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Articles by Patrick Crellin
Campus societies voice support for VONC in President's last week
Several student societies at the University of York have publicly backed a vote of no confidence in the University of York Students’ Union (YUSU) President as he enters his final week in office. Last week, a student submitted a vote of no confidence in the President after the latter cancelled the term’s policy process in light of a separate vote of no confidence against the Policy Coordinator.
Fortnightly News Roundup 10th-24th of June 2018
Pope Francis meets the crew members of the ISS 53 space mission during a private meeting at the Vatican June 8, 2018. Source: Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS. Being well informed isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be time consuming. In this feature, The Yorker is bringing you a fortnightly roundup of politics free national and international news. From the stories you’ve seen to some you might not have, this is everything you need to know from the past two weeks.
Why has the YUSU policy process been suspended?
The new Sabbatical Officer team, elected in February 2018 and due to take up their posts at the end of this month. Image: The Yorker You’ve probably heard about the recent furore over YUSU. Both the YUSU President and the Policy Coordinator are subject to votes of no confidence, the PRG has supposedly been “suspended” and students are condemning their Students’ Union on social media. It’s been covered in varying detail by Nouse, York Vision and by The Yorker. But what does it all mean?
Vote of no confidence submitted against YUSU President after policy process cancellation
A vote of no confidence has been submitted against Alex Urquhart, President of the University of York Students’ Union (YUSU), after today’s cancellation of the YUSU policy process. Huw James, a Third Year student of Linguistics, submitted a vote of no confidence (VONC) to the Policy Coordinator today, passing his motion on student media publications.
YUSU policy process suspended following complaint against Policy Coordinator
The final YUSU policy process of the academic year has been suspended in light of an anonymous complaint submitted against the Policy Coordinator.
Review: Hereditary
The horror genre has been blessed with some really excellent offerings over the past few years. From It Comes at Night, It Follows, The Gift, A Quiet Place and to lesser extent Happy Death Day, the genre has felt more exciting and unpredictable than ever. Hereditary is the latest horror film to create a huge buzz. Is it as good as these other films? Well, A Quiet Place is my favourite film of the year, but Hereditary is pretty high on that list as well.
Who will be representing England in Russia 2018?
Image Credit: BBC A month on from the 23-man England squad announcement by Gareth Southgate and looking forward to England’s first match on Monday, it’s time to analyse who will be representing the Three Lions in Russia. With an average age of 25, the youth-heavy England squad headed out to Russia after their final preparation friendly against Costa Rica on 7th June. Very few players remain from the 2014 squad who played rather dismally in Brazil.
A Brexit update: Negotiation troubles and party division
By UK Parliament – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENIW7i48xHA, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62228373 It doesn’t seem like long this article was published explaining the key issues in Brexit so far. This week, lots has gone on, so once again, let us delve back into the depths of Brexit to sort out what you need to know.
Poll for YUSU Big Student Debate motion pulled after voting error
A poll to decide the topic for the final Big Student Debate of the year was pulled on Friday after the online voting system erroneously suggested that over 12,000 students had voted in favour of a single motion. An error in the voting system saw over 12,400 votes cast in favour of the motion, “This house believes that a vote on the Brexit deal is anti-democratic” before staff at the University of York Students’ Union (YUSU) took the poll offline.
Review: Lean on Pete
Lean on Pete is the latest film from director Andrew Haigh and is adapted by Haigh from Willy Vlautin’s novel of the same name. The film stars Charlie Plummer who was last seen losing an ear in Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World. The film tells the story of Charley Thompson, a boy who takes a summer job working for a racehorse trainer and forms a strong friendship with an old racehorse, Lean on Pete.
The Month in Politics: April
Keeping up to date with developments in global politics and headlines can be time consuming and overwhelming. But yet, in our increasingly fast-paced world, knowing what’s happening is crucial. Of course, it is impossible to discuss every headline to come out of the last month, but summarising the main stories seems to be within the realms of possibility.
University of York "encourages hate speech, discrimination and racism," claim BAME Officers
The University of York is “an environment that encourages hate speech, discrimination and racism,” student representatives for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students told The Tab this week. Responding to an allegation of racist language written by a Philosophy student to a black student radio presenter, the elected BAME Officers of the University of York Students’ Union, Nayomi Karthigesu and Hannah-Joseph Asikhia, told The Tab that they were unsurprised by the incident’s occurrence.
York Vision Editor-in-Chief resigns, admits bleak future for student newspaper
The Editor-in-Chief of York Vision resigned today, stating that “no amount of dedication or commitment” can resolve the newspaper’s ongoing problems. “I no longer believe that York Vision is [in] a position to continue operating,” Amelia Hubbard, the Editor-in-Chief of York Vision wrote today in a statement of resignation. Hubbard detailed the difficult situation of the newspaper in a resignation letter emailed to the newspapers’ membership.
