InTuition

KF- Writer and Content Editor Depression is a word that has skyrocketed into familiarity over the last decade. While this widespread issue can take many forms in different people and is slowly, ever so cautiously starting to gather the recognition it deserves, there are still plenty of misconceptions about depression.  I often hear it said (particularly by the older generation) that such things simply did not exist back in the golden age of their memories. These people often say similar things about autism or dyslexia, speaking with an edge of suspicion as though these conditions simply manifested into existence the day the first millennial was born. To this argument, I find myself frequently reminding that we also used to believe that certain children were ‘born sickly’- whatever that catch-all term is supposed to mean?  It wasn’t for centuries later that we became aware of congenital heart conditions, growth malformations in utero or the plethora of other things we are now a...

By Annabel Purdy- UEA Bloody Good Society collaboration When you think of single use plastics, what comes to mind? Plastic straws, cups, toothbrushes and water bottles, most likely. The discourse surrounding environmentalism seems to routinely ignore menstrual waste as an issue, despite it being a largely contributive factor in the polluting of our planet.  It’s time we address it. The History of Plastic in Menstrual Products The original method for collecting menstrual blood was to use miscellaneous objects such as cloths and rags, which had to be washed and dried publicly. To remedy this, Earle Haas invented the first tampon in 1933. However, Haas, alongside many doctors and members of the public at the time, became “squeamish” at the thought of menstruators having to touch their genitals when inserting a tampon, and potentially experiencing sexual pleasure as a result.  Plagued with this distressing image, the plastic applicator was created in 1973, to ensure that menstruat...

By Niamh Brook Body Image. The dreaded conversation. I'm so glad to see that slowly but surely we are discussing and opening up about how not everything we see both online and in the media is always what it seems. I do, however, feel like there aren't that many personal discussions on body image and how to come out of the other side, so here's mine. Grab a cuppa and get ready for a bumpy ride.  My issues surrounding my body image started at around 10 years old. For context, I looked like this:  Also, please note the addition of bucked teeth and a severe lazy eye (which I still have to this day) which are not featured in this picture. When I look back at this picture obviously I cringe, as we all do when we look at old photos. But when I find myself looking back at this photo, I'm not horrified- I actually think I look quite sweet. The girl in the picture however, would definitely not agree.  Children all over the world, both male and female, are exposed at a young age t...

By Cameron Jones So, this isn’t the usual post that is somehow related to economics, this is a bit personal to me. On the 13 th of February 2020 I was diagnosed with a Grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma: a brain tumour. What followed was 7 weeks of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and intensive physical therapy, followed by double-dose chemo lasting up until November. Needless to say, I have not had the best 2020 out there, and this has been a rubbish year for all of us (rubbish year is putting it mildly).  Yet, through it all, I have learnt some valuable lessons that I thought could be of some use to you, the reader, to apply in everyday life. This is not a self help book or anything like that, you can choose to ignore it, but just have a read through and see what you think. The Value of Relationships Firstly, the true meaning of relationships and how they can really be a crutch for you when you are feeling at your lowest. To start off with, my every relationship became about the brain tu...

By Jonny Griffiths What do landlords actually do? Nothing.  Thanks for reading. Ok-ok-ok-ok I’ll explain why I think that, and if you disagree with me why not have a read! Hello and welcome to CommieRant™. I’m sure you don’t need me to explain what a landlord is to you but for the sake of this article having some sense of flow I’m going to do it briefly anyway. Landlords own houses and rent them out to people. Landlords are also responsible for maintenance and work performed on the property. Easy, landlords provide housing to people! Right? That’s a good thing! Wrong! You sweet summer child. Landlords do not provide housing. Landlords own housing. They did not build it, the housing would still exist and someone would still choose to live there even if the landlord didn’t own it.   “But renting is much cheaper than buying a house outright! People can’t afford houses!” You are right, renting is much more affordable for most people. However, it is making the problem worse, not be...

Cameron Jones- Guest Writer Greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 (emitted by transport, for example) being released into the air are causing the Earth to heat up, by trapping heat in the atmosphere rather than letting it out.  Anthropogenic climate change has accelerated this by burning fossil fuels (Friends of the Earth, 2017). Through a carbon tax along with opening energy markets to competition, it is hoped market solutions will play a large part in reducing CO2 emissions. The implementation of a carbon tax: Currently, the free market provides at Q, P, but there is a negative externality, meaning that the full marginal social cost (MSC) is not considered. The gases not only affecting the marginal private costs (MPC) to the people in the market, but spilling over to the wider society in the form of poorer air quality and thus the MSC is significantly higher than the MPC. The deadweight loss given the misallocation of resources is shown as the shaded triangle. A unit of tax is app...

Niamh Dann- Guest Writer My Grandad, Saviour Borg, was a Maltese Merchant Sailor working in the British Navy between 1955 and 1965. My memories of him are filled with stories from countries all around the world. He would talk about them to anyone who would listen. My younger self, however, was mainly disinterested by these stories.  After his death in 2016, he gave to my brother a travel journal; one that he’d written in the last years of his life. Having read it completely only during quarantine, I was amazed and bewildered by the fascinating experiences my Grandad had travelling the world. His journal gets straight to the point on time, places and people. He talks little about his feelings and never goes into great detail. It is instead a short revival of what he called ‘the good old days’ of his life.  What I doubt Saviour would have realised is the historical importance of his travel journal and what it means for the history of politically categorised ‘non-white foreign’ p...

Jonny Griffiths and Morgan Wellington It wouldn’t be an outrageous claim to say that over the past several years mainstream political debate has been tilting steadily towards the right, and aspects of far-right ideology and far-right talking points have become more commonplace and have at times been the driving force of ‘the discourse’. In some ways this is understandable, the Conservative Party has been in power for around a decade, while in The States Trump has generated endless controversy, so it makes sense that left wing politics has taken a primarily oppositional role particularly within the scope of parliamentary politics. However, it appears that this trend has become somewhat pervasive in ways which are arguably concerning for the general public and the terms of their political engagement.  With the political agenda in the UK having been set by the right for this extended period, general political discussion has shifted to accommodate this, and we are at a point now where ...