InTuition

Emma Bentley - Guest Writer On 25th November, many UK universities started striking over disputes about pensions, pay and conditions. Striking as a form of direct action has a long history; from responses to the conditions of workers in the Industrial Revolution, to the National Union of Mineworkers’ strike between 1984 - 1985 and the more recent UCU (University and College Union) strikes in 2018, it is a means of causing disruption to pressure governments and employers. This current round of strikes sees 43 universities striking over pensions, pay and conditions, and a further 13 over just pay and conditions. Many claim that disruption and the subsequent impact on students make the strikes irresponsible and selfish, especially as UK and EU students pay up to £9250 annually as tuition fees. However, as universities increasingly resemble neo-liberal corporations lusting after profit with little care for the wellbeing of both students and staff, these strikes are entirely necessary....

Daniel Priestley -  Writer and Editor In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In today's article, Daniel Priestley brings to a close the series with some concluding thoughts. There’s never been so many things to think about when casting your vote in a general election. In this series we’ve aimed to shed some light on a few of the key political issues but there is so much we haven’t been able to touch. Do we need reforms to the welfare state? Can we say that universal credit is really working? Do we need to manage the deficit? Is it wise to end austerity? How can we effectively manage immigration? What should we do about trident? Why haven’t we changed our outdated electoral system? Should we really still have a monarchy? And what about devolution? Should Scotland be given a second independence referendum? How can we resolve the political crisis in Norther...

Zoe Smith - Writer In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In today's article, Zoe Smith looks at International Development: In an increasingly globalised world, party commitments to international development will be key in the upcoming general election. When outlining suggested approaches to development policy, it is conducive to recall the 2017 manifesto pledges concerning development whilst the 2019 manifestos are yet to be released. This post will focus on the Conservative and Labour parties in isolation, in alignment with the two party system first-past-the-post has produced. In the 2017 manifestos, both the Conservatives and Labour paralleled a commitment to dedicating 0.7% of national income to international aid. This is arguably the only similarity between their manifesto promises concerning international development. The disparity in their appr...

Ciara Taggart - Guest Writer In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In this article, Ciara Taggart looks at funding for different types of degrees. An extremely pertinent but relatively undiscussed issue is funding for humanities and arts degrees. Resources, contact hours, and facilities are just as important to humanities students as they are to those studying STEM subjects, but due to a myriad of issues, it often feels like we get far less than what we’re paying for. Society in general often seems to value STEM graduates more highly than humanities ones, and this issue is clearly reflected in where funding is prioritised at universities. Humanities and arts degrees are just as challenging, demanding, and involved as their STEM counterparts, but their reputation as “easy” and “cushy” often leaves us deprived of resources - lab equipment, for example, is pr...

Daniel Priestley - Writer and Editor In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In today's article, Daniel Priestley looks at Access to Justice: One of the biggest issues a new government would need to address is the huge problem of access to justice in our society. As touched upon in previous articles, since 2013 our court system has been crumbling due to colossal budget cuts to legal aid provision and funding for services assisting those without access to their own legal support.  This has lead to a huge increase in the number of litigants in person, having to take on the difficult court system alone. This has had a widespread impact. It has likely impacted the homelessness crisis because people no longer have the support they need to suspend orders for eviction - which gives them time to either catch up on arrears payments or find a new form of affordabl...

KF - Writer In this series of short articles, writers for InTuition will be looking at the biggest issues political parties need to deal with in the upcoming general election. In this article Keziah Flack looks at the issue of Climate Change. For me it’s easy to say the most pressing issue I’ll be looking for at the next general is the environment. There is a trend forming with every general election as -during the runup- every party makes grandiose and impressively vague commitments to the environment… and then conveniently forgets about them as soon as the last ballot is cast. If the point of Brexit is to improve the lives of British citizens then surely the environment must take top priority for whoever will guide us through the changeover. Back in 2016 the UK was proclaimed to be one of the least biologically diverse countries in the world due to centuries of large-scale deforestation (Johnston, 2016). On a global scale we have long past the point of being able to simply push...