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No More Playing Ball With Putin: England Must Boycott The World Cup

Common Sense Contributors
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No More Playing Ball With Putin: England Must Boycott The World Cup

 

Amongst English football fans, 32% think that the English National Team should boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia (The Times / YouGov). And while such a show of defiance on the part of the United Kingdom would surely be unpopular amongst football fans and the general public alike – such a move has 34% approval amongst the wider population – the truth, is that none of the options that British Prime Minister Theresa May has to stand up to Putin and Moscow are going to win her many friends at home or abroad.

Some have commented that endorsing the Russian World Cup would amount to the same tacit support that legitimised the Nazi regime during the 1938 Olympics.

“The West put on a show of unity last week,” said the Economist in response to the international reaction to May’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and their families last Tuesday. French President Macron, German Chancellor Merkel and at-the-time US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson all supported May against what her government characterised as the Kremlin’s “breach of international law”.

Cracks in this unity were exposed quickly as the aforementioned Merkel, US President Donald Trump and the EU Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker all came out congratulating Putin on his victory in the sham election on Sunday.  

 

Turning the rhetoric against Russia into action, especially when sanctioning its strong-arming on foreign soil, is going to be difficult. The Mail on Sunday pointed out that the diplomatic expulsions and the fact the Russians responded with their own expulsions have probably harmed the UK more than Russia. The Open Society that we have here is easily accessed from abroad; losing out on the network within Russia’s closed society will be a heavy price to pay for standing up to Putin. Even if the diplomatic repercussions of May’s fight with Russia aren’t painful enough, the games that Putin could play with oil and gas prices, especially with the UK’s weakened position during the Brexit negotiations could spell serious economic problems for the UK.

Corbyn’s call last week to be wary of a trade war with Russia should not be neglected but the principled way that Theresa May is acting must also be lauded. The Salisbury attack can only mean one of two things; that Russia authorized a nerve agent attack on foreign soil or that the Kremlin has been negligent in who has access to the stockpiles of the Soviet-era weaponry.

Being principled in this regard and standing up to the bully that Putin’s Russia is, is not going to be an easy road for the UK to travel, especially while it licks its post-Brexit wounds. But May is right “the Russian threat does not respect borders and is, therefore, a threat to us all (wider Europe). That’s a powerful indictment of the UK and Russia’s diplomatic status and it means that it must back up its words with bold actions. Does this mean giving up our place in the World Cup? It very much could…

The Iraq War 15 Years On: What Have We Learned?

Alex Davenport
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The Iraq War 15 Years On: What Have We Learned?

This month marks 15 years since a US-led military coalition launched ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’, an invasion designed to topple the Saddam Hussein regime. The mission itself was undoubtedly a success, bringing an end to Hussein’s leadership of the country in line with the operation’s original aim. Yet in the long run the invasion has come to epitomise the eventual backfiring of George W. Bush’s ‘War on Terror’, and a decade and a half on politicians would do well to learn from the failing of the Iraqi situation.

Although there had long been movements imploring the US government to depose Saddam Hussein, it was 9/11 that changed everything. Almost overnight after the shocking attacks, the Middle East became a foreign policy priority for the US under Bush, whose main aim was to ensure similar scenes to those in September 2001 never took place again. It was, at least publicly, with this aim in mind that the US became concerned with Iraq as part of its War on Terror. Although Iraq was quickly ruled out as having any involvement in the attacks, there had long been a suspicion that Hussein’s government was producing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), potentially giving in the capability to launch a devastating attack on foreign soil. This meant Bush’s invasion could be framed as being in the best interests of his country’s security.

Except, as discovered following the invasion, Iraq did not possess any such weapons. While it did have WMD, these were only capable of being used in a domestic context – still brutal and horrific for sure, but not relevant to US national security in particular. In fact, the heavy-handed reconstruction of Iraq led by the US and the UK probably worsened the terrorist threat across the region, and by extension the world.

The region was destabilised, allowing sectional tensions between the country’s Sunni and Shia demographics to grow, with many Sunni turning towards jihadism to assert their cause most strongly. At the same time, many key members of Iraq’s political and military structures under Saddam Hussein were detained in US-run facilities following the invasion, where they were held alongside the radical Sunni jihadists. As a result, these facilities fostered a merging of ideological extremism with military and political competence which many see as forming the roots of what is now known as Daesh. According to the Iraqi government, 17 of the 25 most important figures in Daesh spent time in US detention facilities, where strong bonds appear to have grown among the disaffected inmates.

A group of Daesh fighters (Source: Express Tribune)

Only in the context of the Iraq War and its aftermath can we understand the nature of modern-day jihadis, given its impact in transforming terrorist organisations in the region. Where they were once stateless groupings of individuals constantly on the run from various intelligence services, like Al-Qaeda, they became a so-called ‘state’ with a geographic basis and the expertise to know how to conduct conventional military campaigns and administrate territories under its control. This territorial control over regions in Iraq and Syria allowed these extremists to spread their ideology far more directly and effectively than their predecessors, while new recruits knew exactly where to go to join up, making Daesh a formidable organisation. The repressive nature of Daesh’s regime in Iraq and Syria and its attacks on various other countries speak for themselves, and only now is it beginning to be overcome. Perhaps if Iraq had been handled differently 15 years ago, global security could have ended up very differently.

What You Need to Know About Trump’s Tariffs

Common Sense Contributors
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By Shafiq Kyazze.

