11th edition, 30 May 2014 – Pike & Hurricane

Activism Through Sport: Running the Palestine Marathon

Rodrigo de Souza — Fri, 30 May 2014 17:53:29 +0000

The very first time I heard about the Right to Movement Palestine Marathon was with a little bit of sadness. The very first marathon had just happened and I missed it, this was about a year ago. However, as a student of International Relations, passionate about foreign affair and an avid runner, I knew I could not let the second one pass without being part of it.

The Israeli-Palestine conflict is one of the most important events of the second half of the 20^th century and continues to be unresolved in the first decades of the 21^st century. It’s a source of violence in the Middle East that spreads its consequences throughout the near region and the world. These consequences come in the form of refugees and terrorist acts that shape the foreign relations of the biggest economy and most powerful military in the planet… the United States. Therefore, for anyone involved in foreign affairs, this struggle is a great source of interest. At the same time, it is such a complex situation that it is really difficult even for the most knowledgeable ones to give an opinion without seeming biased. However, there is a clear power difference in this fight between the parties and it resembles to David against Goliath. In this case, David wouldn’t represent the king of Israel but the Palestinians who are much weaker economically and militarily in comparison to Israel. This is my motivation to run. Although I can’t give a solution and point fingers in such a complex issue, I know Palestinians have an uphill battle to achieve their rights and that’s the reason why they need the help of the international community since they can’t couple with this struggle on their own.

The same desire to help was the reason why a group of Danish runners and activists together with local Palestinians in Bethlehem created an organisation called The Right to Movement. This institution is responsible for the creation of the Palestine Marathon which first happened in 2013. Their pledge is to create awareness about the restrictions on movement that Palestinians endure in their everyday life. According to their website, “Palestinians cannot move freely on roads or from one city to another. The Palestinians right to move is controlled by their ID, permits, which city they live in, or who they are married to. The environment that Palestinians were supposed to move freely in is occupied and thus controlled by a foreign army. An army that controls their movement with roadblocks, checkpoints, military zones, an illegal wall and a complex set of discriminatory laws”.

This restriction on Palestinian’s right to movement is highlighted by the fact that the race organisation had problems finding the necessary 42.192 kilometres stretch of roads necessary for an official Marathon without reaching a wall or checkpoint. To solve this problem the full marathon race was performed doing two laps on a shorter distance. This issue highlights the point of the whole event, to show that Palestinians don’t have one of the basic rights stipulated in the United Nations Human Rights declaration. The right is enshrined in Article 13 which stipulates that “everyone has the right to freedom of movement”.

The race took place in Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus. It started in front of the Church of Nativity, where Christians believe the physical location where Christ was born, adding to the grandiosity of the event. The first kilometres are run next to the Wall which by many Israelis is referred to as the “separation barrier” and by many Palestinians as “apartheid wall.” In 2004, the International Court of Justice deemed the Wall illegal as it is not build on the 1967 border, the so-called Green Line, but instead is built inside the Palestinian territories thus separating Palestinians from Palestinians and Palestinians from their land. Palestinians need permits to cross the wall through military check points whereas Israelis can move freely from one side to the other. The Palestinian side of the Wall has graffiti that symbolises their struggle.

After a few kilometres and alongside the wall we ran through the Palestinian refugee camp of Al Ayda, where the entrance is marked by a huge key. This key symbolises the actual keys from the houses where many Palestinian used to live before being expelled during the creation of Israel. Even today, some keep the original keys as a wish to return to their original land. Runners go through a second refugee camp, Ad Dheisheh, which has 13,000 registered inhabitants, a third of them unemployed. The result is a view of poverty and a life of difficulties.

Besides some foreign faces, the great majority were local runners. The total number of athletes added up to more than 2,500 from 38 different countries, which is quite a respectable number since this is only the second year of this event and the travel conditions and security concerns (which were non-existent) can drive off many competitors. Of those runners, 35% were female, which is also respectable considering the circumstances.

Running in a majority Muslim region has its particularities. What surprised me the most was the beautiful prayers coming out of the local mosques. Personally, it gave me a quite relaxing feeling which is not common for someone who is preparing to run for more than 3 hours straight. Aside from that, clothing precautions have to be taken in regards to female runners. Although few wore the full head-covering, nearly all (including the foreigners) had to cover their knees as well as shoulders. All of these safeguards added to the difficulties of running a Marathon since the weather was really hot which apparently didn’t change the local boys culture of also running with long pants, even though we were not instructed to do so.

