? And when was the last timeyou went to that Monday morninglecture on time? As the majority will agree, get-

ting  out  of  a  warm,  cosy  bed  ishard work – especially in winter.With this in mind, here’s a list ofthe top tips to help you get up andget going.

•  Place  your  alarm  away  fromyour bed.When it goes off at thatungodly  hour,  you’ll  have  to  getout of bed to go to switch it off. Re-sist the temptation to get back inbed  at  all  costs.  A  true  test  ofwillpower.

•  Get  a  reliable  housemate  tohelp. Enlist the help of an earlybird  friend  to  get  you  up. Havethem  knock  on  your  door  andcheck  back  after  5  minutes  tomake sure you’re not snoozing. Ifyou’re not up by then, they havepermission to take the duvet fromyou and  return  it  only  once youare up and out of bed. Sometimesyou really do have to be cruel to bekind.

• Set  your alarm early. This al-lows you to have a little extra timein  bed  that  you  so  badly  needwithout causing you to be late foryour morning lecture. The snoozebutton is great for this, but makesure  you  don’t  overdo  it  andsnooze right through to the after-noon.

•  Set  your  alarm  late. On  theother  end  of  the  spectrum,  setyour alarm at the time which is

the very latest that you should beup. Nothing will get you out of bedquicker than seeing you have only5 minutes to get ready, and thatsprint you have to do to get to uniin time will freshen you right up.

• Get prepared. Remember yourfirst  day  of  school  and  you  hadyour new uniform laid out for youin the morning? Studies show thatthe  brain  can  find  it  hard  toprocess even the simplest of tasksin  the morning,  so  planning  forthe  day  ahead  before  you  go  tosleep will make getting up a  lotless challenging.

• Banish the hangover. Nothingcures a hangover quite like fester-ing  in bed all  day, but  this  isn’tideal when you have a 9am  lec-ture looming. Keep the headacheat bay by taking two paracetamolbefore  you  go  to  sleep  and  twomore when you wake up, followedby a pint of water each time. Wecan’t guarantee this will cure yourself-inflicted  ailment  but  it  pro-vides  the  temporary  relief  youneed until you can get back intobed.

• Devise  a Wallace  and  Gromitstyle  wake-up  devise.  Not  themost  practical  of  ideas,  but  cer-tainly most effective. Sliding outof bed to the kitchen below whilstmechanical arms feed you cereal?Cracking!

7

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

COOKINGCORNER

by JAMIE CRAGGSWriter

VALENTINE’S DAY is just around the corner andyou may be planning to cook that someone special anice meal to show how much they mean to you. 

A great way to finish off the meal is with thesegreat little Orange and Champagne Cupcakes, andas they only require a small bit of Champagne youcan use the rest during the meal. 

The great thing about them is you can cook themfor any special occasion so if you don’t like Valentine’sDay you can serve them at parties or have them be-fore a night out.

Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy | Time to prepare: 15mins | Cook Time: 15 mins

For the Cupcakes20g butter, at room temperature

120g caster sugar2 large eggs, at room temperatureHalf a teaspoon vanilla extract

120g self-raising flourZest of 2 oranges

For the Champagne Buttercream160g icing sugar

125g unsalted butter, at room temperatureHalf a tsp Vanilla extract

30ml Champagne

To make the CupcakesMethod1. Pre-heat oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Line a 12-holecupcake tray with paper cases.2. Using a bowl and wooden spoon, cream the butterand sugar until light and fluffy.3. Add the orange zest to the mixture and mix well.4. Next,  add  the  eggs  one at  a  time,  and add  thevanilla extract, then beat until combined.5. Gradually add the flour, carefully folding it intothe mixture until almost smooth.6.  Divide  the mixture  equally  between  the  papercases 7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and springy tothe touch

To make the Champagne ButtercreamMethod1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add halfof the icing sugar and beat until smooth.2. Add the remaining icing sugar and vanilla extract,then slowly add the champagne and beat the mixtureuntil creamy and smooth.3. Using a piping bag and star nozzle, pipe the but-tercream onto the cupcakes in a circular upwardsmotion.

Check out other recipes from Cooking Corner at

www.looprevilpress.org

ON TWITTER:

@nickyperkes: Feel fresh asa daisy today an ready to takeon the world. Off to uni for a bitof soils and pollution #ljmu

@paul_abo: Good to meet@andyburnhammp tonight.Questioned him on financialsupport for nursing studentsand he agrees it needs to im-prove #LJMU

@Aimee8947: Long day of es-says aead. #ljmu #deathofme#nolife #sociallystunted

@EllieJohnson_4: Pretty surethat was Byrom Street on#Utopia then! #LJMU

@FloOrChlo: The sun is shin-ing though #itsliverpool

@the20effect: Liverpool willbe one of the first places in theUK to bring in 20mph to mostresidential streets #slower-Speeds #saferStreets #itsliver-pool

@macstephenson:@LJMU just wondering whenstudents get paid their bur-saries?

ORANGE & CHAMPAGNECUPCAKES

RISE AND SHINEStruggle toget up on amorning?

New this issue, What is on your mind? is our new Agony Aunt column in

which LJMU students can write to our Agony Aunt, Sophie to share their

problems, thoughts and gain advice. If you wish to seek advice for a prob-

lem, you can email whatisonyourmind@live.co.uk or Tweet

@looprevil_wioym

Dear Sophie,I recently slept with a close friend of mine whilst drunk when I was

back at home for Christmas. We decided not to tell anyone as he has agirlfriend, and we worried the pressure of people knowing would ruinour friendship. I came back to uni feeling ashamed and embarrassedand now everyone back home has found out, except his girlfriend.

I feel as though people are talking about me behind my back and Idon’t want to go home and face people because of how they mightreact. It’s really getting me down, please help! Worried, 20.

To Worried,

We all make mistakes, especially when under the influence of alcohol, so try not to feel too hard on yourself

first of all. Your friend did wrong by cheating on his girlfriend but that is a private issue for them to figure out alone.

As far as your friendship is concerned, try and talk to him about what happened to straighten out any confusion

or misunderstandings about what happened. You may find it awkward to begin with, but if your friendship is strong

you will both be able to accept what happened and eventually move on.

People will always look for something new to talk about and gossip can spread like wildfire, but don’t get caught

up on what others may or may not be saying. By the time you come home again, chances are that they will have

found something new to talk about and your situation will seem like a distant memory.

To Sophie,I’m in my final year at LJMU and I’ve never had much luck with the ladies, until I started dating a first

year in October. I have strong feelings for her and we have a great time together, but our lifestyles are sodifferent as my workload is huge whilst hers is practically non-existent and we hardly see each other asa result. It’s really putting a strain on our relationship as she keeps bugging me to spend time with her.What should I do? Matt, 21.

To Matt,

The lifestyle of a first year is very different to that of someone in final year, and so it’s no surprise it is causing

you to have problems. I’m afraid the answer here is pretty clear, you need to explain to your girlfriend how impor-

tant this year is to you academically, and that you haven’t got a lot of free time.

She will either accept this or you will have to stop seeing each other all together. Don’t risk compromising on

the quality of your work for a relationship which has an uncertain future. If you guys are really meant to be, there’s

8

NATURAL BEAUTYHOW OFTEN DO YOU SEE A WOMEN AS SHE NATURALLY

IS IN THE MEDIA?

uring our photoshoot, I approached a num-ber of girls to request they volunteer to be

photographed without their make up on. Of allthe girls I asked, none wished to participate.And what was somewhat of a frustration at thetime realised  into a depressive  thought; whywould our LJMU female students refuse to re-move their make up? 

Through my personal research and role asWomen’s Delegate for LiverpoolSU, I came tothe horrific realisation that yes, the majority ofgirls would prefer  to  layer primer,  concealer,foundation,  powder,  bronzer,  eyeliner,  eye-shadow and mascara onto their faces each daythan go au naturale. Whilst their personal de-cision  to  do  this  proves  how  far  rights  andchoices have come for women, one can only won-der what role models they are faced with on adaily basis. 

In 2012, writer and campaigner NatashaWalter  brought  into  the  spotlight  the  fiercepressures women face in terms of their appear-ance and their career choices. Her recent bookLiving Dolls brings the personal to the forefrontin a frightening image; one where young womenare  told  and  believe  the  best  they  can  be  ismade up, a glamour model or a polished, tanned‘Barbie doll’. 

Whilst her work mainly focuses on the wor-rying  lifestyles  young  women  choose,  for  in-stance,  pole-dancing  or  prostitution,  shehighlights a fundamental issue which womenare continually subjected to. She develops thenotion of a ‘New Determinism’, that stereotypescreated by the ever more accessible media infil-trate the lives of girls and women, yet they ac-cept  it  as  empowerment  and  normality,ultimately creating a ‘New Sexism’. 

Yes we girls have choice; we have the choiceto pursue what  career we wish; we have  thechoice to wear what clothes we desire; we alsohave  the  choice  to wear whatever amount ofmake up  on whatever day we want. Yet  thischoice is not utilised within the mass media.Walter terrifically identifies this lack of choicein outlets which we encounter every day of ourlives. 

Feminism, as well as the sexual revolution ofthe 1960s to the 1980s, intended to give womenchoices  about  their  lives.  Walter  shows  howwomen have instead been placed into straight-jackets; their appearance is dictated, their be-haviour and their career pursuits.

