Good riddance 2016, you won't be missed

Finally, collapsing on my bed after an exhausting Christmas Day eating, reading and watching films, I picked up my phone to check for messages when the news report flashed up: George Michael’s death. I really underestimated the power of this god-awful year.

2016. Otherwise known as ‘the year we want to forget’. It truly feels like the world’s gone mad. The bad are rising and the good are falling. In just the first month David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Sir Terry Wogan died – all of who inspired so many, both young and old. Coupled with the extraordinary political events of this year, even by June everyone seems to have wanted to go to sleep and hibernate until 2017.

It’s not how many have died this year but who. The celebrities we’ve lost have been icons of both the arts and activism – it’s this that has shocked us the most. In a year where we seem to have needed it more than ever, it is hard to see so many who advocated equality, tolerance and kindness disappear from the public eye forever other than in memory.

Devastatingly, this year we lost civil rights activist, Muhammad Ali, who famously changed his name from his ‘slave’ name and spoke out against racism throughout his life, particularly islamaphobia after the 9/11 attacks. Bowie was another heart-breaking death, not only for music lovers but also for those who long for more equality in the world. He was an icon for openly discussing sexuality, including his extensive work with HIV/AIDS charities, and challenging gender norms.

It’s not just losing those who inspired kindness that got 2016 its reputation. The world seems to have turned on its head. The middle ground is disappearing at an alarming rate, replaced with people dealing in extremes: black and white, right and wrong, good and evil.

Let’s start with a big ‘un: Isis. Quite rightly just the thought of Isis scares people, naturally breeding irrationality and fear, resulting in the islamaphobia that's seemingly plaguing the Western World. Unfortunately, this ‘us’ and ‘them’ crisis has led to a reluctance to help others. All you need to do is look at the horrific treatment of refugees, people fleeing war-torn countries, to prove this.

This xenophobic attitude has led to some startling decisions, made only more worrying by ordinary people voting for them. Political divisions are now running through countries and across generations. Take Brexit as an example: the difference between the majority ‘in’ vote of young people and the majority ‘out’ vote ofthe old is both staggering and distressing, and has led to a lot of harmful and pointless finger pointing. Brexit has divided the country.

Similarly in the US, there was the fairly terrifying appointment of Trump. People are scared so support Trump, leading to fear of Trump’s popularity. It’s a downward cycle of division and intolerance. Of increasing hate crimes both in the UK and the US. Of incidents such as Jo Cox’s murder.

It’s not all bad though, I promise. Yes, there’s an incredible rise of hatred and intolerance, but London elected their first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan – that’s something, right? And for the first time since 1054, the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church leaders met. A snippet of religious tolerance! And let’s face it; if the Columbian Congress can finally strike a deal with FARC after fighting since 1964, we can work our way through anything.

It’s been a tough year. And I know it’s not all going to get magically better because a number is different but the New Year is a chance to reflect and work towards positive change. Take inspiration from the generosity of George Michael, the resilience of Muhammad Ali and the creativity of comic geniuses like Ronnie Corbett. Be more generous, stand up for the inequalities in the world and make a few more people laugh. Nothing gets better on its own, but we can make 2017 a better place than 2016.

And hey, if that’s not enough to raise your spirits, just remember: Leicester City somehow won the premier league at 5000/1 odds.

Hopelessness or indifference: why are so many young people politically apathetic?

‘Disinterested’, ‘apathetic’, ‘indifferent’: these are words I’ve heard those around me use to describe the attitudes of the younger generation towards politics, particularly in the last few years. Millennials are frequently viewed as lazy and uncaring about our futures.

But is this true? Political apathy among young adults stems from having nothing to engage with, not a supposed unconcerned attitude. It’s hard to become interested in politics if you have no one to believe in.

This goes some way to explain the surge of support for anti-establishment figures, such as Corbyn. In 2015, during Corbyn’s first leadership bid, ‘Corbynmania’ hit the country by storm with a considerable number of his supporters being under 25. When there is someone to believe in and trust, many come out in support and get interested in politics. But why bother if we don’t believe our voice will be heard?

