Cherwell Vol.274 No.2

Inside: + C gives the lowdown on the balls this year

Naomi Morris Omori reviews Testament of Youth

Cherwell

Evan Davis on Newsnight, coming out and never getting a scoop

Independent since 1920

Oxford’s Living Wage triumph

1st Week Friday 23rd January 2015 cherwell.org Vol. 274, No. 2

Oxford newsagents’ Hebdo plans

Ellen Milligan News Reporter

Pembroke commits to accreditation after announcements made by the University, Oriel and Wadham Niamh McIntyre, Georgia Latham Deputy Editors YESTERDAY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY confirmed that it will become an accredited Living Wage employer in April 2015. At the same time, Oriel and Wadham announced that they will be also be seeking accreditation.

All three institutions do currently pay all directly employed staff at least the Living Wage, which is currently set at £7.85 for everywhere outside of London. Their commitment means that they will now pay the Living Wage to all who work on site, including third-party contracted staff.

Following official announcements from Wadham and Oriel, Pembroke College have also committed to accreditation following a meeting of their governing body. Ben Nabarro, Pembroke JCR president, commented, “This has been a central issue for the JCR and it’s fantastic to see Pembroke commit to accredita-

tion. Pembroke does currently pay the Living Wage but it’s important to give staff the security of a binding commitment. Colleges have an obligation to be responsible employers.”

OUSU’s Living Wage Campaign has been lobbying the university since 2011 to accredit. Fergal O’Dwyer, the campaign’s co-Chair, said, “This is the most significant event in the campaign’s history. Getting the University to accredit has always been Fergal O’Dwyer, the Living Wage Campaign co-Chair, said, “The central University has set a massive precedent:there is now no excuse for poverty pay in Oxford.”

our most salient aim, and I’m proud of the work that the campaign has done toward achieving this.”

Stephen Goss, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Personnel and Equality) commented, “I am very pleased that the University is taking this step. It

guarantees the Living Wage to all our employees and will ensure that, as we revise or set up new agreements, the staff of contractors who work regularly on our premises also receive the Living Wage.”

Ruth Meredith, OUSU VP (Charities & Community) was also exultant at the news. She said, “Today, we have finally won. By accrediting, Oxford University is making an unequivocal statement that poverty wages are unacceptable, and have no place in our community. They are listening to the voices of the people who work with and for them, and taking it seriously.

Speaking to Cherwell, O’Dwyer stressed that, although this is a significant milestone, it’s vital that the campaign use this momentum to push for every college to become accredited, saying, “With the success at the central university, the focus now turns to those colleges who still refuse to accredit or even pay a Living Wage. We’re encouraging people

to start college campaigns. The central University has set a massive precedent: there is now no excuse for poverty pay in Oxford.”

The Living Wage Campaign are planning to host an equipping session where those who have led successful campaigns can share tactics with others looking to push for accreditation in their own colleges. It aims to help students who are unfamiliar with the college’s decision-making processes or bringing motions to the JCR. Henriette Willberg, Wadham SU’s Charities, Environment and Ethics Officer, was one of the leaders of Wadham’s campaign to accredit. She said that Wadham’s decision was the result of “the continuous campaigning and engagement that has gone on within the college and all those members of the SU (over 230) who signed the open letter. We hope that Wadham’s accreditation can lead the way for other colleges in the near future.”

AN OXFORD NEWSAGENT’S who planned to stock the latest edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has done an abrupt U-turn after receiving threats.

The publication features a cartoon on its front page depicting the Prophet Muhammad crying and holding a sign declaring “Je suis Charlie”. This edition was printed in the aftermath of the murder of the magazine’s staff and a police officer on January 7th 2015.

The newsagent’s, Wendy’s News on Broad Street, originally ordered 500 copies of the controversial magazine. Due to popular demand from customers, a further 500 copies were ordered, so that 1,000 copies were expected to arrive earlier this week.

However, a worker at the newsagent’s, who wished to remain anonymous, has informed Cherwell that these orders have now been cancelled. He admitted that they had received some threats, but denied that this was the reason for the cancellation of the order, saying, “We did not know much about the magazine and now we have found Tawfiq Hamid, President of OUIS said, “The debate has turned into Islam vs freedom of speech with no textual support to the implicit notion that Islam has a problem with freedom of speech.”

out about the contents we have decided against stocking it.”

Thames Valley Police told Cherwell that they were “called yesterday morning [January 20th] to a newsagent in Broad Street, after receiving a report that a threat was made to the shop the previous night [January 19th] on the telephone.”

Tawfiq Hamid, President of the Oxford University Islamic Society commented on the newsagent’s decision to stock the paper, “He is of course free to sell what he likes but it just seems strange for a Muslim man to sell a magazine that is openly antiIslamic, each to his own I suppose.” continued on p.3

The Best Students...The Best Property 2015 All Areas: City Centre, Jericho, St.Clements, Headington, Grandpont, Botley and Cowley. Telephone 01865 311745

Hilary Term 2015 staff list EDITORS Robert Walmsley (Balliol),

Luke Barratt (Somerville) editor@cherwell.org DEPUTY EDITORS Tom Carter, Emma Cookson, Georgia Latham, Niamh McIntyre, Charlie Atkins editorial@cherwell.org NEWS Suzie Marshall, Elliot Burns, Marianna Spring, Fatima Al-Kassab (Broadcasting) news@cherwell.org NEWS REPORTERS Thea Slotover, Sam Joyce, Iweta Kalinowska, Roma Serina Patel, Claire James, Henry Shalders, Alex Doody, Elif Acar INVESTIGATIONS Tom Calver investigations@cherwell.org COMMENT Tom Robinson, Mary Reader comment@cherwell.org DEPUTY COMMENT Harry Gosling, Sian Meaney, Tom Posa, Lucy Valsamidis, Josh Ames Blackaby, Luke Ames Blackaby, Lucjan Kaliniecki LIFESTYLE Rhiannon GibbsHarris, Ione Wells, Natasha Jones (Broadcasting) lifestyle@cherwell.org DEPUTY LIFESTYLE Summer Taylor, Bex Watson, Ben Berry, Marco Narajos FASHION Rosie Caragh Gaunt, Elif Acar fashion@cherwell.org DEPUTY FASHION Jack Davies CULTURE Fergus Morgan, Ollie Johnson, Niluka Kavanagh (Broadcasting) culture@cherwell.org ARTS & BOOKS Beatrice Liese, Elliot Langley artsandbooks@cherwell.org FILM & TV Tom Barrie, Eve Beere filmandtv@cherwell.org STAGE Fay Watson, Bethan Roberts stage@cherwell.org MUSIC Sara Semic, Ben WilkinsonTurnbull music@cherwell.org SPORT Emma Williams, Tushar Kelkar sport@cherwell.org DEPUTY SPORT Anna Murphy, Jacob Rabinowitz, Jamie Farmer PUZZLES Aneesh Naik puzzles@ cherwell.org BROADCASTING Tristan Upton, Florence Hyde broadcasting@cherwell.org DEPUTY BROADCASTING Esther Hodges, Megan Gibbons, Livi Wilkinson, James Clemores PHOTO Rachael Griffith PHOTOGRAPHERS Nathan Stazicker, Luke Cave, Lucy Brackin, Alex Benn, Sophie Cheng ILLUSTRATORS Sage Goodwin, David McShane, Naomi Polonsky, Mariota Spens, Jasmine Clark, Ella Baron MANAGING DIRECTOR Emma Lipczynski BUSINESS TEAM Holly Jackson, Stephanie Austera OSPL CHAIRMAN Mack Grenfell chairman@ospl.org MANAGING DIRECTOR Emma Lipczynski FINANCE DIRECTOR Harriet Bull SECRETARY April Peake DIRECTORS Jonny Adams, Kalila Bolton, Rowan Borchers, Matt Broomfield, Max Long, Minyoung Seo For advertising and business enquiries, contact us via advertising@ospl.org or on 01865 722780. More information can be found on www.ospl.org Cherwell subscribes to the codes and practices of the IPSO. The Editors welcome your comments and endeavour to print corrections where appropriate.

Oxford Student Publications Limited 7 St Aldates, Oxford OX1 3BS. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.

Published by OSPL ©2015 Printed by: Mortons Print Ltd.

Cherwell |23.01.15

Cherwell

We should stop describing acts as being extremist Luke Ames Blackaby argues that using the word ‘extremist’ too hastily risks undermining those acts that are extreme but nevertheless justified.

Since 1920

Fair pay and treatment

Finding a balance

The announcement of the University, along with Oriel and Wadham colleges, that they are to receive Living Wage accredition is genuinely good news. The Living Wage both protects workers from increases in the cost of living and helps to narrow the gap between the highest and lowest paid.

However, as Cherwell’s 0th Week investigation into the treatment of college staff demonstrated, there are a couple of colleges who claim to pay the Living Wage (though they are not accredited) but have serious questions to answer when it comes to the treatment of their staff. Therefore, while a Living Wage is a good start, there are many other standards to which we must also hold colleges.

Living Wage campaigners, to their credit, have admittedly never tried to claim that this is not the case. But we must still keep in mind that the Living Wage cannot be the be all and end all, when it comes to judging employers.

This isn’t only a college issue either. Many of the employers that regularly appear on our campus seeking to recruit Oxford graduates seem to believe that paying people generously means that they don’t have to treat them well.

However, the size of someone’s paycheck is never an excuse for office bullying or any other form of mistreatment. The message needs to be sent out loud and clear to all employers, including those that seek to recruit us, that a higher wage is not a form of compensation for workplace abuse, and is no substitute for the rights of workers

Comment, page 8

This editor was troubled to hear about The Oxford Union’s problems with finding a gender balance for their Hilary termcard. For an institution that has had such difficulties with women’s issues in the recent past, it is extremely disappointing that 64 per cent of the speakers this term are white men.

While some have argued that the Union has improved on last term in the sense that at least their most high-profile speakers are women, this argument seems to hold little weight.

Marine Le Pen and Sarah Palin cannot justifiably be used as feminist counterweight, representing as they do two dreadful brands of right-wing politics.

While this does not excuse the Union for failing to provide the “incredibly diverse” termcard they promised – so diverse, you won’t believe it – it cannot be denied that the pervasiveness of patriarchy is responsible for the paucity of women in high-profile positions.

This is evidenced by recent data obtained by Oxford’s Careers Service, which reveal a significant gender gap in graduate employment from this university.

When 80 per cent of speakers at the Oxford Union are men, and significantly fewer women getting jobs six months after graduating, surely no one can continue to argue that sexism is not a problem at Oxford University.

While some may find the forcefulness of some of Oxford’s more vociferous feminist campaigners intimidating, it is this very vigour that has imposed feminism so widely onto the zeitgeist of Oxford. You may not like Cuntry Living, but Oxford would be a damn sight worse without it

Letters to the editors

editor@cherwell.org 7, St Aldates OX1 3BS @Cherwell_Online

A misleading headline We were stunned to see the mismatch between Cherwell’s red-top front page headline (‘Somerville Summer School Shame’, 16th January) and the content of the article. Somerville remains as committed as ever to improving access and the profile of our summer schools does not compromise this. It seems that the facts have fallen foul of alliteration.

Somerville’s Summer School Shame

Alex Monro, Somerville College Communication Officer

The Oxford Summer School’s website now toes the line, trying at every opportunity to highlight their connection with Oxford University, while stopping just short of suggesting they make it more likely students will get in to study there. This seems somewhat predatory, and Somerville College’s demand that they disassociate themselves, though vital, seems also a bit disingenuous; surely they know what message the ‘School’ is trying to send? It’s vital that the idea -- that Oxbridge is a place that requires huge expenditure for a chance to enter -- is quashed, and Somerville is certainly not doing its utmost.

