Opinion And Debate

8 OPINION AND DEBATE The Persistent Scandal of Modern Corruption

JOEL DAVIES | CONTENT WRITER

While only time will tell if the Downing Street Christmas party scandal proves to be Boris Johnson’s great downfall, it is undeniable that the wave of corruption stories his government suffered in 2021 laid a foundation of distrust with the public that makes these allegations hard to shake. Since the beginning of the pandemic, a tidal wave of stories of PPE and testing contracts being awarded to close connections of ministers have emerged. Johnson’s holiday in Marbella was revealed to be funded by Zac Goldsmith, revealing close links with the former MP’s firms. In October, news broke of Malcolm Offord’s ascension to peerage – a Scottish businessman who had donated almost £150,000 to the Conservative Party over time. This exploded into another ‘cash for honours’ scandal in November 2021, topped off nicely by the Owen Paterson affair. The public money spent without disclosure on refurbishing Johnson’s Downing Street apartment, fined by the Electoral Commission in December 2021, formed the final addition to the public opinion tinder box that the Christmas parties would alight. The simple fact that this list is not at all extensive tells you all you need to know about the place of corruption in this government. This heap of scandals may be proving challenging for the Johnson premiership, but they are only a symptom of the chokehold that corruption holds over the world’s biggest democracies. Money holds an often-understated influence in democracies across the world and forms a huge challenge for progressive agendas worldwide. Corruption can form roadblocks in the way of progress, it can buy silence from opposition, and it can get policies that the public may not support silently prioritised. Corrupt causes often penetrate the heart of modern politics, and for that reason we must be aware of their presence when they show their faces. Corruption is such an endemic issue in the United States that it is only known as ‘lobbying’ and faces very little legal resistance. A multitude of campaign finance reform efforts have been undermined, and money holds a role in US politics that cannot be understated. Most recently, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia singlehandedly sank Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better plan, his decision likely influenced in no small part by the substantial donations Manchin’s campaign receives from fossil fuel industries. A pin-pointed offensive by lobbyists can derail revolutionary, and extremely urgent, legislation, while making a neat profit for the beneficiaries too. In more fragile regions of the world too, corrupting forces play their hand, often destabilising states further. Ukraine is notorious for the level of corruption the state exhibits - state resources being siphoned off for profit has been a huge factor in the insufficiency of Ukraine’s army and its failure to join the EU. Bulgaria, too, experiences rampant corruption, being the worst scoring EU nation in the Corruption Perception Index of 2019. Political dissatisfaction runs high in the country, and electoral turnout is staggeringly low, creating concern for the unstable state of democracy in the country. In Russia, corruption and cronyism are such an embedded feature of the state’s functions that they are considered integral to the existence of Vladimir Putin’s government. The abuse of state power is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, not isolated to Downing Street’s peculiar distribution of peerages and PPE contracts. At a time where democratic structures and values are under threat in Western and Eastern democracies alike, the arguments of anticorruption movements are worth taking seriously, not only to hold those in power accountable, but combat damaging, divisive, and dangerous populist agendas that emerge in times like these.

Source: Peter Summers

Designer Babies: The Future Poverty

AELIYA RAZVI | CONTENT WRITER

Designer Babies have been a point of discussion and contention for scientists, the discussion first beginning with the publication of A Brave New World in 1932. The book is set in the distant future, the year 2540 and in this dystopian future, babies are no longer created and raised by their parents but are rather grown in vats and are graded into five different tiers of intelligence based on the chemical treatment they received as embryos.

In the 1930s this technology was still only being predicted and theorised to maybe come about based on developing technologies at the time. Yet, in our modern day, technology is much closer to being able to achieve a version of Aldous Huxley’s version of pro-creation. Scientists are now, more than ever, urgently calling for discussions to be had on the ethical implications of this possible future in genetics and whether it should be banned before it has even begun. While the discussion over designer babies can be taken in many different directions, one particularly troubling aspect that has not been focused on as much is the widening of the divide between the rich and poor that could be created. Naturally, when new technologies that require such scientific research and equipment are released to the public, the expenses are astronomical. One can safely assume that the designer baby technology is not going to be on the affordable side for the average middle- or workingclass families. This means that when this kind of technology is released to the public, the first people to be able to use it will be the wealthy and if these wealthy go on to create children with the most desirable traits intellectually and physically, essentially, they will be able to create heirs that will certainly continue their legacies of wealth, disallowing for the social mobility that is already so limited within society. Having a genetic advantage as well as economic advantage will inevitably allow families that come from wealth to have their children remain in wealth and therefore create unbreakable dynasties. Genetic engineering can also create a hyper competitive intellectual culture that will mean that the myth of working hard to get where you are, will be annihilated as will the work towards an equal starting point for each child. The discovery and development of designer babies and genetic engineering is undeniably fascinating. But, without restrictions, the exploitative possibilities this engineering could lay in the hands of the wealthy would make their children a commodity and the children of the rest of society incapable of keeping up with a new type of elite. In a society that is striving towards equality, this would be a dangerous step in the wrong direction.

