I’m pleased to report that last week’s issue of the paper – my first issue as Exec – was sent to print exactly on time and without a hitch! Now whilst I wish I could say the same for this week, I do realise that some weeks are more trying than others for an Editorial Board, in terms of compiling and publishing 32 pages of content that mirror the manifold viewpoints and exploits of the LSE student body with éclat.
This particular week, we have a number of controversial and engaging issues doing the rounds on campus, such as the upcoming EGM on Summer Term Exam Timetables, the sacking of the ‘LSE 3’ Henry, Earney and Kingsley (front page and page 8), Barclays and RAG’s clash during the RAG Street Festival (refer page 3), the vitriolic diatribe of responses regarding Speakeasy (pages 10-11) and Craig Calhoun’s State of the School Address which I’ll be going along to in a couple of hours.
This week we also say goodbye to our outgoing News Editor and long-time Beaverite Suyin Haynes, and thank her for the dedication with which she has contributed to the Beaver, as well as for facilitating a smooth handover to her successors. I’d also like to welcome our newest addition to the Editorial board, Joseph Briers, who will be taking over the reins as News Editor alongside current News Editor Greg Sproston. Little does Joseph know what he’s gotten himself into – I for one did not have the heart to warn him of the dwindling social life, academic life and life in general to be expected – but he shall soon find out!
Now that I’m well into my second week as Executive Editor, this has resulted in the rather disturbing phenomenon of fellow students thinking that it is perfectly acceptable to throw “witty” puns and one-liners
at me, expecting me to chuckle appreciatively (truth be told, just smiling at some of these lines is a strain on my facial muscles). Some of the “top quality” banter include literary gems such as “Chief Beaver, eh? How’s the dam work going?”, “Hey busy Beaver – get it, get it?” as well as, “Has a Deputy Dictator (ie. Managing Editor) been appointed yet?”, and my personal favourite, “Is the Beaver office really and truly a thing??? Wow!”
Now despite popular fiction, the Beaver Editorial board do actually have a life outside of the Media Office. Whether that life is healthy and flourishing is questionable, but life does go on outside the glass and brick stronghold that is our Media Centre. For instance, our Sports Editor is currently training hard for Fight Night against a guy he diplomatically describes as being “bigger than me”, and which Wurr more aptly describes as being “fucking massive.” But biting off more than one can chew is a quintessential feature of being a Beaverite, and we have full faith that Dugan shall come out of the ordeal with a healthy respect for the sport, albeit minus a few teeth (if he comes out of it at all that is, bless him).
Our Comment Editor has also been very industrious as of late with heroic efforts to stay on top of her degree work. We salute her valiant attempts and determination, “You have permission to punch me if I don’t finish this essay by tomorrow!”, as by now most of us have given up hope that any of our readings will be done before class, that our formatives will be submitted on time, or that we shall write the first drafts of our summatives well in advance of looming March deadlines.
Greg, our News Editor, is keeping himself up to date with the Doctors’ Strikes going on and writing profusely on the subject; this is no doubt an issue which he is deeply passionate about and which you, dear reader, can expect to read more about within the pages of our illustrious newspaper this week, next week, the week after that, and then the week following, ad infinitum….
Furthermore, since this will (hopefully) be the last week I have an entire page to fill with Editorial content until a Managing Editor is elected, I’d like to take this opportunity (and expanse of white space) to congratulate our lively and spritely former Managing Editor, who has successfully regained a thriving social life since leaving her post (and a prospective date for the Grad Ball – whom she devastatingly #shotdown in an unexpected turn of events only 10 minutes later. Will he be able to recover from this setback? Find out in the next editorial!).
As for myself, just this weekend I helped organise the London Security Exercise Model United Nations Conference (LSE MUN) 2016 as the Deputy Secretary-General for Publicity and Communications. This year’s conference happens to be the seventh annual LSE MUN conference to be hosted by LSE, and is the largest crisis-run MUN simulation in Europe. The conference theme varies year by year, and this year we decided to go for the particularly bold theme of “Revolutions”. As such, the debates in the different cabinets were reflective of this, with topics such as the First Intifada, the October Revolution, the American Civil War, the Yellow Uprising and even a Game of Thrones crisis. All in all, a very busy weekend for the Beaver Editorial team. Since next week is reading week, the Beaver will not be issued, but we shall be back in week 7 after this very welcome and much-needed hiatus.
