Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Author: Natasha Lam

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...
Continued Suspension of Royal Holloway UCU Equality Officer, Jeff Franks
News

Continued Suspension of Royal Holloway UCU Equality Officer, Jeff Franks

Jeff Franks, a Professor in the Economics Department here at RHUL, has been suspended since April 11 2018 and continues to be restricted from contacting students or coming onto campus. He has been suspended on the grounds of leaking confidential and sensitive information, violating the recently implemented GDPR and privacy practices, as well as violating the College Grievance Policy. According to a document Orbital Magazine has access to, the college’s suspension of Franks “is deemed appropriate because… continued presence at work may inhibit the investigation in connection with the allegations” against him. Franks is the Equality Officer for the Royal Holloway branch of the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) and was supportive of the pensions strikes that occurred earlier this year....
It’s The Rule of Thirds
Lifestyle

It’s The Rule of Thirds

Yes, that’s right, I am not in a relationship. That’s not for you to coo at sadly, or to pat me on the back with a patronising ‘you’ll find someone’ – it’s just a fact. For the most part, I am quite happy with being single and, excluding the occasional drunken swipe on Tinder, I do not find myself yearning for a boyfriend. However, there is one thing that makes me wish I was in the relationship: most of my friends are in one. Of course, I want my friends to be happy and I definitely like some of their significant others. But, it gets quite lonely to not be in a relationship when everyone aorund you is in one. Every time a new movie is playing, I am left to go alone or to wait until it’s inevitably made its way to a streaming platform while all my friends skulk off hand-in-hand with their ...
Spare Parts?
Science & Technology

Spare Parts?

Lab-grown body parts aren’t just science fiction. Scientists all over the world are attempting to use stem cells to grow ears, livers, hearts, kidneys, blood vessels, skin and bladders in labs that are transplantable into real people. Though rare, some people are walking around with lab-grown bladders. Around 80% of the world’s transplants come from the deceased while the other 20% is mainly made up of living donors and a small percentage attributed to a lab. Many people question whether the future could see people receiving transplants from a lab, or even a ‘farm’ of lab-grown human body parts, mass produced for transplants all over the world. These organs are greatly needed. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), there are over 100,000 people waiting for a lifesaving...
Silence Will Fall
News

Silence Will Fall

People marched through London on Saturday 14th October 2017 as part of a protest calling for the end of modern slavery around the world. The Walk for Freedom march is organised by A21, a charity organisation fighting human trafficking and slavery. It is an annual event that aims to get people to stand together against “forced labour, servitude and sexual exploitation”. A21’s Walk for Freedom is organised all over the world, with marches in 48 states in the US and over 20 counties in the UK. There are also participating walks in most of the EU, Australia, Canada, South America and in a few Asian countries. Charlie Blythe, director of A21’s UK division and the organiser of the walk, stated that the walk is “one of those things that makes you feel great, to do something for others… it i...