Students in search of exam-term procrastination (and prelimmers) will be looking with hope to the Union today, as its termly round-up of speakers and debates was announced.

This term will see a number of speakers from several areas of public life, including BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson, former international tennis player Judy Murray, and singer and TV personality Peter Andre.

For those looking to escape the overcrowded-lecture-in-humid-room vibe, the termcard also offers several debates, on topics ranging from the FIFA world cup to neoliberalism, with the latter pitching founder and president of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Madsen Pirie, against Labour MP Chris Williamson.

Headline names this term include John Simpson, who will be looking to regale an audience on 2nd May with tales from his 50-year-career interviewing world leaders, and Judy Murray on 11th May, who will hopefully have the opportunity to discuss something other than her son for once, having accrued 64 national titles of her own.

Anyone who missed out on St John’s May Ball tickets this year will undoubtedly be delighted to know that they can drown their sorrows in the dulcet Aussie tones of Peter Andre, whose talk at the Union will be taking place on the same night. Whether he will be appearing in any of the Daily Mail’s morning-after photos is as yet unknown.

Other speakers include Raila Odinga, former Prime Minister of Kenya, on 15th May, and author of the hit Alex Rider book series Anthony Horowitz on the 15th.

Budding journalists will be delighted at the opportunity to hear chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman, and Sunday Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan speak.

Activists, too, feature prominently in this term’s line-up, with Beatrice Fihn, the Executive Director of Nobel Peace Prize winner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), scheduled to speak. Ged Grebby, founder and chief executive of the Show Racism the Red Card charity and Green party politician Beatrix Campbell OBE are also scheduled to appear.

Although lacking the star-spangled lustre of previous Union termcards, the upcoming weeks will see an increased focus on feminist issues, led by Union President and former Women’s Officer Maria Epishkina, who said her goal this term was to “engage with the conversations we should be having as a student body”. An informal discussion on 4th May will invite a panel of current and former Cambridge undergraduates, all editors of their own zines, to lead a conversation about feminist content creation.

The Union+ scheme, launched by Epishkina during her time as Women’s Officer in Michaelmas to offer free tickets to non-members for select events, will continue this term with a discussion on a discussion on BME representation on the stage and screen and the University’s Breaking the Silence scheme.

For light relief among exam term stress, the week 4 comedy debate will pit the Cambridge Footlights against the Oxford Revue.

Following a series of high-profile cancellations in recent terms, the Union has evidently become more circumspect in its announcements of high-profile guests. This term’s programme includes a list of names they “hope to welcome in the coming months”, including poet Rupi Kaur, Great British Bake-Off winner Nadia Hussain, and singer Emeli Sandé. Personally, we have felt much the same kind of optimism when arriving at a supervision with a speculative, late-night-caffeine-fuelled essay plan, and faithful promises to turn in the finished product ASAP. (Misplaced optimism? That’s perhaps a question for our supervisors.)