2020 has undoubtedly been a very difficult year for most people. While older people have borne the brunt of health impacts from COVID-19, younger people have faced a crisis of their own: job losses and unemployment Increasingly, news outlets are referring to children and young…
There are only 174 statues in the UK that depict female figures. When we compare this to the 828 statues of memorialised men, a clear disparity between our monuments and a distinct indication of Britain’s misogynistic history emerges, even to the untrained eye. However, the…
After days of uncertainty as mail-in ballots were counted, it’s clear that Kamala Harris will be the next vice-president of the United States. This is undoubtedly exciting. After forty-eight male, (almost entirely) white vice-presidents before her, it’s extremely significant that a woman of South Asian…
As we get further into 2020, the unity that characterised the early stages of lockdown – ‘Clap for the NHS’, anyone? – has generally faded away, and have been replaced by political conflict and division. It wasn’t too long ago that people labelled their politics…
Joe Biden has won the US presidential election. A reason for his party to celebrate, come together and be proud of their work – one would assume. Instead, moderate and progressive Democrats seem to be gearing up for another fight. Extremely narrow margins and seat…
2020 has been an interesting year to say the very least. Even though the news has been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, the aftermath of Brexit, and more recently, the US election, free speech has managed to keep its place in public discourse. This year,…
The world has collectively taken a breath of fresh air. After a staggered election week, the American electorate has ejected – and elected – a president. Yet, this vote, which saw the most voted for two candidates in US history, embodies more than a concerted…
As the military conflict in Artsakh ends with Azerbaijani forces having the upper hand, the majority Armenian population must either flee or risk extermination. On Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a Russia-brokered deal with Azerbaijan to put a stop to the military conflict…
It has felt as if the whole world has been on tenterhooks, waiting for the inevitable confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory as President-Elect of the United States. Nothing can take away from the fact that this is a truly historic moment, attributed to the election…
Ben Wheatley’s new Netflix adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca has been pretty poorly received. With a score of just 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems that not many people particularly liked the film. A review in The Guardian lambasted the film as…
Surely, this is the biggest U-turn of them all? Last week, in a chaotic and delayed address to the nation, Boris Johnson set out England’s plans to be plunged into lockdown number 2, despite weeks of arguing against it in favour of the Tier system.…
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The national polls continually placed Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump for the Presidency, and Democrats (especially in Texas) engaged in large voter drives to encourage people to turn out and vote. Yet, as this article was being…
Labour infighting shouldn’t be news to many people by this point. More often than not it takes the form of highly publicised internet drama, but in the past few weeks we’ve seen infighting of a form far more existential to the Labour Party – an…
A few weeks ago, Facebook announced that it would ban “any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust”. This decision has come after years of increasing pressure placed on the social media site to do more to counter hateful content and misinformation across its platforms.…
We’ve all heard of swing states, electoral votes and the ‘race to 270’, but what do they mean and how are they related to the Electoral College? This article is a brief guide to today’s election and an explainer of some odd but important constitutional…
The Labour Party really are in a tricky situation at the moment, aren’t they? You would think with the number of problems Boris Johnson and his party currently have, Labour would come together to fight the Tories on two of the biggest issues of the…
Harold Wilson famously said “A week is a long time in politics.” What would he have made of 2020? With the US election days away, and Boris Johnson’s government feeling their way through the Coronavirus Pandemic, nobody was paying all that much attention to Nigel…
Tomorrow, the millions of Americans who have not already done so will take to the polls to vote for who they want to be their President for the next four years. Will it be former Vice-President Joe Biden? Or will they want the current incumbent,…
This piece is part of a series from Backbench exploring the US 2020 presidential election. To have your say and share your opinions on this defining moment for the US, email your pitches and articles to editor@bbench.co.uk. On 27th October, Amy Coney Barrett began her…
This piece is part of a series from Backbench exploring the US 2020 presidential election. To have your say and share your opinions on this defining moment for the US, email your pitches and articles to editor@bbench.co.uk This year’s presidential election could see the highest…