According to the organisation, the race was a great success and another one will follow next year, in an attempt to make of it an annual event. This will fulfil the organisers’ wishes, that like any other country, Palestine should also have the right to host its own Marathon.

By Rodrigo de Souza

Image credit:

Picture 1: israeltourism, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 2: Brian Negin, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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The Future of the Anthropocene – Global Environmental Change as Our Greatest Opportunity

EditorChief — Fri, 30 May 2014 17:39:14 +0000

This article was submitted as part of our writing competition on “What scares or excites you about the future?”.

At the time of the Industrial Revolution in the latter half of the 18^th century, humanity started to have a significant effect on the environment and thereby a new geological era began – the Anthropocene. Humanity’s effect has since increased and now climate change, and by extension environmental and energy security, can be seen as the biggest challenge to our contemporary consumption-based society. Risk management measures suggest that the threats of climate change is highly probable and will have severe outcomes when manifested, and who dares to argue against this? The effects of rapidly increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, amplified natural disasters both in terms of numbers and destructiveness, disputes over natural resources and what seems as unceasing competition over fossil fuels, constitutes a quite compelling argument against the daring. Fortunately, this text is not created in order to scare, rather its purpose is to turn the tables and inspire a quite different attitude towards climate change and its seemingly intimidating consequences.

Even though I will attempt to put a positive spin on global climate change, this does not mean that I blindly welcome climate change because Sweden gains, from some perspectives, a more pleasant temperature and favourable environment. Instead, I believe environmental change opens up for a different perspective, a perspective which allows curiosity, excitement and even hope in the many apocalyptic predictions offered in contemporary times throughout popular science and mass media. Global environmental change, with all its dangers could be seen as humanity’s greatest opportunity to come together and work complementarily towards a common goal, which has proven to play an essential part in conflict resolution. It might also be a cause for a new policy, where our priorities change from competitive exclusionary politics and perceived valuable numbers – in other words, money – to something completely different.

There is of course a risk that this will not happen, and even if it were to, it could be a development with worse effects than the contemporary political developments on the global arena. Do not take me as naïve; I do recognise the severity of our situation. Everyone will be affected in many ways, and unfortunately, those who will suffer the most are those who are already considered less fortunate and less secure today. Not only will poor populations be forced to move because of new extreme conditions geographically, but, as Simon Dalby puts it, “[t]he larger danger is that such tropes produce a policy environment where the rich and powerful use force to keep the poor and marginal away from their prosperous states”.

Dalby, amongst others, does point out that the effects of climate change affect trade routes, migration and resource conflicts, which in turn forces militaries to pay attention to what is happening in the biosphere. There lies a positive potential within the role of the militaries, since they may influence both politicians and corporate decision-makers to change their priorities to the urgent matter of environmental change and security. In other words, within the arena of security institutions, the matter of global environmental change is gaining ground, which can be seen as one step towards a new manner of security thinking and through this, new opportunities in policy-making.

In addition to this, evolutionary theories speak of our survival instinct as one of the strongest found in human beings, and since we ourselves got us into this urgent state of being, it seems no more than fair that it is our responsibility to act. Many political discussions focus on who should respond to the increasing dangerous consequences of climate change and where the responsibility for it should be placed. This discussion unfolds when the people who made the Anthropocene era possible during the industrialisation of the West, and therefore can be seen as responsible for the unfortunate environmental developments, are dead. I therefore dare to argue that the focus of these political discussions is in dire need of change. Since we can expect further negative consequences of our actions in the upcoming decades, the urgency of the matter should be focused on what to do and which organisation, state, or human is most capable of executing it in the current situation. Surely, this seems like a utopian idea, but it is here my hope and excitement lies. Man’s creativity throughout the ages has long amazed and still amazes, so why should we stop hoping for creativity now? Apocalyptic forecasts are not helpful and have never been known as helpful in any situation in need of solutions. What is helpful, are people with enough courage to present creative and divergent ideas and for others to listen to these ideas and consider them as possessing something valuable, with something to contribute to the development of a sustainable human existence in the biosphere that we inhabit.