A tariff is a tax on imports and exports. The most popular reason for imposing tariffs is to protect the domestic producers of a certain product, however, this protection comes at a high cost that outweighs the benefits of enacting tariffs. President Trump is making the same mistake that Obama and many of his predecessors succumbed to; the mistake of instituting tariffs.
Let’s take steel as an example, when steel imported from China is cheaper than steel produced in USA, tariffs may be imposed. These tariffs will make steel from China more expensive hence forcing American businesses to buy the now less expensive steel from USA steel manufacturers. The price and demand for steel from US manufacturers will go up leading to an increase in the number of people employed in the steel industry. This point is where a lot of politicians stop to self-congratulate themselves on increasing employment in a given industry.
Hong Kong is one of the few nations that has existed with little to no tariffs. (Image Source: Starlit Voice)
But the story never ends here, as the price of steel goes up the American industries that need steel as a raw material will find it more expensive to operate due to an increase in the costs of production: these industries range from small scale industries such as cutlery manufacturers to large scale industries such as vehicle and oil rig industries. Since businesses won’t increase prices as it normally makes them lose customers and reduce their profits, they cut costs of production by reducing the people employed and some may move to different countries where they can import cheaper steel (with little to no tariffs). Moreover, for the country as a whole, businesses are lost, unemployment increases and income among the general population decreases as well. The country is singularly worse than it was before it enforced tariffs.
This is exactly what happened during the great depression in 1930. The unemployment in America fell from 9% to 6% from December 1929 to June 1930. When the Smoot- Hawley tariffs were enacted by Herbert Hoover, unemployment decline trend was reversed Unemployment rose to 11.6% in the subsequent 5 months and later increased to 15% a year after and hit 26% the following 2 years after the tariff imposition.
The tariffs passed by Herbert Hoover are blamed for the severity of the succeeding depression. (Image Source: pwhs.weebly.com)
In the 1980s when steel tariffs were levied, they led to a $240 million profit and saved 5000 jobs in the steel industry but they led to a loss of $600million in profits and 26,000 jobs in other industries that depended on steel as a raw material.
It’s invariably imperative to look at the whole picture of a policy as compared to jumping to first effect as many politicians and people have done in the past. Saving jobs in the steel industry is important, but life as we know it puts costs on everything and the cost of saving steel jobs is losing a lot more jobs in different sectors. There are simply no solutions in life but trade-offs.

Shafiq has a strong background in philosophy and history having been exposed to such issues at a very tender age. He has a voracious interest in economics, history, politics, philosophy and social issues. He is a Chemical engineering student at The University of Manchester. Shafiq is also an avid Barcelona fan and is currently a writer at TCS network.

Dissecting Colourism

Common Sense Contributors
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By Mike Banks.

If you have been on Twitter over the last few weeks or so, you might have noticed that colourism has become a popular topic of discussion.

Colourism is a relatively new term; American writer and activist, Alice Walker, coined it in 1982 and she defined it as ‘preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their colour’. Colourism is essentially the preferential treatment of the fairer/light-skinned members of a racial group or discrimination against dark-skinned members of a racial group, often perpetuated by other members of said group.

Alice Walker coined the term in 1982

Despite the term only entering our consciousness in the early 1980s, it is not an inchoate phenomenon and it is intrinsically linked with slavery, colonialism, and white supremacy.

During the transatlantic slave trade, slave owners often gave light-skinned slaves preferential treatment. This preferential treatment included being given an education and less grueling tasks to undertake, whilst dark-skinned slaves were subjected to arduous work outdoors. One of the main reasons for this preferential treatment was that their fairer skin meant they were viewed as more virtuous than dark-skinned slaves as they bore more of a similarity, in complexion, to their white slave owners.

This preferential treatment created animosity and tension between black people and colourism did not end following the abolition of the slave trade. In America following the slave trade, light-skinned black people enjoyed better employment opportunities than their dark-skinned counterparts and began climbing the social ladder. Eurocentric ideals of beauty were also internalised meaning light-skinned black women were more aligned to these ideals and many dark-skinned women began to covet Eurocentric features.

Colourism affects both dark-skinned men and women, but research in America has found that women are more likely to be psychologically affected by it. A 2012 documentary titled ‘Dark Girls’ gave some dark-skinned women the opportunity to shed light on some of the psychological effects of colourism, which include low self-esteem and a feeling of unattractiveness.

I believe that colourism has been exacerbated by mainstream media representation and popular culture, particularly in the case of women. Rap songs and music videos often glorify and heavily feature light-skinned black women, whilst demonising dark-skinned women. It is quite hard to think of an influential dark-skinned black woman that featured heavily in popular culture in the UK. There is also a lack of diversity in the representation of black women in the USA. Prominent black women in the USA include Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Halle Berry and Rihanna, all of whom are fair-skinned.  Dark-skinned women are less widely embraced however. For example, Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all-time, is constantly derided for her Afrocentric features.

Earlier this year, Mathew Knowles, the father of Beyoncé, claimed that Beyoncé owed some of her success to her fair skin. Knowles added that he was conditioned to only date white or light-skinned black women and even claimed that one of the reasons he was attracted to Beyonce’s mother, Tina Lawson, was because he thought she was a white woman.

Lupita Nyong’o has spoken of her struggles as a dark-skinned woman, and how she would pray to God for fairer skin, while American actress and singer, Zendaya has gone on record to suggest that there is room for improvement when it comes to the representation of a diverse range of black women in entertainment. She also noted that as a light-skinned woman she does enjoy a level of privilege.

Lupita poses after winning an Oscar for her performance in Twelve Years a Slave

Colourism is not just a problem black people face, in the United Arab Emirates; fairer-skinned people are usually higher up the social ladder than their dark-skinned counterparts. In India, there is a huge market for skin lightening products, with fairer-skinned women viewed as more beautiful and virtuous. Skin lightening creams and soaps are also popular amongst women in Africa; in fact, the World Heath Organisation found that 77% of women in Nigeria regularly use skin-lightening products.

Black men and women of all shades should be celebrated and embraced. Black Panther was a step in the right direction as the film featured a diverse cast of black actors and actresses. The fact that the two leading female roles in the film were played by Lupita Nyong’o and Letitia Wright is hugely significant, as in the past these roles might have been played by fairer-skinned women.

Dark-skinned women should not feel under societal pressure to bleach their skin or relax their hair to adapt to European ideals of beauty. Mainstream media outlets need to do a better job at representing a diverse range of black people. It goes without saying that Black people also have a duty to stop reinforcing European ideals of beauty by celebrating all shades of beauty.

 

Mike is a Politics PhD student and takes a keen interest in social issues, all things British politics and Liverpool FC.

Twitter: @mxkes_

What You’re Not Told About Capitalism

Common Sense Contributors
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By Shafiq Kyazze.

Have you ever been scrolling down your Facebook or Twitter timeline and alas, you came across a post or video ridiculing capitalism and how its evil. You might have liked or shared the video because the presenter might’ve made plausible arguments about the distress and destruction caused by capitalism. But what if I told you that this person was wrong about capitalism? What if I told you that capitalism has fueled the world towards better standards of living? Did you know that capitalism is the most efficient and best economic system known in the world?

Hong Kong is a region of China popularly regarded as the most capitalist place in the world. (Image Source: ezTravel)

Capitalism is an economic system. An economic system is a way scarce resources are allocated. Capitalism is an economic system that emphasizes freedom of people engaging in the market; a free market system. It advocates for your freedom to choose whatever you want to purchase and sell in a market. Other economic systems include Communism, socialism etc. By comparison, communism is an economic system where resources are allocated by the state according to one’s needs whilst socialism is an economic system where the means of production are owned by the state.

