Happy World Book Day!! In celebration, I’m sharing my thoughts on a slightly unusual book: an anthology of ghost stories… I’ll be honest, I bought this book almost entirely because of how beautiful the cover is. That and, despite being a huge scaredy-cat, I actually love ghost stories. Some of these I had read already, … Continue reading Classic Ghost Stories
The results of the US midterm elections reveal a high turnout and new minority representation This last week has been dominated by election news, some bad, some good, and some heartwarming (notably the election of Idris Elba as People Magazine’s 2018 Sexiest Man Alive). With the results of the United States midterms in, there has … Continue reading Red, Blue and All The Colours in Between
Afghanistan holds first elections since 2009 Voting is something those of us lucky enough to live in the Western world often take for granted, whether it’s voting in the presidential elections or in the yearly shitstorm known as Eurovision. Rarely do we take the time to appreciate the ease with which we vote or do … Continue reading Vote Now Or For The Next Seven Years Hold Your Peace
UN peace talks have been confirmed for September Outside of being a punchline for that one episode of Friends, Yemen is a country little talked about and little heard of for a great part of the population. Yet it is also a country which has often been described as ‘the world's worst humanitarian crisis’ ‘with … Continue reading One Ticket To Yemen?
Plastic bags in India are being fazed out, in the hopes of abolishing all single-use plastic by 2022 The zeitgeist of the 21st century, it could be argued, is a serious concern for the environment and the consequences of modernism and technological advances on our planet and on the welfare of the human race. Wall-E … Continue reading Big Plastic Bag Ban
The Vatican Court sentences Carlo Alberto Capella for possession and distribution of child pornography As unsavoury behavioural patterns go, the stream of priests embroiled in child molestation and abuse scandals is a well documented one. Recent films such as Spotlight (2015) have brought the issue to light once again, and this past weekend it came … Continue reading Pope Prosecutes Paedophile Priest
For Eid-al-Fitr, the Taliban has agreed to a three-day ceasefire It seems the conflict in the Middle East has been raging since the dawn of time - however it has only been 17 long years, and in that time the Taliban has never once agreed to an official ceasefire. Yet this changed at the strike … Continue reading Unprecedented Taliban Ceasefire
In a historic referendum, Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment and legalize abortions On Saturday 26th of May, Ireland held a referendum hoping to revolutionize the country’s abortions laws. Until now, Ireland was one of the only countries in Europe with strict abortion laws; the Washington Post even describing Ireland’s abortion law as ‘one … Continue reading Ireland Votes To End Abortion Ban
As American party primaries continue, female candidates surge ahead Themes of sexism, misogyny, equal pay, sexual abuse and harassment, gender discrimination and body shaming, tend to dominate the news, particularly in America, where the country’s leaders are predominantly men. However, this might be about to change. With the party primaries continuing throughout this month, it … Continue reading Who Runs The World?
Don Blankenship loses West Virginia in Republican party primaries Although American politics may seem, to the outsider, as nothing more than a sh*t-storm nowadays, the country is still running as it always has been, which means that these last couple weeks have seen a number of party primaries being held across the country - some … Continue reading ‘Trumpier than Trump’
The Beanstalk 