By Maisie Watson

March 9, 2023

The Defects performing in The Harp Bar 1981

The Troubles

Punk in the 1970’s took England by surprise. This was, of course, to become an anti-Thatcher, anti-Government movement, and would erupt into a global phenomenon.

In Northern Ireland, people were preoccupied with more violent problems. Operating amongst the backdrop of a civil war, Punk threw its anchor down in the City of Belfast and began creating its own riot.

Bands such as The Defects and Ruefrex were amongst those spearheading the anti-sectarian movement. Unlike the English Punk movement, Belfast Punk provided an important bridge amongst the Catholic and Protestant communities.

Much of the politics of Northern Ireland was divided between the unionists and nationalists.

The underlying ideology of Unionism is a loyalty to the United Kingdom, along with a general Protestant background. Irish Nationalist favour a united Ireland and is founded on a Roman Catholic community.

Catholic communities in Northern Ireland complained of discrimination at the hands of Protestant forces such as the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the heavily militarised Northern Irish police force, comprising of a Protestant majority.

Catholic communities experienced discrimination in every aspect of life, and so, began to mobilise.

Violent attacks ensued, and the British Army were sent into Ireland to support the RUC’s efforts. Designed to separate the clashing communities, peace walls were erected across Belfast.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland began in 1969 and resulted in the deaths of more than 3,500 people.

“I have quite vivid memories of older kids putting up barricades at the end of the street … there were a lot of riots, a lot of people’s [houses] burnt out”, Paul Burgess, frontman of Ruefrex, tells me. Growing up in Shankill Road, Paul was no stranger to The Troubles conflict.

“You made your own fun, … running around making your own adventures as a kid. But then that fun changed to throwing stones at the army and at the police … even though it was probably inconsistent with the community I came from”

Paul Burgess, frontman of Ruefrex and author

The Defects performing in The Pound 1981

With curfews set, killings increasing, and internment without trial, Northern Ireland was in a state of crisis.

Surrounded by barricades operated by the Army, who would stop and search you upon entry to the city, Belfast City Centre was desolate. The only people roaming the streets were the Punks.

Punk Defiance

“They were absolute dumps. But they let the punks in. They were always packed … everybody was going mental. It was a really good scene … We made a lot of friends, crossed the divide, it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the music”

Buck Murdoch, frontman of The Defects

As well as sitting down with Paul, I also spoke to Buck Murdoch, the frontman of Belfast band The Defects, and discussed with them their involvement in the punk scene.

Although both Paul and Buck agree that the punk scene crossed the divide, Paul emphasised placing caution on remembering the punk scene during The Troubles too idealistically.

“As we were finishing [the song], this guy pushed his way to the front of the crowd, lifted up his coat, and there was a gun … pushed down his trousers, and he said, ‘if you play one more f*cking note you’re getting shot”, Paul tells me, “and this was in the Harp, which was supposed to be this escapist place”.

Paul Burgess

Nevertheless, it was apparent that the culture of punk formed a bridge. It also served to riot against an otherwise uncontrollable situation. “It was 100% important for meeting people, from across the divide”, Buck tells me, mentioning how his songs resonated with the crowds who often found themselves in similar situations as the backdrop to The Defects song ‘Brutality’.

“Our drummer … got arrested for nothing, and they absolutely beat the c*ap out of him … when we saw him the next day, he was absolutely covered in blood … you can only write about what you know, we didn’t write love songs”.

It may seem impossible to picture yourself living in this dystopian reality, but for the people of Belfast, this was their reality for decades. For both Buck and Paul, writing songs in reaction to their lives served as an immensely important outlet, to keep themselves otherwise out of trouble.

Speaking about his new book Wild Colonial Boys: A Belfast Punk Story, Paul tells me how he found himself immersed into street gang culture. Ultimately, he found his way to the punk scene, and used it as an outlet to fight on issues such as integrated education.

The significance of the punk scene during The Troubles is undeniable. If anything, it allowed young punk-goers to simply get out of the house, at a time where many people feared even that.

If you want to hear more on punk and The Troubles, catch up on the interviews and reports mentioned in this piece from Beyond the Headlines on Spotify and Soundcloud at Liverpool Politics Hour.

By Lily Bird

As we are all aware, the climate crisis is an ongoing issue of the utmost importance. With rising global temperatures, sea levels and extreme weather events, the impacts of climate change are already being felt across the globe.