The fundamental problem with state-owned means of production is that the state purchases and sells products based on what it thinks the price is, not what the actual price is. Under a state planned economic system, the government body of a country would have to determine the prices of every product which is by far the least efficient way to set prices for every product given that an individual body does not posses all knowledge about all things.

Essentially, it’s impossible for the government to accurately set more than a million prices for a million or more products. Trading of products using wrong prices can lead to a massive decrease in the supply of the good which can lead to grave economic situations.
In capitalism however, the seller of the product determines the price of the product they are selling which is less strenuous and more efficient since the seller only focuses on setting the price for one product and has a lot of knowledge about what they are selling.

Numerous people talk about capitalism being the main cause of poverty and tragedy in the world. However, convincing evidence would suggest that such a statement is utterly false. It is crucial to note that other economic systems have been tested and yielded effects that are grievously deleterious i.e. socialism has caused a food crisis in modern day Venezuela and communism caused millions of deaths, malnutrition and famine in China under Mao.

Interestingly after the death of Mao Zedong, the former leader of communist China, the country adopted a bit of Capitalism leading to higher incomes and better standards of living. It is estimated that 246 million people rose from living on $1 a day in China between 1990 and 2004. An article published in the Guardian in 2017 further illustrated the effects of the structural economic changes in China, the headline read “Obesity: the big, fat problem with Chinese cities.” Other statements in the article included:

“With an increasingly urban population, rising disposable incomes and a growing demand for international cuisines, it is no wonder China is home to a high number of fast-food brands.”

“Swelling waistlines are the most visible symptom. Even the state-run media outlet Global Times found that China now has the largest overweight population in the world – 20.8% of men and 14.9% of women in a nation of 1.4 billion people – bumping the United States to second place, according to a study published in the Lancet Medical Journal.”

“That’s more than 43 million men and 46 million women classified as overweight”

It is imperative to point out that a country which suffered heavily from a shortage of food, millions of deaths and extreme poverty under communism has now gone on to experience rising disposable incomes, less poverty and an overweight problem. I’m in no way saying that being obese is healthy, but rather, if I was given a choice to choose between obesity and famine as situations to affect a country, I would choose the former since it’s easier to improve one’s diet and become healthy.

Moreover, those in present day China have higher incomes providing them with a wider range of food options ranging from healthy to unhealthy food. These higher incomes enable them to purchase healthier foods than their predecessors who had fewer incomes consequently leading to little to no options.

Shanghai is a major city in China. Its progress was observed after implementation of capitalism in China. (Image Source: discoverchina) 

The argument for capitalism can be extended further, let’s take two countries Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. As of 1960 both countries had just gained their independence, Ghana chose to embrace socialism and had a slightly higher real per capita and was more economically prosperous at that time than Cote d’Ivoire which adopted capitalism. After 20 years (1980) the results were in: Cote d’Ivoire had real per capita incomes that were 65 percent higher than those in Ghana. The bottom 20 percent in Cote d’Ivoire averaged higher incomes than the majority of the Ghanaian population. Ghana is a very mineral-rich country and was popularly known as the “Gold coast” because its richly endowed with gold.

Unfortunately, as Ghana stepped away from the free-market system economic policies, it lost a lot these benefits. What this shows is that capitalism is a necessary prerequisite for economic success.
This same pattern has been repeated around the world and can be seen between India and South Korea (as of 1960), Hong Kong and Mainland China (before China made part of its markets free).

Innumerable countries have experienced a vast increase in their quality of life and wealth such as Estonia, Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Chile, Rwanda and plenty more.

The next time someone tells you that we should embrace communism, ask them between North Korea (communist system) and South Korea (the capitalist system) which one has its citizens trying to escape from their country to join the other. It’s no coincidence that the wealthiest countries in the world are among the most capitalist countries. There is simply a strong and consistent positive correlation between wealth and capitalism.

 

Shafiq has a strong background in philosophy and history having been exposed to such issues at a very tender age. He has a voracious interest in economics, history, politics, philosophy and social issues. He is a Chemical engineering student at The University of Manchester. Shafiq is also an avid Barcelona fan and is currently a writer for TCS.

 

The Biggest Trends of 2018

Common Sense Contributors
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By Tanya Mwamuka.

2017 was the year I finally found my style, and styles that featured on the runway definitely contributed to this evolution. The runway was hot with everlasting fashion trends and could quite possibly have been my favourite so far. For this very reason, I was left wondering, what did 2018 have to offer? I won’t lie to you I really wasn’t expecting much, but to my surprise the runways for Spring/Summer 2018 have left me saving every penny to buy clothes in ZARA. So, if you’re as obsessed with fashion as I am, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a run through of five of the biggest trends to grace our presence so far:

(1) Pastel perfect

Red ruled the roost last year, and no doubt won’t be going away anytime soon. However, there’s a new colour scheme making headway; pastels. Baby pinks, eggshell blues and pale purples are just some of the shades to note. Hermes went sunny with lemon sorbet outfits and pistachio green was the epicenter of Sies Marjan. Blogger and Youtuber with the stage name KarenBritChic shows you how it’s done in her video, where she shares the best ways to style pastels below.

KarenBritChic youtube video: How to style pastels

(2) Denim Re-done

Denim seems to be a recur-re year in year out. Copies of vetements patch work jeans were in every shop on the high street last year. 2018 has a more subtle style; light wash is out and the 2000’s dark and moody dark denim has made a return. With the addition of contrast stitching, who would have thought tailored denim would look this good?

Image: courtesy of Max Mara

(3) Barely There

With this bitter UK weather, we may have to wait a bit to fully embrace the organza explosion; as soon as a hint of heat comes, you can be sure that this trend will definitely flourish.

Image: courtesy of Preen

Perfect for the summer the ‘barely there’ trend, is an easy breezy style and paired with pastels is an extra feminine style that exudes ethereal spring vibes all day long. In contrast, Dolce and Gabbana took the took to the dark side, avoiding gelato shades and going punk rock with black.

Image: courtesy of Dolce and Gabbana

(4) Crayola Brights

Here is proof that red certainly isn’t dead. It’s strange to think that colour palettes on the opposite end of the spectrum, pastels and bright primary colours are both in this season, but that’s fashion for you. These bold, eye catching hues take me back to primary school days and are a reminder of how fashion can be so much fun.

