Features

Inflation: a dark era for students

ALEXIA VOICU | CONTENT WRITER

Students are facing new challenges as living costs in the UK have surged dramatically. According to Save the Student’s annual accommodation survey, 40 percent of students are staying in private, off-campus accommodation. This means that nearly half of the student body will pay more for heating bills and other utilities, such as internet. Broadband prices may rise more than 25 percent, an increasing concern for students who must purchase their own wi-fi router. The average rent per week rose from £146 to £148, which at first glance looks insignificant. However, it is estimated that students will pay roughly £87 more per year for rent. The consequences are catastrophic, with up to five percent of students being evicted due to unpaid rent (compared to only one percent last year), as provided by the survey.

Source: Wikimedia The number of students living with their parents grew by three percent. This could lead to more students commuting long distances to get to university, which would take from their study time and therefore have a negative effect on their overall academic performance. People living in facilities across the campus are also impacted by rising accommodation and food costs, with students taking on several jobs and even visiting food banks in order to sustain themselves. Students are trying to find multiple means of income as maintenance loans are not covering the majority of expenses. It is of upmost concern that a large number of students complained that they sacrifice a sizeable amount of their study time to sustain themselves at university. Around 62 percent of students reported having health and mental health issues due to the constant stress they face to afford basic necessities such as accommodation and food. In extreme cases, the severe strain and pressure students deal with to manage their expenses and study life concomitantly plus the inability to pay for their necessities could lead to dropping out of university or taking gap years. A substantial part of university students are, unfortunately, not financially savvy enough to manage their expenses in an efficient, calculated, and organised manner. Financial illiteracy and surging costs could prove to be a fatal combination and could result in an increase in debt rate amongst students. In desperate efforts to save money, students could also potentially cut off from their leisure expenses, such as eating out, socialising, travel, shopping, holidays, and events, as cited in the survey. Though, this will definitely take out from the beauty and diversity of student experience, leaving students in huge debt, with regrets and a bitter taste at the end of their studies

Vaping, the puzzling new smoking

ALI KRAUSOVA | EDITOR IN CHIEF

Smoking is my thing. I never had any intention of stopping until about two months ago when I got the oddest feeling that something bad is going to happen to me. I messaged my friend in panic, “I am freaking out for no reason”, I said. I never thought too much about what could happen to me, even after people will have a drink with me for the first time and then ask our mutual friends: ‘does Ali always smoke this much?’.

But I felt off and then I realised that you possibly could romanticise dying in your 20s, but you could not romanticise having a stroke and then worrying for the rest of your life. Three weeks later my dad had a heart attack. Smoking was also his thing. Somewhere between the “save your life” from a random man at a BP station queuing behind me, my dad’s heart attack and my boyfriend getting angry for smoking at his flat, I have finally given up. Now I am a devoted vaper. I had never vaped before. I thought it looked silly the way people wake up with a vape in their hand every morning. Now, I am convinced that surely it is so much better than smoking cigarettes, the way I did anyway. But is it really? The lack of research behind vaping is shocking. The excuse being it is a relatively new thing but when it comes to all the basic questions we ask about smoking cigarettes, there are no answers. If I am on birth control, will it kill me faster? Will my lungs explode because I am uncontrollably puffing on a cloud of crème brulee? And what about cellulite? My teeth might be whiter but do not try to make me outrun you. Still, somehow it is reassuring we do not know the answers. Vaping has helped many to kick the habit. It has also attracted young children and worsened the environmental crisis. If you want to quit smoking, you may need to choose what your main motivation kick is. For me, it is to honour my dad and never touch cigarettes again. Even if that means I solely rely on not knowing much yet. When all gets discovered, a new vice device might already be introduced. Then the questions start again until it all gets banned by the government. Do not be like me and beg your non-smoker friends for sympathy. Foremost, never start at all.

