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Jeevan Farthing

I am freelance opinion and culture writer with bylines in Clash, The Face, Dazed, and The Social Review.

I was Editor-in-Chief of The Glasgow Guardian newspaper during the academic year 23/24, having previously served as Culture Editor and Features Editor. I oversaw a team of over 40 people, subbed articles according to media law, and used Adobe InDesign to produce our monthly print editions. 

Under my leadership, The Glasgow Guardian won Student Newsbrand of the Year at The Herald's Student Press Awards, and was Highly Commended for Best Publication in the UK at the Student Publication Association (SPA) National Awards.
Individually, I've won highly commended for four SPA awards: - Best Culture Writer, Best Interview, Best Investigation (2024); Best Lifestyle Piece (2022).

I am a final year Law and Politics (LLB) student at the University of Glasgow. I also worked as a John Smith Centre Parliamentary Intern for the leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar MSP.

Contact: jeevanfarthing@gmail.com

Dazed •

Iris Duane wants to be the first trans woman of colour in Parliament

The 21-year-old Scottish Greens candidate for Glasgow North speaks to Dazed about her views on Keir Starmer, why all leftists should support electoral reform, and how socialism could come to Britain

Many 21-year-olds have political ambitions, but few are already on the ballot paper fighting a general election as a parliamentary candidate. But Iris Duane is standing for the Green Party in Glasgow North, and hoping to become the first trans woman of colour in Parliament. Having grown up in West Y
The Glasgow Guardian •

100 years of Jaconelli's

In conversation with James Evans, owner of Cafe D’Jaconelli, only 5 minutes from Murano Street and 15 minutes from campus. We chat ice cream, Trainspotting, Billy Connolly and World War Two.

Go to 570 Maryhill Road and you’ll enter a time warp. “Since 1924”, a ribbon-laced sign says. It’s in front of a huge plastic ice cream cone, a 99, sitting in the window of Jaconelli’s, which last year turned 99 years old. Inside the art deco cafe are semi-circular leather booths, a jukebox, a fish tank, ja
The Glasgow Guardian •

Review: Simon Murphy’s Govanhill - a bold photographic portrait

Simon Murphy’s new exhibition Govanhill captures a transient snapshot of the Glasgow Southside area.

Framed on the wall of Street Level Photoworks is a photograph of a young girl, she is around 11 or 12 years old. School uniform on, cigarette in hand, head cocked to the side, she poses, defiantly, outside the entrance to one of the Southside’s tightly packed tenement flats. I want to know her name.

She’s just one of hundreds of Glaswegians—more specifically, inhabitants of the Govanhill area—w
The Face •

5 student newspaper writers on being a first-year in 2023

“Believing the 2020 start of my computer science course would be normal was wishful thinking. I spent a fair wedge of time locked down in a half-empty four-bed with weird yellow wallpaper and cans everywhere, playing records at full volume and burning wooden pallets with my housemate Phil. I can look back now, in my final year, and say that this period slapped thanks to him. But it all reads a bit desolate contrasted with the ​“normal” experiences enjoyed by previous generations.

Newcastle’s 20
The Glasgow Guardian •

Live from the Booker Prize ceremony: Paul Lynch wins 2023 award

Paul Lynch, winner of The Booker Prize 2023, told the awards ceremony that he risked “dooming his career” by writing Prophet Song. His dystopian novel follows an ordinary, middle-class family, The Stacks, whose lives deteriorate in tandem with the city where they live, Dublin. Written poetically – with no paragraph breaks or speech marks – its tragedy lies in the helplessness of its characters: its floundering mother, Eilish, and her bed-wetting, school-skipping children. Prophet Song is formida
The Glasgow Guardian •

Glasgow deserved better from COP26

Two years since COP26. Two years since Prince Charles turned up at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Joe Biden was chauffeur driven past my halls of residence to a VIP-dinner, and John Kerry was spotted outside The Dirty Duchess in Finnieston. Two years since 100,000 of us took the streets and crammed around George Square for hours, craning our necks to catch a glimpse of Greta Thunberg (who, despite many rumours, unfortunately failed to turn up to Polo Wednesday the following week).
The Glasgow Guardian •

University spends millions on rooms sitting empty

Data seen by The Glasgow Guardian suggests there to be over 500 empty rooms in University-owned accommodation.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request obtained by The Glasgow Guardian has revealed substantial decreases in the overall occupancy rates of student accommodation available to University of Glasgow (UofG) students compared with the previous academic year.