Image: courtesy of whowhatwear.com

(5) 90’s baby

It’s not something new, the fashion industry has been known to take influence from the past. The 70’s was a big influence in 2016, and the 80’s power shoulders and balloon sleeves saw a return last year. 2018 is seeing maybe the biggest revival of one of my favourite decades; the 90’s baby. 90’s accessories have been the most notable, from micro and super cat eyed sunglasses to the classic beret.

Image: Kylie jenner via pinterest & popsugar

The list of trends goes on and on, plastics, pencil skirts and more. I see the styles above lasting a very long time, definitely longer than just one season, and perhaps they may become as timeless and classic as the beloved trench coat.

 

Tanya is currently studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Manchester and hopes to get into science journalism and media after completing her degree. She loves fashion and travelling and enjoys learning new languages in her spare time; she is currently learning French.

New Allegations of Racism and Sexism Emerge at Exeter University

Common Sense Contributors
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New Allegations of Racism and Sexism Emerge at Exeter University

Content warning: Some may find the language quoted in this article as offensive or troubling due to invocations of racial slurs and sexual violence. 

 

By Alex Davenport

A student at the University of Exeter has spoken out about the alleged use of racist and sexist language among members of an on-campus law society. Arsalan Motavali, a law student at the university and committee member of Bracton Law Society, wrote a Facebook post outlining comments made by fellow committee members on a WhatsApp group, as well as sharing screenshots which are purported to be from the group in question. Motavali stated that the offensive comments had been posted over a long period of time, and that he had only recently worked up the courage to speak out on the issue.

 

Examples of the comments from the WhatsApp group shared by Motavali (Source: Arsalan Motavali/Facebook)

Among the comments shared by Motavali were racial slurs about people of Black and South Asian origin, jokes about raping women and, on one occasion, a suggestion of regret that a fellow student who had been stabbed was not more severely injured. Among those accused of making the comments are the general secretary of Bracton Law Society, as well as a member in the running to be the next general secretary and three other society members.

The response to this scandal and those implicated in it has been swift. Bracton Law Society has already announced that it has resolved to remove all those accused of perpetrating the offensive comments from its committee, as well as banning those involved from the society as a whole, and preventing the candidate mentioned above from running for the general secretary position. The University of Exeter has also made a statement on Twitter, announcing that in condemns racism in all its forms, and that it will take action pending an internal investigation conducted by the University’s Student Guild.

These allegations merely represent the latest events in a series of controversies to take place in educational establishments over recent weeks. Seven pupils were suspended, albeit temporarily, from a school in Bath for tying up, whipping and holding a mock ‘auction’ for a Black classmate. Meanwhile, Rufaro Chisango, a student at Nottingham Trent University, recently shared a video from her student halls in which two fellow students chanted “we hate the Blacks”. This led the University to suspend the students in question, while Nottinghamshire police made arrests on suspicion of racially-aggravated public order offences. Motavali praised Nottingham Trent University’s quick and decisive reaction to the issue reported by Chisango, and expressed his hope that the University of Exeter would act in a similar fashion with regard to his own complaint.

This issue will undoubtedly raise questions of when jokes in poor taste and so-called ‘lad culture’ spill over into genuine bullying and flat-out racism. Universities have long been regarded as the home of progressive, cutting-edge ideas and social tolerance. Yet this issue also underlines the darker side of higher education: a place where young men arrive having left home for the first time, freed of all the constraints of parents and teachers. Many try to forge new identities based on how controversial, or ‘edgy’, they can be, as a means of standing out from the crowd; their clear and deliberate lack of empathy an exhibition of their masculinity, usually underpinned by insecurity. Finding a way of curbing this need to show off to other ‘lads’ is surely essential to achieving the long-overdue goal of making students who do not fit into this group feel as safe and welcome at university as they should.

 

David Akinwolemiwa: Racism at university rears its ugly head again

Following the well-publicised furore stemming from Rufaro Chisango suffering racial abuse in her halls of residence at Nottingham Trent University, fresh allegations of racism have emerged against students at the University of Exeter. Partly inspired by Chisango’s bravery in sharing her experiences, Arsalan Motavali decided to make public the racism he had witnessed at Exeter. Prior to the information being made public, Arsalan launched a complaint to the University of Exeter after obtaining multiple screenshots of students at the University of Exeter Law School racially insulting their peers, and making similarly disgusting comments about other racial groups in general.

Further examples of the comments made on the WhatsApp group (Source: Arsalan Motavali/Facebook)

The screenshots came from participants in a group chat started by Motavali, who claims that the content of the chat became “increasingly racist and deplorable” as other students were added. The parties involved are: Matthew Bell (who was administrator of the group chat), Ash Chandrahan, Alex Crawford, James Cranstone, and Bailey Grant. They are accused of making disparaging comments towards their peers, such as Ash Chandrahan remarking that he wished “the jabs finished” Ikenna Henry Onyebuchi, a fellow student at the University who had been stabbed earlier in the year.

Arsalan claims he stayed in the group chat primarily to collect evidence of the things being said, and did not leave the group immediately due to “consistent anxiety and worry of how to deal with the situation”,  as well as the anxiety that third year brings. He says his contributions to the chat were rare, and pertained to “football and exam advice”. It has to be said, as good as it is that Arsalan has compiled evidence and made a complaint to the University, there are obvious questions to be asked as to why he never once voiced his displeasure at the statements made by other people in the chat. Especially given that the comments were targeted at his “close friends”, and the perpetrators “depicted them as an official societal belief” of Bracton Law Society, which he is a part of.

An excerpt from Motavali’s Facebook post (Source: Arsalan Motavali/Facebook)

Perhaps it’s harsh, but until he notified authorities, and named and shamed the involved students on social media, one could argue that he was a bystander in the negative sense by allowing them to make such vile comments freely. It’s commendable that he eventually “refused to by and let such people who speak in these terms go on to recruit at future law firms or be part of University culture”, given that Matthew Bell and Alex Crawford are on the Bracton Law Society committee, a future trainee solicitor at Hill Dickinson LLP and a brand ambassador at RPC respectively. The University and their prospective employers must be forced to reiterate a commitment to ensuring their institutions are open, tolerant spaces, and the whole affair goes to show just how much work remains to eradicate the institutionalised racism at Britain’s universities.

