All posts tagged: Opinion

Book Burning is not the only solution – Janette Winterson’s very public protest

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Written by Georgia Hilton-Buckley On Friday June 4th, Jeanette Winterson tweeted a photo of burning books, made significantly more interesting because they were her own books. Winterson, famed author of Oranges are not the only fruit and Sexing the Cherry, burned the republished editions of several of her previous works because she detested the ‘cosy’ blurb which sectioned her into ‘wimmin’s fiction’. I have read a few of Winterson’s novels and greatly admired them, but the prospect of burning books greatly upset me. The history of book burning Burning books has always been a symbol of censorship under both the reign of Nazi Germany, the destruction of the Library of Baghdad and the Burning of Jaffna public library. Under ISIS, burning forbidden texts are common acts of taunting Western media and is probably the most recent act of cultural genocide. Although Winterson is burning her own books, it still sends a strong message that literature can be erased. When the author who shall not be named (Creator of Harry Potter) posted a transphobic essay, many …

#NotAllMen is a pathetic call for validation for not assaulting women

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Written by Trinity Barnatt It’s 10pm and I’m walking home alone after finishing my shift at work. There’s a man walking towards me. He’s about 6ft. Dark hair. Caucasian. Roads too busy I can’t cross it. I get my keys from my pocket and hold them between my fingers. My heart starts racing as he walks towards me. Maybe I should have got on the phone to someone. Anxiety builds in my chest as he gets closer and closer and closer… A wave of relief runs through me as he walks past me. Sarah Everard never felt that wave of relief. For anyone unfamiliar with the recent case of Sarah Everard, she went missing last week after walking home from a friend’s house in south London. Since then, her body has been found and a serving police officer arrested on the suspicion of her murder. While Sarah Everard’s case is devastating, that is not what shocked me. What shocked me was the response: #NotAllMen trending on twitter. In response to a callous crime, thousands of …

“Crisis point” in student education as hopes of fee refunds are dashed by universities minister

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Written by Ed Morrison Last week, in response to a question about tuition fee refunds from a red-faced Piers Morgan, the universities minister, Michelle Donelan, exclaimed: “We set the maximum level of tuition fees and it is up to universities to then decide what they are going to charge.” Donelan’s OIA level advice rejects any proposal for the government to pay students compensation for their undervalued tuition and is a bitter pill to swallow for those, like myself, who felt reinvigorated and hopeful that change was on the horizon, especially after a government petition for reduced tuition fees received over 550,000 signatures. In light of this, it is perhaps unsurprising that this latest government advice has fallen on deaf ears among students, who feel sick and tired at the treatment they have received this academic year. These views are expressed in a new poll by the University of Leicester Students’ Union as part of a new ‘Tuition Fees Campaign.’ Organised by the SU President, Mia Nembhard, she hopes it will “help get as many students …