Facts about HIV

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. More than
42,000,000 are living with HIV worldwide.

You can not contact HIV from kissing, coughing, sneezing or sharing food.

Every six hours a person in the UK is infected by HIV.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region in the world. There are 25,000,000 living with a HIV.

If you share needles or other drug injecting equipment that contains traces of HIV you can become infected.

Worlds Aids Day takes place on December 1.

There is no vaccine as yet.

There are numerous potential vaccines undergoing extensive trials at the moment. Even if they prove to be a benefit it will take several years these are available on the global market.

Since AIDS was first identified over 20 years ago 20,000,000 people have died due to the virus.

HIV is a virus that leads to the incurable and life threatening disease that is AIDS.

An HIV test is a simple blood test that checks for antibodies. Antibodies are your body's response to a viral infection.

The signs of HIV may take up to three months to show up in your blood.

An HIV positive test indicates HIV antibodies were found in your blood and you have been infected.

If you live in Tameside, and are aged between 13 and 25 and want more information about HIV and AIDS, contact the Information Shop for Young People in Ashton on 0161 308 3388.

Author: Andrew Campbell
Tameside iJourno group

World Aids Day

World Aids Day is on December 1, and aims to raise awareness of the disease among young people.
Astley Sports College, in Dukinfield, will be holding an event which involves several hundred people.
On November 30, 600 people will hold up red cards to form a human red Aids ribbon, and 206 balloons will be released on the schools sports field.
The event has been organised and funded by the Information Shop for Young People.
Jayne Speat, the young people’s health development officer, said: "The event is about educating young people on issues relating to HIV and Aids. It aims to break down attitudes which lead to the stigma and discrimination of people living with the diseases. It's also about working in partnership with other services and encouraging schools to participate in issues other than the academic curriculum that are important for young peoples future lives."
The event will take place at around 11am on November the 30th.

Author: Craig Davies
Ashton iJourno group

Noise Festival

The ‘Noise Festival’ is the UK’s first virtual arts festival for young talent - 25 and under - and it went live in October 2006!
Urbis, Manchester is, until 19th November the official exhibition space for the highlights of the website www.noisefestival.com.

The website provides a showcase platform of acclaimed artwork created entirely by young people and displayed the very best of 4,000 online submissions.

Noise Festival is directly aimed at young creative people wanting to get into the creative industries and who dream of seeing their work on television, radio, online and in print. It presented the opportunity to have their work reviewed by some of the UK’s most renowned creatives and potential collaborators. The best fashion, photography, illustration, design, music, fine art and new media is being showcased online and appears across a series of physical exhibitions throughout the UK.
Some of the biggest names in the creative industry have selected their favourite artworks to show as part of the multimedia festival. The curators chose artists because they ‘consistently demonstrated their originality, passion and innovation to their chosen art form’.
Lauren Clowes was chosen by the curator Mark Eley. After performing fashion shows from an early age, Lauren realised that she could pursue a career in the field she loved the most. After completing an art foundation course at Stockport College, Lauren went on to a three year fashion degree at Manchester Metropolitan University. During this time, she was able to create many collections for the degree course and for her own personal portfolio. During her time at University Lauren worked at the Palace Theatre where the basis for a few collections was inspired due to the theatrical influences from the stage shows. Lauren also takes themes from working in charity shops and customising clothes and accessories to sell on Portobello Market in London where she currently has a stall. Lauren channelled her interest in retro clothing with the aid of vintage shops and found objects in garments where ‘craft’ is greatly implicated.
Lauren first discovered her passion for fashion through art classes where she discovered she was much more ‘touchy-feely’ with fabrics and especially enjoyed sewing, more so than painting etc. Lauren innovatively experimented with these two mediums by sticking fabric onto flat drawings! At college Laurens teacher was able to help and guide her through her Art foundation. The North West has been a vibrant centre for the development of Lauren’s development of creative talent and has a reputation for continually producing some of the best creative talent in the UK. Urbis, Manchester is also all about covering what’s new, original and interesting about city life. Lauren was very pleasantly surprised to find out that she had been handpicked for the exhibition. Lauren was able to use much of her University work in preparing for the opening. The piece ‘garden party’ was actually done 2 years ago which further shows Lauren’s innovative skills in predicting fashions. This particular collection is based on ‘found’ objects (such as blankets) and is inspired by sunny days and garden parties. The outfits are actually comprised of picnic blankets to enable the characters to sit down wherever they may be. ‘There’s a commitment to nostalgia that really works’, says Eley, ‘it’s a real pleasure to find because it has such a huge personality’. Lauren loved ‘making an image that encourages you to be somewhere else, away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life’. Lauren is modestly shy when she sees her work being admired by numerous people. Old photographs from her grandma and mum have provided inspiration for Lauren to produce a number of her creative designs. Lauren adores vintage clothing and charity shops.
The ‘noise festival’ is the biggest event that Lauren has been involved in, although she has had experience in exhibiting her work though fashion shows on a catwalk at University. Lauren’s dream job would of course be in designing individual, flamboyant creations which are ‘more art than fashion’. Lauren currently works in ‘Rags to Bitches’ in Manchester where she is soon to have her very own clothing line before she moves to London to continue working in the industry.

