Journal of Matters Relating to Felines - Spring-Summer 2021

Pllato’s Neew Caave Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ was described in his Republic: in a cave are several men, chained, who can only look in front of them, at one of the cave’s walls. Behind them there is another wall and behind this wall there is a fire. The wall enables other men to hide and hold figurines high enough so that these would not be hidden by the wall. The fire projects the figurines’ shadows on the wall in front of the chained men. The figurines represent ‘men and other living things’. The chained men cannot see what is happening behind and can only believe that the shadows are real. If a figurine of a cat were to be held, the chained men would believe the figurine’s shadow to be an actual real cat – moving, delicately feline, in front of them.

After watching The Social Dilemma, a documentary to be found on Netflix, I was pushed to question my use of social media as well as its very nature. The documentary really got me to think for days and days – when quite suddenly, just like a revelation, I remembered Plato’s Allegory of the Cave; a text I had studied in high school. In an almost instinctive manner, the analogy between the Cave and social media was very clear to me. In fact, the Allegory of the Cave is so full of timeless truth that interpretation will always bloom from it. In this article, I will try to draw the analogy as precisely and in detail as possible. It will be quite obvious that my opinion on social media is rather negative. I only hope that this article will justify, in our readers’ eyes, my negativity.

I shall start by telling the tale once more, with some adjustments. The chained men who can only look in front of them at one of the cave’s walls, are us. Our addictions to social media chains us to always look at our phones and their constant notifications. The fire which helps projecting shadows on the wall is the light from our own screens, creating images on our phone’s surfaces, destroying our poor eyes. Finally, the whole manipulative system of the other men and their figurines could represent social media’s algorithms.

In The Social Dilemma, several major technicians who contributed to the creation of the social media that we use daily, reveal the mechanisms behind these platforms. In other words, the very men who hold the figurines come to tell us about their tricks. Their main thesis is that if we do not pay for using social media, there is obviously a catch. The catch resides in the algorithms that they themselves helped to create. The algorithms at the heart of social media are basically made to build our addiction and are purely restricting our freedom.

The only money that companies such as Facebook or Twitter can make come from the ads that they bomb at our faces. These ads are sent to users according to the information these companies hold about our interests, our browser research, what accounts we follow, what Youtube channels we watch. If one looked at surfboards all day, they are likely to later find ads for surfboards in between posts on their Instagram or Facebook feeds.

Therefore, the platforms have all the reasons to create our addiction to their content, to keep us ‘connected’ and ensure that most of our time, we are seeing the ads.

The algorithms meant to keep us connected are based on the idea that one user should be kept closed-minded. It is more pleasant to get a pat on the back than to be confronted. Users are fed only with what they want to hear, what they like, what they agree with. This is highly dangerous because it means that the algorithms create for each user, one particular reality. False realities which ignore any different perspective. In The Social Dilemma, it is argued that these very algorithms contribute to the political polarisation of the people and their opinions with less room for nuanced, common middle-grounds, where the truth often lies. The algorithms not only reinforce opinions, but they also make one believe their opinions are shared by a majority - since one is not exposed to any sort of antithesis which would stimulate critical thinking. If you believe everyone else shares your opinions, it is only logical to consider an outside opinion as absurd, since you would think a consensus on a question makes the answer true.

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it is imagined what would happen if one of the chained men were to break free. The man would first be drawn to the fire and would understand the treachery. He would then get out of the cave: the daylight would literally blind him and hurt him. The hurtful sun represents the discomfort of the dismantlement of one’s reality, the discomfort of confrontation. As the man would adjust to the new light, he would explore his surroundings and he would be quick to understand that behind shadows are the real objects. He would explore nature and understand his place within it. The free man would eventually come back to the Cave, in which his vision is now poor, and try to convince the other chained men of their enslaved nature and that the true reality is outside the cave. That is exactly what the protagonists of Netflix’s documentary do. They tell their audience that social media is not representative of reality, chaining us to our screened-devices, except that they also were the men behind the manipulation.

Social media can be considered indeed as a false reality in all possible ways. You are not really keeping in touch with your friends and family, and your Facebook friends are not friends. Liking and commenting under people’s pictures or posts make us feel like we did our part of the job, we maintained the contact, but in reality, we really did not. We did not because this is not a real conversation and this is not care. In fact, what you see from people on social media is not even them, it is not their lives. It is things that are only posted either to satisfy their own egos or because it would engender reactions from their audiences. Very rarely it is about how they feel or even what they genuinely think. We all only post about the good and pretty parts. You do not really care about all these people you follow; they just provide you with distraction. And the follow button means nothing: you are not a good activist of a human being because you follow Greenpeace on Twitter, or because you shared a post. As a girl or a young woman especially, these bodies that you see and that make you feel bad about your own, they are not real either. They are filtered, Photoshopped, Facetuned, if not also the result of hidden cosmetic surgery and ‘no-makeup’ makeup.

The information that you read about is incomplete because informative media present on the platforms feel such pressure from the instant quality of social media that they do not verify or investigate further: you are only reading headlines. The impression – sometimes causing depression and anxiety - that everything is falling apart, that the world is only a horrible place probably comes from the fact that the news on your feed only shares about the worst parts because it is the most stimulating, what will attract the most. And the truth is that we are not made to hear such an amount of

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bad news on a daily basis, and we cannot save every single part of the world where something bad is happening but we still feel like we have to because we are incompletely and falsely connected to every single part of the world. And as cute and popular as puppies and kittens are on social media, they do not really manage to make up for all this negative news. You do not have to immediately answer a message if you just opened it, you do not have to comment and like all of your friends’ pictures. You do not have to download the last app because that is where people are going. You do not have to buy this thing everyone is praising. A tweet from a random person is not information, or a truth to base your opinion on. Most people tweeting have no authority on the subjects they tackle…

Now, I often find myself trying to desperately find positive aspects to social media and my article will probably push you to do the same. “Even though one does not have authority on a subject they have the right to express themselves! Would I have been aware so soon about China’s enslavement and attempt to acculturate the Uyghurs without social media? Would the sexual predator Harvey Weinstein’s downfall have happened without social media?” I can acknowledge that social media seems to be a great tool for communication and mobilisation. However, is social media not only a platform among other older ones? I am left wondering: “do the #FreeUyghurs or the #MeToo movements could really not have happened without social media? Did they not just happen there because we made it our new, exciting, and regular other reality? Are movements and revolutions really so intrinsic to social media? I do not think so. Do I really express myself hidden behind a screen?” In fact, “do I really express myself among people who are blinded by the results of the algorithms and are not really open to polite, composed dialogue and debate but only want to scream? Do I really express myself when most of the ‘information’ I consume is incomplete if not fast and false? Can I not still go express myself in real life: write something, open a debate with my friends?” If the few good aspects I can find about social media are unveiled to be myths, debunkable, questionable at least, is it then enough to simply adjust my use of these platforms? Am I not desperately trying to find good aspects to it only because I am addicted to a few of these apps? Perhaps these ‘good aspects’ are in the end just as false - ‘un-real’ – as the rest of what comes from social media.

I guess one can choose to only listen to the free man from outside the cave and adjust their lives inside such a cave; turn off the fire, destroy the wall and the chains…One can choose to deny notifications and delete the apps from their phone, to only go on their laptop, when they really want to. One can downsize the number of accounts they follow, the friends they have on Facebook. But the fact remains that we are being manipulated, our freedom of thought and critical thinking obstructed and that most of what we see on our screens is, in many different ways, not real. I personally started by adjusting my use of social media because I was convinced that I was truly enjoying aspects of it. I listened to the man from outside the cave. But the reality is that when you get rid of all the toxic aspects of social media, there is not much left; the cave is quite empty and dull. It only made me realise all the time I lost on my phone, on a completely constructed and false reality. And I now just want to live outside the cave.

Composed by Déborah Lazreug, Undergraduate of English Literature and History of Art at the University of Aberdeen

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Thhose Faamiliar Sppirits

In most Western cultures, black cats are considered a symbol of evil. Black felines are seen as familiars of witches or even as witches themselves through shapeshifting. The association of black cats, witches and the devil led to frenzy that pushed people to kill black cats. Superstitions and the unknown are what led the famous witch hunts in the United States in the 1690s. The Crucible by Arthur Miller uses an allegory of 1692 Salem to denounce the abuses and other kind of witch hunt that happened in 1953 with McCarthyism.

In the 1950s, the United States is in a force contest with another great power, the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, characterized by a period of political tension between the two superpowers with drastically opposite doctrines. Communism is expanding its influence and the United States fear what they call the “Red Scare”. This increasing fright leads to a “witch hunt” conducted by the Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy.

The idea of community is in the heart of Arthur Miller’s play. In Salem, the devil is in the outside world waiting to penetrate the community and tear it apart by making people go against each other. In the 1950s, Communism is also seen as an expanding evil force, Miller says: “It is not hard to see how easily many could have been led to believe that the time of confusion had been brought upon them by deep and darkling forces”. Like in Salem, the fear of the loss of power transformed into paranoia of communist spies everywhere. Likewise, Miller shows that there is a similar pattern in both events. They illustrate how easy it is for people to get caught up in a mass hysteria that destroys entire communities. Moreover, the 1950’s society is highly based on strict gender roles with high expectations from the part of the individual. With the apparition of the term nuclear family, genders are given specific functions in the household. This pressure has similarities with the Puritan pressure exercise in Salem. Society ostracises those who are not a part of the models. This can be found in the play with the character of Tituba, the slave from Barbados, or Sarah Good, who is pregnant but has no husband. Thus, McCarthy’s witch hunt play on fear and differences to “purge” the society, ultimately withdrawing the impression of community. This purgation is letting marginal identities as the scapegoats, the “sacrifices” for the peace of the community. The pressure on individuals is reflected in the play with Abigail Williams that accuses people of witchcraft to hide the fact that she broke the Puritan rules. Those repressive rules force the citizens to denounce others to hide their wrongdoing.

