‘America’s Radiohead’ The National have brought forth their latest album Sleep Well Beast, meaning like many other delightful things such as Wonders of the World and the Harry Potter novels, their album discography now totals a glorious collection of seven. Frontman Matt Berninger, whose deep, baritone vocals at times parallel Ian Curtis and Ricky Wilson, […]
Hillary Clinton
100 Days Later, Is America Great Again?
Has Donald Trump made America great again? One hundred days into his presidency, this is the question we should be asking. The man who rode into the White House on powerful promises and inflammatory rhetoric has arguably had enough time now to enact his major pledges, especially given that he assured his supporters during the […]
General Election 2017: are we living in post-populist times?
The opportunism of Theresa May’s U-turn for an early general election reveals an exploited populist effort, where the dynamic potential and energetic ire of anti-establishment politics have been re-channelled to serve the elites it was originally formed to oppose. To properly understand this historic development of British politics, we must also consider the broader expansion […]
Feminist Friday: Can love really trump hate?
I am a feminist. There – I said it. I believe women should have political, social and intellectual equality to men. Outrageous, right? I shave my legs (admittedly more in the summer months…), have a boyfriend and have never treated a man any differently because of his gender. I simply, truly, wholeheartedly believe that the fact […]
2016: A series of unfortunate events
The heros of 2016 have been those on the Fleet Street obituary desks whose workload was intense all the way through from The Bad Beginning to The End. The reaper may have come many times during the year, but for myself the truly sorry moment of 2016 was not a moment at all. It was rather the slow […]
Is it time that the US Electoral College was abolished?
So it actually happened. Once again, the pollsters were wrong. Right before the results started coming in, Donald Trump’s odds were seven to one to become the President. After a few hours, Hillary Clinton had drifted out to eight to one, and as the night wore on, it became clear that Trump was edging closer to victory. As […]
Politics and television: The best of the US
Politics offers a wealth of material for television – power, money, scandal, moral dilemmas – so it’s unsurprising that political shows are extremely popular these days. With politics being such an essential part of our lives, it makes sense that this should be reflected on television screens. Following the shock results of the recent US […]
Trump’s rural white America – what does the election result show?
November 8: the world was anticipating a win for Hillary Clinton. The New York Times gave her an 85 per cent chance of victory. Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, who predicted all 50 states voting patterns in 2012, said 71.4 per cent. Yet despite trailing in the polls, lacking endorsements from any major media outlets, and causing […]
Does university brainwash us into adopting certain political views?
On the evening of 8 November 2016, I went to ‘The US Presidential Election 2016 Talk’. This is the last of a series of talks on campus where I went with expectations of hearing a variety of opinions and being presented with thought-provoking points before the big decision was made. As each of the five speakers […]
Trump’s victory – the world responds
Australia The reaction to Trump’s victory has been mixed within Australian politics. Just under half of the population believe that the country should distance itself from the USA, so it appears the majority of Australians agree with Labor leader Bill Shorten. While he respects the will of the American people, Shorten stands by calling Trump […]