Author: Cherry Sandhu

Manchester iJourno group

GMPTE interview - Rafael Martinez

Leaning back in his chair, sipping tea and smiling, Rafael Martinez looked ready to take on anything that is thrown at him. And he certainly knew how to answer a question.
The Crime Reduction Coordinator for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, enthralled with his enthusiasm, passion and dedication for his job.
It was certainly a joy to discover that those trying to make a difference, do so with character.
The young, football crazy professional Rafael, or Raf, as his friends know him as, began by telling us about the route to his current job, starting with his education.
The skills he gained from his foreign languages degree helped him more in his current job of four years than you would think. Being a coordinator for an important department for public transport, he tells us how important it is to be able to summarise a lot of topics in a short space of time.
He said: “University helped a lot with this. The majority of a degree is based around research, and then creating brief preparation for seminars, and obviously managing your time plays a vital role.”
It seems that Raf thoroughly enjoyed his student life at gigs and all the other usual student scenes.
So why study languages and then go onto a post grad in business studies?
He said: “I have a flare for languages. As my father is Spanish, I was brought up to speak the language.”
So where does all this fit into his job? As a fresh graduate out of business school, Raf’s first job was with GMPTE in 2002, as a crime analyst.
He said: “As a temp for the business school after finishing my studies, I was waiting till an advertised job grabbed me before I took it.’ And it seems Raf’s astute decision was the right one; climbing the ranks to his current post with the Crime Reduction team.
Raf’s role now incorporates the negotiation and communication skills he gained as an analyst, and have remained helpful to him throughout his career at GMPTE.
He added: “It’s my job to improve the safety of public transport, and to build relationships with the police. We want to bring public and private together, as well as to overall improve security. We hear of many tales of incidents on public transport and it remains to be my ambition to further develop a career within local government that allows me to serve the needs of the public.”
As safety on public transport is a current big issue, what is GMPTE doing to help reduce crime and increase security?
“We use a multi-model tracking survey, which gives us the opinions of both passengers and non-passengers based on public transport,” said Raf. “We keep a main eye on busier routes, or those in quieter areas, poorly lit areas. Students are a big problem too, especially as many are new here and are therefore more vulnerable to crime in general.’
Raf also commented on how the public are much more aware of CCTV today, and want recordings now to show police. The public will also be interested to know that security guards have also been placed on the metro link for the last eight hours of rail, which Raf thinks will prevent much of the crime occurring currently at night time.
“We also do a lot of preventative work,” he went on to say. “Children who have never been on a bus before need guidance on bus routes, and most of all, the behaviour that is expected on transport.’
The ‘Crucial Crew’ are now the ones responsible for informing younger children leaving primary school on the public transport system, emphasising the way to ‘behave’ on transport.
So it really isn’t difficult to see that GMPTE are doing all they can for the prevention of crime on public transport. Improvements don’t just happen overnight, and people really do have to realise that GMPTE are doing the best job they can possibly do, and with dedicated coordinators such as Raf, we really shouldn’t have anything to worry about!