In 2016 this support had gone down, with exit polls suggesting more 18-24 year-olds voted for Smith; an unsurprising result given Corbyn’s unsuccessful influence in his own party, let alone parliament: hope that he is our saviour from a stifling government is rapidly diminishing.

Our distrust in politicians isn’t unfounded either, particularly for students. No one can forget Nick Clegg’s fall from grace. It’s largely irrelevant here whether it was his fault that university tuition fees rose, what matters is that they did. And not marginally, they tripled. After all the campaigning to keep the fees down and all the false promises from politicians, they went up astronomically.  And then, as if to twist the knife in the wound, they later scrapped maintenance grants, turning them into loans, leaving those from poorer backgrounds with the prospect of even more debt to struggle through. 

This distrust has led to a lack of hope that politicians govern in the interests of the young, leading to confusion, frustration and a feeling of being hard done by. Crippling the younger generation through debt, a lack of housing and a lack of jobs, doesn’t bode well for the country 20 years later when we’re the economic force supporting the rest of the population.

Putting that to one side, young people feel cheated. The expectation that the older generations should look out for us, and help us achieve the best future possible, has fallen flat.  At the risk of sounding like a toddler, it just feels unfair. And perhaps that’s why those who are older don’t listen to us – when we say that it isn’t right or fair, we sound like children.

However, they really should start listening. Those who took away free university education benefited from it themselves and then robbed our generation of the opportunity. With university fees set to rise again, we are a generation faced by the prospect of debt hanging over our heads for a long time to come.

It isn’t just university fees that get us down. Youth unemployment (ages 18-24) for June to August of this year is lower than previous quarters, but it still makes up almost 30% of all those unemployed across the country. Add the exclusion ofunder-25s from the National Living Wage of £7.20/hour and our economic prospects aren’t looking great.

It’s time for politicians to realise that investment in the younger generations is incredibly important to the future of the country. Until they do, and they start improving the prospects of young people, many are going to stay apathetic. Not through a lack of caring, instead because we have no one to believe in.

Published originally in the Epigram student newspaper

A ‘Killer Clown’ face off: what would you do?

You’re walking home alone along poorly lit streets. Across the road you can make out a figure in the shadows but you’re not sure who or what it might be. Feeling slightly uneasy, you walk faster.

What if that figure started following you from across the street? Add a clown costume, a weapon, and a painted grimace and it’s enough to induce a heart attack.

Even worse, what if a clown jumped out in front of you from behind a street corner. Or ran after you screaming with the knife they were brandishing, fake or otherwise, held above their head.

What would you do? Run? Scream?

Depending on what the clown was wielding changes how quick I would run, and how loud I would scream, but in all honesty I’d just want to get away. I suspect I’d call the police, let them know there’s a ‘killer clown’ on the loose and scaring the shit out of people. But past that, I’m not sure what else I would be able to do.   

Not that I’m afraid to confess that in contemplating the ‘killer clown’ phase, I have imagined a superhero, vigilante version of myself bravely chasing away nightmare clowns, or suddenly realising my full self-defence potential, despite my severe lack of experience.

But for some this isn’t a far off vision. There has been theinfamous ‘Batman’ in Cumbria who has been defending and protecting the local schoolchildren, much to their relief.

In Bristol we even have our own, home-grown vigilante group:the Clown Hunters. This team of good Samaritans are patrolling the streets of Bristol, performing citizen arrests on stray clowns and alerting the police. It is worth noting that the group insist on not approaching clowns with weapons and instead just call the police, before anyone gets carried away.

If it weren’t for the potential harm these clowns could do, the situation would be laughable. There are teenagers with a new hobby of scaring people in clown instead of playing Grand Theft Auto in their rooms. With the addition of costumed vigilantes the situation just gets more astonishing. In my relatively short life, I have never come across quite so bizarre a craze, or actually quite such an unbelievable year. The world seems to be turning upside down.