Through  interviews  conducted  withteenagers, sex workers and those in the glam-our magazine and film industries and with auser of pornography, Walter proves that whilstwomen  appear  to  have  escaped  from  the  do-mestic  stereotype,  they  have  fallen  into  the

highly sexualised category. She points out thatmany women, especially young women, now ap-pear  to  believe  that  sexual  confidence  is  theonly confidence worth having. Especially whensuch images are distributed within the mediathat are accessible to both genders of all ages. The need for natural beauty within the media

is not an unheard of topic; there have been anumber  of  attempts  to  combat  the  photo-shopped, made up and sexualised female im-ages  that  are  prevalent  across  magazines,newspapers and the digital sphere. 

Recently, ‘Natural Beauty: Keeping it Real’was a campaign created by Kaya Cheyanne forChannel 4’s Battlefront. She aimed to promotepositive  body  image  and  bring  back  naturalbeauty, and tackle the distorted images that areprevalent in magazines and websites. Her cam-paign  was  a  success;  gaining  support  fromcelebrities  Jimmy  Choo,  Nicola  Roberts,Jamelia and Shayne Ward. 

Alternatively in 2004, Dove launched theDove Campaign for Real Beauty; a world-widecampaign that included advertisements, videos,workshops, events, public books and the pro-duction of a play, which all celebrated the nat-ural physical variations embodied by women,and  inspire  them  to  have  confidence  and  becomfortable with themselves as their genes in-tended. 

Of course, their campaign flatlined after itwas revealed in 2008 by the toucher-upper him-self,  Pascal  Dangin,  that  the  images  shownwere as digitally manipulated as any fashion orglamour modelling spread.

If Dove, a once trusted brand in every house-hold, turned to photoshopping ‘real women’ intheir campaign to promote confidence, whereelse can we girls turn to for support? Accordingto Dove  then,  to  be  ‘natural’  still meant  youwere digitally poked and prodded by photoshoptools. 

It comes as no surprise then that girls, whenasked  if  they  would  be  willing  to  take  theirmake up off and be photographed, would rathernot. They may have had the choice to put it onin the first place, but was it really the thought“I feel like putting some make up on”. From myown experiences, it may be accurate to suggestthe thought was in fact, “I think I look rough,and I’m going to be seeing a lot of people - I bet-ter put some make up on.”

Of course, this is not the case for all girls.Please bear in mind I’m speaking in generali-sations based on experiences. 

It was extremely freshing then that, afterasking over twenty girls directly to receive con-fused looks and nervous laughter, six turned upvoluntarily. Seven, if I include myself. We asked

our  volunteers  to  pose  Looprevil  Press  com-pletely free of make up and computer manipu-lation. 

The problem is not make up itself, nor is it aproblem that individuals choose to wear it. Theissue is that images of natural beauty, of mod-els as they are on a day to day basis, are absentfrom the media. More often, if such images areprinted,  they  are  to  ridicule  a  celebrity  orwoman for looking ‘rough’ or ‘underdressed’ orshe has ‘no style’. The images of actress Mila Kunis wearing no

make up spread like wildfire across the media;most  celebrating  the  fact  she was  fresh  anddressed casually. 

But the fact it made news because she wasnot wearing make up only enforces the sense ofabnormality of choosing not to wear it. 

LJMU  student  Emma  Parkman  said:“There’s no other choice for young girls. I wearmake up most days. Often you feel intimidatedwhen other people are wearing heavy make up,and you’re not.”

It was refreshing to hear opinions regardingskin care also, and that looking after both yourhealth and your skin are also valuable to creat-ing your look.     

Alex Martin, also an LJMU student, said:“There are a lot of girls that don’t wear makeup but obviously there is pressure to wear it. 

“I don’t wear make up all the time; instead Iuse a lot of products like cleansers and toners,I think that is more important than make up.” 

Student Group Coordinator for LiverpoolSU,Laura Outten said: “Popular culture is far toosexualised,  everyone  is  focused  on  what  themainstream media actually represent as beau-tiful as a woman, they need to go back to theoriginal roots of natural beauty. 

“War paint and make up aren’t as aestheti-cally pleasing, at  the end of  the day,  it’s  justskin underneath and beauty is skin deep.”

Of course, by focusing on women I do notmean to completely dismiss the pressures menface too in today’s popular culture. Both gendershave pressure to have a certain body image andtype; yet the male gender is exempt from thepressures of make up. Their pressures often liemore so in their fitness and body type.

LJMU student Andy Charnley said: “There’sa lot of pressure on the modern woman today,but  there’s pressure on the modern man too.They expect men to, have a nice hair cut, havea perfect body. Images like in Men’s Health. 

“I like girls to look after themselves, but nottoo much.”

Stephen Ireland said: “I think you have cer-tain callibre of girls; girls that don’t wear makeup, and the girls that wear a lot.

WORDS BY: REBECCA FIELDING | PHOTOS BY: GEMMA JONES

D

“Girls wear it to make themselves look bet-ter, but it’s silly to go too far. 

“Pressure has  increasingly  become moremale orientated too, men pose for women’s mag-azines too. It’s still mainly towards girls, butpressure is become an equal thing for both gen-ders.” 

Perhaps then, men will also find it refresh-ing to open a page of a newspaper and find in-dividuals naturally as they are. 

This is the aim of this feature; as Women’sDelegate I want LJMU girls to be able to opentheir student newspaper and find no pressureto look a certain way, have a certain style andwear  what  make  up.  In  doing  this  feature,

Looprevil Press has provided a choice to read-ers;  some may  prefer  the  attention  given  toclothing and make up, as  shown  in our BoldStreet Style spread. But at  least our readershave a choice and not one consistent pressurethat haunts each page. 

There are few things so effective at dimin-ishing your natural beauty and confidence thanbeing bombarded with  the message  that  youdon’t measure up to.

The next time you scan the pages of a popu-lar magazine and feel inadequate by the end ofreading it, you shouldn’t feel that way. You arenot the inadequate being; if anything, it is themedia  that  is  inadequate  by not  providing  a

healthy choice and balance for young girls andwomen.

The fact that any attempt to raise awarenessand  promote  the  need  for  natural  beautyamongst   women is significantly praised  justproves how much still needs to be done to pro-vide this choice in popular culture. Why praisea cause that should already be embedded intoour media without question? 

Such recognition only provides more incen-tive in doing such a feature. It highlights thedefinitive imbalance in the media between pho-tospheres, highly made up models and how theyreally  look.  Imbalance  may  be  the  incorrectword; absence is more suited for the latter. 

9#SHOUTBACKLIVERPOOL

© Looprevil Press | Qi Jiang

© Looprevil Press | Qi Jiang

12 Looprevil Press is printed quarterly. Want to be on this page and show LJMU students your talent? Email looprevilpress@live.co.uk

LOOPREVIL IS LOVING:

duke dumontneed u (100%)

A fresh and fun house tune with a tingeof nu-disco for good measure. Pickedas one of Annie Mac’s ones to watch inthe new year, expect to be hearing thiseverywhere soon. Dare you not todance.

Let us know your thoughts on our choices, or suggest your ownfavourites - email us at looprevilpress@live.co.uk

by GEORGIA DRYHURSTWriter

YOU MAY NOT have heard of himyet, but I assure you before  longeveryone  will  know  of Mr  JacobBanks. 

The  Birmingham  bredsinger/songwriter began this yearwith  the release of his debut EP‘The Monologue’, a throwback to aprevious  era  with  its  soulfulsounds and Motown influence.

After winning the MOBO Un-sung 2012 title for his region, hewent  on  to  perform  at  many  ofLondon’s  popular  showcases  andhas also opened for Daley and PlanB to mention a couple. 

The 8  track EP delivers withevery song, from the smooth tonesof ‘Dear Simone’ to a faster upbeatpace  with  ‘YOLO’.    The  openingtrack  ‘Worthy’  is  a  personalfavourite and has been on repeat

since I first heard it, stilldisplaying Banks’ soulfulvoice  but with  an  influ-ence  of  modern  Britishmusic. The lyrics state: “I feel

worthy somehow, please,I don’t want to go down…The new world is callingme now, please don’t  letme go down“. 

Throughout  his  EPthere is a focus on a com-ing  of  age  and  personalgrowth allowing a strong connec-tion with a younger generation. 

Banks’ musical influences andsound are pure timeless soul, withinspiration from legendary artistssuch  as  Marvin  Gaye,  RayCharles, Stevie Wonder and Cur-tis Mayfield, enabling him to re-vive a classic sound amidst that ofmodern  popular  culture  andmusic. Banks has released a time-less collection of songs, and I am

eagerly  awaiting  news  of  tourdates, as I am sure those who haveuncovered this gem are. 

His soulful voice appeals to peo-ple from all eras, my father a fanof ‘Something Beautiful’, as he isreminded of  the sounds of TeddyPendergrass and Al Greene. 

It seems the only way is up forBanks,  with  a  fast  growing  fanbase he is unstoppable. Watch thisspace.

UPCOMING: JACOB BANKS

2 MINS WITH WHEN THE SUN GOES  DOWNby ALEX GREENWriter

WITH A NEW time slot and new member, Ihad an exciting feeling that this radio showwas about to really take off. Now there wasI, Thom Schofield and Paul Lopez.

Normally airing on Wednesday after-noons, a switch to Friday nights opened thedoor to a more vibrant, relaxed show. Newsections including Sports, Video and For-eign music helped us oversee the newshow and feedback shows it was a success.

Our main focus of debate was the sum-mer music festivals with the rumour millsbeing filled every day, with Glastonburybeing the most anticipated.