Some argue the necessity of completely revolutionising the capitalistic foundations we build our society on, others stress the importance of the military and security institutions as outlined above and I admit: I have no practical scheme to apply to new global governance which will trigger the development I hope for. But I do agree with Immanuel Kant whose idea of global perpetual peace lies in people’s self-interest and that sooner or later this will lead us in the right direction. John Horgan states in The End of War, that it is in every sane person’s interest to reach peace, and a common goal, such as environmental security, might help us get there.

In order to summarise, I feel the need to state that no matter what we decide to do, where we decide to begin the process of transformation, and no matter which end to the process of transformation we choose to strive for, I believe that it is highly arguable that the need for a sustainable development within the framework of the capability of the Anthropocene is in all nations, all human beings interest. Excluding people through national borders and valuing finance over human lives will not solve the issues we face today. If we do not recognise the interconnected nature of all levels of all societies currently inhabiting this earth, we have no chance of making the fundamental readjustments necessary for the survival of the biosphere’s current populations. Conclusively, I am excited and curious to see what will spring out of the new developments that global environmental change will force us human beings to face. Hopefully, it will force us into a new era of collaboration and differing priorities where we acknowledge our interconnected state with each other and with the ecology of our planet.

By Timothy von Rohr

Image credit:

Picture 1: Asian Development Bank, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Paolo Dala, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Picture 3: CIFOR, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

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Sweden, NATO and Cyber Security – Interview with Carl Bildt

EditorChief — Fri, 30 May 2014 16:55:09 +0000

On May 20^th, on the eve of the European elections, Sweden’s Foreign Minister and one of its most prominent career politicians and diplomats, as well as Foreign Policy Twitterati 100, Carl Bildt, visited UF Malmö. During Carl Bildt’s visit, he talked about his work as the Swedish Foreign Minister, the current challenges of Europe and Sweden, and the importance of the EU elections. Pike & Hurricane had the opportunity to talk with him about Swedish Foreign Policy and the current threats and challenges to its security as well as the emerging field of cyber politics.

Q: One of the pillars of the Swedish foreign policy for the past 200 years has been its policy of non-alignment, with the Swedes taking a lot of pride in not having been at war for over 200 years now. However, since the first years of the 21^st century, we have witnessed first the coalition forces in Afghanistan, which Sweden took part in, then in 2003, Sweden provided intelligence to the American air force to find targets in Iraq, according to reports published by Expressen, and lately, Sweden has been providing navigation and radar services, or help, to drone missions in Pakistan. So are we witnessing the demise, or the beginning of the demise, of this policy of non-alignment?

A: Well, yes, I think that was the effect of 1995, when we entered into the European Union. Because from that moment on we couldn’t be non-aligned any longer, so the policy of neutrality effectively disappeared in 1995. After that, we have been building security cooperation with others. We haven’t done any drone missions in Pakistan, I think that is misinformation. The other ones yes. And we were part of the Libya operation, where we did the recognisance bid, because well, we are better at it than the others. Now we are working together in different sorts of peace operations, and having an increasingly close partnership with other counties. I mean, we had just concluded a big Air Force and Navy exercise in Sweden, one of the biggest we’ve had for a long time, and the Finnish navy was part of that for the first time, so you will see more and more of that. We have had lots between the Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish air forces, beginning to discuss with the Danish air force as well.

Q: There’s been a lot of talk in the media recently about the pros and cons of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Can you comment on this?

A: The reason why Sweden is not in NATO is because of the consideration of Finland, so what happens in Finland is extremely important for Sweden. Sweden will never do any move in the direction of NATO without Finland. Will Finland move? I don’t see that at the moment, however, what we are doing is continuing with our practical cooperation with NATO, and we are increasing that cooperation in different respects and I think further steps are going to be taken in that direction. Then we will see where it leads in a couple of years down the road, but I don’t see any imminent change at present.

Q: How do you see the possibility of joining NATO vs balancing further European integration, do you see them to be at odds?