 

Tia Lewis: My experience as a student at Exeter

Over my 3 years at the University of Exeter, I am certain that there has been at least one major racist incident each year. Last year, there was an anti-Semitic issue where a student had engraved a swastika into the door of their student accommodation, and a social involving students wearing t-shirts that said ‘Don’t talk to me unless you’re white’. At the time I was on the committee for African-Caribbean Society (ACS), and we raised the issue with the university. Their response was a campaign claiming that “We Are All Exeter” and banning white t-shirt socials. After this, though, the issue received little attention, and there was much ambiguity over the eventual consequences for the students involved.

This year, the new ACS committee have tried to resolve racist issues with the university following a blackface incident which deeply upset students who saw this. I am told that there were improvements such as the university changing their code of ethics, and I was approached by the student newspaper after I had put the incident on my Snapchat. However, the fact is that these issues have continued, and so many go unnoticed as these recent group chat messages have shown. The University has been very unhelpful in resolving these incidents and any attention paid towards the matter has faded over time. At our recent ACS meeting, I had asked the prospective committee how they would deal with these issues and they said social media, and it is disgusting that only through social media will our voices, and the voices of other students at these universities, be taken seriously.

Below are more screenshots that were posted on Twitter and Facebook by Arsalan Motavali: 

In Pompeo, Trump will have a more loyal Secretary of State

Alex Davenport
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In Pompeo, Trump will have a more loyal Secretary of State

It would be fair to say that the only surprising thing about Donald Trump’s recent sacking of secretary of state Rex Tillerson is how long it took to happen. The tension between the two men had been building since the early days of the Trump administration, with clashes on issues of policy and personality.

On the one hand there were awkward and embarrassing personal conflicts between Trump and Tillerson. It is fairly well established that Trump is not one of the more thick-skinned public figures, and did not appear to take well any slights on his character from Tillerson. In particular, reports surfaced that Tillerson described Trump as a “moron” during a Pentagon meeting, reports which Tillerson did not go on to deny. Trump’s response to this was “we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.”

Trump conferring with Tillerson, the man he recently sacked (Source: PBS)

Arguably more important, though, were the disagreements between the two on US foreign policy. When discussing the sacking of Tillerson, Trump pointed to their difference of opinion over Iran as an important factor, stating “when you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. I guess he thought it was OK”. Tillerson had been in favour of the deal brokered under the Obama administration which set back Iran’s potential nuclear capability while lifting sanctions on the country, while Trump has clearly been a vocal opponent of it. The president’s relationship with his secretary of state was also unlikely to have been helped by the former’s tweeting of the futility of negotiating with “Little rocket man” Kim Jong-Un, at a time when Tillerson had been attempting to conduct talks with North Korean counterparts.

It is this kind of animosity Trump will be hoping to avoid with his new nominee for secretary of state, current CIA director Mike Pompeo. The President seemed optimistic that his relationship with Pompeo would be better than it had been with his predecessor, describing he and Pompeo as “always on the same wavelength”.

Pompeo seems a natural pick for the position, provided the main criterion is being a die-hard Trump loyalist, with the two men sharing a close association in a number of ways. For one, they come from a similar ideological background, representing the kind of nationalistic, right-wing standpoint which was so marginalised just a few years ago. Pompeo was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 as a ‘Tea Party’ Republican, at a time when that particular wing of the party was on the rise.

Pompeo also has Trump to thank for his appointment to the position of CIA director, being sworn in to the post three days after Trump’s own inauguration after having been selected during the transition period. The two appear to have formed a strong working relationship since then, with Pompeo meeting Trump on a near-daily basis for his presidential security briefing. It is likely that over the course of these meetings Trump decided the two were of a similar mindset and prioritised Pompeo should changes in personnel (which are certainly not uncommon in the Trump administration) take place.

Pompeo being sworn in as CIA director last year (Source: The New York Times)

It seems likely that Pompeo’s views on Iran were also an important factor in securing him this new post. His reputation for being a hawk on foreign policy is nowhere more clear than in his statements on the Iranian government and how it the US should treat it. He has claimed that the country is the “biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world”, and called the Iran deal “disastrous”, words which no doubt pleased Trump. With president and secretary of state thinking as one on this issue, then, it may be that the recent thawing of US-Iranian relations is reversed.

It will be certainly interesting to see whether Pompeo recognises the need for diplomacy and moderates some of his more extreme views as secretary of state. He may decide that Tillerson’s act as a modest counterbalance to some of Trump’s more extreme rhetoric remains a better way of making progress in talks with other nations than simply reinforcing whatever the President says. He should also be aware, though, that he was hired because of his credentials as a Trump loyalist. Push back against his boss too much, and he could find himself suffering the same fate as Tillerson.

Is it Back to the Drawing Board for Frida Kahlo?

Common Sense Contributors
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By Dolline Mukui.

Barbie’s manufacturer, Mattel, are under fire from the relatives of Frida Kahlo. Mattel recently released dolls to their inspiring women series. Alongside Frida Kahlo is Amelia Earhart, an aviation pioneer and Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who painted self-portraits. She was also known for being a feminist, her iconic long dark monobrow and her pride in donning a light mustache.

Kahlo’s great niece, Mara de Anda Romeo states that the toy company do not have the rights to use her images. However, that is disputed by Mettel, as they express, ‘The Frida Kahlo Corporation actively participated in the process of designing the doll, Mattel has its permission and a legal contract that grants it the rights to make a doll of the great Frida Kahlo’.

De Anda Romeo is requesting for the doll to be redesigned. The statement by her lawyer, Pablo Sangri, says ‘We will talk to them about regularising this situation, and by regularising I mean talking about the appearance of the doll, its characteristics, the history the doll should have to match what the artist really was’.

As Frida was a communist and feminist, those who knew what she stood for would have never seen her associated with a product, let alone a Barbie doll. This has left some people irritated because what she worked so hard for is now linked with toy that has been criticised for producing unrealistic body expectations.

Photo: Mattel

We have to understand that this release was intended to coincide with International women’s day on March 8th, a time where women show their strength both individually and in unison.

Although their use of Frida’s image is up for debate, I think that it shouldn’t be overlooked that Mattel’s intentions were for the greater good; to create modern and historical role models for present children and generations to come. It’s to inspire them so that they can say ‘I can do it too’ regardless of societal pressures.

 

Dolline recently graduated with an MA in Broadcast Journalism. She is an ITV Breaking into News finalist whereby she reported on the Manchester Arena attack. Currently she is a voluntary co-host/contributor on a show called a ‘Chat with Elle Celeste’. She also has a blog, where she talks about her life and travels.