Whilst none of us are heading to Glas-tonbury this year, it is still an exciting topicfor the three of us as huge music fans. Actssuch as The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Macand Daft Punk have all been mentioned butthis debate is set to go on a little while yet.

We know Eminem has been announcedfor Leeds, something Thom has spokenabout as he is heading there at the end ofAugust and Benicassim festival has also

announced three of four headliners in TheKillers, Queens of the Stone Age and TheArctic Monkeys, a topic Paul and I have dis-cussed many times as we are heading therein July.

This brings me onto an important point,the music. As much as we love to presentnews which may not normally be aired, ordiscuss topics for the same reason, we pri-marily started this radio show to play musicwhich the average listener would not find ontheir local stations. Music which we love,our favourite bands like The Arctic Monkeysor Green Day, up and coming artists suchas Jake Bugg and classic bands like LedZeppelin and The Beatles.

The show will continue to do this, we willcarry on presenting the stories and playingthe music which ensures that LooprevilRadio brings the best radio experience forthe students of LJMU.

Listen to When The Sun Goes

Down at looprevilradio.co.uk,

Fridays, 8 til 10pm

There’s a new kidon the block

DIVERSITY ON THE CATWALK

by LOIS VENTREWriter

FOR MOST OF us the catwalk seems a far offland built by exclusives, a place in which someof us can only dream of.

Let’s face it, we all want to improve our looksomehow. We live in a society where sizes sixand eight are the ‘must-have look’. These bodyideals create a struggle for most people whodon’t fit the slim, tall, Caucasian and young ‘cri-teria’.

Charity All Walks Beyond the Catwalk aimsto change this perspective.

Our body hang-ups are created from com-paring ourselves to other people and their look.High end catwalks need to expand their hori-zons, they need to cater for everyone.

It’s inevitable that certain clothing looks goodon sample size, but may not look good in largersizes, and vice versa. Why are garments scaledup - there are no exclusive fashion for differentsizes.

The average size for the high street is four-teen to sixteen; we’re not all born to be slim. It’sridiculous that this pressure to idolise such bodytypes and images does not result in a healthylifestyle. So why do we feel the need to conform

to this; why do many of us hate being labelledinto a sub-culture yet we strive to succumb to allbeing the same size.

This is not to discourage a diet, after all it isan aim in everyone’s life to change some aspectof themselves. But the fact women are puttingthemselves down and looking at airbrushed,which are far from realistic, is worrying.

Unfortunately, Photoshop has a lot to blamefor this. It is up to the innovators of fashion tochanges this view. Statistically, eight out of tenwomen are unhappy with their bodies, andthese shocking statistic shows that women’s as-pirations are somewhat channelled by themedia.

Designed Mark Fast used size fourteen mod-els on his catwalk at London Fashion Week,causing a debate: should fashion be strictlysample size or should it be manipulated to fit alltypes of people. I strongly believe the latter. Infact, the idea of All Walks has not been shunnedby anyone who has been approached by theproject.

Nowadays we are increasingly fightingagainst discrimination and inequality - why notfight for equality on the catwalk, too.

Visit www.allwalks.orgfor more information

solangelosing you

Out to prove her talents stretch far be-yond her famous namesake, the otherMiss Knowles offers this retro sound-ing piece of pop perfection. Honest,soulful and incredibly catchy, this tunewill have you hooked.

julio bashmorehusk

After the huge reaction to omnipresentclub hit ‘Au Seve’, some may havethought the fame had gone to the Bris-tolian producer’s head. Critics areproved wrong by this slow-burning yetelectric follow up single which is remi-niscent of his older work.

by SOPHIE CORKEntertainment Editor

ALTHOUGH LIVERPOOL may not be the epi-centre of underground electronic music in theUK, the scene is growing rapidly with moreand more clubnights starting up in the city.

As bass music orientated nights like Aban-don Silence and Waxxx warehouse partiesare increasing in popularity (the former re-cently moved to a new venue to accommo-date bigger crowds), eyes and ears areturning to Liverpool for fresh new sounds.

But it’s not just where the tunes are beingplayed, it’s also about who’s making and play-ing them too.

One of the key up-and-coming players isWirral-born Melé, a young producer and DJmaking a rather large name for himself. Afterhis single, ‘Beamer’ featuring grime legendKano received airplay on Radio One, Meléwas approached by the station’s own AnnieMac to make an exclusive tune as part of hercompilation series ‘Annie Mac Presents’, po-sitioning him as one of the most promisingproducers around.

Blessed with an almost encyclopaedicknowledge of music, you can expect his setsto seamlessly jump from dark techno to oldskool grime to classic 90s house, all the while

keeping the crowd moving. His own music isjust as eclectic, with bouncing energetic beatsand slow building drops to make a certifiedclub banger every time.

We caught up with the man himself to findout his take on the emerging Liverpool bassmusic scene.

LP: First of all, you started producing in your

bedroom in the Wirral, do you come back to

Liverpool a lot or are you mostly London-

based these days?

M: I’m London based these days, I try to comeback up to the Wirral and Liverpool as muchas I can though. I do miss it a lot!

LP: What do you think of the underground

electronic music scene here?

M: I love it, I think the first time I went toChibuku I was about 15 and used to go regu-larly so I’ve seen a lot of different people playhere. I love what Andrew Hill is doing withAbandon Silence though, I think he's startedsomething proper special there.

LP: Do you think it could ever compete with

the likes of Manchester or Sheffield in terms of

number and popularity of nights?

M: I think so! I’ve never really played in Man-chester too much but I’ve noticed that it’s re-

ally popular again there, with things like Ware-house Project and Parklife. I think we need acouple of bigger venues in Liverpool though!

LP: Do you think that it’s harder for a pro-

ducer/DJ starting out in a place where there

isn't a huge scene?

M: In a way yeah. I think if I grew up in LondonI wouldn’t be making or playing the music I amnow. None of my friends where into it or any-thing so it was easy for me not to get im-mersed in one scene if that makes sense. Iwas just making what I was hearing on al-

bums I was buying or what people were mak-ing on Myspace.

LP: And finally, my favourite night in Liverpool

will always be when you played a sponta-

neous back to back set with Oneman! What’s

your favourite thing about playing in Liver-

pool?

M: Ah thank you! I think just the amount oftime I spent going to watch DJs in Liverpooland always wanting to do it, or the fact that allmy friends and family always come out when

I’m playing.

13

LOOPREVIL PRESS Winter 12/13

Small, Medium + Large show Tuesdays 12 - 2pm

by GEORGIA DRYHURSTWriter

I EXPERIENCED theBavarian charm ofBeirkeller a few weekendsago and am still reminiscingover the table dancing andsteins so large both handsare needed to consume.

Beirkeller opened in Liv-erpool One on November30th, providing an experi-ence like no other. Thisnew complex encompassestraditional Bavarian dress,drink and food and offersentertainment throughoutthe evening with DJ’s andOompah bands. It could notget more original than this.

The bar itself seems likea tardis, situated in the oldZeligs Restaurant unit fac-ing the Hilton, the vastamount of space inside isunexpected, incorporatingthe Shooters Sports Bar,

which has livesports everyday of the weekon one of thecountry’s biggest 3Dscreens, plus pool tables,an Xbox gaming area, andthe cherry on the cake; theBeirkeller room, home tothe Oompah bands and theendless table dancing.

I must admit this was oneof the best nights I have hadout in Liverpool in while, thecomplex offers a great at-mosphere and a unique ex-perience differing from theusual nights out in Liver-pool.

It’s definitely worth takinga trip to Beirkeller, experi-ence the “Around the worldin 80 beers”, and be wonover by the Bavarian charm.It is safe to say, it won’t be a‘stein’ cold sober night.

Liverpool is renowned for its array of nightlife hotspots;our Looprevil Press writers have recently been to twofavourites and have shared their experiences below:

by NICOLA FOSTERWriter

SET JUST OFF ConcertSquare, Liverpool’s Aloha isone of the top places todrink in the city.

Its Tiki bar roots make it atropical haven serving a mixof exotic cocktails, particu-larly rum-based mixes.

The first Monday of eachmonth they play host to theDrunken Parrot Society,which gives customers thechance to meet, discuss andtaste some of the bars ex-clusive spirits.

During the week the baris the perfect spot for a qui-eter drink with friends, whilstat the weekends it providesa lively party atmosphere.Ideal for celebrating a birth-day, a result or simply justthe fact it is Tuesday, Alohais a cocktail bar with a differ-ence.

Theirmust-havedrink is thePina Coladawhich comes served in apineapple shell. Perhaps thesharing volcano is moreyour style, guaranteed to geta night with mates off to agood start, which is goodseeing as you might not beable to remember the mid-dle or end.

Get down to the bar that‘lives for rum and tequila fora night you won’t forget. De-pending on how much rumyou are able to sustain.

by ZOE WHITTAKER Writer

WHEN I ENTERED the Play-house, the beautiful building andits traditional structure createdthe perfect atmosphere for a the-atre.

The hosts were welcoming andfriendly, with a range of drinksand nibbles at the bar. All of theseats had a comfortable viewingof the stage, increasing the en-joyment factor for the audience.

My expectations of the showwere far from what the show ac-tually provided which was a one-man show whose tear jerkingstory left me with shivers downmy spine.

