The Mancunion

On 26 March the UK Home Office imposed a ban on study visas issued to nationals of Sudan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Afghanistan. As justification for the ban the Home Office claimed that study visa abuse is ‘widespread’ among nationals of the four affected countries. In a Home Office press release, Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused.

What ‘pop’ is to music, ‘casual’ is to video games. Broad, accessible, familiar, and widely appealing. There’s no one set formula to make a casual game, unlike an RPG or a 2D platformer. Casual games are not defined by one visual style, platform, or level of difficulty, but by how easily they invite people in, and how they can broaden the perception of what games are for people not familiar with the form.

Leif are a four-piece band of friends who met during university in Manchester. They are made up of first-year Finlay Smithies (lead vocals and guitar), second year Osian Owain (backup vocals and lead guitar), and third-years George Hargreaves (bass) and Noé Findji (drums). Credit: Miza Fatahillah @ The Mancunion Their first ever gig was at Klang in Fallowfield, for Manchester University Music Society’s (MUMS) Gig Night. At the time, Leif had been practicing as a full band for over one month.

The title of British-Nigerian drummer, composer and bandleader Jon Onabowu’s debut album Now’s The Time feels remarkably fitting. As an artist who has toured and performed with a plethora of mainstream names in the jazz scene, including Theo Croker and the Balimaya Project, it seems that now really is the time for Jon to shine as a solo musician. On the eve of the album’s release, Onabowu discussed his journey towards going solo, the inspirations behind his work and the future of jazz as a genre.

“…and that’s always the thing, it’s deeper than aesthetic, I mean, partly that’s why I wanted to do it, it’s quite provocative, because, like, why would you be defending this –” – yeah – “ – and we were trying to explain it, because we didn’t expect to be on the side of this random vape shop, but it’s funny how these things turn out – ” – strange bedfellows, yaknow – “…yeah, so true –” – but you don’t get that kind of resistance to the vape shops down in Withington, for example – “ – no,...

2023 saw the pivotal landmark in indie horror The Exit 8 release on Steam: a Japanese ‘walking simulator’ horror developed by one man known as KOTAKE CREATE, in which the player must journey through the superliminal halls of a metro station and notice anomalies in the labyrinthine design to escape to the surface.

Game-to-film adaptations have, particularly in 2026, found themselves in the limelight. The first half of the year alone has seen Super Mario Galaxy, Mortal Kombat, Silent Hill, The Exit 8 and The Mortuary Assistant all finding second homes on the silver screen, with the latter three noticeably being horror titles.

On a sunny day in May I attended a day of events that piqued my curiosity and introduced me to a niche, eccentric world. It was organised to celebrate 35 years of Headpress Books, a Manchester-founded independent publisher with a presence in the counterculture-pop culture and horror scene since 1991. The first panel of the day was all about the work of Nigel Kneale.

On a sunny day in May I attended a few events that piqued my curiosity and introduced me to a niche, eccentric world. It was organised to celebrate 35 years of Headpress Books, a Manchester-founded independent publisher with a presence in the counterculture, pop culture, and horror scenes since 1991. Read about the first two events here. The third panel of the day featured Mark Goodall and Andy Cowan, who spoke with Jen Wallis, press officer at Headpress, about their books on music.

This June saw the return of the Summer Games Fest, an annual event held since 2020 to showcase a large slate of upcoming gaming releases. And this year’s event was the best one so far, packed with plenty of exciting announcements, but also many to tilt your head. The one that stuck out to me the most is Stranger than Heaven, RGG Studios’ next project.