Source: Instagram.com/heavengiftscom

The Good, the Bad, the Student away from home

ALICIA PRYOR |

CONTENT WRITER

Rising from the ashes of American AP and SATs, I was excited to finally live with a sense of independence and freedom. I imagined that I would immediately find my crowd, distract myself from the dread of being thousands of miles away from what I used to know and love. I imagined wrong. Whilst the drinking and partying were some consolations; COVID rampaging through the country and a bone chilling cold I was severely unprepared for made clear my naiveté. The longawaited dream of being an ‘adult’ was replaced by a perpetual misery and loneliness. I slowly discovered that I even hated my nights out, bobbing around in a sea of sweaty freshers, to the beat of tasteless music. I envied my friends only being a train ride away from home. My first Christmas away from the concrete jungle was especially hard as my friends went home to their families. Hong Kong was a bit of a hypochondriac you see; quarantine restrictions meant that I was at the accommodation all by myself. As if I did not have enough lemons already, I had the privilege of becoming a national statistic, catching COVID. In a foreign country. Alone. At the peak of winter. I began to at the accommodation all by myself. As if I did not have enough lemons already, I had the privilege of becoming a national statistic, catching COVID. In a foreign country. Alone. At the peak of winter. I began to dissociate, staying in my room day-in-day-out, and developed a few bad habits to top it all off. In a moment of cruel irony, I wished more than anything to be back home— where it was cosy and warm… and eating food seasoned with more than salt and pepper. It was only after I started a pub job and fell into a routine that I, keeping with the metaphor, realised I was making lemonade. I am sure that for most students, their first year is also their first time away from home. I am also sure that my experiences were by no means unique, hopefully resonating with you, whether you’re in a rut now or in the past. What’s the point of this? Are you saying all I need is a routine or to work for minimum wage? Well, my dear reader, the point is to make lemonade. Meet people, do things you wouldn’t normally do, join societies, get a job, see friends regularly. Generic advise I know, but there’s a hidden silver lining with everything. Though completely different to how I first imagined, I have learnt to embrace this discomfort and uncertainty, and enjoy the little moments.

I leave you my favourite quote from my least favourite character from The Office, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them”. -

Source: First flight to the UK for university by Alicia Pryor

No butts about it, heroin chic is on a dangerous comeback

KATHERINA HOI |

CONTENT WRITER

Whether one likes her or not, Kim Kardashian dominates the public cultural conscience. She is an irreplaceable indicator for possible trends. In the 2010s, the Kardashians championed the ‘curvy’ look with their surgical Brazilian butt lifts but this year many have noticed the removal of their ‘BBLs’. The Kardashian sisters are not the only one’s prioritising weight loss and ‘getting fit.’ Since the pandemic, a cultural catalyst and reset, many TikTok users have been reporting and showing off their weight loss and fitness journeys due to trends like ‘Chloe Ting Challenge.’ Now in 2022, Kim Kardashian is sharing her extreme weight loss tips to anyone who will listen, and it is obvious that thinness is back in. As is its dangerous romanticisation. Beauty ideals for women’s bodies adhere to a cyclical trend. The 1960s and 1970s saw the thin boyish frame popularised by stars like Twiggy while the 1980s had Cindy Crawford. In the 1990s, the ideal was similar to Crawford with itgirl Kate Moss heading the ‘Heroin Chic’ look. In the 2000s, Paris Hilton and lowrise jeans dominated the media. In the 2010s, the ‘Tumblr Girl’ emerged. For those uninitiated, the Tumblr Girl was more of an aesthetic movement than person. Its emphasis was on grungy moody colours, smoking, Arctic Monkeys vinyl and American Apparel advertisements. As Isabelle Truman, Dazed Digital, wrote: ‘with the prevalence of pro-ana (pro-anorexia) content, and the glamorisation of depression and drugs, in many ways the Tumblr girl was just heroin chic repackaged for teens’. It was the first generation of online ‘pro-ana’ online content that promotes disordered eating activities. This subculture would slink back to obscurity in the years after the Tumblr Girl, but since the pandemic, it is now seemingly impossible to avoid. According to Harriet Parsons, Bodywhys, The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, there has been a 110 percent increase in users of online Eating Disorder forums, like MyProAna. Is this shocking? Not really. After the body positivity movement, the (unfortunate) logical turn in the trend cycle is the return of ‘Tumblr Girl’ and Heroin Chic. It is counterculture to the previous ideal. The idolization of Y2K and ‘wellness’ culture and the glamour that is associated with it has become boring. Too mainstream. The ‘Tumblr Girl’ and Heroin Chic takes generational collected trauma and puts it on display, stating actually ‘I am not well or feeling glamorous at all.’ And this may just be the classic teenage conundrum; working against the grain, edginess to spite The Man, to wear sadness and chaos as an accessory. But it also means that the older generation, who have seen these body trends, have failed those teens. They have seen the repercussions from such aesthetic movements because thinness is not the political stance it can appear to be. Kim Kardashian is not the cause, but she is a catalyst. She draws the everwatchful media’s attention to her extreme diets and while she may not purposefully be promoting her own brand of starvation, she still is. Our culture stands, yet again, on the precipice of a dangerous trend.

