Editorial: 11.05.09

End of an Era

22 issues, 704 pages and 789,567 words (approximately) – producing this year’s Student Direct has been no mean feat. We’ve covered everything from “degendered” toilet facilities to BNP staff members on campus and exclusive interviews with everyone from Johnny Marr to Manchester United’s Da Silva twins. Who would have thought that a Student Direct editorial would spark an international media frenzy, provoking commentary from as far away as India? Did anyone predict that an SD Comment piece would incite strong enough disagreement for students to form a protest against it on the Union steps? The politics have been gruelling, the characters involved even more so, but Student Direct 08-09 does have fond memories in abundance – and none more so than hearing the phrase “political correctness gone mad is a disablist term” uttered on national TV. With thanks to all our readers, contributors and furious letter writers, we wish you all the best of luck in your exams.

TOPSHOP = SWEATSHOP

Student Direct applauds the People and Planet activists who protested against the use of sweatshop labour by the high-street fashion giant that clothes most students: Topshop. Raising awareness of these issues is paramount if consumers are to make informed decisions about how to spend their cash. If dedicated Topshop fans knew about the working conditions of the people making their skinny jeans they might think twice, or even three or four times, about buying that beautiful, sequined top. High street stores like Topshop make their production decisions based on the opinions and actions of those of the consumer, something that it is never clever to underestimate: just look at what happened to Gap. The student community has huge potential to inflict pressure on Topshop to make it pull its fashionable socks up, join the Ethical Trading Initiative, finally throw of the sweatshop tag and adopt another label: ideally the ethical kind.

Related article:BOP Security Manhandles Female Students

(In)security at the Bop

Student Direct reported this week that security staff at the Owens Park Bop have been reprimanded by the University for aggressive and rude behaviour. Yet sadly, for those of us who frequent nightclubs, it is a regular occurrence to be treated with utter disdain by similarly podgy middle-aged men with inferiority complexes. This is often not the case however if you happen to be an attractive women, when the security on the door will be all sweetness and smiles, and make it their business to ensure you go straight to the front of the queue. In fact, it is ludicrous that bouncers come under that umbrella term “security”, when what they provide is at the best of times no better than shamefaced favouritism. At their worst, these same men instigate random and extreme cases of violence. Student Direct hopes that the men in question who perpetrated aggressive actions against female customers of The Bop get their comeuppance in due course. Such retribution would make a refreshing change.

Related article:Not Top Of The Shop