Author: Amy Coombs

Manchester iJourno group

Papa Roach Gig Review
1st October 2006
Academy 2, Manchester

Papa Roach returned to Manchester to promote their new album ‘Paramour Sessions’, and proved that they are as good as ever. In the intimate surrounding of Academy 2 they mixed their set with songs from both old and new albums, in an energetic performance which left fans wanting more.
After entering through a black mist, they immediately leapt into new single ‘To Be loved’ and from that moment on the energy never left the room. Supporting on the night was The Bangkok Five, who never really managed to gets fans excited and could only generate cheers when asking ‘who’s here to see Papa Roach’.
When the main act did enter though, the fans when crazy and never let off until they left. They performed all the big hits, including ‘Getting Away With Murder’, ‘Between Angels And Insects’, and also slotted in songs from the new album which were well received by the crowd.
Papa Roach gave their fans a real treat, and no doubt people who didn’t get the chance to see them will be wishing they had. Don’t worry though - they will be back on our shores in February next year.

Author: Craig Davies
Ashton iJourno Group

Why drive when you can catch a bus?

Being stuck in a stuffy Saxo in rush-hour traffic on my way to the city centre office where I work from Monday to Friday often urges me to consider using public transport. Afterall, it is much more environmentally friendly as all the promotional material reiterates over and over again. However, when I weigh up the pros and cons, there are reasons why I keep getting into my Saxo and paying the ridiculous petrol prices.
A consideration that must be taken into account is the current demand for accurate timekeeping. I am expected to be in work for 9am. If I could rely on public transport to guarantee that, having planned my journey appropriately, I would arrive, as expected, at 9am, I would relax and enjoy the journey to work, safe in the knowledge that I am not going to have to face my boss red-faced and out-of-breath having ran from the bus stop to make it in before 9.30am. However this is not reality; if I am going to be late and, more importantly, take responsibility for being late, I would rather be stuck in a traffic jam behind the wheel than at a bus stop staring at my watch, wondering whether a bus is actually going to show up.
An obvious perk of using public transport is the lack of discrimination against those of us who have not perfected the art of being able to lose our car on the streets of Manchester or against those of us who cannot afford the overpriced car parks. Another perk, close to my own heart, is the freedom from worry if you wish to have a few drinks after work with your colleagues. However, with the rising prices of public transport and the length of time that is usually added to the journey, one is inclined to drive home and have a glass of wine with dinner rather than chasing around Manchester and its surrounding areas to get home, just in time to cook the dinner before the watershed!
Being a young female, I have been brought up to be aware of my surroundings and avoid putting myself in a situation that might lead to me being on my own in a dark area at night. The threatening nature of bus stations, used as a shelter for young people with nowhere else to go, is intimidating. Theoretically the “Greater Manchester Transport Police patrol these stations”. Do they?
With the Nightbus bringing me home from Manchester after a long night out, if I arrive safely without having witnessed a fight on the bus, or having had a drunken sleazy older man try and make me get off at his stop, I arrive at the bus station to find the buses back to my house have stopped running. It is a twenty minute walk, do I risk it and walk alone or pay £5 to get a taxi? This is a question I shouldn’t have to ask.
Until buses and trains are safer, more reliable, less expensive and have an extended network that runs 24 hours a day, the demand and use of public transport will not rise. This of course means that transport companies cannot afford to improve their service. Until someone finds a way to break this vicious cycle I’m happy to drive in my Saxo!

