Skiing; Europe vs America
Europe: Europe is the home of skiing. The first ski factory was established in Norway in the early 19th Century, and the very word comes from the Norwegian word “skío”. Furthermore, Europe is houses 8 of the top 9 most visited ski resorts in the world. In addition to the high number of visitors European…
School Lunch
By Jon Bautz Learning runs on lunch. At our age, a healthy, nutritious, filling and tasty lunch is vital to keeping us focused through periods 6, 7, and 8: countless studies have shown that food is the fuel students need to be able to concentrate and maximise the value of their lesson time. Our caterer,…
Five NBA Championship Contenders
The NBA is typically one of the least predictable sports leagues on the planet. Whereas, in other sports leagues, such as the Premier league, you can almost always predict which teams will do well, for example, the Premier League has been won by only 2 different teams in the last 8 years (Liverpool and Manchester…
Wonderful Wisconsin: The Beauty of Nature Over The World
By Sam Seddon Milwaukee Like many of America’s industrial towns, Milwaukee is steeped in it’s 19th Century heavy manufacturing. A large steel industry, naturally, leads to a rather jagged skyline. However, even in this industrial hub the beauty of nature can prevail. I experienced this fascinating city over summer; this is where Wisconsin turns to…
Bucket List Golf Courses
By Oliver Orthen 1. Oakmont Country Club (Pennsylvania, USA) – One of the most iconic and challenging golf courses in the world, Oakmont has hosted 10 U.S. Opens and is know as the toughest course in championship golf. Known for its fast greens, reaching 15 on the spirometer in match ply, and relentless design, Oakmont…
A Brief Guide of Boston
By Sam Seddon Get a hearty Boston sandwich: Assuming you are not like me, and don’t crack your phone the day before going to Boston, then that probably doesn’t make your top five. But this should. The Italian influence in Boston is rich with the strong history of Italian immigration in the late 19th Century.…
Top 5 Sainsbury’s Snacks
By Sam McDermott 5. Dark chocolate digestives These are great value for money, only costing £1.25 per pack. Customers have said that they have a “nice texture and just enough chocolate”, as well as a “great flavour”. An RGS student has called them “the perfect snack to get you through a long day”, which I…
Is Social Media Too Accessible?
By Theo Damaskos On September 10th, 2025, Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and political activist, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University. Although the story was reported by mainstream news outlets with accuracy and detail, for many people their first encounter with the event was not through a headline, but through…
Should the Monarchy Be Abolished?
By George Christiansen. “Soon there will only be five kings left – the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, the King of Diamonds and the King of Britain.” The prophecy of the Egyptian King Farouk in 1947 showed great foresight. An institution as ancient as civilization itself is disappearing. One…
Opinion: Why the Harris Campaign Failed.
Pollsters were unilateral on one of the most closely-fought elections in U.S history, with Harris predicted a very minor lead nationally. Fast forward to the day after the election, and for the third time running, pollsters were wrong. Trump has won the popular vote and the electoral college by a wide margin, including all seven…
Is 300bn Dollars enough towards climate change?
