Are young adults today swapping alcohol for coffee and evening pub trips for morning run clubs, and what has promoted this dramatic shift in drinking patterns?

According to the verywellmind.com, ‘sober curious’ is a term that means an individual is questioning their relationship with alcohol. ‘The Sober Curious movement is a growing group of individuals who opt to drink less or not at all as lifestyle choice’ says Peter M. Vernig, a licensed psychologist and Vice President of mental health services at Recovery Centres of America.

With young adults consuming less alcohol, the hospitality sector is taking a hit as sales decline. University cities such as Oxford, Birmingham, and Brighton are bearing the brunt of this shift, having once been famous for their vibrant student nightlife. Now, many student unions are focusing on promoting alcohol-free events, catering to a wider range of needs and preferences.

As a recent university graduate, I’d consider myself well versed in student life. First year was all about going to the biggest events, meeting as many new people as possible, and seeing where the night would end. By second year, priorities began to shift as the workload increased, although I was still a regular at my local club. By third year, however, I was practically sober and could count on one hand the number of times I’d gone out for a drink. And I was not alone in this.

‘Nobody cares that much,’ States Tallulah, an Oxford Brookes university graduate, who for her dissertation choose to write about the topic of sobriety.

Unlike the rest of her peers, Tallulah never felt compelled to drink, maintaining ‘it never really interested me.’ However, that doesn’t stop her from going out, in fact she loves a boogie, but emphasises to be selective with who you go out with and advises anyone thinking about doing a sober night out to engage in positive affirmations. ‘Try to be confident in yourself, surround yourself with people who are going to lift you up and enjoy the vibe. I like to dance, and if you’re worried about people looking at you, everyone is drunk, no one cares, and don’t not worry they are seeing three of you right now.’

During our interview we discussed the benefits of sobriety and how it’s not only about drinking, but also the ethical position people are put in when they drink and the stigma round drinking culture at University. We discussed sports socials and the pressure there is to drink at sports socials through activities, challenges, and drinking games that actively engage in dangerous drinking habits. ‘There is not a lot of respect; people have to consider people’s boundaries.’

The increasing number of sober and sober-curious students has led to financial challenges for nightclubs and other hospitality establishments, resulting in some businesses facing the possibility of closure. In 2024, popular nightclub chain, Rekom, owner of Atik and Pryzm, found themselves in trouble after the combination of the cost-of-living crisis and the drop in students going out. This ultimately led to the closure of seventeen venues across the UK including Oxford, Leeds, Birmingham, Exeter, and Nottingham. Additionally, new data has been released by the BBC stating that 400 nightclubs permanently shut down between March 2020 and December 2023.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Aash, the manager of The Mad Hatter, a speakeasy cocktail bar in Iffley and Horia, the manager of Kibou, a Japanese restaurant and bar in Jericho, about the problems hospitality face during the rise of student sobriety.

How has [The Mad Hatter/ Kibou] adapted to changing attitudes towards alcohol and nightlife — for example through alcohol-free drinks, themed events, or changes to the atmosphere?

Aash, manager of The Mad Hatter: ‘The hospitality industry has had a massive dip in sales for sure, especially places in university towns as compared to places in big cities.’

Horia, manager of Kibou: ‘Hospitality industry has multiple fields: I think bars and pubs are getting the brunt of it. While drinks are not the biggest part of our profit, it is a key factor too. So, the increase in sobriety is having a financial impact on us too.’

⁠Have you noticed university students drinking less or choosing alcohol-free options more often compared to previous years?

Aash: ‘Yes for sure, we’ve had more students choose not to drink than usual. Though from personal observations & conversations: a huge reason for the sobriety is the cost-of-living crisis, students can’t afford to be drinking when rent is so expensive.’

Horia: ‘Yes, a lot of the young people opt out of drinking. I think they’re more inclined to just having water.’

How have you adapted to changing attitudes towards alcohol and nightlife — for example through alcohol-free drinks, themed events, or changes to the atmosphere?

Aash ‘We have increased our options in alcohol free drinks with kegs on taps, bottles of beers, 0% spirits and non-alcoholic prosecco. We also do offer very thought-out mocktails too that are ordered frequently. We’ve recently started a new section on our menu with heavily discounted, low ABV cocktails, so people don’t have to commit to a lot of alcohol for a good cocktail.’

What are your predictions for September’s Freshers and how this might affect your business?

Aash: ‘Since the Hatter offers experiences and activities along with the cocktails and alcohol, I do still think we’re gonna see a lot of students as usual coming in for a good time. We are bringing about a lot more interactive things to do at student prices to make it more fun than just a regular venue which wouldn’t be appealing especially for someone who wasn’t drinking.’

Horia: ‘I don’t think it will impact us. We get an older clientele. Our interactions with student customers are usually through the summer exchange programs which I predict would be as usual.’

So, with this in mind, what is sober-curious, why is it so popular amongst the younger generation?

Several factors have contributed to the decline of clubbing culture amongst students and young people. These being the cost-of-living crisis, religious beliefs, physical fitness, and of course social media.

Many people attribute the rise in social media for this generation’s abstinence to alcohol, but can we really put all the blame on social media, or a general awareness for one’s health and financial situation? Or could it just simply be that alcohol is no longer being enjoyed like it once was, and the ways in which young people choose to socialise are shifting?

Census 2021 marks the point of clear decline for Christianity in England and Wales, where it became a minority religion for the first time. However, Census 2021 also marks the point for significant increase in ‘other religion’ followers.

For our very own Oxford city, although constituting only 1% of the population, ‘other religion’ followers represented an increase from 796 people in the 2011 Census to 1,448 people in the 2021 Census.

Religion was added as a voluntary question in the UK’s Census in 2001. As per Office for National Statistics (ONS), this is the religion with which people connect or identify, rather than their beliefs or active religious practice. As a voluntary question, ONS recommends caution while comparing data from different years and/or areas.

Keeping this caution into consideration, Oxford’s trend in ‘other religions’ is reflective of England and Wales’ census data for religion. Those who chose to write-in a response through the ‘Any other religion’ category, the largest increase was seen in those describing their religion as ‘Shamanism,’ increasing more than tenfold to 8,000 from 650 in 2011.

Unpacking Shamanism

The term ‘shaman’ originally came from the Siberia and Mongolia region, referring to the spiritual practices and beliefs of the indigenous Evenki people. Shamanism has been described by Paul Francis, founder of the Three Ravens College of Therapeutic Shamanism, as ‘applied animism’.

Whether they use the term ‘animism,’ contemporary western shamans hold diverse beliefs about the cosmos that generally affirm that things other than humans — plants, bodies of water, and mountains — have souls and are just as conscious as humans.

The dividing line between animism and shamanism is a matter of debate, and in common use, the terms ‘animism’ and ‘shamanism’ are often used interchangeably.

Western shamans often resist the idea that they belong to a religion and say that shamanism has no sacred text, priesthood, official institution, or ruling body (See more here)

‘Data lies’ – Real numbers could be much higher

Caitlín Matthews, is an internationally renowned Shamanic practitioner based in Oxford. She has been a Shamanic healer for 30 years, with several books on Shamanism under her belt.

She believes this Census data is just the tip of the iceberg; the real numbers could be much higher. She believes people don’t feel comfortable to always say who they are and what they follow.

‘Shamanic and animist traditions are in all five continents. Since temples were closed at the end of 4th century here and replaced by churches, Shamanism has been the bottom most strata in animism.

‘Also some people will constitutionally refuse to say what it is they do, because of the history of the West, it’s considered still to be an embarrassment. And so you keep it covered. They don’t want to be known for their religion.’

Caitlín says she and other practitioners under the umbrella organisation Pagan Federation advocated for years for Shamanism and other such religions to be included in the UK’s census (PaganFed).

‘Shamans are the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle.’

Caitlín says she sees people who would earlier be called as suffering from ‘hysterical illness,’ but it’s now called a ‘functional neurological disorder.’ She claims cases are quite often referred by psychiatrists to her, as their science cannot help beyond a point.

‘These are the people that are always on that threshold point. You never find shamans in the marketplace. You find them on the edges. And when people run screaming towards the edge, we are the people they meet. I don’t advertise my practice. I don’t need to.’

Rise of Shamanism, rise of ‘No Religion’, decline in Christianity – connected dots?

Census 2021 data for Oxford city also shows a significant decline in followers of Christianity by 15%. Again, this is in line with the country level data for England and Wales. It would be hard to establish any clear connection between decline in Christianity and increase in ‘no religion’ (25% increase) and increase in other religions in Oxford.

Many Shaman believers could have possibly ticked on the ‘No Religion’ category, as they may not associate Shamanism with any institutionalised religion.

At the time of filing this report, data was not available to further analyse the age groups which might explain the rise of other religions like Shamanism.

However, the census data is clearly a telling sign that people in Oxford city, as in the rest of England and Wales, might be seeking alternative answers beyond the traditional religions’ boundaries.

Syrians don’t have to wait for months and pay bribes to get their passports. Syrian men don’t have to enrol in university, or go abroad, to escape compulsory military service.

The fuel is available aplenty to everyone, albeit at a price. No more ‘smart cards’ and the much awaited weekly text to collect the 25 litre quota of fuel and gas.

Electricity is still scarce, but is being distributed more equitably across urban and rural areas.

Limited international flights have now started operating from Damascus airport. Embassies have reopened in Damascus. Syria’s new President has been on a diplomatic charm offensive to the White House and Europe.

Sanctions against Syria have been lifted.

Amjad Saftly, 32, calls it the ‘freedom shock’ which Syrians experienced after the stunning collapse of Assad family rule on 8 December 2024.

As a former aid worker in Syria, I am pleasantly surprised by all these economic and access related developments. However, in a country with religious diversity – Sunni, Alawites, Christians, Druze, Shia – emerging from 14 years of civil war and five decades of one family’s stronghold, there are bound to be old wounds and resentments which might be still bubbling under the surface.

I interviewed Syrians across religious and regional communities at the anniversary of the fall of Assad regime in December 2025 to uncover the unsaid and the nuances behind these economic developments.

The hopefuls

‘This is the first time in 14 years I can cross check points, and not have any fears’

Most Sunni community members seem hopeful and realistic about their country’s future. All admitted to looking at their new leader – Ahmad Al-Sharaa (previously known as Golani–his nom de guerre) – initially with skepticism due to his past alliances with Al Qaeda, and conservative interpretation of Islam.

Abdelkader Dabbagh (Abd.), a Sunni, is from Aleppo governorate. Abd. was an undergraduate student in 2011 when the conflict began. To escape military service, he spent six years completing his undergraduate studies, six years doing his Master’s, and two years on a PhD.

When he could no longer take the education route, he left Syria to work in Yemen with an international NGO. After returning from his foreign gig, he planned to pay the hefty amount many Syrian men ended up paying to the Assad regime just to escape military service.

Aleppo was the first city to fall from Assad regime’s control in late November 2024. Abd. was on his way to Yemen when he heard about the clashes in Aleppo and Idlib between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Assad forces. Such clashes were routine affairs every few weeks in his city.

However, this time it felt different, more serious, more organised.

He feared for his family, and potential separation for years in case he was stuck outside Syria. He made arrangements the next morning to return to Syria.

When he reached Aleppo, he found dead bodies on the streets.

‘For me in the beginning we were afraid of HTS, as we haven’t had any connection with them for years. Some of the groups were known to be very conservative.’

After two days of HTS forces taking over, Aleppo was bombed by the Assad government forces. Aleppians were shocked – the government which was supposed to protect them was bombing them, while the HTS soldiers from ‘the other side’ were distributing bread.

‘I was shocked to see diesel available in the market, as earlier there was such scarcity’

Abd. shares overnight the restrictions on importing most goods disappeared and there was no struggle in finding food. In fact, new cars were available from the second week of regime change. Aleppians were able to travel to Idlib and shop in malls.