A possible solution to the ongoing climate crisis is carbon capture. Carbon capture has been a topic of controversy among both scientists and policymakers, with proponents touting it as a promising solution, while critics argue that it is only a temporary solution which does not address the cause of the issue. Recently, on Beyond the Headlines, I investigated how young people are affected by the ongoing issue of the climate and found that some feel a sense of betrayal at the lack of government initiative to get the grips with the crisis and are plagued by a sense of anxiety for the future.

Could carbon capture be a key tool in the fight against climate change and put our minds at rest? To find out more I met with Professor in Geology and Earth Science here at the University of Liverpool to discuss with him whether carbon capture is a feasible solution to the climate crisis.

What is Carbon Capture?

Carbon capture works by capturing carbon dioxide emissions from industrial processes and storing or reusing the carbon in different industrial processes. Professor Daniel pointed out that due to the many industries which rely on carbon, a good use of carbon capture would be to put it back into these manufacturing processes, such as the steel industry. Those in support of carbon capture also argue that it can be used in conjunction with renewable energy sources to cut down carbon emissions.

Daniel also discussed how there is a fear that carbon capture may give the green light to oil and gas companies to keep pursuing fossil fuels and is only a superficial fix to a serious and complex issue. This is especially relevant following Rishi Sunak’s poor commitment to tackling the climate crisis. Sunak has ignored climate experts and gone ahead with investing in oil and gas, meaning that the global target to keep the temperature rising below 1.5 degrees Celsius is nearing impossible.

There are also fears about the potential dangers of carbon capture. Critics have argued that these technologies are in their early stages and that storing carbon underground could potentially be dangerous. I discussed this with Daniel who was reassuring in his response that contrary to some sensationalised media, these technologies are not so new to create concerns about safety and accidents such as leaks are unlikely. However, Daniel cited the main concern regarding carbon capture is its tremendous cost which would be difficult to fund. Again, this is not promising with the current government’s lack of commitment to investing in a green economy. The government’s Latest Energy Plan, which was outlined by Rishi Sunak over a month ago, essentially defied the advice of climate scientists and went ahead with new oil and gas developments. The policies outlined in the plan have the potential to worsen the already critical climate crisis that we face. Sunak’s track record on green policies during his time in the Treasury was disappointing, and his position as prime minister only seems to be taking the UK further away from the urgent need for decarbonization.

Overall, issues surrounding carbon capture are complex. However, it is important to bear in mind that although it could be a key step, it is by no means the answer to solving the climate crisis. As something of a climate doomer myself, I was both relieved and disappointed by my interview with Daniel. Yet, it is clear we must not rely on carbon capture and continue to strive towards a greener future using sustainable energy sources.

To find out more, listen to the full interview with Daneil on Beyond the Headlines. Link here.

By Andy Spence – May 3rd, 2023

On 4th April 2023 Finland became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). This is a move that has been expected ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia and Finland: A complex relationship

Russia and Finland have a long and complex relationship which spans centuries of empire and war. Finland was a part of the Russian Empire until it gained independence in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. During the Second World War, Finland was against the USSR and backed NAZI Germany in an effort to maintain their political independence from Russia.

NATO/Russia Buffer Zone – A thing of the past?

After the Second World War Finland was to remain neutral and make up part of a ‘buffer zone’ between the East and West. This buffer zone has now been almost entirely dismantled. Even prior to Finland’s enterence into NATO, the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined NATO in 2004 which became the first time NATO and Russian land had touched. The direct border between NATO and Russian territory has doubled with the admission of Finland into the Alliance.

NATOs expansion eastward is what Russia claims triggered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as Russia were supposedly seeking to prevent Ukraine from falling into NATO. However, Putin’s plan to prevent NATO’s expansion has only furthered and accelerated it by panicking other countries which neighbour Russia. It is unlikely that Finland will be the last in the region to join the Alliance. Sweden are currently in the process of joining NATO and it has been announced that Ukraine will join the Alliance when suitable.

Whenever there is talk of NATO expansion into Eastern Europe or Scandinavia, Russia accuses NATO of acting aggressively. These are claims which have been adamently rejected by NATO.

“NATO is a defensive alliance, NATO and Finland have never been, and will never be, a threat to Russia. It is Russia that has invaded neighbours.”

Jens Stoltenberg – NATO Secretary General

Ukraine in NATO?

With NATO reaching the Russian border up at the Baltic Sea, it is worth taking a look further south at Ukraine. Ukraine joining NATO would be a catastrophe for Russia who seek to turn Ukraine into a Russian puppet state like Belarus. In fact, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was largely to prevent Ukraine from joining the Alliance at all. However, it appears that the invasion may have backfired in that regard. In a surprise visit to Ukraine in April, Secretary General Stoltenberg reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine will be welcomed into NATO.

“Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO and over time our support will help you make this possible.”

Jens Stoltenberg – NATO Secretary General

However, Ukraine will not be able to join NATO whilst at war with Russia. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty which pertains to the collective defence aspect of the Alliance would instantly to triggered by any Russian attack therefore leading to a full NATO vs Russia war. Therefore it will be untenable for Ukraine to join NATO until the war is concluded.

Is Sweden Next?

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO together in 2022, so why has only Finland joined?

Before a state can join NATO, all pre-existing NATO members are required to approve the application. Sweden’s application has been halted by two NATO members, Hungary and Turkey. The main issue is with Turkey who accuse Sweden of supporting, what Turkey deems to be, Kurdish terrorist groups. This raises questions of whether domestic issues should be used to hinder international affairs which are unrelated to the domestic issues in question.

Despite the hold up caused by Hungary and Turkey, Stoltenberg remains confident that Sweden will soon become the 32rd NATO member.

“I’m confident that Sweden will become a member not least because all NATO allies, also Turkey, invited Sweden to become a member.”

Jens Stoltenberg – NATO Secretary General

Therefore, it seems as if the expansion of NATO will not stop at 31 member states and that Sweden will imminently join. Likewise, Ukraine will join once the Russo-Ukraine war comes to an end.

This topic was discussed on the most recent episode of the Lunch Bunch, stream here on Spotify!

By Emily Woolf

February 23, 2023

An article, published by James Tapper in The Guardian, caused outcry in early December 2022, as it highlighted the sharp decline of working-class representation within the creative sector.

“Analysis of Office for National Statistics data found that 16.4% of creative workers born between 1953 and 1962 had a working-class background, but that had fallen to just 7.9% for those born four decades later.”

Social Mobility and ‘Openness’ in Creative Occupations since the 1970s, Dave O’Brien, Orian Brook, Andrew Miles, Mark Taylor

There is currently heightened media attention surrounding inaccessibility within artistic industries. This is primarily due to the discourse on Hollywood’s ‘nepo-baby’ culture, after the publication of New York Magazine’s “The Year of the Nepo Baby” 2022 cover. The publication exposed how some of Hollywood’s elite are the children of previously successful, famous people. The piece highlighted the inaccessibility of the creative industry, especially for those who aren’t from an affluent background, without family connection.  

Last week I spoke to Dave O’Brien, Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries, at The University of Sheffield, whose research was originally featured in The Guardian article. O’Brien, alongside his colleagues, Orian Brook, Andrew Miles and Mark Taylor, co-wrote the decisive research, dispelling the myth that working class representation was more prominent in the 1960s and 1980s . The perception of a ‘Golden Age’ of classless access to creative employment during this era is false. 

“We tried to identify how there has been this massive social change in the class composition of British society and we can see continuity. It was a struggle in the 1980s and it’s a struggle now.” 

O’Brien’s research emphasised the need for practical, tangible change within the industry to ensure inclusivity within the creative sphere. He also co-authored the book Culture Is Bad For You, which discusses how the cultural inequalities in childhood have a significant effect on future career trajectories. The key to more diversity within the creative sphere is more access and exposure to it from an early age. 

To hear the interview in full, stream here on Spotify. 

Why is the arts considered an exclusive space for the middle-classes? 

I discussed this question with two students currently attending The Glasgow School of Art, Celeste Knight and Jude Porter-Chambers. Their interview highlighted how, without financial support, they are forced to incorporate recycled material into their work. Jude discusses how this has impacted his most recent project. 

“I’ve always had to work with scraps, with recycled materials, left overs. The wood that I use to make my instruments still has peoples names written on it. I could sand that off but I leave it on as a statement now.”  

Jude’s personal protest against the aristocracy of the creative sphere encompasses an important message of defiance. However, more importantly, it is recognition of pride. 

This article is an adaptation of an item created for our show ‘The Lunch Bunch,’ on Liverpool Student Radio, recorded on the 17/02/23 which you can listen to here. https://open.spotify.com/show/0MsUzMKuG8ka4SGBIo7aQP

By Izzy Scott

It feels like misogyny has become a common feature on social media in the last few years with the ‘memeification’ of Amber Heard’s rape testimony and the increase in the romanticisation of true crime in the form of Ted Bundy edits and fan pages for serial killers. This exploitation of victims and their stories has additionally found its way into mainstream entertainment, mostly notably The Gabby Petitio Story, Pam & Tommy and Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated Blonde. Despite the insensitivity of these ‘trends’ perhaps the most concerning part is that a worrying number of users of these apps have become desensitised to it. Online misogyny is so frequent that it is going unnoticed. 