A: No, not at all. European integration is very much in the fields of foreign and security policy. There is an element of defense coordination as well, that is more geared to equipment and things like that. Operational coordination is inside NATO, so they are complementary. And, of course, it is also a question of running different operations, in terms of the peace operations where NATO do some and the EU do some. The EU normally takes smaller ones and NATO bigger ones. So it’s UN, EU, NATO, being complementary, not competing with each other.

Carl Bildt

Q: What is the mood right now in Swedish policy circles regarding the possibility of joining NATO?

A: I don’t think that it’s an issue at the moment. We had our big parliamentary defense committee reporting last week, I think it was, and also defense spending, with a fairly substantial increase in defense spending during the next few years, and they will look also over the coordination with other countries. But the issue of membership of NATO was not part of their report.

Q: There were some reports published in Swedish media some weeks ago that Swedish secret service has gotten information that points to Russian “war preparations” and an increase in activity of Russian secret service in Sweden. Can you comment on those reports?

A: It was, I can’t comment very much but it was our security service, Säkerhetspolisen, in their annual public report that said that. I can’t go further in that, that’s the assessment they are reporting to the government, where they give an assessment of the different intelligence activities directed against Sweden, and there are such, needless to say.

Q: In the beginning of your lecture you were talking about the emerging field of cyber politics, can you expand a little bit on what Sweden’s work in regards to cyber politics?

A: Well, we’ve been primarily involved in the issues of net freedom, the freedom of speech, the freedom of information online, that the same principle should apply online as offline, in the EU convention of human rights, and that sort of thing. We got that broadly accepted internationally. That does not prevent people from censoring quite heavily, some of it legally, but a lot of it illegally, and that’s going to be the focus of a lot of discussion in Stockholm next week. Then, there have been discussions on the different aspects of net governance, it is a fairly complex structure of regulations, where we have the multi-stakeholder approach- I describe it as we should have a system of governance, that cant be captured by anyone, not by big business, not by big states, not by the nerds. Shouldn’t be captured by anyone. Then by nature, it becomes somewhat complicated.

States have an interest, they should be there. Business have interest, they should be there. The technological community, the ones that are driving the entire system, they should be there. Civil society, they have an interest, they should be there. So that is what you call the multi-stakeholder model. But that’s under attack, by states, certain states, I mean, the combination of the Chinese, the Saudis, the Iranians and the Russians. For reasons that are fairly obvious in those individual states. So that’s a big issue, that’s why I was in Brazil, and I’m going to have further meetings.

Q: There has been a lot of criticism in the past couple of days regarding, what has been called, the “right to be forgotten”, which is the law spearheaded by this Spanish citizen. Some of the criticism is in regards to some of his supporters being known as child pornographers, what is your position?

A: I don’t know. I don’t know, to be quite honest. There was a court decision by the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of justice the other day as well, but I haven’t followed it. But it really illustrates the new issues that are coming up on the agenda as a consequence of the net development. But I don’t have any concrete answer to this. It’s a tricky one, you have the question where young people do stupid things on social media, should that be with them all their life?

Q: You’ve been one of the most active politicians in cyberspace, I think you have been accredited with sending the first email between heads of state? And you opened the first embassy online, in the virtual world called Second Life. Where do you see cyberspace and democratic processes converging in the future?

A: Yeah, head of state and head of government. I was the head of government and Bill Clinton was the head of state. In regards to your second question, well they are developing together, and technology is creating new opportunities all the time. Nowadays, the election campaigns are on Facebook and Twitter. I use twitter extensively, because I think it’s an important way where I can get both; express myself, if I need to do that, but I also get a lot of information, a lot of contacts. It changes the nature of politics, in x numbers of ways. We have twitter diplomacy nowadays in the world and a lot of ministers of foreign affairs are getting it. I think Sweden is among those global leaders in this, but everyone is trying. And where this will be in 5 years time in detail, I don’t know.

Q: What sort of advice would you have for those students that are seeking to pursue a career in diplomacy or foreign relations in general?

A: Get a good degree and get language skills, and it never hurts to study history.

Q: And finally, what is the future bringing for Carl Bildt?

A: Oh, I don’t know, in my career… I’m going to UF Lund tonight.