Abd. considers the cultural differences between Assad ruled territories and HTS ruled territories to be normal, which can be lived with, and worked on with more interaction as time passes.

This view is shared by Abdulmoute AlDroubi, from Homs governorate. Abdulmoate works in north-east of Syria in Deir Ez Zor governorate with an aid agency. Deir Ez Zor governorate was earlier divided between Assad forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) [Kurdish controlled]; HTS forces have taken over the previously controlled Assad areas. He observes that the previous smuggling routes between SDF and Assad government across the Euphrates river have stopped, as the country has opened for import and most goods and services are available in the market.

He feels his city, and in fact the whole of Syria, avoided the worst ethnic and religious clashes that were expected immediately after a regime change of such nature.

Syrians across governorates and religious divides agree that there is finally access to a variety of goods and services.

And that’s where the agreement ends

Mahmoud Bieruti, a Sunni, a Syrian Palestinian, left Syria more than five years ago to Belgium in search of a better life. When he visited Syria in early 2025 for a few days, he could feel the sense of joy and relief amongst all sections of Syrians.

However, Mahmoud doesn’t agree with the current government’s treatment of Alawites, and Druze communities.

‘We need to avoid creating the new leader as a hero, as a saviour. We are only recreating the old model this way. People need to be educated about democracy, their rights. Democracy cannot be expected after 53 years of one family’s dictatorship.

‘The HTS were unprepared for such a sudden and quick takeover of Damascus. They lack the experience to rule such a diverse demographic. There is a contradiction between the current government’s claims and their actions towards minorities.’

Minority Report

‘We were scared to put up our Christmas tree’

Noor Baladi*, 44 years old, an Orthodox Christian, left Syria with her husband and two children to a country in Western Europe in October 2025. After living through 14 years of civil war, she couldn’t jeopardise her children’s future to more uncertainties anymore.

For Noor, the fall of the Assad regime was a scary unknown.

‘We didn’t know who was coming. And those people we had in mind were jihadis, they were in Idlib, they would come and kill everybody who chose to stay here (Assad controlled Syrian areas), because they would assume we were living here and we were okay with the regime of Al Assad.

‘We were against the Assad regime, but we kind of found a way to live with the restrictions of not being able to talk about politics, not being able to criticise the President and his party, and to work in places that are not political.’

Noor shares that in summers she was afraid to wear sleeveless clothing (which is quite normal in Damascus). She instructed her 16 year old daughter to also not wear shorts or anything revealing. Her son, 11 years old, was stopped twice for wearing shorts.

‘Some of them were distributing brochures and posters posted on some of the public institutions’ doors, how you should enter, to work here, how you should cover your hair, the halal (lawful) way of wearing things. So we were afraid of the people because they will start accusing us of being a kufar (non believer).’

That December Noor says, ‘We were a little bit scared to put up our Christmas tree, as it might attract attention. We didn’t put any cross either.’

Noor still felt hopeful in the months that followed, with transitional government formation, recognition by the West, and Syria finally shedding its pariah status.

This hope was short-lived. In March 2025 there were clashes, or massacres as minority communities describe it, in the coastal areas of Syria between the government forces and Alawite community.

And then the deadly clashes happened in Sweida – governorate with a large Druze community. Noor’s husband belongs to Sweida, and his parents were stuck for weeks with limited provisions.

That seemed to be the last straw.

When an opportunity arose in Europe, they grabbed it despite the risk of pulling out their children in the middle of the school year. She now has a chance to give a better life to her children.

Noor was also able to put up the Christmas tree last year.

‘For me enough is enough’

Amjad Saftly, a Christian Orthodox, is also hoping for a better, safer life. He left for Germany in February 2026. He fears after Alawite and Druze massacres, soon it could be Christians who could be targeted.

Amjad was living in Jaramana – a suburb of Damascus, where primarily the Druze and Christian minorities reside.

He feels just like the Assad government is to be blamed for the horrors during the long rule, similarly it is the government of the day which needs to bear the responsibility for these clashes with minorities.

‘We don’t trust the system anymore. We see that the government is using one colour [community] to fill any gap, to fill important positions with one colour – mostly Muslim Sunnis, from Idlib.’

‘For me enough is enough. I am leaving my mother behind, which is not an easy decision. But after the massacres, I see more focus on external relations with the USA and Europe, which is great, but not fixing things inside.’

Amjad observed for the first three to four months there were no bribes, no favouritism, or nepotism, but now everything is running the same old way. Maybe in spheres like traffic police, there are lesser bribes, but in governmental departments, bribing still exists.

For fixing things internally, Amjad recommends major steps need to be taken by the new government: reconciliation and peace with Alawite and Druze communities, sharing some high ranked political positions with minorities, introducing hate speech regulations, and justice for the old regime’s victims.

Sweida Saga

‘I feel devastated. What was I doing for people all these years who are now seeing me as someone who supports Israel?’

Ehab Al Matni, 32, belongs to the Druze community, and has lived in the Jarmana neighbourhood for many years.

Despite the initial misgivings about the new regime, Ehab was encouraged by the new regime’s takeover of Aleppo, and their treatment of people there. The situation was surprisingly calm. There was no revenge on the streets. People were celebrating in Damascus.

‘So we decided this is our time. And we can do something for the country. We waited for years for the Assad regime to fall. We started doing meetings, public sessions on constitution, transition, and invited analysts in Jaramana.’

However, the coastal clashes took place and mass killings of the Alawite community were reported.

‘I started to freak out, as Jaramana is a place consisting mostly of minorities and a massive surrounding area of majority of Muslims.

‘As someone who lived in Jaramana, and spent all my life in Damascus, and most of my career working for and with people who suffered from the Assad regime, I felt what was I doing in those 14 years, for people who are now seeing me as someone who supports Israel?’

Ehab secured a visa for a Gulf country in August 2025. He has no plans to return to Syria.

Alawite Angle

‘We Syrians can now adapt to anything’

Atheel Mohammad, 30, an Alawite, lives in a suburban neighbourhood of Damascus, which mostly comprises Alawite community. Atheel’s neighbourhood was traditionally divided into the civilian side and the Syrian Arab army side. Post Assad regime’s collapse, there have been massive demographic changes in the neighbourhood, which has been worrying for the Alawite community, fearing revenge from thr Sunni community. The former Assad military side of the neighbourhood now consists of the new government’s army personnel.

At 4 am on 8 December 2024, she heard frantic footsteps in her building, and opened the door to a neighbour saying ‘Khalas (finish), Damascus has fallen.’

As an Alawite, she feels most of the community felt protected as a minority community under Assad regime. But that’s that. In terms of services, they suffered just as much as others. When the Assad regime fell, she felt collective shame on learning the horrors of Sednaya prison.

She doesn’t feel safe travelling between Damascus and the suburb, returns home before sunset, dresses more conservatively, and uses a trusted taxi driver.

‘I was not into politics earlier, but now as a minority, we see a pattern, and feel excluded as Alawites, Druze, Shias, Christians.’

She does however feel hopeful.

‘This hate is not the true Syrian people. Syrian people love to live, laugh. Ideally I would not like to leave a place where I have childhood memories, my people.’

‘I don’t have much, but it is my country.’

Her artwork hung around her like fragments of colour against the grey rhythm of the city. People passed by without looking for long. Some glanced. Some smiled politely. Most kept walking.

Then I stopped.

‘My name’s Jo Richardson anyway,’ she told me with a grin. ‘I’m an artist from Brighton, based in Brighton really. But I’m having a tour of the UK with my art at the moment.’

Jo is 65 years old. Five years ago, she gave up her home, her possessions, and what many would consider a conventional life. Since then, she has lived outdoors, travelling, creating art, and surviving largely through the kindness of strangers and the sale of her work.

Now, she is on an 11-week journey across the UK, a spiritual and an artistic pilgrimage she plans to end at the summer solstice near Stonehenge.

‘I live in the universe,’ she said simply.

There was something different about the way Jo spoke, like she had lived but never enough to see the world colourful. She spoke about ‘energy’ the way some people speak about weather: something constantly moving between people, shaping encounters, invisible but undeniable.

‘To bring colour to the universe,’ she said, describing her purpose, ‘and to all these beautiful people.’

Jo believes modern society has disconnected people from themselves. Throughout our conversation, she returned repeatedly to the idea that people are trapped in routines they never chose.

‘We’re hardwired to do that when we’re born, aren’t we?’ she said. ‘You go, get a job, get married, have children, do all that society crap.’

To her, much of society resembles ‘a herd of sheep,’ people moving in the same direction without questioning why. She sees herself as someone who stepped outside that system after decades of conventional work.

‘I worked for the man for 40 years,’ she told me. ‘Paid all my taxes. And after lockdown, I thought, you know what? I just can’t be oscillating this.’

The pandemic became a turning point. Jo described spending months in a communal camp creating ‘peace trees,’ artwork, and music with friends. The experience transformed her understanding of freedom and inspired the life she now lives.

Her philosophy centres around one phrase: follow your joy.

‘If it’s not your joy, don’t do it,’ she said. ‘And if it is your joy, then do it.’

The idea sounds almost deceptively simple, but Jo speaks about it with the conviction of someone who has already tested it against reality. She told me stories of days when she had no food or water, only for strangers to unexpectedly appear with something she needed.

‘Once you accept that lack,’ she said, ‘the universe will always provide.’

At times, her beliefs drift into spiritual mysticism. She described encounters as ‘messages from the universe,’ and spoke about positive and negative energy as forces that shape daily life. Yet beneath the spiritual language was something profoundly human: a longing for connection.

Several times during our conversation, Jo thanked me simply for stopping.

‘Hundreds of people walked past before,’ she said. ‘And not one really stopped.’

She told me about a pair of birds she had spent over an hour watching in silence earlier that day. Their stillness inspired a drawing she later created. The tenderness with which she described them felt almost symbolic of how she sees the world, attentive to small moments most people overlook.

Jo also spoke passionately about truth, perspective, and journalism when I told her I wanted to pursue travel journalism.

‘What you see is different to what I see,’ she explained, gesturing to the mug she held. ‘But when you put all those perspectives together, that’s where the truth is.’

‘I have this Giraffe I am yet to complete.’ She showed me an incompletely coloured giraffe, ‘I think they see things that lot of people don’t see.’

That conversation left me wondering, ‘Will the way we think change over age?’ Maybe not, maybe with experience it will. She also said, ;Maybe I’ll reach those heights one day. But now, I’m sort of a donkey level.’ If she is at a donkey level, what level are we all at?

In an era shaped by algorithms, outrage, and constant noise, Jo’s worldview feels both deeply idealistic and quietly rebellious. She rejects material success, distrusts mainstream narratives, and believes modern life has distanced people from joy, creativity, and genuine connection.

Some may dismiss her ideas as naive. Others may call them radical. But standing there listening to her speak, it became clear that Jo is not trying to convince the world to become her. She is simply trying to live honestly according to what she believes.

Before we parted, she smiled warmly and said she hoped to one day see me ‘speaking truth’ somewhere in the future.

Then she picked up her artwork and continued to paint, one more bright streak of colour moving through an increasingly grey world.

On 25 February 2025, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced that the UK would raise its defence spending to 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2027.

This increased investment in defence will come at the cost of reducing aid spending from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% in 2027.

The UK contributes to international aid through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. It is bound by International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2016 to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid.

Between 2013 to 2020, the UK has met this target each year.

Not meeting this target requires an explanation by the government to Parliament, and meeting one of the three reasons — 1) economic circumstances, such as a fall in GDP (which was the case for UK aid reduction from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI in 2021 due to the impact of pandemic on the UK’s economy); 2) fiscal circumstances and the effects on taxation, public spending and public borrowing and; 3) circumstances arising outside the UK.