The rupture in the community is also carried on by personal motivations, like economic concerns that transcend morals. Indeed, the denunciation as a purgation of society permits the use of the crisis for egoistic reasons. In Rich Man, Poor Man by Irwin Shaw, the professor Denton is accused of communist sympathies without any proof. He is denounced by the university so that they can keep the money given by the state. He is a scapegoat and the personal interest overcome everything. This reality of the witch hunt echoes 1692, when the accusatory could keep the victim’s possessions. Actually, the conflict between Giles Corey and Thomas Putman reflects this situation. Corey accuses Putnam during the trial of false testimonies against his neighbours to be able to steal their lands: “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property –that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbours for their land!” This egoistic point of view can also be found in the character of John Proctor. He knows that Abigail Williams and the other girls are lying in their accusations but he refuses to get involved until his wife is indicted. He is trying to keep the secret of his affair. When the hysteria touches too many lives, Proctor tries to oppose to the court. But, his late awareness does not permit to save Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey. His inaction with his knowledge of the situation resulted in the death of innocents. This draws a parallel with McCarthyism and the execution of the Rosenberg’s couple, after they claimed their innocence. The affair was widely shared in the Medias and rushes late intervention of the Senate to stop the actions of Joseph McCarthy in 1954, after they knew the situation was going too far. Finally, times of struggle reflect how challenging it is for a community to keep reason and order.

It shows the power that fear can have on people’s mind. In this binary world, fear and individualism bring division in the society, permitting all kind of abuses.

One of the main abuses that McCarthyism brings into the American society depicted in The Crucible is the absence of real justice. With the reinstalment of the HUAAC in 1945, making allegations, especially of political subversion or even treason against people without proper evidence or foundation become a part of the justice spectrum of the United States, more particularly in the 1950s. The HUAAC is known for its assumption of guilt instead of innocence promised by the justice system. In 1956, Miller is found guilty of contempt of Congress and is blacklisted. Artists and intellectuals at that time are often suspected of affiliation with communism and boycotted for this reason. The actor and future president Ronald Reagan is collaborating with the Committee in order to reveal the influence of Communism on Hollywood and denounced a number of his colleagues. Like in Salem, the only way to make a clean breath is to name names, Tema Nason says: “Confess, lie, and you’ll live”. It is reflected in the play, the only choice left to the convicted is to refuse to name names or to lie about the confession. This is the dilemma that John Proctor encounters, he does not want to confess and lie about it because he is innocent but he does not want either to be punished for not saying anything.

In both cases he will be found guilty, by the court or by his morals. It is one of the play’s themes: men’s refusal to lie in opposition to an authority figure that demands immoral acts in order to maintain a hypocritical appearance of control. Thus, there is no real justice since flimsy testimonies, innuendoes are accepted as incontrovertible shreds of evidence. It can be seen in the play when the judge Danforth says “Do you know, Mr Proctor, that the entire contention of the state in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?” Moreover, Amir Aziz in his article “Using the past to intervene in the present: spectacular framing in Miller’s The Crucible” describes the attitude of the justice system as “arrogance of the prosecutors in both Salem and McCarthy periods”, refusing to see that fear is controlling their form of power. Miller describes it as “the same misplaced pride that had for so long prevented the original Salem court from admitting the truth before its eyes were still alive here.

And that was for the good of the play too, it was in the mood”. The judiciary system is manipulated by the special and outstanding powers given to the HUAAC, Aziz depicts it as a “permanent standing committee with unique powers to subpoena and investigate”. The speciality of this committee is the source of abuses, it is the first committee with that much power, and its specificity is not regulated by the government, proving their desperate attitude towards the situation.

The desperate aspect of the government manifests itself by the manipulation of the crowd. In the 1950s, the world is divided between Communism against Capitalism. Indeed, Communism is expanding itself, despite the Containment Policy, with China and the Korean War, letting the place to questioning the success of the American model. If communism is expanding to other countries, and people interest is growing, it is maybe that the American model is failing. Moreover, this situation is also in conflict with the “Manifest Destiny” which is an idea in American culture and history that the settlers had to expand their way of living in North America. This idea is based on three themes, the virtues of American people and establishments, the mission of the United States to remake the world in their image and finally the fact that this destiny is a mission given by God

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that must be completed. This rejection of this principles creates an even greater tension in a world already divided, Miller says: “society becomes a congerie of plots and counterplots, and the main role of the government changes from that of the arbiter to that of the scourge of God”.

This loss of control is used by the government to tease anxiety among the society in order get rid of people who do not share the same mainstream values, they are depicted as a national threat. Thereby, McCarthy implements politics of controls in an attempt to “purge” the society with enhanced surveillance, blacklisting and repressions against trade union activists and left-wing political attachments. Furthermore, he creates apprehension with his discourse in 1950 with his list of 205 communist spies working for the government. The presence of this list makes the totalitarian threat real on the eyes of the community and rationalise every actions taken by the government and the HUAAC to maintain the National security. The government organises an open fight against Communism to hide the fact that they could not stop the spreading of it. This battle takes the form of an open blacklisting against artists, for Aziz, it “was a mass media campaign that required famous public figures first to confess their past or current affiliation with communism” to show that communism was really infiltrated in the country. Thus, by placing The Crucible in 1692, Miller protects himself from any censorship. He uses and reworks history in order to denounce the situation, he says: “we were living in an art form, a metaphor that had no long history but had suddenly, incredibly enough, gripped the country”. With his play, Arthur Miller exposes the political spectacle that is McCarthyism and reveal the frame of the manipulation set up by the government, to frighten the society but also, in a paradoxical way, to bring it together around the same subject.

Arthur Miller dramatizes history to comment on the present, in order to show that history is repeating itself. His play depicts the United States in the 1950s as a broken community ruled by fear. He gives a critic of the justice system that is taking denunciation as an undeniable proof and where the presumption of innocence has no place. Miller denounces the government that manipulated the mass paranoia in order to have more control over the community and hide the fact that they are losing influence in other parts of the world.

Composed by, Cécile Fardoux, Undergraduate of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen

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Teellus Inn Fuurs Cats achieve their highest pleasure in lounging upon the most soft, comfortable bedding. What can be more appealing to the lazing feline than a pelt of fur? In this country, there is a misconception that the fur industry is dead, being wholly confined to a distant historical era like the one belonging to the Victorians. This is worlds away from reality and needs correcting, as it is now more important than ever to establish our own fur farming operations within Scotland. From the fresh gap in the global marketplace, our ideal environmental conditions, to the monumental economic benefits, the fur farming sector is an economic horn of plenty that our nation must firmly grasp and champion to the world.

Fur’s absence from our wardrobes is due to the uproar of activism throughout the 1900s, compounded by the material becoming unfavourable to consumer aesthetic desires. The past unfashionable nature of this now gorgeous material is the reason why the public gave their passive consent to the rolling out of restrictive legislation that crippled the then-waning fur farming industry, causing its eventual collapse and the decades-long disappearance of fur from the market. Even today, our media is replete with biased news coverage and emotive documentaries with an aim of maintaining a moral panic about non-existent issues in the fur industry. The talking points of anti-fur activists, and vested interests that back them, are so outdated, irrelevant, and stale that they can only use footage of barbaric fur farming practices in China, due to fur farms being outlawed throughout the United Kingdom since the year 2000.

Considering the overt propaganda and the myths it keeps alive, it is necessary I inform you of the present state of the world’s fur economy. The industry’s valuation has been notoriously difficult to estimate due to it being a highly fragmented sector of economic activity. However, a recent report commissioned by the International Fur Federation has valued the global fur industry at over £30 billion. This is a highly significant figure mirroring the value of the global Wi-Fi industry. The report goes onto stratify the figure, stating fur farming has an overall value of almost £6 billion and that the with great bulk of the total industry valuation comes from the retail sale of fur items, coming in at over £25 billion. This money is generated by the collective labour of over 1 million people worldwide.

The epicentre of the world’s fur trade is situated in Denmark, very close to home at our immediate geographic East. This nation was said to be Gaia’s largest producer of mink pelts, 40% total supply, with the pillowy-soft, gorgeously coloured material being Denmark’s third highest export, touting a value of £600 million. France is another fur farming nation, exporting just over £100 million worth of related exports in 2019, with other pelt producers within Europe being Finland, Italy, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands, all producing fur from various animals but mainly the American mink, Neovison vison. Outside of Europe, the biggest producers of fur are China, Canada and the United States. This industry is cherished by each nation’s treasury, as it contributes a fantastic source of income, proving that fur is still a globally popular material, with the British market being the notable exception.

Coronavirus lockdowns began in the UK during the early Spring of 2020, inducing our economy’s year-long torpor. In Denmark, this included the additional measure of destroying their prized fur industry. In November of last year, millions of mink had their lives ended prematurely as a safety precaution following coronavirus detection within a few Danish mink fur farms. Alongside the mass graves of the once valuable animals, the Danish government additionally ordered that all mink farms cease operation by 2021 in efforts to eliminate coronavirus transmission. Amongst farmers and industry leaders, there is unanimous agreement that this government diktat has irreversibly destroyed Denmark’s fur sector. Ultimately, the level of financial investment to revive this industry is unachievable, especially in the present economic conditions caused by lockdowns and the rock-bottom morale of those once involved in fur farming, with a Reuter’s report stating an past mink farmer remarked, ‘‘It stops here. We will never get the industry going again.’’ Following Denmark, coronavirus paranoia has beset the governments of France, Spain, and Sweden, all banning fur farming, with Poland also pledging to end their own fur operations on the grounds of ‘animal rights’.