Twitter: @ceraz_x

Putin Undeterred By International Pressure As Election Approaches

Alex Davenport
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Putin Undeterred By International Pressure As Election Approaches

As Sunday’s Russian presidential election nears, the country finds itself embroiled in a number of diplomatic controversies. President Vladimir Putin is seeking his fourth term of office and the outcome of these incidents may come to define the nature of his rule over the coming years.

Tensions with the UK have been rising over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia. Skripal, alleged to have been a double agent working for British intelligence services, was administered with a deadly nerve agent in Salisbury last week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied any involvement on the part of his government, instead offering to help investigate the issue on an official basis. However, in a statement to the House of Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was highly likely Russia was involved in the attack, which also risked the lives of British citizens.

Alongside this is continuing friction with the US over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump. This escalated when US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating the claims, indicted 13 Russian citizens for their influence in the election, including one, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, known to have close ties with Putin. The Russian President was recently pressed on this issue in an interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly (see video below). He claimed unsurprisingly that his government had nothing to do with the election controversy, as well as adding that he wasn’t friends with Prigozhin. Putin also suggested he would not have the power to deal with those indicted even if he was convinced of their involvement, as bringing criminal charges against them was the role of Russia’s chief prosecutor. In arguing this, he was likely giving himself a legal basis for not aiding the US investigation into the supposed interference, however implausible it is that he would have no means of bypassing his country’s legal system.

Yet despite the fact these may be viewed at least outside Russia as scandals, they will not have damaged his prospects at being re-elected later this week. For one, many have accused the whole election of being heavily rigged in Putin’s favour. Among many other suggestions of corruption, many have pointed to the fact that Russia’s main figure of opposition to the government, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from standing in the election, leaving only little-known figures to challenge the titan of Russian politics.

However, it is also worth remembering just how popular Putin is with the Russian people, regardless of any election fixing. The allure of a strong leader such as Putin is particularly difficult to resist, particularly one who appears to stand up for their country at an international level the way he does. The international controversies currently playing out with Western counterparts just go to show how happy he is to put Russian interests first, rather than bow down to the pressures of the international community. The fact that his government will not hang its own citizens out to dry, or exercise leniency against those who have wronged the country, at the whim of nominal ‘allies’ can only have gone down well with the majority of voters.

Putin poses for a selfie with members of the military (Source: Getty Images)

Of course, it is important to recognise that much of his popularity comes through the propaganda of state-run media sources (although, with the current state of some of our own media, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones…) as well as the effective removal of many opposition leaders which prevents Russians from comparing Putin to potential alternative presidents. Yet at a time of severe instability in various countries around the world, many Russians will undoubtedly view the stability and continuity of the Putin regime as even more valuable than usual, regardless of how this stability has come about. Far from diminishing his good reputation among his citizens, these international scandals and Russia’s cold reaction to them likely serves to boost it.

The Fashion Industry Is Getting More Diverse, But Who Started It All?

Common Sense Contributors
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By Tanya Mwamuka.

Featuring diversity seems to be as popular of a trend as pastels are this spring. It’s an occurrence that seems to have transcended from 2017 and is spilling into 2018. Take for example New York fashion week which saw Hijabi wearing model Halima Aden, plus-size model Ashley Graham and 74-year-old Lauren Hutton ruling the runways and magazine covers. This band of women seems to be just the beginning of the growing representation of people from diverse backgrounds in the fashion industry.

Christian Louboutin was perhaps iconic in their launch of nude heeled pumps. Four years on from their original launch, in 2017 they released a wider range of skin tones, catering to women of darker skin tones.

Photo: Courtesy of Christian Louboutin

High street brand Missguided has also jumped on the bandwagon this year with its #KEEPBEINGYOUARMY. The campaign featured mannequins with vitiligo, Hijabs, stretchmarks and freckles as an attempt to promote body confidence.

Photo: Missguided

The talk about Diversity has been around for decades now, but in recent times its definition has seemed to have evolved. No longer is the attention just on race but rather, there’s a need for more representation for age, size, gender which are quickly filling the headlines. It would be stupid for the fashion industry to ignore this demand and economic opportunity. Over 60’s have particularly been an afterthought in the realms of fashion but global business consultancy A.T Kearny would argue in favour of they’re increasing importance. According to them over 60’s are the world’s fastest growing consumers. It’s expected that in 2050 there will be 2 billion people in the over 60’s age bracket.

This sudden burst of inclusivity and revolution of diversity has had me question the true intention of some of these brands, and for some reason I can’t shake off the feeling. Is this just another passing trend which designers are capitalising on? After all, the issue of representation in the fashion industry has been an issue for decades yet it only now seems to be being addressed properly. It’s no doubt that featuring inclusivity is guaranteed to gain mainstream attention because “If you’re not getting into diversity, you’re going to get left behind” – James Scully.

Fashion house Lanvin Paris were accused of this when in the AW17 they suddenly began featuring black models, not because of an evolving mind set but rather as a way of covering their bases after getting a scolding from renowned casting director James Scully. Scully exposed the brand on Instagram for allegedly telling agents not to send black models for consideration. Jennifer Davidson of the Fashion Spot touched on this commenting about the AW 2017 fashion season. She said:

“Anecdotally you think it was a great season; but when you look at the numbers, it wasn’t so good. It’s just that designers who used (a more diverse range of models) got a lot of attention.”

But surely it doesn’t matter right? I’m sure you may think that I’m being petty, at the end of the day what does it matter the reason as long as the fashion industry is moving towards more inclusivity.

While we may be proud to see that the fashion industry is finally evolving, albeit slowly, let’s not forget about those who pioneered and catered to those on the fringes when it wasn’t necessarily fashionable or profitable to do so. Let’s take a look at who they are.

1. Christian Siriano

Siriano studied in London under Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen and went to launch his first collection in 2008. Siriano has since been a spokesman of body positivity and diversity, a notion he has implemented not just in words but also action. In 2016 he cast five plus size models in his shows including Precious Lee and dressed Ashley Graham who sat front row at the show. Perhaps one of his prominent moments was dressing Leslie Jones who couldn’t find a designer to dress her.

 

Photo: Kevin Tachman

“But whether its Leslie or Gwyneth Paltrow, I don’t think about women’s sizes when I dress her. I ask myself ‘Am I a fan?’”

