University – Page 8 of 14

14Nov

By Lee MillerNo Comments

Sports & Socs

Reviewed: Joshua vs Usyk

It was a clean sweep from Oleksandr Usyk as the Ukrainian remained undefeated, securing a unanimous final result of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Anthony Joshua's second reign as heavyweight champion came crashing down after a timid and lethargic performance. The first 3 rounds of the fight saw Usyk assert himself more so than Joshua, who was using the opening as a chance to feel out Usyk and gain some reads. Joshua’s process appeared to be paying off, as the pendulum swung during rounds 4-6. The reigning champion upped the pace and took back control of the fight, watched on by 65,000 fans. However, Usyk quickly adjusted and during round 9 Joshua suffered an eye injury that only got worse as the fight went on. The eye kept swelling and consequently Joshua was unable to see, losing t...

Mark Zuckerberg and the Metaverse: science fiction or (virtual) reality?

31Oct

By Hannah ArmourNo Comments

News, Science & Technology

Mark Zuckerberg and the Metaverse: science fiction or (virtual) reality?

Mark Zuckerberg, no stranger to controversy, has announced a change in the branding of the parent organization of his media technologies empire. Facebook, originally designed as a social networking website where Harvard students would rate each other’s attractiveness, is now universally recognisable and impossible to escape. Its namesake company Facebook, Inc. is a social media giant owning Facebook (surprise, surprise), Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp. And now they will be attempting to digitally extend the physical world, through social media involving virtual and augmented reality - with a name change to Meta Platforms. Inc. to boot. This rebrand accompanies a series of recent public relations crises including the revelations brought by whistleblower Frances Haugen about Fac...

Orbital’s Madelaine Gray Covers Royal Holloway’s XR Protest: How It Happened & What Next?

30Oct

By Madelaine GrayNo Comments

Features, News

Orbital’s Madelaine Gray Covers Royal Holloway’s XR Protest: How It Happened & What Next?

“Climate change isn’t stopping,” says one of today’s protesters on location at Royal Holloway. “It isn’t slowing down for anyone. There’s no time to delay.” And so it would seem. It’s a chilly day on campus, one of the first on which you’d be hard pressed to find a student without a coat or scarf. There’s been the threat of rain all morning, from both the forecast and the ominous-looking clouds. But the protesters are undeterred. After all, with climate change comes the promise of more rainy days, even in perpetually sodden Britain. Since launching three years ago, Extinction Rebellion has been catapulted to the forefront of British media coverage of climate change. Their bold statements and radical approach, based on the historic practice of civil disobedience, has caused both a hu...

Which Undergraduate are you: Miracle Child or Hustler?

18Oct

By Bridget OSullivanNo Comments

Features, Opinion

Which Undergraduate are you: Miracle Child or Hustler?

The ‘Are They Still Alive?’ One Whether you’re a halls resident plagued nightly by the 2am orchestral onslaught of returning Medicine and SU drunkards or living in a private house on the Shott where the thump of electro-beats is never far off, there’s no way you’re letting anyone interrupt your slumber. Throughout sixth form you were consistently deprived of sleep; you look back on those days and shudder. You’ll never take the bliss of an alarm-less morning for granted again. You’ll never feel anything but earnest gratitude on those cold, January mornings when you have the privilege of attending your lecture from bed (thanks to Royal Holloway’s adoption of the Open University model). You exploit the minimal university schedule for all it’s worth - midday begins to feel like 7am. When y...

The Future of Afghanistan and its Women under Taliban Rule

18Oct

By Courtney BridgesNo Comments

Features, News

The Future of Afghanistan and its Women under Taliban Rule

‘The women in this part of Kabul were a different breed from the women in the poorer neighbourhoods’, Khalid Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khalid Hosseini an Afghan-born American novelist, outlines a mother-daughter story within the context of a contemporary Afghan society when published in 2007. As the above quote demonstrates, Hosseini tries to reflect what he recognised as a 'thriving city' that ‘by the standards of a conservative religious country… was quite liberal’ in his memory of living in Afghanistan in his early years. Like the rest of the world, Hosseini saw the gradual reclaiming of Afghanistan; as ‘Kabul had fallen’, he watched woefully. Hosseini now comments that he has ‘no idea what the future holds’. That he is 'deeply sc...

