InTuition

Lily Frost - Writer Editor's Note - This the second past in Frost's series on the Bhopal disaster - read the first part here . This is the second article of a series where I aim to outline the events that took place on and after the 2nd December 1984, which is now referred to as the Bhopal Disaster. This second segment is dedicated to the immediate aftermath of the gas leak. As soon as the 45 tonnes of gas was released into the air, the highly toxic substance made its way into and around small towns located near the plant. The gas was released during the night, so those who were woken up by symptoms of coughing, severe eye irritation,breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting fled away from the plant. Children inhaled more gas, as they were closer to the ground where there was a higher concentration of the chemical. This is because Methyl Isocyanate (MIC)  is almost twice as dense as air and therefore falls to the ground. The victims at this stage primarily died of chokin...

Dylan Freestone - Writer In an episode of QI I watched recently, Sandi Toksvig asked the panellists ‘What’s the worst noise in the world?’ and comedian Phil Jupitus responded with ‘Coldplay B-Sides.’ This was met by thunderous applause from the audience. Family Guy dismissed their music as ‘whiny bullcrap’ and even in their heyday, Coldplay were destroyed and dismissed by panellists on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Write a list of things that are widely considered uncool in terms of music and it would not take long for Coldplay’s name to come up, and as a die-hard Coldplay fan, I have often wondered why this is. I often feel that as a guy, I actually have to admit that it is a guilty pleasure or feel a sense of shame in admitting that I enjoy that music (and I am mainly referring to their earlier work). It isn’t just that there is a general indifference or dislike towards them but in many cases a degree of hatred that is relatively unparalleled amongst bands of similar levels of fame a...

Lani Bond - Writer Dear Digital Technology, When growing up, I rejected you. Of course, I still used you, and it just emphasises my privilege that I thought I didn’t need you - but I remember feeling anger and resentment, being raised to believe that the development of social media was poisonous to society. I believed it was toxic to our personal wellbeing and that it would increase isolation and anxiety. This belief was fuelled by the intermittent concerns of the time, which often warned of the damaging impact of social media on our wellbeing, attention span, sleep patterns and ability to create meaningful connections with others. Of course, these studies have justified causes for concern, and care should still be taken. However, at a time like this I - along with millions of people who access it - am incredibly thankful for this development. With a device and some Wifi, people can contact their loved ones from across the globe and keep up to date on relevant public health advic...

KF - Writer Coronavirus has brought the globe to a standstill, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses (or complete lack) of contingency plans the world over. While most businesses have taken a large financial hit as a result of the pandemic, some online or quickly adapted businesses are thriving. Amidst the chaos and general uncertainty of our new every day, it must be admitted that there are some positive lessons we can all learn from this (hopefully) once in a lifetime experience. Be it that some companies have discovered their online adaptability; or a sense of community between neighbours, or even making some of the most self-entitled and spoiled nations look around and appreciate all that they have - the positives are out there amongst the sadness and loss. One of the positives of this pandemic is the reclamation of empty cities and unpolluted waterways by wildlife. Levels of air pollution have reduced by as much as 50% in some cities as transport has become severely restri...

Niamh Brook - Writer Note: This article contains spoilers from Series 12 of Doctor Who Read the previous part in this series here . Moving forward, I jumped to episode 5, Fugitive of the Judoon. This episode was good. And for season 12 having a good episode felt like watching the best picture at the Oscars. Telling the story of Ruth, a tour guide from Gloucester who actually turns out to be a different version of the Doctor on the run from the Judoon and Galafreians. Jo Martin’s take on the Doctor was fantastic. Her costume vibrant matched her carefree and sassy attitude. I finished the episode somewhat disheartened that Jo Martin’s Doctor was not the one that graces our screens every week. The episode had good pacing, a fab mystery and also the brief return of Captain Jack. The episode was good fun and I will definitely find myself one lazy sunday popping it on and enjoying it all over again. It must be said however, that the best aspect of the episode was the mystery surrounding...

Niamh Brook - Writer Note: This article contains spoilers from Series 12 of Doctor Who.  Doctor Who has been a huge part of my life since I was 5 years old. I remember watching New Earth with my mum for the first time and being absolutely blown away. Witnessing David Tennant and Billie Piper in all their camp glory was astonishing and from that moment I never missed an episode. It became my life. Toys, annuals and birthday parties; I was obsessed. However, during the Clara era of the show I noticed a sharp decline in episode quality. I put the blame on  Stephen Moffat running out of ideas and being too stubborn to give up his title as showrunner. I was ecstatic to find out that Broadchurch’s Chris Chibnall would be taking over the raines and that his Doctor would be a woman. Having a female doctor is a major shift for the show. The change means a lot to people all over the work, myself included. You have never seen an 18 year old fangirl harder at a family show than I wh...