The rise of Andrew Tate 

Incel forums have existed for decades, originally started as a way for ‘involuntarily celibate’ people to connect with others online. However, over recent years they have become a breeding ground for far-right extremism and have had real world impacts – most commonly in the UK linked to the Plymouth shooting in 2021. The violence found on forums that exist on sites like 4chan and Reddit is often downplayed but an investigation by the BBC in September 2022 found that there was a rape threat published every 29 minutes within the largest incel forums. 

Whilst this extreme misogyny has always existed in the deep corners of the internet, it has recently made a public appearance in the shape of media personality Andrew Tate. Tate currently has over 5 million followers on Twitter and his videos on TikTok have reached over 12 billion views with topics discussed featuring misogynistic ideas that women are men’s property, rape victims should be ‘responsible’ for their attacks, and the recommendation that 18-year-old girls are the best to date as you can ‘make an imprint’ on them. Whilst these views would normally be found on hidden, controversial forums, Tate broke new ground appearing on TV shows and hanging out with politicians. 

"I believe the woman belongs to the man in marriage, correct."

Tune in to TalkTV now to watch Piers Morgan's hour-long special with Andrew Tate.@piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #MorganTate | #PMU pic.twitter.com/ZNozRpc698

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) October 7, 2022

Despite Tate currently being detained in Romania on allegations of human trafficking and rape, his influence on young boys remains evident across the world. In the UK, there has been an increase in abuse faced by female teachers and students from pupils who have become fans of the ‘influencer’ alongside some schools taking action to re-educate some boys as young as 11 years old. 

Overexposure to pornography 

Whilst the ethics of pornography have long been debated, social media provides a much quicker, easier to access route that many young people are able to take advantage of. A recent study by the Children’s Commissioner for England found that the average age children first watch porn is 13, with 1 in 10 children viewing it by the time they are 9 years old. These shocking figures are also feeding into children’s and teenager’s views on relationships and sex with many seeing porn that depicts ‘coercive, degrading or pain-inducing sex acts’ by the age of 18 and 42% of teenagers believing that most girls enjoy acts of sexual aggression. Through the lack of regulation on sites such as Twitter and TikTok, children are being exposed to dangerous ideas about women and warped views of relationships. 

Whilst the rise in new technology can create new opportunities in work and entertainment, it can also create new opportunities for online harassment to arise. AI technology has become a permanent feature of online spaces with art generators and computer made speeches making the rounds on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, but AI is also having an impact on websites like OnlyFans. Deepfake technology allows users to create non-consensual, edited explicit videos and photos of celebrities and even of people they may know. As well as it being easier for ordinary people to take advantage of others online, it can also be used as coercive control and blackmail in the form of ‘revenge porn’ despite the victim may not even knowing it exists. 

The amount of body dysmorphia I’ve experienced since seeing those photos has ruined me.

It’s not as simple as “just” being violated. It’s so much more than that.

— QTCinderella (@qtcinderella) January 31, 2023

‘Cyberflashing’ – the inevitable result of being a woman online

Actress and comedian Emily Atack recently made a documentary examining the cause of the overwhelming amounts of ‘dick pics’ and explicit messages she receives daily and whether she is subject to this because of the photos she posts of herself on Instagram. Although Atack had blamed herself, 76% of girls aged between 12-18 have been sent unsolicited explicit photos, predominately from older men they do not know. For many women, simply owning a social media account means they expect to be exposed to cyberflashing. 

Co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, Jamie Klingler, told Atack that men send these explicit messages because they want to ‘silence and control’ women, that is it a product of wider patriarchal society. Through the impact that pornography has had on the ideas of sexual inequality in the minds of many men and the expectation that women then owe something in return for receiving these unsolicited photos, cyberflashing appears engrained within online society. 

With the Online Safety Bill currently not mentioning women and girls, I spoke to Demi Babalola from the charity Glitch to find out what this means for online misogyny. Listen below to episode 8 of Beyond the Headlines to hear the interview.

By George James

Holocaust Memorial Day is celebrated on the 27^th of January every year as this is the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death and concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Holocaust was the murder of approximately six million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Second World War.

