• Editorials Mastering Politics: The Power of the Prime Minister
    Understanding politics isn’t easy – let alone trying to understand the role of the most important person in Britain: the Prime Minister. This week’s Mastering Politics is all about the power of the prime minister and how much of it they really have. What is the role of the prime minister? The prime minister’s (PM) […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Mastering Politics: Ukraine and Russia
    Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared war on the eastern European country of Ukraine. Here is everything you need to know about the situation so far. Why Ukraine? Putin has referred to Ukraine as “ancient Russian lands”. He also says the invasion is about the “de-Nazification” of the country, accusing it of committing genocide against […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials 12 Lists of Christmas: Top Ten Mistakes of 2021
    2021 wasn’t without its viral mistakes, gaffes and scandals. There are so many to choose from, but here are the top ten of the year. 10. The Suez Canal blockage A ship called the Ever Given got itself stuck in the narrow space of the Suez Canal, disrupting the global supply chain for six days. […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics The Conservative Party’s Sleaze Problem
    Another week, another government scandal. Only the Conservative Party may not be able to sweep this one under the rug. MP Owen Paterson was found guilty two years ago to have broken lobbying rules, having been paid at least £500,000 from two companies to lobby his fellow MPs on their behalf. So, how did the […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Why is COP26 so important?
    COP26 has finally arrived and news from the event has been hard to escape. From the vast wealth of world leaders to the attendance of numerous celebrities, why exactly is the summit such an important event? COP events bring together leaders from across the world to discuss climate issues and how we should approach them […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Build Back Better… but for who?
    Conservative MP Johnathan Gullis is in hot water after a recording of him discussing white privilege at a fringe meeting during the Conservative Party conference was published. The Independent obtained a recording of the MP for Stoke on Trent, saying that teachers who use the term ‘white privilege’ should be reported to the Prevent programme, […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Scotland and the Fight for Independence
    In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is continuing her push for an independence referendum. This has come after the Green Party and the SNP have solidified their partnership, meaning the Scottish Parliament has a strong independence majority. The First Minister has set out a plan and timeline for the vote, as well as many good […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Afghanistan is our responsibility
    Post-9/11 we all know the story. The Western world was at a heightened sense of insecurity, anger, paranoia – the lot. We ended up invading Iraq with America – and we also all know how that ended. Tony Blair, Prime Minister at the time, can not do anything now without being labelled – rightly or […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics The government’s office for culture war
    The UK Ministry of Culture really sounds like something straight out of The Thick of It. For those not in the loop, the show is set around the running of a fictional government department. It’s the worst department of the lot, and something similar to the reputation of the real-world Culture Ministry. Except in the real […]
    Read Full Article
  • Education Teaching Latin creates more class division
    Many have been in uproar at the announcement that the government will be prioritising funding for Latin teaching in state schools in a bid to reduce elitism.  Boris Johnson, an Eton-educated and Oxford Classics graduate, might think this as a great way of ensuring social mobility, but unfortunately for him, this move almost worsens the […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Boris Johnson’s Parliament poverty lie
    Boris Johnson told Parliament recently that “fewer households are living in poverty compared to ten years ago”. This is a drastically incorrect statement given the reality that poverty has actually risen in the past ten years. This isn’t the first time that Johnson has been used misleading statistics in political debates, and considering his government’s […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Football didn’t come home, but racism did
    Unfortunately, football did not come home at the Euro 2020 final on Sunday. Well done to Italy for a game well played. However, England fans are famously terrible losers and so racism ensued. Rather than congratulate the men’s team on making it to the final and playing their best, what followed was a barrage of […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Home Office spent £370,000 to settle Priti Patel bullying allegation
    The Home Office’s annual report and accounts for the year 2020 to 2021 confirm that the department spent over £370,000 to settle a top civil servant’s claim against Home Secretary Priti Patel. Sir Philip Rutman served as permanent secretary before quitting in February last year, citing Ms Patel’s behaviour as the reason behind his exit. […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics The Disunited Kingdom? A Scottish referendum could change all
    Last week, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family were deployed on a tour of Scotland, dubbed ‘Holyrood Week’. She and the Duke of Cambridge visited an Iron Bru factory and later in the week, the Queen went to a car factory with Princess Anne. Whilst this seems like the usual fluff that […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Boris Johnson to strip Electoral Commission of powers as he is investigated
    Just weeks after the Electoral Commision launched an investigation into Boris Johnson and the Downing Street flat refurbishment, he is planning to strip the body of its power to prosecute breaches of law. In May, the Prime Minister found himself at the heart of controversy as details of his expensive flat refurbishment were found to […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Trapped in lockdown with yet another delay
    Since March 2020, the UK has found itself trapped in what seems like a never-ending lockdown. With the recently emerging news that lockdown will be further delayed until the 19 July there have been many questions raised about whether it is necessary to continue the delays. Despite the disappointment surrounding the news, is there solid […]
    Read Full Article
  • Education The School Funding Backlash Explained
    The resignation of Education Recovery Commissioner Sir Kevan Collins paints quite the picture. Only four months into his post, Sir Collins has quit in protest against the £1.4bn school funding pandemic catch-up budget for the next three years. It’s a decision that Labour has called “totally insufficient” and headteachers have labelled a “damp squib”. According […]
    Read Full Article
  • News 26 of 30 towns awarded government funding have Tory MPs
    The government’s Towns Fund is no stranger to controversy – but the revelation that 26 of the 30 towns awarded the shared £725 million budget have Conservative MPs adds fuel to the fire. In March, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was forced to deny favouritism after the previous list of 45 towns receiving a chunk of the […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Local elections 2021: What’s happening to the Red Wall?
