Palatinate (newspaper)

By Hugh Ludford Durham University is "unlikely" to reach Net Zero by its 2035 target, according to newly-released meeting minutes. In a meeting of the University Council in February (minutes released in August), the council heard that "although the University did perform well in sustainability and environmental league tables ... the University was unlikely to achieve its zero-carbon emissions ambition by 2035".

News Editor Gussie Coulter joins development economist and GiveDirectly founder, Paul Niehaus, to explore the tractability of extreme poverty, direct cash transfers and his recent paper, 'What would it cost to end extreme poverty?' By Gussie Coulter "You guys must be smoking crack" was one criticism Paul Niehaus and fellow graduate students at Harvard and MIT faced when they conceived GiveDirectly in 2008. Others, he recalls, "literally said 'I hate it'".

Content Warning: offensive language Offensive chats, such as one which said that Adolf Hitler was "too lenient", were left on a Durham Freshers WhatsApp group including over 500 prospective Durham University students. The Whatsapp community, named 'Durham Scammer Free 2026', has various sub-groups, including one titled 'Hinge and Dating', which is where the comment on Adolf Hitler was made. The community is unaffiliated with the University, and is moderated by prospective Durham students.

Imagine a scenario in which all the rhinos, giraffes or crocodilians of the world went suddenly extinct. Imagine that horseshoe crabs, or okapi, or camels, or orangutans were to vanish in the blink of an eye (pick a card; any card). Fifteen years after this extinction event, you have a child. Driving them home from school one day you drift into reminiscence, retelling a trip to the zoo you took on a weekend during university study.

The Durham Tab published an anonymous contributor comment described by students as "homophobic" in a now-deleted social media post. The anonymous comment appeared in a post uploaded to Instagram and Facebook displaying submissions from students about what makes each Durham college unique.

Durham University will receive €275,000 to co-lead the development of an 'AI Sandbox', a controlled environment to test artificial intelligence models. This is part of an international project which aims to support skills development and business growth with AI innovation. This funding, from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), is a portion of the €2 million that has been awarded for the overall project.

Durham Fringe Festival kicks off on 29th July, featuring more shows and performances than ever before. Now in its sixth iteration, the Fringe will involve five days of the arts onstage. The 130 shows and almost 300 performances expected throughout the week include theatre, comedy, circus, and more. "We are so excited to be returning with our most ambitious Fringe Festival to date," said Festival Manager Maria Baranowska.

Durham's Vice-Chancellor, Karen O'Brien, has criticised the incoming levy on international students studying in the UK, labelling it "absolute insanity". Asked on a Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) webinar what her one ask of a prospective new Government would be, O'Brien said "could they please take the international student levy off the table".

Recently, I have been reading Lucy Steed's The Artist; I was pleasantly surprised by the book's plot, characters, and feminist message, all set against a complex landscape where art is held at the pinnacle of importance. Set in 1920s Provence, France, in the immediate wake of the First World War - romance and mystery are expertly concealed within the historical fiction of the text, which presents the landscape as a slice of paradise.

Durham students responded with the third-lowest positive response rate in the Russell Group when asked how well their students' union represents their interests, according to the 2026 National Student Survey (NSS). Question 25 asked 'How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests?'. Though Durham improved by 8.2 percentage points from last year's response to the same question, it remains near the bottom of the Russell Group.