2. Aerie – American Eagle

Aerie is a lingerie sub-brand. It was founded in 2006, belonging to the parent group of American Eagle. Aerie became iconic with their #aerieREAL campaign centered around body positivity. They achieved this with a promise to stop retouching their models photos as a way to show consumers that they too could be sexy.

Photo: Aerie

3. Nubian Skin

Nubian Skin was established in 2014 by Ade Hassan, from an idea she had been working on since 2011. Her aim was to provide women of deeper complexions with their own nude complexion lingerie and hosiery. When we think of the word nude, it is generally lighter shades which are exclusively catered for.

Photo: Nubian Skin

“Nubian Skin founder, Ade Hassan, decided it was time for ‘a different kind of nude’.”

In 2015 Nubian Skin extended their range to include up to 40” backs and A cups. In 2016 they went one step further and launched their Curve Collection.

4. Smart Glamour

Mallorie Dunn, founder of Smart Glamour, may be one of the most exemplary in promoting inclusivity. She founded her brand in 2007 and relaunched Smart Glamour as it is today in 2014. Dunn used her brand as a platform to discuss the lack of accurate representation of women in the media. She is known for featuring women of varying races, sizes, and also featuring disabled women down New York fashion week runway. http://www.smartglamour.com/about/about-the-designer/

Tanya is currently studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Manchester and hopes to get into science journalism and media after her degree. She loves fashion and travelling and enjoys learning new languages in her spare time. Right now she is learning French and Swahili.

Champions League Round Up: The Students Still Have a Lot to Learn

Common Sense Contributors
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By Jireh Antwi

Juventus and Real Madrid proved last week why the master is still in charge and the student still has a lot to learn. Tottenham Hotspurs and Paris Saint-Germain showed a lack of experience in their Champions League campaign this year.   

Champions League Logo – http://img.uefa.com/imgml/2016/ucl/social/og-default.jpg 

PSG with the acquisitions they got this summer, such as record transfer fee signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were looking to take the Champions league by storm. In the group stages, they showcased their display of talent and dominance. With the last 16 stages being picked and them being drawn against Real Madrid, it would be the first opportunity for them to be tested and cement themselves as a powerhouse in this competition against the previous Champions. 

With the French team’s chances already slim, as result of the first leg where they lost 3-1 to Real Madrid.  The second leg at the Parc de Princes proved to be a tough challenge, with their star player Neymar being injured against their rivals Ligue 1 side Marseille a few days earlier. He suffered a fractured metatarsal and a sprained ankle with no estimated time for his return.  

Alas, Real Madrid didn’t even need their star players to see them through to the quarter-final. They achieved a 2-1 win with the likes of Bale and Kroos being substituted on rather than starting and their best midfielder Modric not even playing.  With a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 51st minute making the match for PSG an uphill challenge, especially with Marco Verratti being sent off with a red card at the 66th minute mark, Cavani the striker equalised for PSG even with ten men.  However, a second goal from Casemiro at the 80th minute sealed the game for Real Madrid.  

Real Madrid win

Casemiro and Ronaldo both secured goals against PSG (source: AFP)

Now there are questions to be asked what PSG should do going forward? Do they need to go back to the drawing board? All their star players didn’t step up and tactically they looked lacklustre and it looked like Real Madrid were fairly comfortable throughout the game.  On paper, PSG are better than most teams in the world but if they can’t win when it really matters, then that’s a problem. There are also rumours of Neymar looking for an exit back to Barcelona, which is sure to cause distress in the PSG camp.  

 

Tottenham Hotspurs vs Juventus   

Tottenham Hotspurs away tie to Juventus in the first leg was a very interesting game, Juventus managed to score 2 goals form Higuaín within the first 10 minutes of the game, it looked to be all over before it had even started. A Harry Kane goal at the 35th minute looked to be a consolation in the first half, in the end, Eriksen’s goal at the 71st minute gave them two crucial away goals and the lead. If they replicated such a performance at Wembley it would have seen them through to the quarter-finals.

Paulo Dybala of Juventus celebrates scoring his side's second goal

 Dybala celebrating after scoring the killer goal, to end Tottenham’s Champions’ League dreams. (Source: Getty Images) 

However, what looked like it was going to be a dominant performance by Spurs going 1-0 up in the 39th minute from Son Heung-min and the team having several shots on goal. However, Juventus’ substitution of Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah for Stephan Lichtsteiner and the changing of the back 3 defence into a back 4, allowed Juventus to have more width. This tactical change was a catalyst for Juventus’ victory. Almost immediately, in the space of 4 mins, Higuaín and Dybala scored goals at the 64th and 67th minute, capitalising on two big mistakes by Tottenham.  This really dented Spurs’ spirit and morale and they couldn’t equalise to take the game to extra time.   

The vast amount of experience showed in the Juventus side to see the game out through the end with Giorgio Chiellini commenting that ‘Tottenham have always created many chances to score – but they miss always something at the end’.  Chiellini’s quote is indicative to their Premiere league title challenge in the 2015/16 season where they came up short against Chelsea to allow Leicester city to win the Premier League Champions.  With Spurs always getting there but not quite making it, how long can the club keep their star players before they decide to go to bigger clubs that consistently challenge and win? And how long before Real Madrid come knocking for Harry Kane’s services?

PSG definitely have another attempt next year as they’re set to win their domestic league. Likewise, can Tottenham hold out long enough for a top 4 finish, to secure their place in next year’s Champions league?  

 

 

 

 

  

  

Birmingham ACS: Political Correctness Gone Wrong or Much Needed Diversity?

Common Sense Contributors
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Birmingham ACS: Political Correctness Gone Wrong or Much Needed Diversity?

This week, Birmingham Univiersitys ACS ( Afro-Caribbean Society) came under fire for allowing a non Afro-Caribbean student to run for a position on the ACS committee. Our journalists Muhammed Oleolo and Munya Raradza give their views on the scandal.

No Door Should Ever Be Closed at University – In Defence of Dita

by Muhammed Oleolo

So this girl, Dita, has apparently done the unthinkable. She’s encroached on a space meant for black people exclusively. She, in merely announcing her running for the role of Secretary of the University of Birmingham’s African-Caribbean Society, has chosen to occupy a space that was not her’s to take.
I don’t buy that point of view for a second.  In fact, the people attacking her right to run are playing a very dangerous game.  I’ve worked on successive ACS committees and I can say that in my experience, I have seen few stand for a position with a motivation as altruistic as this:

That’s not to say I am personally excited by her platform. Is there something extremely cringed about the phrase, “intergration & unity”? Absolutely! Does “cultural awareness” actually mean anything? We shall see.
My point is that the very nature of university is that it opens doors to the wider world. Who are we to close any of those doors on people, especially without hearing them out.  One could say, she has a right to run, but she’s unfairly taking one of the very few positions of leadership that black people occupy on campus.