There are many mistakes of history, the burning of the Library of Alexandria, the near-death of the Gaelic language and now we bear witness to one of the present day; the destruction of the European fur industry. This is tragic for them, but wonderful for us. Why? The damage delivered upon the UK economy through government-mandated lockdowns has topped at £251 billion and difficulties of our exit from the European Union is causing us to undergo soul-searching to find our place in the world. This place is in the fur industry. It is very easy to make such grand claims and simply recommend the building of a whole new economic sector from nothing, so I will detail the case for the establishment of a Scottish fur industry below.

Firstly, it is important to look at the structure of the Danish fur industry, which has been made available by Kopenhagan Furs, a mink farmers’ cooperative and the world’s largest auctioneering house specialising in the trade of fur pelts. A mink farm in Denmark is typically around 12,000 spacious sheds, each holding two to four individual mink, arranged in rows reaching a length of 200 feet. The ‘sheds’ are not simple wooden boxes, but technological living spaces capable of controlling light intensity and temperature to ensure a natural mating cycle for the mink. Mated in March, the mother mink birth four to five offspring around late April to early May. In cases of remarkably large litters, mink happily rear one another’s offspring. In July, immature mink are paired off by sex to ensure socialisation conducive to normal behavioural development and by the dog days of Summer, the new generation of mink reach maturity, thus ready to surrender their gorgeous coats. The very best specimens in both health and beauty being reserved for next year’s breeding.

Danish mink live a plush existence in their warm homes along with their carefully balanced, nutritious diet and pure water. You might be under the impression that the industry is over-compensating for the slander that is thrown around about them, but these measures are fundamental necessities to ensure high quality fur. If an animal lived a life of stress and misery, their hair would be thin, patchy, and dull. Therefore, to ensure a thick, luscious, brightly coloured pelt, they need to exist in a tailored heaven, as fur is a product that naturally rewards superlative care. This is reflected within the world-renowned quality of Danish mink fur, which is exclusively used to create the most upmarket clothing products on the global marketplace, regularly appearing on the runways of the world’s great fashion houses. To the layman, ‘‘fur is fur’’, but nothing compares to

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‘purple label’, top-shelf fur from Denmark, which is as light as a cloud and as thick as cream. Considering this, it is perfectly understandable why the fashion industry is now in a panic concerning where they are going to source pelts for future clothing lines. Top quality fur was a niche Denmark occupied unchallenged, but the collapse of Danish fur farming has left an enormous, presently unfillable, gap in the market.

This is why Scotland must capture the open field of fur farming. If this country was to harbour the industry that has just been decimated in Denmark, we would immediately have a host of customers willing to buy our furred wares. Referring back to Kopenhagen Fur, I will repeat that it also operates an auction house for the fur that’s produced by Danish mink farms. It conducts five annual auctions within the nation’s capital city, each one overseeing the trade of 8 million pelts, individually yielding £225,629,300, over £2,500 a second, chalking up an annual revenue of £902,517,200 from pelt trading alone. Imagine all that money flowing into our country year upon year and the uplifting impact it would have, not to mention all the additional expenditure brought in with all the auction attendees staying in hotels, dining at restaurants and more. Desperately needed in all of our cities, five monumental injections of wealth a year would be perfect in our Northernmost city of Inverness, which would reanimate kickstart a bustling economy there and in the surrounding area, with the possibility of balancing the economic landscape of our country.

Again, this only concerns the primary selling of pelts to the fashion industry. The fur sector is multi-layered and engaged with the wider economy from a multitude of angles. It is almost impossible to account for how many sectors will benefit from the restoration of a Scottish fur industry; tradesmen from farm construction, labourers for operation maintenance, veterinarians caring for the animals, sale assistants for the auctions, art graduates drawing up designs at fashion houses, models for fur clothing and so on. The Scottish fur industry will also have influences on wider society like the salmon fisheries industry, with universities structuring educational programmes around it, like the ‘Marine Biology’ undergraduate degree and the ‘Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology’ postgraduate degree offered by the University of Aberdeen, both gearing students towards a career in Scotland’s fisheries market.

In addition to the great economic benefits brought by a fur farming industry, it also greatly complements both the ecological and industrial environments of Scotland. Our climate of gentle Winters and restrained Summers might not be the best setting for a monumental tourism industry, but it is the ideal climate for fur farming, as it allows the animals to develop thick, luscious coats. Scotland’s salmon fisheries and the cast-off fish it produces could be utilised to substantiate the diet of the animals within the fur farms to gift them their fur with a glorious sheen, as Danish mink are gifted their shining fur thanks to the oils contained within their enriching fish-heavy diet. The case the creation fur farming in Scotland is augmented further by the requirement of providing the mink with the freshest, most pure water available, as it assists in fostering the splendour of their coats. Scotland is renowned for its water quality, so we would no problem meeting this additional need, as the secret of breaking into the prime-quality fur market appears to be found in the diet of the animals.

Being an advanced, high-income nation, clothing and throws made from the pelts from the fur farms will have a roaring success in the domestic marketplace. Considering the great global appetite for fur, the prosperous reputation a Scottish fur industry will quickly attain is likely to alter the fashion tastes of our people, causing them to appreciate fur coats, throws and accessories, with them becoming highly desired items of aspiration.

One might think that such luxury products would have no domestic market due to their high price tags, but such products take pride in domestic start-to-finish creation, with added costs of this being gladly absorbed by high-income/‘‘it’s a gift’’ clientele, as well as having an appeal to the growing ‘sustainability’ market, where high-cost, long-lasting items like fur products appeal greatly.

A final point of principal importance is reiterating that the establishment of a fur industry in Scotland is a necessity. The coronavirus lockdowns have caused an estimated £250 billion in damage to the UK economy and left us in the first recession in over a decade. With record government peacetime spending, along with the borrowing that accompanies this, it has been announced that it is expected future governments, irrespective of political alignment, will be announcing a series of tax increases for years to come in an effort to recoup 2020 expenditure. Additional income taxes will further reduce peoples’ already strained incomes and hamper the quality of our fleeting lives. Increased business taxation constricts individual economic activity, preventing businesses from investing in themselves, future projects and hiring people. To prevent decades of economic hardship and to bring to life all the wonders detailed throughout this article, the present government must recognise this golden opportunity and begin the rewarding journey towards establishing a Scottish fur farming industry.

Composed by, Maurice Alexander, Undergraduate of Business Management at the University of Aberdeen

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Grreat Caats of Hiistory Cats have lived alongside humans since the genesis of civilisation - which as I’ve told you before is definitely no coincidence – and since this symbiosis was brewed millions of lived experiences of domestic cats have played out with their own unique personalities, quirks, and gregarious human sidekicks for comic relief. The journey of the floofer bloodline from the semi-feral wildcats of the ancient fertile crescent to the most pampered cats of today’s earth has been quite the wild ride with many twists and turns, and this article will pick out some vignettes from the struggle of life which humans and cats have engaged in over the centuries, through noteworthy individuals.

While cats were originally drawn to the periphery of human society to pray on the vermin we collect via agriculture, cats today have reached the highest levels of human society. For instance, a black stray known as Tommaso who found his way into the home of an old Italian multimillionaire and property empress called Maria Assunta. Tommaso won the widows heart to such an extent that when she passed Assunta made him a property magnate, leaving him her empire of properties across Italy from Milan to Calabria valued at an incredible $13 million in total. Sadly, the laws of the land prevented Tommaso from gaining access to his hoard of wealth, as animals are not legally allowed to inherit directly (see you outside the Italian embassy with your picket signs). As a result of this oppressive legislation which I assume is some kind of overhang from the fascist period, this fortune was entrusted to Stefania - a friend of Assunta who met her in a park and bonded with her over a love of cats. They would organise play dates with their cats in Assunta’s home, and when Assunta’s health began to decline Stefania (who happened to be a nurse) tended to her till the end. The Guardian quoted her in 2011 remarking that she ‘had no idea’ Assunta was so wealthy. Assuming that this is true… this wacky story reads like an Of Matters Relating to Felines reader fanfiction, but I can assure you this is real - in fact, Tommaso holds the record for the largest inheritance of a cat in history so far.

Funnily enough, despite the cat's reputation for laziness, the highest-earning cat is, in fact, a great deal more wealthy than Tommaso – Mrs Tardar Sauce is worth far more after a successful career as an internet celebrity which landed her status as a living brand under the alias ‘Grumpy Cat’.

Her unique facial structure which was in part a product of feline dwarfism became a very popular meme with over 10 million followers across her own social media channels. Her owner Tabatha Bundesen even employed a ‘meme manager’ who also worked for the creators of Nyan Cat and Key Board Cat. Her owners quit their jobs to work as supporting staff while Tardar Sauce made public appearances, merchandise, and signed advertising deals with Honey Nut Cheerios, US cat food brand Friskies, and more. Grumpy Cat Ltd even won a legal battle against a coffee company that was given the approval to produce a 'Grumpaccino’ but overstepped their contract by delving into other products using Tardar Sauce’s personal brand. This case increased the cats net worth by $710,000 in damages. Tardar Sauce also featured in two films. Lil Bub and Friends was the first – a critically acclaimed documentary hosted by another famous cat Lil Bub, who visited and consulted with other ‘catlebrities' and visited the Internet Cat Video Film Festival which was sadly discontinued in 2015.

