Uni is almost out for summer now and Squeamish Sue, our resident mature student, will not be spending her freedom watching the World Cup, instead she will be trying to get an accurate recording of her neighbours...

Exams are almost over, three down and one to go and then I will have finished my second year. We have already had to attempt a subject choice so a mentor can be assigned to us, and in the first week of the September term we have to hand in a literature review, so that means a lot of work over the summer break.

Nick Clegg has been pretty busy lately. Posing with the Sun newspaper (with a suspiciously clear desk behind him), uh, he's probably eaten lunch a few times, fended off an attempted putsch (putsch by poll, that would suck) and gone down the pub with Vince Cable because they are mates, guys. Total mates. And why not, they've got nothing else on, being photographed with a pint in hand works for Nigel Farage. In fact Nick Clegg even pulled a pint (the photo shows he went for London Pride rather than Iron Maiden's Trooper) which is something to put on the old CV. Just in case, always good to have a fall back. But while we know the drapes would be yellow, what would a proper Lib Dem pub be called? Here are some of our suggestions...

Pharrell Williams, having released an album inspired by the support he has received from women over his lifetime, recently said it was "not possible" for him to be a feminist (oh, it's possible for him to dress up as a Native American but not to take on the feminist badge). It's something that cis female feminists haven't agreed upon, can men be feminists? Or only pro-feminists or 'equalists'? While Pharrell feels he isn't qualified to identify a group of young men have taken a course in feminism at their high school. They have since been filmed by their teacher discussing what they have learned about feminism and whether or not they identify as feminists. 

That dread time of the year is fast approaching, pubs are buying in TVs and Sky subscriptions, lager is displaying sponsorship deals and offices are preparing sweepstakes. It seems to me like every year there is a World Cup, but I am assured this is not true and the nations are starved of World Cuppery for four years. I, like many people simply don't like football. But I don't like a lot of things, many of these disliked things fall under the category of sport - so why does football irk me so much? Could it be because football seems to be the sport which, when presented by the media and advertising, works hardest to keep women out? Painting them as nagging ball and chains who interfere with men's beer drinking, TV watching and nylon shirt wearing. Amirite lads? Is it any wonder incidents of domestic violence against women rises during the World Cup?

When we speak of war, when we speak of past wars we speak of young men lost before their lives have truly begun. Of battle. Of triumphs. Speak of the Second World War and we might mention the home front and of women taking on men's jobs, or cooking with rations. When it comes to war and sex it seems we can't help but romanticise it. Films and books about war often feature a young unwed couple deciding that love conquers all and the girl (this is always a hetero couple) allowing the boy to finally get a quick fiddle beneath her chemise. I'm sure this was and is the reality for some people. War is so terrible we can perhaps be forgiven for wishing to sentimentalise it on occasion. However when we talk about war and sex we need to talk about sex being used as a weapon of war. [Trigger warning]

We aren't all marketing executives but we are all aware - whether we agree with it or not - that sex sells. The notion of sex is used to sell things where you can follow the thought process: perfume, underwear, toothpaste (nobody wants to kiss you with morning/coffee/smoky breath and if you need to be told that via sexy toothpaste ads then so be it I say. So be it.) and to sell things that until now you had no clue could ever be linked to sex. Such as cheeseburgers. By the way if any of you are in advertising might I suggest you start using sex to sell cleaning products? Bet you thought I was going to go all Bill Hicks on your asses. No I just think if people thought the cleanliness of their loo could affect their chances they might clean them more often. Just a thought. But let's return to logical sex selling. Perfume. 

Do you ever meet someone from your past and realise after half an hour of catching up that your voice has... changed? Vowels widening or slang you hadn't thought about in 20 years suddenly popping out of your mouth as if you use them every day? There are so many varieties and kinds of English and the way we talk can pin our upbringing down to within a few miles. But might all that change. It might sound like one of those manufactured moral panics that crop up every so often - 'the ubiquity of American television is homogenising our language!' 'there's no such thing as regional accents any more!' But then again, apparently some accents and dialects really are at risk of dying out What a shame that would be. If there's one thing that makes English interesting, it's the hugely different number of ways of saying the same thing. And, let's face it, the potential for comedy contained within that as well - ask an American for a fag and enjoy their confusion until they ask you for their thongs and get annoyed when you pass them pants instead of flip-flops. We're not sure that English is going to be standardised any time soon, but it does seem like a good time to think about some of our favourite examples...

Feminists no doubt often wonder if they are making any impact on the word at all. People seem to think they are a movement of the past, that feminists haven't walked the earth since the braless 1970s, or that feminism is no longer required. So perhaps it is encouraging to see there's now a Change.org petition urging the US government to classify feminism as a terrorist organisation. Janet Wilkinson believes it is time feminism stopped interfering with men and women who have chosen a lifestyle and which to stick with it. Yeah you thought feminism was about allowing men and women et al to pick the lifestyle that's right for them and have the freedom to live it in safety but Janet says you are wrong, wrong, wrong. 

Hi! Are you a cis woman? Quick, yes or no. OK if you can concentrate over the deafening sounds of your biological clock (tick tock) answer this: fertility of career? Quickly, quickly you haven't got all day. Or all your twenties even. Oh yeah if you're over 27 you're disqualified from that question, your decision was made for you and we hope you like your job, you career gal you. Bit selfish though. Yeah someone else has gone on the record suggesting women have babies as early as acceptably possible. This time it's Location, Location, location's Kirstie Allsopp. But is that really what she said? As a childless woman who, in Telegraph and Daily Mail years, is fast approaching barrenness and regret I'm regularly pitted against women who had babies in their twenties. Fertility doesn't have time for career building, we're regularly told, but is this a question of the fertility clock or capitalism's time table? 

The month of May 2014 brought us much to despair about. It was the month that misogyny became visible. There's always a body count that shows misogyny is still here, but it seems there's no glory for politicians or celebrities in talking about domestic violence or what is perhaps best described in current online terms as 'Everyday VAWG'. Yawn. Sort it out ladies. I address the ladies because the impression is repeatedly given that the women affected put themselves in their terrible situation. But so what if they did? They are still not the perpetrator. So why was May different? Well several things happened that could not be so easily connected to a short skirt and an alcopop.