BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: Current Affairs

  1. Homophobia – What’s the big issue?

    To quote a line from Lily Allen’s song ‘Hard out Here’: ‘Inequality promises that it’s here to stay. Always trust the injustice ‘cause it’s not going away’. When considering homophobia on an international scale, just how much can one read into these lyrics? Countless stories of homophobic and transgender abuse litter the headlines of mainstream news every week. Although the numbers of these types of crime classed as ‘homophobic hate crimes’ are falling, they are becoming increasingly publicised in today’s society. A 2013 survey by Stonewall has reported that one in six LGBT people in the UK (630,000) identify that…

  2. Debate: Should Scotland become an independent country?

    Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom since 1707. On 18th September 2014, citizens will have the chance to vote on whether Scotland should become an independent country in its own right, but opinions on the subject are polarised. Here, two Butlerites present either side of the argument for Scottish independence, a debate which has divided the nation. Yes: Kieran Devlin explores the reasons why Scotland should become independent… In this conflict of sneering demonising and contrived one-upmanship, where one “camp’s” mantra is fundamentally petulant fear-mongering, and the other’s fundamentally naïve uber-nationalism; rationality and objectivity is a myth. It’s…

  3. Longing for “Home”: A Critical View of Asylum Seekers.

    “I long for home, long for the sight of home.” – The Odyssey, Homer At the core of our collective imaginary, lays the image of the exile and their transformative journey in search of a place that can offer some type of emotional and spiritual stability; a place we call, often not sure of what we mean, “home”. Whether it be Odysseus battling against the inclement Aegean Sea or Moses leading his people across the never-ending Sinai, our culture appears to be obsessed with the expatriate, that person who inhabits the “liminal”, who is neither here nor there. Forced migration…

  4. Fracking Hell

    Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks and release natural gas or oil. Fractures provide a conductive path connecting a larger volume of the reservoir to the well. Some hydraulic fractures form naturally, such as veins or dykes, and can create conduits along which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks. Induced hydraulic fracturing (fracking) enables the production of natural gas and oil from rock formations at depths of up to 20000ft, where there may not be sufficient…

  5. The Subtle Abuse

    (Quotes included are from interviews with a nurse and NVQ care assistant about their experiences working in private care institutions). Private institutions for residential care have a vital role in caring for society’s most vulnerable members: the elderly, the young, the mentally and physically disabled – those who have no choice other than to pay for round the clock care. Nevertheless, often the term “care home” can appear to be somewhat a misnomer, with cases of abuse in care institutions frequently making national news, for example: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4511076/Family-secretly-film-carer-abusing-mum.html http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/pensioners-wife-dies-alone-earlsdon-3015443 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10025289/Serious-and-systemic-abuse-took-place-in-Welsh-care-homes-investigation-finds.html Some forms of abuse within institutions, however, are unlikely to hit…

  6. High Stakes Poker

    The US Government Shutdown has been in effect for a few days now and as of the time of writing, there has been no indication that they are close to resolving their differences and passing a budget. The press in most countries have been reporting the issue as an economic one, with BBC News and Day News citing an astonishing statistic that if the US government were to remain in shutdown mode for three weeks, the GDP of the United States would drop by 0.9%[1][2]. To give you a broad understanding of how much money that is, the current US…

  7. The end of Berlusconi?

    The enduring popularity and success of Silvio Berlusconi has often seemed inexplicable from the other side of Europe, given his frequent problems with the law and penchant for affairs with girls a quarter of his age, but here in Italy there remains a significant proportion of the population entertained enough by his antics to support him. In November 2011, a variety of legal battles combined with the economic crisis saw his approval rating drop to a low of 22%, and he resigned shortly after. However, with the technocratic government of Monti coming under fire for what was seen as their…

  8. What does Ireland remember?

    Recent British and Irish headlines read “Irish politician Frank Feighan wears Poppy in Dáil.” “Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Enniskillen remembrance tribute” and “McClean refuses to wear poppy on eve of Remembrance Sunday as Sunderland suffer defeat.” The significance of these headlines cannot be underestimated. This was the first time a remembrance poppy has been seen in the Dáil (Lower House of the Irish parliament, pronounced dawl) for 16 years. This was the first time an Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister (Tee-shach)) had taken part in a remembrance service outside the Republic of Ireland. James McClean’s choice not to wear a poppy…