A student, Somerville College

Debate: is it acceptable for actors to play characters of a different race?

Tom Posa and Tom Robinson discuss attitudes towards race in the acting world.

Comment, pages 8-9 Why ‘Quiche’ hurts and other things able people should know Chris Pike talks about life as an autistic student at university and about the ableism that exists in Oxford.

Comment, page 10 Le Havre: a tragic architectural regeneration William Webb was struck by the devastation the city suffered as a result of British bombing in World War Two.

Lifestyle, page 12 We need to change our views on BDSM Rhiannon Gibbs-Harris considers societal attitudes towards BDSM in light of her interview with an Oxford student who is a ‘Little’.

Lifestyle, page 13 Cherwell’s 2015 Ball Guide An in-depth preview of the upcoming ball season, alongside a look at the five worst balls of the last decade.

Investigation, page 15 pull-out Fashion Matters: the role of older models This week Rosie Gaunt talks about the increasing prominence of older models on the catwalk.

Fashion, page 21 Frankenstein, Godzilla and now Norman Foster Ollie Johnson decries the monstrous state of our modern city skylines.

Culture, page 24

Rembrandt: the late works at the National Gallery Mark Barclay feels that the works of the Dutch master strike a powerful chord.

Art & Books, page 26

Finalist for Hire Hi, I just wanted to let you know about some great graduate opportunities here at Centrica, the world’s leading utility company. They’ll offer you “a challenging opportunity to get ahead of the game”. As I always say, money can’t buy you competition.

Tom Calver, Jésus College

Tweet of the Week

2 | News

Have I Got Revues For You Bethan Roberts checks out the sketches, stand-up and songs offer at the Oxford Revue’s first Audrey of term.

Stage, page 29 Can the reign of the big four continue or is the end nigh?

Sam Volpe discusses the new talent set to be showcased at the Australian Open and the future of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.

Sport, page 30

News | 3

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Kayakers take advantage of Port Meadow flood

KAYAKERS TOOK ADVANTAGE of the flooding in Port Meadow earlier this week, paddling out onto the temporary lake formed by the overflow of water from the River Isis. Parts of Port Meadow, which is listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the Oatlands Road Recreation Ground in West Oxford, were submerged. The Environment Agency for the River Thames and tributaries in the Oxford area issued flood alert warnings on the 15th January 2015, notifying residents that recent rainfall had caused river levels to rise. These remained in effect until January 21st 2015.

Gender gap in grad employment Newsagent’s cancel Charlie Hebdo order Women less likely to have a job 6 months after graduating Second newsagent’s joins Charlie Hebdo ordering controversy Claire James News Reporter FEMALE GRADUATES ARE notably less likely to get a graduate level job than their male peers, a study by Oxford University’s Careers Service has revealed. The research showed that new female graduates earn on average £4,000 a year less than new male graduates.

The study, which involved 17,000 students from seven different universities, found that 90 per cent of men are employed in a graduatelevel job six months after graduation, with an average starting salary of £25,000. By contrast, just 81 per cent of women were in a graduatelevel job after six months, with an average salary of £21,000.

The study took into account several possible factors before concluding that gender had the biggest impact, as Jonathan Black, director of Oxford’s Careers Service, explained, “We set out to explore the possible drivers of securing a graduate-level job, and considered gender, ethnicity, social background, degree class, subject, and disability.

“We were pleased to find that social background appears to have no significant effect on securing a graduate-level job: a finding that we should celebrate. Indeed, of all the factors we explored, gender has the biggest effect, with a statistically significant lower proportion of women than men achieving a graduate level job within six months.”

In addition to the statistical analysis, the Careers Service also conducted interviews with hundreds of Oxford students regarding their attitudes towards careers. This research found that men tended to think about and make career choices earlier in their university degrees than women, who were more focused on academic work and extracurricular activities. Men were also found to be more confident in approaching the recruitment process.

In terms of career priorities, women had a

greater focus on job security and getting a job they considered to be helping a worthwhile cause compared to their male colleagues.

These attitudes also appear to be prevalent among sixth form girls, whose views were revealed in a separate Oxford Careers Service survey of around 3,200 male and female students across 42 independent and state schools.

Oxford is involved in a number of projects that aim to close the graduate gender gap.

Oxford pioneered the Springboard career development programme for female undergraduates. This project is now running at several other universities.

An Oxford University spokesperson told Cherwell, “Oxford University’s Careers Service has been a leader among UK universities in its efforts to support female graduates in their career choices – which is why it undertook the research to see what factors affect graduate destinations and salary.

“While a disappointing graduate pay gender gap persists, Oxford is in an excellent position to address some of the attitudes and concerns that affect female students’ career destinations thanks to programmes like its Springboard assertiveness and self-confidence training.”

continued from front page A worker at Wendy’s News later explained more specifically that he had been unaware that the publication contained a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, and that, had he known, he would have refused to stock the magazine. His reasoning behind the decision was solely due to customer demand, claiming that “over 600 customers asked me to stock it”.

BBC Oxford reported that the decision to cancel the order was due to threatening phone calls and Facebook abuse received by the newsagent’s, including threats to burn the shop and break the windows. The Thames Valley Police confirmed to Cherwell that they received report of a threat made to a newsagent’s on Broad Street.

A second Oxford newsagent’s, Honey’s on the High, has ordered 300 copies of the most recent Charlie Hebdo, which is expected to arrive today. They have no plans to reverse this order.

An employee told Cherwell that they were aware of the threats Wendy’s News had received, but that they had not received any such threats themselves. Honey’s of the High have placed a sign in a prominent position, apologising for the delay in the arrival of the stock, but assuring customers that they will be sold.

Cherwell spoke to a customer at Honey’s of the High, Chris Hardy, who wished to buy a copy of the most recent Charlie Hebdo.

He said, “I’d like a copy because of what it stands for and represents at the moment. I’ve read Private Eye, which is the nearest English equivalent for generations. What I think it stands for is that there must be freedom to speak.”

The attacks in Paris fuelled a debate about the balance between freedom of speech and publication and the offence of religion. In this case it was the publication of cartoons which caused enormous offence to many Muslims.

In relation to this debate, Tawfiq Hamid, the President of the Oxford University Islamic

Society commented, “The debate has turned into Islam vs freedom of speech, with no textual support to the implicit notion that Islam has a problem with freedom of speech.

The overall tone of the debate is excessively Islamophobic and helps to build a general air of mistrust around Muslims in general, while in many cases inciting hatred against innocent individuals, such as we have seen reflected in the subsequent attacks against the Muslim community.

“Tomorrow, being Friday, ISoc will meet at about midday to pray and then chill while eating some (hopefully warm) sandwiches for lunch. We’ve also arranged a cheeky spot of 5-a-side for the evening. I just wanted to say that this, for me, is ‘living Islam’. The lives of Muslims are so different to what we see in the media and it’s sad that at the end of the day the only debate around Islam tonight revolves around ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘extremism’.”

Adam Ismail, a Muslim Law undergraduate at St. Catherine’s College, commented, “I don’t agree with the magazine covers produced by Charlie Hebdo but I respect the right of free speech and publication. There should be a right to insult and make fun of religion. I think that is fundamental to the freedom of speech.”

Cherwell | 23.01.15

4 | News

Oxford house prices outstrip earnings

Gap widens between house prices and wages

The Cost of Life on Earth: Companies, climate change and your money

Suzie Marshall News Editor

FIGURES RELEASED THIS WEEK reveal that the gap between house prices and average earnings has been widening in Oxford over the last ten years more than in almost any other city in the UK. London and Cambridge were the only British cities where the gap between house prices and average earnings increased more than it did in Oxford.

The findings were published by the think tank Centre for Cities, in their annual Cities’ Outlook report. It was revealed that the average house in Oxford cost 16.1 times more than the average yearly salary in 2014, which was £28,860. By comparison, the average house cost 12.8 times more than an average year’s wage in 2004. The average wage in 2014 in Oxford was the eighth highest average in Britain.

The Senior Economist at Centre for Cities, Paul Swinney, told Cherwell, “At £555 per week, Oxford’s average earnings are relatively high on a national level, and well above the UK city average of £501 per week.

“However, its growing economy and its increased desirability as a place to live, work and invest have not been matched by any significant house building over the past decade, which has seen demand for existing dwellings reach unprecedented levels. Only two hundred new homes were built between 2012 and 2013, for example, indicating why house prices rose by ten per cent between 2013 and 2014.

“Over the ten years from 2004, Oxford’s house prices rose from 12 to 16 times average earnings. As our recent report on the UK’s housing crisis demonstrated, Oxford urgently needs to find new opportunities to increase its rate of house building, or it threatens pricing workers – and the businesses that employ them

Concerned about climate change? Campaigning for disinvestment from fossil fuels? Interested in alternative forms of energy? Want to join others in thinking through the ethical use of money? If so, this conference is for you.

27th - 28th February 2015 Dinner with Keynote Speakers St Hugh’s College, Friday 27th at 7.00pm – out of the city, with long-term consequences for economic growth.”

Andrew Carter, Acting Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, added, “Five months out from the election, this report makes the strongest economic case yet for the next government to step up to the challenge of investing in the long-term success of our cities, and build a brighter future in which more people and places can contribute to, and share in, prosperity and growth.

“The stark picture the report paints of the enormous gap in the fortunes of UK cities over ten years underlines why a ‘steady as she goes’ approach must be scrapped. We must move from thinking that bundling up new funding streams with bureaucratic delays, or simply tinkering around the edges with well-intentioned announcements, will be enough to reverse trends that are becoming increasingly entrenched.

“Cities need long-term funding and strategic planning, and policies that go to the heart of addressing the key drivers of economic growth – including transport, planning, skills and housing.’’

Day conference 10.00 – 5.00 Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, Saturday 28th An introductory dinner followed by a day conference, at which a panel of speakers will address the impacts of climate change on the ground, disinvestment from fossil fuels, possibilities for positive impact investment and opportunities for shareholder engagement.

This will be followed by workshops on •Ethical screening and positive ethical investment •Case studies of disinvestment campaigns and shareholder action •Initiatives to set up ethical money churches •Sharia compliance and ethical investment •Community energy in the UK and abroad For more information contact oxfordeccrgroup@hotmail.com or book directly on https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cost-of-life-on-earth-tickets-13816147469.

Eton get schooled on homophobia by Oxonian ex-student Ex-Eton College student writes letter highlighting prejudice at the prestigious public school Analysis

Suzie Marshall News Editor

ST JOHN’S COLLEGE STUDENT Jamie Jackson has written an open letter to fellow Old Etonian Piers Torday, currently head of the alumni association Dragonflies for gay Old Etonians, highlighting the homophobic atmosphere of his former school.

Torday, who attended Eton College in the 1980s, publicly spoke out about his experiences of being the only openly gay student in the school at the time. He described his experiences of attitudes towards LGBTQ students at Eton, saying, “There was some sniggering, but there was certainly no upsetting or traumatic bullying.”

His summative comment concluded, “By and large, what I’ve always thought about Eton is that people were very supportive, given that it was the late 80s, early 90s and the papers were full of headlines about people battling to block the age of consent and AIDS.” Jackson wrote the letter in response to these remarks. In the letter, Jackson claimed, “The idea that Eton does not have a problem with homophobia allows the school to ignore these issues, rather than tackling them head on.”

Jackson continued by listing several instances of latent homophobia within the school environment, observing, “There was never any attempt to provide sex education that was not purely targeted at heterosexual students.

“Whilst some teachers did pick boys up on using the word ‘gay’ as an insult, many ignored it, and few even used it themselves as the punchline to ‘jokes’, and, worse, as an insult.

“I am not aware of the school’s policies on teachers attempting to use inclusive language, but there seemed to be no effort to try and use such language.

“There were never any specific campaigns against homophobic bullying.”

