Reality Check

In this episode we reconvened remotely to catch up on our quarantine antics. We discussed the recent changes set out by the UK government with regards to lifting the lockdown and also how we've kept ourselves busy during these uncertain times. Stay safe and enjoy!

For a special lockdown episode this week we were joined by mental health campaigner Ben West. He's campaigning to get mental health first aid to become a compulsory part of teacher training in the UK. We think this is hugely important, so in the episode we discussed how we can reform the way we approach the topic of mental health, especially with regards to men and the phenomenon of toxic masculinity. We also discussed how we can look after our mental health during this tough time. Apologies the quality isn't as good as usual - due to the lockdown we are recording remotely!Thanks for listening, enjoy xYou can sign Ben's petition here: https://www.change.org/p/saveourstudents

Last Sunday it was International Women's Day and so this week we decided to explore some of the inequalities that still exist between men and women by debunking the gender pay gap. We compared different gender pay gaps across a variety of countries, including the Nordics, Rwanda and South Korea. What remains fairly consistent in the West is the fact that the gender pay gap widens significantly after a woman has children, and so we discussed the idea of the Motherhood Penalty and how it needs to be broken down by reforms to paternal leave.

Food and eating is a unique fusion whereby humans behave both biologically and socially. The practice can be deeply embedded within one's upbringing and culture. We talked about our own relationships with food, and the significance of it in our own individual cultures and backgrounds.

Electoral reform has been a ubiquitous topic in politics for some time now. We discussed the different types of voting systems in relation to the UK's first-past-the-post, which has come under criticism for failing to attribute any power to minority parties.