News – Page 2 of 37 – The Orbital

Founder of Academics Against Assault Molly Hanning,“Prevention is all about education expansion”

3Mar

By Madeline SidgwickNo Comments

News

Founder of Academics Against Assault Molly Hanning,“Prevention is all about education expansion”

By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor TW: Sexual assault, rape, trauma, PTSD, and violence against women. Over a Diet Coke at the Armstrong Gun, I met with Molly Hanning, the founder of Academics Against Assault (AAA) and Royal Holloway Masters Student. Our conversation covered many bases including the origin story of AAA, Molly’s personal experiences, and building the group on a national level - including a trip to Parliament. Molly is truly an inspiring woman and I extend my greatest thanks to her for such a productive and insightful conversation. How did AAA begin? Academics Against Assault began after Molly was raped in her first year of university and found it “hard to gather any support at all.” In reflecting on her experience, she recognised a clear lack of accessib...

The Battle For Your Attention – Paramount Reigns Over Netflix

3Mar

By Claudia BealNo Comments

Film & TV, News

The Battle For Your Attention – Paramount Reigns Over Netflix

By Claudia Beal, Staff Writer In December 2025, the battle for ownership of Warner Bros Discovery ‘ended’ in a £61 billion deal from Netflix. However, on February 27th, Netflix walked away from the deal. Paramount Skydance is set to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, having won its hostile takeover bid. In December, Paramount, despite the larger bid, seemed the smaller player. Netflix had almost conclusively won. The deal would have made the new conglomerate a giant in the entertainment landscape, which raised concerns of anti-competitive behaviour and awaits approval by associated authorities. The Writers Guild of America commented that the former Netflix merger “would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and r...

17Feb

By Liv Briens MonteroNo Comments

News

COP30: The Crisis of Climate Honesty

Are world leaders telling the truth about saving the planet, or just performing it? By Liv Briens Montero, Staff Writer From the 10th to the 21st of November 2025, over 190 countries gathered in Belem, Brazil for COP30, the 30th annual climate summit. As world leaders gather to shake hands and discuss environmental policies, one question quietly overshadows the official sense of unity and cooperations: How honest are world leaders about climate action?COP30 marks ten years since the Paris Agreement, in which the nations present promised to attempt to keep global warming below 1.5°C. However, in late October 2025, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that overshooting the 1.5°C global warming limit is now inevitable, citing a lack of new climate pledges. The Paris agreement repr...

Royal Holloway’s 2026 LIMUN Delegation Head to Conference

16Feb

By Madeline SidgwickNo Comments

News

Royal Holloway’s 2026 LIMUN Delegation Head to Conference

By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor This weekend, Royal Holloway’s London International Model United Nations Delegation heads to conference. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Head Delegates Amélie Williams and Hugo Courtney to discuss the weekend ahead, as well as the benefits of LIMUN and being a Head Delegate. I first asked the pair what the LIMUN conference actually looks like in practice… The conference is a simulation of the various United Nations committees. The weekend requires “grounded” information and resolutions “based entirely on fact”. The members of the delegation are given a variety of committees and countries to represent at the conference each year, and the weekend concludes with awards for the best performers. “We are hoping t...

The Man Who Bought the News – Murdoch Succession

10Feb

By Claudia BealNo Comments

News

The Man Who Bought the News – Murdoch Succession

By Claudia Beal, Staff Writer In September, a settlement was reached between Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch and his four eldest children - Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James - regarding the future of Newscorp, the most influential media company in the world. Murdoch, who famously founded Sky, also owned 21st Century Fox until 2019 when he sold it to Disney. He retained FoxCorp, where he was chair until 2023 (now chair emeritus), with his son Lachlan as the company's residing chair. Rupert Murdoch also owns FoxCorp (Fox News), The Sun, The Times, Times Radio, The Sunday Times, New York Post, California Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial News, Collins publishing, Harper Collins, Tubi, Vogue Living, GQ and Vogue Australia, Sky News Australia and New Zealand, 13 st...