From one unbelievable news story to the next, the ‘Killer Clown’ craze almost perfectly sums up 2016 so far. First up in January were the deaths of legends Sir Terry Wogan, Alan Rickman and David Bowie, which left the nation in a state of shock only to be deepened as other well-loved celebrities passed, including Victoria Wood, Ronnie Corbett and Robin Williams. At the same time people were getting their heads around tragedies, such as the Orlando shootings and terrorist attacks on the continent and in the Middle East. On top of all that, the political scene appeared to flip on its head too. Suddenly Trump was the Republican nominee, the UK had voted to leave the EU and Boris Johnson had been appointed the position of Foreign Secretary.

Despite the bad news so far in 2016, and the increase in racism and homophobia across the Western world, we can always hope that these unbelievable events soon become a thing of the past. You never know, we could be sitting here in a peaceful, accepting and tolerant society in 2017 thinking, ‘Thank God that all worked out fine’.

Published in online in the Epigram comment section 20/11/2016

Walking away won’t change the NUS, but working together will

“We should be defending our education from marketisation - together. “(Becky Howe, quoted in the Independent)

The Oxford University Student Union president summed it up – you can’t be a part of change you feel passionate about, if you leave the organisation that makes that change possible. There’s more to consider in a 94-year-old union than it’s current president. With 7 million students behind it, there’s huge potential for change both within and outside the organisation.

Although the election of Malia Bouattia in April was the last straw for many, with universities across the country calling for referendums, those who have voted so far predominately come down on the side to stay, including Oxbridge and our neighbours Bath and Exeter. And with good reason too.

No one can ignore the power of a national union, especially given the NUS’ affiliation with over 500 universities and sixth forms. No individual SU could carry the same clout as an organisation of that size, even Bristol.  With Tory cuts and threats to raise fees further, we need to keep united and fight for the debt-free education we believe in. The NUS helps us do this, from the successful 1992 council tax exemption for students campaign to the national demonstration planned for November this year. 

“The Conservative’s will never listen!” I hear you cry. Fear not, they already have. In 2015, NUS successfully secured post-graduate tuition loans for over-30s through their #capsoff campaign.  If that doesn’t fill you with just a glimmer of hope in these dark, grant-less, debt-filled days, I don’t know what will.

As fantastic as many parts of the NUS are, recent controversies need to be addressed, particularly the anti-Semitism debate. There is outrage surrounding Bouattia’s claim in 2011 that Birmingham was a ‘Zionistoutpost’, leading to accusations of anti-Semitism. I don’t agree with and nor do I condone Bouattia’s conduct, but I do believe the union is not just who leads them. The sheer size of the NUS and the frequently changing face from annual presidential elections, leads me to think leaving over Bouattia is rash.  

However, this does lead to questions about anti-Semitism in the organisation as a whole. Recently, the motion at the national conference to commemorate Holocaust MemorialDay was met with resistance from some in the union, leading to a wave of criticism from the Jewish community and politicians. The Memorial Day is an incredibly important part of respecting the victims and educating many about the Holocaust and other genocides. Changing the direction of the NUS to better accept and respect events such as these can only happen if those inside the union act. If we leave now, we have no power over the course of such a big organisation with such a potential to be a force for good.

Claims of lack of representation and democracy in the NUS are weak. If you don’t like the direction of the union, change it. It’s there for you, so exercise your right as a member. And as for the democratic system of the NUS, the planned reform for 2017 shows constant work for improvement. Hope is not lost, change can still happen.

This referendum on affiliation with the NUS has brought up some uncomfortable and worrying questions, but it does not mean we should give up on a union that has the potential to do so much more good for students than it already has. The problems can’t be denied, but they also can’t be ignored. They need to be addressed, changes need to be made and we need to move forward together. But we can’t do that from outside the NUS.

Published originally in the Epigram student newspaper