Search Results for:

Whenever Sam Fender is about to step on stage at a hometown show, the chants of “Toon, Toon, Black and White Army” get progressively louder. It’s almost enough to drown out the soft beginning of Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero – the Geordie anthem played before every Newcastle match at St. James’ Park. But the chants never […]

One of the West End’s newest releases this year is Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ musical Cinderella, a darker version of the original fairy tale featuring theatre’s best, Carrie Hope Fletcher, in the lead role. The original plans of opening in July 2020 were scuppered by the pandemic and now the show has been put back numerous […]

Having emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, Covid-19 has proven to be extremely deadly and has had a profound impact globally on us all. While it hasn’t ever been confirmed, could the virus have emerged from research labs in Wuhan? The common explanation for Covid-19 is that a coronavirus mutated by transmitting between both […]

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 […]

Earlier this week, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that the government would give “advance notice” if it was decided that having a complete Covid-19 vaccine would be mandatory for students to attend lectures or live in halls of residence. The UCU, who had previously written a letter asking the government to make students a priority […]

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a shift in the vocabulary used to describe the Covid-19 pandemic. On 24 July, Health Secretary Sajid Javid was met with swift criticism after he tweeted (and later deleted) that people should “learn to live with, rather than cower from, this virus.” News outlets have also begun […]

More than a third of children referred to mental health services last year were turned away. Around 73,000 of 195,000 patients were closed before treatment even began in the year 2020-21, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the Labour Party. It is likely that these figures actually understate the number of children […]

Bo Burnham is in many ways a perfect figure to usher in this new wave of pandemic performance art. He is a figure of millennial endeavour, being a musical comedian who got his start on YouTube over a decade ago. One of the original internet content creators, a type of job spearheaded by this generation, […]

Last Monday, the long-awaited “freedom day” came to pass, and all Covid-19 restrictions on social contact were lifted in England. Many are cheering on the elimination of the requirement to wear masks indoors, with mask policies now being in the hands of venues and individuals rather than the government. But for many, including myself, “freedom […]

As we draw towards what we hope will be the end of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is important to reflect upon the relationship economy and profit has had with public health over the past fifteen months. Most importantly, what does it what tells us about that same relationship in normal times? Across the world, governments […]

Professor Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, has said that it is “morally wrong” to offer the jab to children in wealthy countries before adults in poorer nations. Professor Pollard is the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and told a group of MPs that global vaccine inequality is “plain to […]

The link between mental health and the poorest in society has been recognised for years. The link is often bi-directional, meaning, essentially, that it goes both ways. You can find yourself unemployed because of your mental ill health, or in mental ill health because you are unemployed. It is this link that has been brought […]

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 […]

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 […]

Roughly three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health condition. In 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for young people, both male and female, aged between five and 19. But what is it like for young people who are trying to access support from the NHS? The picture, tragically, is […]

I can guarantee that we have something in common. Regardless of background, age or interests. We’re all sick of Covid. This Tuesday marked the one year anniversary of the UK lockdown and, honestly, it was nice to have some new way to keep track of time. We’ve all gone through so much in the past […]

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 […]

Earlier this month, Gavin Williamson called for a “transformative” reform to the school’s system following the pandemic. What this can be assumed to mean is lengthening the school day and altering holidays to make room for catch up lessons and the missed hours of in-person teaching that has come as a result of the pandemic. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Go North East has converted one of its buses into a new mobile Covid-19 vaccine unit. The bus will travel around Newcastle, visiting communities who are unable to get to a vaccination centre, or where uptake has proven low. For its first few rounds, the bus will visit hostels in Newcastle to vaccinate the homeless, […]

On the 24th of February 2021, the government finally revealed their plans on how GCSE and A Level students will be graded this year. This announcement came a whole seven weeks after the initial reveal that no formal examinations would take place this summer. Many students remain outraged at how long they have had to […]

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. […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced his roadmap to government today in a speech clearly delivered to re-brand the Party. Speaking on a Facebook live stream this morning, Sir Keir drew strong ties with the post-WW2 appetite for change in politics and the post-pandemic (whenever that may be) “mood in the air” for a different […]

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 […]

With the news today that the North East is going to be put in lockdown again, we’ve come up with a little list of things to do to keep you occupied. While a lot of folks are still working throughout this bout of tighter COVID-19 restrictions, there’s a lot of elderly and young people who’ll […]