Matthew Hodder - Writer Taurek’s Should the Numbers Count? argues that we could flip a coin when deciding whether to save one person (A), or five (B,C,D,E,F). I shall synthesise Taurek’s argument with help from Parfit, from which I shall begin an analysis. I shall find that the biggest challenge to Taurek’s argument is the premise that numbers morally count for nothing. I shall argue that the numbers do not matter when we shift our perspective from loss-to, to loss-of persons. I begin with a brief exposition of Taurek, starting with two premises provided by Parfit (1978, p. 291):  “[I]: In the absence of special obligations, the only moral reason to prevent an outcome is that it would be worse than its alternative.  [II]: The deaths of the five would not be a worse outcome than the death of David.”  The more controversial aspect of Taurek’s argument is that there exists no morally relevant difference between saving one stranger or five strangers, sinc...

Daniel Priestley - Writer & Editor In this three part series I will explore the current proposals to reforming Welsh local democracy and consider how they could be changed to effectively reinvigorate local democracy in Wales. If the current system we are using is failing and the proposals from the Welsh Government are flawed then what reforms should be brought in instead? I believe the best option is the mandated rollout of Single Transferable Vote for local elections in Wales. STV is a proportional representation voting system that uses preferential voting and multi-member wards to produce an outcome with less wasted votes and a higher degree of proportionality. John Stuart Mill, an early advocate for the system, believed that STV was the best voting system to provide accurate and localised representation for voters (Zvulun, 2012). STV as a system can be used to tackle a lack of diversity in our local politics. Whilst STV itself “may do nothing to promote the election of...

Daniel Priestley - Writer & Editor In this three part series I will explore the current proposals to reforming Welsh local democracy and consider how they could be changed to effectively reinvigorate local democracy in Wales. Click here to read the previous part in the series. The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill (LGE(W)B) is a new piece of legislation currently passing through the Welsh Assembly, introduced on the 18th of November 2019. The Bill will be the “biggest change” in the Welsh electoral system for 50 years” (Eichler, 2019) including reforms surrounding changing the voting system, running electoral pilots and lowering the voting age. The Bill “aims to reinvigorate local democracy in Wales.” (Welsh Government, 2019). So how does the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill seek to achieve this? Part 1 of the LGE(W)B provides for the introduction of two available voting systems for local councils: FPTP and STV. Put simply this represents a choice betwee...

Daniel Priestley - Writer & Editor In this three part series I will explore the current proposals to reforming Welsh local democracy and consider how they could be changed to effectively reinvigorate local democracy in Wales. Turnout in Welsh Local elections has historically been low, with the 42.4% voter turnout in the 2017 Welsh Local Elections being representative of the norm (Electoral Commission, 2017). Results are also incredibly disproportionate; in the 2017 Welsh Local Elections Labour received 30% of votes yet won 37% of the seats (The Elections Centre, 2017) showing a disconnect between the electorate and the results. Finally, gender and ethnic diversity is lacking; 28% of councillors are women (BBC, 2017) and ERS research shows that as many as 90.6 % of councillors are from a White British background (Blair & Mathias, 2018). Progress on this has been incredibly slow with the proportion of female councillors only increasing by 6% in the 13 years preceding 2017 (St...

Zoe Smith - Writer Discussions of intersectionality within the vegan movement have been ongoing over the past several decades, since the conception of the term by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1991. A recent video shared by Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) is an example how the debate on including intersectionality as a critical insight in the movement remains a controversial one. The video on their Instagram, titled 'The Truly Inclusive Vegan Movement Animals Need', features a discussion including Paul Bashir, the cofounder and director of AV. The video and accompanying caption reject the inclusion of ‘political issues’ within their movement and the animal rights movement more broadly, calling for "feminists marching alongside men's rights activists, marching alongside Green Party supporters, marching alongside Trump supporters" in support of animal rights. AV is an animal rights organisation that opts for street activism through ‘The Cube of Truth’, a form of outreach ...

Sophie Bond - Writer Note - This article discusses issues of weight and eating disorders. We all know Good Morning Britain as being a bit problematic because of the controversial Piers Morgan, but they really do manage to find some interesting characters to speak on the show. One of the most problematic topics of conversation that has recently come up is the notion that fat-shaming is the best way to lose weight. The worst part about it? This woman is a fitness instructor. Danielle Levy announced on public morning television that “the more we fat shame, the more people will keep their mouths shut and stop overeating”. Seems like a comment coming from a woman seeking some attention, right? There is no way that making someone feel so ashamed in their own body would lead to a healthy weight loss, if any at all. James Corden said that this approach to weight loss will just make less likely to lose weight. I know if it were me I would feel no motivation whatsoever to get back into ...

Daniel Priestley - Editor & Writer InTuition was an idea that came out of my desire to improve my writing and to attempt to get more involved in the more exciting parts of academia. We have covered issues from FGM, Star Wars, Access to Justice, Feminism, Climate Change and so much more. I feel the project has been successful and I only have the other students involved to thank for that. So one year on, I’d like to thank Isaac Shepherd (for designing the logo), Katie May Huxtable (for doing some wonderful Instagram designs), Lily Frost (for managing the website whilst I went off on holiday for three months) and of course all my writers and guest writers for giving in to my nagging. To celebrate one year on I have gone through and selected my favourite article of each of my writers' articles below so give them a read if you are interested. Click on their name to view all their articles and the title to view the one being discussed. Writers and My Favourite Article Matthe...