Global Wildfires: Doused by Disbelief?

EMILY RODRIGUES | CONTENT WRITER

2021 has proved to be yet another year of climate crisis consequence and undoubtedly, wildfires are no exception. This year the world has seen reports of raging wildfires in California, Greece, Colorado, Brazil, Siberia, and Turkey causing astonishing levels of devastation. While visually wildfires may appear to be a repercussion of natural factors, it is undeniable that anthropogenic activities bear a heavy impact. With the recent 2021 Cop26 meeting in Glasgow occurring in late October and November, wildfires have been identified as a consequence of climate change. Notably, the levels of gas emissions are a significant issue that can contribute to the frequency and severity of wildfires. The outcomes of the Cop26 summit have outlined the importance of mitigation and adaptation which collectively culminates around a strengthened collaboration. However, without a single mention of wildfires in The Glasgow Climate Pact, are these aims too broad and vague for the continued threat of wildfires?

Source: Flickr

Commonly, California is recognised as a known area that is subject to wildfires. This year was no different with The Guardian reporting that 2.6m acres were lost to the damages of wildfires. The impact of California’s wildfires is felt by its large population with many struggling when the fire damages their homes, their businesses, and their community. Indisputably, each wildfire causes a strain on the remaining resources available that are needed to feed and assist the rebuilding of ruined infrastructure. This had led to intense evacuations, the implementation of new mitigation strategies, and repetitive attempts for rebuilding. In addition to this, the calculated season for wildfires has changed to be longer and more intense, inevitably resulting in increased levels of damage and devastation. For less economically developed countries such as Greece, the damage to their country’s environments are particularly devastating for the people. Specifically, since Brazil depends on its abundance of biodiversity from the Amazon rainforest to attract tourism, wildfires doubtlessly inhibit the country’s economic development. The destruction of this rainforest, in particular, destroys vital habitats for flora, fauna, and indigenous tribes. The global impact is noticeable too. The reduction in green sites impacts the water and carbon cycles simultaneously. This leaves quantities of carbon to sequester and reduces how much water is being transported and infiltrated across the biome. Wildfires become yet another obstacle for the Amazon rainforest.

The causes of wildfires are not far and few. Although wildfires can occur as a result of natural causes or changes such as a lightning strike, fires can also ignite from carelessness. The perpetual droughts, the lack of canopy cover, and the astonishing increase in temperature have proven deadly to environments and essential to the development of wildfires.

It may seem monotonous to consider humanity’s activities at the forefront of the issue, however, it is the factor that is more tangible in the issue and is therefore susceptible to positive change. Humanity can propose action to limit climate change by keeping the global temperature at a lower rate than it is currently. It is the world’s governments’ previous idleness that failed to facilitate that necessary change but will the outcomes of the 2021 Cop26 summit change this for the future?

Graduate Schemes Relying on Hope Labour Need to Go

ABRA HERITAGE | EDITOR IN CHIEF

As the year starts afresh, those soon to end their studies in university, school, and college will begin the desperate scramble to secure placements for posteducation. Lengthy application processes requiring extensive portfolios leading to poorly paid, or completely unpaid, internships, are fought over by graduates and school-leavers alike pushing for a foot in the door in the industry. Hope labour, the act of carrying out un- or under-compensated work in the belief that it will benefit future employment, is undertaken by students in an eager attempt to work for exposure and contacts above financial reward, but this method of entering industries is isolating students that lack financial aid from parents. Without economic backing, hope labour is exhausting, and often impossible, to engage in. Producing non-commissioned pieces and involving oneself in extra-curriculars is simply not feasible when obligations such as part-time jobs, caregiving duties, studying, and navigating the world away from home dominates all of a student’s free time. Here, I am struck by Molly Mae’s recent statement in interview that ‘we all have the same 24 hours in the day’ and that ‘you’re given one life, and it’s down to you what you do with it’ (The Diary of a CEO podcast). This is simply counter to the truth of anybody that is poor, has caregiving duties, is unwell, or is juggling responsibilities such as parenting, working, and studying. Unfortunately, the mega-rich seem unable to understand that poverty is unrelated to not maximising the 24 hours of the day, and instead is a symptom of conservative and capitalist governance that values profit over people. Those with socio-economic privilege are thus more likely to engage in hope labour, and in turn are rewarded with internships that lead to contacts, experience, and a boosted resume. To little surprise, this perpetuates the dominance of rich, white, middle class people in positions of power, with the most privileged continuing a vicious cycle in which only those with money and time are rewarded with careers of their choice. The normalisation of free or underpaid labour in return for experience or a chance at employment has to go. If we want industries with equal employment, with black, workingclass, and female representation, we need to disregard hope labour as a staple of employment. Instead, increased funding is needed in valuing those leaving full-time education through paying liveable wages in graduate schemes.