Author: Su Lewis

Manchester iJourno Group

RECORD REVIEW - METALLICA “LOAD” AND “RELOAD”
1996 + 1997, Vertigo

Picture the scene. You’re in the world’s biggest heavy metal band. It’s 1996. Five years ago, you released a self-titled album which defied all expectations and sold more copies than most of your fans have had hot dinners. You’ve changed the path of heavy music several times with a series of increasingly complex and punishing releases. You’ve just finished a four-year tour in support of said eponymous album. You’re tired, angry and coming to terms with your status. What do you do?
Well, if you’re Metallica… your guitarist and drummer wear eyeliner, you cut your hair and piss off countless people by releasing a relaxed, alternative rock-influenced album called Load, which still sells umpteen squillion copies, then follow it a year with more of the same, called RELoad this time.
But lets not be too hard on Metallica. In their defence, both are fine records, and if they’d put out more trash metal, they would have been dubbed one-trick ponies. There are many fine songs here; different but fine. There are heavy, raucous rockers (“Aint my bitch”, “Fuel” and “Better Than You”) huge, sprawling epics (“Bleeding Me “and” “The Outlaw Torn”, the latter of which is still one of the finest Metallica songs ever) and even blues and country excursions (“Low Mais Lyrics” and “Mama Said” respectively). The only problem is, most of Metallica’s fanbase at the time was extremely narrow- minded, and not all of the band’s experiments here work: “Ronnie” (from Load( is dreadful sub-Lynyrd Skynrd crap, and possibly the worst song Metallica have ever recorded.
Frontman James Hetfield was also criticised for making his writing more personal, but this is unfair – a man in his mid-30s writing songs like “Seek & Destroy” and “Creeping Death” would be widely jeered as well.
All in all, Metallica deserve full marks for trying something new, but theory and practice are seldom the same. At least both these records are better than St.Anger and everything Metallicas rivals Megadeth have ever put out.

LOAD: FOUR STARS.
RELOAD: THREE STARS
LOAD AND RELOAD: FOUR AND A HALF STARS.
KIRK HAMMETT AND LARS ULRICH’S MAKEUP: NO STARS

Author: Gregg Mather
Manchester iJourno Group

Student transport - opinion piece

As a regular public transport user in both Manchester and Sheffield, it is interesting to see the differences of the services offered to students in the two similar size cities.
Manchester provides a very regular bus service in the student areas, with weekly passes costing only £2 for students and frequent buses on Sundays too.
In my opinion the students in Manchester are clearly catered for better than in Sheffield, even though Sheffield also has a large student popularity.
In Sheffield a return fair from the town centre to one of the student areas is at least £1.60 with no student concessions, almost the same amount as a weekly pass for students in Manchester! Sheffield also doesn’t have many bus services on Sundays - in fact hardly any despite being the fourth largest city in England - it is clearly not that advanced!
Another positive aspect of Manchester’s bus service is that it provides free journeys to all pensioners and disabled people after 9.30am - in Sheffield, there aren’t many buses with disabled access let alone ones that provide free journeys!
Manchester definitely wins in the sense of the better provision of public transport and its services, in comparison to Sheffield, which needs to cater for students and the general public better. However, a reason for these differences could be due to the difference in some of the bus companies used in both cities. To improve this, more positive similarities in all northern major cities, in terms of the number of hours that buses run on a Sunday, and standard prices and the amount of discount for students in certain student areas would certainly be advantageous!

Author: Shamela Ghafoor

Manchester iJourno group

Metrolink expansion to go ahead

After a lot of debate, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander recently announced that the first phase of the long-planned expansion to the Manchester Metrolink is finally to go ahead.
The service, which currently serves as a fast and efficient transport link between several regions of Greater Manchester, will have three new lines added to Rochdale rail station, Droylsden in Tameside and St Werburgh's Road in south Manchester.
The decision comes after a debate taking place over two years. After initial Government enthusiasm, plans for the extension were scrapped because of the prohibitive cost. Advocates of the expanded service, however, have always said that any costs incurred by the decision to extend the Metrolink service would be more than made up for in benefits to the regions’ economy through job creation.
The construction of the rail links is expected to begin in 2008, with a projected completion date of 2010. It will be funded with a £520 million fund from the Government and a £300 million loan.
Transport executives are now in the process of finding companies and contractors to carry out the work involved in the extension. They are also looking ahead to phase 3b, which, if the bid is successful, will see services to the town centres of Oldham and Rochdale town centres, as well as to Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury and Manchester Airport. If the bid is successful Manchester will host one of the most sophisticated public transport networks in the country.
It is hoped that the extended service will make life easier for residents and commuters all across the Greater Manchester area. Councillor Andrew Fender, the Manchester spokesperson for the Authority, said: "Metrolink has already given Manchester a huge social and economic boost and the expansion of the network will play a vital role in the continued regeneration of the region."

