Writing these news roundups is giving me a special kind of insight into the turbulent time going on in Downing Street. Over the course of 3 weeks, we held our breath to see whether Truss and Kwarteng would do anything about the mess they created with their mini-budget, then waved Kwarteng off as he took the fall for Truss, and now she has been outlived as PM by a lettuce. There were fewer u-turns in the last few weeks of Eastenders.
Kanye West faces scrutiny
Kanye West returns to headlines once again following his recent controversies. At Paris fashion week West debuted a new clothing line adorned with the slogan “White Lives Matter”. He faced huge amounts of backlash from all corners of society and took to Twitter and Instagram in protest, posting several offensive comments, including this blatantly anti-semitic tweet. He is also now the subject of a $250 million lawsuit filed by the family of George Floyd. West claimed in a recent podcast that George Floyd’s death was the result of an overdose of fentanyl, not by spending 8 minutes with an officer’s knee on his neck. Kanye West has now been removed from Instagram and Twitter.
New funds announced to boost inclusion
From one rapper to another: AJ Tracey launches a new partnership with St Peter’s College at Oxford University to fund opportunities for Black students. The fund will go towards addressing issues of access and underrepresentation and create greater opportunities for Black mentorship. Despite meeting mixed responses online, AJ Tracey’s initiative will undoubtedly open previously locked doors for students at the university. A world away from cold corridors of Oxford, Warner Bros. Discovery has moved up the launch of a new DEI programme, which will champion diverse voices across the industry. Asif Sadiq, Warner Bros. Discovery CDEIO, said in a statement “by continuing this successful WBTV initiative through the DEI division, we ensure that Warner Bros. Discovery’s continued commitment to training and development continues.”
Lloyds adopts a greener future
In finance, Lloyd’s Banking Group has set a new industry precedent. On Thursday, it was announced that the group would stop funding new oil and gas projects, making it the first major UK bank to do so. This is a timely announcement given the confusing back and forth on fracking the Conservative government has done. We are definitely seeing a push from businesses to take action on the climate crisis where the government is too slow to act. Climate anxiety is a growing phenomenon among children and young people, and is having an impact on our daily functioning. For the sake of our generation, and for those generations to come, we must start to see bolder moves towards net zero.
