''London Student'' is a student paper, originally the official student newspaper of the

University of London Union The University of London Union (ULU), known as Student Central after 2014, was the students' union of the federal University of London. Since the closure of its student governance, each student is instead primarily affiliated to a students' unio ...

. It began publishing in 1979 (replacing its predecessor ''Sennet'', including a redesign) and was at one point the largest student-run newspaper in Europe (representing over 120,000 students). At that time it was published weekly in term-time and printed in Gloucestershire, before being distributed to around 50 London sites including non-university further and higher education establishments, such as Polytechnics, overnight. It was financed by a combination of university grant and advertising. The editor was elected annually by other student journalists who had worked on the paper as a sabbatical from studies, and there was one staff member, a business manager and advertising sales person. The paper stopped publishing in 2014 after the University of London withdrew funding, but relaunched itself online the following year under a new editorial team. It is now an independent publication with ultimate control over content and appointments vested in the editorial team as a worker co-operative. Until its closure in 2014, ''London Student'' distributed 12,500 copies fortnightly during termtime throughout the university year, equating to approximately 12 issues annually. This once made it the largest student newspaper in Europe. A campaign to save it was led by the paper's last editor, Oscar Webb, including an open letter to the University of London signed by journalists Amol Rajan, Anita Annand, Laurie Penny and the academic

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961 – September 2, 2020) was an American and British anthropologist, Left-wing politics, left-wing and anarchism, anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in Social anthropology, social ...

, among others, ''London Student'' closed in July 2014 after funding from the university was withdrawn. It was relaunched as a co-operative not affiliated to the University of London in January 2015, and is now published online. The most recent print edition was a single issue published 1 October 2015. Following its relaunch, ''London Student'' won Best Newcomer at the 2016 Student Publication Association (SPA) Awards. ''London Student'' won Best Website at the 2017 SPA Awards and was Highly Commended for Best Use of Digital Media.

Notable stories

In March 2006, the newspaper broke the story that ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

'' newspaper had offered student reporters money to infiltrate and record meetings of student Islamic societies in the wake of the London bombings of 7 July 2005. The report, headlined 'Nailed on Sunday', created some international media coverage, although the response in the UK was more muted. ''The Mail on Sunday'' responded by saying that they were investigating "a subject of great public interest" and had acted "responsibly", but did not deny the allegations. Also in spring 2006, ''London Student'' was one of few in the country to take a strong supportive stance of lecturers concerning the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), now the

University and College Union The University and College Union (UCU) is a British trade union in further and higher education representing over 120,000 academics and support staff. UCU is a vertical union representing casualised researchers and teaching staff, "permanent" ...

(UCU), joint strike action as they fought for better pay and conditions. The story led the paper from Christmas onwards, with the exception of the issue containing 'Nailed on Sunday'. In October 2013, the paper broke the story that departing

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(UCL) Provost Malcolm Grant's leaving party cost the college over £17,000. The story was later picked up by local and national newspapers. In January 2018, ''London Student'' exposed the existence at UCL of secret conferences on eugenics and intelligence with speakers including white supremacists. The story was picked up by the national papers, many crediting ''London Student'' in their reports.

Design

For many years, the newspaper was a red-top tabloid. This changed when Patrick Ward was editor, with a transition toward a midmarket newspaper that better matched the more serious journalistic style of the paper's contributors. The cultural pullout section also returned, under the new name of 'Play'. In 2012, the newspaper had to cut back due to funding difficulties with ULU, meaning the paper was condensed, with many sections shortened, although none were removed. The newspaper's format was heavily redesigned under Oscar Webb's tenure by Deputy Editor Adam Gillett, bringing it closer in style to a mainstream publication and introducing the redesigned 'The Smoke' culture section.

Culture section

"Play" was the ''London Student''s culture pullout section, replaced by "The Smoke" in 2013 and "Skirr" in 2015. It had various pages devoted to certain cultural coverage, including Music, Arts, Food, Theatre and Fashion, as well as often multidisciplinary features. Each section often gained access to national press events, previews and interviews with significant artists or people prominent within each cultural discipline:

Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...

Park Chan-Wook Park Chan-wook (; born 23 August 1963) is a Koreans, South Korean film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Cinema of South Korea, South Korean cinema a ...

, Iain Rankin, British Sea Power,

Doug Stanhope Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, political activist and podcast host. His stand-up material consist of profane and confrontational observations of life. Early life Stanhope was born in Worcest ...

, Ruby Tandoh, Michael Horovitz,

Of Montreal of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collec ...

, The Coen Brothers and

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

were featured in previous issues of the magazine, among other notable figures. Past editors of the sections have included Rena Minegishi, Emma Hope Allwood, Bryony Bowie, Jake-Pace Lawrie, Robert Kiely, Kate Vine, Rina Buznea, Peter Yeung, Jack Kirby and Matt Williamson. After the proposed closure of the University of London Union in the 2014/15 academic year, "The Smoke" became the final edition of ''London Students cultural supplement. "Skirr" replaced it in 2015/16 under the editorship of then London Student co-editors Dea Gjinovci, Ben Jackson, Ed Ive, James Smith, and Donato Paolo Mancini.

Competition

College magazines, such as

's ''Pi'',

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

's ''Roar'' and

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

's ''Cub'', generally offer a different style of coverage to ''London Student'', there is genuine competition in terms of breaking news from five college newspapers: '' Felix'' at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, '' The Beaver'' at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, ''The Lion'' at

Heythrop College Heythrop College, University of London, was a constituent college of the University of London between 1971 and 2018, last located in Kensington Square, London. It comprised the university's specialist faculties of philosophy and theology with soc ...

and '' The Orbital'' and ''

The Founder ''The Founder'' is a 2016 American Biographical film, biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel (filmmaker), Robert Siegel. Starring Michael Keaton as businessman Ray Kroc, the film depicts the story of h ...

'' at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

, as well as investigative student publications such as UCL's The Cheese Grater. Editions of the commercial ''The Sanctuary'' newspaper added marginally to competition at

and the

during the academic year 2007–8.

Sennet

''Sennet'' was the direct predecessor of ''London Student''. It was published from 1954. Its first three editors were Fred Allgood, Dinesh Kale and Peter Stamford. In 1959 the editor was Jean Rook, later best known for her long association with the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' where she was nicknamed the "first lady of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

". Extensive, though incomplete, archives of both newspapers are held at both the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

's library, and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Newspaper section in Colindale.

References

External links

''London Student'' website
{{Newspapers in London Student newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers established in 1979 University of London Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom London newspapers 1979 establishments in England