Nearly New Year, Nearly New Me

Well here we are, the last edition of 2018. Many of you will be finishing assignments and preparing for exams but hopefully you can spare a few minutes during your break to hear me ‘shite’ on for the last time this year. So what’s in the news? Well unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that Ireland beat the All Blacks for just the second time in history, and the very first time in Dublin recently (apologies to our fantastic designer Holly, who herself is a ‘Kiwi’). That was a wonderful highlight on the back of another tumultuous week of Brexit negotiations. In the Republic of Ireland, Theresa May’s tenacity and doggedness has been commended. The proposed deal signs the death warrant for her personal political career, but she has arguably put her country before her party and before herself…….well in my eyes anyway! Closer to home, we have seen that Cork has hit the headlines on an international level, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. As you will see later in this edition, we have discussed the events surrounding the rape trial in Cork. Being from the ‘Rebel County’ myself, I wish that we could make headlines in the New York Times and Le Figaro for much more positive actions. However we must face the facts and realise the truth that is in front of us and it is time that we address these scandals today so that others are not affected tomorrow. I must admit that the thought of Christmas being less than a month away is causing me to have minor panic attacks. I have all my shopping to do so if anyone out there is a present/gift ‘guru’ then please let me hire you for a day. For the next week or so I think I might bring a sleeping bag to the Mardyke in order to make some space for all the food that’s inevitably coming my way in the near future. Having said that I’m probably far more likely to end up curling into a ball crying at John Lewis Christmas adverts while ploughing through a packet of jaffa cakes.I wish everyone reading this the best of luck over the next three weeks with all your exams and assignments. Thank you all for your continued support and for picking up the University Express over the last few months. Enjoy your time off and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll see you and all your New Year resolutions very soon!