Is it time to decriminalise drugs?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Drugs have long been the subject of heavily divisive debate and a polarising issue between those on the left and the right. Conservatives in the UK and…
COVID-19: the great leveller myth
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson When Boris Johnson tested positive for Covid-19 in late March, Michael Gove reminded us that “the virus does not discriminate”. The UK government spread the myth of…
Female genital mutilation: not just a foreign practice
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Having been told that it was just ‘something that girls do’, Nazia Mirza, aged 8, was taken by her mother to have her genitals cut. Being held…
Mansplaining WAP: the misogynistic response to women’s sexual empowerment
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson From Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, two indomitable rappers at the top of their game, comes WAP. If you, like me, listened to it on repeat,…
The women we grew up watching: muses, fantasies and troubled
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Over lockdown I found myself slowly returning to the TV shows and films that many of us grew up with. This time round, I began to see…
COVID-19 and recent exam results mean now is time for education reform
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson In life, the best chance at equal opportunity is arguably through education. Education reform and re-evaluation has never been more crucial, particularly considering the current outrage regarding…
Why are female leaders excelling at fighting COVID-19?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of media attention paid to the link between the gender of leaders and the effectiveness of their…
Boris wants calories everywhere – but at what cost?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Boris Johnson is calling for the country to lose weight together, suggesting that this would help combat a possible second wave of COVID-19. A large part of…
Trump and Bolsonaro’s COVID-19 fake news is worsening our infodemic
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson In February of this year, the Director-General of the World Health Organization declared an ‘infodemic’. As COVID-19 began to spread at a terrifyingly rapid pace across the…
Lockdown’s wellness craze might be better left in lockdown
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson The domestic stasis of lockdown has for many ignited a new zeal for wellness. Whether it’s baking, walking or running, taking up arts and crafts or spending…
We need to talk about female masturbation
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Four years ago, a friend started a conversation about masturbation. I was too ashamed to admit that I had taken pleasuring myself into my own hands until…
COVID-19 poses a threat to abortion rights worldwide
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Despite the claims that COVID-19 has become less lethal, there is growing evidence that we are only just starting to see the extent of collateral damage that…
COVID-19 has brought the resurgence of the bike
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Bikes are in and cars are out. This seems to be the new motto echoing through government at the moment that can only be good news for…
Periods in a pandemic -basic menstruating needs are still not being met
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Throughout history, people who menstruate have been forced to jump through numerous hoops to access suitable and affordable hygiene products. In January 2020, the UK government finally…
We are not at war: using war-like rhetoric in relation to COVID-19 is dangerous
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Lockdown has been an essential measure to “flatten the curve” and hinder the spread of COVID-19. Yet throughout the pandemic, governments across the globe have used war-like…
How would the Romans have responded to COVID-19?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Even the richest Romans could not escape contagions and curses. The Antonine Plague savaged Rome from 160AD until 180AD. The rich flocked to their countryside villas, the…
The “new normal” – there’s no returning to the old
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson What will we keep of this lockdown experience? “And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine…
We must save lives – by lifting restrictions
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, there have been suggestions that a new “profound culture war” is erupting; pitting your money against your life; or at least somebody’s life….
What does COVID-19 mean for Europe’s refugees?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson A great deal has changed in the world of late, yet our tendency to ignore the suffering endured by Europe’s refugees has held fast. It never takes…
COVID-19 is set to deepen the global North/South divide
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson For many, the idea of a COVID-19 vaccine being on the horizon is a lifeline; a gleaming beacon in what has been an inarguably bleak few months….
We’ve never been in the same boat, COVID-19 won’t change that
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson I’m fed up of people saying things like ‘we’re all in the same boat’; COVID-19 has not suddenly caused inequalities to disappear. We have never been in…
Why does the end of lockdown seem as daunting as lockdown itself?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson There are many reasons to look forward to the return of normalcy. The idea of being hemmed in around a pub table amongst my friends, elbows jostling,…
The management of COVID-19 is a matter of leadership not gender
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Amongst the chaos of press coverage of COVID-19 – misinformation, a lack of honest facts and fear-mongering – one line of argument stands out. A distinct preoccupation…
COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on the LGBTQ+ community
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson While the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic has many believing that ‘we’re all in the same boat’, for minority communities the virus does, in fact, discriminate. Not…
For Stormont’s sake, end the Brexit dawdle and grant that extension
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Brexit is still happening – however low it is on the Whitehall agenda – and it deserves our utmost attention. The government, is now focused on responding…
Lockdown and Brexit present a challenge of conflicting ideals for Johnson
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson The UK economy is currently facing several severe challenges. Pre- COVID-19, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced that public spending would have to increase in…
What can we learn about COVID-19 from the 430BC Athenian Plague?
Illustration by Felix Pawlyn This time round, will the pandemic be a case of survival of the fitness or the richest? The 430BC Athenian plague is our earliest ever record…
Once upon a time: Boris Johnson’s COVID-19 fairytale
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Perhaps, there has never been a finer time for fairy tales. As a nation in need of solace and certainty, the straight-cut world of heroes and villains…
COVID-19 has shown that health must always come first
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson In this global age when often, our worth seems to be based on economic performance and productivity, work is dominating our lives more than ever. It seems…
It is high time for a global de-stigmatisation of periods
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Recently, I was struck by a friend’s refusal to buy a pack of tampons in the supermarket. This show of her embarrassment, reveals the ongoing stigma of…
Covid-19 brings another pandemic: domestic abuse
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Following restrictions on movement in order to try and reduce the impact of Covid-19, people across the world are currently stuck at home. Being confined at home…
The NHS is not a charity!
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson As we reach the end of week three of the COVID-19 lockdown, social media pages continue to regress to the trends of 2012/13. Our screens are…
COVID-19: has France got it wrong?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson COVID-19 arrived in Italy on the 30th of January. Two months later, Italy counted more than 130,000 cases and 15,000 deaths. France is said to be 11…
The return of experts- a silver lining to the crisis?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Casting our eyes back, how ironic Michael Gove’s declaration that the British public have “had enough of experts” seems. Stepping outside on Thursday evenings at eight o’clock…
Can the Chinese government be blamed for the Covid-19 pandemic?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson It seems incredibly premature, and perhaps to some distasteful, to be placing blame on anyone for the outbreak of a deadly pandemic while we are still in…
What can we learn from this pandemic?
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Coronavirus has turned the public into lean-mean-exercising machines. I have never seen my neighbourhood so full of joggers, cyclists, walkers and even people on scooters! Some argue…
Covid-19 was an NHS crisis waiting to happen
Illustrations by Hannah Robinson Coronavirus has brought the level of strain on our NHS to a new level. The UK Government has ordered the construction of three emergency hospitals; a 4,000-bed…
Why is Italy’s Healthcare System struggling to manage coronavirus?
Since the early 1990s, every Italian regional government has autonomously planned and organized the healthcare services in its territory. The autonomy enjoyed by Italian regions means that some consider it…
Individualism and toilet rolls
Illustration by Hannah Robinson The panic-buying we are witnessing, driven by fear of the Coronavirus, exhibits the type of individualistic thinking which threatens our society and values. For the past couple…
Blasé attitudes will make coronavirus much worse
Illustration by Hannah Robinson Students pride themselves as being at the cutting edge of social change and ‘making the world a better place’. Abundant evidence of this can be found all…