Author: Richard Millington

Manchester iJourno group

FILM REVIEW - ANCHORMAN The legend of Ron Burgundy
Cert: 15
Starring: Will Ferrell

As far as I can remember, there haven’t ever been any comedies based around newsreader. Bringing word of wars and natural disasters isn’t usually all that japesome. However, local news is different: see Granada’s Paul Crone, for example.
“ANCHORMAN”, the recent film from the “new school” of American comedy, attempts to make us laugh ourselves stupid with the take of Ron Burgundy, “anchor” of a local San Diego news show in the 1970s who has the city at his feet and the love and respect of his peers and viewers… until Veronica Corningstone, a gutsy and beautiful female anchor struts into the studio. While his colleagues are appalled at the idea of a female achor (reporter Brian Fantana remarking “it is anchorman, not anchorLADY!”), Ron is lovestruct and attempts to begin his courtship of Ms. Corningstone.
Eventually he is successful, but at the expense of his career (his final hours coming when he reads out “Go fuck yourself, San Diego” from the Teleprompter, outraging the city). After a humiliating fall from grace complete with a “Lost Weekend” to make John Lennon weep, he is called back to report on the birth of a panda at San Diego zoo. All ends happy and, he and Veronica achieve their career dreams of becoming network anchors.
Unfortunately, the audience don’t get that happy a conclusion. It’s not that “Anchorman” is a bad film, it’s that it just seem to be a bunch of sketches tacked together that often make no sense (for example, the scene where Ron and Veronica consummate their relationship, or where Ron and his co-workers Brian Fontana part-time reporter, full time Casanova).
Champ Kind (loud, brash sports anchor) and Brick Tomland (the weatherman who’s a few drops short of a storm) begin singing “Afternoon Delight” for no reason whatsoever. There are a few standout scenes which are actually hilarious: Jack Black’s comes as a disgruntled biker and the inner-city brawl between the rival news channels’ anchors’ but for a film with Will Ferrel billed as the star, it’s strange that Steve Corell (as Tomland) should get most of the laughs. Make no mistake, the lines you’ll be quoting to your mates will all be Tomland’s (I’ll give you these two as a heads-up: “LOUD NOISES!” and “ I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT”)
Essentially, “Anchorman” is a dumb idea pulled off poorly, and with the exception of a few lines by Ferrel’s co-stars, the film is cringeworthy in the wrong way (for the right way, see “Fawlty Towers”). The comparison of 70’s newsreaders to 70s rock stars in terms of excess and misogyny is amusing, but one good idea and a few quotable lines do not a must-see film make.

** and a half!

Author: Gregg Mather

Manchester iJourno group

Opinion piece - Whitworth Art Gallery

Established over 100 years ago in 1889, Whitworth Art Gallery holds some of the most remarkable, and many extraordinary pieces of art work, and all right here in Manchester. Home to a broad range of textiles, sculptures, watercolours and modern art, I was overwhelmed with how much magnificent art can be held all under the roof of one museum, and in my home town.
One such magnificent piece of art has to be ‘Genesis;’ I think it would safe to say that this certainly does have a story behind it. Positioned at almost the entrance of the museum, the Genesis sculpture is most definitely an eye opener; at a first glance, many people pose the question, ‘is this really art?’ and in my opinion I would have to say, yes, undeniably, it is.
Created by Sir Jacob Epstein from 1929 until 1931, Genesis is huge in size, mass and beauty; clearly it rebels against the ‘rules’ of artwork, which only enhances its splendour. The marble sculpture portrays a pregnant, naked lady, with a face of what could only be considered revolting, yet for some reason it was hard to take my eyes off her. An in-proportion body, mammoth hands and thighs, and over exaggerated facial features, yes this woman is marvellous. In my mind, (and I’m sure in Epstein’s mind also) Genesis asks its audience, ‘why does art always have to show average beauty?’ The sculpture forces the fact that not only is there beauty in everyone, but also in pregnancy. ‘Genesis,’ meaning ‘birth’ could not only literally signalise the fact that the woman is pregnant, but also Epstein clearly gives the birth of a very different form of magnificence; by displaying beauty in a very unusual way. It combines pregnancy, culture and feminism; standing up and becoming proud of what you are, who you are, and what you are made of.
At the time of its creation, people were shocked that Epstein could be so ‘grotesque’ by showing this naked, pregnant woman. Pregnancy was something you should have hidden; women should stay covered up; but thanks can only be given to Sir Epstein for breaking these ‘rules’ once and for all.
However, one can only offer some criticism for the gallery after such praise. Whitworth Art Gallery is the home of many pieces by Joseph Mallord William Turner, worldly famous for his watercolour paintings, such as ‘Moonlight on Lake Lucerne,’ created in 1841. The collection held at Whitworth consists of some of his more popular paintings, many worth millions of pounds. However, some of his work was not really spectacular; I couldn’t help but think that between the work of Turner and that of Epstein there was really no comparison, and certainly thought Turners collection at the gallery had been over rated; so much so that I was disappointed with this part of Whitworth!
Another famous piece I observed on my visit to the Whitworth was ‘Frontispiece, The Ancient Days,’ by William Blake. I was surprised to see that poetry was not all Blake was good at! A relief etching finished in pen and ink, although small, the painting displays authority and wisdom and Blake has truly captured the power of the ‘ancient of days.’