When questioned on his motivations behind writing the letter, Jackson told Cherwell, “Piers Torday’s comments had somewhat been taken

Jonny Lawrence A homophobic atmosphere can be just as harmful as actual abuse

T

out of context, and he had been commenting on his personal experience which was then attached to his role as head of the OE [Old Etonian] Dragonflies. Nevertheless, I recognised the attitude that homophobia is not really an issue at Eton from statements by friends and other OEs and it is an attitude that is both incorrect and deeply frustrating to anyone that has witnessed it first-hand.”

The letter was published in PinkNews on January 18th, and has since garnered much attention and support. Jackson explained, “I wrote the letter much as anyone writes a frustrated status on Facebook: as an avenue for my anger without expectation of satisfaction.

“I have received around 50 replies from current Etonians, Old Etonians, and staff members at the school. The stories they relayed are often deeply personal and affecting. I feel undeserving, if grateful, that I have sparked such responses. I am determined to use such experience as a catalyst for change at the school.”

Jackson continued, “Oxford is, as universities tend to be when compared to school, a lot less bad for overt homophobia. Oxford is no liberal paradise, however; most gay or bi students I know are still reluctant to hold hands with others of the same gender after dark.”

his week, Jamie Jackson’s Facebook post in response to the now infamous “there is no homophobia at Eton” letter went viral, thanks to The Huffington Post.

My school, Bablake, resembled Eton in very few ways. Bablake is a small mixed day school, which, whilst being one of the first centres of private learning in this country, really only became private in the 1970s with the end of the grammar school system.

Fees, as such, have remained low for years and the school awards a generous scheme of bursaries, encouraging applications from people who would not normally be able to access independent higher education. A truly different school.

Jackson has commented that he could count roughly 15 gay or bisexual male students at Eton during his time there, yet none of them came out. I was one of only two ‘out’ gay students in Bablake during my upper sixth year and certainly the only one who was really open about it. Although Bablake prides itself on its caring and supportive ethos, people still did not feel comfortable coming out.

My own story is testament to the lack of actualised homophobia in my school. There was never a comment, even, about my homosexuality.

People accepted it – rejoiced in it in some cases – as friends and classmates were truly happy to see me being truly happy.

The teachers could not have been more supportive: my German teacher cancelled a one hour lesson so we could have a party and eat cake. How nice it all was, how lucky I was.

Yet my experience was unique: I was the only gay student who actually was supported because I was the only openly gay student.

Homophobia in schools does not necessar-

ily only refer to the reactions individual students receive on coming out, i.e. actualised homophobia. Jackson is completely right to reference the lack of students coming out in schools. Sometimes this is because the students themselves are not ready.

However, some are. Some came out to me, yet not to the whole year, desperately afraid that they might experience difficulty and prejudice in spite of the warm and welcom-

“

The school system is not tackling the root causes of homophobia and transphobia ing reaction I had received.

It is this perceived homophobia which links my story to Eton College. Whilst every school, every year group and every individual experiences homophobia in a different way, which is why the concept of this article has a relatively futile and pointless element to it, there is one important factor.

LGBTQ young people today feel homophobia still; we still feel that people will reject us and that we will be unsafe if we share our secret.

The school system is not tackling the root causes of homophobia and transphobia. I question whether it ever will.

News | 5

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Nick Clegg condemns Campsfield expansion plans Deputy Prime Minister speaks out against expansion of immigration detention centre tremely pleased” with the Deputy Prime Minister’s decision to speak out against proposals to double the size of Campsfield.

Marianna Spring News Editor DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER Nick Clegg has spoken out against the expansion of Campsfield House Immigration detention Centre, arguing that there is not a “clear case” for the proposals.

Clegg declared, “The Home Office needs to improve the speed and accuracy of immigration and asylum decisions. This will reduce demand, help save money, and mean we can eventually close centres such as Campsfield House.”

The prospective Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon, Layla Moran, supported his remarks. She said, “I am delighted the Deputy Prime Minister has backed our calls. The ‘needs case’ for this expansion is now even less convincing.”

His decision to speak out against existing plans contrasts with Prime Minister David Cameron’s response to an open letter from 21 local organizations in December, which called for the withdrawal of plans to expand the detention centre.

In the reply, the Head of Detention Operations at the Home Office, Karen Abdel-Hady, confirmed that a planning application had been submitted and that if approved, would “provide modern accommodation and facilities” and “meet the strategic objectives of immigration enforcement”.

Abdel-Hady’s response went on to defend the Immigration Removal Centre, arguing, “Detention and removal are essential and effective parts of immigration control but it’s vital it’s done with humanity and dignity.”

Having previously expressed her disappointment at the response from the Home office, an Oxford researcher working on deportation and immigration detention was this time “ex-

The week in figures

10%

The amount house prices rose in Oxford between 2013 and 2014

7 bn

The number of people potentially affected by the Nexus email problem

£4,000 The amount new female graduates earn on average less than their male counterparts

“

His decision to speak out contrasts with Prime Minister David Cameron Dr. Melanie Griffiths told Cherwell, “The UK is unique in Europe for having no maximum time limit for immigration detention, meaning that people have no idea how long they might be detained for, with many incarcerated for months or even years. It is also an extremely costly process, at £36,000 per detainee per year, and causes immense damage to individuals and their families.’’

“Given all this, rather than seek to expand detention space yet further, we should be looking into cheaper and more civilised means of operating an immigration system. I welcome Clegg’s recognition that we should call for the end of this cruel practice.”

She went on to say, “Depriving a person of their liberty simply for administrative inconvenience is abhorrent.”

Oxford University’s Amnesty International was equally keen to back Clegg’s comments, with their President commenting, “We are pleased that the Deputy PM has condemned the expansion plans and hope this represents a growing trend.”

“UK law and the Home Office’s own policy guidance clearly state that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest period necessary. Yet these recent rapid expansions suggest that rather than ‘sparingly’, detention is being increasingly relied upon to warehouse migrants simply for administrative reasons, a proportion of whom will never be removed from the UK.” Dr. Griffiths was keen to encourage people to express their views on the issue using the Detention Forum website.

A statement prepared by OUSU’s Student Executive Officers about the expansion plans declares, “Campsfield House should not be expanded: it should be closed down. Detainees at Campsfield report frequent abuse – just last month the detainees themselves staged a protest against the violent treatment of one of their number – and are systematically denied their basic rights. That Campsfield is run for profit by a private company is also troubling.

“Migrants are not criminals. Many of the detainees in Campsfield faced persecution in their countries of origin and came to Britain needing our help. As a country, we are under an obligation not to mistreat them. Sadly, our immigration policy remains inhumane, and places like Campsfield are testament to that.

“That is why it is the position of OUSU to oppose Campsfield House, and therefore we deplore plans for its expansion.

We are glad that many Oxford students and academics – including nine heads of colleges – agree with us on this issue, and we will continue to lobby the government to close Campsfield.”

The planning application for the extension to Campsfield has been deferred to the Cherwell District Council planning committee meeting on February 19th because the applicants ‘need more time to resolve the highways issue’.

Neither the offices of David Cameron nor the Liberal Democrat party responded to requests for comment.

Union criticised for lack of diversity in lineup Students calculate 68 per cent of the Union’s speakers for Hilary are both white and male Elliot Burns News Editor THE OXFORD UNION has been criticised by students for producing a Hilary termcard with 64 per cent white male speakers.

The Union, who had promised an “incredibly diverse” termcard have come under fire after promising to challenge “the view that the Union is a ‘boys’ club’’, but presenting an overwhelmingly male line up.

The termcard, which includes notable figures such as Marine Le Pen, Al Sharpton, and Sarah Palin, includes three separate weeks in which there are no individual female speakers. Of the entire eight week term, the lineup includes only 15 women speaking in total, four of whom are invited for a feminism debate.

Opinion is divided as to whether the Union should have ensured a more equal gender and ethnicity balance for this term’s events, since 21 of the 31 individual speakers are white males. On the debates panel for Oxbridge admissions quotas, all of the speakers are white, and only one is female. On the debate on institutional racism in the US, all of the panel are male. Three out of seven of the debates contain an all-male and all-white panel.

Annie Teriba, former member of the Secretary’s Commitee, said, ‘‘I’m saddened to see that yet again the Union has prioritised so many men over having decent representation. ‘‘I gather from certain well placed likes on Cuntry Living that some in the Union think that I’m supposed to celebrate the most talked about speakers: a woman who hates my right to choose, a woman who profits from feeding my insecurities and a fascist. The Union certainly knows how to make a girl feel special.”

Tim Squirrell, former President of the Cambridge Union and a speaker at the Oxford Union in 7th Week of Hilary, told Cherwell that the Union still has much work to do.

He commented, “The Oxford (and Cambridge) Unions have long-standing and

lingering problems with diversity. There are a lot of different causes: it’s partly to do with a lack of women and other groups in positions of power and partly to do with those who are in those positions not accepting invitations as readily.

“At the Cambridge Union, quite a lot is being done to rectify our diversity problems, for example inviting only female speakers for a large amount of the time, or deliberately filling any remaining debate slots with female speakers. ‘‘Whilst we’re making some headway, there’s still a long way to go, and I’m not sure that I would go so far as to celebrate the diversity of our termcard just yet.’’

Helena Dollimore, former OULC chair, said, “When I pledged a gender balanced termcard in my hust to co-chair a political society in Oxford, members said it would be impossible.

We did it, with less effort than I expected, despite the domination of politics and that party by men.

“Apologists will always say gender balancing is impossible and will lead to poorer quality speakers. It’s not only quite easy if you actually try, but can lead you to invite speakers who end up being even more interesting.”

However, not everyone agreed. Lewis Hedges, a PPEist at Univ, said, “I think the problem here is twofold: yes the Union aren’t getting enough women to come and speak, but there also aren’t enough women high enough up in their fields to invite.

“This system of patriarchy is both excluding existing women from speaking and preventing many such young women from rising to a place of prominence in the first place”.

The Union did not respond to our requests for comment.

Cherwell | 23.01.15

6 | News

Cambridge better for housing and transport Sam Dayan News Reporter DATA PUBLISHED IN THE ECONOMIST has exposed disparities between Oxford and Cambridge as places to live, with residents of Cambridge enjoying more affordable housing and better transport links.

A City Council commissioned study from URS consultancy firm revealed that Oxford built just 60 new houses in 2014, compared to Cambridge’s 1,020.

This lack of building has led to a severe housing shortage in Oxford, with the average house price at 11.3 times the average local earnings; making it the most unaffordable place to live in Britain.

Leader of Oxford City Council Bob Price told The Economist that Cambridge is at least 20 years ahead of Oxford.

However, he did note that this has begun to change during the tenure of the current Vice-Chancellor Andrew Hamilton, after it was claimed that Oxford University has been historically less forward thinking than Cambridge and failed to engage with the local community.

Nonetheless, Oxford University commented, “While Oxford’s geography can present challenges, the University and its local partners in government and business are successfully overcoming these barriers to create new enterprises, skills and jobs for the benefit of the entire region.

“The University has also created more spin-out companies than any other university over the last 25 years, many of which are still Oxford-based employers. One example, the digital games company NaturalMotion, started by a zoology graduate student, was sold for $527m last January.”

The article attributes the disparity in part to a few visionary Cambridge academics who decided the University should “convert its boffinary into wider regional prosperity”.

This led to numerous projects, including

“

Cambridge is at least 20 years ahead of Oxford in economic terms the Cambridge Science Park and St John’s Innovation Centre, forming a link between between the University and local business.

Cambridge MP Julian Huppert put their growth down to “its relatively small population, which means people are more likely to know each other than in larger cities”.

Many Oxford students were dismayed with the findings, with some expressing concern about the unaffordability of local housing, while others took a more jovial attitude.

