Reflecting on a year of courting controversy

And so it ends. My time as Comment editor comes to a close with this issue of the paper. Although I hadn’t planned on writing a piece reflecting on my time with The Boar, it’d be foolish to give up the chance to put myself in print for one final hurrah. In any case, I do have some people I’d be remiss not to quickly thank for their contributions. First among these – on a really lame note – is my father, who encouraged me to run for this position around a year ago, and as such shares a portion of the blame for all that I’ve produced.

Second are my deputy editors, who have been nothing short of brilliant. While I was far from an asset when I was a dep, Rhal, Alex, and Zaki have royally shown me up through their tireless commitment to all things Comment. They’ve made my job immeasurably easier, infinitely more enjoyable, and deserve a huge amount of kudos for their contribution to the paper. Third are Cameron and Clara, both of whom have worked themselves half to death overseeing everything and have offered invaluable advice and help over the year – they’ve always been there when I’ve needed them.

If you’ve read the Comment section this year – however regularly, lazily, or angrily – this final round of gratitude is aimed right at you. Although I’ve never laboured under the illusion that the paper can change the world, I certainly do hope that the content I’ve published has informed, challenged, and contributed to the intellectual life of Warwick.

I certainly do hope that the content I’ve published has informed, challenged, and contributed to the intellectual life of Warwick

A real priority of mine this year has been to curate a section which provides elegantly written, robustly argued, and ideally groundbreaking opinions. I’ve especially tried to achieve that last point – encouraging writers to push their arguments to their logical conclusions and say something original. My philosophy has rather been that if somebody has gone to the effort of reading an article, they ought to have a reasonable expectation of learning something or gaining a new insight.

Sometimes in the course of pushing writers to produce original arguments, what they have written has ended up being controversial. It would certainly be unprecedented for a Comment editor to leave the section having not offended anyone at some point or another – and my time has been unexceptional in that regard. While causing upset is clearly regrettable, I feel no compunction and certainly have no regrets about the articles I’ve published.

To attempt to move past orthodoxy and push arguments into fresh terrain is inevitably to risk causing offence. My feeling is that the value added by promoting critical and independent thought outweighs the risk of potentially causing upset. This isn’t to say that I had a particularly pugnacious view of what the Comment section should be, just that I placed a premium on good arguments.

It would certainly be unprecedented for a Comment editor to leave the section having not offended anyone at some point or another – and my time has been unexceptional in that regard

There were things I would have liked to have done but due to a mixture of circumstance, balancing a degree, and other priorities couldn’t. In an ideal world I would have liked to have included a cartoon in each issue of the paper – but unfortunately there are precious few individuals possessed of the mixture of artistic talent and creative inspiration willing to regularly put their skills to work for free and for very little recognition. I would also have liked to branch out into more video content, and to take Comment to the people by asking regular students for their opinions as they go about their days.

Before I finish this letter and pass on the baton to my successors, I’d like to finish by offering some words of encouragement. Casting my mind back to my first year at university, I can hardly remember sending in my first piece for Comment. It was a rather bellicose and terribly idiosyncratic article, which the then-editor was gracious enough to include in the paper. What I can recall though, is how it felt to see my name in print.

That same feeling was what spurred me to apply to become a deputy editor later in the year, and then to run for the position of Comment editor just over a year ago. That first, horribly imperfect article opened the door to a world of great opportunities. If you are reading this and have been on the fence about getting involved with Comment or The Boar in general, I have but one thing to say to you: bloody well do it.