By members of the Economic Policy & Research Group In this report, the Economic Policy & Research Group (EPRG) investigates the nature of high costs in student accommodation in St Andrews. An initial analysis of the current housing situation shows that rents in St Andrews are abnormally expensive for a student town; overall St Andreans…
Higher Education, Laid Low
By: St Andrews Students in Solidarity with Strikers We Concerned Students, Have been, are, and will be taking action to defend our teachers, our university, and higher education more broadly. In so doing, we acknowledge that no individual is ever clearly decisive, and no moment ever unambiguously the turning point of a transformation, but firmly…
The Catalonian Referendum in Retrospect
By Tom Leprince-Ringuet Correspondent, Internation Relations & Spanish Undergraduate Since the Catalonian referendum of the October 1st, 2017, followed by the unilateral declaration of independence on the 27th, Spain has been plunged into its biggest institutional crisis since democracy was restored in 1975. Spain’s outcome remains very uncertain, as the snap elections of December 21st have…
The Local is National: The Special Election of Florida House District 72
By Alex Hayes Editor, International Relations & Geography Undergraduate Evidence of a shifting U.S. political landscape can be found in the outcomes of local elections in the state of Florida. An especially stunning outcome was announced on February 13th, when the Democratic candidate Margaret Good defeated Republican candidate James Buchanan in a special election for…
The Vice-Chancellor’s Email: A Response from the UCU
By The St Andrews University and College Union (UCU) The following is a point by point response to the email circulated by Vice-Chancellor Sally Mapstone and signed by other members of the Principal’s Office. As this magazine has firmly sought to defend our striking teachers, it has opted to publish this rebuttal so as to ensure…
Why You Shouldn’t Fill Out the NSS… Yet
[I]f we as a student body make it clear to the University— through stern letters to Sally Mapstone and Collegegate— that we won’t fill out the NSS until an agreement is reached… we can both help end the standoff sooner and help defend our own unique interests in the conflict.
The Russian Election: If Not Putin, Then Who?
By Murray Lang Correspondent, International Relations & Russian In March, Russia will hold an election. There will be campaigns of a sort. There will be debates and interviews. There will even be opposition rallies and protests. But none of this will change the result that Putin will serve a fourth term as president. But it…
The Economics of Mass Shootings
By Kyra Ward Editor, Economics & International Relations Student Valentine’s Day 2018 has been marked in the United States as one of the many days that has ended in a school shooting. Like previous shootings, this one has brought back the arguments about gun control and regulation, and the extreme backlash causing mass hysteria over…
Fight for a Fair Future: Support the Strike!
By Adam Strømme Editor-in-Chief, Economics and International Relations Student The story which has bought St Andrews to strike action, alongside 60 other universities, is defined by a confusing melange of apparent contradiction, cohabiting alongside outright absurdity. To get the facts straight is, then, a crucially important task. At present, most of the student body is…
How Venezuela Became a State in Crisis
By Victoria Landaeta Correspondent, Undergraduate Student I was born in Venezuela three months before the presidential election of Hugo Chavez sparked the Bolivarian Revolution. I am writing this article to illustrate, through history and personal experience, my country’s journey from being one of the most economically promising and prosperous countries in South America, to the current…
Structural Adjustment Programs: Dependency and Poverty in Somalia and Rwanda
By Hodhan Jibril International Relations & Arabic Student In the early 1980s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank introduced their Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). The programs responded to the international debt crisis in the 1970’s; developing countries could not return loans from North American and Western European banks, which had increased their lending…
Socialism or Barbarism: Reflections on Global Disorder with David North
This week, Editor-in-Chief Adam Stromme sits down with David North, a visiting Marxist scholar, active revolutionary socialist, and Chairman of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States. Background Adam Stromme: Tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you first become involved in socialist politics. David North: I’m part of a generation that…
