Gursimran Hans


Here are the various opinion pieces I have written, both serious and light hearted. 

Wolves of Westminster •

The creeping trend of increasing press restriction

Recent events might suggest that we are in an environment in which state control over media and the press is growing increasingly normalised. The Mail on Sunday‘s leader last weekend was notable. Boris Johnson was blasting the BBC for its coverage of PartyGate and not, in his view, promoting the need for booster jabs, which he described as their primary duty. However, it is not within the prerogative of the Prime Minister or anyone within the executive to determine what the BBC’s duty is. The c
Wolves of Westminster •

NATO forces have failed in their responsibility to the people of Afghanistan - Gursimran Hans

The NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan has proved to be a complete disaster. Within days, the Afghan Government has collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani has fled and the Taliban have overrun the country. A lot has been said about the merits of being in Afghanistan in the first place, but these arguments should not matter. They did in 2001, but not now that NATO troops have been there for 20 years. A couple of months ago, I wrote a university essay exploring Just War Theory from a libertarian perspec
Medium •

Forget the symptoms, deal with the causes

I have noticed a lot of major issues in which people seem to be putting all their energy into talking about the symptoms and not the underlying causes. Perhaps the biggest example of this is taking the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) moment. I understand the word ‘symptom’ has negative conations, but it can just refer to the body fighting back against something nefarious, like vomiting out toxins. When athletes take the knee, they are responding to what they feel is racial inequ
Wolves of Westminster •

Could it be time to move away from the left-right spectrum? - Gursimran Hans

A lot of people think of politics as being left-right. In Britain, this is Labour vs the Tories. In the US, this is usually the Democrats vs the Republicans. In Germany, this is the Social Democrats vs the Christian Democratic Union. This list goes on. But is this really the best way to conceive of politics? A distinction is usually made by the parties’ appetite for change. Conservative with both a big and a small ‘C’. However, what constitutes change also changes. For example, take the issues
Wolves of Westminster •

Violence is never, ever a choice that a man should make

I don’t want to comment specifically about the Sarah Everard case as I don’t know the facts of it, but this case has made me think more generally about gender-based violence and attitudes towards women. During my time as an undergrad at university, I went out socially with a girl one night. It was just as friends; nothing significant happened. But I mention it because earlier that day, I rang a classmate to see if he could explain some course readings to me. This individual knew I was going out
Medium •

Nothing to gain and everything to lose: How the GOP responded to the election

The 2020 US elections could have been considered fairly positive for the Republican Party. Yes, they lost the Presidency, but they gained 15 seats in the House of Representatives and appeared to have done enough to retain their Senate majority. Initial polling data and analysis suggested it was unlikely the Democrats would win both Georgia seats. TheRepublicans flipped both houses of the New Hampshire General Court, the Democrats did not flip control of any state legislative house. The Republic
Yoots •

Why representative politics is just not possible

Why truly representative politics is just not possible If you want to be an MP, you’re looking on average to be spending around £20,000 just to campaign according to research by Isabel Hardman for her book ‘Why We Get The Wrong Politicians’. There’s no guarantee you will get elected either. There’s campaigning for selection, attending hustings, sometimes having to quit your current job. With an average yearly salary of £30,000 for all British citizens it’s just not possible for most to spend t
Medium •

Lantau Tomorrow: The environment will pay the price for the government's unnecessary plans

Lantau Tomorrow: The environment will pay the price for the government's unnecessary plans Hong Kong has a plan to tackle the need for housing. In her most recent policy address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced a plan to reclaim 1,700 hectares of new land around Lantau to create a new economic and housing hub to alleviate pressures on Hong Kong’s economy from its’ growing and ageing population. The plan is likely to cost in the region of $500,000,000 HKD, which is around 64 million in US
Jewish Post •

American and Western foreign intervention: A tale of misconceptions

With the recent decision to bomb a Syrian chemical weapons factory by the United Kingdom, United States and France, debate has naturally turned into the reasoning behind the decisions. Are these interventions worth it? Will we be plunged into a Third World War? This opinion piece delves into some of my thoughts behind the issue and points that I think people are misunderstanding or not considering. This isn’t true. Whilst my inclination is to avoid all intervention and conflict in general, I t
Medium •

American and Western foreign intervention: A tale of misconceptions

With the recent decision to bomb a Syrian chemical weapons factory by the United Kingdom, United States and France, debate has naturally turned into the reasoning behind the decisions. Are these interventions worth it? Will we be plunged into a Third World War? This opinion piece delves into some of my thoughts behind the issue and points that I think people are misunderstanding or not considering. This isn’t true. Whilst my inclination is to avoid all intervention and conflict in general, I t
The National Student •