The first section of the show in-troduced Mark Thomas and hisentertaining stand-up routine. I in-stantly took a liking to him, due tohis confident, funny and uniquepersonality. The routine used el-ements that all of the audiencecould relate to and it was clearfrom the constant laughterthroughout the show that it was asuccess with those who at-tended. There was then a shortinterval in which drinks and icecreams could be purchased for asatisfactory price.

The show then told a heartfeltstory of Thomas’ father, who be-comes ill with ProgressiveSupranuclear Palsy, a degenera-

tive disease which had an ex-treme impact on the family. Pre-vious to the show, I feared thatthe deep emotional aspects ofthis story would create a de-pressing and glum atmosphere,but quite the contrary, Thomas’scomical puns and quirky person-ality kept the laughing and en-gaged with the story. The showdid not focus solely on the illnessbut his own experiences, in termsof his family and career. I wasparticularly impressed with thelack of props, although therewere a few childhood toys,Thomas kept the audience en-thralled using mainly storytellingverbally, it was clear that he has apassion for performing.

The show used audio clips andimages from his Mother, Fatherand Brother, manipulating thestage to appear like they werepresent. I particularly enjoyed thisas I felt part of Thomas’ life andperhaps even like a part of thefamily, experiencing all the emo-tions and feelings alongside thenarrator. The climax of the narra-tive (without spoiling it for anyonewho wishes to watch it) showsthe love between family and thepower of music. I would definitelyrecommend this for anyone whowants to feel emotionally con-nected with the narrator andstory, in a way that not all showssucceed in doing.

BIERKELLER ALOHA

BRAVO FIGARO

SPOTLIGHT ON: MELÉexclusive

NIGHTLIFE

UNLIKELY STYLE ICON

This issue’s unlikely style icon is

SOLANGE KNOWLES.As the baby sister of one of

the biggest popstars in the world,Solange often goes unnoticed.

Yet having walked out of theBey- shaped shadows, Solangehas quickly become an influentialartist - both in music and fashion.

Going by the Losing You

video, Solange has quicklyshown her style credentials, so-lidifying her as the coolest girlever. Especially the late 90’s vin-tage Mochino ‘brick wall’pantsuit. Fashion plays an impor-tant role in the video, and it’sbound to be inspiring.

Gold tone pyramid stud earrings by River Island, £1.50 |PROXY pointed high heels with toe cap via ASOS, £30 |

Premium quilted floral tee and matching jacquard trousersby Topshop, £95

by TEREZA KIRWAN Writer

FASHION RETAILER ARK Clothingrecently opened its doors on thevery busy Bold St in Liverpool’sRopewalks.

The fashion retailer has on offera varied selection of contemporyfashion brands and own-labelled

apparel for its cus-tomers; ranging fromSuperdry, Religion,Fred Perry, Glam-orous and Motel.They have taken in-spiration from de-signer garments offthe catwalk and pro-duced ‘on-trend’pieces at a fractionof the price for all toenjoy in their highstreet stores.

For those looking for somethingthat little bit more special, unique, orto simply stand out from the crowd,they have ‘one-off’ beautiful handsourced selected vintage clothing,accessories and shoes in the base-ment.

The design of the shop is largeand spacious with fun and funky

vibe to entice its shoppers, the own-ers have chosen large Matchboxcars, old school benches and par-ket from a school here in Liverpoolfor that added touch.

Just to help your money stretchthat little bit further do not miss outon their sale in store and online. Youcan check them outat www.ark.co.uk.Also don’t forgetthat they give 10%off to students at thecheckout.

Happy shopping.

Need a dress forValentines? ThisHeart & BowsWine FlorenceDress is a bargainat £17.99.

ON BOLD ST

by GEORGIA DRYHURSTWriter

THAT GIRAFFE FIGHT. It was thetopic of many conversations afterthe first episode of BBC One’s sixpart series Africa, in which David At-tenborough takes us on a journeythrough Africa’s landscape, allow-ing us to witness nature in all itsglory.

The documentary began in theSouth West corner of Africa inwhich we see the wildlife that in-habits two deserts in short supply ofwater. We have been taken on ajourney to the Savannah, Congo,Cape and the Sahara, all of whichprovide an insight into the deepestcorners of Africa.

The crew spent more than fouryears in the field making this series,and it is clear to say this breath tak-ing documentary has had usgripped, opening our eyes to na-

ture’sb e a u -ties and brutali-ties.

Personally, thesecond episode,the Savannah,showed an amazingshot of wildlife, theherd of elephantsstruggling to find water. In this, oneof the baby elephants is too weakto move on and the mother stayswith her baby until it has passed,leaving the mother on her own andwithout a herd.

Although the series shows theruthlessness that takes place in thewild, it also presents nature in itstrue beauty, definitely worth awatch.

Rating:

AFRICA

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WE ALL LOVE

by GEMMA JONESFeatures Editor

IN THE BUILD-UP  to  HarveyNichol’s first ever beauty store open-ing in Liverpool, the tagline for thebillboard adverts campaigning its ar-rival was “love thyself.” And undoubt-edly Beauty Bazaar  is  located  slapbang  in Liverpool One,  deeply  res-onating such a mantra. 

So what to expect? Blushes morerosy than a little girl on her first day ofschool, cleansing oils that make youfeel fresh as a daisy and colour thatputs the rainbow of Noah’s Ark intodynamic shame. 

As soon as you walk through thedoor you feel  like a grown up Alicetaking a compelling trip into a cos-

metic Wonderland. Down the rabbithole  there are glass doors,  jewelledwalls and eye catching displays thatall scream either “drink me” or moreaccurately in this case “wear me.” 

Everywhere you turn there areglamorously dressed women who areready to cater to your every make-upwhim ensuring that you could giveany  high  maintenance  Queen  OfHearts a run for her money.

High-end cosmetic brands such asChanel,  YSL,  Mac,  Benefit,  LauraMercier, and Aveda are the preciousgifts that the store has to offer and ifused correctly will make you the guestof honour at any prestigious tea party. 

Make-up or skincare, there are somany displays and brands and so lit-tle  time  so  ensure  that  you  look

around productively and choose yourmake-up  alliances  widely.  Invest-ments need to be made to the rightbrands that cater to your skin needs. 

Not only is there products galorebut if you venture upstairs onto theirfirst floor you will come in contact withevery  material  girl’s  dream;  a  nailsalon, hair salon, eyebrow station andchampagne  bar.  Because  after  all,those products aren’t going to appearon  your  face  and  make  you  shinebright  like a diamond all by  them-selves. 

So if you have any spare cash thenunleash your inner curiosity and ex-plore  this  Nichols  wonderland  foryourself.  Make  yourself  up  into  adream. It’s beautiful and bizarre. ABeauty Bazaar indeed. 

INSIDETHECITY’SNEWBEAUTYSTORE

by NICOLA FOSTERWriter

BASED ON the real life diary of RaeEarl, E4’s hit new show has beenhighly praised for its handling of theshows mental illness content.

Set in 90’s Lincolnshire, My MadFat Diary follows the journey ofteenage Earl as she makes thetransition back into the real worldafter being treated in a psychiatrichospital for 4 months. Living in acouncil house, if boy-mad Rae isn’targuing with her mother she isbound to be in the larder eating herfeelings.

Earl made the decision topublish her diaries after coming

through mental illness herself andknowing how important it is to knowyou are not alone. Having sufferedwith OCD, anxiety and delusions,she felt it important to get suchtaboo issues into the popular mediaof young people and for them tohave an understanding of suchproblems.

Praised for its honest and funnyaccount of the trials and tribulationsof a young girl living with mentalhealth issues, the key to the plot isRae’s likeable nature. The teenager,played by Sharon Rooney, is smart,funny and like any teenage girl, liv-ing in a constant state of embar-rassment. The show’s coverage ofserious, moving issues can make

for some tough viewing at times.It is unusual to see such issues

being raised on the small screen,and in such a refreshing manner.Ciara Baxendale who plays life-of-the-party Izzy in the show, feels theshow deserves every bit of praise ithas been given for its coverage ofthe issues.

Ciara said: “The show is greatbecause of the way it tackles mentalhealth issues, which even todaythere is still such a stigma around.The funny and light hearted contentalso contrasts to Rae’s conditionswhich helps this further”.

MY MAD FAT DIARY

14

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

1. Sarah | 20 | City Centre | Style icon: Sienna Miller2. Ellen | 17 | Wirral | Style icon: Florence Welch3. Tom | 19 | Liverpool | Style icon: Wolverine4. James | 26 | City Centre | Loves geek chic5. Amber | 20 | City Centre | Loves vintage styling

6. Jenny | 20 | City Centre | Style icon: Misha Barton

WHAT ISYOURSTYLE?

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BOLDSTREETSTYLE

1 2 3 4

5 6

AFRICA

15

PHOTOS BY: GEMMA JONES & SOPHIE CORK

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by BETH DOCKERTYWriter

QUENTIN  TARANTINO’S  latestcinematic master piece Django Un-chained was  recently  released  incinemas.  Django  Unchained  is  ahybrid  genre,  an  adventure,drama,  western merged  into  onefilm.

The movie has become the high-est grossing movie among Taran-tino’s  other  titles.  IngloriousBasterds was knocked off the topspot with the $120 million box of-fice returns figure being shadowedby the new release enormous fig-ures reaching over $130 million.

This epic American western hasreceived critical acclaim, as it wasnominated  for  five  AcademyAwards  including  Best  Picture,Best  Supporting  Actor  forChristoph Waltz and Best OriginalScreenplay. Not to mention Waltzwon a Golden Globe for Best Sup-

porting Actor and Tarantino won aGolden Globe for Best Screenplay,all indications as to how remark-able Django Unchained is.

