Opinion – Page 17 of 31

7Jun

By Izzy SwansonNo Comments

Opinion

President Celebrity

At January’s Golden Globes, a new potential presidential candidate was born: Oprah Winfrey. In her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille award, she projected a message of solidarity and hope addressed to women across the world who have experienced sexual abuse and inequality. Raised by a single mother in poverty, Oprah’s rise from years of sexual abuse as a child to becoming the richest self-made woman in America, is a deeply inspirational story. Her influence on the American public, initially stemming from The Oprah Winfrey Show, which embedded topics such as racism, LGBT awareness and gun control into a national discourse, left Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois, to suggest that she was ‘the most instrumental person in electing Barack Obama president’. With her charitable dona...

10May

By Lydia PaynterNo Comments

Opinion

The Irish Abortion Referendum

Motherhood, and specfically the ability to carry and give birth to a baby, is simultaneously revered as the epitome of the greatest of all human powers, the ability to create new life, and ridiculed and undervalued as ‘women’s work’. The power to choose not to give birth, and instead end a pregnancy, seems to incite equally rigorous complaint and controversy, which is soon set to be voiced very publicly as the Republic of Ireland prepares to go to the polls on 25th May for an vote that could lift the country’s ban on abortion. In Ireland, an abortion is not merely illegal; its prohibition is enshrined in the constitution as the Eighth Amendment, which recognises the equal right to life of both a woman and an unborn foetus. The change to the constitution, which came into force...

10Mar

By Annie MooreNo Comments

Opinion

Too Little Too Late?

The Students' Union's campaign, Let’s Talk About Sex, replaced the much loved Sexual Health Advice and Guidance (SHAG) Week that we have seen run previously. Vice President Welfare and Diversity, Willow Wong’s, new initiative was meant to make our sexual awareness weeks more inclusive of all orientations on our campus. Whilst the week was certainly more applicable to a wider range of sexual preferences, it failed to adequately deal with the elephant in the room – our closed sexual health clinic. In the summer of last year, our sexual health clinic closed due to a restructuring and privatisation of the branch of the NHS that served our campus. Subsequently, students requiring STI and HIV testing or post assault support now must travel miles off campus for such services. The college have ...

7Mar

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Opinion

Surface Level Suffragettes?

The history of the suffrage movement is obviously very important here at Royal Holloway. So, itt makes sense for the college to find ways of celebrating this history during the centenary anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, right? Wrong. With so many lingering issues surrounding women on this campus, I'm not sure Royal Holloway should be capitalising on the suffrage movement without addressing these important issues. Since the recent unveiling of the Davison Building, named after suffragette Emily Wilding Davison as she is an alumna of this ‘feminist institution’, Royal Holloway has also placed a open exhibition with archived memorabilia in the Davison exhibition space as well as enlisting students to dress in Suffragette outfits and walk around campus on February 6, which was the day that ...

5Mar

By Rachel HainsNo Comments

Opinion

Our Time Is Up

Harvey Weinstein. The “Times Up” campaign. Donald Trump’s war against women’s rights. Everywhere we look, sexism is a familiar part of the world we live in. As a woman living in 2018 I Rachel Hains explores the second ever “Women’s March” in London, reminding us that the fight for equality is far from over. cannot help but wonder, how can this still be the case? This question was on the lips of the thousands of people who, on the 21st of January 2018, marched for a second time in London. The march was aimed to promote current issues women are facing globally including battling for equal pay, stopping sexual harassment and issues surrounding racism. These are all basic expectations for a modern, civilised country. Yet, people felt the need to take to the streets to remind those in power ...

4Mar

By Natasha PhillipsNo Comments

Opinion

Talking Trash

Plastic is still a relatively new material, but it has transformed all aspects of our lives, and the world today would look very different without it. But 60 years later, 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste has been produced, and 79% of that is in landfill or in the natural environment. The impact of this is immense; plastic waste produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases, and can be fatal for marine life when it ends up in the ocean. The real issue lies with single-use plastic in the form of plastic bottles, food packaging, and the like, which despite being used only once, take 450 years to decompose. Reducing our use of these items could make a tangible difference, and we’ve all heard the stats, so what stops us from making more eco-friendly choices? Not buying single-use plastic a...

2Mar

By Jasmine CoxNo Comments

Opinion

Will Britain remain Green?

EU environmental laws are maintained at an impeccably high standard, and with over 80% of Britons in favour of these levels of protection, it is alarming that the repercussions of Brexit jeopardize the guarantee that Britain will maintain these standards. The surfacing of these fears was evident in Theresa May’s speech last month, whereby, she announced her ambitious 25 year plan to reduce the waste of plastic: ‘Brexit will not mean a lowering of environmental standards’. […] ‘We will use the opportunity Brexit provides to strengthen and enhance our environmental protections – not to weaken them’. Alongside this, environmental campaigners have voiced their concerns that propositions such as this demand legislation, which echoes the sentiment of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wants to ...

12Feb

By Abbie CheesemanNo Comments

Opinion

Envisioning Our Future

Having trawled through college strategic strategies, financial information and masterplans, it’s safe to say that Royal Holloway has its sights set high for how it envisages itself at the end of the 2020 grand strategy. It will have been consistently in the top 20 UK universities and the top 200 worldwide universities for the past seven years. In each academic discipline we will have a world-leading research specialism and our research intensity will be of the highest standard. We will have increased our economic contribution by 20%, partly through increasing the number of students attending to 10,500. Our facilities will be fit-for-purpose, from the Davison, Electrical Engineering and Music & Media buildings, to the additional 2,650 bedrooms that will cater for the ever-growing studen...

12Feb

By Emma HalahanNo Comments

Opinion

Residents Versus Students?

For those that haven’t yet joined Englefield Greenies, the Facebook Group for all residents of Englefield Green, it is the battlefront on which the war between students and residents is being waged. Daily occurrences of noise complaints regarding student houses, upset about lack of parking due to commuting students, and general animosity are rife. But do the Greenies have a point? What once was a traditional Victorian village has been overrun by a good chunk of our 9000 students and according to our 2013-2020 strategy that number is only set to rise. Is their disdain the result of years of poor treatment and a convenient discourse we have spun dismissing them as an intolerant community? Do all Greenies hate students? We spoke to some to get the real story. Time and time again on Engl...

6Feb

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Opinion

A Forecast for Social Media in 2018

As we welcome in the new year, it’s an important time to reflect on the previous one. Our ups and downs, our successes and our failures. One important thing to reflect on is our use of social media. Research shows that there were approximately 3 billion active users of social media, 2 billion of which were avid users of Facebook alone. It brings a large number of benefits and is clearly the most preferred form of communication these days. However, it’s important to know that social media comes with a lot of downsides too and so should be used with caution. Social media has many advantages. First and foremost, it gives us the ability to connect with people from all over the world, quickly and in real time. It helps us maintain strong relationships with friends and family and gives us the...