By Amy Coombs
Manchester iJourno Group

Public Transport - opinion piece

As a student in Manchester I am extremely concerned with saving my money! When first arriving in the city I was absolutely amazed to discover that the bus companies such as UK North, Magic Bus and Finglands offered weekly bus passes at just £2. I was also offered a termly bus pass for £30, which I also believed was a complete bargain. Unfortunately the prices have begun to inflate, but at £3 a week I suppose that I still cannot really complain! These passes also work after midnight. This is perfect for the student lifestyle, which involves going to bed in the early hours of the morning! When rushing to get to a lecture in the morning after one of these nights I grew increasingly impressed to find a number of busses pulling up at my stop on a regular basis. However I do believe that this regularity should continue for the whole day. After finishing university at five o’clock it is extremely irritating to have to fight your way onto a bus with hundreds of others wanting to get home also. The buses at this time are way too congested and overcrowded and not frequent enough. On many occasions I have opted for walking home in the rainy city as opposed to feeling claustrophobic crammed into a bus that is way over its limit, despite the fact that I have already purchased a ticket for a week’s use. I strongly feel that this must be against all health and safety rules. On this same issue I have felt extremely concerned with the lack of security on buses, particularly at rush hour when there is an endless number of school children causing chaos and also after a night out. I have witnessed several fights on buses in Manchester, which have made me feel incredibly vulnerable and threatened and made me fear for my own safety. Much of this behaviour takes place on the top of a double decker bus, whereby the driver may be completely oblivious to the situation as it is usual for the buses to be extremely rowdy and noisy at this time of night. Another nuisance of travelling on public transport in Manchester is the number of people who ignore the no smoking ‘rules’ of the bus. As a non-smoker I find it unbearable to be confined on a journey where another passenger is blowing smoke into my face. I have also had to endure journeys which have consisted of listening to a drunk passenger rant and rave for what seems like a lifetime. Although this may have been me on a couple of occasions after a night out! There is a risk of the passenger becoming aggressive due to the alcohol or even being sick in the presence of other paying customers.
Therefore despite being cheap for students to use the public buses, it is not entirely safe or reliable in my opinion and if parking wasn’t so expensive I would much rather drive to my destination!

By Cherry Sandhu

Manchester iJourno group

RECORD REVIEW
KORN – KORN
1994, EPIC

Alright, alright. They might be crap now, and the genre they spawned may be long. Dead in commercial terms, but which ever way you slice it, Korn used to be the hound’s hangers.
Blending the crushing heavy metal of Pantera with the groove and hip-hop basshires of Faith No More replete with the ragged, seething vocals of frontman Jonathan Davis over the top of it all, “Korn” is a fantastic record. While its follows-up may have been accused of forced emotion and continual whining about the same old “I’m so unhappy” crap, its too extreme here to be anything but the real deal. From the slow, tense intro of “Blind” onwards the records coils and trashes with anger, intensity and a deep hatred for anybody that ever wronged Davis. Nowhere is this more evident than in the final track “Daddy”. An horrific reaction to the childhood sexual abuse Davis suffered, its disturbing to listen to at first, and then becomes unbearable: the tragic sound of a man screaming “You ruined my life” through chocked tears is something not everyone wishes to experience.
The only problem with the record is that after seven excellent tracks, you may feel the record falls somewhat flat from then until “Daddy” at first listen. However, repeated listening reveals a consistently pummelling album which is essential if you like hearing music.