The documentary won best feature film at the festival it was debuted at. Grumpy Cats second film would sadly not deliver in the same way, despite starring Tardar Sauce. Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever has a rating of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes and received mostly negative reviews from critics, some of which positively lost their minds. Libby Hill of the A.V. Club called it "the largest turd in a crap crown of original programming...so unforgiving, so psychologically trying, that the process alone leaves the viewer straining to hear the dialogue over the sound of the soul being crushed wholesale, bone and sinew wrenched apart at the joint." Despite such zealotry from some critics, the Rotten Tomatoes rating, and a 5/10 IMDB rating, many people certainly enjoyed this film. An amazon rating of 4.5/5 shows that hardcore Tardar Sauce members were not disappointed with it. While I assume most of our readers will know about the Grumpy Cat, what’s less well known is that Tardar Sauce sadly passed away on May 14th of 2019 in early middle age. At aged 7, she was about 44 years old in cat years. Rest in peace Mrs Sauce.

The most famous cat of history may heavily predate the internet, however. Before the digital age, the fame of a cat could still spread via a far more ancient method – religious conversion. The prophet Mohammed is well known to have had a favourite pet cat known as Muezza. The Arabic name means ‘cherished’. While dogs and pigs are considered unclean in Islam cats are respected and rated as clean, civilised beasts. This is certainly bolstered by the prophet Mohammed's well-documented love of cats. The Quran features a short story wherein Mohammed wakes up from a nap to the sounds of the call to prayer known as the adhan. He realises that Muezza had joined him in his nap, curled up inside the loose sleeve of his robe. Rather than get up and jostle the cat awake, Mohammed cuts off the sleeve of his robe to leave Muezza sleeping, now I imagine fajita’d up in a soft sleeping bag made from the severed sleeve.

It’s written that when Mohammed returned from the Mosque, she bowed to Mohammed in thanks, and received three strokes down her back in acknowledgement; the bow of thanks had secured Muezza a place in the afterlife because of Mohammed’s blessing. Islamic teaching states that Muslims are only free to live with cats if they feed water and treat them well, as well as giving them time to roam around. Cats also cannot be sold for money or traded for goods. All of these decrees can be traced back to recorded statements from the prophet Mohammed during his life, taken on as guidance because of his status as the messenger of God. One of the friends of the prophet Mohammed was known as ‘Father of Kittens’ for his love of cats, and this man ‘narrates’ many of the hadiths relating to Mohammed’s stances on cat issues. Although Abu Hurairah - ‘Father of Kittens’ – is not recorded as a name from the period, he is only ever referred to by this moniker in the surviving texts. This paints us a picture of a man who amassed true renown for his kitten fathering. Cats are allowed inside mosques, and even the saliva of a cat is not considered unclean, allowing Muslims to eat from food that a cat has sampled. It is written that Mohammed said ‘Cats are not impure. They intermingle with you’.

As is popularly known, the ancient Egyptians also held cats in great regard. Associated with Bastet and Sekhmet, they were considered to be potentially divine messengers. I assume many of you don’t need to hear that the ancient Egyptians predate Islam by a great deal of time, despite Egypt later becoming majority Sunni Muslim and part of the Arab cultural sphere into the modern-day. Interestingly, however, they had a similar policy to those mandated by Mohammed many years later – it was forbidden to kill a cat in ancient Egypt. Some sources say those who killed a cat, even by accident, were often lynched on the spot by angry mobs – perhaps out of fear that Bastet or Sekhmet would take revenge on the area.

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As we know, many of these cats were very pampered, wearing expensive collars earrings or nose rings, starring in art, and mummified upon death in lavish burials. It’s surprising in light of this that there seems to be no evidence that this ancient culture named cats, more that they were commonly referred to as mau – ‘he who mews’ as a collective name for all of them. This makes a cat owned by a low-level Priest of Amun known as Puimre very historically significant, as it is recorded on the wall of his tomb that he named the cat Nadjem. The means ‘dear one’ or ‘star’, and Nadjem was buried alongside Puimre, who must’ve been very fond of the floofer. This tomb was found in the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes – not the one in Greece – which is found in the ruins of the modern city of Luxor. Thebes was the capital city of the Pharaohs from the 1500s to 1000s BC, where Egypt was at the height of its power.

Much like Tardar Sauce, Tee Cee was a working cat. Unlike this latest brand of self-absorbed, flexing, Instagramming, influencer Ecats, however, Tee Cee was a traditional professional with real skills. Tee Cee was a UK cat from Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, who made international news for his ability to detect seizures in his owner before they even happened. His life however began tragically, as his original owner stuffed Tee Cee and the rest of his litter in a box and threw it in a river, reminiscent of the story of fellow heroes Moses and Romulus and Remus. His owner Michael Edmonds had a dangerous and unorthodox form of epilepsy which meant he could barely leave the house unsupervised. After purchasing Tee Cee for some fluffy company, Michael discovered that the moggy had an uncanny interest in him right before he was about to seize – even though, at least the eyes of human medicine, he showed no symptoms before his seizures. Tee Cee's daughter said 'we noticed that Tee Cee began staring at my step-father before a seizure and then ran to my mother to let her know all is not well, acting as an early warning system. Once assistance arrives Tee Cee doesn’t leave his side until he regains consciousness, and his warnings have proved invaluable for the family. ‘It took some time for Tee Cee’s family to realise the connection between his behaviour and the fits of Michael Edmonds, but the story soon made great waves in the media. Tee Cee was awarded the Rescue Cat of the Year award in 2006 for his sorcery.

It’ll be no surprise to this audience that there have been so many famous cats over the centuries, because of the magnetic force they sway their human admirers with. The rise of social media is rapidly creating a whole new constellation of feline stars. Anybody’s cat can become famous.

Your pet could become the next grumpy cat if you know how to make TikToks. The sad side to this story is that the great cats of old may be buried under this rising tide of influencer floofs. When a cat can get famous for its looks and get jazzed up with fancy outfits edits and cute songs – where does that leave those in search of positive role models? Cats like Tee Cee and even more tragic cases like Félicette, who sacrificed so much for science, can be buried underneath the proliferation of superficial e-cats. This is why cat history is so important – cats must be appreciated for their real impact on the world, which goes far deeper and is much more significant than the pleasures of the floof. I have endeavoured to write cat history which engages with the powers that made cats what they are and explains their relationship with humans deeper than exploitative ornamentation. With that said, I wish you all the best and hope the end of lockdown brings all you hoped it would.

Composed by, William Price, Undergraduate of History from the University of East Anglia

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Thhe Grreen Knnight Riight A particularly dull day this summer compelled me to sit in my room in complete darkness in front of my computer screen. Behind me lies my cat, purring softly, soothingly. I always envy the simpleness of her life. Her thinking is so primal, yet her love for my family seems to run deep. Far from the docile man of today, who knows very little of savageness and unconditional love. There was, of course, a time in human history where we must have been more similar to an outdoor cat. We must have left the camp and tribe daily to hunt for food. Much like our dear pets. By use of our senses, instinct and intellect we developed tactics in order to kill and consume what was around us. Our untamed nature aided us for thousands of years before civilization was ever on the map. This is forged into all of us, even if it is buried deep below something else, it hungers constantly. With time and in conjunction with the agricultural revolution and dawn of the first civilizations, this spirit slowly lost its use. It seems most human societies show a clear shift towards docility among its populace as comfort improves. Like a cat that becomes overfed and lazy. You can trace this in the history of Europe and in a way its medieval era is the perfect equilibrium in between ‘savage’ and ‘civilized’. Truly a middleage. This, I believe is mirrored in the stories, sagas and poems that stem from this time.

One example of this is the Arthurian legend: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The 14th-century chivalric romance tells of a New Year’s party.

Just as the feasting is about to start, the Green Knight storms in. A towering figure, completely green in appearance with a bushy beard, wearing no armour, astride a green horse. In one hand he holds a great axe, in the other, a holly bough. This thing invites the knights of Camelot to a ‘friendly Christmas game’. In typical medieval fashion, the Green Knight challenges them to strike him once with his own axe on the condition that he is allowed to return the blow in a year and a day. The magnificent weapon will belong to whoever volunteers. Arthur is the first one from the table brave enough to accept the challenge, but at the request of Sir Gawain, Arthur's nephew, the honour is instead given to him. The monster bends down and allows Gawain to strike him, at which point he cuts off its head. However, the Green Knight does not fall. Instead, he picks up his head, remounts, flashes his bleeding wound to Queen Guinevere, reminds Sir Gawain of the challenge and disappears mysteriously. I will not walk through the rest of the story, surely you are completely intrigued at this point and I leave it up to you to find the rest online. Many people have been puzzled by the symbolism of the Green Knight. J.R.R. Tolkien called him ‘the most difficult character’ to interpret in Sir Gawain. What does this enigmatic creature represent and might something be learned from him?

Before I dive into this topic further, I would first like to highlight a phenomenon within our modern political system that I have come to notice as of late. Namely, the state of the modern Right-wing. Although there seem to be many political movements towards what is often called the ‘Extreme Right-wing’ in countries around the world, the majority of its constituency still reside within the comfortable ideological walls of ‘Conservatism’.

