Catherine Meyer-Funnell

The UCL Science Library , Petrie Museum and  Malet  Place  w ere  evacuated yesterday afternoon after a man  entered the library  claiming to have a bomb in his backpack . He was later apprehended by police after embarking on a strange rant in which he said he was ‘king of the universe’ and pretended to shoot at people with an imaginary gun.  It is thought he  entered the library around  3 :30pm and began asking students by the door for cigarettes. He started his speech on the ground floor, speaking in a German accent and using phrases randomly such as ‘Rick and Morty’ and stating he was ‘king of the universe and the multiverse’ and could control everything. He asked students for their computer passwords,  upon which  they began to laugh and he left. He then went to the second floor where he shouted ‘is this Warsaw University’ and ‘is this Imperial or UCL’, before being asked to leave. According to one student studying there ...

This immortalised quote, taken from rom-com classic When Harry Met Sally , is one of Hollywood love stories favourite mantras. Behind every male-female heterosexual relationship, whether they be colleagues or university peers or even childhood sweethearts, lies an inescapable sexual chemistry that thwarts all possibility of friendship. Take the aforementioned Harry and Sally, who meet numerous times over a number of years and form a close friendship before realising they are of course made for each other. Another notorious example would be the ironically titled Friends , where by the end of the show's 10 year run two thirds of its main cast were happily paired up in relationships with each other. Many would argue a solid friendship is a good base for a serious relationship. They would in some cases be right. But in reality this trope rather irritatingly undermines the idea that a straight man/woman would form a connection with a straight woman/man for any reason other than to get...

The gym I attend recently began an initiative that has gained traction in many other gyms across the country - a few hours each week where the gym and its facilities will be exclusively the domain of its female clientele. It's not exactly been popular with everyone however. Many male tears have been virtually shed as (some) men rant online about having their right to be sweaty at any hour of the day taken away from them; Daily Mail writer Peter Lloyd has even planned to sue his gym in Kentish Town for their implementation of women's only hours. But do they have a point? And is this an advocacy for positive discrimination as a positive step forward for equality rather than pushing us further back into segregation? First of all, I want to break down the idea that these new hours are a way of getting back at men. The vast majority of the time gyms are open and available for everyone to use - in my gym it's just four hours a week dedicated to women only, meaning that unless a...

Climate change is one of the most important issues facing our generation, but how do we tackle it? We are all aware that the impending threat of climate change is one of the most important issues facing our generation. However, the impact of individual action has recently been called into question in the face of the astronomical consumption of fossil fuels by big corporations.Around the world, 71% of emissions are produced by 100 companies alone, suggesting that our attempts to curb our own carbon footprints are ultimately hopeless if these businesses continue to pollute our atmosphere unchecked. This domination of the market at the hands of big gas guzzling businesses stems from a Thatcherite policy of economic neoliberalism, which prioritises the needs of the individual and the consumer above those of society as a whole.With government backing, these companies have been able to exercise total control over the market while their environmental policies remain largely uncontrolled ...