Neither of the above three circumstances exist currently, which would warrant a drastic reduction of ODA.

Reducing the aid budget to 0.3% would mean next year’s aid budget would be £ 9.2 billion.

This amount would be the UK’s lowest ODA contribution in 20 years. The last time the UK’s aid contribution was around the £9 billion mark, was in 2007 — when the UK was in the midst of Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Post- Brexit identity crisis for the United Kingdom?

‘It’s the strategic position the UK has ended up in post-Brexit. Britain is now awkwardly positioned between the US and Europe — neither fully European nor fully aligned with the Anglo-sphere. That creates strategic insecurity’, says Prof. Glen O’Hara, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the Oxford Brookes University, and author of New Labour, New Britain? How the Blair Governments Reshaped the Country.

‘One way the British state tries to compensate is through defence spending and defence relationships, particularly with France. Defence becomes a way to remain relevant and connected.’

Despite France’s strategic importance as an actor in the defence sphere, its military spending remains much lower than the UK, at 1.94 % of its GDP.

The UK’s average military spending is already more than its comparable GDP counterparts — France, Germany and Japan.

In the last two decades (2004-2024), the UK spent an average of 2.26 as a percentage of its GDP on military. This is much higher than 0.98 % of Japan (Japan’s constitution limits it to 1% of GDP spending on defence), 1.26 % of Germany, and 1.94% of France.

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Ironically, in these two decades, UK’s involvement in full scale military wars has largely reduced, as its troops withdrew from Afghanistan and Iraq, and limited military involvements in Syria, Libya, and Yemen.

The public confidence in PM Starmer’s decision to not involve the UK in the USA and Israel’s attacks on Iran have also been high. Polling data from IPSOS in the UK, conducted between 3-7 April 2026, reveals:

65% Britons favour using diplomacy with the US, Israel, Iran, and other countries to try to de-escalate the situation.

An overwhelming 64% reject sending British troops to the Middle East to support the US and Israel in military action against Iran.

Efficiency, not deficiency

‘Britain is terrible at buying military equipment on time and on budget’, says O’Hara. ‘Large projects — armoured vehicles, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers — massively overrun costs. The nuclear programme alone absorbs billions. So a lot of defence spending isn’t about expanded capability, but inefficiency.’

Dr. Samuel Perlo-Freeman from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) in a quote provided over email says, ‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) wastes vast amounts of money on nuclear weapons that can never be used, do nothing to increase security, and involve the threat of horrific crimes against humanity.

‘A lot of other spending is wasted on expensive prestige projects that give huge profits to arms companies, while running over time and budget, and often failing to deliver the capabilities promised, which in any case are often ill-suited to real security needs. If there are genuine needs for military capabilities that would contribute to UK and European security, they should come from this vast wastage of current military spending, rather than from international aid or other areas of spending.’

O’Hara believes there are domestic political and economic benefits for any government in the UK to increase defence spending, ‘Defence exports can be framed as re-industrialisation and job creation, especially in regions Labour wants to win politically.’

ADS, the defence sector’s trade body, claims it has added £15 billion worth of value to the UK economy, provided direct employment to 181,500 people, and £13.7 billion to exports.

‘The public vastly overestimates how much Britain spends on aid. They assume it’s far higher than it actually is’, says O’Hara.

‘Charities are also expected to be altruistic and non-professional. When voters see salaries, offices, and logistics operations, they feel uncomfortable — even though professionalisation is essential for effectiveness.

‘Voters also focus strongly on domestic problems. When they believe money is being siphoned off abroad, resentment builds — even when aid is in the UK’s strategic interest.’

Development Engagement Tracker (DEL), which tracks public engagement with overseas aid and global issues, in a survey by YouGov of 1500 GB adults, revealed less than half of the public (45%) support keeping or increasing aid spending levels.

Arms industry lobbying and revolving door

Seven arms producing and military services companies from the UK are in the top 100 in the world (SIPRI 2024). Transparency International’s open access tool (access here), which collates data on ministers’ meetings with external organisations, shows these seven companies commanded 22% of all lobby meetings with the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

And a single defence company BAE Systems (sometimes along with other firms) had 262 meetings with the MoD since 2012.

‘The UK arms industry exercises grossly excessive influence on UK government policy, in relation to both military spending, arms procurement, and arms exports’, says Dr. Freeman. He attributes this to an ‘unparalleled level of access afforded to the industry by government, through a constant stream of high-level meetings and a plethora of government-industry forums, supported by the revolving door between top levels of government, especially the MoD, and the arms industry.’

During the press release of Dr. Freeman’s 2024 report— From revolving door to open-plan office: the ever-closer union between the UK government and the arms industry (available here), he said ‘This is a broken system. No industry should have this level of influence over government, especially one that deals in death and destruction.

‘This level of influence is profoundly undemocratic and means that shareholder profits are protected at all costs – even if this means complicity in appalling war crimes.’

Declassified UK has also reported that several British Conservative party MP’s who rejected a parliamentary motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have owned BAE shares.

In a recent report, Prospect uncovered the gross misuse of revolving door policy and conflicts of interest between ex MoD staff and defence firms in the UK. Prospect identified more than 120 applications by former senior military officers, civil servants and politicians to take paid positions with firms either directly holding MoD contracts or bidding for them, or operating within the wider defence sector.

Prevention better than cure

International Development Committee Chair, Sarah Champion, said the aid cuts are ‘deeply shortsighted’ and ‘our finances should be spent on preventing [conflict], not the deadly consequences’.

A recent study in the Lancet has found that aid cuts by the US, the UK, and other western countries, are likely to cause 22.4 million excess deaths by 2030 (See here). Dr. Freeman of CAAT says while the share of this accounted for by the UK is not clear, but is likely to run into millions of excess deaths. There is no conceivable security benefit from the increased military spending that could outweigh this horrific impact.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) the fiscal consequences of the government’s plans and ambitions for defence spending include reduced spending on other areas (for now aid). The second is to increase tax revenues to fund the increased spending. The third option is to borrow.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves in recent interviews to the press has clearly said she does not favour tax hikes or higher borrowing to pay for increases in defence spending.

Borrowing for a permanent increase in defence spending is unlikely to be sustainable, and would be hard to justify on the grounds that defence spending will boost long-term economic growth.

The fiscal impact of returning to 0.7% of GDP for aid is small relative to the defence budget, making it a feasible reallocation.

More importantly, it would keep the United Kingdom on the right side of history —preventing poverty, conflicts, and distress migration.

Whilst poverty levels are rising all around the UK, the significant increase in rough sleeping for prison leavers has continued to fly under the radar.

In the year up to March 2025, there was a 311% increase since the year up to March 2019 in prison leavers forced to rough sleep on release, according to data from the Ministry of Justice; 19 times the increase in all prison leavers in the same time period.

This continuing upwards trend, when ignoring data affected by the ‘Everyone In’ scheme (a scheme designed to move all those rough sleeping into accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic), has now led to rough sleeping becoming the 3^rd most common type of accommodation on release for prison leavers.

But what are the reasons behind this increase, and how does being forced to rough sleep affect other aspects of prison leavers’, and everyone’s, lives?

There are many contributing factors to why so many prison leavers have to rough sleep on release, instead of receiving appropriate accommodation. When in custody, most prisoners will lose any benefits they would have previously received, unless their sentence is below 13 weeks, and are unable to reapply for housing benefit whilst still in custody. Whilst prisoners are able to prepare for this process, without essential paperwork from this application it is far more difficult to get accommodation not previously arranged.

In addition to this, a significant lack of social accommodation means there is simply not enough housing to give everyone who needs it. This is an issue Darryn Frost – co-founder of Own Merit, a non-profit organisation with a mission to address the prison-leaver homelessness crisis safely and cost-effectively – is incredibly familiar with.

He explained that in terms of allocating prison leavers housing, “the real issue is structural: responsibility for housing sits with local authorities, not the prison or probation service, so there is a persistent communication gap between the offender manager in custody, the one in the community, and the council expected to allocate.

“Prison leavers are not a ‘priority need’, which puts them at the bottom of a long queue for social housing. The 56-day window for the Duty to Refer [a duty in place for specific public bodies to refer those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to the local authority] is often missed.”

There have been attempts to aid prison leavers in finding accommodation when it is not provided for them through the Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Act 2023. The Act ensured prison leavers would not be released on Fridays, to allow them enough time to access housing before services closed for the weekend.

However, this effort is not wholly effective. Mr Frost commented that “stopping Friday releases is a solid idea, however, it hasn’t fixed the underlying issues. Without those basics locked in, the Friday reform is just a better-timed drop-off.”

This problem with securing housing is also not self-contained. Rough sleeping makes re-entering society and rehabilitation considerably harder by causing further problems.

Dr Grace Low, a criminology lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, confirmed this, explaining that “without stable housing, it can then be impossible to sort out other aspects of reintegration, such as obtaining employment.”

It can also lead to reoffending becoming an inevitable cycle for prison leavers, which in turn affects society as a whole. Data from the Ministry of Justice states that 77.5% of adult offenders who rough sleep on release from custody reoffend, the highest rate of reoffending out of any accommodation status.

A prison leaver’s status as homeless can directly lead to them having to return to custody. When prisoners are released from prison on license, license conditions often state where prison leavers must live, and they must hold a suitable, approved address they can be visited at. If they break these conditions, potentially through being homeless, they can be recalled to prison for 56 days, which has recently been increased on 31^st March 2026 by the Sentencing Act 2026 from shorter recall times of 14 and 28 days.

Dr Low calls these recalls “particularly disruptive”, stating that through them “people can end up losing their homes, custody of children, and their job, if they had one, while receiving no constructive support within prison to support their desistance [stopping reoffending].”

Issues with reoffending continue to be systemic, as prison-leavers who are already more likely to reoffend, for example those committing lower-level crime, are also more likely to become rough sleepers on release from custody; increasing the likelihood of a reoffending cycle.

68.4% of adult offenders with a sentence less than or equal to 6 months reoffend, and those with the same sentence made up 62.4% of rough sleepers in the year up to March 2025.

As to why so many low-level offenders face street homelessness, Mr Frost explained that “sub-12-month sentences strip any existing tenancy [and] give the Duty to Refer no time to work”, meaning when they are released they have little choice other than rough sleeping.

Lower-level offenders are considered vulnerable before facing homelessness, as Mr Frost said short sentences “are served disproportionately by people with addiction, mental ill-health and care experience.”

Whilst a small number may reoffend specifically to get accommodation and food through prison, “the dominant reason this cohort is over-represented is because lower-level offenders never get any real support to change their behaviour or change their circumstances.” By providing appropriate support, reoffending could decrease for this cohort.

The systemic challenges lower-level offenders face are also demonstrated by prison leavers who committed theft offences being more likely to rough sleep on release from custody, penalising lower-level crimes again.

The seeming inescapability of reoffending increases with theft, with Mr Frost stating that “theft is very often acquisitive offending to feed an addiction, so you have two cycles running at once. Custody interrupts both without breaking either.

“The system effectively manufactures homelessness for this group and then treats their return as a surprise.”

In order to tackle crime as a society, and reduce the £23.6bn cost of reoffending every year, then it is clear that providing housing for prison leavers is a necessary step, with Mr Frost saying accommodation “is the single largest contributor to reducing reoffending.”

Dr Low also affirms the importance of prioritising housing when looking at reoffending as a whole, stating that “it provides a base, for example, to attend treatment programmes or engage with community support. It provides a base to go to and from work.”

Distinguishing living under a roof, compared to having a home, she continued that “somewhere which feels like ‘home’ offers important psychological benefits. For example, a space in which you have control and ownership over and which you can express yourself.”