The film’s cast is rife with someof  the  industry’s  most  successfulactors, with some of the characterscreated with the specific actors inmind. Jamie Foxx plays the part ofthe  freed slave Django, LeonardoDi Caprio plays the brutal Missis-sippi plantation owner Calvin Can-die, Samuel L. Jackson  is CalvinCandie’s  (Di  Caprio)  loyal  houseservant  Stephen  and  ChristophWaltz takes on the role of Dr. KingSchultz a German bounty hunterwho  offers  his  help  to  rescueDjango’s wife from the clutches ofCandie.

Veterans of Tarantino’s work,Samuel  L.  Jackson  previouslyplayed the part of Jules Winnfieldin the cult classic Pulp Fiction, andCristoph Waltz playing the role ofthe sadistic Hans Landa alterna-

tively  known  as  “The  Jew-Hunter”  in  Inglorious  Bas-terds.  It  is  pleasing  to  seethem  return  to  prove  theiroutstanding acting abilities inanother  Tarantino  movie,which is rapidly becoming no-torious in its own right.

Set  in  the deep south ofrural  America,  Django  Un-chained  begins  in  1858,  twoyears before the civil war. Thebasic plot of Tarantino’s filmfocuses  on  the  dentist  turnedbounty  hunter  Dr.  King  Schultzwho decides to buy the freedom ofthe slave Django, training him inthe hope that he will one day be-come  his  deputy  bounty  hunter.The plot soon digresses when theduo decide to embark on a missionto rescue Django's wife, who is inthe  possession  of  the  ruthlessCalvin Candie.

No Tarantino film would be com-plete  without  the  trade  mark

cameo appearance from the direc-tor himself; in Django Unchainedhe plays the part of a dim wittedAustralian  employee  of  TheLeQuint Dickey Mining Company.

Slavery  is  constantly  fore-grounded  in  the  film,  however  itstill manages  to  provide  comedicrelief, through scenes involving thecharacters such as Jonah Hill whobriefly appears as a member of thecomically  presented  Klu  KluxKlan. The horrific scenes of slavery and

the savage gunfights are accompa-nied  by  a  rap music  soundtrack,which provides a rejuvenated edgeto an old western genre. 

Even so Django Unchained isnot a film for the faint hearted fol-lowing in the footsteps of previousTarantino  creations,  it  is  a  bloodthirsty revenge thriller that enter-tains from start to finish.

Rating:

DJANGO   UNCHA INEDFEATURED REVIEW:

PITCH PERFECT has all the musi-cal elements of Glee but combined

with great acting and hilarious oneliners it becomes a musical comedywhich leaves you completely morti-fied when the credits appear. Brides-maid star, Rebel Wilson, manages tosteal every scene she is in and herdry sense of humour never fails tosend the audience into an uproar oflaughter. This awesome film com-bines the all American college expe-rience and the somewhatcontroversial characters you wouldnot usually find in a romantic com-edy. The hilariously constructedscenes, such as the shower duet,contribute to the film’s ultimate suc-cess.

PITCH  PERFECTby BETHAN JENKINSWriter

must see

by TEREZA KIRWANWriter

FOR ALL THOSE Tom Cruise fansyou will be pleased to know that inthe new American thriller, JackReacher the action man does notfail to impress to ‘kick ass’.

The film comes from the ninthnovel of the Jack Reacher serieswritten by British author Lee Child.

The plot starts with a sniper in a carpark firing six bullets, killing fivepeople, the evidence at the sceneleads to the interrogation of an ex-military trained sniper, James Barr(Joseph Sikora) who tells the copsthey have the wrong suspect andhands them a note ‘get JackReacher’ (Tom Cruise).

Jack Reacher, a trained to killex-military officer who only owns

the clothes on his back, is broughtin to help unravel the case, “Hedoesn’t care about proof. He does-n’t care about the law. He onlycares about what’s right,” says Barr.

Twists and turns along the waykeep you wanting more. Reacher isaccompanied by Barr’s lawyerHelen Rodin (Rosamund Pike) whois also going against her District At-torney father for that added excite-ment, Reacher is certainly no friendof Barr and wants him charged for acrime committed years earlier, butgot away with on a technicality, inthe turns of event this time roundReacher believes that Barr is actu-ally innocent.

Rating:

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JACK REACHERGANGSTER  SQUADby GEMMA JONESFeatures Editor

NOT GOING TO lie, I love a goodgangster film. Anything directed byMartin Scorsese or anything that in-cludes the Godfather Robert De Niroalways ticks the cinematic boxes forme. So it was pretty much inevitablethat I’d want to go and see the newgangster film that everybody’s hark-ing on about.

Gangster Squad has all the mak-ings of a violent, fun and glamorousgangster film but ultimately, it ain’t gotanything on quintessential Scorseseand the like.

The film boasts an impressive castfeaturing Hollywood hotties SeanPenn, Karl Lennox, Ryan Gosling andthe enviously beautiful Emma Stone.Sean Penn particularly plays a sub-stantial role as notorious LA crookMickey Cohen in the film who drivesmost of the action of the plot, at-tempting to take over LA for himselfin a hyperbolic assertion of masculin-ity.

Ryan Gosling should also be noted

for his cheeky chappy performanceas Stg. Jerry Wooters and WadeWilliams as the charismatic Rouke.

The film has all the classic plot de-vices of a gangster film; tough men,inappropriate comedy, scenes of vio-lence, drug scandals and sharperthan sharp pinstripe suits. Yet the filmoverall is not as kick ass as I thoughtit would be.

The plot at times seems slight draband painfully stretched out with notmuch else going on. Emma Stone,pretty stunning as she is in her floorlength burgundy dress, has nothing tocovet other than a two dimensionaltrophy wife character and the happycliché ending was nothing short thanunsatisfying.

Still, it was bearable and an idealgood all round film to watch to passtime with a few buddies if there isnothing much else going on in yourlife. All the actors pretty much madethe best of what little material theyhad.

Not exactly “gangster” but thesquad did have some potency to begreat. But by no mean feat was it aGoodfella or Godfather massacre. 16

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

by CONOR WALTONWriter

THE GERMAN  Bundesliga  has  often  been  overlooked as one of the premier national leagues of Eu-rope. 

Although, Bayern Munich have had many suc-cess’, both domestically as well as European, the com-mon  belief  behind  the  Bundesliga  prior  to,  thepresent day was that it was a weak competition, aleague dominated by Bayern Munich and that wasthat. 

No other teams have really figured in Europeancompetition  since  the  turn  of  the  millennium  intruth, and this being the damning reason for the neg-lect the German league has suffered from the rest ofthe  European  media.  Until  recently  the  GermanBundesliga was  probably  ranked  below  or  on  parwith the Italian Serie A by the common football man,in terms of competitiveness and overall standard offootball.

The rise of Borussia Dortmund coupled with theage of the German national team, have been two piv-otal factors in the Bundesliga’s recent revitalization. 

The national set up is dominated by youth, thelikes  of:  Holger  Badstuber,  Mario  Gotze,  AndreSchurrle, Mats Hummels, Marco Reus and ThomasMuller are all in the early twenties and are key andmore  importantly  consistent  squad  membersamongst others.

Although this concept of trusting youth and thenincorporating it into an experienced spine of a squad,through  season  professionals,  such  as,  BastianSchweinsteiger  and  Philipp  Lahm,  arguably  themain reason for the rejuvenation of the Bundesliga,has to be the form of Borussia Dortmund over thelast couple of years or so. 

Dortmund’s success some what mirrors that ofManchester City’s in the Premier League, howeverinstead  of  achieving  success  through  financialwealth, Dortmund have managed to devise a clubtheory on  football,  by  complementing high energypressure on the opposition, with young, hungry play-ers. 

Dortmund are managed by Jurgen Klopp, a namemost football fans will not be aware of, Klopp and hisyoung side that include the likes of: Hummels, Gotze,Neven Subotic and Marco Reus, won back to backBundesliga’s, in the 2010-11 season and again in the

2011-12 season, result-ing in a realization thatBayern  Munich  whereno  longer  top  dogs  inGermany. 

Dortmund’s effortsover  the  last  threeyears or so are particularly impressive due to, not re-ally having for one, the funds of Bayern Munich andsecondly the type of star players their German coun-terparts Munich and even the likes of bitter rivals,FC Schalke have amongst their ranks. Instead Dort-mund  plays  as  a  team  and  as  a  team  they  haveproved  formidable,  and  therefore  created  stars  oftheir own.

Bayern though have seemed to regain power intheir recent acquisition of a certain, Pep Guardiola,the most successful Barcelona coach of all time. Themuch desired Spaniard surprised the world’s mediaby  signing a  pre  contract  agreement with BayernMunich this month. 

So why did Guardiola choose Bayern, when it wasabundantly clear that he had more financially prom-ising offers on the table, from the likes of ManchesterCity and Chelsea? Maybe Guardiola too, realizes therise of German football and the Bundesliga and howit may now be the new haven for football. 

The English Premier League is somewhat losingtouch with football, regarded as the best league inthe world,  the  Premier  League  seems  to  be moreabout finance than actual football in this current era.

Through foreign investors, the league’s reputationhas been tainted and the gap between the top teamsand the smaller ones is widening rapidly. Proof of theEnglish game falling into an abyss of wealth, could bethe prices of the tickets that are subjected to the fansacross the country. 

