News
We want to keep you informed so here's a few things happening at the moment!
Astroworld Festival
Concerts are live events that many of us love to attend so that we can connect with our favourite musical artists along with thousands of others that share the same music taste as us. An event like this took place last Friday in Houston, Texas. The Astroworld Festival was hosted by Travis Scott, a renowned rapper in the USA and worldwide. What was supposed to be an exhilarating night with a series of electric performances by Travis and guest artists like Drake, was declared a 'mass casualty' within 32 minutes of the event starting at 9.00 pm.
This followed as 8 members of the audience passed away due to cardiac arrest resulted from overcrowding and over 300 people were injured due to the chaos in the crowd. Videos have shown 2 young people yelling at the cameraman and security for help and pleading them to stop the show. However, their requests were ignored, and the performance continued. Another concerning video shows an ambulance roughly 30 feet away from the stage where a person was receiving CPR as they went into cardiac arrest, and this was ignored by the rapper. From police cars arriving to the audience screaming 'stop the show', the event management dealt with the situation poorly and the show only finished at the initial expected time. Families of the dead and injured have filed multiple lawsuits against Travis Scott and the event organisers. There are also rumours that people were being injected by unknown drugs. The Houston Police department is currently investigating the case to find the origin of the tragedy.
What can we learn from this?
Even though Travis has claimed to cover the funeral costs of the lives lost and refund those that attended the concert, it is vital for us to think of the long-term plans for large public gatherings like these too. Crowd surges can put pressure on your chest, especially if you fall to the ground, and can cause you to suffer from traumatic asphyxia which can result in death. It's important to be careful in large groups like these and evacuate the scene as soon as possible when you feel pressure building up. Concert managers must also have better security and ensure that the venue is large enough to fit the expected crowd. Shows should also be stopped immediately if there are such problems occurring within the crowd.
On the 21st of May, Students Speak organised a fund-raising event to raise money for Stop Hate UK and Nottingham Refugee Forum, two amazing charities working to help cultural diversity in the UK and our local community. We had a Football Shirt Friday and bake sale for our 6th form and a non school uniform day for lower school. Most importantly, we raised £1641.60 for these great charities!
We want to say a huge thank you to every one who wore their football shirts, bought and baked cake and most importantly donated to this wonderful cause!
Boris Johnson's Plans to Upgrade Our Weapons
What is a nuclear weapon?
(AKA- weapon of mass destruction- remember Blair + Bush Iraq war?) a nuclear weapon is a weapon with destructive force due to nuclear fission or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (atomic or hydrogen bombs), if dropped, they have the potential to create ionising radiation, disrupting molecular bonds leading to human organisms undergoing malignant transformation, a crucial stage in cancer development.
In context....
Past Explosions examples of nuclear bombs dropped were seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II by the US. These bombs killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half occurred on the first day.
The Cold War
The term was coined by George Orwell and was a time of geopolitical tensions between the US, Soviet Union and their respective allies, partly focused on Nuclear Weapons - as seen in the Cuban Missile Crisis creating a brink of war. It was a missile race between Russia and the US in which each were forced to match the number of weapons of the other due to fear of mutual atomic annihilation.
What is Johnson planning?
A near 40% (80 more) increase in nuclear weapons as a response to supposed terrorist threat of nuclear or 'dirty' bomb poised in the next nine years.
What is the significance?
It is a difficult balance, it may heighten tensions to an extreme with other countries needing to match the amount of weapons the UK will acquire (mirroring the Cold War), however, the potential threat of a terrorist bombing does raise concerns. Do nuclear stockpiles actually make us more safe? Is Johnson right to be stockpiling more weapons at a time of recession? Let us know what you think!
Extremists of the Bulgarian public stand in support of pro-Nazi general
This annual proceeding has been taking place for almost two decades, where these far-right nationalists march on the streets of Bulgaria's capital, Sophia, in honour of Lukov, who supported Germany in WWII and was later killed in 1943. Police had to arrive on scene to stop any clashes between anti-fascist activists and the pro-Nazi nationalists last Saturday.
Despite the mayor of Sophia's efforts to ban the annual event, the marchers seem to always gain a court order to prevent the ban. The ones against the march were also on the streets holding slogans stating 'No Nazis on our streets'. Many of these nationalists have denied the claims of Lukov being anti-Semitic which is why they don't believe that they are promoting neo-Nazism. Hence, it feels like these marches will continue in the future
Russia: What's going on?
Post poisoning of Alexi Navalni (the Russian opposition leader) and his return from treatment in Germany we are seeing an explosion in protests across Russia and a movement for democratisation.
Russia is, of course, a regime with tenuous links to the concept of democratic process with president Putin in power for over 20 years. Opposition has been stifled but is now exploding at a rate which the authorities there clearly fear.
Navalni released a YouTube video titled 'Putins palace. History of the world's largest bribe.' It has had over 90 million views in Russia and It is a two hour long exposé style documentary describing Putin's riches, corruption and alleged unfair use of state money. In this video Navalni calls for protest after his arrest on January 18th 2020 upon his return to Russia. His call was this: 'January 23, 14:00. Central streets of your cities. Take to the streets. Don't stand aside.' You can watch the video here
Turnout numbers of Russian people fed up with the autocratic regime were in their thousands and the protest are ongoing despite sub-zero temperatures. Hundreds have been arrested for their involvement or even mere presence at the protests, including Navalni's wife and some of his aides. With tempers escalating and the sense of an outright war, is it time for the international community to become involved?
What's going on at the refugee barracks in the UK?
665 refuges who have fled persecution and war are trapped in perilous government run accommodation.
COVID-19 has been allowed to rampage throughout the barracks due to the impossibility of social distancing.
Healthcare is, in most cases, not provided.
There have been hunger strikes and protests by the refugees at the appalling treatment.
No human being should have to live like that! No human decides to live like that! Let's stand with them to make things better. Write to your MP and sign the petition to stamp out this hate.
COVID-19 Vaccine Efficiency
The new single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine produced in the United States has shown to be 66% effective against preventing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19.
It was shown to be 57% effective against the new COVID-19 variant from South Africa compared to 72% effective in the United States.
J&J have announced they are preparing for a new formulation to target this 501.v2 variant which has similarly caused problems for other vaccines such as the Novavax which has seen to be 50% effective against the new variant.
However in the UK, the vaccine is 89.3% effective at preventing COVID-19. So why is this COVID-19 variant affecting the efficiency of the vaccines?