These are the Republicans, Tories and everything right of the moderates in my home country of Sweden. Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and other similar characters. Their counterparts in daily life take the form of someone who often entertains the idea of the USA in the ‘80s as heaven on Earth and whose favourite philosopher is Jordan Peterson. It can also be your uncle and aunt, your father or your brother. It is the person who thoroughly enjoys PragerU, Ben Shapiro, Lauren Southern and other similar talking-head programs. It might even be you. What is it about this ideology and these people that have made them prime targets of ridicule from both the left and the right? They often throw around numbers about unemployment and GDP, all while ignoring the suffering of thousands of people in their countries. They often run on a platform of tougher immigration policy and yet when the time comes, they shirk. Cities burn, statues get torn down, people are beaten bloody on their streets and yet they call themselves the 'law and order' parties. Except for certain token propositions; forests, oceans, animals, rivers and fields are often reduced down to simple resources to be used and polluted. In Sweden, we like to call them sneaker moderates, named after their characteristic footwear.

They often seem to avoid discussions about culture in favour of more concrete and ‘real’ things. Much like the land itself, it can be merchandised, cut down and sold to the highest bidder if it ‘benefits the economy’. These are neither evil nor dumb people. The problem is that they have become so milquetoast and boring to many within the new generation of voters. Their policies are grey, metallic and leave a bitter taste in the mouth. They also constantly make concessions to the left, slowly but carefully moving towards the social policies of their supposed ideological enemies. 10 years ago, you would not see a ‘Conservative’ utter themselves on issues of ‘social justice’ and LGBTQ, today this is observable everywhere. This brand of ‘Conservative’ is not only losing hard against the left, but they are also continually alienating a large number of people that are supposed to be on their side. A large number on the Right belong within this ideology and they must change if the point is to beat the Left.

To get back to the point, what is the Green Knight? To answer this question, we need to understand what the point was of these strange Arthurian legends. They usually served the purpose of showing the virtue and chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table. Sir Gawain is no different.

Throughout the story, his bravery, chastity and general ‘goodness’ are tested. I believe that the Green Knight serves a similar purpose, although exactly how is probably slightly obscure to us in the 21st century. I think it has to do with the honouring of the Christmas game. The Green Knight, surprisingly, survives the deadly blow to his neck and Sir Gawain accepts his fate, bravely going to meet the monster in the chapel one year later.

He is willing to risk his life only because he had agreed upon the rules of that game. That is how much his word is worth. However, I believe that the mystery lies not in the actual purpose of the character but in something much more obvious. His appearance. Why is he green?

There has been much speculation regarding this aspect of the character. In English folktales, the colour green is most often associated with Nature and other related concepts such as life and fertility. These were important ideas for European Pagans both in England and in mainland Europe and were regularly celebrated. In many countries, this spirit still lives within its populace. However, as we come to see when we look anywhere in Nature, it is also a harsh and unpredictable force that is dangerous to humans. As human civilization rose to prominence, Nature became more

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enemy than friend. Perhaps this is why Satan himself often bears the colour of green in medieval depictions of him. Yet it remains the same force that forged savagery into the minds and bodies of us. We cannot be separate from it, yet we fear it. If Nature could be a character it would truly be as ambiguous and mysterious as the Green Knight. He is neither friend nor foe it seems. The only one that tests the mettle of Arthur's men.

He has also been compared to the Green Man. A decorative motif that is found in many cultures around the world but most prominently in traditional English architecture. A legendary being, it is often depicted as having a humanoid face covered in or made of foliage. The character seems to represent life and rebirth akin to a vegetation deity. Despite its seemingly Pagan characteristics, it often appears in Christian churches.

The unclear message of the Green Man resonates with the mysterious nature of the character of the Knight. Perhaps ‘Green’ is a simple reminder of the constant and inescapable presence of Nature within man. We have founded great cities and put walls around them to protect ourselves from it, we have taught our children that it is a danger and it must be kept out, we have created sciences and technologies in an attempt to master it and in some ways we have. In the end, however, the simple laws of Nature, life and death, always triumph.

The character of the modern Rightwing as I described earlier, is suffering from a great separation from Nature. The land is to be completely owned and used by whoever bids the highest and after that, it is no business of anyone else what happens to it. As a result of this, large swathes of the Earth have been misappropriated, misused and polluted. This is of course not the fault of a single party or ideology. In fact, this is seen in almost all modern political movements. Even the classic ‘environmentalist’ of today suffers from the same disease. The focus for these people is often to maintain or save resources instead of truly seeing the intrinsic value of it. They often fail to live up both to their lofty goals and policies as well as to the inescapable truth of Nature. If the Right-wing wishes to succeed, I believe this is the edge that we need to steal.

This is, of course, something that is hard for people on the Right to do.

Mainly because of the infected wound of a debate that the Global Warming question has become.

Many have chosen the discussion of whether we should continue to use fossil fuels or renewable energy as a hill to die on. Here I see once again, a discussion of numbers and statistics.

No mention of Nature itself as something holy or at least good. If the Right wants to continue to be relevant, fully embracing this position might be an easy avenue for doing so. By living in tune with Nature, all the while not falling into complete savagery and providing it with the respect it demands, it is also possible to begin mending the land. The Right must become like the character of the Green Knight. We must go and once again commune with Nature. We must be a test of virtue. We must live according to the truths and not only rely on our intellect. We must be savage and noble. The most important part perhaps is that we must become spirited, not so easily conceded.

We must be harsh to protect life and fertility. We must be clad in green, holding the holly bough in one hand the axe in the other.

Composed by, Luke Litvinov, Undergraduate of Philosophy at West Virginia University

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Seea Grreen Let us picture the typical image of a cat, a young lively one, sitting next to a small and round fish tank. In this fish tank, there is one tiny goldfish, at prey. The young lively cat has its eyes wide open, active, ready to catch the fish – if only there was no glass window…The documentary Seaspiracy on Netflix was directed by the activist and filmmaker Ali Tabrizi. In a way, Seaspiracy is about the lack of a glass window to protect the Earth’s oceans and its many fish and other living beings, some too deep into the abysses for us to even be aware of yet. Massacre, destruction, pollution, corruption, and humanitarian issues such as slavery and disease are the reality of the fishing industry.

The documentary aims to reveal the true nature of the fishing industry and its devastating consequences on the oceans but also how these consequences become causes. The oceans, representing 80% of all life on Earth, are a major functioning part of the planet Earth and any harm caused to them will impact the Earth and all of its components – including humanity. In the end, we are just part of a bigger picture: a global ecosystem for which oceans and seas are of absolute importance. The other way around, saving the oceans would therefore be of major help to save the planet more generally. ‘According to the study of 7,800 ocean species, we are heading for a complete collapse of ocean life by 2048. If the current rate of overfishing continues, the world’s oceans will be emptied.’, theworldcounts.com.

Seaspiracy calls for our action: if we really want to save the planet – and we should really want to because we are and will all be impacted by the disaster – focus and understand what is happening at sea. And stop eating fish. Indeed, the main argument of Seaspiracy is the reality that the only way to save the oceans is to stop eating fish. One guiding thread throughout the film is the fact that fishing ships at sea are under no real rules since they find themselves far from the shores, without any authority to watch over their activities.

Did you just start buying bamboo toothbrushes? Stopped using plastic cotton buds and plastic straws after watching this viral video of the injured sea turtle? Seaspiracy does not laugh at you for doing so but reminds us of very important numeral facts in order to give you the power to make real change.

For instance, 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is composed of fishing nets. The majority of the remaining 54% is comprised of other fishing gear and tools. Moreover, fishing nets and other fishing objects are far more dangerous than straws and cotton buds, for they are designed to kill.

Abandoned fishing gear injures or kills over 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles every year. Another interesting number is that 250,000 sea turtles are captured, injured, or killed by the fishing industry every year in the USA whilst a global survey estimated 1,000 sea turtles die in plastic per year worldwide. Avoiding plastic at all costs is a very good initiative, but to stop eating fish is a particularly powerful solution. If we all stop eating fish there is no more fishing nets piling up into deadly garbage patches and a drastic cut to the harm made to animals such as sea turtles.

Furthermore, 90% of the world’s large fish have been wiped out by fishing and by-catch. By-catch defines the fish and other marine animals caught by fishing nets unintentionally. Each year, 100 million sharks are killed as by-catch alone. Up to 11,446 per hour. Fishing boats’ crews are under the order of throwing back into the sea any animals they caught unintentionally fast enough so that they do not die. In Seaspiracy, this is a rule that is revealed to be hardly followed, without consequence since captains can easily lie about their reporting on by-catch and how they dealt with it.

The animals caught by by-catch are thrown in the water dead or half-dead. What happens at sea remains at sea. Seaspiracy reveals another sidevictim of the fishing industry. In the cove of Taiji, Japan, dolphins are massacred en masse and under the highest secret surveillance. Everywhere Ali Tabrizi goes with his camera, he is violently shooed away or asked to turn his camera off. Dolphins are in fact massacred because they are considered competitors by the fishing industry…If we all stop eating fish, sharks and dolphins would be left alone in a safe home.

What is more, seagrass captures and stores carbon at a rate several times faster than rainforests. Salt marshes and mangroves are other powerful carbon sinks. They are all, however, ‘the most heavily used and threatened natural systems globally: 30% of seagrasses have been either lost or degraded worldwide in the past 50 years’ only (@seaspiracy). Approximately 25 million acres of forest are lost every year. Yet, 3.9 billion acres of seafloor are lost due to trawling – or the equivalent of losing 4.316 soccer fields every minute.

Bottom trawling describes the dragging of large heavy nets along the sea floor in order to catch marine animals. Dr. Sylvia Earle, interviewed in the documentary says: ‘Bottom trawling is akin to using a bulldozer to catch a butterfly…Destroying a whole ecosystem for the sake of a few pounds of protein’. If we all stop eating fish, the marine environments could have time to restore and to ensure biodiversity. They would also continue to help us to fight climate change.