One New College PPEist noted that, “Oxford’s failure lies totally in the name. Cambridge is like actually a bridge over the Cam but I don’t see any Oxen. Maybe we should get some oxen?”

Predictably, Cambridge students were more upbeat in their response. One Law fresher noted, “I always knew we were academically superior but it’s gratifying to know that our urban environment is also better.”

Another second year suggested, “For all the good-natured joking and one-upmanship it is nice to put a definitive end to our little squabble: Cambridge has won.”

The revelation follows a visit last October to Cambridge by 40 Oxford councillors and business leaders, who visited the town to see how Cambridge deals with its urban problems.

OULC launch #2015hours campaign for upcoming election MP and Reading West Candidate support Oxford University Labour Club campaign take a vote for granted”, but emphasised their record of speaking to between 30,000 and 40,000 voters a year as exemplary.

Hannah Lovell, co-Chair of OULC, told Cherwell, ‘‘OULC are really excited to announce our #2015hours campaign. The election coming up is one of the most important in a generation, and only a Labour government can protect and support students and young people.’’

Lovell encouraged students to register to vote at the event, reminding OULC members it was only “15 weeks and counting”.

Groulef also spoke at the event, thanking OULC for their support over the past two and a half years. She commended Andrew Smith as “the best campaigning MP in the country” but argued this will be an essentially local election, fought over local issues.

Given that the national Labour Students group aims to deliver 10,000 campaigning hours, OULC’s campaigning would constitute

over a fifth of its doorstep activities.

The OULC termcard shows that former Chancellor and Chair of the Better Together campaign Alistair Darling will be visiting the club on Saturday as part of the election campaign pledge.

Members of both the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) and the Oxford University Liberal Democrats (OULD) have responded to the news.

“We’ve a full campaigning termcard in place for Hilary. This does not frighten us,” an OULD member remarked.

One member of OUCA suggested OULC’s pledge would be dwarfed by the Conservatives’ Team2015 campaign. Conservative campaign leaders said, “Team2015 volunteers are working together to win a Conservative majority at the next election.”

Reportedly, students consumed alcohol at this drinks event.

Nexus vexes Oxford students

This week News in Brief

Henry Shalders News Reporter THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY LABOUR CLUB (OULC) have kick-started this General Election year with a pledge to put in 2015 campaigning hours on the doorstep.

On Monday night, about fifty OULC members gathered in Corpus Christi for a drinks event to mark the start of the campaign. In attendance were Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Work and Pension Secretary, as well as Victoria Groulef, the Labour candidate in the party’s target seat of Reading West.

OULC announced they would be out in Oxford East every Sunday this term, as well as

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The election coming up is one of the most important in a generation travelling three times to Reading West. Campaigning would include leafleting, canvassing, and doorstep encounters with voters.

In a speech at the gathering, Andrew Smith MP lambasted the Coalition government for bringing about “food bank Britain”, introducing “the wicked bedroom tax” and implementing ‘“cuts to council support”.

He urged assembled members to campaign with “purpose, principle and passion”.

Speaking to Cherwell he stressed, “There’s everything to campaign for, and OULC have a vital role to play. The more people we talk to the more people will vote for us.”

The MP reminded OULC campaigners, “Never

Oxford email system disrupted by expired security certificate Alexander Doody News Reporter STUDENTS, TUTORS, STAFF and university organisations were faced with a problem on Sunday when they tried to access Oxford’s Nexus email on their browsers.

Users trying to access the Oxford Nexus email website via web browsers were informed by an automatic message that the site’s security certificate was not to be trusted.

The message gave users the choice of proceeding, warning that security of the Nexus site could not be guaranteed, or returning “back to safety.”

Though the message was alarming, no data was stolen and the site had not been compromised.

A University spokesperson told Cherwell, “Due to an oversight the security certificate for the Nexus website expired without being automatically renewed.”

As a result, the security certificate for the Nexus webpage was temporarily invalid, prompting online security systems to respond by sending out an automatically generated message to all users attempting to access the Nexus login on Sunday warning that the site was untrustworthy.

The University spokesperson apologised for the incident, saying, “Though no part of the university website or its users’ data was compromised and there was no security risk, the University apologises for the inconvenience it may have caused to users and has put measures in place to ensure such a lapse doesn’t happen again.”

Most students were indifferent to the incident, with few reporting any major disruption.

The majority responded by saying that they either disregarded the warning and proceeded anyway or used other email accounts.

A second-year English student Ellen Brewster said, “To be honest it didn’t bother me that much, because I ignored the security warnings

OXFORD UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTRE is inviting those who would describe themselves as eccentric, keep themselves to themselves or believe in the supernatural to take part in a investigation they are conducting with the University of Manchester, in a bid to find a new treatment for schizophrenia.

and just proceeded through the advanced settings. I know that some people were quite anxious to know if everything was all right, but as I don’t tend to use my Nexus account for anything that’s personal and not university or college related, I wasn’t too fussed really.”

Advertised by Oxford’s IT services as “the major communication medium in Oxford”, Nexus is vital in the business of the university - each student is automatically registered upon joining the University, and the service is used daily for correspondence between students, tutors, staff and campus organisations.

Run by the Oxford University IT services department, Nexus has been in use as a centralised system by the University for several years with few incidents. The service is generally reliable, although there have been some minor issues with sending attachments via Google Chrome.

Emails from Nexus can also be forwarded to inboxes on mobile devices, a service which was unaffected by the incident on Sunday.

Staff at the IT services department reacted quickly to the incident, renewing the SSL security certificate by midnight on Sunday. Normal service was resumed on Monday morning with no further issues.

A RECENT REVIEW has revealed that students from Wales are less likely to get into Oxbridge than those from England and Northern Ireland. Special Centres are being launched in an attempt to increase the number of Welsh students applying to the top universities, as Oxford applications hit their lowest in over ten years.

ON BEHALF OF OXFORD STUDENTS, OUSU has urged the University Congregation to vote against a resolution proposed regarding Castle Mill accommodation. Professor MacCulloh and 65 others have suggested the removal of the top floor of the building, but OUSU believes that the eviction residents and cost of £30m in order to boost the aesthetics of North Oxford is both a waste of money and unfair on students.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY’S CLASSICS FACULTY is relaunching an outreach programme that aims to offer support to 17 local state schools , which want to start teaching the subject. Latin is currently only taught in three Oxfordshire state schools. The scheme was originally established in 2008 but was suspended in 2012 when its funding was withdrawn.

OUSU ELECTED SEVEN NEW POSITIONS this week at a meeting of OUSU Council held at St. Catz. Amongst other positions, that of Chair of Council was won by Will Obeney (80 votes for, 1 against) and that of Returning Officer was won by Joe Smith (77 for, 4 against).

Only one of the elections was contested.

PROFILE

“

The Newsnight brand turned out to be stronger and less tarnished than I thought found himself in what, for many, will always be Jeremy Paxman’s seat. Speaking after his first few weeks in the job, Davis tells me it “is still quite new. I’m still bedding in and working out how to structure the new day”.

Davis’ appointment at Newsnight sparked new-found newspaper interest in the 52 year old interviewer. “Can Evan Davis save Newsnight?” and “What would Paxo think? Newsnight’s tattooed new host steps out in ripped jeans” were two of many choice headlines in response to his appointment.

I wonder if settling into the job is as difficult as the papers suggest. “The first week had that warm glow,” he tells me. “But by the second week there were people starting to say ‘He’s not as good as Paxman’ and grumbling, but it is starting to settle down. You are never going to please everybody, so you should never look for 100 per cent.”

If such comparisons are frustrating, they are nothing new considering the adversarial style of his former co-host of Today, John Humphrys. Davis describes his style as “convivial and friendly” and defends his interviewing techniques as “explaining and trying to understand”.

Describing his own interview style, he said, “Sometimes the interview might be about trying to find out where you’re coming from, or showing the audience something about your character or it might just be about entertainment. I go into most interviews with an open mind in an attempt to give that person a space for them to describe what they are doing, or to give them enough rope with which to hang themselves if they deserve that.”

“

Being gay at Oxford [in my] time was still a bit of a feature nomic phenomenon, just as big supermarkets replace little grocers and little grocers replace market stalls. It’s always a painful stage but it’s expected.”

Davis himself doesn’t tweet regularly – “partly because I find that I have to think too hard in order to know what to say, so that I don’t get a slew of people responding telling me that I’m not meant to have an opinion because I’m at the BBC”.

I ask him about a specific tweet that caught my interest: in July 2014, in light of the Australian swimmer, Ian Thorpe, coming out as gay, Davis tweeted, “Well done @IanThorpe. Your life is about to get a whole lot easier.” He tells me, “That tweet came from a very personal perspective.”

Although he finds it “curious that people

dw oo eG ag :S

ion

t a k e an interest in my homose x uality,” he tells me, “if people want to comment it is not for me to tell them what should or shouldn’t be interesting.

If you asked me whether I was interested in whether a random celebrity was gay or not, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t.”

As the interview draws to a close, I ask Davis about his own experience of coming out. He explains, “I wasn’t fully out at Oxford at all.

I came out in my second year of university in the States. Being gay at Oxford at the time was still a bit of a feature. I remember doing an interview with a guy who was running the gay society and the interview was very much about his homosexuality. It was more of a feature than it is now but Oxford was still a tolerant and liberal place.

“If I were going back to Oxford again, I would say come out as soon as you can, you just make your life so much easier, which is why I said that to Ian Thorpe.” He tells me, “I realised I was gay before University. I was clear about it before college and keeping it a secret is a thing that kind of builds up and not being open about it horrendously complicates your life and becomes really annoying. It’s not a little thing, it is quite a great difference between you and a lot of other people if you are dating guys.”

Having not come out during his time at Oxford, Davis explains, “There are two phases in coming out: the first phase is self-acceptance, which is quite a big step, and a lot of people take a very long time to get there, and you are not going to be out to other people before you come out to yourself. The second step of telling people generally was much harder. I found it very hard to tell other people before I told my family, although that is perhaps not the same for everyone.”

I am struck by how honest Davis is about his own experiences and by how open and conversational he is in discussing his Newsnight role, as well as heavier topics such as Leveson or the license fee. He is as friendly and modest as his interviewing persona suggests, which I suppose is why he was chosen to fill Paxman’s shoes in the first place.

As he tells me, “I was never tempted by tabloid journalism. You look at someone like Robert Peston and he gets stories every week.

For me, journalism was never about talking to Deep Throat and getting a story – I’ve never got a story in my life” at

w a y over my p a y grade,” he has an obviously astute and clearly thought through approach to the discussion. “I see the BBC not as some Leviathan organisation that serves itself – maybe some of the people that work in it think that way, but I don’t. It’s not the BBC’s BBC, it should be seen and treated as an agent of the public. We are an agent, we are not an empire.”

Even without budget cuts, the mainstream media is challenged in the Twenty-First Century by the growth of social media. I ask Davis how he thinks journalists should react to the prevalence of sites such as Twitter. “Twitter is important, we all read it and we look at it and we all take a certain sense from it. You have to contain yourself from putting too much weight on it as it is not a representative sample.

Twitter is not a mirror of the population at large, it is slightly skewed to a certain portion.”

Moreover, Davis accepts that, and as is his trademark, analyses the decline of mainstream providers in economic terms, “With the explosion in social media, independent blogs, you would expect a different role from what might be termed ‘old media’ and you would expect it to shrink a bit. That’s an eco-

s tr

This perfectly captures Davis’ approach.

Welcoming and refraining from judgement, he is in many ways the opposite of the older, more aggressive interviewers, Paxman and Humphrys. “Tough-questioning, adversarial journalism is a great British tradition. I’m a fan of that style of journalism, it scores up a lot of great successes, it is theatrical and engaging and it also keeps people on their toes in a really brilliant way.” However, as might be expected, Davis thinks it has its limitations, “Paxman and Humphrys were so damn good at what they do and lots of other people felt that that was the gold standard of what you had to do, but we are not all Paxman and Humphrys and, more to the point, we shouldn’t try to be.”

