The month of August is now behind us and students have unsealed the dreaded envelopes to reveal life changing results. Though grades are, as Jeremy Clarkson modestly reminds us every year on Twitter, not the cornerstone of career success. Unsurprisingly…
The events of 5th-7th July 2022 were unprecedented, extraordinary, and frankly, farcical. The 36-hour coup, waged predominantly by those who owe their political livelihoods to Boris Johnson, showed the Conservative Party mercilessly plot and conspire against – and ultimately betray…
We all have our feelings and emotions. The way we regard ourselves, other people and the world will, to some extent, invariably be shaped by those abstract, intangible moods that are near-universal. To deny feeling and emotion would be to…
If capitalism is to blame for everything and the COVID-19 pandemic caused a wave of what Schumpeter prophesied as ‘creative destruction’ then the world must be on a path to utopia. Yet the empty retail spaces left as evidence for…
This article is part of a series exploring job-hunting in the pandemic and the difficulties that face young people in particular. The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect Backbench’s stance as…
This article is part of a series exploring job-hunting in the pandemic and the difficulties that face young people in particular. The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect Backbench’s stance as…
Backbench has appointed three new general editors to its growing editorial team. The new editors are Violet Daniels, Ben Thompson and Eleanor Longman-Rood. The existing team is very excited to welcome its new members and is looking forward to taking…
Why do we have statues? Remembrance of great human beings? The celebration of people who were largely good? Surely not to remember slave traders. Since the removal of slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston, a debate has been reignited around…
After the Financial Crisis of 2008, Gordon Brown was frequently chided for the suggestion he made, while Chancellor, that the era of ‘boom and bust’ had come to an end under his stewardship. A similar, though less well known, comment…