Review: The Importance of Being Earnest
Alastair Whately directs Oscar Wilde’s superb crown jewel: The Importance of Being Earnest. The three-act play is revived at York Theatre Royal, retelling the excellent combo of love, society and false identities. Centring around two friends, Algernon (Thomas Howes) and Jack (Peter Sandys-Clarke) the play follows the pitfalls of ‘Bumbrey-ing’: putting on false identities to excuse oneself from social events.
Review : A Quiet Place & Ghost Stories
This week I went to see two horror films. I only ended up seeing one and a half of them. What happens next will horrify you. First, I saw A Quiet Place, John Krasinski’s latest directorial effort in which he stars alongside his wife, Emily Blunt. The film’s plot according to IMDb is – “A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound”. A Quiet Place is a perfect exercise in tension building and set piece cinema.
15 Fashion Trends from around the World
On Friday the 20th of April, the fashion society of the University of York is pesenting an International Fashion Show in collaboration with Leeds Fashion Society and York Fashion week in the beautiful Carluccio’s. For this occasion we decided to explore the wide world of fashion to see where the classic clothing items everyone know really come from. You might be surprised for some of them! London, UK Mary Quant is responsible for the risqué raising of hemlines in the late 1950s.
15 Fashion Trends from around the World
On Friday the 20th of April, the fashion society of the University of York is presenting an International Fashion Show in collaboration with Leeds Fashion Society and York Fashion week in the beautiful Carluccio’s. For this occasion we decided to explore the wide world of fashion to see where the classic clothing items everyone knows really come from. Some of them might surprise you! London, UK Mary Quant is responsible for the risqué raising of hemlines in the late 1950s.
Attention to detail: How Customised Envelopes Could Benefit Your Small Business
Summer term, finals and graduation are just around the corner for many students. Some may be panicking about future career prospects, but some students may be considering their next career prospects to be in the business world. With so many careers now being made online, and the new wave of ‘influencers’ establishing their own brand business through platforms such as YouTube, it can seem like a hard path to take.
Album Review: Kate Nash, Yesterday Was Forever
After five years of near silence whilst working on the Netflix series GLOW, Kate Nash returns to the music scene with her refreshing second album which she released as an independent musician, Yesterday Was Forever. Funded using Kickstarter, an online platform where donations can be made to raise money for creative projects, the album is an inspiration for talented independent artists. Kate Nash is back and here to remind us she can do more than ‘Foundations’.
Review: Ready Player One
Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time. From Jaws to Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List to The Post, his films are always brilliantly made and some rank among the best films of all time. However, Spielberg’s more dramatic output has been of a higher quality than his blockbusters in recent years. With Ready Player One, he makes a flawed script into a hugely entertaining film which appeals to the nerd in all of us.
Horrorshow Roundabout: A Short Story
Written in the style of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. Most of the language is taken directly, while other parts have been created for the purposes of the story. ‘What will it be then? You lowest of souls, most diligent workers, sufferers of Bourgeoisie oppression, what is your choice?
Review: Star Wars The Last Jedi
I’ve often wondered what it was like to watch The Phantom Menace in the cinema. Sitting down after so much build up, only to face two hours of VFX fetishism, awkward dialogue and downright bad filmmaking. At what point would people realise? Would they simply marvel in the spectacle and ignore the flaws? Or would they head home sadly, wondering what went wrong? I think The Last Jedi is the closest I will ever get to that experience.
Review: Paddington 2
This year brings the return of the nation’s favourite marmalade-sandwich-munching bear, Paddington. Three years after the release of the first and surprisingly delightful film, the sequel has charmed the nation just as much as the first and has had a very successful six weeks at the box office, staying in the top two all the way. Garnering critical acclaim too, it seems Paddington 2 is set to steal the family crowd this Christmas, and I’m 100% on board with that.
The Disaster Artist Review
The Disaster Artist is the story behind the making of The Room, one of cinema’s most popular ‘so bad it’s good’ movies. Dave Franco plays Greg Sestero, a young, handsome budding actor. In his search for stardom he meets Tommy Wiseau, a fellow actor with an air of mystery played by James Franco, who also directs this film. James Franco’s impression of Tommy Wiseau is flawless. His performance is hilarious, from his strange speaking cadence to his bizarre laugh.
Interview: Michael Pearse, director of Beast
During Leeds International Film festival, I had the pleasure of seeing Beast, the brilliant psycho-drama starring Jessie Buckley in a bravura performance. The film’s plot, in the words of its director Michael Pearse, is as follows: In a small island community, a troubled young woman falls for a mysterious outsider who empowers her to escape her oppressive family. When he comes under suspicion for a series of brutal murders she defends him at all costs and learns what she is capable of.
Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas
Now, we all know the story of A Christmas Carol, as there have been so many incarnations of the original book it’s nearly impossible to avoid. But how many people know the tale of how Charles Dickens penned the tale, and in just six weeks? Well, I certainly didn’t, and that’s where The Man Who Invented Christmas comes in. Dan Stevens portrays the perhaps lesser-known version of Charles Dickens – manic, and not at all the typical reserved Victorian.
The Weekly Playlist (27th November - 3rd December)
Hello, friends! Are you ready for another round of new music from yours truly? Well, I bet you are! Why would you have clicked on this article otherwise? As you might be aware, we’re already in December which means the countdown to the end of the year has begun.
PhotoSoc Presents... Changing Seasons
The Yorker is excited to announce its newest venture: a partnership with PhotoSoc! With the expansion of the Original Work section, we will now proudly publish original student photography and small photo collections. Working with Photosoc’s monthly Instagram competition, The Yorker will provide a platform for emerging photographers at the university by publishing each month’s winning photograph. Congratulations to this month’s winner, Nic Fife, for his photograph inspired by ‘Changing Seasons’.
Review: Justice League
The Earth’s mightiest heroes have assembled. Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg are here to save the day in Zack Snyder’s latest superhero smackdown. However, the production was plagued by tragedy and harsh constrictions placed on the film’s runtime. So did Justice League end up more like Wonder Woman or Batman V Superman? Sadly, this film is a mess somewhere in the middle. According to certain sources, around 50mins of footage was cut from this film to reduce it to a 2 hour runtime.
It should have been the film for our generation - what went wrong with The Circle?
Power, politics, surveillance, social media, privacy: The Circle (2017) had everything it needed to be a deep and critical commentary on the ethical dilemmas of today’s world. So why did it fall so short? The Circle was set up to be a clever blend of modern tech thriller and mild political dystopia. Mae (Emma Watson) goes off to live in a strange corporate colony that provides its employees accommodation and healthcare.
The Yorker at LIFF 31: Best of the Fest
LIFF 31 gave us the opportunity to see an amazing selection of brilliant films. To wrap up our coverage of LIFF 31, we have all recommended a film that we saw at the festival, some of which are now being released in cinemas: I saw a whole host of exciting films at LIFF 31, but my favourite has to be Dark River. The rural setting brings so much to the atmosphere of the film; the quiet, the tradition, the resilience. It seeps through the characters and the landscape, immersing the audience.
The Weekly Playlist (13th November - 19th November)
Hi there! Thanks for clicking on this article! Chances are you did this either because you’re a music lover and you want to hear new music or because you’re just curious about what I want to say. Of course, a third option would be you wanted to click on one of those great film reviews or one of those political comments that we have and you clicked by mistake on this article. Whichever the option, welcome to The Weekly Playlist where I talk about my favourite new music from the past week.
Review: Stranger Things Season 1 and 2
Stranger Things has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, at least amongst a certain audience. For those unaware, the Netflix original series was first released in the summer of 2016, and was met with both critical and public adoration. Consequently, the show was commissioned for a second season, released October 2017, and with at least two more seasons planned. It seems the show’s creators The Duffer Brothers have struck gold. But is it any good?
The Yorker at LIFF 31: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Three Billboards tells the story of Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), whose daughter was murdered and the killer never found. She challenges the local law enforcement – led by Sherriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) and his brutal subordinate Dixon (Sam Rockwell) – with messages she writes on the titular billboards. This leads to a clash that leaves the entire town in the crossfire. This is the best film of the festival and the best film of the year so far.
The Yorker at ASFF '17: Animation 6
One of the most fascination forms of moving image to me is animation. The time, effort and patience that goes into creating these worlds is immeasurable, and it is no wonder that animation flourishes in short form as even a minute of filming can take months. This year’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival screened six collections of animated films, the last of which I saw in a lecture hall in King’s Manor on a chilly Sunday morning surrounded by a variety of film fans.
The Yorker at LIFF 31: You Were Never Really Here
This film is not for everyone. It takes a story which has the possibility of broad appeal but moves it in a thoughtful and distinctly original direction. Much has been made of it’s similarities to Taxi Driver but in reality it takes that idea and approaches it in a very different way. Joe is not the remorseless killer he seems to be, he is motivated exclusively by remorse and guilt which gives him a sensitivity that is unusual in this type of film.
The Yorker at LIFF 31: Bad Genius
One of the great things about film festivals is the sheer variety of what gets screened. When perusing the programme for this year’s 31st Leeds International Film Festival, I happened across a listing called Bad Genius, a film about the cheating epidemic of Asian-Pacific students in US college entrance exams, which has been getting increasingly high-tech in recent years. A film about a smart girl leading the fight against culturally enforced academia? I knew I was in for a treat.
