Explaining the UK’s ‘Don’t Pay’ movement
Record energy bill price hikes are pushing more members of the public to refuse paying their bills. What does the UK’s ‘Don’t Pay’ energy movement do and how does it work? This winter, millions of British citizens won’t be able to afford food or bills. Households have been losing income...
Current in People
Young volunteers are rebuilding Ukrainian towns with clean-up raves
The small Ukrainian town of Yahidne is being cleared of remnants of Russian invasion and rebuilt by young volunteers to the soundtrack of house and techno music. Since the last days of February, Eastern Ukraine has experienced unrelenting shelling and occupation by Russian soldiers. Even the country’s smallest and least...
Why the cost-of-living crisis is damaging for students
The cost-of-living crisis is sending food prices sky high, breaking down the UK’s national health system and forcing us to abandon our petrol-based transport. What does this mean for graduating students? ‘From September, some sacrifices will have to be made,’ says Sandali Jayasinghe, a 22-year-old Master’s student based in London. Currently...
Zimbabwe resorts to gold coins amid high inflation
In June, Zimbabwe's inflation rate increased to 192%, a 60% increase from May. In a move to curb the crisis, the central bank has launched gold coins. The country is currently experiencing high food prices, increased unemployment and an abandoning of the country’s dollar in favor of USD. Covid-19...
Australian senator Fatima Payman’s mission to normalise the hijab
Fatima Payman is the first hijab minister in Australia’s history. In cultivating a positive narrative around the headscarf, she’s determined she won’t be the last. The Australian Labour party announced Fatima Payman as their newest senator in June 2022, and this month she took her seat in the senate as...
Why the response to the monkeypox outbreak is problematic
Monkeypox was just declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation. Why are officials pushing the damaging narrative that it’s only a concern for men in the LGBTQ community? Although we’ve all experienced a heightened awareness towards contagious illnesses over the last few years, it appears that officials...
Understanding the history of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
Pakistan is one of the very few countries in the world to offer the death penalty for blasphemy. Being a highly controversial issue, will the state be able to curb the misuse or amend the provisions of the law? You’d be forgiven for thinking blasphemy laws are archaic, forgotten technicalities of the past, but the reality is rather different in Pakistan. But what is more astonishing is the mob culture...
Alena Wicker is the youngest student accepted to medical school
After completing two degrees – yes, two – 13-year-old Alena Wicker is off to medical school, making her the youngest person ever to do so. Most of us will remember being 13. For Gen-Z, it was a time filled with Tamagotchi and Justin Bieber. Our proudest accomplishments probably involved a particularly successful take on hair gems, or a well-crafted music video taken on our parents’ hand-held camcorder. In any case, these...
Opinion – removing abortion rights is fatal for diabetics
The moment you strip a diabetic of their choice to have an abortion is the moment you put their life in grave danger. Last month, the US Supreme Court handed down a controversial judgment, effectively changing the course of history as we know it. It shook the ground under millions of women across the US and has generated waves of anger, fear, and despair across the world. From those who are...
Afghanistan’s opioid crisis is only getting worse
Years of persistent poverty and war have turned thousands of Afghan men to drug use. Addiction has been fuelled by the country’s prolific poppy industry. Now, under Taliban rule, the crisis shows no signs of improving. Ebraham Noroozi’s recent look at Afghanistan’s drug crisis paints a morbid picture. Men dying on the hillsides of Kabul, others already gone. Noroozi’s Afghanistan is a country in the depths of addiction and crisis,...