If all these facts are not enough, the numbers not already alarming, Seaspiracy also tackles the lack of ethics surrounding the fishing industry.

Human rights are at stake within the fishing industry. Slavery in the seafood industry is reported in 47 countries. Ali Tabrizi has the chance to interview face-covered, voice-trafficked courageous former Thai slaves who explain how captains kindly suggest to Thai men to come and work on their boats only to become slaves on ships under no real surveillance. Abuse and murder are established as common practices on these ships.

Moreover, the documentary mentions the fishermen of the West African coast.

These canoe fishermen are the most at risk of dying when working at sea. If this could be due to a lack of security within this type of boats, ‘additional pressure from illegal foreign fishing vessels [such as China’s] stealing fish from the region has meant workers need to paddle further and further out to sea to find fish – increasing their chances of never returning’ (@seaspiracy). The ship of SeaShepherd fight this issue on a daily basis, and Ali Tabrizi allows us to witness their work. The documentary makes a causal link between the shortage of fish in the West of Africa

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and Ebola. Indeed, populations are forced to hunt the land creatures that they can find. The human cost of the fishing industry gives another moral reason to stop supporting such industry by stopping our fish consumption. What happens at sea remains at sea…

Netflix’s documentary also highlights corruption and lies. Ali Tabrizi wonders why so many organisations who claim their goals to protect the oceans do not put forward the plant-based diet – the most efficient solution - as a means to contribute to the safeguard of the seas. He finds that many of these organisations are corrupt and find their money among fishing companies. For instance, Tabrizi approaches a representative of the Earth Island Institute about their ‘dolphin-safe’ label found on tuna cans. Up to 45 dolphins can die in the capturing of just 8 tunas. The representative is asked if there is an actual guarantee behind the label and found himself very embarrassed. He admits that there is none, before saying that there is. The conversation appears surreal. The fact that our increasing sensibility is being exploited and manipulated in favour of the fishing industry is absolutely revolting.

The conclusion of Seaspiracy really is that the most meaningful and efficient action is actually very reachable. We all need to change our diets and stop eating fish and this is possible. This is even morally necessary for the only and simple reason that fish are as sentient as all other animals – even if they attract less sympathy than their furry cousins.

They feel pain as much as fear and stress. They are social animals – if some fish find themselves in a restaurant’s fish tank and one is taken out and slaughtered in front of the rest of the fish, the fish would all feel the distress that they are next as well as the feeling of having lost a friend, a cousin…

In fact, the only reason why fish tastes what it tastes like and brings as much protein as it does come from what they eat. Alga will taste like the seafood you are used to and will be as nutritious.

Fish and meat in general are just an easy means to nutrition. An animal did the job for us, ate and processed nutrients for us. In terms of nutrition fish and meat are an old, unnecessary step that proves itself to be immoral as time and studies pass.

I highly encourage anyone to watch Seaspiracy on Netflix, it is purely, honestly informative, gives answers and solutions. It will leave you revolted but also hopeful: Ali Tabrizi and the interviewees remind us that the oceans have always been capable to heal and keep growing fast: we only need to give them peace, time, and space by stopping to eat fish.

Composed by, Déborah Lazreug, Undergraduate of English Literature and History of Art at the University of Aberdeen

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Chheeting Exxtinction Large golden eyes and a flash of those characteristic black tear marks bursting forward from the long grass, immense acceleration and unfathomable bursts of speed, the cheetah is a cat that captures the imagination like no other. The natural – and not so natural – history of the cheetah is a fascinating story in itself, but, like many other animals, the cheetah is on a downward trajectory towards extinction and in some cases, already a conservation casualty.

The cheetah is often considered a ‘big cat’, but in reality, it is no bigger than a large dog. The cheetah is unique in its social structure among cats as females are nearly always solitary, and it is males which form small groups called coalitions, often with siblings. These can also last for a lifetime. The cheetah’s long tail and flexible spine help it to achieve speeds of up to 80 mph in short bursts. The speed and agility it possesses allow it to pursue prey such as various gazelles and smaller antelope. However, its lithe and relatively small build betrays its fragility to other predators, especially lions and hyenas, which can cause serious injury to adult cheetahs and often cause mortality to cubs. Despite this, across its range, it shares habitats with both of these predators. Although the cheetah is primarily considered an African animal, at one time its range extended into Europe and it was widespread across Asia.

Today, the global cheetah population is highly fragmented, with the vast majority of the approximately 7,100 individuals residing in scattered locations around Africa, and a tiny holdout of under 50 individuals in Iran. The Iranian population is of major importance as it represents the last survivors of the Asiatic subspecies, whilst of the three known African subspecies only one (the northwest African cheetah) is also critically endangered. However, globally the cheetah continues to decline.

The reasons for its spiral toward extinction are, like many species, rooted in human causes. Habitat loss due to human development, particularly agriculture has been a major cause of extirpation (local extinction) from Asia and has pushed it into tiny areas compared to its historical range in Africa –we have lost 90% of the worldwide wild cheetah population in just the last century. In addition to this, vast and unregulated hunting pressures, as well as continued human-wildlife conflict (usually farmers protecting livestock), have made population recoveries challenging. The pet trade is also an issue, with animals being plucked out of the wild to join the menageries of private collectors and those who use them as status symbols. Today the Middle East is chiefly responsible for the import of wild-caught cheetah cubs as pets. However, this is not a recent development.

There are records throughout history of people taming and utilising cheetahs as hunting partners, from the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt to 20 thcentury Indian Maharajas. Even today, the cheetah is a wild animal that is very easily humanised and as such, rehabilitating and returning cheetahs to the wild is a very difficult process due to their dependence on human feeding and the enhanced possibility of contact with humans in the future.

There are also worries concerning cheetah genetics, and to understand why we first need a trip back in time. Around 4.9 million years ago, the lineage of North American cats split into the cheetah, puma and jaguarundi. Although cheetahs are today not found in North America, their common ancestors have been. Either what we would consider ‘modern’ cheetahs originated in North America and crossed over into Eurasia and Africa, or a group of their ancestors did, leading to the modern cheetah originating in either Eurasia or Africa. The latter scenario currently has fossil record support. The oldest known cheetah fossils were found in South Africa and around three million years old, though these animals were larger. However, the North American story is not entirely farfetched.

Around 100,000 years ago, the cheetah population in Eurasia/Africa is thought to have experienced a rapid decline, known as a population bottleneck, where this rapid reduction in numbers leads to loss of a large number of genes in the gene pool. Low numbers of animals may then lead to inbreeding and an increase in the transmission of damaging genetic qualities. This particular bottleneck has been speculated to possibly coincide with North American cheetahs reaching Eurasia. However, this has only tentative support. This is not the end of the story though. About 10, 000 years ago, the modern cheetah went through yet another of these bottleneck events, thought to be a result of the loss of megafauna at the end of the last ice age. The results of two fairly recent mass and sharp population declines have resulted in very low genetic diversity. Individual cheetahs are so genetically similar to each other, there is no need for cheetahs to undergo immunosuppression therapy when receiving skin grafts from other cheetahs – their bodies recognise them as their own!

Unfortunately, this is probably the only benefit a low genetic diversity has brought the cheetah. They are plagued with poor breeding success which is even more hampered in captivity, have low adaptability to future environmental shifts and suffer immensely with outbreaks of disease.

With this in mind, you may find it remarkable they have continued to survive at all. The fact that they have is considered a scientific mystery.

However, their genetic constraints plus continued direct and indirect persecution does not bode well for their future.

African cheetahs aside, the Asiatic cheetah is of most concern to conservationists. Smaller than their African cousins, the 50 or so left persist only in a few possible locations in Iran, all of them in wildlife reserves. Where the species once roamed all the way to the Indian subcontinent, they have lost 98% of their historic range. But why bother saving them when there are many more cheetahs in Africa? A study in 2011 found that the Asiatic subspecies split from African cheetahs between 32,000 to 67,000 years ago. That is thousands of years’ worth of genetic differences built up over time, and potentially genes that, should the African cheetah also find itself as imperilled, could be used to genetically rescue the population through introducing new genes into populations via translocation or captive breeding. The loss of further genetic diversity in the cheetah as a species could potentially be catastrophic. That alone is why the Asiatic subspecies is worth saving.

Despite conservationists’ best efforts, the population there remains functionally extinct – essentially ‘the walking dead’ unless there are immediate and drastic changes. Roads have further reduced connectivity between suitable habitats and sadly a number of Asiatic cheetahs have been killed in road traffic accidents in recent years. Unfortunately, too much more of an extent than their African relatives, the Asiatic cheetahs have suffered not just due to habitat loss and conflict with humans, but also because they are a victim of politics.

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In 2017, the United Nations Development Programme which had provided a considerable level of funding to the conservation of the Asiatic cheetah pulled out. This meant that conservation efforts were handed over entirely to Iran. However, due to political sanctions, they also cut funding for the programme. This was hardly surprising when Iran’s head of environment had already stated the Asiatic cheetah was doomed. With the government all but giving up, it has been down to Iranian conservation agencies such as the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) to try and save the cheetah. In 2018, the excellent work they had been doing was dealt a severe blow when nine of their members were arrested and charged with spying for other nations because they were using camera traps, a common method of tracking elusive animals. This caused an outcry from the conservation and larger scientific community around the world. Despite purportedly flimsy evidence and an internationally condemned close-doors trial, eight were charged with crimes carrying sentences up to 10 years imprisonment. The ninth, Kavous Seyed-Emami, the managing director of the PWHF, sadly died in prison. As of writing, the remaining eight are still imprisoned. Thankfully, the conservationists managed to avoid the death sentence, but for the cheetah they worked so hard to understand and restore, fate hangs on a knife-edge.