The cost to watch Germany’s most exciting team,a team that has qualified ahead of Manchester Cityin this season’s Champions League, Borussia Dort-mund, equates to not much more than £10. The Bun-desliga fundamentally reflects many similarities tothe English Premier League, in terms of how footballis played, but conveys a far more sounder financialcompetition, where the fans are king and Champi-onships are won, not bought. Does the future of European football lie in the Ger-

man Bundesliga? Guardiola seems to think so.

WHY THE BUNDESLIGAIS THE PLACE TO BE

by JOSHUA GARDNERWriter

IMAGINE Rory McIlroy, a 23 yearold  avid  golfer,  on  hearing  thenews that Tiger Woods had signeda  new  deal  with  Nike  worth£62million; one wonders whetherhe ever imagined that one day hewould step into the shoes of TigerWoods and become  the new am-bassador of Nike golf.

Since becoming number one ingolf,  Rory  McIlroy  has  landedhimself  one  of  the  largest  spon-sorship deals in British sport top-ping the likes of David Beckham’ssponsorship deal with Adidas. 

McIlroy now has arguably con-firmed himself as the world mostmarketable athlete by reportedlybanking himself £156million overthe  10  year  deal  with Nike. Al-though the full details of the dealhave not been revealed it is esti-mated  that  it  breaks  down  to  astaggering  £15.5million  a  year,£42,000 a day and £30 a minute.Not too bad if you ask me. 

McIlroy said: "I chose Nike fora number of reasons, It's a com-pany and a brand that really res-onates  with  me.  It's  young.  It'sathletic. It's innovative. They arecommitted  to  being  the  best,  asam I. 

“Signing with Nike is anotherstep  towards  living  out  mydream."Nike is a brand who pride them-

selves  on being  the best and al-

ready  have  the  world’s  bestsportsmen  already  signed  up  tothe  brand  with  Wayne  Rooney(football)  and  Rodger  Federer(tennis) already part of the Nikefamily. 

It can be seen that Nike actedquickly in their efforts to sign theworld’s  best  golfer  to  the  brandafter  their  reputation  was  re-cently dented after  incidents  in-volving  Lance  Armstrong  andTiger Woods. In McIlroy they havecaptured a young man who is atthe top of his game and a down toearth individual which makes himso marketable. I just hope McIlroycan  avoid  all  the  scandals  thathave affected other Nike athletesand  can  become  one  of  golfinggreats.   

McIlroy’s Nike career did notget off to the best of starts, withevents  that  happened  in  AbuDhabi ruining the script in whatwas  one  of  the most memorableweeks  of  McIlroy’s  career.  Heended  it with  the a  rare missedcut  and  even  embarrassed Nikeby reverting to his old Titleist put-ter after being unhappy with hisnew Nike clubs. Highlighting previous questions

asked  whether  McIlroy’s  goodform  will  be  affected  by  thechange  in  equipment  broughtabout  by  the  new  deal.   Money,suffice to say, does not arrive withthe guarantee of professional suc-cess.

NIKEFORE NO1

MONDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

by CONOR WALTONWriter

DESPITE BEING amongst the highest paid managers in thePremier League, David Moyes is incidentally one of the leastfinancially backed coaches. 

Although chairman Bill Kenwright does give Moyes thesmall funds available at Everton, it is nothing in compari-son to the financial power Everton's nearest rivals have hadover the past decade, the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and evenNewcastle, have been heavily backed by their retrospectiveowners in regards to bringing players in, however Moyes andEverton year after year somehow remain  intact with  theelite sides of the league. 

Instead of splashing obscene amounts on potential, DavidMoyes and Bill Kenwright have methodically made astutebuys on seasoned quality. 

Selling key members of any squad has usually been as-sociated with a sign of weakness from a club, yet Evertonhave managed to use their business knowledge to sell firstteam players without allowing a drop in standards by bring-ing in replacements not only substantial but in some cases ofa higher talent. 

Moyes and admittedly Kenwright have propelled Evertoneach season by signing a player for next to nothing, thenmoving them on for an inflated price the next and repeatingthe procedure over again. 

Mikel Arteta, a £2.5 million singing, who was once re-garded as irreplaceable amongst Everton fans was sold onfor £10 million  to Arsenal, when perhaps his better dayswhere behind him. Joleon Lescott a £5 million signing fromWolves was moved on for a baffling £24 million to Manches-ter City and again Jack Rodwell, an academy product wassold to the same club as Lescott for what is believed to be

around £12 million.In essence Rodwell was considered as dead wood to most

of the Goodison faithful, a potential that was never met, hewasn’t a regular at the club and was regarded as rather a bitpart player than one who’s absence would be seen as any dra-matic loss. Outsiders of the club, would often pay special at-tention to Rodwell without actually noticing he did not domuch at all, although young, I personally felt Rodwell nevershowed me anything at Everton and still hasn’t proven atCity that he is worth anything around the £12 million Ever-ton received for his services. 

Everton capitalized on the trend of the leagues big hit-ters, paying inflated prices for young English potential, andfundamentally took Manchester City to the cleaners by sell-ing Jack Rodwell for what they did.  Moyes invested aroundhalf the funds, approximately £5.5 million on Kevin Miral-las, a much more creative and dynamic midfielder, some-thing Everton where screaming out for last season.

Fast forward to the present day and no one has seen any-thing of Rodwell at City and although Mirallas’ career at theMerseyside club has hit a snag of late due to a persistenthamstring  injury,  his  start  to  the  season  indicated  thatMoyes had replaced potential with talent and come awaywith an extra £6.5 million in his pocket. 

Part of that £6.5 million left from the Rodwell deal, surelycontributed to persuade FC Twente of Holland, to nearly re-linquish the talents of 23 year old centre midfielder LeroyFer to Everton in a deal that was reported to be around £8.6million before the player failed a medical due to a previousknee injury. 

The news came as a disappointment to Everton fans whohad been looking forward to Fer’s arrival, whether or not themove can be revived in the summer, Evertonians will have towait and see. 

However with the transfer window now over, Everton canrelax about losing marquee player Marouane Fellaini to anyof the Premier league big guns, however the feeling aroundGoodison is that Fellaini will eventually part ways with theclub in the summer. Given Moyes’ impressive track record inthe  transfer  market,  aside  from  the  blip  buy  of  DiniyarBilyaletdinov, Evertonians should remain confident that ifFellaini did part ways with the club, Moyes would find theright replacement whether that was supposed to be LeroyFer, we will never know.

Whether or not, Moyes can keep Fellaini at Goodison, de-picts on what position the toffee’s end the season in, surelyonly a Champions league slot would suffice in keeping one ofthe hottest properties in world football at the moment. 

Everton find themselves in a promising position goinginto the latter stages of the season, 5th in the table and look-ing good in the FA cup. Keeping hold of their prized asset,Fellaini may prove the difference in finishing 5th and fin-ishing in the coveted last Champions League place. 

Success in maintaining a place in Europe’s top competi-tion would put Everton in a financial position, where DavidMoyes wouldn’t have to worry about selling to buy in orderto keep  the high  standard  the  club has  set  over  the  lastdecade and could put the club in the shop window in termsof finding a buyer to take over Everton and put them ontothe other side of the financial table and into the next level. 

The last day of the window did however bring one signingin  the  shape  of  promising  right  back  John  Stones  fromBarnsley. The 19 year old should provide cover and pressureon Seamus Coleman and that can only be a good thing, thetransfer fee is reported to be around the £3 million mark andthe youngster has signed a five and a half year deal.

STONES IN AS EVERTON BID FER-WELL TO LEROY

by RHYS WILLIAMSWriter

THE JANUARY transfer market is athirty-one day period full of intenseexpectancy from fans and punditsalike for Premier League teams.

Five months have passed sincethe beginning of the season and itseems as though every Tom, Dick orHarry knows exactly what playerseach club needs to reach their goalsfor the season. This puts an incred-ible weight on the shoulders of own-ers around the country as they feelthey have to react to fans calls. Forexample, the recent money ex-changes to and from Liverpool in2011.

In his three and a half year Liver-pool career, Fernando Torres brokenumerous records and became oneof the most feared forwards in Eu-rope. He scored 33 goals in all com-petitions in a record-breaking debutseason in England. Following the2007-08 season Torres scored 48goals for Liverpool in the next twoand a half years, due to him missinga number of games through injury.Despite not scoring as many goalsas his first season, Torres was stillreaching incredible heights when hewas match-fit. In the 2008-09 sea-son, Liverpool proved themselves tobe one of the best teams in Europeunder manager Rafael Benitez andnarrowly missed out on the clubs19th League title by four points. To

Torres, the Merseyside club

were on the rise and were lookinglike a side that could replicate theglory days of the Liverpool sides ofthe 70s and 80s.

But everything began to fall apartand Liverpool finished in a disap-pointing seventh position the follow-ing season and Benitez was sacked.Roy Hodgson replaced him in thesummer of 2010 but he failed tomake any kind of an impression.The calendar year of 2010 was ayear of transition for Liverpool as theclub was sold by infamous Americanpairing Tom Hicks and George Gillettto another American partnership inJohn W. Henry and Tom Werner. ButTorres needed to know that the clubwere heading in the right direction asit seemed as if the club was in de-cline.

The owners promised Torres thatthey would do everything to get theclub to where they should be, butagreed with the Spaniard that if anoffer came in for him that was too bigto ignore, he would be granted thechance to move on with his career.