It’s Time for the UK to Face Its Colonial Past

GEORGE WOODS | OPINION AND DEBATE EDITOR

The days of Brexit seem more or less over. Arguments about the withdrawal agreement, Theresa May, whether the Customs Union is a good thing or, more fundamentally, whether it was right to leave the European Union seem to have wilted. Instead, our news is dominated by the ongoing global pandemic, inflation, Boris Johnson, and his Christmas parties. Little is being addressed while the country attempts to protect itself from Covid-19. But on this pandemic island a very uncomfortable history is being consistently ignored: our nation’s ugly past. Britain is hardly running away from a certain view of its past. Like other nations, we have idolised figures. Winston Churchill dominates our popular culture as an epitome of peace, liberty, and defeat of a Nazi terror. Little is made of his racist views, his failures, and his faults. Indeed, even now, in 2022, an institution which built its wealth of colonialism, the monarchy, continues to be a part of our national politics. ndeed, our national leaders have taken us for fools. Our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wrote an extremely sympathetic biography of his hero Winston Churchill. Rather than offer his electorate an honest appraisal of a complicated leader we were instead offered a lionisation of a myth. Churchill the undefeated, as opposed to Winston Churchill the man. This extends to our contemporary politics. The Conservative Party, so desperate in maintaining their rule after 10 years, are attempting to create Margaret Thatcher as a symbol of greatness. Indeed, they have been aided by Hollywood’s Iron Lady which offers a sympathetic account of the former Prime Minister. Again, our nation is falling for a myth. However, this is a drop in the ocean compared to the bigger monster which haunts our nation. The Empire and colonialism are an entity which is active and alive in modern imagination, but it is through a prism of glory. The horrors that the empire unleashed upon the world are simply not contended with. Children learn much about the great Romans and the Tudors, but nothing about the racism and slavery which pervaded the former empire. Even our national honours consist of references to the British Empire in terms of OBE and MBE. We are blinded to the devastating truth of empire.

This blind spot in national histories also crosses to America. Donald Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 US presidential election was aided greatly by his ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan. President Trump was suggesting America had been lost to immigrants and minorities and that a vote for him would return America to its glorious past. This is a fallacy, but the America electorate fell for it. It is this failure of education that has led to the nationalism of the West creeping into our political discourse. There are solutions to this. Our leaders must stop talking about the greatness of our past and instead focus on the realities of the future. Historical figures should be held to account and not have their flaws disregarded. But most importantly, schools must change. The curriculum must teach children about the realities of our past, and not a mythological fiction. It is only then that our nations ghost might start to finally disappear.

Source: Wikimedia

Priti Patel’s Hostile Environment: The Nationality and Borders Bill

KENZA GARMZI | CONTENT WRITER

In the past months, amid the onslaught of pandemic news and Tory scandals, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, has been pushing through a controversial bill that quietly gives the UK government powers to remove British citizenship without appeal and move asylum seekers looking to reside in the UK to southern European countries for processing. This comes after 2021 was the first year to see over one thousand migrants making the dangerous trip across the Channel in one day. Furthermore, while this bill was being processed, 27 people died making the journey in November, including a mother and her 4 children. Since the tragic incident, Patel has used it to further her case on speeding up the process for the bill to pass through parliament. Priti Patel’s bill has been labelled as an ‘anti-refugee bill’ for the way it has dehumanised the migrant crisis as it seeks to criminalise and blame instead of finding humane solutions to deal with the influx of people, many of which are victims of war. Many of the bill’s supporters, as well as other anti-immigration sympathisers, main arguments consist of simply not making the journey or finding other legal ways to do so. However as seen time and time again, the asylum process is long and complex and often leaves refugees with no choice but to risk their lives at sea. One of the victim’s parents of the Channel Crisis mentioned that the victim ‘tried to reach the UK legally twice and that she had been to the British embassy, but the process was delayed, forcing her instead to take the route she did’. A Freedom from Torture ‘Lessons not Learned’ report showed shocking failures of the UK asylum such as how ‘Amnesty International found that of the sample of 50 refused cases, more than four in five were overturned on appeal due to a flawed credibility assessment by the Home Office’ and how ‘In 2017, the ICIBI again identified 10 of the 30 files examined as needing improvement in assessing evidence when considering credibility’. As a result of the hostile environment created by Theresa May when she was home secretary in 2012, people trying to enter the UK for a better life suffered. Now, in 2022, migrants continue to suffer under Priti Patel as she tries to echo Theresa May’s anti-immigrant attitudes. As well as creating a hostile environment for those trying to reach the UK, this bill also threatens to make ethnic minorities second class citizens by giving the government the powers to revoke British citizenship without the ability to appeal. Instead of seeing those vulnerable in society and treating them with compassion and care, the government sees them as problems that need to be swept under the rug or locked up. The Home Office has claimed that ‘British citizenship is a privilege, not a right’ setting a dangerous precedent going forwards on who and what is considered worthy of Britishness and allowing certain individuals to be deserving of more rights because of this. No one chooses to put their and their family's lives at risk, no one chooses to be born in a society that ostracises them for the colour of their skin or where they originally come from. It is time we ground our approach to the ‘migrant crisis’ in compassion, not hostility.