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Image description: Stormzy at Glastonbury festival 2019, wearing a stab-proof vest designed by Banksy While re-watching the momentous Brit awards performance by South London Grime artist Stormzy, I was asked by a friend “I get what he’s saying, but why does he have to sound so angry?” Because he is, and because he has every […]
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Image description: men shaking hands through a window TW: death, racism For many people, it is impossible to ignore when travelling into the capital. The high-rise apartment block which dots the city’s skyline, an uncomfortable reminder of the stark inequality which exists amongst the wealth and opulence of central London. The first few times I […]
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Image description: protestor speaking into megaphone “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” (Howard Beale, Network, 1975) Do not underestimate the power of events. What might look like a mere swell, may suddenly turn into a crashing wave. The protests in the United States are worse than any seen since […]
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I’ve always found the left-wing/right-wing distinction overly reductive. It seems absurd to me to map out an outstandingly wide-ranging set of policies across a one-dimensional axis. How can my views on education, health, foreign policy, ontology and ethics be captured in one category? The corona crisis has made this all the more evident. The unprecedented […]
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Image Description: Diane Abbott at the ‘Don’t Bomb Syria’ protest Diane Abbott’s treatment in the media in recent years has been nothing short of a public persecution. Whether it is in regards to her drinking a ‘tinnie’ on the London Overground last spring or her getting the numbers wrong when discussing Labour’s plans for more […]
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Image Description: soldiers standing in formation wearing medical face masks. From the terrifying images of packed intensive care units in Italy and Spain, or mass graves in the United States, it is clear that coronavirus has dealt a heavy blow to the world. In China, where people were already celebrating an apparent return to their […]
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Anneliese Dodds, the Labour MP for Oxford East has been appointed as shadow chancellor. Dodds, who has close ties to Sir Keir Starmer, the incoming Labour leader had long been tipped for the position if he were to win the leadership contest. Despite being well known to residents of Oxford, she is more obscure on […]
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Researchers and students at the Blavatnik School of Government have launched a tool designed to track government responses to the COVID-19 epidemic. The first tool of its kind, the tracker will collect publicly available data from 73 countries. It is anticipated that more countries will be added to the list, which already contains the major […]
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30 years ago, the BBC were so concerned that Gerry Adams’ sexy Irish lilt would lure unsuspecting viewers to his message that they decided to dub his voice as a precaution. Today his successor, Mary-Lou McDonald, undubbed and not-quite-so-sexy, has managed to do just what the BBC sought to avoid – recruit en masse to […]
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Image description: Pete Buttigieg, candidate for the Democratic nominee for President. The state of Iowa is home to little over 3 million (of America’s 330 million) citizens. It is over 90% white (compared to around 60% nationally), significantly older and about 15% more rural than the country as a whole. Despite this, Obama described winning […]
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Rebecca Long-Bailey, MP for Salford since 2015, is one of four candidates currently vying for the position of leader of the Labour Party. I sat down with her prior to a speech she delivered in Blackbird Leys community centre on 27th January 2020, where we discussed her bid for leadership. I was keen to know […]
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Despite a Conservative majority across the country, Oxford East has remained strongly Labour. The constituency, which includes the majority of Oxford colleges, elected incumbent Labour and Co-op MP Anneliese Dodds who has represented the area since the 2017 General Election, replacing Andrew Smith as the Labour Candidate who had held the seat since 1987. Dodds, […]
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Image description: Rosie Sourbut canvassing in the constituency Studying English in the year above me at Somerville College, I have been good friends with Rosie Sourbut since first year — and have followed her as she ardently campaigns for the issues which she is most passionate about. At only twenty-one years old, Rosie recently became […]
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When reading the latest political headlines, do you find yourself asking: when did it all become a game? All the hectoring and sniping about niche problems, petty rivalries and personal attacks seem more designed to put down one’s opposition than about actual issues that people care about. And not just as a paean to “voter’s […]
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Labour Assembly Member Mark Drakeford is known for his unassuming style of leadership. I was, I confess, taken aback slightly by Drakeford’s candour: particularly gutsy was his open indifference towards Oxbridge (especially as the Welsh Government has put improving access firmly on the agenda, through programmes like the Seren Network). My overall impression, however, was […]
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From left to right: Katharine Gun, Gavin Hood – Director of the Official Secrets movie, Martin Bright – Journalist who worked on the article 24th September, the day that Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament was ruled unlawful was the same day that I heard the story of Katharine Gun. Two political situations were brought to […]
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Image description: sitting president Muhammadu Buhari Last week, millions of Nigerians made their way from across the country to vote in the election scheduled for Saturday 16th February, only to be informed, a mere five hours before the polls were set to open, that it has been postponed by a week. This is not the first […]
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Image Description: President Ali Bongo (left) with ex-president of France Francois Hollande (right). On January 15th, Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo, returned home after an extended period of absence. The victim of a stroke in October 2018, President Bongo left Gabon for medical services. Leaving Gabon in political turbulence, in part engendered by an ineffective government, […]
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It is no exaggeration to say that Peter Hitchens has become one of the most prominent, and controversial, voices in British media. He began his journalistic career at The Daily Express in 1977. During the 1980s, he worked as a foreign correspondent, reporting particularly from the Eastern Bloc, as well from South Africa during the […]
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