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THE Volume 10, Issue 2
FOUNDER The Independent Student Newspaper of Royal Holloway, University of London
October 2015
Party Conferences
Inside: News
Indecent Exposure in Egham page 5
Comment
BY MATT JONES NEWS EDITOR
80,000 protesters gathered outside the Conservative Party Conference. Photos provided by www.independent.co.uk
Party conference season comes to an end leaving streamers, empty bottles and, above all, confusion in its wake. Coverage of political party conferences is often easy fare for political correspondents, with no shortage of blunders to report on. This year’s conferences were not without incident. Unusually, however, the bulk of 2015’s incidents occurred far from the lectern. 80,000 angry protesters gathered outside the Conservative party conference. Some came armed with eggs and wayward tennis serves. Boris Johnson came under fire from an activist group for the disabled. He was pelted with tennis balls as he was ushered into the venue by a police officer. The majority of anti-austerity protesters were well behaved, but a diminutive number resorted to spitting and other such tactics. These acts drew much of the media coverage with vile acts, rather than the motivation for the protest, dominating the headlines. At the Labour Party Conference, Jeremy Corbyn undertook his first significant action in the political
sphere as party leader. His speech was functional, if a little unstylish, much like his ill-fitting khaki suit. The leader of the opposition condemned the acts of spitting by a minority of protesters at the Conservative conference. He again appealed for a new and friendly politics, a model built around discussion in lieu of name-calling and egg throwing. L abour’s lectern quote also referenced this “honest politics” and the speakers were honest. John McDonnell was honest enough to admit to having no idea what he’s doing. The shadow chancellor reversed his economic stance within two weeks of accepting Osborne’s proposed fiscal charter. In a bid to explain this apparent U-turn, McDonnell sent his fellow Labour MPs a letter. In it, no attempt was made to acknowledge an initial policy oversight. Instead, he claimed the prevailing economic circumstances had forced his hand into a policy change. This backtracking sets a precedent that does not bode well for the
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Arts 5 shows to look out for on campus this term page 15
Music
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Film
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Sport What You Need to Know About the Rugby World Cup page 26
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