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Comment & Features, Leaders

Assisted suicide: I claim the right to live as I am - imperfect

Guillain-Barre syndrome and anti-assisted suicide campaigner Nikki Kenward shares her views with The Journal

• Dignity is not the same as choice
• Suicide Act to be modified
• Euthanasia debate reignited by "right to die" girl

Time to confront the hatred »

On 22 October, a man was found dead, savagely beaten and badly burned, on an industrial estate in the small Ayrshire town of Cumnock. The victim, Stuart Walker, was 28 years old and well-liked in Cumnock, where he worked as a barman. He was also gay. B...

Wed 02 Nov 2011 | Read more »

A glorious resignation »

The resignation last week of Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, was a surprising but welcome reminder of what a public figure publicly standing by their beliefs looks like. On 27 October, senior clergy at the cathedr...

Wed 02 Nov 2011 | Read more »

Campaign with students — not just on their behalf »

In the spring of 1968, a small group of students and intellectuals occupied the University of Paris at Nanterre to protest against university administrators and debate the malaise ailing contemporary French society. What began that day in March continu...

Tue 04 Oct 2011 | Read more »

A zero-sum game »

Finally, some good news in the debate over education funding in Scotland. The Scottish Government's spending review, with which the SNP administration has committed to a £7,000 minimum income for the poorest students, protected the Education Main...

Tue 04 Oct 2011 | Read more »

Electoral reform: A real alternative »

As The Journal arrives on campus today, fewer than 24 hours remain before polls open and the Scottish general election gets underway. We will not here issue any kind of partisan endorsement – you will vote in accordance with your personal princip...

Wed 04 May 2011 | Read more »

Death of a terrorist »

As The Journal went to press, we heard the news of a dawn raid in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of American soldiers. In a stern White House press conference early on Monday morning, President Barac...

Wed 04 May 2011 | Read more »

Behind closed doors »

Our attention turns once again to the ongoing drama at the top of Queen Margaret University Students' Union. We have previously called from these pages for more transparency from the union on the circumstances surrounding the sacking in February of pre...

Wed 20 Apr 2011 | Read more »

Clegg's redemption? »

Speaking in the House of Commons on 5 April, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg valiantly took up the cause of the 'informal intern', condemning employers who exploit them and arguing that unpaid internships are a barrier to social mobility because they ...

Wed 20 Apr 2011 | Read more »

Fool me once... »

In the last month, The Journal has interviewed the leaders of all five major Scottish political parties. We begin today with Alex Salmond and Iain Gray, respectively the leaders of the SNP and Scottish Labour. One of these men, it is generally accepted...

Wed 20 Apr 2011 | Read more »

Labouring the point »

Last weekend, the Scottish Labour Party performed a surprise U-turn, reversing its stance on university funding and pledging not to introduce either tuition fees or a contribution for Scottish students in the next parliament. The party’s intentio...

Wed 09 Mar 2011 | Read more »

An artless pretense »

We report today what we hoped in our first editorial of this academic year was not the case: that it appears the decision to merge the Edinburgh College of Art with the University of Edinburgh was driven primarily by financial instability rather than t...

Wed 09 Mar 2011 | Read more »

The clue is in the name »

In the last fortnight, three of Britain’s top universities have announced their intentions to charge domestic students the maximum £9,000 per year tuition fee rate from 2012. The culprits here are the usual suspects - Oxford, Cambridge and ...

Wed 23 Feb 2011 | Read more »

QMU's cloaked daggers »

On Friday night, an email was passed to The Journal by a student at Queen Margaret University. The missive, sent to all students and staff by the QMU Students’ Union's general manager, baldly stated that the the Student Parliament had remove...

Wed 23 Feb 2011 | Read more »

The glib ambassador »

Much of the rhetoric used by both sides of the Ishmael Khaldi affair at the University of Edinburgh last week - first at the protest and then in the slew of statements and comments which followed - has been imbued with no uncertain amount of hyperbole....

Wed 09 Feb 2011 | Read more »

Pandering to commercialism »

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns Edinburgh Zoo, have finalised a deal with the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association to bring two giant pandas - Tian Tian and Yangguang - to the capital. The bears’ arrival will mark the fi...

Wed 09 Feb 2011 | Read more »

The First Minister's poker face »

In American football parlance, it might be termed a Hail Mary play. The SNP government in Scotland, facing a general election in May and trailing Labour by up to ten points in the polls, are now betting the electoral house on perhaps the most contentio...

Wed 26 Jan 2011 by Editorial | Read more »

Rabbie Burns: spin doctor? »

With a gaggle of student presidential campaigns due to take flight in the next few weeks, The Journal would like to offer some well-intentioned advice to Edinburgh's student union leaders in waiting. An aspiring politician on the verge of heading to t...

Wed 26 Jan 2011 by Editorial | Read more »

Childish behaviour at Millbank »

It made for beautiful television. The sight of dozens of enraged students venting their frustrations - at rising tuition fees and at harsh education cuts - on the fixtures and fittings at Conservative Campaign Headquarters had both a practical and a sy...

Wed 24 Nov 2010 by Editorial | Read more »

The House moves... »

The 2010 iteration of the EUSA annual general meeting is upon us, and with it comes the usual eclectic assortment of motions tabled for consideration by the student body of the University of Edinburgh. And, as usual, it seems to be creating something o...

Wed 24 Nov 2010 by Editorial | Read more »

Financial masochism at the University of Edinburgh »

It sounds too ridiculous to be true. The revelation that University of Edinburgh administrators are levying fines on teaching staff for leading classes in rooms not properly booked suggests a breakdown in communications between the academic faculty and...

Wed 29 Sep 2010 | Read more »