Death in Custody: Police Shame or 'Excited Delirium'?

Imagine the following scenario: a police officer’s home is broken into by a gang of eleven youths, who chase him into the street and beat him to death while his watching family beg them to stop. There would be national outrage, the perpetrators would face lengthy jail sentences and the Prime Minister would be on television talking about Britain’s broken society and feral gang culture.

catch-up

Bit late, but here's a couple of bits of writing that have been published in The Student recently. I'm now co-editor of the comment section so will be doing a satirical column every couple of weeks, here's the first one about the royal yacht.

Also a piece on Iran that was published back in November. Since it was written things have escalated a fair bit with the EU oil embargo and more assassinations of Iranian scientists. I'll hopefully do another piece on the topic when I get a chance but there are some relevant points here.

Now that I'm editing the comment section I won't be writing as much in The Student but I'm hoping to carry on writing short opinion pieces here as well as reports and photos from protests, meetings, events etc. I realised at the end of last semester I did a huge amount but had little record of anything apart from a few photos so hopefully I can rectify that by keeping this regularly updated.

Edinburgh University collaborating with Bahraini government

It was announced this week that the University of Edinburgh has signed a cooperation agreement with Bahrain's repressive authoritarian regime, which is seeking to create a "network of scientific research" that will link academic institutions to business and industry.

UPDATE - Edinburgh University Investments

Following my piece on Edinburgh University's investment in the arms trade and in oil companies such as Shell two motions were proposed at the EUSA AGM on Nov 23rd, calling on the University to divest from Shell and Cobham Plc. Both passed unanimously, however as the turnout was less than the required 300 the meeting was not quorate and therefore the decisions were not binding. Nonetheless the support for the motions was so strong that the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Mike Williamson, pledged to follow up the issue with the University. Since then it has been revealed that the university has sold its shares in Cobham Plc as a result of student pressure. The next step will be to try and bring about a change in the University's Socially Responsible Investment policy to prevent arms manufacturers from returning to the investment portfolio.

What Lies Beneath

When students begin ploughing £36,000 into the Edinburgh University coffers next September they will no doubt expect that this money is used in a responsible way. The University’s Socially Responsible Investment policy and its Climate Action Plan certainly suggest that it will. However, students’ money is being used to finance some of the most environmentally destructive projects on earth, as well as runaway climate change, arms manufacturing and human rights abuses.

A Fracking Disgrace

When you hear the words ‘renewable energy’, what images spring to mind? Wind farms, solar panels and tidal energy turbines? What about a power station covering the area of 17 football pitches, with a 100 metre tall chimney that belches out the smoke from millions of tonnes of wood that has been shipped over from Florida? This is what Forth Energy is attempting to build in four locations around Scotland, including in Leith where people live just 200 metres from the proposed site. If the application is successful it will potentially receive billions of pounds in renewable energy subsidies from the Scottish Government.

"It's like a hotel with a guaranteed occupancy"

The Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke made headlines this week with his inflammatory rhetoric about a “feral underclass” charged with instigating the recent riots in Britain. However in amongst his comments about the “criminal classes” of Britain there was a serious point about how the British people are being failed by our criminal justice system. An unbelievable 73% of young men who have been to prison will reoffend within a year of their release, not because they are feral members of a criminal class but because their time in prison destroys any opportunities they may have had for gainful employment and leaves them ill-equipped to re-enter society. To his credit, Clarke has recognised this and during his time as Justice Secretary has sought to promote prison as a place of rehabilitation rather than simply incarceration.