    Last night was quite an eventful one for the Labour Party in England at the local elections. By eventful, I mean terrible for their so-called Red Wall. Keir Starmer’s Labour was “under new leadership”, he promised, and it was going to be all about winning back voters who’d turned Tory for the first time at […]
    Read Full Article
  • Education Student left voicemail on Education Secretary’s mobile about exams
    If you cast your mind back to last summer, you will remember weeks of fury from students, their teachers and parents about the exams fiasco. Well, it turns out that one student used some pretty forward-thinking initiative, found Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s phone number on Google, and left him a voicemail. Writing in the Mail […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Hugging could be allowed this month
    In our good news reporting trend this week, the news that hugging could be allowed on 17th May certainly fits the bill. According to The Times, ministers are expected to plough ahead with the third step of the ‘unlocking’ roadmap set out by the government. This includes approval for people to make physical contact with […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics ‘Let the bodies pile high in their thousands’ – Boris Johnson?
    Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reported to have said he would rather “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” than order a third lockdown during a heated exchange with his No 10 advisors. The Daily Mail led its front page today with the exclusive, which is said to have come directly from those who […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Funding for disadvantaged North East students cut by £7m
    Schools in the North East are set to lose between five and seven million pounds worth of funding after the government changed an administrative rule about how money is allocated, according to figures from Schools North East. The money would have been spent on helping pupils from lower-income families who qualify for the government’s Pupil […]
    Read Full Article
  • Politics Mastering Politics: David Cameron and Greensill scandal
    You might have heard a lot about David Cameron in the news recently but not quite know the details of why, and what has happened. Worry not – that’s why Mastering Politics is here today. Let’s get into it. What has David Cameron done? Greensill Capital, a now insolvent financial services company, is at the […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Labour opposes vaccine passports
    Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has said that vaccine passports are essentially “a digital ID card” and that Labour cannot support them in their current form. Boris Johnson announced yesterday that vaccine passports – or ‘Covid status certificates’ – will be trialled this month at upcoming events, including the FA Cup final and a range […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Is Keir Starmer doing a good job as Labour leader?
    Following the Corbyn era, the position of Labour leader was going to be difficult to fill. Low and behold Sir Keir Starmer. Starmer has noticeably reached out to former Labour voters who turned their backs on the party in 2019 by wrapping himself in a union jack. When making a speech, he will often emphasise […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials National Day of Reflection: An Avoidable Disaster
    Today marks one year since Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the decision to put the UK into its first lockdown. Since then, we’ve had a tiered system, a summer free-for-all which likely contributed to the increase in cases throughout August and September, and another full-force lockdown. But as we pause today to remember the almost […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials ‘If I were PM, I’d fire all men’ – does Amber Rudd have a point?
    Former Conservative MP Amber Rudd has recently stated in an interview with ITV’s Acting Prime Minister Podcast that she would “fire all men” if she was Prime Minister, and instead put in place an all-female Cabinet. This recent comment is part of a plethora of comments Rudd has made regarding the blatant inequality of the […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Dealing with Lockdown: Annie’s Story
    As part of Beep’s ‘Dealing with Lockdown’ series, Annie shares her experience as a student at the University of Manchester – from rent striking to starting a brand new university in a pandemic. September 2020. The beginning of a new academic year, which meant for many students a reunion with people actually in their age […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials NHS workers’ 1% pay rise is a national disgrace
    It’s not difficult to believe I’m sitting here writing this, given that it is Boris Johnson’s government we’re talking about. What have they done this time? Proposed that NHS workers should get a 1% pay rise. That’s right: 1%. Considering the government’s arms had to be bent to give doctors and nurses free parking at […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Priti Patel refusing to take the knee is dangerous
    It is a dangerous time for England. With the Home Secretary publicly refusing to take the knee for the Black Lives Matter movement, she is also refusing to support the numerous lives who have saved so many in the COVID-19 pandemic. Patel is also not supporting the mental health professionals, or the Black lives that […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Dealing with Lockdown: Nicholas’s Story
    Over the coming weeks here at Beep, we are running a number of stories about the impact of lockdown on our young people. Kicking off our series is new writer Nicholas. My name is Nicholas Cornwell, I am 21 years old and lockdown has had a drastic impact on the way I live my life. […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Our Top Stories of 2020
    Beep has been here all through this year in one form or another. We’ve even re-launched a YouTube channel. But, of course, our love of the written word prevails and we have collated our top stories of 2020. Believe it or not, they aren’t all about C*VID-19. So, without further ado, here are Beep’s top […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials The Crucial Next Stage of COVID
    Boris Johnson and his government have come under serious fire over the course of the pandemic because of their response (or sometimes lack of) to the severity of rising cases of COVID-19. Now that a new variant of the virus has been discovered, and its transmission rate is faster than the original variant, there is […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Brexit: Deal or No Deal?