In order to assist this, instead of the current system of CAS3 (Community Accommodation Service Tier 3) providing 84 nights of temporary accommodation, which Mr Frost says “buys time without buying outcomes”, he suggests “that spend would do far more work if it incentivised private landlords, housing associations and councils to prioritise this cohort, backed by real support: help with evictions, a route for dealing with anti-social behaviour, and indemnity against damage or incidents.

“A tax incentive for private landlords, charities and CICs who take this group on would move the dial further.”

Accessing housing is the problem at the centre of many issues both prison leavers and wider society face, therefore implementing such methods would have an unexpected wide effect. As Mr Frost stated: “Fix housing first and the other interventions actually get a chance to work; skip it and you are pouring resource into a sieve.”

I moved to the UK in September and, since arriving, have run along the Thames Path most mornings. My route — about ten kilometres through Oxford — takes me past houseboats, under bridges, and along a dew-fresh field where cows sometimes graze. As picturesque as it may be, it’s missing the one thing every runner eventually needs: a public toilet.

At first, I chalked it up to being an outsider. In the coastal Canadian city where I’m from, I knew the location of every public toilet along my regular route, confident I could reach the nearest one should my pre-run fuel demand a swift exit. Surely, once I became familiar with Oxford, the same would be true here.

That assumption, however, was short-lived.

When I searched online for a ‘Thames Path toilet map,’ I expected to find a simple guide. Nothing appeared. The closest result was an app called Flush, which listed every nearby toilet, rather than just those on or near the route.

So I decided to make my own.

Using a grid reference finder and an online list of public toilets along the non-tidal section of the Thames Path (from the Cotswolds to Teddington), I began plotting each location onto a digital map of the route. To ensure accuracy, I cross-checked the information against local council records and government data on lock facilities.

What emerged was a patchwork geography of public toilet access.

I began with the first listed facility in Cricklade, more than eleven miles from the start of the route in the village of Kemble. The next toilet was a similar distance away in Lechlade. After that, the gaps narrowed for a stretch of around thirty miles, making access less of an immediate concern.

But the pattern changed again around Oxford.

Once I passed Hinksey Park in my mapping and continued south of the city centre, the next available toilet was more than eight miles away, in a car park in Abingdon. The data showed I hadn’t missed them on my morning jogs; they simply weren’t there.

This was the largest gap in any urban stretch along the non-tidal Thames Path. Across the full route, I plotted fifty-eight public toilets. Exactly half were located at locks. Yet in Oxford, none of the four main locks — King’s, Godstow, Osney, and Iffley — had public toilets.

Instead, users appear to rely on facilities in town: parks, shopping centres, and transport stations. In places such as Reading, Staines, and Windsor, official listings simply note ‘various’ locations, leaving path-users to navigate those sections independently. Many of these options are neither close to nor easily reached from the path itself.

I mentioned the project during a phone call with my mother. ‘It’s much easier for guys,’ she said. ‘Women can’t just pop behind a bush if they need to go.’ I hadn’t asked for her input, but it widened my focus. The issue wasn’t just mine — it depended on who was using the path, and how.

I produced a simple chart to illustrate travel times between toilets based on average running pace. The gap between Oxford and Abingdon, for example, takes around an hour to run. For those walking the route, it could take several times longer.

I contacted a company that supports long-distance walkers on the Thames Path to discuss the story I was working on. They said the findings would be ‘very helpful to walkers’ and noted that toilets along the route are sometimes out of service for months due to vandalism.

At the time of publication, I was still contacting councils, agencies, and organisations to understand who is responsible for provision, funding, and maintenance for public toilets along the Thames Path. What is clear, however, is that responsibility is fragmented and provision uneven.

For now, while longer stretches of the path remain without relief, I may have to adjust my route, heading closer to town where facilities are more readily available.

This increase in shoplifting is in dramatic contrast to the overall decline in crime. During the same period, theft declined by 7%, burglary by 12% and vehicle related offences by a substantial 18% in the Thames Valley. Nationally in England, shoplifting rose by 6% while total recorded crime declined by 2%. Violence against the person showed a slight 1% increase locally, compared with a 1% decrease nationally.

As shown in Figure 1, shoplifting is the only major offence category increasing, while other crime types continue to decline.

Figure 1: Percentage change in crime by offence type – England compared with Thames Valley (year ending September 2025)

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Police Recorded Crime Statistics

When adjusted for population size, the Thames Valley continues to be one of the safer police force areas in the country. It recorded approximately 71 offences per 1,000 people in 2025, well below the England average of 88. Violent, theft, burglary and vehicle crime rates were significantly below the national rate. Shoplifting, though, was one of the categories in which Thames Valley and England were nearest to each other, which is an indication that the issue is experienced more evenly across the regions.

The figures tell a story of two trends: positive improvement in general population safety and an infuriating and noticeable increase in retail theft that is becoming a concern to store owners and employees.

In Oxford’s Cowley area, the impact is tangible. Rashid, who runs an Afro-Asian grocery shop serving the diverse Cowley community, says shoplifting has become a daily headache.

“It’s increasing day by day,” he told me. “Due to inflation and high product costs, especially food, people are trying to steal more from shops. Sometimes three or four cases happen in one day. We don’t even report it to the police anymore because it wastes time and we get no compensation. The law is not strict enough.”

Rashid’s frustration is common among small retailers. Many report that the combination of rising living costs and what they perceive as lenient consequences is emboldening thieves. The economic context plays a major role; most of the households are only just recovering the impact of inflation, and retailers experience tightened margins and increased competition from online platforms.

Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has made tackling shoplifting a clear priority. In a statement issued in August 2025, he emphasised the need for shared social responsibility:

“I believe in social responsibility and in people being engaged in their communities to help keep them safe. People should not turn a blind eye to crime… I have made tackling shoplifting a priority for Thames Valley Police and that has resulted in more criminals being charged, more patrols being visible, easier sharing of evidence from stores, more support for retailers and a focus on the most prolific offenders.”

Barber urged retailers, staff and shoppers to report incidents and, where safe, perform simple actions like alerting staff or taking evidence. He stressed he was not asking people to put themselves in danger by physically confronting offenders.

His comments, however, sparked controversy. Liberal Democrat MPs Joshua Reynolds and Freddie van Mierlo criticised the approach as “irresponsible and dangerous.” Reynolds argued that “expecting the public to do the job for the police is not the way,” while van Mierlo said the public should call the police rather than confront criminals.

The discussion brings up broader issues regarding the societal reaction to retail crime. Meanwhile, the official numbers indicate the positive change. Barber previously highlighted a 98% increase in charges for shoplifting offences in the force area between April and mid-October 2024 (from around 850 to 1,700). He has also pointed to initiatives such as a new Business Crime Team, Operation Purchase for increased visible patrols in retail areas, and better information-sharing platforms for retailers.

Even with this action, a significant number of shopkeepers are still sceptical of the effects on the ground. Others claim that the response times by the police are still too slow and that repeat offenders are hardly deterred. Not all residents in Cowley share the retailers’ sense of rising insecurity. An unnamed local man said everyday life actually feels safer than in previous years:

“Things have become cooler and calmer. There’s less crime going on in our communities recently. You can go out freely at night now. I give big praise to Thames Valley Police — they’ve been very visible and they’re working hard to crack down on crime.”

Oxford Brookes University student Raj, an international student living in the area, echoed a similar personal sense of safety:

“I walk at night a lot of times and I didn’t see any crimes happening. For me it feels safe here. But the types of crimes that concern me most are theft and robbery — especially if someone comes with a knife or tries to scare me to take my things.”

These opposing voices depict how crime patterns are experienced by various groups of people. Frontline retail workers who are the most affected by shoplifting are under daily pressure, and many residents and students are the main beneficiaries of better street security and law enforcement.

Police-recorded crime statistics need to be looked at with a certain degree of caution. The numbers can be affected by changes in recording practices, population readiness to report offences, and enhancement of police systems. The ONS itself notes that not all forces have fully consistent recording standards in recent years. Nevertheless, these figures remain the most comprehensive official measure of crime that comes to the attention of the police.

The consistent increase in shoplifting takes place on a challenging economic background. Retailers are dealing with increased expenses, lower margins and long-term implications of the cost-of-living crisis. On a national scale, the past few years have seen shoplifting at record or nearly record levels, and campaigners are demanding harsher sentencing of habitual offenders and a quicker police response to retail shoplifting.

The problem is especially evident in busy neighbourhood centres in Oxford, and the wider Thames Valley, where there are independent shops alongside larger stores. Local police neighbourhood teams have stepped up efforts in the city centre and Cowley, but retailers say more needs to be done.

As Rashid put it: “The problem is growing every day. Without stronger action, it risks becoming normal.”

Although the general crime rates in the Thames Valley are on the right track, the particular increase in shoplifting incidents indicates the emergence of the strain on the local high street and convenience stores. Bridging the gap between falling overall crime statistics and the lived experience of retailers will likely remain a key challenge for police, politicians and communities in the months ahead.

‘We are so happy that Orbán is finally gone,’ says one young Hungarian. ‘We are glad to feel some sense of hope, finally,’ adds another. ‘We changed the system!’

After 16 years in power, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a galleon figure of the European far-right, had just lost his re-election. Decisively.

And on the other side of the Atlantic, another far-right heavyweight faces dismal approval ratings and a possible electoral rebuke in November. ‘The Trump vibe shift is dead,’ declared New York Times columnist Ezra Klein late last year.

Is this it? Is this the beginning of the end of the cultural vibe shift towards the political right that many commentators had diagnosed across the West?

‘I do think there is some argument for that,’ says Dr Jon Wheatley, who researches European politics, political parties, and autocratisation at Oxford Brookes University. But before hearing that argument, let’s take stock of the status quo.

The era of the far-right

Populist parties of all political orientations, meaning parties that put the people versus some sort of elite, have gained in strength significantly over the past 25 years in Europe, according to the Votes for Populists Dataset.

Right-wing populist parties specifically have constituted the only major party family that has seen an increase in vote share across 36 Western democracies since the fall of the Soviet Union, as an analysis of the Comparative Political Dataset shows.

Dr Wheatley explains that the most recent increase in popularity started off the back of the 2008 financial crisis and the European financial crisis thereafter—as can be seen in the data. The rise was ‘then perhaps turbocharged by the migrant crisis of 2015 as well.’

By the mid of this decade, the far-right had become a major political force in Europe: They formed governments in nine EU member states, filled a quarter of seats in the European Parliament, and were involved in all major EU decisions, according to the German think tank SWP.

Some 51 far-right parties sat in European parliaments in 2022, as an analysis of the so-called Popu-List dataset reveals.

Reform UK, France’s National Rally (RN), and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) now lead the polls in Europe’s three largest economies. And, of course, the Republicans are in power in the US.

Being right goes mainstream

That is also where the vibe shift towards the political right reached a climax, under the Capitol’s historic dome in Washington D.C., in front of old paintings and an American flag.

On 20 January 2025, shortly after noon, everybody was giving standing ovations to the newly inaugurated 47th president of the United States, walking up to a podium bearing the presidential seal. Donald Trump, a far-right populist. Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg were seated directly behind him on the stage, clapping.

Wayne Gretzky, Rupert Murdoch, and countless politicians sat in the audience. In front of the eyes of the nation and the world, the shame in supporting Trump seemingly gone.

‘This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,’ his voice carried across the storied, crowded hall.

‘As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.’

Positions like that are typical of the recent wave of far-right politics, explains Dr Wheatley. ‘They’re sort of combining anti-immigration, even nativist stances, with anti-trans, so-called anti-woke, often anti-net zero positions.’

He agrees that there has been a vibe shift, and not only in the US. ‘I think you’ve got a normalisation of discourses that would previously be considered far-right, that are now considered sort of normal.’

It’s the culture, stupid!