Society's antisemitism problem is far bigger than just Corbyn

“Let’s stay on the road to a strong economy”  superimposed on to a picture of the train tracks leading into Auschwitz. Meanwhile, embedded below, is part of a speech from former Green Party deputy leader Shahrar Ali in which he says:"Just because you observe the niceties of Holocaust Memorial Day.." The term "niceties" being used in relation to Holocaust Memorial Day should not sit right with anyone. In what way can something so vile, so traumatic have any "niceties"? John Mann, the MP who ch
The National Student •

Saying obesity is a cause of cancer is not fat shaming

Comedienne Sofie Hagen did not see it like this, she saw it as fat shaming, and said as much in a series of tweets, one of which is embedded below. This has caused a debate online on whether the campaign does indeed amount to fat shaming. And quite simply, to attack this campaign is both misguided and reckless. This is not fat shaming. This is stating facts, being overweight is unhealthy and years of medical research overwhelmingly backs that up. Cancer Research UK believe too little of the p
The National Student •

How a German soap opera was used as far-right Islamophobic propaganda

A month or so ago, a video on Raheem Kassam's Facebook page was brought to my attention. I've embedded the video below. In it, a young women speaking German converts to Islam in front of her son and insists to him, that as he is a child, he is also Muslim. Kassam's caption was " Oh. My. God. This is what German TV channels are "teaching" kids..." The subtitles are accurate, with the exception of the offensive "blah, blah, blah" translation while the woman recites the Shahada, the declaration o
The National Student •

Why Poland's treatment of Jews is wrong on so many levels

When you talk about growing antisemitism in Britain, a lot of people will claim it a smear campaign designed to undermine the credibility of the left in this country. However, it is all part of a worrying trend in modern Europe, and nowhere is this more evident than Poland. This January, as the world was set to mark Holcaust Memorial Day, a day to remember the victims of the Holcoaust, as well as atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Darfur, Poland passed a law essentially outlawing any suggestio
The National Student •

Why you shouldn't care about Trump's alleged 'sh*thole countries' remark

But at the end of the day, they are just words. Nothing more. I very much doubt people's lives will be affected that much by a 71-year-old's comments. His actions, however, will have massive repercussions and those made by him and predecessors are likely to cause massive problems. These countries that have been struck are the type of deprived countries that Trump was referring to. It seems them that it's ok to bomb a third world country, but refer to said countries as "sh*thole countries", th
The National Student •

How the whole world has effectively bottled effective climate change action

Climate change, one of the key fundamental issues of not just my generation but the ones immediately before mine and likely after mine, is being ignored and not taken seriously enough. The issue has become a victim of the bi-partisanship of geopolitics. This is something that everyone in the world must work together on. But they're not because, you know, the left hates the right, the right hates the left, everyone hates the  and so forth. If climate change is not acted upon, then quite frank
The National Student •

Patel makes a Priti big mistake

Patel, 42, who commands a massive majority of just under 19,000 had this summer flown to Israel on holiday. Whilst there, she had meetings with several Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and centrist opposition Yesh Atid leader former journalist and finance minister Yair Lapid. Meetings between British and Israeli officials aren't uncommon, just this week Netanyahu was in Downing Street. The two countries are important allies in finance and security. It starts ge
The National Student •

Why Britain should not go cashless

Card payments are the most popular method of payment in the country, with contactless accounting for a third of all transactions. Eventually, consumers would have to pay back debts and would have to file bankruptcy if they haven't got the money. If cashless payments have encouraged mounting levels of debt, then surely moving to a point where payments that are only cashless is a very bad idea. And then, let's look at the impact of an entirely cashless society. Every payment is digital. If you
The National Student •

Why denying Tube workers the right to strike sets a dangerous precedent

There was an inclination to say that TfL strikes should be banned, due to the inevitable disruption it would cause. But this is a very dangerous line of reasoning. As someone who has libertarian and conservative tendencies, I feel strike action should be avoided at all costs, and that sometimes they are unwarranted. But to completely ban them, goes too far the other way. Philosophy students would be aware of Aristotle's law of means - a virtue is the halfway point between two extreme vices.
The National Student •

How Thomas The Tank Engine highlighted a key issue with modern day journalism

It noted shock at an episode in which Henry refused to move, scared the rain will ruin his paintwork. As a punishment, he's bricked into the tunnel. The article talks about how "horrifying" this is. I remembered the episode and story vaguely so interested to read more. The article tries to be a bit light-hearted referring to the Fat Controller as a "part-time despot" and then stating the character was " bossing others around to build a wall (sound familiar?)" I'm sure Donald Trump won't be
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