There are two reasons why I disagree. First of all, finding a place on a university society is often a democratically acquired office. The only requirement is to be a member and to do one’s job diligently. There’s nothing about being white that precludes one from executing a secretarial role for the ACS effectively. Secondly, ACS is not a monolithic cultural society in essence but operates that way de facto. Would we have the same outrage for White Africans? Arab Africans? Perhaps people that don’t look stereotypically Bantu or West African like Habeshis and Somalis? Almost certainly, most ACS’ are cultural only in that they serve as a link-up spot on campus for the Nigerian and Ghanaian diaspora. Most ACS committees need to depart from the London-based, West-African Christian Identity that they embody in order to embrace the pan-cultural ethic they are meant to embody.

A voice speaking in a different tune to everyone else is never a bad thing. Let Dita stand and we’ll see if her vision can bring diversity to the mono cultural ACS landscape!

 

Sorry Dita There’s a Waiting List

Munya J. Raradza

In recent days, the debacle over a white student running for a secretary role in Birmingham’s ACS sparked a lot of reaction on twitter. It caused many black students to reflect and think about the significance of Afro-Caribbean societies within UK universities. As an alumna of the university, the events that unfolded were frankly embarrassing. It was a shame to see my ACS mistake people’s criticisms, for hate speech or bullying. On one hand, I agree with the society’s stance to allow for any paid member to run for a committee position. However, there is a bigger question at hand. Why would such an individual feel responsible for spreading ‘cultural awareness’ for an ethnic group of which she is not part of? Supposedly, all in the name of ‘integration’ and ‘unity’.

Yes, this particular student may have all the administrative skills needed to fulfil the duties of this role. However, is she ideally suited for it? No. Although, many Afro-Caribbean students primarily join their university’s ACS to make friends and party, the society also has social/political duties as well. Whilst I was at the university, the ACS organised a plethora of career events. Highlighting to me a demand for black talent within a variety of industry sectors. They proved to be extremely helpful. In the organisation of such events, what insight can a white student offer? What about when black students become victims of racism and prejudice. As what was suffered by a black student at Nottingham Trent University. What practical advice can she offer to help the committee address these issues? As ACS secretary, part of her role will be to inform students of such opportunities, as well as make them aware of such instances.

I am sure she means well. But it is clear that her cultural experience is incompatible with furthering the cause of Birmingham’s ACS. It is not invalid, but it is definitely incompatible. ACS’s were created in the spirit of ‘integration’ and ‘unity’ primarily amongst black students within UK universities. Of which, there is still a plentiful amount of work that needs to be done. Frankly, we still need to get more Carribean and Afro-Latino students involved in such societies. As well as improve black Muslim representation and also integrate black LGBT students. So sorry ‘Dita’, I’m afraid there’s a waiting list.

 

UPDATE: Since these articles were written, Dita has tweeted the following:

Would you like to join in on the conversation? Have your say on Twitter. 

Is Trudeau losing his Magic?

Alex Davenport
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Is Trudeau losing his Magic?

Justin Trudeau’s political rise has been meteoric. The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau burst onto the political scene in 2013, when he won the leadership of the Liberal Party with over 80% of the vote. His most remarkable feat came at the 2015 federal election, when he steered his party from having third-most seats in the House of Commons, and being third in the polls even at the start of the campaign, to winning an overall majority, becoming Prime Minister in the process.

Since taking power he has remained popular among Canadians. Through a combination of appearance, charisma and policy, he has developed a substantial and dedicated online following and can make the news with anything from his views on feminism to his choice of socks. As well as this, since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, Trudeau has carved out a successful identity as his antithesis in many ways. Trudeau has portrayed himself as tolerant, progressive and charismatic, while in the eyes of many Trump is the polar opposite of these things; Trump retweets anti-Islamic videos from neofascists, while Trudeau breaks down in tears meeting Syrian refugees. In a country which prides itself on being more liberal-minded than its immediate neighbour, this has gone down particularly well.

However, all is not well in Trudeau’s court. He recently embarked on an error-strewn trip to India, which was apparently as high on family photo opportunities as it was low on substantive meetings and official business, making the state visit seem like a family holiday. If that were not bad enough, it later emerged that a radical Sikh separatist by the name of Jaspal Atwal, who had been convicted for attempting to assassinate an Indian cabinet minister in 1986, had been invited to official events held during the visit. Awkwardly for Trudeau, pictures even emerged of Atwal posing alongside his wife Sophie Grégoire, leading to questions of how such a breach of security protocol took place.

The controversial India visit is unlikely to help his party’s position in the polls, which is already beginning to look under threat. Since the Liberal Party’s election victory in 2015, they have led the opinion polls almost without fail, often by margins of up to 20 percentage points. However, their main rivals, the Conservatives, are starting to catch up and even overtake the Liberals in recent opinion polls, with aggregations giving the Conservatives a slight lead overall. Such ratings cannot help but beg the question of whether Trudeau has turned out, as some have argued, to be a politician of style over substance, nailing every speech and photo opportunity but offering very little in terms of tangible policy differences.

The Trudeaus at the Taj Mahal, one of the much-maligned photo opportunities during the state visit (Source: NDTV)

Yet it should be noted that his own approval ratings are strongly ahead of those of his party, along with the fact that Canadians still hold a significantly higher opinion of Trudeau than any of his rival party leaders. Judging by these statistics, it appears that Trudeau remains a popular figure. It may then be the case that the Liberals’ declining poll ratings are more a result of other, less popular members of the party, such as Finance Minister Bill Morneau, whose tax proposals for small businesses angered significant sections of the electorate.

Also, as next year’s election approaches, it would not be surprising for us to see the Liberals’ ratings rise again. For one, this is the usual cycle of support for parties in power, with support increasing at the end of a term of office as many voters compare them with possible governments led by other parties and decide to opt with the devil they know. Also, as the 2019 election campaign takes shape, Trudeau as a party leader will increasingly take the limelight in representing the Liberals, which can only be a good thing for them given his continuing popularity and his natural ability as a campaigner; you only need to look at his turnaround at the previous election to see what he is capable of during a campaign. While he and his party should not take this wobble lightly, Trudeau’s Liberals do not have the feel of a one-term government about them.

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