Three things you must know this week…

The first week of classes at St Andrews is like coming back from vacation. Just as we’ve become accustomed to Freshers Week idleness, we are suddenly plunged into the harsh, cold reality of academia. In the past couple of weeks we may have neglected the world, but so much has happened, it is difficult to choose three stories to write about.

1. With such a sizeable American population, the upcoming American Presidential election will be will be the subject of many conversations in St Andrews this autumn. The choice between President Barack Obama and Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, to put it simply, leads to two drastically different futures for the federal government and its role in American society. Who needs reality television when the Presidential race is just as desperate? In this twenty-four hour, social media-driven newscycle, everything either candidate says or does is closely scrutinised.

On Monday, American news publication Mother Jones released a video of Governor Romney speaking at a private fundraiser in May, about voters who support President Obama. Governor Romney believed that the 47% of Americans that support the President are victims who depend solely on government aid. Furthermore, he expressed his belief that he could never convince Obama supporters to ‘take responsibility for their lives’. Needless to say, Democratic pundits had no idea Christmas would come so early this year.

2. In response to a American made YouTube film trailer that denigrates the Prophet Mohammad, released in Arabic this past week, protests and violence have spread across the Middle East and Africa. In Libya, Islamist militants attacked a United States diplomatic mission and killed American Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three members of his staff.

Protesters in Bahrain and Cairo tore down and burned the American flag at each of their United States Embassies. The violence highlights the delicate nature of the tenuous relationship between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. The American government is in a tricky situation: while the government condemns the video’s message, it also has to respect the producer’s right to Freedom of Speech.

3. The famous St Andrews couple is in the spotlight again. Although, we might call this moodlight, which is not what royal couple would have chosen. On Tuesday, the French court ordered French magazine Closer  to hand over all their copies of a scantily clad Duchess of Cambridge while she was on vacation in southern France, and on Wednesday, the police raided the magazine’s office in Paris to determine the identity of the photographer.

The Royal Family was unable to stop the issue from going to print, but the young couple will probably win the suit because French law strongly protects privacy rights. Oops.