Ah, apathy. Maybe it’s week five talking, but I’m starting to think Russell Brand was on to something. As a philosophy student I’d normally scoff at the idea of letting something as trivial as being ill-informed stop me expressing my views. So the only thing I find more incomprehensible than the concept of not voting (even in student elections) is why, after 21 years, I’m still incapable of walking up stairs without falling over.

The problem isn’t that I don’t care. It’s just that even here in Cambridge I’m struggling to keep up with what exactly I’m supposed to care about; a feeling I’m sure I’m not unique in experiencing as term drags on.

This last week alone has seen a strike against pay cuts to staff, protests against colleges failing to pay the living wage, and an LGBT+ flashmob in protest at Russia’s recent anti-gay laws. Now these are all worthy causes, but if I were to try and attend every worthy event that took place in Cambridge, I’d spend my entire time bouncing from one to the other.

So how are we to decide which are the most important? Besides, even if we could somehow muster the time, the majority of these protests seem to be (sadly) slightly underwhelming.

Take this week’s strike. Perhaps I don’t properly understand the concept of going on strike, but I thought the idea was to highlight the importance of the services involved by removing them for a period of time – a method of protest I would suggest is fundamentally unsuitable for academia.

Strikes have an effect when the result is something tangible, like the shutdown of large parts of the London Underground. Not so much when the only noticeable difference is a few rearranged lectures and staff working from home.

Indeed, being an arts student, I had nothing timetabled for the day of the strike, causing me to have a slight breakdown trying to work out whether this meant I actually was on strike despite not initially intending to be.

Meanwhile, students at King’s have voted to keep the Soviet flag hanging in their bar (unless you are reading this next week, in which case another vote is about to take place). It’s an issue I used to find interesting, but after what seems like weeks of votes, votes about having a vote and votes overturning past votes, even I’m losing interest.

Maybe the upcoming CUSU elections will somehow rejuvenate our interest in the world around us. Last year’s winning candidate for OUSU President promised double beds for all and a mono-rail to far- flung colleges. I’m expecting big things from this year’s Cambridge candidates in response.