The Pi Perspective: Week 6

Image via Wikimedia Commons

At Pi Online, we are a massive group of editors who work together to curate content for the website. But who are we really? What do we like, dislike, observe, think?

Each week, we’re pulling back the curtain with a new editorial spotlighting what’s been on our minds.

Editors-in-Chief

Pi Magazine’s UCL200 special has officially landed, and it is the moment.

Created in partnership with the Students’ Union, this issue is packed with exclusive interviews from the Provost, the SU President, and some very impressive alumni, alongside many a personal piece from Pi’s finest writers and committee members (including yours truly #shamelessplug).

I was ever so vaguely part of the behind-the-scenes, and can personally attest to the brilliance of the magazine editors-in-chief, Carys and Reo, who somehow made this whole thing look effortless. It wasn’t.

This issue is 200 years of UCL history wrapped in the voices of the students living it now, and it may well be our most ambitious project. So if you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, this is your sign. Try Print Room Café or The Hangar before they vanish into tote bags across campus.

News

On 30th January 2026, the US Department of Justice released more than 3 million documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein. The files revealed incriminating details regarding some of the most high-profile individuals, notably US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton, Labor Party’s Peter Mandelson, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Missing from the mainstream media coverage however, is Epstein’s clear connection to Israel. In fact, many publications (see: the Telegraph) have insisted that he was not an Israeli asset, despite overwhelming evidence.

For example, a 2018 exchange between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak shows Epstein attempting to arrange a meeting between Barak and former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber Al Thani. In the email, Epstein jokingly remarks “you should make it clear that I don’t work for Mossad :)”. Equally, a 2020 FBI document mentions allegations that Epstein was trained as an Israeli spy under former Israeli PM Ehud Barak.

Features

There is something to be said for smoking. In a world that never sits still – where notifications buzz, deadlines loom, and the noise rarely softens – smokers carve out a rare pause. They step outside, inhale deeply, exhale slowly, and grant themselves a moment of stillness. Stripped of its packaging, that ritual looks a lot like mindfulness.

But the pause is not the problem. The nicotine is.

Keep the five minutes of silence but lose the cigarette. Step outside anyway. Breathe in for four counts, hold for four, release for four. Stretch your shoulders. Feel the air change on your skin. Let the ritual become something that restores rather than harms.

Quitting isn’t just about subtraction; it’s about replacement. Replace the smoke break with a breathing break. Replace the craving with care. The world will still be loud when you step back inside, but you will be steadier in it.

Opinion

This week I was thinking about the Tube. The idea of a train underneath a city is a ludicrously Victorian idea, and, given how we haven’t pulled off HS2 in almost a decade, also a gift from a pre-overly-bureaucratic Britain. Recently, I was sat on the Met Line shielding myself with noise cancellation, trying to read a book or lull myself to sleep with Brian Eno, when I suddenly came to appreciate this loud and smelly subterranean monster (still talking about the London Underground here).

Having moved from the southwest (First Bus if you’re reading this…), I think the Tube feels so miraculous. And although I hate it when I’m in a carriage, as soon as I go home, I know I’ll start to miss getting anywhere in 30 minutes, being forced to actually go up stairs, and the way that it rumbles restaurant and café floors. I think Herbert wrote sandworms into Dune because he agreed that catching a subterranean mode of transport is inaugural of becoming a Londoner messiah.

Lifestyle and Culture

Is it humanly possible to look sexy when it’s under ten degrees in London? My long-sleeve collection has been carefully curated for a little short of a decade, and I just wish someone would’ve told me that the same effort should’ve went into my outerwear. 

My go-to draft picks are a North Face puffer (of course) and my dad’s extra-large wool coat. Neither help my ambition for fashion and femininity, though I like to think that dressing like a middle-aged private investigator adds a mysterious tone to my facade. What secrets is she veiling? The crowd will never know. 

And in terms of my Christmas-y pyjama pants peeking through between the UGG’s and the coat’s bottom lining… It’s all part of the mystery. You wouldn’t understand.

Science and Technology

It may seem odd to think about global warming at this time of year. Perhaps you’ve been checking the forecast for snow or stuffing gloves into every pocket. But winter here does not cancel out catastrophe elsewhere. Right now, one person dies from heat every minute. Not as an act of nature, but as the consequence of political failure. 

A recent Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, led by researchers at the UCL Institute for Global Health, found that preventable heat-related deaths now exceed half a million a year - up 23 percent since the 1990s. Meanwhile, governments spent 956 billion US dollars on fossil fuel subsidies in 2023. We are financing the very system that is costing lives.

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the co-founders of Faith for the Climate and taking part in one of their workshops. It was unexpectedly inspiring. What struck me most was the emphasis on collective agency and problem-solving across faiths. Climate change can feel paralysing in its scale, but Faith for the Climate reframed it as a shared moral project. Instead of despair, there was determination. A glint of hope amongst the grizzly statistics. 

The solutions are already within reach: clean energy, equitable adaptation, political accountability. What’s missing is sustained public pressure. If one person dies every minute from heat, then every minute we remain passive is complicity.

Sports

The Winter Olympics is now well underway and contrary to superstition, Friday the 13th brought good luck for Team GB.

Matt Weston took the gold medal in the men’s skeleton event, bringing home the team’s first medal at this year’s Olympic games and making Team GB the most successful nation in this event. Team GB’s journey has not been smooth so far, with medal favourites Mia Brookes, Kirsty Muir, Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat missing out on the podium in their respective events. Weston ended Team GB’s medal drought in sensational fashion, setting a track record on all four of his runs, to finish with a total time of 3 minutes, 43 seconds, and 33 milliseconds.

In the coming days, attention will turn to the men’s and women’s curling where Dodds and Mouat will hope to bounce back from narrowly missing out on a medal in the mixed doubles event with their respective women’s and men’s teams.