Culture and identity are key issues for voters on the far-right. Anatole Champel, a 20-year-old undergraduate at Oxford Brookes who is originally from Paris, says that the most important issues to him are immigration and cultural preservation.

‘What we do want is that the people that are coming in are here to respect the rules and blend into society,’ he says, emphasising that he is concerned about his culture and not about the racial makeup of France. Mr Champel has been a supporter of the French RN for the entirety of his politically conscious life.

Indeed, culture and identity are the deciding factors when it comes to the rise of RN and the like. ‘One of the reasons why these parties are doing well, I think, is because this culture-identity axis has suddenly become salient,’ analyses Dr Wheatley. ‘That now matters.’

Throughout the 20th century, that had been different: ‘It’s the economy, stupid!’ was the mantra.

Of the two dimensions dividing left and right — the economy and cultural identity — the latter has become pressing, according to Dr Wheatley. Traditional conservative parties were oftentimes unable to capitalise on that.

While Mr Champel likes some of their economic views, traditional conservative parties ‘don’t act on the issues that me or my social group are concerned about.’

Another look at the Comparative Political Dataset reveals that right-wing (not necessarily far-right) parties have become ever-so dominant in governments of Western democracies over the past quarter century, at the expense of centrist and left-wing parties.

At first, working-class voters began to abandon their traditional political home: the centre-left. Over the last five to ten years, ‘that seems to have happened to the centre-right as well,’ says political scientist Dr Wheatley.

A reverse vibe shift?

So what about Orbán’s election loss, and Trump’s declining popularity? Is the rise of the far-right at an end?

Maybe. But maybe only after they have been in power for a bit.

Far-right parties can get into trouble when in government. ‘Because part of them do have a populist message: the pure people versus the corrupt elites,’ says Dr Wheatley.

‘But what happens when they become the corrupt elites? And this was the case of Orbán.

‘People were getting disillusioned,’ he explains. ‘So when these guys do get into power, they face pushback.’ A possible reverse vibe shift.

And in government, their handling of the economy does matter. ‘They will deregulate. They will increase inequality,’ says the political scientist.

RN supporter Mr Champel has a vision for when his party wins over the government: ‘I think we would have a lot more safety.’

That is also part of what the German AfD promises: ‘When did all of this actually start?’ is what a melancholic voice says to the sound of thoughtful retro music. ‘That nothing works anymore.’

‘There was always enough money, be it for bankrupt southern European states or millions of migrants from all over the world.’

The voice belongs to a 2025 election ad that revokes memories of supposedly happier and richer days, to the backdrop of slick imagery of Germany. Landmarks, flags, an eagle.

‘Now is the time for our families … for our security … for our country.’ The music turns electronic and energetic.

‘This trend is here to stay’

According to Dr Wheatley, far-right parties will become a key political force in Europe.

And with it, the danger of dwindling democracy. ‘There is a risk because these parties are authoritarian,’ says Dr Wheatley.

Mr Champel dispels concerns about authoritarianism or even fascism. ‘We cannot compare the right today to fascism,’ he argues. ’I think that’s a lot of speculation from mostly left voters.’

The political scientist Dr Wheatley thinks that a full-blown rise of authoritarianism in Europe is unlikely.

‘Hungary is a ray of hope to a certain extent because, despite the fact that Orbán had been there for 16 years, despite the fact that he basically controlled the media and everything: he still lost.’

523 care homes in England have not been inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for at least eight years, new analysis reveals.

The backlog has grown sharply since the pandemic, although the first significant increase appeared as early as 2017.

The analysis also shows that the average care home in England has now gone over four years without a full inspection.

Outdated ratings raise concerns that standards in some care homes may have declined without being identified by the regulator.

An Age UK spokesperson said: “Delays to care home inspections mean older people being placed at unnecessary risk by poor quality homes not complying with standards. This is unacceptable and needs to be urgently addressed.”

Families searching for a care home may be relying on an indicator that no longer reflects the current quality of care. Some well-rated homes may have declined, while others may have improved but still carry lower ratings. An alternative is for families to assess homes by visiting in person, speaking to staff and asking questions.

Andy Gill, founder of Dementia Active, a charity providing social activity groups for people with dementia, said:

“From our work with families at Dementia Active, one of the biggest challenges is that moving into a care home is rarely just a practical decision - it is an emotional one.”

He added that decisions are often being made under significant time pressure: “A hospital admission, a fall, a carer becoming unwell, or a sudden deterioration can force families into making choices quickly.”

This can make visiting a care home beforehand difficult in practice.

Mr Gill added: “My advice is always to start exploring options earlier than feels necessary. Looking early does not mean acting early.”

In response to the new findings, Chris Badger, the Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the CQC, told us:

“We know that we need to increase our rate of assessments to make sure that we update the ratings of providers and give the public confidence in quality of care.”

The CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England, overseeing around 12,000 care homes, as well as hospitals, GP practices and other services.

The regulator has faced significant scrutiny in recent years. A review conducted in 2024 found serious organisational failings, impacting its ability to carry out regular assessments. The number of inspections fell from almost 15,800 in 2019 to 6,700 in 2023. The CQC accepted the review’s recommendations at the time.

Following this latest analysis, the regulator reaffirmed its commitment to increasing the rate of inspections.

Mr Badger said: “In the short term, we are making progress and on track to meet assessment targets as agreed with the Department of Health and Social Care.”

Previously, care homes received two full inspections each year: one announced, and one unannounced - a standard that has not been met since 2016.

Now, the CQC says it collects other information to monitor care homes continuously and direct resources to the highest-risk settings. This includes safeguarding concerns, as well complaints and feedback from staff, carers, and families, with the aim of carrying out responsive inspections where risks are greatest.

Mr Badger added: “When people share their concerns about poor care with us, they can have confidence that we will act to hold providers to account to ensure people are kept safe and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

Some operators suggest the current approach is insufficient. Methodist Homes (MHA), a not-for-profit operator of 71 homes, says 10% of their homes have not had a full inspection in nine years. While it values the CQC’s work, it is calling for a higher inspection rate.

MHA said: “Our biggest ask of CQC is that they increase the rate of inspections they carry out, so no service has an inspection report which is more than five years old, as old inspection reports do not reflect current practice in a home.”

Where care home operators change ownership, new operators also inherit existing ratings, meaning any improvements made after a takeover may not be reflected for several years.

MHA added: “All inspections also need to look at the whole service rather than focus on specific areas where concerns might have been raised.”

It also said inspections play a wider role in sharing good practice across the sector, which can be limited when fewer inspections are being carried out.

The new figures indicate a growing backlog that could prove increasingly difficult for the CQC to address.

An Age UK spokesperson said: “Regulation of the care industry has been repeatedly cut back over the years due to cuts in funding and this issue is not going to be resolved without fundamental reform.”

“The Government has to recognise that up-to-date information, regulation and inspection is essential to help older people and their families make decisions about services about care in later life.”

The government is considering reducing the number of EHCPs (Education, Health, and Care Plans) in England, proposing to limit them only to children categorised with the most “specialist” needs by 2035.

An EHCP is a legal document that identifies a child’s specific needs and determines support details.

Parents, schools or professionals, such as speech therapists, apply to the local authorities for an assessment. The authorities commission experts to evaluate the needs of both the child and their family.

If it’s determined that the required support exceeds what the mainstream school can provide, they will draw up the EHCP. However, if an application is turned down after the assessment, the authorities may only produce a written report, such as recommendations that have no funding or legal binding.

Pupils currently holding EHCP will retain access until September 2029; however, after the end of primary school, they will be reassessed.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson stated that these plans aim to make mainstream schools more inclusive and “deliver better life chances for children”, according to the BBC coverage.

What is the ISP?

The alternative plan for those who do not qualify for an EHCP is the introduction of an ISP (Individual Support Plan). This plan will be made for individual needs through consultations between teachers and parents. The reform divides SEND support into three tiers: targeted, targeted plus, and specialist.

Targeted support involves an individual support plan, while Targeted Plus involves engagement from professionals.

Dr Rachel Falkner, a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in Education/SEN/Inclusion, who also worked as a teacher and a SEND coordinator, notes that the final form of ISPs remains uncertain.

While schools in Oxfordshire currently use a one-page “pupil-profile” to summarise a child’s strengths, needs and teaching strategies, there are cases in other counties like Buckinghamshire where templates can reach over 14 pages.

She noted that if the documentation is too extensive, it will inevitably increase the workload of teachers. The key challenge lies in determining what format these plans should take.

The increasing demand for EHCPs

Looking at the Department of Education statistics, 18.2% of pupils now have an EHC plan or receive SEND support, an increase from 17.1% the previous year. Primary schools have seen the largest spike, with an additional 21,000 pupils receiving plans since 2024.

It is clear that local authorities are failing to keep up with the exploding demand for EHCPs, and there is no choice but to implement reforms. The Oxfordshire council revealed in the budget report for 2024 that the council is relying on SEND reforms to avoid going bankrupt.

Under the current statutory obligations, local authorities are required to allocate extra high needs funding to schools with SEND units. However, compared to the original funding of £6000 to £10000 per place, the additional allocation is only £539 per pupil.

Is Funding enough?

While the newly introduced ISP might be effective in helping the Council save money on EHCPs, an important question remains: Is the government’s overall school funding actually enough?

The Department of Education data from 2016/17 to 2026/27 compares the normal cash funding per pupil (ages 5-16) with the real-term value adjusted for inflation.

This reveals that, although the government’s website indicates a continuous increase since 2011, per-pupil funding has grown only by a mere £790 over the last decade.

With rising costs, the government’s outlook on funding for children with SEND feels very optimistic.

Staff Shortages and Training Gaps

Beyond the lack of funding, schools are facing a severe shortage of support staff, particularly Teaching Assistants (TAs).

Each school is staffed with a SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator), a lead who holds a national professional qualification in SEND. While all teachers learn the basic knowledge of special education, the government is now pushing for additional mandatory training.

In contrast, there is currently no such requirement for TAs. Dr Rachael pointed out that TAs’ hours for supporting children are being cut due to increasing pressure on school budgets.

According to the NFER study, support staff make up more than half of the school workforce, and this continues to grow year on year. This is largely a result of increasing numbers of secondary school students and rising demand for special educational needs and disabilities support.

Furthermore, the data from NFER shows that 74 per cent of senior leaders in primary school stated that recruiting teaching assistants is “difficult or very difficult”.

Dr Rachael told Hybrid that anxiety toward the SEND reform is increasing among parents.

“The head of SEND in Oxford is saying there are now 9000 EHCPs in Oxfordshire. Parents worried that the legal protection of a document will be lost. And I know on things like “SEND jungle”, which is a parent forum, there’s been a lot of concern on that as well.”

However, it might be too early to conclude because, with the implementation still some way off, the plans remain subject to change depending on the future, she added.

“Children still need assessing, but if it’s not such a costly process—if the schools had more money upfront—they would be able to support those children, so they perhaps wouldn’t need an EHCP,” she explained.

“Research shows that one of the best ways of improving things is training teachers well so that they feel confident to support different children.”

But looking away is a temporary fix. Palpable change comes from facing and tackling the issues of our world head on.

Check out Hybrid’s writers doing exactly that in the features below…

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“And as a mark of respect of that young man I am going to call the highest point we reached on that expedition, Mount Bryan” (from a letter written by Governor Gawler, Governor of South Australia in 1839)

That one line started an adventure to visit the mountain. That young man is my great great great Uncle. My maiden name is Bryan. Can I really have a connection with this Mountain on the other side of the world in Australia?

“To me the hills are part of my history and they’re becoming a part of yours” Tony Sumner commented when we discussed our connection.