*****

Author: Gregg Mather

Manchester iJourno group

Our Day Out

Every couple of months my friends and I plan a day out in Manchester. We get the bus into the town centre from Moston and not have to worry about driving home after a few drinks.
I hate waiting for buses, but it's not often we have to wait longer than five minutes on a Saturday afternoon for a bus to come along, and we hop on for the short 15 minute ride into the centre.
No one has to worry about being in charge of the car keys to get us home safely because we know we can rely on the bus to get us back home again - and all for the price of a bag of chips. And there's no risk of losing the keys while we're out and about either!
If we took the car with us we?d only have to make our way back into town in the morning to pick it up. And then there?s always the worry that we could still be over the limit and could get pulled over by the police.
A one-way taxi ride, for the same journey, would cost us at least £5 more - it just wouldn't make sense.
The bus allows us the freedom to do what we want during the day, for just a couple of quid. A bargain in my book!

By Manchester iJourno group

In't Public Transport Brilliant?

Well, there's the question, and now here's the answer.

Yes and no.

Yes for several reasons: if you don't have a car, it can get you where you want to go. If you do have a car but it's knackered, then it'll do the same. It's good for the environment, if you're one of those hippy types (man). There's more, but if I just sit here and tell you why public transport's the best thing since Jesus said 'Hang on, why don't we try being nice to one another instead of jabbing swords into our enemies' eyes all the time,' then you'd be looking for a sword to jab into your own eyes before long. So here's why public transport isn't so great: it's praised for being cheaper than a car, but if it's a choice between putting a fiver's worth of petrol in the tank or paying �2.90 for a half-hour bus journey that takes ten minutes by car, I'd rather pay the fiver (at least that lasts longer than half an hour). The train station in my village is a good mile away, and if I'm trying to get there on time, it takes a lot of running and a lot of swearing (if I end up being thirty seconds late). That also brings me onto another point: trying to get to a bus or train station on time is often the worst part of the journey, as you're constantly wondering if you've missed it, whether or not the fares have gone up, and whether it's going to get you to your chosen destination on time (which, if you're using it to get you to work, is a real pain in the derriere). If a train timetable tells me it's going to get me to a place for ten to six (which would be an ideal time for me to reach my destination), then I'd quite like it if it got me there for that time, instead of six o'clock or later. I mean, don't get me wrong: the train service is better now than it was fifteen years ago, and I'll take a ten minute delay over five hours waiting for whatever problem's decided to arse my day up to clear off, but surely if companies (and the government) wants people to use public transport, it's got to be more efficient. Safety's a bit of an issue as well. I, along with great swathes of the public transport-using public (wow, what a wide vocabulary), listen to rock music, and I often dress in a manner that indicates this. I'd appreciate it if I was shown the same courtesy I show to other people. But when I get tracksuit-wearing troglodytes calling me every name under the sun, smacking me round the head, punching me in the face and causing similar offence and harm to others like me (whether they're friends of mine or just random people sitting on the bus or train), it's kind of hard to feel like the world's a fair place. This doesn't just mean on the buses or trains, either. I've lost count of the amount of times that, while waiting in a bus station, I've been intimidated, spat at, insulted, punched and otherwise menaced by the Adidas-clad scum who come out of the woodwork in my hometown after ten o'clock and think that Wigan bus station's the most righteous, happening place to hang out of an evening since Studio 54, the Wigan Casino or the Ha�ienda. It's just not on. If I've had a good night out with friends in the pub and I decide to roll on home and have a good night's kip, don't I deserve it without having to clean blood off my Nirvana shirt when I get there? You really do fear for your life sometimes. The Night Bus service, which runs in Wigan of a weekend, is a very good idea, but as the man who invented the chocolate fireguard found out, theory and practice are seldom the same. Picture the scene. You've had a good night out. You roll out of your chosen watering hole or nightclub at ten to three in the morning. You go to Abrakebabra or any burger house of your choosing and get some fatty, hangover-enhancing sustenance, and then it dawns on you: 'How the hell am I going to get home?'

