Letters to the Editor: The Saint hates us, we don’t care.

Every so often we’re publishing and responding to your messages, get heard at ask.fm/the_stand

Why don’t you have a weekly weather report?!

We just never saw a need for one, but you can check out our daily report here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2638864

Why do the locals get so riled up with our antics? Sure raisin can get out of hand, but I can guarantee that none of them have been here longer than the Uni. Dont like it? Dont live here…

The Stand is firmly of the belief that everyone in this town can and should get along with each other. I feel well qualified to say students are idiots and do stupid things, that’s why locals get riled up. Here’s to town-gown peace in our time.

christmas ball woes. why do they have so little tickets? can’t you just hire the whole of st andrews?

Seems like there’s just tons of demand, that’s certainly a creative solution. I’m sure some self-important ball committee has considered that at some point.

people who think its a good idea to set off fireworks when you’re drunk. no. that’s how deformation happens.

I won’t say alcohol and fireworks mix, but I will say that the ‘Fuck Yeah’ quality of fireworks and explosions generally is enhanced by a couple beers; there’s something very primal about it.

It’s why Bonfire Night is still a holiday, and how I know Michael Bay is an alcoholic.

Who is that sexy guy with the long hair?

Compliments for the Stand’s staff should seek verbal articulation from the compliment-giver towards the prospective compliment recipient, preferably on a Friday night with a couple drinks down.

Is there a connection between race and the types of drugs that are considered legal?

A truly fascinating question, although I wonder if you’ve come to the right place for an answer.

If we accept that crimes are social constructs, and drug prohibition has historically appealed to visceral emotions (racism) rather than your run-of-the-mill liberal democracy rights discussion (‘consenting adults don’t have the right to decide what goes in their bodies’ isn’t that persuasive), it’s not difficult to imagine that race could have a connection to what drugs are illegal.

Every War Against Drugs needs a villain, and race, as an easy way of grouping people together, was often invoked to give an easily understood face to the menace of drugs. In the United States, stories of Chinese immigrants seducing white women with opium were paraded through tabloids, which led to the drug’s prohibition. In much the same way, the threat of ‘Mexican’ marijuana and ‘black’ cocaine were used as the basis for future bans.

Modern prohibitions are certainly not as overtly racist, but racial narratives do guide drug policy to this day – possession of crack cocaine, generally associated with African-American gangs, is punished far more harshly in the US than its ‘white’ powder cousin. So although the rationale behind most drug prohibition is expressly health-related, an understanding of historical basis of drug laws and their enforcement shows race is certainly a factor in drug policy.

so, this is a dodgy idea, huh?

We don’t think so, student publications are all about giving students their voice, and it might take the form of anonymous quips they want to shoot our way. And now people are reading them. I’ve never known St Andrews to be full of spiteful cowards who would take advantage of anonymity to criticise the lives and works of others.

This epitomizes how shit a paper you are.. this is such a forum for bullying and hate. It is really irresponsible to reintroduce this to St Andrews

Oof.

It’s worth noting that this is the meanest note in our inbox, and I’m not sure whether the irony inherent to that improves or undermines this reader’s point.

The Stand is decidedly anti-bullying, but very pro-free speech, it’s a dilemma for the ages but we’ll see how it resolves itself.

When will you become real journalists?

The beauty of free speech in action!

The short answer to this question is never. The long answer is NEEVVVVEEEERRRRRR.

The Stand has never been one to take itself too seriously, so appeals to parochial standards of journalism aren’t all that persuasive. We leave the boring stuff to other people.

whats the difference between the stand and the saint

The Stand likes writing stories that people are interested in reading, like opinions, fashion and features, we do our own thing.

It’s worth noting that we had a bit of BRAZEN misconduct when we stole one of the Saint’s pictures without permission, and ever since we’ve been getting comments about what hacks we are (like the questions above) and how the Saint has better reporting/images/sex than us.

The difference is this: we don’t make accusations on the Saint’s website (because it’s boring), we partner with the national Tab network (because they’re fun), and we don’t falsely report one of the university’s biggest sports clubs has disbanded based on the internal and expressly confidential communications of the club page, revealing the poster’s identity without their consultation (because we’re hacks). Hope that clears things up.

How do I find love in this town?

Oh man, from ‘real journalism’ to love in St Andrews, you haven’t taken your humble correspondent from strength to strength.

No need to treat love like some sort of endangered bird that, given the right strategy and equipment, can be found in an exploration.

This is a difficult age and a suffocating-ly small town, just try to enjoy yourself and don’t worry too much about fulfilling the social goals society assigned you.

Why is Janelle such a fine lady?

Compliments for the Stand’s staff should seek verbal articulation from the compliment-giver towards the prospective compliment recipient, preferably on a Friday night with a couple drinks down.

i was offended that your ‘drunk food champion’ article didn’t include the true champion, Courtyard.

Wasn’t the most complete article in fairness, it’s not like it purported to be a scientific comparison or anything. If you’d like to write a definitive guide to St Andrean drunk food, email us at [email protected], and we’ll publish it if it’s funny and we broadly agree with the points.

I fucking hate the Arabic department, and modern languages in general. After 4 years I’m ready to leave

I’m not a language student, so I can’t speak to this situation specifically, but I imagine every department becomes pretty annoying after four years. I think there’s language deadlines at the moment, so just hang in <3