    Last night Prime Minister Boris Johnson travelled to Brussels to meet Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Union. It has been viewed as a last-ditch attempt to secure some kind of deal between Britain and the EU as negotiations reach yet another sticky point. The sticky point in question is actually a […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Eat Out To Help Out – Now Don’t Go Out
    It seems awfully strange, doesn’t it, that just last month we were vigorously encouraged to go out, spend money at restaurants and do, as The Sun (and thus the Tories) put it, our ‘civic duty’? Even stranger when, now, a matter of weeks later, I can’t go inside of my grandmother’s house because the North […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Facebook Should Ban All Political Ads
    When it comes to election time, tensions run high. They run high within households, cities, workplaces – and even the highest of companies. A couple of weeks ago, demands were made to have Facebook ban all political ads. And just this week, Google has announced they will ban them. This news comes after the EU […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Beware of the Tories – they are lying to you
    The headline of this piece may come as absolutely no surprise to you. Yes, the Tories are lying. Again. To you. Except, the problem is that, this time, they are lying to you during an election campaign where things like lies really do matter. The first strike was during the ITV debate between Prime Minister […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Unpopular Opinions: Voting Age Shouldn’t be Lowered
    In recent years, young people across the country have become seemingly more politically active than ever before. This is, for the most part, down to the two ‘doomsday’ events that had a seismic impact on the political landscape across the globe: the election of Donald Trump as President and the UK’s decision to leave the […]
    Read Full Article
  • News Brexit extension agreed by EU
    It has been announced today by the European Union that the UK has been granted a further Brexit extension – 31st January 2020. EU Council President Donald Tusk said the extension is more of a “flextension”, meaning that the UK government can take us out of the EU before that deadline if they wish to […]
    Read Full Article
  • News EU discusses Brexit extension
    Following predictably dramatic scenes in Parliament this week, EU leaders are discussing the possibility of a Brexit extension as Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushes for a general election. EU ambassadors have come together today to consider how long to give Britain before we leave the Union. It comes after Chancellor Sajid Javid admitted that Johnson’s […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Mastering Politics: Dominic Cummings
    You may have heard his name briefly mentioned in the news really, but only if you were listening closely. Either way, you’ll definitely have heard his slogan: “Take back control”. Dominic Cummings is a very powerful man operating behind the scenes of government right now, so we thought we’d explain who he is and what […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Mastering Politics: Prorogation of Parliament
    When it comes to politics, nothing is simple. Let alone the current goings on in Westminster. Recently in the news, there has been lots of talk around the prorogation of Parliament. Of course, any ordinary person has no idea what that means. But don’t worry – that’s why we’re here. Prorogation is the term used […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Boris was wrong to sack 21 MPs
    British politics at the moment is moving at such a rapid pace it’s hard to keep up. But one particular event has lasted longer than most in the news – and that’s Boris Johnson’s sacking of 21 of his own MPs. Don’t be misled by that statement – the Prime Minister hasn’t just got rid […]
    Read Full Article
  • British The Day Democracy Dies
    In four days’ time, we will witness the death of democracy in the UK. The British Parliament will shut down for approximately five weeks and during this time, your MPs will be rendered useless. For five weeks the Chamber of the House of Lords will be empty. For five weeks the voices of MPs in […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Whose Fault is the Current Brexit Crisis?
    As we see our most recent Prime Minister Boris Johnson rack up a 100% defeat rate in the House of Commons, we are all beginning to lose the plot. Every news story is about Brexit, and every news story calls it a ‘crisis’. Every news story is pretty much right. But whose fault is this […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Why Priti Patel is Dangerous
    When Boris Johnson was announced as the new Prime Minister, there were no prizes for guessing who’d be sent straight into the Home Office. It was always going to be Priti Patel, the loyal BoJo Brexiteer. Priti Patel, born in London to a Ugandan-Indian family, has been in politics for a while now. Originally, she […]
    Read Full Article
  • Editorials Theresa May: a goodie or a baddie?
    Theresa May has undoubtedly had one of the most trying and frustrating premerships of all prime ministers. And the worst part is that it was all caused by her own Party. The instability caused by members of Theresa May’s own Party in itself shows that she was not a masterful leader at all. Instead, it […]
    Read Full Article