Russell Brand’s explicitly anti-establishment position and discussion style in many ways clashes with Newsnight’s trademark tendency to interview the suit-wearing, media-trained politicians of today’s era. Davis, however, shies away from the establishment label. “I have a program on Radio 4 called The Bottom Line, which is ‘the Chief Executive program’ where I am conversational and friendly with Chief executives, but I hope I am not just an establishment figure.

“I hope I would treat radicals like Russell Brand just as I would treat the Chief Executive of Unileaver. I think it would be crazy to think that just because you are polite to people you are in some way complicit with them; to think that would be stupid.”

Even if Davis feels secure in his own burgeoning trademark style, presenting Newsnight in 2015 also means coming into the brand after a series of journalistic scandals, most notably pertaining to the program itself. Newsnight’s decision in 2011 not to broadcast an investigation into accusations of sexual assault against Jimmy Savile rightly hit the headlines.

I ask Davis about reinventing Newsnight.

“What do you say about the Jimmy Savile scandal? It obviously wasn’t a great period in Newsnight. It was interesting to me when I was thinking about leaving Today for Newsnight that when I asked people what they thought of Newsnight, no one mentioned it. The Newsnight brand turned out to be stronger and less tarnished than I thought.”

Similarly, Davis thinks that the Leveson Inquiry, which followed the 2011 phone hacking scandal, “hasn’t changed the way journalism is done at the BBC, but the BBC doesn’t do the kind of journalism to which Leveson was really oriented so I wouldn’t have expected it to. Nor do I think that it has done as much to change the newspapers’ behaviour as the phone hacking convictions.” He points out, “There is a heck of a lot going on in the life of newspapers at the moment, and worrying about Leveson and press regulation is not at the top of their list: the commercial imperatives and their loss of revenue is a much bigger worry.”

If newspapers are under threat due to dropping circulation figures and diminishing revenue, the BBC has also seen its lifeblood license fee cut in real terms over the last few years.

Although Davis tells me “all these issues are

Ill u

E

van Davis takes two months to get back to my email request for an interview. When his PA gets in contact, I’m immediately daunted: I had never thought news journalists would have an entourage.

My concerns are further heightened when he texts me later to confirm a venue. In many ways, it encapsulates the laid back but clearly high-powered man I met — he later tells me how he’d “rather not wear a suit and tie if everyone was happy with it, but it is easier to be neutral and fit in by wearing a suit”. He is disinclined to make strong public statements, yet is also now the face of one of the BBC’s biggest brands, Newsnight.

Starting out at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, he made his journalistic name as BBC’s Economics Editor and by fronting Dragons’ Den. It is perhaps unexpected that Davis now

in

Ella Richards talks to Evan Davis about Newsnight and filling Jeremy Paxman’s shoes

COMMENT

We should stop describing acts as being extremist

Using the word ‘extremist’ too hastily risks undermining those acts that are extreme but nevertheless justified Luke Ames Blackaby Deputy Comment Editor

F

ollowing the attacks on Paris, the word ‘extremism’ has been in the news a lot recently. However, when discussing if ‘extremism’ is ever justifiable, it is apparent that this term has come to be used almost universally as a criticism of actions with which the writer disagrees. As a result, in using the word ‘extremism’, nothing is said about the act itself; all that is shown is the speaker/writer disagreeing with the act.

The first problem with trying to justify ‘extremism’ is that it is a subjective description, with different meanings for each person. Extremism can change for people over time. This can be seen in Conservative Party members’ reactions to Nelson Mandela; in 1985, a small youth group went as far as to publish posters calling for his hanging. Upon his death, however, Mandela was lauded by leading Conservatives as a hero and freedom fighter rather than an extremist. It seems that when we ‘justify extremism’, we are only justifying our version of it.

The change in perception of Mandela demonstrates another part of the problem; inherent in the description ‘extremist’ is a criticism.

The difficulty is that in describing an act as ‘extremist’, what is being suggested is that that act was out of proportion to what it was reacting against. But if a tank is advancing towards your family home with the intention of destroying it, trying to stop it by violent means is not extremist, despite being an extreme act.

Implicit in using the term is a judgement that we feel some acts are not reasonable in relation

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to what they are reacting against.

Using ‘extreme’ instead of ‘extremism’ describes only comparisons with alternative acts and says nothing about what they are in response to. It involves no predispositions. And so, a more useful question is: will any of the extreme acts in 2015 be justified?

Justification of extreme acts depends on the answers to three questions: what are they fighting for, what is it in response to, and what alternatives are there? Violent action towards another individual is generally seen as justifiable when in response to violence, when what causes someone to act in this way is the desire

Yes

Syrian Civil War started, and in many pre-2011 Northern African countries, the states in question were involved in the deaths of hundreds of dissenting citizens.

An alternative to extreme acts is to pursue

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Where no clear alternative exists, extreme acts can be justified change via legal methods. Yet, even if this does work, it often proceeds at a very slow pace. The legal fights against slavery, against colonial rule and for women’s franchise each spanned a century.

While social media enables dissidents to coordinate and mobilise faster today, such avenues themselves will not cause oppressive leaders to fall.

It is easy for us to call on the oppressed to take non-violent routes, being largely free already. However, if legal routes can take longer than a lifetime, are the oppressed not justified in using violence to secure what they rightfully should have?

In 2015 there are still many cases where people are oppressed and have no ability to dissent legally and peacefully. In Mauritania, for example, ten per cent of the population are estimated to be slaves. For people across the world, where no clear alternative exists, extreme acts may not turn out to be the most successful, but they can certainly be justified

Is it acceptable for actors to play

Tom Posa and Tom Robinson debate whether we shou

Tom Posa Deputy Comment Editor

W

to stop oppression, and when it is reasonable to think that there is no viable alternative way of achieving this end. Committing an act of violence then is most likely to be justifiable if it aims to secure freedom from oppression.

Without an aim, all justification is lost.

Whether violent acts can ever be justified turns on whether there are any acts, committed out of desire for freedom, which are committed both in response to violent suppression and where there seems little viable alternative.

History is rife with examples of undeniable and obvious violent suppression by states. Around every recent Zimbabwean election, before the

hen Exodus: Gods and Kings was released in December with an all-white cast playing ancient Egyptian and Hebrew characters, there was a predictable outcry over the ‘whitewashing’ present in the film. In the entertainment industry, white people, and particularly white men, are disproportionately represented. This is indisputable.

No one would advocate for a return to Hollywood of yesteryear, when white actors frequently acted in ‘blackface’ (as did Laurence Olivier in a screen adaption of Othello) or adopted racial caricatures to play characters of different races. But this does not mean that actors shouldn’t be able to play characters of other races.

There is clearly artistic merit in being able to cast characters of a different race. It can lend an interesting interpretation to a classic play: look at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s staging of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar with an all-black cast in 2013. By using an all-black cast, the RSC was able to stage a modern interpretation of the play set against the background of an African state in turmoil.

This kind of cross-cultural interpretation is partially what helps to

keep classical literature relevant, as well as exposing audiences across the world to the other cultures.

But I don’t really think anyone would dispute the value of permitting the kind of case above, even though the real life characters depicted in the play were explicitly European. Nor, I think, would most people disagree with Idris Elba

“

Ethnic minority backgrounds are underrepresented being cast as the next Bond, which has been widely speculated recently, even though there is no particular artistic reason for having a black Bond as there was for having a black Julius Caesar.

The real issue under discussion here is whether we allow white actors to play non-white characters, in cinema, the theatre, and on television. To return to the example of Exodus, it seems that the problem is that Western actors of ethnic minority backgrounds are underrepresented compared to their share of the population in Western countries. But

barring white actors from individual casting decisions on the basis of this systematic problem (if you do believe it to be a systematic problem) seems misguided at best.

If you want to address the systematic problem, there are much better, and fairer, means of addressing the underlying issues. Fund special programmes for drama students and young actors of ethnic minority backgrounds. Directors can make special efforts to seek and cast black actors more often. But saying to an aspiring actor that, on the basis of their race, they are going to be excluded from even being considered for the part amounts to no more than racism. The problem of underrepresentation will never be solved by excluding white actors from some parts due to a logic of increasing minority representation.

I am not suggesting by any means that we have a white man play Nelson Mandela in the next biopic of his life, or that we have a black Reagan. There are obviously some cases where it is absolutely imperative to have an actor of the same race as the character, if solely in order to provide an accurate depiction of historical persons. But the relevance and value of characters like Moses, Bond, or Julius Caesar in cinematic depiction does not come from their race, and so there is no imperative that the actor portraying these characters be of any specific race

Comment | 9

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Every page of The Sun is toxic

The loss of Page 3 would not have saved the paper James Elliott Columnist

Presumably a number of JCRs were yesterday rushing down to newsagents to re-subscribe to The Sun, thinking Page 3 was no more, when The Sun announced it was staying. Whatever would have replaced Page 3 it would have been one more page that The Sun could fill with the rest of their vicious poison, and applauding it for dropping one of its least offensive pages would have been the political equivalent of playing ‘Blurred Lines’ because Robin Thicke had agreed to skip the first verse.

Far from being a misogynistic blip in an otherwise well-meaning and liberal publication,

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Page Three is one of the least pernicious parts of the paper

tions of urinating on other supporters. This is the paper that attacked a transgender parliamentary candidate, writing, “being blind, how did she know she was the wrong sex”. This is the paper that runs endless stories about disabled people ‘scrounging’ the social security that is their right. The campaign for students’ unions to boycott The Sun purely on the basis of Page Three always had this problem: after ‘victory’, it would still be full of misogyny, victim-blaming, lies and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Look out your window at a country with over a million people using foodbanks, two million people having had their benefits stopped by a draconian sanctions regime, and one in five people, over thirteen million, living in poverty.

This is the austerity Britain moulded by papers like The Sun. Let’s not pretend that the absence of Page Three would have changed The Sun in the slightest. It’s a reactionary publication and the JCRs like Teddy Hall which do without The Sun are better off without its poison polluting our spaces

Page 3 is by far one of the least pernicious and toxic parts of that paper and we should focus on the whole of its politics, which have always been incredibly reactionary.

A friend of mine and a disabled people’s rights campaigner put it quite well, saying, “I don’t want to scrap Page 3, I want to burn every copy of The Sun that tells me I’m a scrounging waster who lies to get her sick pay handouts from the government, I want to burn every copy of The Sun that tells my immigrant friends that they’re ruining the country and don’t deserve basic human rights.”

This is the paper that smeared the victims of Hillsborough, libelling the dead with accusa-

Inside OUSU Our anonymous OUSU insider gives us the rundown on this term’s officers’ prospects

O

USU is good at embarrassing itself.

Last term’s elections saw eight of the 18 part-time positions go unfilled, and 13 unopposed elections across the board. Not surprising, then, that turnout was so low and interest even lower, yet we have got an interesting mix of students elected to important positions – I’ll be giving my verdict on which of the part-time officers look set to run for the top jobs next year.

First though, the upcoming election for Vice-President for Graduates, a position vacated by Yasser Bhatti last week. It looks like Student Union stalwart Jack Matthews will stand – this OUSU Insider can imagine the northern geographer is in dreamland at the chance to finally get a full-time position in the Union.

Rumours suggest the defeated candidate in last term’s elections, Danny Zajarias-Fainsod, will rival. It’s unclear who else could come out of the woodwork. It’s always possible that former OUSU President David Townsend will decide to return, although his “aggressive and rude” approach to his last role (words of the Student’s Union’s scrutiny committee) would count against him.

