Nathaniel Barling, who graduated from Durham in 2016, recently secured a place on Forbes' 30 under 30 media list, alongside his fellow co-founders of Knowhere - an AI-driven news platform designed to strive towards objectivity above all else.
A note from the Books editors: This year, we're starting a series of editors' choices of books they enjoy. Twice a month, members of the editorial board will recommend some of their favourite reads. Spanning novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction, we hope this series inspires you to pick up something new.
Content warning: This article contains discussion of the issues surrounding rape and sexual assault. Durham Survivors is an Instagram account which was set up in July to provide a safe space for survivors to share their stories of rape and sexual assault in Durham.
Throughout this period of lockdown and uncertainty, there has been an alarming trend of Covid-19 hotspots materialising around meat-processing plants and abattoirs. It has become clear that factory farming environments have been fuelling an already well-established virus.
I first read the story a few years ago and, as a lover of both gothic and feminist literature, the unnerving and deeply sad imagery stuck with me. During lockdown, however, it was the unabashed representation of the impact of forced isolation on a person’s mental health which prompted me to revisit it.
Lee Elliot Major OBE is a Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter, the first of his field in Britain - and possibly the world. In his published works, Major highlights class inequalities and their impact on young people's education.
In recent years, there has been an urgency to pull the Classics into modern day relevance and popular culture, with the field having previously been the realm of elite, male scholars. Donna Zuckerberg's Not All Dead White Men (2018) shines a light on how the words of ancient writers have been misused as justification for antifeminism, and the importance, therefore, of viewing classical texts from a gender critical perspective.
Professor Wendy Powers joined University College this August as Principal as the first woman to permanently take on the position, previously entitled 'Master'. Palatinate spoke to Wendy about her experience of moving to England and taking on a new role during such a pivotal and unprecedented moment in history.
Extinction Rebellion North East is a local group within the decentralised international movement Extinction Rebellion. Since its establishment in 2018, the movement has significantly impacted dialogue around the climate crisis, including pushing for the Climate Emergency Bill to be debated in Parliament.
To watch the full interview, head to Palatinate's YouTube channel Whilst the combination of a Liberal Arts student, a History student, a Physics student, and a Biology student may seem random, it appears to be a winning one for this year's University Challenge team.