Every year Holocaust Memorial Day has a theme, and this year’s theme was ‘ordinary people’. This is to highlight that in every genocide both the perpetrators and the victims are mostly made up of ‘ordinary’ people and focuses on the fact that whilst the victims of genocide often don’t face a choice, the perpetrators always have a choice to make.

Why is Holocaust memorial day so important?

Holocaust Memorial Day is the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, but also the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

The aim of Holocaust Memorial Day is to ensure the Holocaust is never forgotten and its lessons are learnt for future generations.

The Holocaust not only refers to the loss of millions of lives, but also the disappearance of cultures, communities, languages and traditions.

It is incredibly important to educate people about past genocides to ensure that such an atrocity can never happen again.

What kind of things happen on Holocaust Memorial Day?

Here in Liverpool, there was a remembrance service held at the town hall and in the build up to this service the City Council released stated that “Liverpool is committed to promoting understanding and awareness of the Holocaust”.

On a wider scale, charities like the Holocaust Educational Trust run events internationally to commemorate the day.

One of the projects run by the Holocaust Educational Trust is the Lessons from Auschwitz (or LFA) project. The LFA project offers post-16 students the opportunity to attend two one-day seminars, where they will meet Holocaust experts and hear from Holocaust survivors to learn about the individuals whose lives were affected by the Holocaust and to reflect on the relevance of the Holocaust on today’s society.

As well as these seminars the LFA project also offers students the opportunity to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp and a nearby town in Poland in order to experience first hand the harrowing history of the Holocaust.

The aim of this project is to encourage these students to return to their places of education and to share their experience with their peers, to spread awareness and understanding of the Holocaust to the next generation.

I was lucky enough to be a part of this project in 2018 and it is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

What was it like taking part in the LFA project?

At the time I took part in the project I was only 16 and at such a young age I had never taken the time to properly think about the Holocaust. I vaguely knew what it was and had maybe done a class or two about it in history, but I did not understand the true scale of the Holocaust. Taking part in the LFA project opened my eyes to the true horrors of the Holocaust and it was a harrowing but highly educational experience.

I found the entire project but especially the visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau very humbling, now this may sound odd but at the age of 16 there are certain problems in life that seem massive, like the end of the world, but when I was stood in a Nazi gas chamber in the middle of a forest in Poland where thousands upon thousands of people had their lives ripped from them it put my problems into perspective.

My trip to Auschwitz made me realise how truly lucky I am to be alive and to live a life where I am not in any immediate danger of persecution for something I cannot even control. The biggest problems in my life were nothing compared to the problems faced by those affected by the Holocaust.

As well as seeing the gas chamber there were two other profound moments for me that day, the second was walking along the railway line and through the gates into the camp. Images of this scene are readily available online and are what a lot of people will picture when they think of Auschwitz, I myself had seen photos of this before I arrived but that did not prepare me for actually arriving into the camp. We walked maybe 300 metres along the railway track and through the gates, spending most of the walk in silence. This gave me the time to reflect on how thousands of innocent men, women and children would have arrived at the camp during the second world war not knowing what to expect. Many people had been lied to and were still hopeful that they would be able to reunite with their families and return to their homes in time. It was on this walk that the feeling of being at such a horrific place began to set in.

The third and I would argue most profound moment of the day came inside one of the buildings in the camp where, behind a glass screen, there are thousands and thousands of children’s shoes. The shoes were taken off the children as they arrived at the camp but were seen as too valuable to throw away by the Nazi’s so they were stored in warehouses at the camp. This is when it set in that the Nazis valued children’s shoes more than the actual human lives of the children they were taking these shoes off. It was only at this moment, when I stood in front of the pile of shoes that rose well over 6 feet tall that I truly understood the horror that had taken place almost exactly where I was stood less than 80 years earlier.

Life was made impossible for the victims at Auschwitz, the Nazi’s sewed salt into the land to stop grass from growing as they did not want prisoners to be able to eat the grass. It was a horrific place full of death and atrocity. But when you visit now the grass has started to grow again, there are wild flowers that stand where guard towers once stood, there are dear and birds that sing and thrive where so many people had previously cried and died. Time has moved on at Auschwitz-Birkenau and nature has started to forget what once happened there. This is why it is so important that we can never forget what happened there, unlike nature we must always remember exactly what took place at Auschwitz during the Holocaust and this is why charities like the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day are so important.

This article is an adaptation of a segment created for our show The Lunch Bunch, part of The Politics Hour on Liverpool Student Radio, on the 3/2/2023 which you can listen to here!

All photos were taken by George James during his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2018.