The Emphasis On Drinking During Freshers’ Week

18Oct

By Ilayda KaplankiranNo Comments

News, Opinion

The Emphasis On Drinking During Freshers’ Week

With COVID-19 restrictions lifted and a gradual return to normality, Freshers’ Week will be going ahead as planned. While some will be enjoying the social opportunities that the legendary week has to offer, others might have a less than satisfactory experience; especially when we consider the pressure being placed upon students to consume excessive amounts of alcohol during the week. Either way, there will be a mixture of responses, but nevertheless it is integral that we normalise the inability to make friends in the first couple of weeks, and the stress that resonates with joining a new community. It’s easy to forget as a second or third year how isolating the first term of first year can be. All too often, university life has been circumscribed to the pervasive stereotype that...

Marginalisation Of The Kurdish Identity: a human rights violation

18Oct

By Ilayda KaplankiranNo Comments

News

Marginalisation Of The Kurdish Identity: a human rights violation

Amongst all these humanitarian agencies who seek to protect and aid those suffering or victims of mistreatments, it is unbelievable to think that there are still constitutional restrictions entrenched to eradicate a cultural identity. Especially when it comes to a sensitive issue such as the Kurdish Question; a minority ethnicity that has fought endlessly to protect their rights, with many activists, politicians and lawyers currently imprisoned as a result. The spiralling political crisis that the question elicits today stems from nothing more than a backlash from the past. Following the break-up of the Ottoman empire in 1922, the many different ethnic groups living in the newly formed Republic of Turkey were forced to comply with ‘Turkification’ policies: a homogenising stance t...

Only Murders In The Building: the secrets in the walls

16Oct

By Victoria BurdenNo Comments

Features, Film & TV

Only Murders In The Building: the secrets in the walls

When true crime podcasts become the comforting friend of loneliness… Only Murders In The Building, one of the newest editions to hit Disney Plus, follows the story of three lonely, eccentric misfits, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) in New York City, brought together by their mutual love of their favourite true crime podcast ‘All Is Not Ok in Oklahoma’. Living their seemingly mundane lives within the same apartment building known as the Arconia, the three find themselves wrapped up in a crime case of their own after the shocking death of fellow resident Tim Kono (Julian Cihi), and team-up in an attempt to solve the mystery. True Crime podcasts are at an all-time high, and Only Murders In The Building takes the concept of a True Crime Podcast as ...

Are cinemas going extinct? A Post-Covid Review

16Oct

By Jessica WoodNo Comments

Film & TV, Theatre & Performance

Are cinemas going extinct? A Post-Covid Review

Stale popcorn and half-working escalators, overpriced, too-watery coke and the blue raspberry (what even is that?) slushy that comes with a funny shaped, reusable plastic cup that will sit on your windowsill for months, never to be used again -- there’s nothing quite like the cinema. The first public performance of a film was in 1896, but with the pandemic forcing us to stay at home and the growing popularity of binge-watching culture, the cinema don’t have the same grasp on society as it once did. Growing up, I just about lived in the theatre, taking every chance I could to watch the latest movies; it was my safe space and I enjoyed the shared experience of watching with other people. The final battle scene, where every person in the theatre gasped in shock during Twilight Breaking Da...

Jennifer’s Body: the Final Girl Dismantled

16Oct

By Leah EdwardsNo Comments

Film & TV

Jennifer’s Body: the Final Girl Dismantled

Warning - this article contains spoilers. With it being Halloween, a lot of us will be spending the season in various ways. Whether it is going out to the SU dressed up in costume, or snuggling up under a blanket and watching a scary movie. Nowadays, we are spoiled for choice with what films we can watch, because horror films have many sub-genres. For example, a sub-genre in horror which always fascinated me was the ‘slasher film’. This was primarily because all the slasher films of the 70s, 80s, and 90s ended in the same manner. There was always a ‘Final Girl’ who overcame the killer and survived. Admittedly there were different variations of the Final Girl trope. One could easily point out a contrast between Jamie Lee Curtis’ virginal Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978), to...