Source: Instagram.com/kimkardashian The 2022 heatwave and what this means for climate change LAURA BLOOMFIELD | CONTENT WRITER

Throughout the summer of 2022, the UK experienced heatwave is very different to the current ones. The The effects of the heatwave were not seen only in the three heatwaves. Their severity caused the UK to see recordhigh temperatures on July 19th, with 40°C being exceeded for the first time. Due to the high temperatures, a drought was declared in multiple areas, such as the West Midlands on August 23rd. The droughts were also caused by the lack of rainfall. The Met Office reported that the period between January and June 2022 had the lowest rainfall since 1976. Overall, 2022 has tied with 2018 for having the hottest summer with June, July and August 2022 having an average temperature of 17.1°C. The heatwave was an effect of climate change. This can be seen in the Met Office’s statistics that the UK’s top ten hottest years have all been since 2002, showing how Earth is warming up. Some have mentioned the 1976 heatwave as proof that these consecutive heatwaves are not an issue. However, the 1976 1976 heatwave was a rarity, which explains why people remember it vividly. Whereas now, heatwaves are becoming more common. Additionally, the Met Office stated that the 2022 heatwave was made ten times more likely by climate change. During the heatwave, weatherforecasters and meteorologists received abuse from some viewers, predominately accusations of fearmongering. BBC meteorologist Matt Taylor said that covering the heatwave was ‘really emotional’ and that ‘our climate has changed, so our reporting and response also has to change. All we're trying to do is bring people the facts.’ This abuse demonstrates that not everyone is accepting of the reality of climate change, which may affect how it gets resolved. UK, but across Europe, North Africa, and Asia. More than half of Portugal was on red alert for wildfires. In Tunisia, a heatwave and fires have damaged the country’s grain crop and the capital city, Tunis, had recordbreaking temperatures of 48°C on July 13th. Also, in China, there has been three heatwaves which have affected infrastructure such as the heat melting tar and damaging roof tiles. Source: Visible effects of heatwave in Oxford, Laura Bloomfield

THE FOUNDER September 2022

FEATURES 7 The cost of royal living crisis

DANIEL PEPIN | FEATURES EDITOR

The death of Queen Elizabeth II is, unequivocally, a momentous mark in history. Our nation has maintained a certainty for the past seventy years and now we face a chasm – life without our queen. The queen who has seen Great Britain and the Commonwealth through decades of hardship with her trademark stoicism and won the undying loyalty of millions in the process. Certainly, there is no doubt of the queen’s character nor her popularity however there is the matter of the institution that, until recently, she represented: the monarchy. An institution that is remarkably familiar with scandal, mistrust, and hatred. The mere mention of Charles II conjures up Oliver Cromwell, a people’s rebellion, a lack of Christmas, and yes, Horrible Histories. Of course, the Queen served as an auto-mechanic in World War Two and tried to guide Britain out of its imperial age, yet she still owns stolen colonial jewels (notably the Koh-i-Noor diamond which shall be worn by the Queen Consort during Charles III’s coronation). Diana was the people’s princess, but her brother was the noble ninth earl Spencer. King Charles III’s The Prince’s Trust has proved invaluable for vulnerable young people however his brother, Andrew, has numerous sexual assault allegations against him. It is a tug of war. Something that does and will continue to divide the nation.

Source: Geograph

Very often at the forefront of this debate is the topic of cost. The Royals cost taxpayers an excessive amount. £86.3 million’s worth, according to a Bloomberg report. Taxpayer money that given to the royal family in order to repair their palaces, pay their staff, and fund the sovereign. A sovereign that is not voted in by the people, or necessarily wanted, but a power that seems above all powers and an entity that one must accept as fact, pay their tribute, and move along – muttering into their sleeves. Granted, some of this money shall be allocated to matters in the Britain’s interests but it cannot be ignored that the people do pay for the monarchy’s lives in part – whether they would like to or not. Some subjects are content with this arrangement: famously, a platinum jubilee camper announces she would happily pay double taxes for her queen. But others believe it to be a waste of hard-earned money and wish that their tax money would fund something more practical and less traditional. Keeping the monarchy in the green is an astronomical yearly price tag but how about the cost of a royal funeral? For Britain’s longest reigning monarch. In 2002, the Queen Mother’s funeral came to a £5.4 million bill while Diana’s, in 1997, cost the country £11.8 million – these women, deserving as they are of respect, pale in comparison to the late queen and the funeral cost will match. Despite Buckingham Palace’s reassurances that the funeral will not be entirely tax funded it will still be eye-watering. In the midst of an economic crisis, the unfortunate timing of the funeral will only breed contempt for a corrupted institution but not its figurehead. Her late majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, shall, undoubtedly, remain as popular as ever.