Hodgson left by mutual consenton January 8, 2011, and KennyDalglish was brought in to replacehim. That month was a difficult onefor Torres as he attempted to deci-pher whether his future remained onMerseyside.

However on January 27, Liverpoolreceived a bid of around £40m forTorres from Chelsea, which was re-jected. This was a part of the agree-ment between the owners and

Torres; yet he felt as if the board hadlied to him. He submitted a writtentransfer request to the club whichwas also rejected. Despite this, Tor-res was adamant that he would notplay for the club again and forced hisway to south of England. Liverpoolaccepted an improved bid from theLondon club, thought to be of around£50m.

This was a record fee for a playerin the Premier League and thatmeant incredible pressure on Torresto deliver goals for Chelsea. Sincethen the Spaniard has struggled andin two and a half seasons has man-aged only 27 goals for Chelsea, incomparison to his 81 goals duringhis time at Liverpool.

On transfer deadline day in Janu-ary 2011, Liverpool spent £22.8m onUruguayan hit-man Luis Suarez andincredibly a further £35m on Geordiepowerhouse Andy Carroll as re-placements for Torres in despera-tion. Liverpool were aware thatChelsea had paid over the odds forTorres who seemed to be far fromhis former, prolific self. They knewthat they would have to pay over theodds to acquire quality replacementson such short notice.

Dalglish revitalised a strugglingLiverpool side, however it was clearthat he lacked the tactical nous to re-ally take the club any further. Sincethen, Liverpool have proven to besomewhat inconsistent this season,having played well in a number ofgames with regards to ball retention,

work rate and chances created, butthey have relied heavily on Suarez toscore their goals.

This brings us to the Januarytransfer window of 2013 where itwould seem that new manager Bren-dan Rodgers has really begun tomake this Liverpool team his own.The club have made two acquisitionsduring this month, similar to 2011,however the players signed seem tofit into a Rodgers team.

Rodgers has seen where heneeds to improve his system andhas done so. Liverpool’s focal pointin attack was Suarez. However,Rodgers needed someone to takethose shackles off of the Uruguayan.The club paid £12m for Daniel Stur-ridge from Chelsea, who has beenoutstanding since his arrival. Hishold up play now brings more play-ers into the Liverpool attack, mean-ing that Suarez can also be moreeffective. It gives the opposition an-other body to mark and be wary of,and with his pace, technique andpower, Sturridge has worried de-fences just as much as Suarez.

The improvement in the team isclear for all pundits, ex-pro’s andfans to see. This has been a sur-prise to many that Sturridge wouldmake such a difference. Rodgerstried to bring the England Interna-tional in during the summer and haswanted him ever since. The Redsmanager now has his philosophy inplace and it is looked impressive inthe games Liverpool have played

since Sturridge’s arrival; shown intheir away trips to Arsenal and Man-chester City.

Following an early FA Cup exit atthe hands of Oldham Athletic, manydoubted Liverpool’s chances of put-ting up any kind of a fight. However,Liverpool surpassed media expecta-tion and produced two high qualityperformances. The Reds drew 2-2in both games and were dominantover 180 minutes.

In the most recent game at thehome of the Champions, they pro-duced perhaps their best perform-ance of the season. Sturridge wason the score sheet yet again againsthis old club, and Captain StevenGerrard sent the fans into frenzy ashe struck the Reds into a 2-1 lead.However, a mistake by keeper PepeReina gave Argentine striker SergioAguero the chance to finish beauti-fully from an angle to salvage apoint. Liverpool dominated thegame with 56% possession andtwenty-one shots away from home atthe Champions signalling an incred-ibly positive performance.

Reds fans will hope that theseperformances are a sign of things tocome as Liverpool look to competeonce again. Having also paidaround £8.5 million for Brazilian play-maker Phillipe Coutinho, this hasbeen an uplifting week for Liverpoolsupporters who could be forgiven forlooking optimistically at the future ofthe club.

LOOK AT WHAT YOU’RE MISSING

18

Winter 12/13LOOPREVIL PRESS

19

by JACK MCILROY-REIDSport Editor

AS A YOUNG boy sports peoplewere my heroes; my bedroom wallswere plastered with posters of AlanSmith and Brian O’Driscoll.

I also had one of Legolas and itsaddened me as I began to realisethat due to my own sporting abilitiesthere was more chance that I wouldgrow up to be an Elven Prince thana Leeds United striker or BritishLions captain.

As I got older my attentionswitched from the athletes I ad-mired to girls I admired and trips tothe pub replaced time daydreamingabout sporting greatness.

However the admiration of sportspersonalities never fully left me. Ilearned that although these peoplewere professional athletes not all ofthem had boring private lives filledonly with training and eating raweggs, some of these people en-joyed a drink.

I felt refreshed; suddenly I had anew ambition. Rather than share achanging room with my heroes, Inow want to share a pint with them.I have therefore compiled a list offive sports people who I would liketo join me on a night out in Liver-pool.

The rules are simple. They arepaying, I have to match them alldrink for drink and say yes to any-thing they ask or tell me to do. Iwould like to make it clear before Ibegin that this article is not condon-ing binge drinking; because as weall know that binge drinking is wrongfor binge drinking’s sake, however ifpresented with the opportunity tobinge drink with the best of them itwould be rude not too.

One night with these five wouldmake stealing Mike Tyson’s tigerlook like someone putting a trafficcone on their head.

1. Mike Tindall It is no secret that Mike Tindall

likes a drink. On the flight homefrom Australia after winning theWorld Cup with England he at-tempted to break David Boon’srecord of drinking 52 cans of beerover the period of the journey andalthough Tindall’s total isn’t known itis rumoured that he got very close.

His drinking was made infamoustwo world cups later when he wasdropped from the squad for taking

part in the sport of ‘dwarf tossing’ ona night out in New Zealand and thetabloid papers were filled with im-ages of him downing a jug of wineon his stag-do in Miami, a night thatis rumoured to have accumulated abill of $20,000.

2. Andrew ‘Freddie’ FlintoffThe former England Cricket cap-

tain would be up for a night out re-gardless of what sort of day he’shad.

He was sacked as vice-captainand banned for the following testmatch after he fell off a pedalo in theearly hours, commiserating theteam’s loss to New Zealand.

Similarly after winning the asheshe appeared to be a little worse forwear the next morning on the opentop bus tour and visit to DowningStreet, grinning into the camerasand stumbling as he walked out ofthe hotel after apparently getting nosleep at all.

3. Andy PowellPowell was arrested on the hard

shoulder of the M5 after stealing agolf buggy from a hotel and at-tempting to drive to a service sta-tion.

On this night out not only wouldit be vital to have someone with thepotential to do something as enter-taining as this but also a personwho understands the importance ofhaving something greasy to eat be-fore bed and will go to any length toget it.

4. Bradley WigginsThe British public have taken to

sports personality of the year likeRyan Giggs to secrecy.

He posted a picture of himself onhis twitter page getting ‘wasted’ on arooftop overlooking St Pauls Cathe-dral after winning Gold at theOlympics. Similarly he partied hardafter winning the BBC award, refer-ring to Sue Barker as Susan duringhis acceptance speech.

He is arguably the new king ofcool and if at any point during thenight he asks if it’s OK for him tobring a mate along, say yes, it mightjust be Paul Wellar.

5. Mario Balotelli The man breaks bar bill records inIbiza and sets off fireworks in hisbathroom. Need I say more.

PINT?

by AISLING DAVISTwitter

BETTING SLIPS AT the ready as Britain’s most popularhorse racing event graces Aintree’s famous Race-course once again for its 166th year.

Starting on the April 4, the Grand National will takeplace on Saturday April 6, with over 40 riders compet-ing for first place.

The event kicks off with the Grand Opening Day andwill feature a performance by British girl group The Sat-urdays.

It’s not all horseracing as the ladies get a chance toparticipate too in the ever popular ‘Ladies Day’ event.Glamour and style are the epitome of this day as theladies of Liverpool and various other parts of the UK geta chance to show their support for the event.

Horses and their jockeys compete in what is knownas the world’s greatest horse race; the steeplechase.The racecourse is over four and a half miles long and

consists of 30 purpose built fences. Horse racing fans from all over the world will recog-

nise its famous fences such as The Chair, Becher’sBrook, Valentine’s and the Canal Turn which have beenaround since the beginning of the Grand National.

The Grand National has been around for over adecade, its first race was held in 1839 and was won bya horse named Lottery.

Notable runners and their riders this year includethree horses trained by Paul Nicholls, trainer of lastyear’s winner Neptune Collonges. One of these horsesis Harry The Viking, a horse partly owned by Sir AlexFerguson. An addition to the field is last year’s third run-ner up Seabass, who narrowly missed out on first placelast year.

This year will see the races broadcast on Channel 4,to an estimated global audience of 600million and willbe presented by Clare Balding. Tickets for the eventare available online.

GRAND NATIONAL ‘13

WHY MY DEGREE WILL BEDESTROYEDby JACK MCILROY-REIDSport Editor

SO MY THIRD year at Universityis drawing to an end and the dead-line for my 8000 word dissertationgets closer and closer every day. 

However  I  have  already  re-signed myself  to  the  fact  that  Iwill  not  reach  that  word  count,and I can guarantee that it won’tbe  the  only  incomplete disserta-tion by male students across thecountry  this  summer.  Instead  Iwill  submit  around  4000  wordsand a personal note to the exam-iner which will read:

“Dear  Examiner.  Sorry  forwasting  your  time  and  makingyou read the first 4000 words of anincomplete dissertation. You willbe delighted to know that I have avery good reason for not finishingit and I hope that you can sympa-thise with my circumstances andaward me a first anyway. 