The Year of Reading: A Concerning Decline in Reading Rates amongst Youths

9Feb

By Ruby SaggersNo Comments

Literature, News

The Year of Reading: A Concerning Decline in Reading Rates amongst Youths

Ruby Saggers, Editor-in-Chief January 1st officially marked the start of ‘The Year of Reading’, an initiative introduced by the Department of Education and the National Literacy Trust. This is a campaign supported by an array of sponsors, and delivered by a group of literacy sector charities with hopes of making reading pleasurable, accessible, and a hobby to introduce regardless of age or circumstance. The National Literacy Trust found that in just two decades there has been a 36% drop in eight to eighteen year olds reading in their spare time. Queen Camilla issued a statement in regards to the fifth anniversary of The Queen’s Reading Room, in which she stated: “Reading truly changes how we perceive, how we think and how we connect.” In light of this, I conducted an i...

9Feb

By Madeline SidgwickNo Comments

News

In Conversation With: Jethro Robathan

By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor Jethro Robathan is now a Market Reporter at Angus Media but was once the Associate Opinionand Debate Editor at The Orbital Magazine and English Literature student at Royal Holloway.From experience at The Independent, The Financial Times and The Times, Jethro is an exampleof how The Orbital began a journalism career.I reached out to Jethro to talk all thingsfreelancing, financial journalism and his experience at both Royal Holloway and The OrbitalMagazine. Q: Tell me a little about your background and what led you to Royal Holloway?I have always known I wanted to work with words so an English degree felt like an obviouschoice. RHUL had/has a great reputation for creative writing and literature, plus I had a fewfriends already at RHUL so it was...

The New VAWG Strategies and Reflecting on the UK Sex Education System

9Feb

By Ruby SharkieNo Comments

News

The New VAWG Strategies and Reflecting on the UK Sex Education System

By Ruby Sharkie, Associate News Editor TW: This article includes references to sexual violence, pornography, and harmful sexual behaviours, which some readers may find distressing. Last month (December 2025), a new government strategy was announced in the House of Commons, its aim; to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The strategy’s main focus is teaching boys about healthy relationships and pornography. This comes after the next regulation under the Online Safety Act in which more ‘rigourous’ age checking systems were implemented for explicit sites such as PornHub, etc. Pornhub has stated that the number of UK visitors to its website is down by 77% compared to early July, before the regulations were put in place. According to St...

Budget Boost or Job Barrier? Student Employment in the Reeves Era

25Jan

By Ruby SharkieNo Comments

News

Budget Boost or Job Barrier? Student Employment in the Reeves Era

By Ruby Sharkie, Associate News Editor With Racheal Reeves announcing in Wednesday’s budget that minimum wage for 18-20 year olds will be increasing by 85p per hour, many businesses have warned that the increases could push up prices and make it harder for 18 to 20-year-olds to find work. It has been recently reported that youth unemployment is at its highest level since 2015, excluding the pandemic years. With unemployment rates in 16-24 year olds at 15.3%, Keir Starmer has been criticised and warned that Britain’s youth are in danger of becoming a “lost generation”. And one of the groups feeling the hit of this unemployment epidemic, are the university students of today. Although already in full-time (or part-time) education, students have reported finding it ever-more di...

Breaking News: SU Board Approves the Ratification of Royal Holloway Israeli Society

14Jan

By Madeline SidgwickNo Comments

News

Breaking News: SU Board Approves the Ratification of Royal Holloway Israeli Society

By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor The Students' Union (SU) Board made the decision to overturn the Societies, Sports and Opportunities Executive (SSO) board members' decision to deny the ratification of Royal Holloway Israeli Society. Members of the SSO board are elected by students throughout the year. In a statement released at 11am today, Friends of Palestine Society stated “We demand that the SU Board revoke their decision to overturn the democratic and legitimate decision of the SSO, our elected representatives- immediately”. Israeli Society last night via Instagram stories stated, “Following an appeal the decision not to ratify the Israel Society has been overturned, subject to a few minor conditions. Fantastic news! RHUL will soon have an official Israeli Soc...