The occupancy rate of beds within student accommodation owned by the University of Glasgow stands, as of 12 October 2023, at 85.35%
The Glasgow Guardian •

Experimental dance and chronic pain: In conversation with Sarah Hopfinger

Living with invisible pain can be debilitating, but artist and Royal Conservatoire researcher, Sarah Hopfinger, endeavours to turn her pain into art through her autobiographical show, Pain and I, performed at Tramway on November 8 and 9.

Sarah Hopfinger has lived with chronic back pain since she was 14. In the script for her immersive autobiographical performance, Pain and I, she admits feeling “embarrassed” by her pain, and wishing it would “disappear for good”. Because she “can’t always sit f
The Glasgow Guardian •

Instagram and me; Instagram is me

By adopting the perspective of the Instagram version of himself, can our Editor-in-Chief better understand his toxic relationship with social media?

Sometimes I think about the Instagram version of myself, as if they were sentient, like me. As I watch them grow and develop, I feel like I’ve created and nurtured them, like a parent does with their child. What would they perceive of the things they do, the places they go, the people they interact with? Would they be satisfied with the existence t
The Glasgow Guardian •

Editorial: Higher education is in crisis, the University must act

The decisions of administration this academic year will be fundamental to the student experience.

Freshers’ week is once more upon us at the University of Glasgow, and with it comes for many of you a fresh start – perhaps you’re a fresher leaving your hometown to embark upon your university journey, or a returning student moving into the next phase of your academic career. Unfortunately, as we embrace the new beginnings that September offers, students and staff alike are unable to leave behind
The Glasgow Guardian •

Ten Years since Sheryl Sandberg told women to Lean In

Since Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In topped bestseller lists, we have entered the fourth wave of feminism. This has been, in part, defined by the #metoo movement which challenged sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as a renewed focus on intersectionality. Neither of these two issues are addressed by Lean In, and Sandberg’s supposedly feminist manifesto has largely failed on its own terms - the number of female tech leaders has fallen. Sandberg herself called it quits in June last year, taking
The Glasgow Guardian •

A quintessential guide to Glasgow’s queer spaces

Congratulations on becoming a glas-gay. If you’re reading this in freshers’ week, you will probably find yourself in Colourfest at Hive, expecting Paris is Burning but instead grooving to Ne-Yo and Usher. It is a rite of passage.

What freshers’ week easily overlooks is that University Avenue is essentially a city within a city; there is an entire Glasgow ready and waiting for your exploration. So, whether you’re from a village still at least 25 years away from its first Pride parade, or you fin
Ed Fringe Review •

Review: Tokyo Fugue

Johann Sebastian Bach is turning in his grave. His Prelude and Fugue in D minor has been completely deconstructed and its structure reapplied, becoming the backbone of an enthralling production with just three bodies and three chairs. Directors Kentaro Suyama and Tania Coke are joined by Toshihiko Nishimura on stage, as they present a philosophical exploration of the repetitive, dehumanising and overwhelming nature of the commute. Through this,
The Social Review •

Boris and Sturgeon: The Odd Couple

A good nemesis is often a necessary complement to any protagonist; it is often the case in politics. In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon presents her leadership as the antithesis of Boris Johnson’s. She appears professional, competent and sensible compared to the bumptious buffoonery inside Number 10. Yet beyond the obvious differences, the two leaders sustain their hegemony in similar ways, deploying populist tactics to build electoral rapport and paint themselves as embodiments of hope for a better f