Illustrations by Grace McKenna Artists are probably the luckiest people to exist. They usually have some sort of talent that was just bestowed upon them at birth, and from there on out they found their niche and stuck with it. Musicians, writers, actors, painters, poets - they are the privileged, but also the damaged.  When thinking about the most significant pieces of art ever created, I can almost guarantee that the artists behind them are not always morally sound. Of cours

Illustrations by Grace McKenna Immigrant populations and transgender people have always been a target of societal mistreatment. Today, though, they face a new wave of political villainization so overt that it has caused even the staunchest of conservatives to waver  in their support for their parties’ agendas. Much of the world is watching in horror as the Trump Administration carries out the “largest deportation operation in history” . Even the ostensibly more progressive La

EUSC, Romeo and Juliet In anticipation of the Edinburgh University Shakespeare Company's upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet , our Creative Editor Daniel sat down with the Director (Salvador Kent), Producer (Kai Smolin), and Juliet (Anya McChristie) to talk in depth about the creative process behind their production and the timelessness of its themes and messages. Daniel: So the first question I had was, with a play like Romeo and Juliet, that is so famous and iconic...

Illustrations by Grace McKenna Since last May, I’ve started keeping a reading journal. I’ve always been a keen user of book tracking apps (StoryGraph over Goodreads any day, by the way), but I didn’t use these to write reviews, rather just to track what I had read. Starting my reading journal, I vowed to write a review for every book I read from then on, and I’m pleased to report that I’ve stuck to that promise. This process has changed the way I engage with many books; it ha

Illustrations by Grace McKenna Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist who was imprisoned in 1926 for his critique of fascism and remained behind bars until just before he died in 1937. His prison notebooks, which defined the importance of cultural hegemony, are still widely referenced in politics today. When I studied Gramsci in one of my courses, my professor joked that it was ironic how many works of legitimate, published literature from the 30s have been deemed outdated an

EUSOG, Into The Woods Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★.5 Across four midnights (and a matinee) Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group (EUSOG) transported audiences Into the Woods . A tapestry of dynamic storylines, complex characters, and intricate musical numbers, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s monumental collaboration poses a challenge for any production. A challenge that this young, student-led team tackles with drive, professionalism, and creativity. As a result, co-directors Tai Rem

Illustrations by Grace McKenna In the no man’s land between Christmas and New Year I found land, or rather sea, in the r/tinnedfish  microcosm of the arguably not much larger macrocosm that is reddit. As I mourn Southern hemisphere summer from the minus temperatures of the Storm Goretti-ravaged UK, I have found obsessional solace in this nutritional powerhouse, neatly and conveniently packaged in an ever-evolving myriad of oily accompaniments. Do not get me started on the sat

Illustrations by Grace McKenna I walk through the streets of Edinburgh in the biting January cold, and I notice something unsettling. My on-foot commute from work to home becomes increasingly uncomfortable as a recent rain shower has rendered all path-side benches un-sittable, and it occurs to me that unless I am to awkwardly sneak into a pub or cafe, then there is nowhere for me to use the bathroom along my route. Finding a place to meet friends when not everyone can afford

Illustrations by Grace McKenna Over Christmas I was lucky enough to see The Hunger Games: On Stage  in London. Before attending the show, I saw an advertisement for it on social media where an unknowing person had commented: “Is this coming to Scotland?” This would be a reasonable question if you hadn’t, like me, been following every step of this show’s creation, including the construction of a one-of-a-kind theatre in Canary Wharf. But, nevertheless, I kept this question in

Jeanette Winterson, One Aladdin Two Lamps (Penguin Books, 2025) Jeanette Winterson’s new novel is a bold frenzy of interconnected narratives, embracing the  power of imagination and of storytelling amid the age of AI I am not a religious person, but attending Jeanette Winterson’s recent book launch   was perhaps the closest I’ve come to a religious experience. Gathering in St George’s Church on a stormy mid-November evening, I felt once again inspired by the narrative geniu