Author: LSU Media

In a late-night statement, the Government has announced that they will be asking Universities to pause the return of most students until January 25th. Following the rise in cases of COVID-19 across England, the Universities Minister Michelle Donelan has written to Universities, saying that they will be taking “further steps to reduce transmission in education settings”. As a result of the new developments, students returning to in-person University teaching from January 4th will be restricted to those studying: Medicine & dentistry Subjects allied to medicine/health Veterinary science Education (initial teacher training) Social work Courses which require Professional, Statutory and Regulatory…

Volunteer Writer, Katrina Maria Sweeney, discusses how disability has been portrayed in TV and Film The representation of disability in the media has changed significantly throughout history and, compared to some earlier satirical, harshly comical perceptions of disability, we are now seeing better portrayals of it. However, there is remaining controversy, as whilst the overall representation has improved, some of the ways in which disabilities are represented can be problematic (such as having non-disabled actors acting as disabled parts). This is the case in many films and TV series, for example, the smash hit TV series, Glee, had a character…

Loughborough will once again return to a form of lockdown after under a month of Tier 3, as Leicestershire is moved to Tier 4 restrictions from 00:01 on New Years Eve. The area has had gradually increasing rates in recent weeks, with the borough hitting a rate of 207.2 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 7 days, although this is well below the national average of 353.7. Those in the areas in Tier Four must not leave home except for specific purposes, should work from home if they can, and can only meet one other person in public outdoor spaces. Those…

Charnwood Borough Council have this week opened part of their offices to be used as a community-based vaccination centre in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine. As we reported last month Charnwood was in discussions with local NHS groups to how best to deliver the vaccine throughout Charnwood and Loughborough. Working with the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Groups 4 new community vaccination centres have been opened throughout the region, in Leicester, Oakham, Melton Mowbray & Loughborough. Opening these community vaccination centres allows for the speed of the vaccine rollout to be increased by allowing for more people to be vaccinated per…

A new report into Coronavirus transmission in Loughborough has shown that the close-contact nature University halls were partly the cause of Loughborough’s case spike in October. According to analysis by the Office of National Statistics, cases among Loughborough students rose steeply during October 2020, with the cases in halls of residence rising sharply in late October. The ONS deemed the close proximity of students in Loughborough’s halls of residence to be the key contributing factor to the high peak of COVID-19 cases in Loughborough halls, along with the university’s ability to monitor cases more easily on campus. In halls such as…

Volunteer writer, Leah Langley, writes their reflection of 2020. As 2020 has been a hard year for many, Leah shares the positive moments of their year. 2020 has been a tough year for all. We’ve had to completely transform the way that we are living and learn to adapt to an ever-changing society. There have been more trials and tribulations than any of us could have ever expected when that bell chimed 12 on January 1st, and I think it is safe to say that it is a year that none of us will be quick to forget no matter how much…

Loughborough University’s IT Services are implementing a change to their Email system which will mean students and staff can no longer accidentally ‘Reply All’ to an email. The long-overdue change will put an end to students replying to entire classes, modules or programmes. From January 2021, IT Services will be carrying out work on the University Email system for both Staff and Student email when using an internet browser, meaning when accessing their mailbox through Outlook on the web, they will experience a new default setting when responding to an email. The new setting will display ‘Reply’ instead of ‘Reply…

Green Pea’s Director of Operations and volunteer writer, Zoe MacBean, speaks about the environmental implications of Covid-19. For many of us 2020 has been a very challenging year with a complete loss of normality as we have been told to stay at home for months on end. Despite the numerous challenges we have faced this year COVID -19 has also had an effect on our global climate – some good and some bad, a few of which I aim to outline here. Although there have been many good things that have happened for the environment as a result of the…

With an anecdotal insight, returning volunteer writer Leah Langley, takes us through the what ‘the new year’s resolution’ really means; what conditioned us to make these once-every-365-days promises? New Year’s Resolutions are a tradition that dates back centuries and they are a concept in which: “a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behaviour to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life”. Although they have been around for many centuries, their value has come under scrutiny in more recent years. Some people still value their importance, setting themselves a list of resolutions to try and achieve by…

Volunteer writer, Livia Watts, tells us about the effects Covid-19 has had on Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a region that has faced war for nearly two decades. On the 7th October 2001, just after the 9/11 attacks, the US led an intervention into Afghanistan, marking the beginning of the ‘Global War on Terror’. The mission aimed to oust the Taliban insurgency from power and deny Al-Qaeda a safe-haven to carry out their operations and orchestrate more attacks. While this goal was met in the initial stages of the invasion, Afghanistan later became entangled in a Taliban re-emergence as well as continued…