Are you in a muddle about how OUSU elections work? I often hear people get a bit confused when they find out Becky Howe won’t be President until the summer, yet others seem to take their posts almost immediately.

It’s pretty simple: there are six full-time positions, including the President, and five VicePresidents, who oversee everything from welfare to women, access to charities, and of course, graduates. The people who win these elections don’t take their positions until 9th week of Trinity term (typically allowing them to finish their degree).

Then there are 18 part-time positions which cover campaigns for particular social groups; academic affairs; and stand-alone positions like ‘Environment & Ethics’. In light of a recent leaked report on “feelings of social isola-

y characters of a different race?

uld tolerate actors playing characters of a different race Tom Robinson Comment Editor

I

cannot argue that it is never acceptable for actors to play characters of a different race.

An actor’s performance can be so compelling that, regardless of their race compared to that of their character, the person was just made for the role. Morgan Freeman excelled as Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding in The Shawshank Redemption despite the fact that in the book from which the film is adapted, Red is a redheaded Irishman. You will never hear me say that Freeman shouldn’t have starred in Shawshank.

However, as the 2014 film Exodus: Gods and Kings proved to me, there is a tension in my beliefs. The film, detailing the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, saw all the lead roles played by white actors, which riled me (and plenty of others too).

When such ‘whitewashes’ occur, I do sometimes find it unacceptable for actors to play characters of a different race. While I am happy to endorse cross-race casting in some instances, I am less than happy in others. The liberal in me begs for the colour-blind approach – that matters of race are completely irrelevant. But another part of me, that which believes in social equality and justice, decries the bias towards

Caucasian casting.

It might be argued that the most annoying thing isn’t a distinction between Caucasian and non-Caucasian actors, but the fact that historical characters are being played by people of the wrong race.

It could be said that my indifference, encouragement even, of Morgan Freeman playing Red is because the character is fictional. On the

“

The liberal in me begs for the col our-blind approach other hand, because we consider Moses and Joshua to have actually existed, it is, in fact, the factual inaccuracy that annoys me.

I would not be annoyed by a black casting of James Bond or Annie Bennett simply because in these instances it does not matter. They are fictional characters. But would I find it odd if Idris Elba were cast to play Harold Wilson or Winston Churchill? Perhaps.

While this may explain some of my unease, however, I think my inconsistency stems from something deeper. To me, Exodus’

tion” for black and minority ethnicity (BME) students, and a “culture that struggles to welcome differences in race and ethnicity”, perhaps the most important part-time position is that of BME & Anti-Racism Officer, this term Nikhil Venkatesh. His predecessor was almost invisible, so things can only get better – a phrase probably familiar to Venkatesh with his heavy involvement in the University Labour Club. A term as co-chair of that, along with involvement in Corpus JCR, suggests this guy would be eyeing up a top position in OUSU come next year’s election, but we’ll need to see what he gets up to. His manifesto was light on specifics – getting a BME Officer in every common room is a good start though.

Other new part-time officers surely in with a chance of getting a full-time role in the next

“

It’s unclear who else could come out of the woodwork election include Henna Shah, the new Access & Admissions Officer. With a wide variety of involvement in access activities, and a presence in the Oxford Hub, holding this important OUSU position will be a great boost if she wants to run for Vice-President for Access & Academic Affairs next Michaelmas.

Elsewhere, Aliya Yule, the new Women’s Campaign Officer, looks set to continue the Wadham stranglehold on the Vice-President for Women position. She has some great ideas and a record of success, but the OUSU Insider hopes to see someone give a good challenge to the Wadhamite. Competition?

In an OUSU election? Here’s hoping…

No

casting choices are symptomatic of a system that unfairly discriminates against, intentionally or otherwise, black and ethnic minority actors in Western films. That not a single nonwhite actor was nominated in the four major categories of the Academy Awards this year is outrageous.

Perhaps there were no standout black performances this year, but that seems to be more because nonwhite actors did not get the airtime and opportunities they deserved, rather than bad, or inferior, acting.

I’ve already spoken of Morgan Freeman and Idris Elba, but there are so many talented non-white actors that could and should be playing leading roles. Oscar Isaac, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o have all had phenomenal acting performances recently. These film stars deserve to be cast in highprofile roles.

Until that happens regularly and we do not feel like blockbuster films are being ‘whitewashed’, I do think it is unacceptable for white actors to play non-white characters, fictional or otherwise.

I know my argument is inconsistent. Is it ever acceptable for actors to play characters of a different race?

Yes. But is it acceptable for actors today, especially white actors, to play characters of a different race?

No. Pervasive unfairness in our attitudes towards race in film means that we should not deny non-white actors the spotlight they deserve

Have your say If you would like to respond to any of the features in this week's edition, contact the Comment section at comment@ cherwell.org

10 | Comment

Cherwell | 23.01.15

Chris Pike on why ‘ quiche’ hurts and X TEW other things able people should know THE

O S

Mansfield College governing body votes to f*** it all and start again

A

fter years of building renovations to bring better facilities and services to students and conference guests, Mansfield College Governing Body this week voted to “f*** it all and start again”. This would mean destroying three years’ worth of building work that was only completed two weeks ago, which had been described by critics as “that special rarity when aesthetic disgrace meets utter futility”.

The recent vote arose out of discussion about how to build new accommodation, whilst also providing new offices to allow them to hire more fellows and make room for a larger MCR. Upon consulting with architects, it became clear that the only way to accomplish this would be to move the SCR to a marginally smaller room for 18 months and would also require them to close off all access to every part of the building they had just spent years renovating. It was decided that the best course of action would be to bulldoze the entire college and start afresh.

“Yes, the College is several hundred years old and very pretty,” the bursar told Cherwell, “but the RadCam is also pretty and what a complete inefficient waste of space that piece of crap is.”

Several students supported the proposals. One third year Physics student said, “Seriously, the original architect of Mansfield was a complete tool. He clearly had no foresight to prepare for the future demands growing numbers of conference guests could place on the College,” whilst another student complimented the governing body on its “bravery in disregarding the generic viewpoint of Oxford as a beautiful but rather outmoded institution. Finally, Oxford University will really demonstrate that it is becoming part of our market society – it’s no longer just a load of redundant Grade I listed buildings where young minds can learn and expand, it’s actually becoming useful as a business model.”

When asked what would happen to the College whilst it was being demolished and then rebuilt from scratch, one fellow suggested, “Well, we’ll probably just go and have tutorials at the Pret A Manger on Cornmarket.” When asked for further details of what this could mean for the students, she replied, “Obviously all tutes would be in the bigger Pret. You know – the one with all the chairs. Not that tiny one near Lloyds. That would be ridiculous.”

The OxStew was given an exclusive look at the proposed blueprints for the new Mansfield College. It appears that the architects have been heavily influenced by their neighbouring college, St Catherine’s, although with less attention to artistic style and more emphasis on ensuring its practical usage for years to come. Although earlier blueprints had a quad and a JCR, the quad was removed upon realisation by the members of staff that it was the perfect size for a state of the art conference room, whilst the JCR has now been adapted into what is termed “a pre-conference designated meet-and-greet networking space”.

“The college had existed in its previous form for only a couple of hundred years, but with this new building we will be able to provide an excellent base for academic learning for at least another ten… until the demands of our growing faculty and members means we have to start looking at new ways for expansion, in which case, we may begin to look towards a move to Port Meadow for all of our undergraduate accomodation,” reported the bursar, whom we met in what used to Mansfield Porters’ Lodge, but has now been designated as Project HQ to calculate the maximum potential for financial exploitation of Mansfield’s 300 plus students.

Demolition is set to start in March and the building is due to be completed by January 2017 although reports say it is already running approximately six months behind schedule, despite having not yet been started

Chris Pike Contributor

J

ust over a year ago I wrote an article for this very newspaper on my reflections as an autistic student at Oxford in my final year. I wrote about making that coming-ofage journey from uncomfortable, socially awkward freshling to active, involved and confident finalist. It was pretty nice to write, all things considered, and I get the feeling it was pretty nice for able people to read. To quote the last line of that article, “Having a disability at Oxford is really, really tough. It’s also turned out to be really fucking amazing.”

I know what my motivations were for writing that article: to send a message that “it gets better”, that lovely liberal buzz phrase to make us feel all warm and fuzzy.

But now I’m not convinced that that was the message I sent out. I was, perhaps, telling the able people of our student body that they were doing everything right. And what message does that send to the disabled person who is made to feel unable to get involved in a sports team or a society, or to go to a particular event or club night, or even to feel like they’re a

“

I’m just reminded that I’m not quiche.

I’m autistic.

example of this ableism, so I’ll give you just one. It’s about how I’m made to feel within our LGBTQ social scene.

This little world is dominated among the student body by the attractive, the loud, the socially confident, the neurotypical. And many of those same students exclude those who don’t have these qualities from their social groups, their drinks events, their ‘reserved’ spaces in nightclubs, even the language they use: for example, the massively overused ‘quiche’ to refer to anyone or anything hot, cool or fabulous (read: confident, loud, attractive).

I’m sure they have no idea what they’re doing; it can be hard to see the damage done by regularly repeating the name of a pastry. But every time that I hear it, I’m just reminded that I’m not quiche. I’m autistic; I just can’t be quiche. And while I wish I had the privilege of not caring about such a ridiculous fact, I do.

Because these people have turned our queer spaces into quiche spaces. I want the LGBTQ scene to include me. But it doesn’t.

I don’t wish to single out these people: these same qualities are seen almost as regularly in other ‘worlds’ I’m involved in: the political world, the feminist world.

Sometimes, it’s the same people in all the worlds. I’m glad to be involved in those things; they’ve taught me a lot and I fight for things I care about through them. But it exacerbates these problems even further: because remember, these are the people who claim to be “good guys” and “intersectional feminists”, who claim to care about disabled liberation. When those people are not only some of the loudest

people in the student body, but also those who claim to represent and support disabled people, it has made me question whether there is any hope of disabled people being able to speak up about how being disabled at this University actually makes us feel.

That’s what motivated me to write this article. Most importantly, it’s a plea, made as an act of hope. I may not be able to find anyone like me – anyone who makes me feel like I’m

“

To the disabled people reading this: you are brilliant not alone, who’s felt the same frustration and anxiety – on the dance floor of the Plush Lounge, or in the lecture theatres of OUSU Council. But maybe someone will be out there reading this article who is also angry, and maybe even wants to do something about it.

I’m speaking out, and I just hope that I’m not the only one who wants to, or feels able to do so. To the disabled people reading this: you’re brilliant. We need you.

Of course, that wasn’t my only motivation.

It was also written for those able people who aren’t guilty of this ableism; for you, I hope that this article will simply mean you will (continue to) do what you do. To make me feel welcome, included and valued. Thank you

valued member of the student body? It’s all very well for me to say that I feel like I’ve had some good successes while I’ve been here.

But it’s also the case that, from the moment I got here, I’ve been made to feel like I have to apologise for my disability. And that, in case anyone is in any doubt, is ableism: a method through which society disables me and others by making us feel like our disabilities are only our weaknesses and never our strengths.

This isn’t to say that every able member of the student body is an ableist; I’ve had friends who have supported me in ways I never imagined before I got to university. But that’s only part of the story. The ways I’ve been made to feel – the exclusion, the erasure, the criticism – came from able people who felt uncomfortable around autistic voices and faces, and so they wanted to pretend I wasn’t there.

I don’t have space in this article to give every

The Campaign Anna Bradshaw, OUSU Vice-President (Women)

Colleges need to update their harassment policies At the end of Michaelmas, the University updated its harassment policy and procedure, something for which students have been fighting for years. The new policy is much better than the old policy, with a clearer process, a better focus on welfare, and guidelines for staff members who receive disclosures.

However, changing the University’s harassment policy does not change colleges’ policies.

