opinion – The Orbital

16Nov

By Adisa-Maria ManoleNo Comments

Beyond Space and Time

By Adisa Manole November is the month that many Eastern European countries remember the loved ones who have departed from this life. Consequently, I decided that this was the right time to tell the tale of my great-grandfather. He served in the Second World War when Romania joined the Soviet Union's Operation Barbarossa. Even though I have never met my great-grandfather, my father always told me that I had the same spark in my eyes as he did. I always needed clarification on what he meant when he said that. How could this heroic figure compare to this scared young woman? When my great-grandfather, Vasile Gheorghe (also known as Răduță), was sent to serve on the battlefields of Europe, he was in his late twenties, had just got married to my great-grandmother, and they had just ...

16Nov

By Ruby Caballero-RoffNo Comments

Opinion

Failure is Part of Progression

By Ruby Caballero-Roff I didn’t pass my driving test for the first time at age seventeen. I didn’t go to university the September I turned 18. I did not have a huge balloon-filled party at age 21. I felt like I had failed, but I hadn’t. I’ve always found that making progress is far too often linked with age and meeting goals we assume we will reach as we grow older. These goals are then combined and linked to your personal success as a person. Goals can be positive, uplifting, and remarkable, and all these achievements at such a young age give you countless boasting rights. A CV filled with confidence when applying to universities or a bedroom drawer filled with certificates (not just participation awards) — your progress has given you a childhood full of success, but will th...

16Nov

By Kiera GarciaNo Comments

Opinion

Loosen Your Stitching

By Kiera Garcia When living in an age where identity is everything, the idea of fluidity appears to be a perilous game. We're expected to know who we are, our desires, and our beliefs, and know exactly how to articulate those thoughts. I know that I fell victim to the idea that if I hadn't had my whole life figured out by the time I was 18, I would have failed at life. After coming to university and having the subsequent almost quarter-life crisis of realising that I did not have my entire self figured out already, I realised how dull and colourless life would be if I never changed. The idea of being the same as I was when I was 13, and even the same as when I was 17, frightened me. This does not make the process of evolving and developing your identity any easier. The cliché of ...

‘I Saw it on TikTok’: The Death of Print and Reliable Sources

16Nov

By Poppy JacksonNo Comments

Opinion

‘I Saw it on TikTok’: The Death of Print and Reliable Sources

By Poppy Jackson Podcast recommendations, the next viral recipe, or the serum that will finally rid me of my acne scars—TikTok has it all. Yet, when it comes to spreading global news, this short-form video content and its simple sharing and distribution methods are nothing short of dangerous. We’ve all fallen victim to the social media news circus, where celebrities propagate their own ignorance pertaining to politics, religion, and worldviews, often reaching a larger audience than traditional publications. When the Israel-Gaza conflict is at the forefront of public consciousness, TikTok is more than ever a necessary tool. So why does this form of media consumption prove so unreliable? Even before TikTok, it was difficult to find trustworthy, unfiltered news. A politi...

Healing Wounds and Fostering Hope in the City Of Joy: The Battle of Dr. Denis Mukwege

15Nov

By Olivia TaylorNo Comments

News

Healing Wounds and Fostering Hope in the City Of Joy: The Battle of Dr. Denis Mukwege

By Olivia Taylor Trigger Warning: Discussions of rape and violence. Rape is the cheapest weapon in war. It has the power to destroy families, empty villages and rid victims of any sense of dignity. Finding a solution for a crime against humanity like this feels almost hopeless. Still, there is one man who has dedicated his life to changing the world’s perspective by saving the lives of thousands of Congolese women who have endured the harrowing weaponisation of rape in times of war. Dr. Denis Mukwege decided to study medicine after witnessing the complications that women in the Congo experience during childbirth due to their lack of specialist medical attention. As a result, Dr. Mukwege established Panzi Hospital to address his country’s alarming maternal mortality rates. It was ...

Some Things Never Change: Body Positivity or Toxicity?

10Oct

By Beth McCowenNo Comments

Lifestyle, Opinion

Some Things Never Change: Body Positivity or Toxicity?

By Beth McCowen As the weather gets hotter, and the events that have been in our diaries for months are finally rolling around, it’s time to switch up our wardrobes to include some summer attire after months and months of cosy jumpers and trendy scarves. As joyful as the sunshine, floral dresses, and holidays can feel, this transition in season, and therefore style, is easier for some than it is for others. Throughout the autumn, winter and even spring months, we often grow used to hiding away our bodies, our insecurities, under clothes in which we feel comfortable, usually on the basis that they show less of our skin than the alternatives that are more practical for the summer. For those who have struggled with eating disorders, other health problems, or difficult relatio...

7Jan

By Sofia BajerovaNo Comments

Opinion

Fresh Starts

What even is a fresh start? Is it when you finally decide to put in place that new skin care routine? When you paint the walls and move furniture around in a room to make it feel brand new? How about when you move to a new house, town, or country? When you walk into your first class in September, or when the clock ticks past midnight on New Year’s Eve? Why do we look for fresh starts? What makes us feel the need to start over and do something different? Does it originate from a deep sense of stagnation? The feeling of not being good enough? Is it the sense that we could do better? I once rented a house which had one of those patterned, textured wallpapers in the hallway. It was painted over with a fresh coat of white paint to make it look brighter and more modern, ready ...

21Jun

By Hannah ArmourNo Comments

News, Opinion

The Be Real App: The Next Big Thing?

It’s deadline season, and for the third day in a row, the ‘Be Real’ notification goes off while you’re in the library. You take the picture, capturing your front and back camera views: an exhausted face in one corner, an empty coffee cup, and a computer with God only knows how many tabs open. This isn’t the life you wanted to portray online. Be Real, a new social media app, sets itself apart by going for pure authenticity. With the tagline “Your friends for real”, the app sends out a notification everyday at a different time to capture and share a photo in two minutes. The only problem? It’s exposing how mundane our lives really are. It should be refreshing; isn’t this what social media was supposed to be? After all, isn’t there beauty in the everyday? Without the potent...

Hyperconnectivity Hurts: How 24/7 Culture Harms the Youth

21Jun

By Madelaine GrayNo Comments

Opinion

Hyperconnectivity Hurts: How 24/7 Culture Harms the Youth

I’m sure it’s happened to us all; a message missed, leading to a glowing, bolded notification, over a day old, glaring out at us through the screen. The guilt, and the embarrassment builds. What to do? Do you reply, as if nothing happened? Do you respond with a hasty apology? Or, do you leave it, the aforementioned guilt and embarrassment growing until the message is buried far down your recents. Maybe one day you’ll open it, leaving it “on read” - after all, after a week or two (you tell yourself to ease your conscience) who’s checking? Or maybe you’ll “air” it, on and on and on, letting it fossilise far down until you almost (only almost) forget about it. Of course, it’s not always that dramatic. If it’s a good friend, it’s easy to brush it off. In the complex web of young adul...

21Mar

By Accalia SmithNo Comments

Features, News, Opinion

One More UCU Strike…

How effective is the Strike action in creating the change it seeks? An Interview with James Smith The end of March will see the disappearance of professors from classrooms once again. Not because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because of industrial strike action from the UCU (University and College Union). As a third-year student my university experience has been impacted by both the strikes and COVID resulting in an unexpected minimal amount of time spent on campus. In my first year there were extensive strikes which some students joined in on. Then COVID struck in March, disrupting the entirety of that year. Now, we are partly back to campus with both covid and strikes interrupting simultaneously. Professor James Smith, the UCU representative within the English department here at...