His family have farmed the land on the Mount ever since that expedition was made in 1839. England had requested that an expedition was mounted to discover further land for agriculture. Bryan, age 19, an aide to the Governor, begged to join the group. Due to a failing horse and lack of water he disappeared and has never been seen again . “What happened to him … where did he perish … the locals have never had closure from his disappearance” Tony says.

It was becoming obvious that if you know this mountain it starts to know you. “It was a high spot, it was respected … would I say it was sacred? I would say a very strong yes”. Tony tells me, acknowledging aboriginals would have lived here.

He continues “there is an aura there … I have seen two storms head to the top and linger there”. It was also becoming obvious that this Mountain had been intertwined with our two families for longer than we had known.

When we travelled to the top of Mt Bryan in utes, with a bounding escort of kangaroos, in between the gum trees, Tony shows us his paddocks. Coming, coincidentally, from a sheep farming family in Dorset farming Dorset Horn sheep I enquire what sheep he farms. Incredulously he says “Dorset Poll” - the only difference being with horns or not.

Once at the top, covered in awe at the far reaching views and the fact that the expedition made it to here, the hot terrain is sparse. Tony tells me “it’s quite untamed. It’s not easy to muster.” But how much more inhospitable would it have been 180 years ago? There is nothing up there apart from a stone chair, a trig point and a modern intrusion of two masts.

Tony says “you must sit in Rex’s chair to which I reply “really” and quizzically “Rex’s chair”. My son is called Rex and Tony’s Uncle, who built the chair stone by stone, is called Rex. My Godfather, also a Dorset horn farmer, was called Rex, and would have been farming at the same time as this “Uncle Rex”.

We discover two of our children are about to start studying at Melbourne University together, starting that following week. They perch on a granite slab laying the foundations for a deep friendship.

And then we are told the Sumner family have just sold the farm and move out in 4 weeks. So we have only just coincided.

What connection got us there 4 weeks before they depart?

How did the two families end up farming the same breed of sheep?

What connection led Will and Lucy to study at Melbourne University at the same time?

How did the connection arise through the name Rex?

Was I just overthinking this or did Tony feel this human connection “oh hell yeah ..

… it’s like we’ve known you all our life ...we’ve definitely got a connection. I think there is some pull or force that is pulling us together”.

What had created this? The mountain, the aboriginals who had no doubt been displaced with the arrival of Gawler’s expedition or Henry Bryan himself whose body had remained somewhere there for 180 years?

Tom Quinn, a primary producer in Mount Bryan, lives facing the Mount, discusses the mountain “it is always there providing a silent strength to me living and farming in its proximity …(I) am drawn to it with a sense of belonging… I believe there was aboriginal existence”.

Tom continues “growing up in the fifties, sixties and seventies, we were taught virtually nothing of the first peoples of this country and we had very little contact with indigenous Australians. So unfortunately I can’t say with any accuracy.” Tony adds “there was a lot of secrecy and a lot not written down, a lot of stuff that is hidden… There’s a lot of stuff we don’t know”.

But whatever we don’t know, we all know we are attached to Mount Bryan. I am drawn back to the landscape regularly in my mind’s eye. I am baffled by the discovered connections. As Tony said “it’s a lot of incidents, a lot of coincidentals that are just almost a little bit mind boggling”.

Tom says “it will always be the recognition that I belong to Mount Bryan and have done so all my life”.

I like to think, there’s no doubt of the human connection, but in my wildest dreams, and despite being across two continents, part of me belongs there too.

How much would you invest in a country if you knew it could ask you to leave in 30 months? Would you go out of your way to integrate into the society, its culture, food, language, talk weather, have small talk with the barista or neighbour, and make friends with the locals ?

But what if you are fleeing political persecution or a deadly conflict in your home country, and this new country is your only hope for surviving and thriving?

The UK government has made refugee protection temporary for 30 months or two and a half years. Where does that leave refugees and their life in the UK?

Fahmi Sidou, 40, is no longer a refugee. He is a British citizen. Despite the powers and freedom that come with this passport and nationality, he has not returned to his home country Syria since he left a decade ago.

“Every Syrian person would like to be back in Syria, but they know what’s happening, it’s not safe, and the government is not good.”

Aleppo to Oxford– not a silk route

Fahmi is Syrian, Kurdish, British. He wears his multiple identities lightly, but his journey from Syria to Oxford has been anything but light. Originally from Afrin, a Kurdish majority region in Aleppo governorate in western Syria, where Kurdish language and identity was prohibited by the Assad regime for decades.

“Kurdish people if we live in Syria or Iran, if we don’t say we are Kurdish, it is fine. But it’s a problem if we say Kurdish. My name is Arabic, not Kurdish. I don’t have a Kurdish name.”

Working in the car battery business, he earned £2000-3000 per month, a significant amount in pre-war Syria time.

“I was travelling so much within Syria, my job was good, I knew people, and people knew me. Here I don’t know my neighbour, but in Syria, I knew the entire city”.

Fahmi was one of the many who protested against the Assad regime. He says the photograph of him at the demonstration (featured above) could have gotten him killed in Syria a few years ago. Tragedy did strike Fahmi’s family with a missing brother in law, and one of Fahmi’s brothers was killed by the Free Army in Daraa governorate in southern Syria (later Yarmouk Martyrs’ Brigade, a group affiliated with ISIS). Soon, he and his brother’s family decided to leave Syria.

Syria to Jordan to Egypt and finally to the UK in 2017. Fahmi and his brother’s family were supported by the UN on medical grounds, as his brother needed urgent dialysis for his kidneys. 20,000 Syrians were rehabilitated in the UK between 2017-2020.

Fahmi fondly recalls the support he received from the charity Asylum Welcome. “Everything was ready in the house, the ID, refugee card for 5 years.”

Fahmi was provided with English language lessons at a college in University of Oxford. One of his first jobs was as a cleaner in a restaurant. After a couple of stints in restaurants, he applied for a job as a maintenance worker.

The only problem– he did not know what ‘maintenance’ meant in English! But he did know the answer to the most important question in the interview– between a broken water pipe and electricity issue, which problem should be addressed first. He has been in maintenance work since 2022.

In 2018, Fahmi met his partner, also a Syrian, and previously a refugee.

‘It’s good when you work, you build connections, you know people. I have Syrian friends, Kurdish friends and English friends. Now I have more English friends.’

Plunging refugees into uncertainty with no durable integration to the UK

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The United Kingdom, the safe sanctuary for many asylum seekers fleeing all kinds of circumstances, has left asylum seekers in dire straits. Inspired by the restrictive Danish model, to reduce irregular Channel crossings, and reduce ‘pull factors’ to the UK, every 30 months, or two and half years, a refugee could potentially be sent back to their home country, if the country is deemed safe. If not safe, the refugee file will be reviewed every two and half years, making any real and durable integration for the refugees in the UK challenging.

“30 months is no time at all to be offered protection. It offers no stability at all for the migrants to stabilise their current circumstances, their living arrangements, their plans for the future, and normalise their lives”, says Dr. Tamsin Barber, Associate Professor in Sociology, and Chair of the Migration & Refugees Network at Oxford Brookes University.

She also foresees that “existing communities in the UK would have to play a much larger role, much more reliance on existing ethnic diaspora in the UK, and step up and take a much larger role in supporting the arrivals.”

Dr. Barber reflects on the safety aspect, “Two and a half years is not sufficient time for things to have improved in their home countries. And local relationships perhaps would have also gone awry. And the situation back home wouldn’t have settled down, and exploitation and threat would still be there in the communities.”

Fahmi’s hesitation to return to Syria, reflects this concern of safety. Ironically, despite protesting against the Assad regime, he says the current regime is more complex for people like him with multiple identities of Syrian and Kurdish.

“There is another problem now between Sunni, Alawaite, Kurdish, Druze, and Christians. In Syria, earlier we never had such problems. I worked with Sunni, Shia, Alawite, Christians, and we never asked when we met who is what.”

Dr. Esteban Devis-Amaya, Senior Lecturer in Spanish and Latin America Studies at Oxford Brookes University believes this change in refugee policy is ethically wrong.

“These people would have made a lot of connections their whole lives, would have been here, their families would have been created here, spouses, children. I think this anxiety is going to affect not only the refugees, but also those that are close to them, family members, friends, co-workers, etc.”

Dr. Esteban fortunately sees a silver lining and foresees that the administrative, social and cultural drawbacks for the Home Office will be so significant, that the policy change could be repealed later.

‘Firstly, it’s safe. People are kind. If there’s a problem with the government, you can speak to the government and question the government.’

Fahmi says he would still come to the UK, even if it was temporary.

So what if I just got rid of it?

07:15 am — My alarm rings. My first action of the day is not looking at Instagram and checking my email. I miss bathing my eyes in the bright colours of my phone.

The start into the first day of my week-long self-experiment living without a smartphone was reluctant. But I am not alone in wishing to get rid of it.

‘I hate my phone’, ‘I think it is a bit of a burden sometimes’, or ‘I thought about getting a flip phone’ is what you hear when asking around a university campus in Oxford.

While young people value their phone’s connectivity and productivity features, they say ‘it does hinder one’s freedom’ and costs them ‘so much time that I could be spending on things that are just more enjoyable.’

Indeed, research shows that 39% of the UK’s Gen Z think that social media has done them more harm than good. And almost half of young people would rather have grown up in a world without the internet, according to a recent poll.

But: a different survey found that a majority of young adults still think that digital technologies improved their lives.

07:45 am — I’m brushing my teeth without watching a YouTube video. So boring. I’m alone with my thoughts.

Some progressives are living like this every day, without any modern technology. ‘You’re totally liberated and you never think about going back,’ said August Lamm, an anti-tech activist based in New York.

It took the 30-year-old writer three years to fully transition into her analogue life. ‘It’s just minor inconveniences or slight changes in your life because you can’t do everything. But overall, I have a much richer life. I’m much happier and more present and focused and grounded.’

08:15 am — I’m working out without listening to music or a podcast. I think I am more focused.

I wanted to scratch the surface of what Ms Lamm was describing. For my experiment, I got a Nokia. It has basic functionality and lets you play Snake. It didn’t work with my international SIM card.

Using Assistive Access, I put my iPhone into ‘dumb mode’ instead, restricting its functionality to that of the Nokia.

The self-imposed rules of my experiment still allowed me to use my laptop. However: only on the uni campus, and only for uni work.

09:00 am — I still have not checked my email and WhatsApp messages. I’m getting anxious.

Apparently, we have gotten used to numbing aversive feelings like that through technology. ‘What’s being normalised is that if people are feeling anxious, or bored, or sad, or worried, or grief, or whatever, they’re almost like: “oh, this is bad. I can’t handle this,”’ explained Dr Elaine Kasket, a chartered member of the British Psychological Society’s cyberpsychology section.

Modern technology is responding to our longings. It is ‘exploiting something that is already in us,’ said Dr Kasket.

‘Our minds are naturally very distractible. They’re very jumpy. They’re very hedonistic. They look for pleasure and distraction and avoidance of pain.’

01:00 pm — I’m having lunch without listening to a podcast. I read a magazine instead and feel cool, better than my usual weak, addicted self.

‘We end up judging ourselves as though it’s some kind of personal failing,’ said Dr Kasket. She criticises the narrative that locates the reason for our unhealthy relationship with technology in the individual.

‘You’re like a victim of gaslighting. Where you’re like: “oh, I’m the problem.”’

She described multiple influences on our smartphone usage: we are being incentivised to use them for everything, from plane tickets to government services. They follow the principle of behavioural reinforcement, instantly gratifying us. And we are influenced by the behaviour of those around us.

03:00 pm — I’m meeting my friends, without any distraction from my phone. I value their company way more than usual.

Anti-tech activist Ms Lamm said that some of her relationships had become more complicated. That is why the university students I interviewed stick to their phones: They don’t want to be ‘out of touch with my friends, not being able to communicate in the same way.’