Interview conducted by Jon Miren and Annika Schall

Photo credits:

Picture 1: Bengt Nyman, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Picture 2: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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Behind Closed Doors

Charlotta Lahnalahti — Fri, 30 May 2014 16:11:33 +0000

It’s a Sunday afternoon, you are on the local Hong Kong subway, the MTR, heading south from the university to do some shopping. The minute the MTR draws into Admiralty station, you remember that you’ve made a huge mistake; there are masses of people cramming in and out of the car and you once again get cornered into the far end or the car and almost miss your stop. It is Sunday, the one day-off in a week that the domestic workers have in Hong Kong, when the streets and parks are filled with Indonesian and Filipino workers, mostly women. They are on Skype on their smartphones, using the always-accessible Hong Kong internet, reaching family members and relatives in distant countries. What goes on in the minds of these women, who need to sustain their families’ lives abroad by working for a minimum wage of €2,60 per hour, in this metropolitan city?

The rights of Hong Kong’s approximate 300, 000 maids, and other domestic workers, have been in international media in the last few years when the residency legislation was altered. The new legislation was adopted in order to tackle so-called ‘job-hoppers’ -migrants changing jobs on a regular basis. This change gravely impacts domestic workers: the Immigration Department has set stricter measures to ‘premature contract termination’, meaning that the worker might have to stay under the employer’s roof under any circumstance. The standard 2-year contracts between the worker and the employer can only be terminated on grounds of “ – transfer, migration, death or financial reasons of the ex-employer, or if there is evidence suggesting that the foreign domestic helper (FDH) has been abused or exploited”, the Hong Kong immigration department reports. In addition, the Department can deny the worker new employment if they have had multiple contracts before. There is no way back into Hong Kong for a terminated worker and therefore legal steps need to be taken with care.

In late April, the BBC reported the story of a 26-year-old Indonesian Rohyati working in Hong Kong who was misused by her employer. Instead of getting help from her work agency, through which she found her job and was provided assistance and protection, she was inspired by another maid whose case had gained wide media attention, and Rohyati filed a police report. Amnesty International has criticised Hong Kong’s work agencies for not looking after their employees. Rohyati first reported to her agency who only told her to be patient with her employer as not much could be done before she had paid her fees to the agency and would be able to leave.

Rohyati was not the first, nor will she be the last, worker who experiences maltreatment at the hands of her employers. Thousands of domestic workers in Hong Kong fall under the category of bonded labourer which is defined as a form of slavery by Anti-Slavery International. Victims of bonded labour work under lacking working conditions, with a salary that is incompatible with other forms of income, in an abusive environment. Slavery and abuse are two of mankind’s oldest crimes and has endured through the contemporary world. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that there are estimated 20.9 million victims of modern slavery, who are abducted and tricked to work on all continents. Tragically enough, this number of 20.9 million cannot even be outdone by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the amount of shipped slaves throughout those 300 years of business.

Bonded labour is most common in Southeast Asia but Europe has a lot to work on as well. In the shade of the Big Ben in London, a decision was made in 2012 that domestic workers entering the UK cannot legally leave their employer, making the country one of the most abusive destinations in Europe. Migrants have no option to report their abuse from behind closed doors and if they escape, they become illegal immigrants. Most of the domestic workers find employment through family members and receive very little payment. They come from unstable, conflict ridden countries to which they have no way of returning if they illegally escape their employer. “Confiscation of passports, confinement to the home, physical and emotional abuse, long working hours with no rest time, no holidays, and low wages or non-payment of wages”, Human Rights Watch found many factors opposing human rights that are daily for the migrant workers in the UK, and reported them on March 31^st. In both cases the UK and Hong Kong, the states have themselves contributed to the worsening of circumstances that foreign domestic workers arrive to.

In June 2011, the UK was one of the nine countries that did not vote in favour of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention, which Hong Kong ratified. The UK requires written terms and labour contracts made between the worker and the employer but there is no mechanism to control them, whereas in Hong Kong the abusive employers have been kept somewhat under control, imprisoning abusive employers on a yearly basis. The established work agencies in Hong Kong provide contracts and help for the domestic workers in the country, whereas in London no external middle-hand to oversee the rights of the individual domestic worker when the contract is between two individuals.

