Posts Tagged by society
L’Étranger by Albert Camus: a beautifully strange summer read
| July 17, 2012 | Posted by Jade Cuttle under culture, international, reviews |
“Today, mother died. Or perhaps yesterday, I don’t know.” You’ve got to admit, that’s one heck of an opening. The first time I read it, I laughed. I’m not heartless, I was simply shocked. How is it that something so short and simple can be so striking? Perhaps it was an instinctive fear towards death combined with the uncomfortable lack of compassion, or the sudden depths of a story I was plunged into knocking me unexpectedly off my seat. Either way, it prods sharply at your curiosity; a story you’ll be reluctant to emerge from once you’ve started. L’Étranger, first published in 1942, is a classic French philosophical novel divided into two parts: the life before and after an emotionally detached French-Algerian office… more
Is gay marriage really a good thing? A gay boy’s opinion
| June 1, 2012 | Posted by Jack Green under lifestyle |
As a teenage boy, marriage is one of the topics furthest from my mind. It doesn’t matter. It has no relevance to me, and I don’t expect it to till I’m at least around 25; by then I’ll have finished university and contemplating the whole settling down concept. But, unfortunately for me, it does have some relevance. A relevance that is biological, sociological and emotional. You see, I’m bound to the topic of marriage’s nature in contemporary society because I am gay. In the last year or so, the topic of gay marriage has become more and more intertwined with life: it’s a focus of the news, openly discussed in schools and other institutions, and the other day I even… more
Does morality create law, or does law create morality?
| May 7, 2012 | Posted by Jane Lu under lifestyle |
The word “morality” comes from the Latin word moralitas, meaning manners and proper behaviour. Nowadays, we say morality refers to how we differentiate good from evil, right from wrong. The word “law” refers to a system of rules that controls and enforces behaviour, including that of a society’s government, that will avoid causing harm to a community. The question, “Does morality create law or does law create morality?” reminds me of a similar thought: “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Indeed, morality and law have such a strong relationship that they both seem come before one another: it is awareness of morality that causes laws to be set up in order to spread morality in society; hence, in… more
What my auntie’s hearing and British culture have in common
| April 25, 2012 | Posted by Shanti Das under lifestyle, satire |
Along with the state of my auntie’s hearing, my grandfather’s memory, and my mobile phone’s battery, British culture is deteriorating frighteningly rapidly – and the upcoming generation is faced with the brunt of the blame. But is it really? (Yes, my auntie’s hearing, my grandfather’s memory, and my mobile phone’s battery are all worsening at a worrying rate – but is Britain really on a downward spiral?) I decided to hit the teenage years just as England was on the verge of becoming a less than pleasant place in which to reside. The streets are no longer decorated by a host of buses and bikes, but more commonly littered with four-by-fours on tarmacked roads and kids riding mopeds as though… more
Five reasons not to diet
| April 12, 2012 | Posted by Rosie Watterson under lifestyle |
I detest diets in the same way I detest vodka: I tried it once, and hated how it tasted and made me feel. So I stopped drinking it. I then found myself surrounded by people who hated it as much as me but seemed unable to put the glass down. OK, they might go a couple of days, weeks or months sober, but sooner or later they started drinking it again and complaining all the while. I started by being angry at these people: “If being on a diet makes you miserable, stop!” I then became confused: “Why go on a diet just to eat a doughnut and then feel terrible?” And now I’m at a stage of uncharacteristic pity: “You make… more
Little bit of strength
| April 11, 2012 | Posted by Rosie Watterson under lifestyle |
I was walking through town in my new shoes. It was an overcast day but I didn’t care. Heading towards the fountain where I was to meet someone, I saw a woman staggering around. “Drunk,” I thought to myself. I then saw her lying down in the middle of the pavement. “Very drunk.” She was wearing an outfit that would have been fine in a night club, but was somewhat out of place in the sober daylight. Thinking little about her, I looked around for the person I was meeting. As I wandered, waiting, I heard an “Excuse me.” “Can you help me up?” she asked, and, as I pulled, she said something that only struck me an hour later,… more
How to disappear completely
| April 6, 2012 | Posted by Georgie Tindale under culture, lifestyle |
At midnight on the University of Nottingham’s campus a student goes missing. It is March, and the day has been colder than expected. She was last seen crossing a car park between two halls of residence, gesticulating wildly and moving with no sense of direction. The night grows darker, the shadows undercut the floodlights and she does not return. On a Caribbean Island at midday, a crew of four take a trip out on a rented boat. They were last seen 30 miles off coast. One crew member was found drifting in a foot of water. His skin is clammy, and the marks of a violent struggle are clear. He is viciously sunburnt. It is four hours later, and the… more
…Is it because I’m gay?
| April 6, 2012 | Posted by Nicholas Welbrock under lifestyle |
We’ve all seen them at college or university: the strutting, overly excitable, girly, and frankly eccentric males that we instantly label as “gay”. Now, I may occasionally be some of these things, but I am definitely not that stereotype. I’m gay. I like men. That does not mean I’m not masculine. Many a time I have heard the: “Why does he act like that?” “It’s fine, he’s gay.” “Oh, OK then.” It’s as if being gay is a reason to act a certain way. Let me tell you: it isn’t. Being gay does not change how you act, talk, or walk; only who you like. Please don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against “camp”. No one should have to pretend to be… more
The devil’s advocate: The problem with beauty
| April 5, 2012 | Posted by James Harle under lifestyle |
There has been a lot of fuss recently over Facebook’s plethora of “most beautiful teen” contest pages, which collect and peer-rate the physical attractiveness of teenagers. One of the concerns raised is that such pages reinforce the notion of conventional beauty – that there is a perfect body type which all people should aim to achieve, assuming that beauty is the highest goal of life. People have begun to attack the groups by posting protest pictures, often featuring anorexia and other eating disorders, or by posting pictures of disfigured teens and attributing them the greatest beauty. The trouble is that a picture of a disfigured teen isn’t beautiful, it’s ugly, and the push to rebrand beauty is not a productive… more
Petrol crisis? Just wait ’till we run out of couscous
| April 3, 2012 | Posted by Dan Peacock under satire |
In all honesty, the recent petrol crisis has unnerved me a little. It’s nothing to do with the widespread reports of people brawling for petrol outside Morrisons, or the solitary case of a woman severely burning herself while decanting petrol. It’s more to do with how quickly and easily society can freak out over what was essentially a government-funded rumour. And how much we depend on things that are beyond our control. I remember as a young lad vaguely hearing something on the news about “the possibility of terror attacks in the UK” shortly after we entered Iraq, and something or other about the water supply. Suddenly you would go into Tesco and the bottled water aisle was empty. Empty. Even… more