06:30 pm — I’m at Tesco and cannot use the Clubcard and credit card in my digital wallet. Annoying. I also cannot access the group chat with my friends to see if they want to meet up.

Ms Lamm agreed that there are many advantages to modern technology. Yet: ‘at the expense of every single person’s enjoyment of life.’

However, there is an argument for differentiating between good and bad tech usage. Dr Kasket thinks that we should not blame our phones for all of our social and emotional problems. Instead, it is all about finding out which features enrich our lives and which don’t.

08:30 pm — I’m not watching Netflix, I’m not doomscrolling. Instead, I’m now addicted to the Game of Thrones books. My day feels more quiet. I’m content.

‘This is your one life, and when you think about this decision of whether to have a smartphone, you’re thinking about how much time you want to have in your life, how much control you want to have over your life,’ said Ms Lamm.

‘And I think everyone who’s considering switching to a dumb phone knows deep down that they would be better and happier and there would be less tension between the person that they want to be and the person that they are.’

I did not miss the constant content consumption, nor being reachable all the time. But I did miss my phone’s functionality and being in touch with my friends and family.

I’m torn between Ms Lamm’s utopia and Dr Kasket’s pragmatism.

I’m only sure about one thing: I deleted Instagram and never looked back.

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Though sometimes people grow out of their shell to face the real world outside, it is not as easy as it seems to be. The city that feels physically crowded. Yet, there is a specific kind of isolation that only happens in a crowd. A feeling of being surrounded by thousands of people while realising that none of them actually see you.

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The “Nicer Outfit”

When a student moves into a new place looking forward to new experiences, they are required to make a performance along as well. Thinking of it, the best coined name could be a “nicer outfit”– a rehearsed version of ourselves that we put on every morning. We dress up our exhaustion as an “intellectual rigour” and isolation as “independence.”

“It can increase the loneliness inside”, says Ms. Gisela Lockie, an Integrative Psychotherapist (UKAHPP registered) and a specialist counselor with many years of experience.

“Because you’re no longer in contact with how you’re feeling inside… it creates a sense of ‘false self’ rather than growing your genuine self.” According to Ms. Lockie, maintaining a facade isn’t just tiring – it’s a barrier to the very thing that cures loneliness: connection.

“It would affect your ability, maybe, to make friends,” she explains, “because you’re longing so much to be where you’re not.”

The so-called “Best Years”

Part of the problem is the cultural script we are handed the moment we receive our offer letters. University is marketed as the peak of our social lives – a nonstop carousel of lifelong friendships and transformative experiences.

“There is a stereotype about what one should feel at university,” Ms. Lockie notes. “It’s really hyped up to be the biggest party of your life…but actually it isn’t. For some people, it’s a struggle to be on your own or away from your family.”

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When reality fails to meet the hype, students often internalise the gap as a personal failure. If everyone else seems to be thriving the “buzz” of the city, we assume there must be something wrong with us.

The fear of displacement

For those who have travelled across oceans to be here, the loneliness is often compounded by a loss of “history.”

We start everything in a hustle or maybe with very precise planning. But, it does change. I read an online comment that said, “If you’re planning to move away, be prepared for the worst, for nobody will truly be there.” Though it sounds scary, it is the reality. We may find a sense of belonging somewhere, but the feeling of emptiness remains.

Ms. Lockie moved from Scotland to England as a student, recalls how even small sensory shifts – the sound of a specific accent or the smell of a familiar food – can trigger a profound sense of being “out of place.”

If age could solve everything, was it easy for the older?

Ajish Antony, a mature international student with a wife and child back home, describes his experience as a quiet disconnection rather than visible isolation. “It feels like being present in a place but not fully belonging to it,” he says.

His days are structured, with lectures, assignments and routines, but the absence of shared moments always linger. “There’s no one to share small things with. Even simple things like cooking or walking feel quieter than they should.”

For him, distance is not just physical. It reshapes identity. As a husband and father, being away creates what he calls a sense of “incompleteness,” which intensifies during moments that would normally be shared, such as family events or even a video call where change becomes visible in real time.

Despite this, coping becomes deliberate. Regular calls home, staying engaged with studies and maintaining routine offer some stability. But the gap remains.

It is not a “Sin”

If there is a takeaway from the clinical perspective. It is that loneliness is a biological signal, not a character flaw. It is an experience that we are meant to learn how to navigate, bit by bit, though it often throws us into the deep end without a life jacket.

“It’s okay to feel lonely,” Ms. Lockie emphasises. “That’s not a sin. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to be a success. We all feel lonely at times.”

Perhaps the first step to feeling less alone in a city this full is admitting that the “Nicer Outfit” is starting to feel a little tight, a little too tight. After all, it’s hard for someone to see the real you if you’re always hiding behind a facade of being “okay”.

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In the UK there are many different types of GLP-1 drugs/weight loss medication; the main ones being semaglutide, also known as Wegovy, and Tirzepatide more commonly known as Mounjaro.

The drugs work by releasing a hormone into the body called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), this hormone is naturally released after eating and satisfies hunger. The introduction of added amounts of this hormone, through the medication, will make those who take it feel fuller for longer, with a loss of appetite. Over time, this disinterest for food and deficit will lead to weight loss.

See video explaining a little more:

In order to legally obtain these drugs they must be prescribed, however by the NHS having a strict criteria and private healthcare being extremely expensive, limits accessibility and pushes unsafe alternatives.

However still, the popularity of these drugs has risen due to its recognised ability to lose weight quickly. A study was done by UCL university that suggests that between early 2024 and early 2025, 1.6 million adults in the UK used weight loss medication to help them achieve their weight goals. On top of that 4.9 million adults in Great Britain were interested in using the drugs in the near future.

The inequalities and access to these drugs have come to light through the ability to obtain the drugs through private healthcare, but only if you can afford them. During a labour party conference speaking on weight loss medication Wes Streeting states “The wealthy talk about how they’ve transformed their health, their confidence, their quality of life, but what about the millions who can’t afford them?” He argues people’s standard of health should not be based on wealth. The Independent estimated that about 90% of people on the medication pay privately, spending hundreds of pounds. Those who cannot afford the drug or are ineligible via the NHS, are still able to receive treatment but in an illegal, dangerous and unregulated manner.

An interview was conducted, where a young lady talks about her struggles with weight and her attempts at getting Mounjaro through the NHS. She wishes to remain anonymous but for the sake of the article we will name her Jane.

When asked if she has experienced being treated differently based on her weight, with no hesitation, “yes…Especially when it comes to attraction… you do feel very self conscious”, she speaks about the comparison to other women and that she feels other women have the bodies that men would want, and she doesn’t. Immediately we think where has society gone wrong? Why are young women comparing oneself to others and belittling themselves because of their size?

Jane mentions she has tried to lose weight before but emphasises the struggle of wanting results immediately. She explains that “as a big girl…you do feel like it’s not working a lot of the time…just get frustrated with it”.

The gym can be intimidating for people who struggle with body confidence. Jane discusses her trial at the gym and the fact she felt uncomfortable when she went, she speaks about the women who have “perfect bodies” and she shouldn’t even be at the gym; “It’s just pressure and it’s not pleasant’.

We then discussed her experience trying to access weight loss medication. She had originally heard about the jabs through a family member and thought she would try it out. However when going to her local GP it was immediately shut down. She revealed “I told them what my issues were… I wasn’t happy mentally”, they came to the conclusion her weight was a depression contender. She implies unless there is a physical issue there is no way to get these jabs on the NHS, yet those who go private and pay, have less of an issue.

She describes her experience as being “horrible. You see all these rich people that can afford it out of pocket and they don’t even necessarily need it. But they just throw it in your face”.

She believes the GP dismissed her. “Even if you are on the verge of, I don’t want to be here because of this…They still don’t do anything and just toss you aside.”

After being refused by the NHS Jane then looked for alternatives, on other websites and various places for the same thing just cheaper. She said “it would still be out of pocket.”

I had the opportunity to speak to another lady regarding her mounjaro journey, however she has the ability and fortune to be able to go private, she is the same as Jane and states “I am desperate to see results and lose weight” and she knows that “going through the NHS is a long process”. But is lucky enough to get straight into it and start the medication.

Jane was asked what she would say to those who act like it easy to lose weight and change lifestyles and she said “I would just say that you’re not very considerate of other people’s situations, home life and mentality, because those people in particular have a great mentality…they have a certain way and let’s be realistic, these people can afford to have those lifestyles, whilst for myself, like living with a family that is considered a big family. Having that lazy lifestyle, having junk food, all of that. It’s very hard to break.”

To make journeys easier, society needs to shift its mindset. Jane states “People aren’t thinking enough. And I think that’s what the issue is. Everyone just sees big and skinny.”

Jane’s story reflects society’s role in body shaming and weight discrimination, which are shaped by class and wealth. Social media promotes unrealistic beauty standards for women and in turn will go to extreme lengths to fit in. The demand for the medication shows how our current culture prioritises altering bodies over challenging dangerous ideals of beauty. It reinforces the message that if you’re wealthy, you have more advantages to healthcare and an edge over those who aren’t as fortunate.

Changing these standards and ideas around weight needs to happen. But what also needs to happen is better education on obesity and its deeper rooted causes; by addressing from the onset reduces the need for weight loss medication in the first place.

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In June 2025 I traveled through a road trip around Turkey to see my fathers hometown, Dersim. Climbing our sacred place, Duzgin Baba mountain and seeing worship places of cemevis educated me further of my religion of Alevism and how it still stands despite being marginalised.

Growing up as an Alevi Turkish/Kurdish in the UK developed identity barriers in my life. From lack of RE sessions taught about my religion in primary school, to struggling to provide a straightforward definition of what my religion is to someone in University. But this is not a form that I’m unaware of or untaught of my religion that I can’t express myself, rather Alevism is what has built me to be who I am today through its egalitarian beliefs. Alevism has always raised me to be empathetic, respectful and shaped my politics to be against racism, fascism, and always to recognise animal and human rights.

UK Alevis, especially second-generation Alevis, have struggled with their identity perspective of Alevism due to its oppression and its lack of recognition. This is rooted in the history of colonisation and massacres my ancestors in Turkey have endured, which has left an oppressed, scarring colonial mentality that Alevism should be hidden or distraught, as it’s a “negative identity” to the radical Islamist perspective. The ongoing systemic discrimination among the Alevi communities in Turkey has left an everlasting scar for the religion to be fully recognised or for Alevis worldwide to learn the culture officially.

Why is it challenging for Alevis to carry their identity? How did a historic colonisation dating back 600 years effectively damage the modern Alevis ‘ ability to learn the religion? Why is it hard for Alevis to identify themselves in the modernised world? Well, Alevis find it hard to explain their religion truly because “Alevism is a lived religion. You live Alevism… there is not a book to sit down and read” according to Lecturer and Researcher of Westminster University, who dedicated his research to Alevi community and identity issues, Dr Umit Cetin.

Persecution effects

Looking back to the era of the 1300s, since the Ottoman Empire was established in Turkey, Alevis were persecuted and punished by the Turkish government and high authorities just because they were different from Sunni Turks. A report in 2013 records that there are 82,693 mosques in Turkey, and only 937 cemevis, mainly built by Alevis with no funds for government support. Massacres were one of the most common punishments Alevis in the 20th century endured, particularly the Dersim Massacre (1937-1938), which was renamed as Tunceli, for the government to demonstrate Turkish military administration and power and that rebellion is impossible for the Alevis. According to Bianet, it was found that estimates of 20,000 to 70,000 people of Dersim were killed by bombing, poisonous gas and village raids.