The UK has recently tightened its penalty legislation on domestic abuse, if found guilty the sentence now lies between 14 years to life. Even if the penalties for modern slavery would be increased, it would not help the plight that the victims have endured. Who works for the improvement of domestic workers’ rights? Most of the victims are uneducated young women who have no way of affecting their life in their home- nor receiving country. When it comes to Asia, or contemporary Europe, or any other corner of our planet, one of the world’s oldest crimes continues on our watch. We need to bring the disease of slavery back to the surface, thus preventing it from spreading further in our interconnected world.

By Charlotta Lahnalahti

Image credit:

Picture 1: Kaj17, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Kevin Utting, licensed under CC BY 2.0

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A New Country, a New Life

EditorChief — Fri, 30 May 2014 15:34:59 +0000

This article was submitted as part of our writing competition on “What scares or excites you about the future?”.

As I stepped off the plane in Manchester, United Kingdom I realised that I had no idea what I was doing. I felt the need to flee my own country, but my choice to enter the very expensive education system in the former British Empire was quite a spontaneous one. Once again, I did not think things through. I took a bus and found myself in suburban Manchester carrying 4 heavy bags with a mobile phone telling me “Your battery is empty. The phone will turn off in 30 seconds”, but that wouldn’t matter because I didn’t have anyone to call to anyway. I had once again left my country, but this time for a longer period. I promised to myself “I will not make any rash decisions any more”.

One thing you must learn about me is that in order to prove my existence in this absurd world, I love to be spontaneous. These kinds of deeds might lead me to creating dance moves using a broom in a popular nightclub (the security removed the object from us in 20 minutes. Slow, eh?), a pseudo-marriage ceremony with a stranger in front of a Russian orthodox church at 4AM, continued by meeting another crazy bunch of people who then dragged us on to a sauna on the river followed by a competition to see who could jump the furthest from the roof of the sauna into the freezing waters. Then again, the same spontaneity might result in being lost in suburban Manchester.

I am originally from Estonia, a small country in Eastern Europe characterised by cheap booze, blonde girls and drunken Finnish tourists in the capital city. Estonia is one of the Baltic states and I believe (and hope) that people know that we were occupied by the Soviet Russia for 51 years. This meant the people were not permitted to go abroad unless it was for a week of vacation in Yalta or some other resort that was considered luxurious at the time (the hotels were probably worse than in Sochi). When the borders were opened, some people fled to other countries, others returned to their homeland after years of exile. After opening
the borders in 1991 the emigration is so vast that what Hemingway once said about finding two Estonians in every port in the world became an even more common thing to say. Right now, a lot of us are building up our futures in other countries.

Starting your life abroad is a tough decision because not only you are moving to a new country, there will also be a multiculturalist aspect to it. The cultural differences might close many doors. I had to make new friends, get acquainted with the area, find cheap accommodation, find a job, not get absolutely lost all the time, study in another language …I had to prove myself so many times, not only to myself but to others, as I am a foreigner. And yes, it will be tough for some time when the feeling of being scared, alone and homesick strikes. But then I think for a second – I made it, I took the risk and I am moving onwards, gaining new experiences.

The fascinating feeling of being like an alien when going to another country is something that keeps your senses awake. I feel restless when I have stayed in one country too long. I am excited to not only see the world, but to feel it with all my seven senses. I am taken out of my comfort zone and put in situations I have never encountered before. Being scared is actually good for you. By using both our imagination and previous experience we evaluate risk; being scared is the result of this. Fear is essential for our survival; so to avoid danger we must be afraid. I am not going to think of money because I feel that there are more important things than just climbing up a career ladder because you may slip soon. The world is unstable and I will do as much as I can as an active member of society looking into voluntary programs in pursuit of sharing my knowledge and helping those in need.

Right now, the future seems fascinating and full of everything unexpected. I am in my second year in a country other than the United Kingdom or Estonia and I am enjoying my time, although I had to start from the beginning for a second time. I am not going to restrict myself in making rational decisions, as I promised myself before, I’m just going to see what the future brings. I will be scared and excited at the same time. And in the end, there is always a solution – in a couple of minutes standing hopelessly in the suburban area in Manchester a woman was walking nearby so I asked for directions to the nearest bus stop and easily found my way back to the city centre.

By Elena

Image credit:

Picture 1: Timo, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Picture 2: Nottingham Trent University, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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