This is why OUSU has set up the Harassment Policy Working Group, chaired by Alice Vacani, to coordinate student action and get colleges to update their own policies. Lots of the members of the Working Group come from OUSU’s campaigns (especially WomCam

and It Happens Here), but it is also open to any interested student.

We will be running sessions to equip students with the tools needed to understand the new policy, and to fight for better policies in their colleges. We will also be coordinating student feedback on the new policy, and on areas we think need improving further.

Getting this policy right is absolutely central to protecting students, as is getting the University and colleges to stand up and say clearly that harassment, bullying, discrimination and sexual violence are not tolerated here. Currently, these are serious problems.

For example, 68 per cent of female students experience harassment during their time at university

(NUS Hidden Marks, 2010). 59 per cent of BME respondents to a CRAE report have felt uncomfortable or unwelcome at Oxford due to their race (100 Voices Report, 2014).

Laddish ‘banter’ that makes op-

“

Colleges need to update their policies pressed groups the butt of a joke is far from rare.

College policies are often difficult to navigate and may be unfamiliar to students. On top of this, colleges’ policies are largely inconsistent and there is no obvi-

ous minimum level of provision.

This makes it even more difficult for students who are already dealing with harassment to come forward and get results.

We need to use the momentum that we have now, from the University’s updated policy and from a strong and growing intersectional student activist community, to push for this work.

Colleges need to update their policies, and we need to move into a culture that sees the constant evaluation and updating of these policies as necessary.

Get in touch with the Harassment Policy Working Group by emailing the chair, Alice, at alice.vacani@ hertford.ox.ac.uk or me at women@ ousu.ox.ac.uk

PUZZLES

DEFINE: ‘pleonasm’

TRIVIUM

Some avian collective nouns: a group of redpolls is a ‘gallup’, a group of sheldrakes is a ‘dopping’, while a group of ptarmigans is an ‘invisibleness’.

CONNECTIONS

Which of these is the correct definition of this word?

What links:

1. The use of more words than is necessary 2. The invention of a word for satirical purposes 3. Highly non-Newtonian fluid

1. Patrick Stewart 2. Harold Wilson 3. Simon Armitage

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD Across

SUDOKU

Difficulty: Medium

1. Exist, kept as an animal (9) 7. Sauce-eating right in fast? (6) 8. Car-fixing people, I love you erotically (6) 9. Huge prison – that old Scottish tourist attraction (5,6) 12. Purple is never donned if going out for starters (6) 13. Tenuto piano playing envelops paradise (6) 14. A violent kill is a great success (1,5,3) Down 2. Sixth son – one on sight (6) 3. Commotion obfuscates bad omens (11) 4. Structure trapped in cod, if you will (6) 5. Sparkling, endless spring, place for angling (9) 6. Spooner’s overly inquisitive follower finds kitchen implement (6,3) 10. Reptile counters? (6) 11. Biblical figure martyred on bath (6)

Email Aneesh Naik at puzzles@cherwell.org for clues or solutions

Illustration: Ella Baron

LIFESTYLE John Evelyn

G

reetings to my loyal readers and may I be as presumptuous as to hope you have settled well into the new term.

My first piece of news is, as so often occurs, based in that hot bed of sin based on St Michael’s St. Little did I realise the bond between a Returning Officer and his assistant. The newly single honourable member from Univ only needed two weeks to recover from his New Year’s loss. Indeed, sources indicate our man has moved on to Ceri-ing around a new amour. If rumours are to be believed, our St Anne’s student is after more than just a promotion – apparently she also has a favourite technique that she enjoys being applied to an altogether more downward facing region. This discovery, made accidentally by a friend Full-er of care albeit rather jovial, was deemed rather embarrassing by the lady herself, who felt the need to hide her shame in the water closet.

Judgement, perhaps, does come into play when one’s actions are of possible legal interest. It is perhaps surprising that one party host was Will-ing to supply his guests with the substances of their desire while Neaver touching the snow himself. Such self-restraint was apparently the result of some rather strong shock therapy: one guest nobly sacrificed her own dignity to teach her host a simple equation between his former friend Charlie and her own heaving bosom. Since this member of Christ’s Church is known for his inclination towards other members, such a Pavlovian technique may well have worked its magic.

And so, from the sordid to the courtly: it is my pleasure to announce a rather quaint meeting of Presidential minds, as Oxford’s monorail fanatic Exet-ed his OUSU meeting and was invited Bek(tas) – or invited himself, sources conflict – to some (catering) charge free food. The jovial pair, one but two days single, apparently enjoyed their meal, although the interruption of party politics with a neighbour Tr-up for a Row-an may have dampened early blooms of romance.

From the desires of one glorious leader to the desires of another, now spent, force.

Having Myer-ed himself in the unfortunate practice of Rutting with teenagers, this former Jesubite, I have been informed, is looking to celebrate his three and twenty years in style. There has been much merriment amongst friends, and the guest list has been much examined with some unscrupulous invitees questioning Howe well he knows some of the larger names he is endeavouring to attract to the gathering.

And with that, dear readers, farewell!

A tragic architectural regeneration

William Webb learns more than he anticipated about Le Havre

A

fter two years of studying French and Spanish, the time had come to start planning my year abroad. I applied to teach English for the British Council in the Academy of Rouen and eventually learnt that I’d successfully made it onto the programme and had been posted to Le Havre.

However, following my initial relief that I was moving to a respectably sized town and not a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, I

“

Some think it’s an eyesore, but in the late September light it had an austere charm

and realised that UNESCO was right after all. It was true that, as far as the eye could see, the buildings were all square, sombre, and made of concrete; but somehow, instead of looking bleak, they caught the morning sun and gave off a strange golden glow.

I could see why some people would write it off as an eyesore, especially in poor weather, but in the late September light it had an austere charm.

What I was looking at was the downtown ‘Perret’ quarter, named after the architect Auguste Perret who rebuilt this city in his own unique style after it was substantially bombed in the Second World War. I had read that this had happened, but it was not until a few days after my arrival that I learnt it was the British who bombed Le Havre, something for which many older generations in Le Havre still resent us for.

I discovered this British impact on Le Havre when I was told the history of the town by Marcel, a teacher from the school where I would be working.

heard conflicting accounts of the place. As it is one of the country’s biggest ferry ports, many people I know have driven through the town and described it as being uniformly grey and grim. A lot of my French friends said the same thing, which was more worrying.

Yet at the same time, tourist guides assured me that the city was in fact a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When I looked online, I started to wonder if UNESCO ever awarded heritage status out of pity; I spent about 20 minutes trying to adjust the contrast on my computer screen before finally accepting that the city was actually that grey.

Le Havre isn’t particularly exotic or far-flung, with the nearest big city after Rouen being Portsmouth, but this did mean I was was able to take a ferry directly into the town. The distance is not too far, but the night crossing is deliberately slowed to eight hours so passengers can arrive well-rested and refreshed at eight in the morning French time. Sleepless and tired, I watched the town appear before me

Spotted in the Bod

HUMANS OF OXFORD

kin pink hair in the Rus To the girl wit h the library, one of my French girls.

I’d like to paint you like Love, Leo

John Evelyn Got gossip? Email gossipevelyn@gmail.com with the juicy details!

He told me the town fell to German forces early in the war and, although the Nazis had a presence here, it was in no way significant enough to justify the extent of the Allies’ bombing campaign.

According to him, the destruction was financially motivated. Although the French were allies of the British in the war, France was one of our main economic rivals during peacetime and, as Le Havre was one of their busiest and most lucrative ports, the British bombed it heavily. The destruction was so extensive that from the train station, you could see all the way to the beach two kilometres away.

Marcel also told me that the new city was built directly onto the rubble, two metres higher than the old one.

He told me all of this whilst shaking his head. He looked down and away, and then we lapsed into silence.

I didn’t know whether I should apologise or not. It seemed like the British thing to do, so I did. My worries about whether I would like Le Havre or not now seemed so petty

Is it love or just the selfie stick?

To the boy wh Economics lib o knows ever yone here rary, in the Af ter the fif th pe rso n that came th doors, getting roug break with yo a hug, a one-on- one cig h the u versation endi and a ten minute whisper arette I began to qung with “Let’s go for a dr in ed conk slipped into an estion whether I’d accid later!” en invite-only se ction of the lib tally rary.

If I stumbled in But, if not, ple to a big school reunion, I’m as so e notice m rr y. starting to m ake me feel un e next time. You’re popular.

The only girl who was not from West Lo ndon.

Lifestyle | 13

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Making Headway Marco Narajos discusses his personal experience with mental health TW: suicide, self-harm

E

nglish is a funny language. It’s not great for describing mental health problems, especially depression.

People around me use the same word when G&Ds isn’t serving their favourite flavour of ice cream (Oxford Blue, obviously) as the word I use to explain why I fantasise about my death.

Even though I’m a medical student and I know it’s an illness, it just doesn’t seem to help. I still lag behind on my work because I spend all my time trying to think of reasons why I shouldn’t self-injure.

I’m still late to every lecture because I’d rather not speak to anyone on my way there. Besides, I’m too fatigued from lack of sleep.

Everyone knows that eight week terms aren’t the best for mental health . Oxford scientists like Russell Foster have declared that sleep is one of the most important things for your health – mental and physical. A balanced diet and exercise is to physical health as sleep is to mental health.

But is Oxford likely to change our term times? Of course not. In this institution, tradition triumphs over people’s lives.

I can deal with the intensity of the terms. But what I can’t deal with is people committing the mental health version of mansplaining.

People who have never experienced depression tell me that I could just leave for lectures earlier if I were more organised and got up on time; that I could just stop self-harming if I wasn’t attentionseeking; that I could just cycle the ten minutes to college for food if I weren’t lazy.

It amuses me that my JCR welfare rep’s only advice was that I could just write all those essays I’ve missed… as though I wasn’t smart enough to think of that already.

“Thanks, at least you tried.”

Gravity’s bright future: LED lamps

W

hat’s the most cost-effective way to power an LED lamp? How about by harnessing an ever-present, freelygenerated force: gravity?

It’s time to introduce the GravityLight. The GravityLight is an LED lantern, powered solely by gravity so that it can be used over and over again with zero running costs, developed by Deciwatt, a product development initiative.

The project began when inventors Martin Riddiford and James Reeves were challenged by the charity, SolarAid, to create a solar-powered LED lantern costing less than $10.

They realised that using batteries in combination with solar power was not a viable solution, since they incur significant costs and have a finite lifetime. The GravityLight works by allowing a suspended weight to gradually fall, pulled down by gravity. This motion is converted into electrical energy, using a series of small gears. In essence, the GravityLight facilitates the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy and ultimately into light. This only requires the user to fill the accompanying durable plastic sack with earth or rocks to act as a weight.

GravityLight is remarkably efficient. On the lowest power setting, up to 28 minutes of light can be expected by lifting the weight and leaving it to fall just once. This is made possible by the ever-increasing efficiency of LEDs themselves, which produce light without wasting energy as heat – unlike conventional bulbs. LEDs boast a lifespan of around 30,000 hours, while the traditional incandescent bulb usually lasts for around 750.

So how do people benefit from using the GravityLight? Well, much of the world relies on burning hydrocarbon fuels, namely kerosene, as a source of light. An overreliance on kerosene lamps presents an array of problems.

Firstly, there is the significant risk of fire, and secondly, there are direct negative health effects from kerosene fume inhalation, equivalent to smoking two packets of cigarettes a day. Aside from the health hazards, there are the relatively high costs of kerosene fuel to be considered, for some equating to as much as 10-20 per cent of their income. Whilst the GravityLight is intially expensive, it is mere months before the money saved overtakes the cost of purchase – the GravityLight, remember, has no running costs whatsoever.