By Samarth Nanda. In COP29, the 29th Conference of the Parties, many rich countries committed to providing money to developing countries to help combat climate change and switch to renewable energy instead of using fossil fuels. What is COP29? COP29, which was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, focused on climate finance, with representatives…
iPhone 16 Pro: Beautifully Lacklustre
By Arya Khorshidi. Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event, which has already been extensively covered here, saw the introduction of the highly anticipated iPhone 16 lineup, and reviews have been incredibly mixed, ranging from ridiculously unsatisfying to revolutionary new inventions. Having upgraded to a 16 Pro Max from my iPhone XS on launch day, as well as…
The Fall of Star Wars
By Luke Khorshidi. “I don’t like sand” “Now this is podracing!” “Luke, I am your father” Without letting too much of the Star Wars shill in me come out, my point is though the Star Wars franchise has considerably declined since the glory days of the prequels and (dare I say) sequels, it is still…
Mayan City Discovered by Accident
By Zane Barodia. In the canopy of a Mexican jungle, a Mayan city has been discovered, possibly centuries after it disappeared. The shocking thing is that it was an accident. Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD student at Tulane University, was browsing on Google on ‘something like page 16’ when he found a laser survey used by…
House of the Dragon: A Review
By Spandan Sahu A friend recommended that I watch Game of Thrones towards the end of summer, which propelled me into a spiral of watching all 8 seasons of Game of Thrones (I’d have preferred only to watch the first 6 due to the horrific writing in seasons 7 and 8), and I recently completed…
Opinion: What Trump’s Victory Means for the UK
By Jake Ventham As President-elect, Trump won the US election; most British people were in dismay, while few rejoiced. The current sitting government, which has members campaigning for the Democrats, would have been upset, to say the least. However, the real question is, how does Donald Trump’s victory impact the UK? One of Trump’s main…
The “Woke” Agenda and its impact on the media
By Spandan Sahu The word “woke” has been carelessly tossed around by Republicans and right-wing politicians since 2015 (not a coincidence that this is when Donald Trump became prevalent in US politics), used to categorize any set of ideas that are politically correct in contrast to some rather ridiculous far-right opinions. This article is mainly…
The Myth of Free Will
By Daniel Hughes. Since the dawn of mankind, humanity has been plagued by a singular evil, freedom. For centuries this false belief has been necessary to accept as part of our identity, indeed freedom was something so overwhelmingly obvious and immediate that few sought to question it. Freedom became the rock upon which society was…
Apple Year in Review – Their Worst Year?
By Joseph Young Apple has not had the best year. From the ups and downs of their Apple Intelligence AI model to the new iPhone 16 models, Apple’s worst year could have been 2024. I am personally a fan of Apple; I think that their products are great, although most are overpriced. But you are…
The Importance of Music on Mental Health
By Hugo Stelfox In a world that is increasingly challenged by mental health issues, music is increasingly recognized as playing an important role in improving wellbeing. According to Harvard University, music therapy is an established health care modality that stresses the therapeutic potential of music in improving mental health. Music can be used to help your…
Barbie: Woke Propaganda or Live Action Adaptation?
By Spandan Sahu Editor’s note: This controversial article is not intended to offend anyone. It is purely intended to provide an alternate, and less popular, perspective on the Barbie movie. Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes When the Barbie movie released on the 21.07.23 as part of the famous Barbenheimer double feature, it was heralded in…
Top 5 Articles of 2023
Ollie Humphry In this article I will rank the top 5 RGS 1509 articles. Of course, these opinions may be controversial and will be the opinion of myself and the other 1509 members, so if you do not agree with these opinions read no more. This ranking is only for finished articles which have been…
The Horizon Scandal
By Nishkala Ganeshananthan (from the GHS Nightingale Newspaper) Between 2009 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing money from their post offices – crimes they did not commit. Recently, this issue has been brought to light due to the new ITV show Mr Bates vs The Post Office. This drama gripped the…
The Left’s Rise In Guildford
Been seeing these posters around Guildford? You’re not the only one. Such propaganda, which features radical communist thinker Karl Marx in a WW1 – esque poster, has been left scattered around the streets of Guildford. The posters were created by a left-wing organisation called “Socialist Appeal”, on their website (https://socialist.net/). They describe themselves as a…
RGS Rock the Boiler Room: A Review
By Josh Verny White The Boileroom once again had a phenomenal evening with its annual RGS Rock the Boileroom, which has now grown into a classic event and a highlight of the Michaelmas term. Opposite a Waitrose just outside the town centre, four bands participated in a display of technical skill and musical passion. Whilst…
Surfaces: Significantly Slow, Staggeringly Expensive and Surprisingly Painful to Use
By Krish Lukha Microsoft Forms Surfaces are the devices we depend on most throughout our time at the RGS. However, this has brought on a plethora of technical issues, most notably glitches, crashes, and fast battery drains. New students are now being automatically signed up to the Digital Levy program, being forced to use school…
Striking a Balance: The Dress Code Deliberation
By Hugo Stelfox and Thomas Dowson The age-old question of why students need to wear uniforms has been a recurrent topic of discussion in every student’s school life, with complaints about discomfort and inconvenience being commonplace. However, when it comes to 6th form, this debate takes on a broader perspective, as various schools implement different…
The 1509 