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The Future of Afghanistan and its Women under Taliban Rule
Features, News

The Future of Afghanistan and its Women under Taliban Rule

‘The women in this part of Kabul were a different breed from the women in the poorer neighbourhoods’, Khalid Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khalid Hosseini an Afghan-born American novelist, outlines a mother-daughter story within the context of a contemporary Afghan society when published in 2007. As the above quote demonstrates, Hosseini tries to reflect what he recognised as a 'thriving city' that ‘by the standards of a conservative religious country… was quite liberal’ in his memory of living in Afghanistan in his early years.  Like the rest of the world, Hosseini saw the gradual reclaiming of Afghanistan; as ‘Kabul had fallen’, he watched woefully. Hosseini now comments that he has ‘no idea what the future holds’.  That he is 'deeply sc...
The Emphasis On Drinking During Freshers’ Week
News, Opinion

The Emphasis On Drinking During Freshers’ Week

With COVID-19 restrictions lifted and a gradual return to normality, Freshers’ Week will be going ahead as planned. While some will be enjoying the social opportunities that the legendary week has to offer, others might have a less than satisfactory experience; especially when we consider the pressure being placed upon students to consume excessive amounts of alcohol during the week. Either way, there will be a mixture of responses, but nevertheless it is integral that we normalise the inability to make friends in the first couple of weeks, and the stress that resonates with joining a new community. It’s easy to forget as a second or third year how isolating the first term of first year can be.  All too often, university life has been circumscribed to the pervasive stereotype that...
Marginalisation Of The Kurdish Identity: a human rights violation
News

Marginalisation Of The Kurdish Identity: a human rights violation

Amongst all these humanitarian agencies who seek to protect and aid those suffering or victims of mistreatments, it is unbelievable to think that there are still constitutional restrictions entrenched to eradicate a cultural identity. Especially when it comes to a sensitive issue such as the Kurdish Question; a minority ethnicity that has fought endlessly to protect their rights, with many activists, politicians and lawyers currently imprisoned as a result.  The spiralling political crisis that the question elicits today stems from nothing more than a backlash from the past. Following the break-up of the Ottoman empire in 1922, the many different ethnic groups living in the newly formed Republic of Turkey were forced to comply with ‘Turkification’ policies: a homogenising stance t...
Let the “bodies pile high”- What Dominic Cummings’ testimony tells us about the Government’s Covid response after the first lockdown was enacted
News

Let the “bodies pile high”- What Dominic Cummings’ testimony tells us about the Government’s Covid response after the first lockdown was enacted

Whilst a large part of Dominic Cumming's explosive testimony centred around the early stages of the pandemic, as the main purpose of the select committee was essentially focused around what we can learn for future prevention of pandemics, there were other parts of the pandemic response that came under scrutiny. The person that came in for the most brutal criticism was Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary. Cumming's claimed that he should have been fired for "15 to 20 things" including "lying" to people "on multiple occasions". He allegedly lied about everyone getting the treatment they required, about the supply of PPE, and lied about the government’s test-and-trace planning by misdirecting resources for an arbitrary 100,000 testing target. The most damaging lie was the one he tol...
Hit Me With Your Best Shot: is the COVID-19 vaccine the best ‘shot’ at reviving live music?
News

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: is the COVID-19 vaccine the best ‘shot’ at reviving live music?

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021, Rotterdam, marked the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song contest. Markedly, with 39 entries, this was the first large-scale, global, live music event the world has seen so far in what appears to be the hopeful, post-COVID-19 era.  Although a sad loss for the UK, James Newman focused on the experience and atmosphere in comments about the night, mentioning that he ‘loved the crowd’s reaction… and everyone cheering’. This was not reflected in the United Kingdom’s final score – but what can be focused on here is the joy of the crowd as live music seems to be making a return.  The question now being asked is, is the COVID-19 vaccine the best shot at continuing what appears to be the revival of the live music industry?   Over the c...
George Floyd: A Year Later, What Has Actually Changed?
News

George Floyd: A Year Later, What Has Actually Changed?

The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 were sparked by the unlawful murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, May 25th; from this came worldwide demonstrations against the racial violence against Black men and women. Political and legal change has been made in small increments towards a real and permanent change but  have these protests only really brought to light the injustices and have yet to fix a broken system? From his murder many came forward and more cases were found proving that this is really worse than it seems. Police violence against Black people has not decreased; in fact since the protests more people are aware of the threat and it has made the lack of a change in attitude more obvious. Derek Chauvin, the police officer that murdered Floyd, has however since be...
“We are absolutely f****d!”- What Dominic Cummings’ testimony tells us about the Government’s early Covid response
News

“We are absolutely f****d!”- What Dominic Cummings’ testimony tells us about the Government’s early Covid response

I was planning to write about Covid, Government corruption and the Greensill scandal; but after my exams were finished and my dissertation was submitted I couldn't help but be glued to my laptop listening to Dominic Cummings’ testimony to a select committee. It only feels right to cover what was alleged and what it reveals about the government and our country. In this short piece, I cannot cover the full breadth of the allegations that emerged from Dominic Cummings' many hours of testimony, so I would encourage you to read about the allegations in full somewhere else. Some would argue that we haven't learnt anything; these are allegations from a man who has seemingly shown little regard for the importance of the truth in the past, so how can we trust him now? It was a stark image to se...
University students fight for their rights as Turkey cracks down on LGBT activism
News

University students fight for their rights as Turkey cracks down on LGBT activism

February is LGBT history month and that means that it’s the perfect time to look back at how the community has fought for its right to exist. There have been many tales of hardship and resilience in years gone by, which have all contributed to forming a society where it is now safer than ever to exist outside of the heterosexual norm.  That said, the global fight for equality and acceptance is still far from over. Even this month, younger generations have been fighting for their identity across Europe.  In Turkey, for example, four students from Bogazici University were arrested for publicly displaying artwork that depicted the LGBT rainbow symbol alongside the sacred Islamic site, the Kaaba in Mecca.  The act was in response to the installation of a new university...
Implications of the Pandemic Era on Human Security and the rise of EVD in the Dominican Republic of Congo
News

Implications of the Pandemic Era on Human Security and the rise of EVD in the Dominican Republic of Congo

The rise of COVID-19 in 2020 saw a revival of attention paid to healthcare, global health, and cases of emergency medicine that the pandemic pressured.  Amidst this global rise, attention on the resurgence of EVD (Ebola Virus Disease) and the strain COVID-19 placed upon this outbreak has not yet gained this level of traction, which is likely because of the current disparity in scale between the two viruses.  But what now needs to be noted are the possible implications of a dual-virus presence in areas affected in the Dominican Republic of Congo (DRC), and a need to research how virus management will be maintained.  What COVID-19 has brought to light within public and political debate is the policy emphasis on military preparedness, preserving security against the t...
Captain Tom, “Perseverance Porn” and Journalistic Responsibility
News

Captain Tom, “Perseverance Porn” and Journalistic Responsibility

The death of Captain Sir Thomas Moore, commonly known as Captain Tom, earlier this month was really thought provoking for me personally. During the Second World War, he fought in Myanmar; the same place that my own Grandfather was mobilised, who's life was irreversibly changed by Dengue fever, the same disease Captain Tom caught during the conflict. Whilst hearing about that definitely made me think, the thing that interested me was the extensive coverage that Captain Tom garnered over the last 10 months since he began his walk to raise money for the NHS. During the early stages of lockdown here in the UK, and as Captain Tom approached his 100th birthday, he began walking 100 lengths of his 125 metre long garden to raise money for the NHS, aiming to raise £1000 before he became a cente...