But never fear! Help is at hand! For out of the mists of the night comes a grey-and-purple lifeline: the 635 Night Bus! For only two quid it'll take you to your chosen town, village or hamlet and you can get home to bed for quicker and cheaper than a taxi. Sorted. But it's not all a bed of fragrant roses here either. It's an excellent idea, and I'd much rather use the Night Bus service than a taxi or, God forbid, walk (if it takes half an hour by bus, who knows how long it'll take on foot?). But the same problems are encountered with the night service as with the day service. As we all know, alcohol and young people have a strange relationship. Sometimes it's a nice one, in which the alcohol turns the young person into a great example of what it is to be a human, and sometimes it's a terrible one, in which the alcohol becomes the Devil possessing the soul of the young person and turning them into a good argument for bringing back capital punishment. Unfortunately, the latter usually seems to be the case in Wigan. Once again, I often find it hard to get through a trip on the night service without getting at least three clips round the ear, slurred demands for me to 'Give us a bit of that f**kin' pizza,' or worse. It's almost a relief to get off the bus, but even then the horror's not finished: it's my own fault for living in the back end of nowhere, but I have to get off the bus about a mile and a half away from my house, and the walk isn't a nice one. Few streetlights, huge forests overshadowing your every step and a jaunt past a hospital where a girl was murdered some ten years ago make it come in around #465 on Dennis Norden's Bumper List of Romantic Treks. A few months ago there were some roadworks on the route, and as a result the bus ended up dropping me off at the end of my road, but eventually it was back to the old school. So what's the way around these problems? I've heard that Wigan's bus station is patrolled by Greater Manchester Transport Police, but that doesn't stop the cavalcade of abuse from Wigan's leisurewear-clad University Challenge hopefuls. The price of buses is shockingly high in contrast to trains, with an average difference of at least one pound for a return ticket; a return ticket that is, of course, dubbed a 'Day Saver' on buses now. Day Saver is actually another way of saying 'This is our new name for this service, and a new name means it's better and thus, more expensive: we'll be after the shirt off your back next'. I always thought trains would've been more expensive to run than buses, anyway. All I ask for is that the masses of money that the bus and train companies extract from us all on a daily or weekly basis be put to some use other than marketing and advertising or making sure that the coffee machine in the staff canteen works properly. Bouncers at bus stations, there?s a novel concept. Bring back the old days of conductors on buses, too. And give them the power to clout the insolent. It's either doing that, or dispensing cattle prods to passengers who look like particularly obvious targets for abuse.

Author: Gregg Mather
Manchester iJourno group

Summer Sundae Weekender Preview - August 11 to 13

The Summer Sundae Weekender is the best little festival you?ve probably never heard of. Now in its sixth year and ever growing in scale, the festival stretches over four stages with more than 100 artists. Events take place in and around Leicester?s De Monfort Hall with this year?s headliners including Elbow, Gomez, Calexico, The Proclaimers and Belle & Sebastian.
This will be my third year at the festival. So what makes the Summer Sundae so special, I hear you ask? Firstly, It?s a great place to see all manner of up-and-coming bands with Keane, Kasabian and Hot Chip among others having played there in recent years. Secondly, the festival site is very close knit, with all the stages are in close proximity to each other, making it a doddle to wander from one to the other.
It is also situated right in the centre of Leicester so, while you could spend the whole weekend in blissful ignorance of the outside world, the city centre is only a 10-minute walk away. Finally, the festival is fairly cheap as festivals go, with a price tag of �75 with camping only costing �2 per tent, but early bird tickets are available for only �65. The campsites are clean and friendly places, with facilities that don?t go to rack and ruin, even by the last day.
The music starts on Friday afternoon, August 11 and runs through to Sunday night. Tickets are still on sale as I write, but the camping tickets have already sold out. The festival is supported by BBC 6 Radio so if you can?t make it, you can still tune in and hear all the highlights. For further information, have a look at the following sites:
Summer Sundae official website: www.summersundae.com
BBC6 website: www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/summersundae2006/
Efestivals website: www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/summersundae/2006/

Author: Garath Hacking
Manchester iJourno group