Dr Cetin says the history of Alevi persecutions has left Alevis thinking of their identity as “primitive” and should be hidden due to the massacres that left a colonised mentality of fear to the Alevis. “Because you are Alevi, you are not a human being, you are not a proper individual, you are not a modern citizen…you can’t be a nice, proper human being when you are Alevi”, said Dr Cetin. The challenges of a colonised mentality in a religion have reached many effects of people not wanting to associate with the religion due to fear, such as Dr Cetin identifies, Alevi parents in fear of their children identifying as Alevi’s, as they may experience a form of hate and discrimination, which shocked him as he is openly passionate about Alevism.

I asked an Oxford Brookes University student if they know Alevism in Turkey, and Dr Cetin response whether the information online about Alevism is accurate:

Second-generation identity Crisis

After Alevi migrated from Turkey to the UK in the 1980s with now 300,000 living in the UK, the history of colonisation and persecution has caused far damaged evolvement to modern second-generation Alevi born or living in the UK. Dr. Cetin says that because Alevis hide their identity due to fear they have experienced in Turkey, the first generation that moved to the UK either perceived religion would be irrelevant in a modernised country, or failed to transfer the information about Alevism to their children. “There was a gap, and this gap caused a lot of problems. I meant it caused a lot for the Alevi second generation, and now we talk about the third generation. And some of them were killed by suicide, some of them were disoriented, they were alienated…”. The lack of identity has also led to second-generation Turkish and Kurdish Alevi young men to be involved in gangs and crime, and the rise of anomic suicide rates in the UK, a subject where Dr Cetin has expertise, researched paper among the suicide rates and the factors that may have caused the rise.

Alevi Turk, Yildiz expressed how her parents taught her the values to take in her daily life, but still struggles to embrace her identity: “I struggle with having/finding representation, and it makes it hard to relate to people due to it being a minority group….I found it difficult to find information or express it to others.”

Building through community

Despite the struggle of identity, there has been a positive witnessing shift over the years of Alevis across the UK, mainly London, slowly but swiftly building to repair the struggle of identity of historic persecution scars in the form of a strong sense of community. Charity organisations such as the British Alevi Federation, have established seventeen Alevi Cultural Centres and Cemevis that serve events and protests and support for all Alevi people in the UK. Dr Cetin states he’s seeing a positive development in terms of the second-generation starting to claim their identity and that a strong sense of community is what helped the religion “survive”. “Alevism doesn’t encourage individuals. It encourages collectivity”

What will happen to social media if nothing is done to monitor hate comments? Casual, unfiltered racism is beginning to slip through the cracks of moderation systems online. As a result, nasty discriminatory thoughts from either ignorant online accounts or ragebait bots attacking content creators. Linking this to the significant rise in the popularity and prominence of the far right political party Reform UK, discrimination online against ethnic minorities has spiked.

From April 2024 to September 2025, Reform UK had been associated with 20 incidents of racist or Islamaphobic behaviour by its members, candidates and activists observing their actions (Bear, 2025). These incidents, documented with evidence either online or in real life, displayed MPs associated with Reform UK brazenly displaying their racist and discriminatory views. An example from 29 May 2025 displays a former Reform UK councillor in Doncaster, Mark Broadhurst, posting a meme suggesting that Adolf Hitler would have been “a legend” if only he’d chosen to exterminate Muslims instead of Jews. Broadcast was later expelled due to the meme, but the simple fact that he posted it displays the acceptance of fascist views in the party.

Discrimination online isn’t new. “Trolls have existed for years and there can’t be a social media post without one or two hate comments. But what happens when an epidemic of right wing views become normalised by political parties, in a society that uses social media to appeal to the public? How far will online discrimination go?

“The only thing that I would really get slightly irritated at is if I click on the profile and like some actual person and you can tell he has friends and stuff, so actual people believe that.”

I recently conducted an interview with Testimony Adegbite, a black content creator in Scotland, who posts on both Instagram and Tiktok. His TikTok content, which usually reaches younger people, aged 12-late 20s on TikTok, seems to have a more tighter grip on moderation than Instagram, which reaches out to a broader age demographic - 40-50 year olds. As of January 2026, 19% of voters aged 25-49 intended their vote for Reform UK. This links racist comments posted on Instagram to Reform UK supporters who have an online presence on Instagram.

Testimony tends to notice that on Instagram, discriminatory comments against black people are more prominent and unmoderated than on TikTok. “TikTok naturally folds or doesn’t allow comments that are bigoted, I suppose. The main difference in it is Instagram, as a whole could be more negative on the comments than TikTok, which is a lot more friendly.”

The lack of comment moderation on Instagram could lead to even more bigoted viewpoints being distributed online. Individuals who have seen discriminatory remarks said by political figures such as Broadhurst leads to lack of shame and a falsified “community viewpoint” leading to far right views being shared more openly. Alongside Instagram’s lack of moderation for these comments, discrimination becomes more frequent, with little to no way of hiding or deleting them for other eyes to see.

Throughout the past two years, social media users have observed that there has been a significant rise in the number of hateful comments.

Philia Okorie, a student at Oxford Brookes has observed that there has been a rise in hateful comments in the past two years.

“I’ve been on social media for 8 years now, the content I’ve seen is a mix of positive and negative. Sometimes I’ll see a positive video, but when I see the comments they are very negative.”

From Testimony’s own personal experiences and perspectives, discrimination against black people stands out the most to him. Examples of the racism observed by him online are Saka’s missed penalty in the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, and more recently, the attacks on black people around the UK as a result of the EDL (English Defence League) riots.

In regards to his personal emotions regarding hate online, Testimony feels desensitised to it.

“For me, it’s not real, but for other people, that might not work as it obviously can be real, and it can feel real. I think it’s a journey that everyone goes on by themselves in a sense of how they deal with it.

Like, I’ve said it’s not real. I think making sure you take a certain distance from the common section is important in general.”

“The only thing that I would really get slightly irritated at is if I click on the profile and like some actual person and you can tell he has friends and stuff, so actual people believe that.”

Catherine Rahman, a 21 year old South Asian student also commonly distinguishes bots and humans on social media.

“I’m on Instagram almost every day. When I scroll on instagram the thing I notice the most is very racist comments. And you can’t tell if they’re made by bots or people”.

The use of bots on social media further adds to the divisions online. Social media bots are automated software programs that simulate human behavior - liking, posting, and following - on platforms like Instagram. These bots are often used primarily to boost the apparent popularity of other accounts, to create false personas to spread a narrative.

Bots on social media that have been paid for by far right political groups aim to distribute negative viewpoints that aren’t actually shared by real people.

These bots assist with the rise of these hateful comments as they distribute a negative viewpoint about black people that isn’t real.

The rise of discrimination as a result of political groups and their use of bots will rise if instagram does not take accountability for the moderation of their content. When will they take accountability? How can we continue to use social media if it continues to grow into a far right wasteland?

From Gladiators to hunting to animal shows, animals have been used for human entertainment for thousands of years. In 2026, it’s estimated there are over 10,000 zoos and aquariums worldwide, holding millions of wild animals in captivity for public entertainment and commercial exploitation.

Animal activists and members of the Oxfordshire Coalition of Animal Advocacy, Tobias Brown and Linda Newbery, share their insights on these damaging tourist traps and how the public can advocate against this unethical entertainment. Student marine biologist Phoebe Maxwell-Heron raises awareness about the alarming conditions in which sea creatures are kept.

The first zoo was established in Vienna, Austria, in 1714, and as the tourism sector grew, the number of animals held in captivity increased. Animal tourism grew in popularity between the 1800s and 1900s as travel became more accessible. Tourists flocked to Africa to see the big five in action, from game rides to safaris to mammal hunting, animal freedom was sacrificed for public entertainment.

Portable entertainment

Tobias Brown, a member of Oxfordshire Coalition of Animal advocates and ally to many NGO’s, groups and individual charities, is doing what he can to fight for animal rights. When asked about animal tourism, Tobias shared that he used to live in Greece and saw horse and cart rides regularly. “A really romantic thing for people, but for the horses - it’s 40 degrees, and they’re often standing there in the heat waiting for people. It’s awful to see, and they sometimes collapse.”

Tobias adds that tourist traps like “ elephant rides, whale watching and safaris […] have positives and negatives […] damaging for the animals, supposedly positive for the humans. Tourists are the ones who are paying for it, and therefore they have a demand for it.”

Thailand is a hotspot for animal cruelty, from elephant rides to performances, and most tourists are unaware of the abuse the animals face behind the curtain. From chains and shackles to whipping and beating, they receive relentless abuse. On stages, pedestals or simply in their enclosures, they face a lifetime of exploitation.

From land to sea, animals cannot escape the abuse of the human race’s entitlement to entertainment. The animal kingdom is confined and dwindling. Thousands of endangered species are dying each year in zoos, although claiming to protect them, zoos seem to be failing the animals.

Tobias explains that “when people go to aquariums to see the killer whales or the dolphins or the seals doing their little tricks, they don’t even consider the animals”. This reinforces the fact that ignorance is killing animals too; public action is needed to protect animals’ futures.

Take action

When asked about what obstacles we face in stopping animal tourism, Tobias said: “The biggest obstacle is entitlement, human entitlement… [is] the biggest drive when it comes to tourism and animal tourism”

Another problem Tobias highlighted was: “ignorance and education… and ignorance not in a negative way, just ignorance with regards to the information out there.” Online misinformation is damaging to animals, with tourist traps posing as ethical establishments and animal sanctuaries. Tourists are led to believe that what they are doing is okay.

Tobias shared that by: “abstaining from doing things is actually really powerful, I think we have more influence than we think […] So talking about one’s beliefs openly is a really powerful thing.”

Spreading awareness is a way that members of the public can advocate for animals, along with signing petitions and educating others on pressing matters. Being conscious of what is going on throughout animal tourism is the first step to helping abolish it.

Boycotting companies that are still promoting forced animal entertainment further supports this cause by stopping the demand, as the supply will disperse. World Animal Protection has created a petition to stop TUI Group’s dolphin cruelty. Sign this petition to free the animals and stop the misery.

PETA UK

Linda Newbery, an animal activist and member of Oxfordshire Coalition of Animal Advocates, said: “PETA has proved to be quite effective in campaigning against Sea World […] the list of companies that have now pledged not to promote this is growing […] I think people have become more aware that it is very harmful to those animals”

In March 2026, PETA UK went to parliament with other animal protection groups to fully implement the 2023 Animals (Low Welfare activities abroad) Act, but UK companies like TUI are still promoting.

PETA is currently “calling on TUI to join every other major travel provider in the UK and stop selling tickets to marine parks, which cram orcas and other dolphins into tiny tanks in the name of ‘entertainment’.”

“They do nothing but swim in circles and fend off attacks from their stressed tank mates”. With over 500,000 PETA entities around the world urging TUI to stop profiting from animal cruelty.

Tanked Lives

Over 40 orcas have died at SeaWorld, caused by their harsh living conditions. Imprisoned by glass walls, these captive sea creatures develop health problems from being forced to entertain. If not physical abuse, the confined spaces cause psychological distress.

Robbed of real life, Duncan the Dolphin died at SeaWorld at just 16 years old. From tank to tank, Duncan was transported half a dozen times to perform across various parks. Dying of chronic pneumonia, death set him free from the years of abuse, confinement and exploitation.

Student marine biologist Phoebe Maxwell-Heron shares the damaging effects aquariums and marine attractions have on sea life. She said: “They massively alter natural behaviour. Things like feeding, migration, and social interactions just aren’t the same in captivity.”

“The limited space, artificial environments, and stress can lead to poor health or abnormal behaviours. Captive cetaceans, especially orcas’ social structures and spatial needs, are so complex that captivity just doesn’t replicate anything close to their natural environment.”

To find out more about abusive, unethical marine parks, read: The cruel captivity of cetaceans by Daniela Hernandez.

This Author

Giorgia Tambascia is a student journalist passionate about animal rights and wildlife preservation.