The Yorker at ASFF '17: Death to the Script (Panel)
This year’s Aesthetica Short Film Festival proved to be a success with a wide and interesting selection of shorts, as well as special events and talks. These included panel screenings of different institutions which teach film to aspiring young artists.
The Yorker at ASFF '17: Fashion 2
Aesthetica provides York residents with fascinating screenings every November, presenting films, which people might not otherwise get to see. In that sense its fashion panels are always a treat, showing the audience the interesting visual playground that is fashion films. This year’s Fashion panel 2 was of particular interest as the films shown there covered an extensive array of ideas and approaches, walking the fine line between classic narrative and buoyant imagery.
The Politics of Truth in the Modern World
Source: ITV Our lives are so often defined and lived through by truths. Now more than ever, we are bombarded daily with new facts and figures on all ranges of platforms. It has become hard not to escape the realm of fact versus fiction in a world so media orientated. Facts are here and everywhere and so is the realm of truth. But how often do we think about the implications of truth in the modern political world? Probably not much.
Bolshoi Ballet: The Taming of the Shrew
The Bolshoi Ballet production of The Taming of the Shrew streamlines the tale to its core: the harsh romancing of Petruchio and Katherine and the mirrored sweeter coalescence of Bianca and Lucentio. The play benefits in some ways, losing Christopher Sly and the peculiar metatheatrical beginning is for the best, but this version, without disguises or comic interjections, is a little overtrimmed.
Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape
York Art Gallery are currently hosting an exhibition of Paul Nash, whose landscapes clearly show the disturbance of the artistic tradition which reflected the world which had suffered unprecedented carnage in the world wars. The exhibition shows some of Nash’s later surrealist work such as his engravings and illustrations. Curated by John Stezaker, the exhibition situates Nash among contemporary British surrealists as well as his landscape painters.
Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer
After bursting onto the (relatively) mainstream scene with 2015’s dark comedy The Lobster, writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos returns with the equally as subversive The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Lanthimos has re-teamed with The Lobster star Colin Farrell and co-writer Efythymis Filippous, but can this seemingly formidable trio replicate the impressive alchemy that made their first collaboration both a critical and commercial success?
Referendum Period Extended
The University of York Students’ Union (YUSU) have released a statement extending the voting period to 9.00am on Monday, 13th November (Week 8). Jack Harvey, the Policy Co-Ordinator said: “The Students’ Union is extending the referendum voting period until Monday morning to give students the opportunity to engage with the debate and vote over the weekend.
LIFF 31 Review: Call Me By Your Name
Presented at the Sundance Film Festival, and now screening at the Leeds International Film Festival, Call Me By Your Name is receiving acclaim across the globe. Adapted from André Aciman’s novel, Luca Guadagnino delivers a movie of uncommon delicacy, taste and beauty.
The Weekly Playlist, October Edition, Part II
Hello again, dear friends! Are you ready for the second part of The Weekly Playlist, October Edition? Well, if you’re reading this then you probably are. For this article, I have prepared for you nine of my favourite music videos that were uploaded on YouTube last month and, spoiler alert, they are all awesome! And no, I’m not biased at all when I say this. There are a lot of big names on this Playlist.
LIFF 31 Review: Glory
The thing that makes the cinema of small nations good festival fare is, I believe, the chance to learn something new about a place in the world that doesn’t get as much focus as others in cinema. However, when such movies manage to provide the audience with an accessible and universal subject matter as well, they can be eye opening and truly successful. Such is the case with the Bulgarian feature Glory, part of the official selection of the 31st Leeds International Film Festival.
YUSU's Problem - The Yorker
Photo credit: Future Learn The referendum on creating a new ‘Working-Class and Social Mobility Officer’ is symptomatic of much of what is wrong with The University of York Student Union (YUSU). It reflects many of YUSU’s seemingly intractable problems, whilst obscuring those the Union is supposedly trying to address. Firstly, it is a product of one of YUSU’s most unhealthy instincts—bureaucratisation as a first port of call.
Tension High at Working Class Officer Debate
Last night, I covered the official debate over the creation of a Working Class and Social Mobility Officer. It was the culmination of a first week of campaigning which has seen controversy throughout; controversy which carried into tonight’s discussion, with confrontational and hostile comments a theme throughout. It was chaired by YUSU’s policy co-ordinator, Jack Harvey, who said it was “the most enthusiastic I’ve seen.
The Weekly Playlist, October Edition, Part I
Hello there and welcome to The Weekly Playlist, October Edition! Since The Weekly Playlist wasn’t exactly “weekly” during October, I decided to write a series of three articles in which yours truly will guide you through the new music releases from last month. In this article, I will share with you my favourite songs and in the following two articles, I will talk about new music videos and new albums, respectively. But, enough about that! Let’s talk about what’s on today’s Playlist.
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