There is a spark of hope, however. Some animal populations have been successfully rebuilt from lower numbers, for example, the entire global population of Pere David's deer descends from only three individuals and is now 5,000 strong. Similarly, the Przewalski’s horse has bounced back from 12 individuals in the 1950s to around 1,900 globally. Although they have also had their struggles it may be that these animals have been more conducive to captive breeding and rehabilitation to the wild. However, it does show that with careful management, small populations absolutely can recover. Although it will be intensely difficult for the Asiatic cheetah to do so, their extinction does not have to be a forgone conclusion.

With the sad situation, the Asiatic cheetah finds itself in, what then of the African cheetah? Firstly, there is a much larger insurance population held in captivity. This is carefully managed by zoos and wildlife parks worldwide so that genetic diversity is kept as rich as possible when breeding by referring to the species’ studbook. Currently, this is held by Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a world-renowned conservation organisation in Namibia. In the wild, African cheetah conservation primarily works to avoid human-wildlife conflict often engaging with and educating local farmers to persuade them from killing problem animals. Where predators like cheetahs do become an issue for livestock, CCF and other organisations will provide a guard dog for the flock, reducing livestock mortality from 70-100%. Sometimes they may relocate animals to prevent further conflict. Famers can be given empowerment and a sense of ownership over the wildlife on their land, which has proven beneficial in motivating them to protect and manage it without conflict with wildlife. This is a strategy which has proven effective in other parts of the world, such as management of the forests owned by the local people of Costa Rica. Cheetah conservation organisations also fight to prevent cheetah smuggling and are often involved in operations to recover and rehabilitate cubs. Game reserves and national parks can also be involved in cheetah conservation ‘on the ground’. Not only do they provide ecotourism services such as safaris, but reserve rangers may choose to translocate animals to other parts of Africa to promote genetic diversity in other populations, or for reintroduction elsewhere. Certainly, with the multinational level of effort involved, the African cheetah’s future seems to be more safeguarded than that of the Asiatic cheetah.

There is a chance that cheetahs may once more roam the Indian subcontinent. This year, after rejecting the idea a few years prior due to reservations on potential detriment to the native wildlife (for example areas already being considered for Asiatic lion reintroduction) and also because of concerns of genetical difference, the Supreme Court of India ruled that cheetahs from southern Africa could be introduced to certain areas to assess the impact they have on the ecosystem and whether they could properly adapt.

Although it would, of course, be more prudent to import Asiatic cheetahs, the population in Iran is too fragile to consider taking individuals from at the moment. As such, Namibian cheetahs are set to be translocated to several shortlisted areas. The current plan is to import up to ten cheetahs annually for around five to ten years, which will hopefully provide insight into how the southern African subspecies copes with the Indian environment and ecosystem.

As with many species, the next decade or two will be instrumental for the cheetah's prognosis. While it would not be surprising if we lose the Asiatic subspecies entirely, there is more hope that the African continent could be stabilised and its range expanded, as long as conservation and captive breeding efforts continue and adapt where necessary. However, the harsh reality for the cheetah is that it is up against a dangerous cocktail of anthropogenic effects, poor genetic diversity, and currently dwindling populations. Despite conservation efforts, extinction maybe something even this incredible cat cannot outrun.

Composed by, Thea Mainprize, Undergraduate of Zoology at the University of Aberdeen

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Doon’t Feear

This article is in response to The Felid Temptress published in the last issue, written by Oliver Pike. Cardi B’s W.A.P is not an “unofficial anthem” for 2020, in fact it was ranked 24 on the top 100 Billboard songs and its presence in the top is due to the censored version played on the radio, like most explicit songs by Cardi B. It is certain that Cardi B does not bother with metaphors and similes to talk about sex like the rock groups of another idealised time, but we have to compare what is comparable. Cardi B is not a rock star but an emerging singer from the rap industry which has always been upfront with topics such as sex. Rap has always used strong sexual references, nothing is new here. Rap is more mainstream now than in the 80s and 90s, and there are more female rappers now in what was a predominantly masculine circle. Being uncomfortable with such explicit content is only fair but so much outrage was not provoked when male rappers were doing the same thing. The constant attack against female rappers like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj seems more like a problem with them breaking the taboos around their sexuality and owning the societal sexualisation of their female bodies. The difference between Cardi B and Bond Girls, supermodels or “Batman’s Jewel Thief nemesis” is that the latter refers to the concept of the male gaze. The way the bond girls or supermodels are portrayed in the media is made to fit what is stereotypically considered male sexualized ideals of attractive femininity. Cardi B is an instance of the emerging claims against the male gaze: in her song and video she is re-appropriating the sexualisation usually projected by the male gaze in the media. She is taking ownership of her sexuality, she is finding something out of society’s oppressive sexualisation of women. She is not doing so in name of all women or for a male audience, but for herself, she appears the way she wants to. If not all women would find ownership the way Cardi B does, all women can find Cardi B’s control over her body and image inspiring. It is true that sexuality in the media is more explicit and available but this is not the symptom of a depraved and decaying society. What becomes available and breaks out of taboos is not necessarily influencing the population. Having sexuality represented on mainstream media reveals that people have been free from the shame around the subject. No one is forced to “join” the consequences of that freedom. The fact that such things as dating apps are available with the possibility of a non-committed relationship should not come as a threat and it does not mean that love is dead and that most people only look for sex. What is being criticized in Oliver Pike’s article is due to media and its accessibility to everyone, therefore it is not that society is shifting but rather that things that always existed have been made visible. The Felid Temptress displays a problem that does not exist, sex is not predominant. It has only been liberated and with the multiplication of media, it is more easily visible. The article continues to talking about how problematic shows like Love Island are: “It is no wonder some young women are seeing OnlyFans (a subscription service for nudes) as a viable career path and that relationships have become “uncool” amongst the younger generations.”, “Why have they become the role models of young women everywhere? I say young women because men seldom watch this show and certainly refrain from respecting any of the men who if not on Love Island would be in a nightclub on ketamine or an STD clinic”.

This type of discourse is extremely problematic. No one says that Love Island is particularly an intellectual television program or that it has a proper plot, it is made for its pure entertainment quality. The fact that shows like this exist is not the reason why women start making OnlyFans or why younger people do not want to be in a relationship. People do not have to be married by age 16 anymore, and there is nothing wrong in wanting to date around before you settle with someone you want to stay with. There is a maturity in recognizing that you are not ready for a serious committed relationship. When talking about Love Island and how women see the people as role models but men can only be disgusted by these people, it is extremely misogynistic and hurtful. It implies that women are stupid and follow anything they like without an objective output whereas men see that it is ridiculous. Women are always judged for liking what they want: it is always considered as stupid no matter what it is and if a woman like things that are considered “masculine interests” like sports or video games, she is a ‘pick me girl’ and people say that ‘boys must love that’. Men are never judged for liking what they like even if it is a group of boys running after a ball and payed millions for that. Candidates on Love Island or Cadi B are not pretending to be ‘classy’ but they are owning who they are and do not want to be shamed for it, it is ownership and there is room for that in society too.As for women using OnlyFans, sex work exist and always existed, at least with OnlyFans women who chose to use this platform are being safe and have agency. People are appalled by a platform like OnlyFans but have no problem with a magazine like Playboy existing. Playboy has made money for years using women’s bodies but when women do it with their own bodies, on their own terms, it becomes problematic and a sign of a declining society. Moreover, OnlyFans resolves a lot of the problems encountered with pornographic images and videos. Sex workers who decide to use it are free of abuse that they could encounter in the porn industry and the explicit images or videos are more regulated and not accessible to children. Feminism does not support prostitution: they are not idealizing and promoting it. Feminism supports sex workers because they deserve to be protected by the law. Through protection there can be control and sex workers would have agency and avoid bad situations. This is visible in the Red Light District in Amsterdam that permitted to better the respect of Human Rights and reduce crime and nuisance in the city. In the article The Felid Temptress, feminist’s “slut walks” are qualified as “strange”. They are meant to re-appropriate the term “slut”, usually designed as an insult, to counter-act “slut-shaming” and the judgement of women for having casual sex. The article does not seem to understand what is at stake: casual sex does not make anyone a slut. Casual sex is, indeed, something to be celebrated because as far as we are concerned if it is between two consenting adults there should be no shame in that. People have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies. A man having casual sex has been celebrated for centuries, we do not see why women should not have the same right. In a heterosexual relationship, it is only the women that are chastised and judged for something that included two people. The concept of “slut” is a misogynistic and patriarchal tool to judge women and qualify them as less desirable or honourable if they have casual intercourse. In “The Felid Temptress”, the term ‘taste’ is often used. Taste is incredibly subjective, it concerns an individual and only that individual. What is tasteful for someone might not be for somebody else. Although the article has a problem with W.A.P and women owning their sexuality and sexual bodies for their own interest, it is only a very biased and judgemental opinion, based on little facts. It cannot be imposed, passed as factual and demonized. Things cannot be generalise, made a reality and universal truth about our society and its behaviours. Society is not shifting for a more decadent and hedonistic model, one could argue that it is the opposite. In Ancient Greece, the symposium is the occasion for Greek men to participate in complete indulgence, abusing of drinks, food, being entertained by prostitutes and taking part in orgies. A similar phenomenon takes place during the Bacchanalia, a Roman festival in honour of the god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy, Bacchus. These were cultural celebration and no such thing could ever exist nowadays. There is no such thing as a shift for the worse in sexual behaviour, the only thing that changed are the multiplicity of media that explains a more important presence of sexual images and the fact that sex is not the taboo subject it used to be. Finally, we will like to direct you to a song from Harry Roy and his Orchestra from 1931 entitled “My Girl’s Pussy” which in many ways is the ancestor of Cardi B’s W.A.P. Composed by, Déborah Lazreug, Undergraduate of English Literature and History of Art, with Cécile Fardoux, Undergraduate of English Literature and Creative Writing, both at the University of Aberdeen

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Thhoughts on the Fuuture No-one in the Old Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt (2700BC), from the labouring slave to the grand high priests, could have predicted that their cat paradise would be conquered by a Macedonian king almost 2400 years later. Just as no one in Britain in 2019 could have predicted the ramifications of a novel Coronavirus pandemic or in the early 2010s predicted that, by the end of the decade, the UK would have left the European Union. Therefore, before I continue on with my own predictions, bear in mind, the future is impossible to predict, and anything can happen.

