Wednesday, April 24Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Orbital

The Dos and Don’ts of Halloween Costumes in 2021
Lifestyle

The Dos and Don’ts of Halloween Costumes in 2021

Ah, Halloween; a strange time of year. For some, it’s a day of celebrating old traditions, a way to honour the dead and make them immortal through our memories. For others, it’s a time where you can get discounted chocolates and binge horror movies. Regardless of how you celebrate the end of October, one thing is certain: whether they are meticulously planned or thrown together at the last minute, there will be copious numbers of chaotic costumes. However, if you don’t know where to start, here are some Dos and Don’ts to help you get your act together. DO: be sensitive to other cultures. Although we have made great strides in bringing attention to insensitive costumes, unfortunately, common Halloween attire still includes ‘Mexican’ ‘Native American’ & ‘Tribal’ outfits. These ...
NBA Superteams: Basketball Analysed
Sports & Socs

NBA Superteams: Basketball Analysed

“I’ll never leave the team.. till we build to a championship level. It needs a lot of work but me and the guys we are ready for a challenge”. A young Giannis Antetokounmpo tweeted in 2014, a year following his 15th pick by the Bucks in the 2013 NBA draft. At the time, the road ahead to the playoffs looked bleak. Their 2013-14 season ended with a record of 15W and 67L.  Steadily, both the Bucks and Antetokounmpo improved - the Bucks have shown consistency in the playoffs since 2016-17, and Antetokounmpo picked up his first MVP in 2019. Turning his words into reality, Antetokounmpo dropped a cool 50 points in arguably one of the greatest performances of a Finals game. It’s this tenacity that is at the heart of the sport. Bucks elation was at the expense of the Phoenix Suns, who w...
Guide to the UCL Favourites 2021/22
Sports & Socs

Guide to the UCL Favourites 2021/22

The greatest club competition in football returns this September with several teams eyeing the prize. A manic transfer window could provide the tightest competition in years, with many teams bolstering their squads in the knick of time. Below, we take a look at the predicted odds of success come May 2022.  PSG: The bookies' favourites have undoubtedly had the best transfer window in history, acquiring sensational names on free deals like Donnarumma, Ramos, and Messi. The project with PSG has been simple - win a champions league. The rejection of Real Madrid’s £190 million offer for Mbappe throws all eggs into the UCL basket knowing he will walk as a free agent next year. Appearances in the final and semi final over the last 2 years are a testament to their progress, but being c...
Journalism: Maybe, Maybe Not.
Opinion

Journalism: Maybe, Maybe Not.

Journalism is an amazing industry. Difficult, sure, but absolutely amazing. Of course, I’m biased in that view considering I am looking to go into this industry and, on good days, may even refer to myself as an actual journalist rather than a journalist-to-be. My life is filled with FOI requests, countless emails to interview subjects and half-finished articles in various Word Documents and I love it. I am always trying to get my friends interested in journalism and if you’ve spoken to me for longer than five minutes, it’s likely I’ll have tried to recruit you for this very magazine. People getting involved in journalism, and especially student journalism, is extremely important as we are facing accusations of ‘Fake News’, budget cuts and, more often than not, a stressful environment to wo...
10% gender pay gap: stop victim-blaming, start bias proofing says UCU RHUL committee
News

10% gender pay gap: stop victim-blaming, start bias proofing says UCU RHUL committee

UCU RHUL committee response to Abbie Cheeseman’s article A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap? The UCU Royal Holloway local branch committee welcomes Abbie Cheeseman’s article entitled A Feminist Institution with a 10% Gender Pay Gap?   She highlights the greater-than 10% gender gap in professorial pay at RHUL which the Times Higher Education (THE) this year reported was the 7th worst in the UK. She also rightly pointed out that this pay gap has been steadily widening in recent years. Cheeseman suggested that Gender pay gaps should not be seen as a direct case of sexism and considered various possible explanations for the pay gap increases.  In fact the explanations given by the College are indirect cases of sexism. Cheeseman suggested that efforts to decrease the gap ...
What Went Right at the Oscars?
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

What Went Right at the Oscars?

The Orbital’s Sumi Bal discusses the disaster that was the Oscars. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the 2017 Oscars were quite the event. We had milestones reached with the first Muslim to win an Oscar, and we had disasters like a performer savagely attacked by a prop, and of course presenting an award to the wrong film. It’s been interesting to say the least. Let’s go through the good, the bad and the oh so very uncomfortable. The highlight of the night was Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali being the first Muslim actor to win an Academy award. His hard earned success is being celebrated across the world, as not only is Moonlight centered around a black cast, but is also based on a gay relationship. This film breaks boundaries, and in doing so will be a source of inspiration for like minded people...