Angbeen Abbas

When it comes to SU governance, I’m a bit of a sceptic. In the past three years of covering SU news in some capacity or the other, I still don’t know what the SU is really meant to accomplish apart from helping societies run events and providing drinks at Tuns. Josie Stephens and Faiso Kadiye, our current General Secretary and Community and Welfare Officer respectively, believe that it has potential to work better than before: that’s where the Democracy Review comes in.

People and Planet, a student network which campaigns for social justice and environmental policy in the UK, released their annual university league table last week. Universities are assessed based on sustainability and environmental impact, with each aggregate score being measured according to 13 categories, such as environmental policy, workers’ rights, ethical investments, and carbon reduction. For 2021, LSE ranks 11th place out of 154 universities across the UK, rising from 13th place in 201

I covered the controversial Debate Society event at LSE, where the Israeli Ambassador to the UK was invited to speak.

When Suyin Haynes started at LSE, she didn’t see herself as the type to become a journalist. Graduating in 2016 with a BSc in international relations and history, she started out as an intern with Time Magazine in London, later going on to become an Associate Editor, and then Senior Reporter at the Hong Kong bureau. This year, she became the new Editor-in-Chief of gal-dem, a media company dedicated to “sharing the perspectives of people of colour from marginalised genders”.

A review of PinkPantheress, a pop artist of TikTok fame

I wrote an opinion piece on how my faith informs my environmentalist beliefs, as well as how people of faith are actively shaping the environment around them for the better, and how their beliefs are at the core of their activism.

“Archives are raw history in a sense. They record an event at a certain time. And it’s only when you look back that you can interpret it … but archives are the raw face of history.” In this episode of the Pride miniseries, we talk to Dr. Gillian Murphy, the Curator for Equality, Rights, and Citizenship at the LSE Library. We discuss the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which met for the first time 50 years ago at LSE, and the Hall-Carpenter archives, which offer us an insight into its work.

It may sound like a cliché by now, but 2020 truly has been a whirlwind. The start of the year feels like it was both ages ago and yet only yesterday. However, despite all the doom and gloom, we’ve also seen music push the boundaries of genre, and bring us solace in what feels like the darkest timeline. In trying to make a list of the best albums that have come out of 2020, I know I’ve missed out on tons of powerful, beautifully created albums from this year. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is

Disclaimer: We hadn’t been paying attention to Taylor Swift’s music for years until folklore. Granted, Taylor Swift is an incredibly successful artist who has managed to remain relevant as the years passed by, while other pop stars were easily forgotten. However, Taylor herself was struggling throughout this time to figure out what the next step should be in order to keep her place in the spotlight. This led to a combination of unforgettable bops and some awkward failures that were never reflec

This is my submission for the Zeenat Haroon Rashid Prize, a literary prize for Pakistani women's writing. My submission focused on body dysmorphia, beauty standards, and self-image. I'm honoured to have made the shortlist.

“I didn’t realise how easy it is for governments to change structures … I just hope that when we go back to normal, things will be different.” – Tilly Mason. As England goes back into another national lockdown, we turn our attention towards stories from our first go at isolation. Compiling interviews from the summer, LSE students share how they’ve been taking care of themselves and their loved ones, and what they’ve learned over the past few months.

It’s difficult to have a relationship with God when it feels like religion is a responsibility forced on you and not an active choice. Growing up in Lahore, the rituals, the Quran lessons, the holidays, were things that it felt like we did because we were supposed to. Whether it was fasting for the month of Ramadan or my daily prayers, my participation was passive at best. For the longest time, I believed that this was the way one practised faith. None of the things that I knew I was supposed to

“Things like public transport, getting accustomed to the sheer size of London, I think it took a few months before I started getting used to London.” – Hussain Abbas, Alumnus. In this episode, we talk to Hussain Abbas about the experience of being an international student at LSE and settling into London. This is ‘The LSE Starter Pack’ from Beaver Sound. We bring you the real introduction to starting life at LSE. Subscribe to us on Spotify to hear more from us! Presented and produced by Angbeen Abbas

“I guess it would’ve been so nice just to have the sunny LSE campus that we have during exam period, where everyone’s stressed but we’re all together and we all go sit in a park and complain and then we go back to work. ” – Emma Guitera In this episode, we talk to Emma Guitera, a third-year studying International Relations, about engaging with LSE’s virtual campus with a big-time zone difference. We discuss assessments, dissertations, and how students and groups are staying connected with each other.

“The fact that there is solidarity coming from across the globe is extremely important… Our stories are not confined to this little bubble we are in. People are listening to what is happening.” – Mariyah Salim This week, we talked to Mariyah Salim, a researcher and humans rights activist, about the NRC and CAA in India. We discussed the political climate in India and the efforts to organise in response, as well as the importance of solidarity from abroad. Presented and produced by Angbeen Abbas

Welcome to Guftagu, which means ‘conversation’ in Urdu. Guftagu is a new Beaver Sound podcast in collaboration with LSE SU Pakistan Society, where we discuss issues related to South Asian social issues, culture, identity, and politics. Have a listen to the first episode on mental health in South Asian communities presented by Angbeen Abbas! “What I do every day, and counselling in itself is deeply political because people bring in their everyday experiences."

The Great Development Dialogue, sponsored by the Department of International Development, was held last Friday, 24 January, at the Hong Kong Theatre in Clement House. The dialogue, held annually, seeks to explore pressing issues in the field of development through a cross-disciplinary approach. This year, speakers discussed the political economy of land, covering broader issues on how economics, anthropology, and political science are important to an understanding of development.