Written by: Steven (25-A4) Edited by: Avelyn (25-A2) Designed by: Kaitlyn (25-U1) We are all guilty of doomscrolling. If you are not, then congratulations, for you are a rare breed in the modern world indeed. But the vast majority of us have succumbed at one point or another — or rather are still succumbing — to the allure of losing ourselves in endless streams of social media posts. Compulsive scrolling is a pervasive phenomenon in the modern world. It affects a massive glob

The afternoon was unkind, and Ada was only slightly happy that this was the outcome. She had prepared as much as she could, worn the right outfits and learnt the right moves, but there was always a chance of things going wrong. Now the only thing to do was answer the Question at home.

In October 2025, the UK Department of Education announced that as part of efforts to lower the proportion of young people in the country who are NEET (“Not in Education, Employment, or Training”), a new post-16 educational pathway would be opened. From 2027, after completing their GCSEs, students will have the opportunity to take the very first V-Levels (Vocational Levels).

Lucian had always heard the voice. It wasn’t loud, nor commanding, nor anything that he felt compelled to question. Most days it was ordinary: turn left instead of right, avoid that conversation, skip that train. He lived by its gentle pushes the way other people lived by impulse. But on a random Tuesday morning, the voice changed.

With a touch, life turned to dust. A rabbit grew limp in his embrace; a fledgling fell from its nest. So quietly, tenderly, he observed the silence. And safely, his hands were tucked into his cloak.

This surprisingly transformative journey began in a rather strange way. I was at the gym post-promos, and I’d forgotten to bring my phone down. As such, I was left with nothing but the steady thump of footsteps on a treadmill, the distinct scent of rubber mats, and…myself. Between sets, I sat on that gym bench, phone-less and forced to be profoundly bored. I didn’t expect so little to teach me so much.

Yet there is something in classical music’s quiet endurance that deserves attention. Music that survives hundreds of years surely does not do so by accident. It has to speak to the deepest depths of human experience. Modern pop hits may come and go, shaped by fleeting trends and computer algorithms, but classical music endures because it is profound, complex, and universally human.

It is unethical to force individuals to be vaccinated because the harms do not outweigh the benefits, and it does not consistently produce positive utility. Instead of superficially weighing the harms and benefits with a flawed calculus, we must work on adopting a more nuanced ethical framework - one that takes into account autonomy, consent and rights.

Before we embarked on this VIA activity, we assumed it would be no different from the ones we had completed in the past. We expected it to be just another task where we fulfilled the requirements, logged our volunteer hours, and moved on. At the time, we saw it as simply another entry to add to our portfolios. But how wrong we were.

Term 1 was a period of new beginnings — both for the J2s and the new J1s. Here is a look back on some of its highlights: