Newsletters
Welcome to the first SOAS Spirit Newsletter of this academic year! Our team of staff writers have been hard at work to keep you up to date with any recent developments that might have otherwise escaped your attention. This edition includes student demonstrations, the recent overhaul of the UK’s
Opinion
Salsabeel Yasir, BA History and International Relations Every November, as Remembrance Day approaches, debates over the red poppy resurface. As poppies appear on lapels, so do controversies surrounding them. These criticisms have inspired the rise of the alternative white poppy, created by a pacifist movement to remember all victims of
Opinion
Will O’Donnell, BA Politics and International Relations It’s been an odd year for student expression at SOAS. The shadow of Haya Adam’s expulsion, in combination with the Injunction and various disciplinary mechanisms surrounding student protest, still looms. It is interesting, then, beyond our campus, that repression against
Opinion
Luc Cadwaladr-Evans, BA International Relations and Languages and Cultures We’re often told that, as a result of its skyrocketing into the number one spot in UK party opinion polls, Reform UK has recently and unprecedentedly become the most likely contender to win a general election, if it maintains its
News
Ayah Abu Mraheel, BA History and Politics The takeover of El-Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in late October has been the latest atrocity in a 3-year war in which both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF are reported to have committed war crimes. Since the outbreak
News
Elizabeth Elrick, BA Chinese and Politics Before a parliamentary committee on November 7th, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi went further in her remarks on Taiwan than any previous Japanese Prime Minister. She made it clear that any use of force in Taiwan would ‘constitute a situation threatening [Japan’s] survival.
News
Deepika Anand, Features Section Editor, BA Politics and International Relations The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka. The verdict was reached in her absence as she is currently in exile
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Emilie De Maerschalck, Bsc Politics, Philosophy and Economics On the 28th of October 2025, Hurricane Melissa, the strongest recorded storm globally this year, made landfall in Jamaica. The 185 mph winds, torrential rain and storm surges caused unprecedented destruction on the Caribbean island, killing 45 people according to the Jamaica
By Anon Yu Henriksen, International News Staff Writer, BA International Relations and Korean During the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with the host President Lee Jae Myung. Their meeting sparked a viral, light-hearted exchange over Xi’s gift to Lee: two
Chinaza Iwe, Culture Section Editor, BA History and World Philosophies On November 4th 2025, democratic socialist Zohran Kwame Mamdani won the mayoral election, becoming the youngest New York City mayor since 1892. Mamdani’s campaign was a thing of leftist beauty, from winning the democratic primary and forcing former Governor
Iman Hassan (718236), BA Politics and International Relations Between March 2024 and March 2025, 262 prisoners were released in error across England and Wales, more than double the 115 recorded in the previous year. To many, the increase reflects mounting pressure on the prison system, driven by rising population levels,
Majidah Chowdhury, National News Section Editor, BA International Relations The month of November has seen the BBC affected by numerous controversies, particularly centered around its supposed ‘impartiality’ - a fundamental requirement enshrined in its Royal Charter. Most notably, BBC Director General, Tim Davie, and CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness,
Sylvie Topps, LLB Law Across more than twelve centuries of rule, the British monarchy has weathered countless controversies, but few have transformed its modern public image as profoundly as the fall of the former Prince Andrew. Once a prominent member of the Royal Family, his association with Jeffrey Epstein and
Emilie De Maerschalck, BSc Politics, Philosophy and Economics Initially scheduled for the 16th of October, West Midlands Police requested that fans of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football team be prevented from buying tickets to the team’s match against Aston Villa in Birmingham on the 6th of November. Initially, they
Lilac Carr, BA Politics and International Relations On the 2nd Of September, Zack Polanski was elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. Since then, the Greens have surpassed 150,000 members and consistently rank second in polling at up to 18%, becoming the leading voice of the
Roxanna Brealey, Editor-in-Chief, History & Politics Following the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 20th of November, a motion was passed declaring that a university-wide referendum would be held to decide whether SOAS should disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS) UK. If the motion is subsequently ratified by
Roxanna Brealey, Editor-in-Chief, BA History and Politics A video posted to the official @soasuni Instagram and TikTok on the 11th of November has gained some online traction in recent weeks. The university produced the video as part of a wider video series called ‘SOAS Explains’, by which SOAS professors review
By Siddhant Pawar, BSc Politics, Philosophy and Economics Recent weeks have shown just how dire the situation for freedom of speech has become globally. The SOAS community has experienced this first-hand, with an alumnus and a professor becoming targets of state-led repression due to their work in their respective fields.
By Sam Lailey, MA Anthropology of Global Futures and Sustainability Pull quote: ‘the documentary not only casts the contemporary pro-Palestine movement as a continuation of previous student protest campaigns, but provides a historical precedent for its simultaneous repression by government and university authorities alike’ On Monday 17th November, I made