Exactly a year ago, at the time of writing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave an extraordinary address to the nation telling people that they must “stay at home”. I had thought that it would be over in a few weeks, the high death toll in Italy had been largely attributed to multi-generational households and very old population, something that was not common in Britain and China had seemingly weathered the storm in a few months. It also looked as if we were becoming more united as a country, the government had tried to revive the spirit of the Second World War complete with Captain Sir Tom Moore, a war veteran, walking around his garden to raise money for the NHS. It all felt like a spirit of national unity with people putting aside their petit debates about gender and sexuality and coming together to defeat the “invisible enemy”. However, this was not to last.

A year on and the nation is now more bitterly divided than ever, there are those like me who want to get back to the old normal as it was before March 2020, that means no masks, no social distancing and everything open, we failed to defeat the virus with last year’s lockdowns and now its time to move on but there are still those who still want to keep lockdown going until we get to zero new cases, which is not possible. Within the older population this tends to reflect the old left and right divide, with the left going for the needlessly cautious approach and the right going for the “get back to normal” approach.

So, I will start with my predication for what will happen with the Coronavirus. The Prime Minister had promised to remove all limits on social contact no earlier than June 21st, I am sceptical as to if this date will be met, this summer will be more similar to last; most businesses will be allowed to reopen but there will be capacity limits, mask wearing and social distancing with on the door testing for larger events. Next winter, while masks will no longer be required by law, many people will still wear them and some shops will still enforce them under government recommendations. Chris Whitty has said there may be restrictions next winter and while this will not be a full lockdown, it may take the form of a ban on large gatherings and capacity limits indoors. Even if there are no restrictions, the societal damage done by lockdown will be so huge that people will feel uncomfortable doing the things they used to do such as being indoors in a public place without a mask or getting too close to people, unfortunately it looks as if we’ll be living voluntarily socially distanced lives for the next 5-10 years. Vaccine passports will also be mandatory for travel to some countries, others will accept a negative test instead, they are unlikely to be mandated for domestic use, but some venues may require proof of vaccination, but it will cost them a lot of business. Around the end of this decade, barring another major disaster, people will begin to disregard masks and social distancing and we will move back to the “old normal” but it will take some time due to the heightened public fear and anxiety.

The high street is also likely to become a thing of the past. This week it was announced that John Lewis will close its Aberdeen branch permanently, it has done so alongside other household names such as Debenhams and Topshop due to the rise in online retail which is dominated by Amazon.

While I think there may be some competition from other retailers who will move online, however, the traditional shopping experience which often involves family outings or outings with friends and possibly a meal afterwards will be lost. Instead, we will just sit in front of a screen and order our shopping for delivery, unable to properly browse, sample or try on products, instead we’ll just send them back if we don’t like them. Retail assistant jobs will become much less common than before and be replaced by jobs in warehouses until the process is inevitably automated.

The divisive question of Scottish independence is also one I would like to address. SNP activists have become more and more restless in their demand for a second independence referendum. With the UK government refusing to allow one to be held, I believe that the SNP will win a majority or be the largest party and propped up by the Greens or Alex Salmond’s new Alba party. They will claim this as a mandate for a second independence referendum but the UK government will say no (if Boris Johnson were to say yes then he would lose the backing of the Scottish Conservatives), Nicola Sturgeon will not hold an illegal referendum but this will lead to her removal by a leadership challenge, the new leader of the SNP, possibly Humza Yousef, will attempt to hold an illegal referendum as in Catalonia, the referendum will be boycotted by unionists and cause the SNP’s popularity to plummet and may cause the Scottish parliament to be dissolved by the UK government and fresh elections called which the SNP will lose, putting an end to hopes for independence for the time being.

Alternatively, if the UK government did grant the Scottish Parliament the right to hold an independence referendum, it would be under the question “leave” or “remain” and only those eligible to vote in UK elections would be allowed to vote. The “leave” would win, very narrowly, but independence would never happen because the economic damage will become so apparent and the negotiations for splitting up a 300 year old union with one part of the island of Great Britain inside the EU and other outside the EU that it would quickly unravel. Hardcore nationalists will demand a no-deal “Scexit” and this will be put to an election which the SNP will lose as they will have alienated the majority of the population by this time.

Political correctness and wokeism will also get much worse, thanks in no small part, to social media, with people stuck inside all day they will not get angry over Twitter and Facebook. In Scotland hate-speech laws have already been introduced and are likely to get worse, forbidding anyone who believes there are two genders or who shows some pride in Britain losing their jobs and potentially facing imprisonment. We have already seen historian Neil Oliver lose his job because he is a unionist and being a unionist in Scotland will end up being enough to get you branded a “racist”. The good news is that there will be a significant backlash in the North of England and other places that will prompt the UK government to intervene and amend the Equality Act to ban gender or ethnic quotas and “positive discrimination”. They may also take more direct control of

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university curriculums and ban such things as “unconscious bias training” but that will bring with it its own problems. Wokeism will get worse before it gets better but it looks like its days are numbered.

Despite all the talk of a ‘‘V shaped’’ recovery, the economy will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023-24, with mega corporations like Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft having a much larger share in the world’s profits than they did previously. Automation will mean less jobs available and the economic fallout from lockdown will mean fewer small or medium sized businesses to employ people. In response to this a Universal Basic Income (UBI) will eventually be introduced and paid into everyone’s bank accounts leading to far less use of cash as we will have got used to contactless through the pandemic. While I would support a UBI in principle, I think that it gives the government a huge amount of power over people’s finances, they already have the power to sanction people on benefits for breaking their “claimant commitments”. There would have to be sufficient legal and practical safeguards built into the system to prevent the government from doing this with a UBI. It will also become commonplace for people to enter a shop take what they need and leave without having to check out as contactless payments will be taken from them as they leave. Amazon have already tried this in a new store in London.

The economic recovery will come just in time for the 2024 election which will be between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Clive Lewis who will have moved the party to a more radical left platform after the removal of Sir Kier Starmer by a motion of no confidence in the Labour party conference in autumn 2021. The Tories win a majority of around 60 seats keeping most of the red wall and gaining around 10 seats in Scotland due to Rishi Sunak’s personal popularity in Scotland and he will take credit for the economic recovery post COVID. On the international scene, tensions with the far east, especially China and North Korea, will heat up. President Trump’s unconventional means of diplomacy yielded dividends when it came to North Korea. Although many criticised him for striking up a friendship with the dictator Kim Jong Un, he understood that this was part of the art of the deal, the result was that there were no ballistic missile tests for four years until last week. The Biden (or soon to be Harris) administration will return to old normal diplomacy which will deny Kim Jong Un the direct level of access to the President that he had before, this will likely create a sense of grievance that North Korea is not being treated with respect on the world stage, but I do not envisage that there will be a nuclear exchange.

On the point of China, it will overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy around the middle of this decade. Whatever one’s views on the origins of coronavirus, China has certainly used it to its advantage. China only ever had a lockdown in Wuhan and the surrounding areas that seemingly made the virus disappear and China has been fine and open since, a result that has not been replicated in any other country. The West’s voluntary economic destruction through lockdown will play into China’s hands allowing their economy to continue to grow exponentially (they were the only economy in the world to actually grow in 2020).

The USA will also be far more divided between the “woke” democratic states and the conservative republican states. It’s entirely possible that states such as Texas and Florida may choose to secede and become independent nations or left leaning states such as California will also do the same. It’s unlikely Biden will start any new wars for the simple reason that he’ll be dealing with enough trouble at home with riots caused by groups such as Antifa who will be dissatisfied with his more moderate leadership, this is likely to make the storming of the capital incident look like child’s play. President Trump will run again in 2024 and is likely to win but by the end of the 2020s the United States will no longer be the world’s superpower.

At the start of the twentieth century there was a sense of optimism, advances in technology had made life easier for millions of people and nations were mostly at peace with trade liberalised but the First World War put an end to that and ushered in an era of previously untold horrors from the trenches to nuclear weapons and the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. I fear that our era of relative peace and stability in the western world that we enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet Union may be coming to an end and a bleaker future may await us. I hope however that I am wrong and that we will take back our freedoms after COVID and usher in a new era of free thought and free markets.

Anything is possible.

Composed by, Derek Gardiner, Postgraduate of Law from the University of Aberdeen

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Feline Bestiary

Those behind this Spring-Summer 2021 issue of the Journal of Matters Relating to Felines: President: Editor: Writers: Logo Design:

Maurice Alexander Cécile Fardoux Derek Gardiner, Déborah Lazreug, Luke Litvinov, Thea Mainprize William Price Sonia Garyayev

Email: Instagram: Facebook: Twitter:

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journalofmattersrelatingtofelines@outlook.com @journalofmatters Journal of Matters Relating to Felines @journalofmatter