Opinion – Page 25 of 31

26Oct

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Opinion

The importance of water

Amie Dredge asks why the university is not doing more to keep us hydrated Water: that little necessity in life that comprises over 70% of your body weight. We are constantly being told to drink more water, yet there are very few places on campus to get this water. The recommended daily intake of water is set at 2 litres. The proven advantages of drinking lots of water include: Better skin Decreased tiredness - Feeling tired can be a result of dehydration and the NHS recommends drinking more water if you feel frequently tired Help to lose weight - A 2015 study by the University of Birmingham reported that drinking water before meal times means you eat fewer calories because you feel fuller (http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2015/08/Abottleofwaterbeforeeachmeal260815.aspx...

27Sep

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Opinion

HAVE WE STOPPED CARING?

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have calculated that over 59.5 million people have been displaced globally, with Syria being the world’s largest source of refugees (in 2014) and overtaking Afghanistan, which had held the position for the last 30 years. These statistics are staggering and really hit home how many people are currently in need after being forced to flee. It is therefore not surprising that there has been much talk about the refugees and the conflicts which are causing them to leave their homes, and more importantly, what those in more fortunate positions can do. In 2014, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) gave over €854 million, equivalent to 70 per cent of its annual humanitarian aid budget to projects helping refugees. This mone...

27Sep

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Opinion

Smile! You’re Being Tracked…

Last Thursday night saw the premiere of Channel 4’s gripping new series, Hunted, in which members of the public go on the run for 28 days and try to escape detection by the hunters. Aided by high-tech equipment used by the police and security services, they know a surprising amount about how far the fugitives have travelled and this has, as Channel 4 intended, flagged up to us how hard it is to disappear completely in today’s society. What I found incredibly fascinating was the idea that we create patterns. As students we probably have the most freedom of anyone in how we structure our days, but most people tend to have a natural body clock, influencing their sleeping and waking patterns. With the colossal rise of social media, our phones are usually the first and last things we reach f...

The Breath of Fresh Air with the Beard In Charge of Labour

27Sep

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Opinion

The Breath of Fresh Air with the Beard In Charge of Labour

Why should we love Jeremy Corbyn? Why should this man, this beard and beige adorning, allotment attending man, be greeted with our adoration? To answer this, we should examine the political sphere currently in place. A growing resentment towards politicians resonates amongst nearly all of us, and why? Despite strong words, big gestures and emphatic lip service given by politicians, Britain suffers from a limp lack of alternatives. Many critics of Ed Miliband’s Labour party state that it was his lack of radical alternatives to the Conservatives that lost him the election. On issues such as Europe he remained as silent as the grave, a decision that lead to as much for his career. Regarding the housing issue he was vague, nondescript and insufficient. We regard our political scene with ...

3 Questions RHUL students get asked – and how to answer them

23Sep

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Opinion

3 Questions RHUL students get asked – and how to answer them

You start university and suddenly you’re facing 20 questions from friends and family. As a smaller university Royal Holloway is not universally known so here are a few answers to some FAQs. 1. How’s life in London? Maybe it’s because of Holloway Prison or being part of the University of London, but almost everyone I talk to assumes I’m living in London. Take a deep breath to answer this and explain how you actually live 40 minutes away by train, and no, you’re nowhere near Holloway prison. Be prepared to say this again and again (sometimes with the same person!) 2. That’s a good insurance choice... This is a less common comment but people sometimes assume, because we are not Russell Group and have slightly lower entry requirements, higher achievers must have just settled for a place he...

22Sep

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Opinion

The Ultimate Freshers List

By the end of your first year, you’ll probably be well on your way to feeling like you’re drowning in subject textbooks. With this being the case, reading as a pastime is unlikely to be your favourite thing. However, I do have ten must-haves for all students (especially you, freshers!) who want fun, intelligent and essential reads for being in the know. 1) Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt – Freakonomics is an easy read but explores society in a way you’ve never thought of before. The clever mix of economics and everyday life makes it and its sequel, Superfreakonomics, an addictive read. 2) Calm: Calm the mind, change the world by Michael Acton Smith – This book introduces a way of making you calm in the face of continuous deadlines. Rather than suggesting ...

22Sep

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Opinion

How Not To Do Freshers Week

This is not an article that will detail that fine delicate balance between the cliché extremes of ‘working hard and having fun’, for several reasons. Those sorts of articles are patronising, unenlightening, and generally written by people who frankly know how to do neither. Instead, I will impart a few quick recommendations regarding what not to do during the VK sponsored inauguration ritual that is Fresher’s week. Do not, under any circumstances, even consider the remote possibility of spending a single night inside your room. For this week, there are no ‘early nights’. You have just arrived, all you have are blank A4 sheets and an empty timetable. You have nothing to be early for. Do not call your friends out the back of Medicine or the SU (these places will become familiar to you) on...

19Sep

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Opinion

A New Dawn has broken, has it not?

Tony Blair spoke the words ‘A New Dawn has broken, has it not?’ May 2nd 1997 in the early hours of the morning represented a break from 18 years of opposition. Furthermore a break from Conservative rule which turned a social democratic country into a country of yuppies, privatisation and strikes. However most importantly this represented a new style and agenda for the Labour Party following the disunity of Bennites, moderates and the gang of the four and the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. This may be ancient history in political terms as Harold Wilson once remarked that ‘a week is a long time in politics’ but once again a new dawn has broken in the Labour Party. This ‘new dawn’ is different in many respects to the ‘new dawn’ Blair promised as instead of a move towards t...

7Jun

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Opinion

The Perils of the Perfect Dress

The summer is coming and this means the end of exams, the end of term, and, for many, the Summer Ball. As a fresher I have no idea what this is like but I do have ample experience of shopping for clothes, both formal and casual. And I can tell you that this is not an easy task, especially for women. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure men also have issues when shopping for clothes, particularly with gender stereotyping looking down on any man who actually enjoys shopping. But maybe it is this idea of shopping as a female pursuit that has made the experience for women so complex. Allow me to elaborate. Firstly, clothes shops predominantly cater for women so we have the entire store to explore. Nothing is grouped by type of clothing, only by style or collection. That top you saw in the window...

7Jun

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Opinion

In search of some much needed sleep

Sleep. It’s vital, especially for students. We seem to have two moods: ‘sleep is for the weak’ and ‘I want to sleep for a week’. With the frantic juggling of work and socialising, sleep tends to be neglected, especially around deadlines and exams. But then it can also be cruelly taken away by late night revellers, as many students in halls have found. One angry, sleep deprived resident said: "Due to living in Wedderburn sleep is often interrupted by fire alarms or drunk people singing ‘I dont want to miss a thing’ outside my window." This is not ideal for anyone, but especially inconvenient on nights before exams. It can be especially hard when you are free from work and others around you are not, but being considerate coming home from Monkey’s or the SU should be the norm. Another f...