One Nottingham Trent University student has been sentenced to nine months for sexual assault. At the University of Nottingham, students - including students' union representatives - have been fined £150 for sexist chanting on a night out.

Socialist Students and the Rape Is No Joke campaign hosted a meeting as part of the Nottingham Women's Conference Fringe Festival. The month of events around the second annual conference brought together different groups that campaign for women's rights.

Our meeting was titled "Lad Culture: just a bit of 'harmless fun'?" We looked at how rape and sexual assault are trivialised in popular culture, and particularly on university campuses. Over 30 people, mainly young women and students, attended.

The discussion focused on how 'lad culture' - described by the National Union of Students as a "pack mentality" of "arrogant male chauvinism" - adds to a growing rape culture. Violence against women is joked about and normalised.

However, more women are taking action and are beginning to challenge these ideas. We also discussed uniting with men in opposing sexism, and developing comedy and popular culture that represents ordinary people's lives.

Bradford academy's dress sense nonsense

Iain Dalton, Yorkshire Socialist Students organiser

On Tuesday 4 November, Hanson Academy in Bradford sent over 150 pupils home for failing to wear school uniform matching its newly enforced standards. These include minutae about the colour of the socks children wear, type of trousers and colour of shoe laces!

Angry parents took to the school's Facebook page to complain, one who had accidentally put her daughter's tie in the wash, sent her to school with money for a replacement but she was sent home anyway! But many parents simply cannot afford to replace school uniform that was perfectly fine until this week.

The principal, Elizabeth Churlton, defended the policy on the school website: "Our uniform and dress codes set the tone for our community and provide the scaffolding for high standards in every aspect of school life." Surely the scaffolding for high standards should be good quality teaching?

However, Churlton is financially worlds apart from the situation faced by most parents of her pupils. The advertised rate for Churlton's job was around £125,000 a year. The median wage in Bradford East constituency (where the school is located) is less than £18,000 a year.

York: Students and workers unite for a £10 minimum wage

Fast Food Rights day of action in York on 5 November 2014 (Click to enlarge)

Jamie Chatfield, Secretary, University of York Socialist Society

A successful Fast Food Rights campaign Day of Action, jointly organised by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) and University of York (UoY) Socialist Society, took place on 5 November, calling for an end to all zero-hour contracts and a £10 an hour minimum wage.

20 people joined the protest, including students from the University of York and St John University, Socialist Party members and representatives from York trades council.

Lead by Sam Vickers, BFAWU organising regional secretary, protesters marched through York city centre leafleting the public and actively engaging with fast food workers in outlets across the city about trade union membership and fighting zero-hour contracts.

Many agreed with our call for a £10 minimum wage, particularly under-18s, who can receive as little as £3.79.

Plans have been made to hold another protest later in the academic year.

Good wages are necessary to eliminate poverty pay and the increasing reliance on in-work state benefits (such as working tax credit and housing benefit), with 70% of new benefit claimants now in employment.

Join the Fast Food Rights lobby of Parliament at Old Palace Yard, Westminster on Friday 21 November, 12 noon when MPs are due to discuss zero-hour contracts

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