“Instead of spending time in thelibrary  researching  and  writingthis  8000  words  essay,  I  sat  athome  in  my  pants  on  FootballManager  2013  and  took  LeedsUnited from the Championship tothe  Champions  League  in  justfour seasons. I’m sure you can ap-preciate the skill and dedicationrequired to pull off such a feat andtake that into consideration when

marking. Kind regards.”Football Manager 2013 has sin-

gle-handedly destroyed thousandsof degrees,  careers and relation-ships across the world simply be-cause of how addictive people findit. Every football fan has an opin-ion  on how  their  club  should  bemanaged,  every  football  fan  issure they could do it better thantheir clubs current manager andevery  football  fan  is  given  theirchance to prove it on this game.

Girlfriends and essays take aback seat to Stoke away or in thecup, meals are sacrificed for teammeetings  and  training  sessionsand  some  players  have  beenknown to don a suit should theirteam reach a final. It is kryptonitefor so many people but imagine ifClark  Kent  was  addicted  to  thething that made him weak. 

Football Manager  is  a man’sAchilles heel and if kryptonite wasas addictive as the game is, hun-dreds would be able to empathiseif Superman sat in his pants en-grossed by it as the whole worldcrumbled around him.   

...AND MYRELATIONSHIP

by REBECCA FIELDINGEditor

Football Manager 13 was agame I had purposely kept exemptfrom the Christmas present list Ihad created for my boyfriend.

Of course, his own Mother wentand bought it for him instead.

It’s great having conversationswith the back of his head, whilst Imention something important and itautomatically enters one ear, andexits the other in an impromptufashion.

It’s also fantastic when the onlyproductive thing he has completedin a day is taking his team into thePremiership. Well done my dear -you beat Manchester United andyou bought David Beckham.

I can’t complain wholly - it is niceto have time to myself on eveningswhere I don’t have to speak to him.It is those quiet moments in a rela-tionship that you savour... Whenelse will I get to read and not have

to share my chocolates?

Winter 12/13

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EAGERLY ANTICIPATED SIX NATIONSby FERGUS WALSHWriter

THE AUTUMN internationals area set of rugby games seen by manyas pointless.

However ask Richie McCaw ifEngland denying New Zealand arecord breaking year undefeated,or  any  England  fan  jumping  upand down on their sofa or Twick-enham seat alike, the answer willbe  simultaneous.  They  matternow. 

What  these  autumn  interna-tional matches have succeeded indoing is setting up one of the mosteagerly  anticipated  six  nation’schampionships in a long while.

England, France, Wales, andIreland all put in admirable casesfor  winning  the  championship,with  the  bookmakers  makingFrance  the  favourites  and  Eng-land a close second. Whatever it’sgoing to be a great tournament.

Here is a team by team break-down  highlighting  the  keystrengths and weaknesses of each.

EnglandWales may have won the grand

slam  last  time out, but Englandcertainly  came  close  to  beatingthem at Twickenham and taking agrand slam of their own. 

England has a young side full ofplenty of talent, a mixture of dy-namic but solid forwards with ex-citing running backs. Many peoplefeel that this England side is closeto  realising  its  potential,  espe-cially after the 38 – 21 demolish-ment  of  New  Zealand  in  theautumn. The injury to Manu Tuilagi how-

ever could prove to be decisive as

he has proven over the last year tobe  one  of  world  rugby’s  mostprominent attacking threats andEngland fans will be crossing theirfingers  that  he  misses  just  onematch. 

Key player: Tom Wood. His workrate  and  tackling meant he wassorely missed during his period in-jured. One to watch: Freddie Burns. Thisyoung ten has proved at Glouces-ter consistently  that he has realtalent.

FranceFrance  have  always  been  a

team  difficult  to  predict  andequally difficult to write off.

Since reaching the 2011 worldcup  final  in  dramatic  circum-stances, until recently, they havefailed to recapture their best form.Fourth place in last year’s tourna-ment was certainly disappointing.  

However  with  the  Frenchleague  going  from  strength  tostrength, meaning an increasinglylarge pool of players to pick fromand  strong  performances  in  theautumn including the 33 – 6 em-barrassment of Australia, Franceare certainly the favourites for agood reason. 

Key  player:  Thierry  Dusautoir.Back from an injured spell but aplayer who always puts his bodyon the line.One to watch: Wesley Fofana. Thehard  running  centre  is  likely  tothe main strike option.

IrelandWith Leinster, Munster, and Ul-

ster  dominating  both  the  Celtic

league and Heineken cup in recentyears  many  fans  are  frustratedthat  international  form  has  notfollowed the same trend. Ireland certainly have the play-

ers capable of winning a champi-onship,  but  sporadic  goodperformances are not enough. 

Under  new  captain  JamieHeaslip Ireland will be hoping torecapture some of the consistencythat saw them win, in 2009, theirfirst grand slam in 61 years.

Jonathon Sexton being lured toFrance for what is believed to bethe most lucrative contract in Eu-ropean  rugby  shows  the  talentwithin this squad. 

Key player: Brian O’Driscoll. Lasttournament for probably the bestrugby player of the last decade. One to watch: Chris Henry. Debutfor the flanker seems overdue. 

ItalySince their  introduction into

the tournament in 1999 Italy havestruggled against the traditionalrugby  countries.  Two  years  agothey achieved their most famousvictory beating France at home. Acomprehensive  victory  last  timeround against Scotland will alsoprovide some encouragement. 

The strength and performanceis  still  inexplicably  linked  withtheir  captain  and  number  eightSergio Parisse, definitely capableof  dragging  his  team  through  agame. 

The key problem however stillremains the nine and ten channel,good forward play is all very wellbut it needs to be backed up withpoints and without that I don’t seeItaly winning a game. 

Key  player:  Sergio  Parisse.  Theleader and outstanding player ofItalian rugby.One to watch: Eduardo Gori. Per-haps  the  player  to  sort  out  theservice problem.

ScotlandA poor showing against tough

opposition  hasn’t  given  manyScots must hope. On paper the Scotland team has

genuine  quality  though  withyoung  talent making  impressiveperformances in the Celtic league.Like  Ireland  consistency will  bethe key to success. 

Captain Kelly Brown will try toinspire  a  front  led  battle  andbacks will  look  to express  them-selves in what is a well-balancedside. Two wins would be a good re-turn for the Scottish.

Key  player:  Richie  Gray.  Greatskills for a second row and a classyplayer.One to watch: Stuart Hogg. Great

on the counter attack and solid indefence. 

WalesOn the back of a brilliant but

ultimately  disappointing  worldcup  last  time  Wales  had  some-thing to prove, and prove it theydid with  a  stunning  grand  slamperformance. 

Young players like Priestland,Halfpenny,  and Warburton  havecome to define what Welsh rugbyis currently about, fast passed andclinical. A disappointing autumn means

that Wales come into tournamentas  an  outside  bet  but  they  stillhave the capacity to win the tour-nament.

Key  player:  Sam  Warburton.  Aleader and a great player, up therewith  Richie  McCaw  and  DavidPockock in a few years.  One to watch: George North. Paceand power to burn. 

STUDENT TAKES LEAP OF FAITHby NICOLA FOSTERWriter

A BRAVE LJMU student is taking a big leapto help a charity close to her family’s hearts.

Rosie Monro, 20, has caused quite the stiramongst her family and friends by signing upto do a charity Skydive.

The event, due to take place on April 6, issomething the courageous student hasthought about for a while, and is determinedto tick off her ‘bucket list’.

Taking place in aid of Rosemere Lan-cashire Cancer Trust, the dive will involvefreefalling for about 45 seconds from a heightof 13,500 feet.

The charity means a lot to the Monro fam-ily, after they supported Rosie’s mother whilstundergoing radiotherapy treatment for a braintumour late last year. With her mother now re-covering well, the courageous student wantedto do something to help the people who sup-ported them through such a difficult time.

Based in Preston, Lancashire, Rosemereraise funds to support cancer patients, fund

research and help to purchase equipment forthe specialist unit at the Royal Preston Hos-pital. Their aim is to provide the best possiblecare for patients, both now and in the future.

Setting herself an initial target of £700,Rosie smashed the figure within six days. Shesaid: “I was overwhelmed by the generosityand kindness people have shown me, dona-tions are still coming in and I can’t thank peo-ple enough”.

Nerves have already begun to kick in forthe bold fundraiser. She added “I’m just gladto have someone strapped to me so I don’thave to land the jump myself!”

Receiving only about 20 minutes of trainingon the day, the adrenaline is sure to be racingas Rosie hurtles towards the ground atspeeds of around 90mph.

Admitting she has never done anythingeven close to the scale of this, Rosie felt therewas no better way to celebrate turning 21.She said: “All my family have pulled togetherto help me, it is a real family effort, I am justthe only one who is going to be doing thejump!”

When asked about the reactions of friendsand family, Rosie admitted: “I still have to re-mind my mum that there will be a parachuteattached to me, I won’t just be freefalling!”

Having been inundated with support al-ready, Rosie can’t wait to get her feet back onsolid ground and know she has done some-thing that will make a difference to so manypeople.

Help Rosie: Text SKYR56 plus your dona-

tion amount to 70070 or donate online at

www.justgiving.com/Rosie-Monro