Also to be considered is the damaging environmental impact that accompanies the burning of hydrocarbon fuels. Using a single kerosene lamp for just four hours a day emits over 100kg of CO2, and it is also a waste of finite hydrocarbon resources. All in all, the GravityLight provides a sustainable replacement for the kerosene lamp. It is cost-effective and safe, providing the means to work and study after dark, and will guarantee long-term savings for those previously relying on kerosene lamps.

The GravityLight GL01 is currently being trialled worldwide, particularly in Africa and India where lack of reliable power supply has previously allowed no alternative to fossil fuels. The future is bright for Deciwatt’s next generation of light and power sources for the developing world.

Look out for Bang! magazine coming to colleges and departments soon, and, until then, check us out at www.bangscience.org for your daily dosage of all things Bang!

Jake Jacobs

We need to change our views on BDSM

Rhiannon Gibbs-Harris meets a ‘Little’, who is in a ‘Daddy’ relationship

I

met Tina in a popular pub which is usually busy by night, but during the day we were the only ones there. Tina is in her mid-twenties and is currently completing a Master’s Degree.

She also happens to be in a ‘Daddy relationship’.

Most of us tend to associate BDSM with the stereotypes of PVC, whips and masks, but we don’t tend to focus on the actual relationship aspects. Daddy relationships involve a ‘Daddy’ and a ‘Little’. In simple terms, the Daddy treats the Little as a child and the Little treats the Daddy as

“

She once revealed it to a friend, who said she was mentally ill a parent. This can involve the Daddy choosing the Little’s clothing, having the Little do the chores, and the Daddy financially supporting the Little, although this is not always the case, unlike in ‘Sugar Daddy’ relationships.

Tina lives with her boyfriend, Hugh, and they have been together for about three years. A typical day for her involves getting up at six, making a full cooked breakfast and a packed lunch for him, getting dressed in clothes he picked out for her the night before and then, after he has gone to work, working on her thesis for her master’s and doing chores (such as cleaning the house, doing the grocery shopping, and doing the laundry). After Hugh returns home she makes him dinner.

Although this sounds a bit like a day in the life of a 1950s housewife and not that of a BDSM practitioner, Tina calls her boyfriend “Daddy”, acts like a child around him and they engage in ‘age-play’ which is when she roleplays being an actual child.

Tina began our interview saying that she absolutely did not want to be named (Tina is

a pseudonym) because of the social stigma still surrounding BDSM practices. She says she once revealed her sexual lifestyle to a friend, who immediately told her she was mentally ill and needed psychiatric evaluation. This fear of persecution seems to be very common among practitioners of the more intense parts of BDSM. And whilst some might find this behaviour disturbing, Tina argues that she has never felt happier. Before this current relationship, she felt that she was bored of sex and considered herself to be “asexual”.

She met her boyfriend through mutual friends and after a month of dating, he suggested a Daddy relationship. Tina decided to give it a go and currently enjoys sex significantly more than before. Identifying as a feminst, she says, “This

relationship helped me feel far more confident in both my personal and work life. Before I met Hugh, I would never have considered even applying for an MA but now I’m studying the thing I love and I’m getting better grades than ever.”

Because of the rise of books such as 50 Shades of Grey and the popularity of stores like Ann Summers, people seem to have become more aware of BDSM. I personally think it’s sexist that the only media depictions (and I include this article in that) are of submissive women and there are barely, if any, of dominant women. However, I really don’t think that Tina’s lifestyle encourages misogyny, because it makes her feel happier, and more confident in her life, allowing her to achieve her goals. What can be wrong with that?

Bexistentialism

Life is tough for this second year

O

xford time, as I/you/he/she/ it has said before, ticks to a curious rhythm. But if you ever want a recalibration into the logistics of time, all you need to do is sit through a collection.

Blatantly named for their purpose for you to collect together all thoughts on your own inadequacy, there isn’t a minute which is not felt.

But I’m not going to write about that. Nor the fact that I have a permanent-ink-cartridge-fountain-pen which means I am forced, by being pretentious enough to use a fountain pen, to bring a pot of ink to exams in case it needs refilling.

I’m not even going to discuss those who smugly flex their fingers as they gaze at their work, the words “gosh aren’t I just awfully clever” leaking from their mind like the socially incoherent fuckers that they are (not.

Bitter).

With my collection taking place on Saturday morning, the rest of the day is fated. And thus it is unsurprising that I wake up the next day with the

“

A simple bop turns into an £80 extravaganza remnants of costume and face paint, and struggle out of my room to the torturous reminder that daylight is a thing.

I wade through existence into the shower, and exhale as the hot water (turned only half on, a weak student shower being too much for my frail body) trickles onto my cowering skin.

And it is as I sigh, of course, that I remember. Last night I lost my keys.

As I like to believe I’m not the only useless person in Oxford, I assume that you, fair reader, may understand that familiar thud in the stomach.

By the time I find myself, hours later, searching the field by the Sports Pavillion for my keys, the thud has become a steady metronome.

My stomach is thudding unnecessarily out of time with my thumping head. It seems the skies have swallowed them up.

Quickly, what was meant to be a free and simple Bop, turns into an £80 extravaganza. Yes. Replacement keys cost £7.50 more than a passport (on which I was forced to splurge days before).

I may start to claim that these columns are myriads of fibbery. It’s the only way I’ll be recovering any pride. Fittingly, an image returns to my head.

One leg either side of the Catz fence, I make eye contact with people in a ground floor bedroom. Their sober faces, even through my inebriated mist, are clearly etched with disbelief at Stupid Girl On Fence. Oh strangers, if only you knew how right you were.

Tom’s Bar g of the We ain ek A bag of mini creme eggs for only £1 in Tesco!!

14 | Lifestyle

Cherwell | 23.01.15

Fit College

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Ben Jones & Lily McGuire

Eden Harrison & Olivia Conroy

Think you’ve got what it takes? Email lifestyle@cherwell.org to enter the famously fierce competition

This week, Fit College took to Cellar.

Keble’s kooky couple or Somerville’s sunny duo? You decide!

Blind Date Richie O’Grady Merton, 2nd Year History

Summer Taylor LMH, 2nd Year History

What did you procure from your Facebook stalking?

What did you procure from your Facebook stalking?

Summer smiled a fair bit ...

An extortionate number of mutual friends.

Terrifying.

an admirable quality.

Shut laptop immediately. Deep breaths.

First impressions?

First impressions?

She was going to have lots of interesting views.

Snap! We’re both wearing turtlenecks.

Did she dress to impress?

Did he dress to impress?

Yes, but subtly. She had a really nice coat on.

See above (i.e. obviously).

What did you talk about?

What did you talk about?

A whole range of things really, we were there for a while.

We chatted about a whole range of things really. Where we were from, Oxford, all the usual things.

We talked a lot about life outside of the Oxford world and how it’s easy to get caught up in it in the Oxford bubble sometimes.

We also chatted about bursting the Oxford bubble, about student life in general and had a discussion about Ched Evans.

Were there any awkward moments?

Were there any awkward moments?

Not that I can remember.

The meet and greet. My hair got caught in his stubble.

We had a lot of talk about Scarborough which perhaps I didn’t know enough about.

How many times did her leg brush against yours?

None intentionally. Bit creepy, isn’t it, otherwise.

Describe Summer in three words.

How many times did his leg brush against yours?

Richie is a kind-hearted guy who seems to be good at everything. That is, aside from resisting Park-End-football-tie-pressure every Wednesday.

North-Eastern Marks out of ten?

Summer is kind, fun, witty and not afraid to embrace being lame. Hopefully she will find someone to take on holiday to sunny Scarbados (that’s Scarborough to all you Southerners).

The date or the person? Both were nice!

Will there be a date number two?

I wouldn’t mind having another chat with Summer at some point!

Describe Richie in three words.

Kind

Interesting Changing

None. Possibly not helped by the fact that I was doing a nervous jig.

Considerate Perceptive Marks out of ten?

I’m really bad at maths.

Will there be a date number two?

What their friends said Sick of Tinder? Looking to be swept off your feet?

Volunteer for a Blind Date at lifestyle@cherwell.org

Well, I may be bad at maths but I’d guess with the overlap in degree and friends, the odds are probably in our favour.

o, dry spells. Hell on earth. The ultimate enemy. A deathly desert.

The feeling when you’re so frustrated that your head is swimming with clichés to illustrate your pain. I’m sure you’ve been there before, but you don’t have a forum to yell it out at strangers, so just shut up and listen to my ramblings. If you’re at all sane you probably don’t want to yell it at strangers anyway, but that’s beside the point.

Far from being the island of debauchery that I usually carefully cultivate, my life has recently taken a ghastly turn. There are no dirty little games and sexy nights anywhere, and I wail in a corner, alone. The reason? Bloody coursework. You don’t need a crazy student to tell you stress and sex don’t work together. After a day of hard work, it could be a perfect release, but if that day of hard work is followed by another and then another and the deadline’s coming and you haven’t started planning how many all-nighters you can do without dying, then sex is usually the last thing on your mind. People tell me that’s normal. In our little bubble of spires, most of us have experienced the crushing feeling of utter panic and accompanying loss of libido.

Well, it’s a first for me, and I don’t like it. And I started liking it even less when I tried to do something about it, and failed completely. Having finally managed to arrange an evening off furious typing, I was hopeful to get a little boost from a handsome male. Since I had a suitable one available, arrangements were not a problem. He wasn’t a problem either; knowing me and my body well, he is skilled at making me happy. Despite all that, I just couldn’t get into it. It was impossible to relax with snippets of my essay flashing before my eyes. In the end, after reassuring my poor friend that no, he hadn’t done anything wrong, I returned to my cold bed with a strong sense of failure and disappointment. If I’m not good at my subject AND at sex, what am I good at? If I can’t control my body and its pleasure, what can I control? An identity crisis entered full bloom. I don’t think my coursework benefited from its creator’s frustration…

Of course, there is the obvious masturbation, but I’m a social beast. I can’t do it alone all the time. There are only so many ways to satisfy oneself, and sometimes all I want is a sexy someone to bite my neck. They havn’t invented a toy for that yet.

Humans need sleep, food, and sex. I’ve been having only one of them in satisfactory quantity (thank the Universe for lemon and coriander houmous), and this is the terrifying result. If you see a wild-eyed girl wandering the streets and ogling you, don’t be mean. Ask me out. It’ll be fun.

Maybe.

Illustration: Mariota Spens

Brasenose

Saturday 9th May 2015 A Midsummer Night’s Dream They say: If we were to sell our ball in a sentence, we would have to use William Shakespeare’s famous words, “I can’t wait to go to the Brasenose Ball.” Justification for the theme? We stole Magdalen’s deer, now we’ve stolen their theme.

We say: There’ll be some déjà vu this Trinity where ball themes are concerned: we are taken back to the controversy generated in 2009 when both St Hilda’s and Balliol also chose ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Not so much drama here, but the pressure is on for both colleges to live up to the other’s Midsummer Night.

Brasenose haven’t given much away at this point. However, they have promised “love potions” on tap, so you might be in for a heady night of debauchery in true Shakespearean style.

Price: Dining £135/ Non-Dining £95 – sold out. Waiting list available.

St Hilda’s Saturday 9th May 2015 Carnevale di Venezia

They say: Bathed in silver moonlight upon the River Cherwell, St Hilda’s Ball will transport any guest to the vibrant atmosphere of a traditional Venetian Carnival, complete with awe-inspiring performers, lively music and delicious Italian street food and drink, while still being the best value college ball in Oxford.

We wanted a theme that would best utilise the open and welcoming atmosphere of St Hilda’s grounds, as well as reflecting the diversity at the heart of Hilda’s ethos. We think the theme of the Venetian Carnival epitomises this, uniting the classic elegance of Venice with the excitement of the city’s renowned carnival.

We say: Well done to Hilda’s for the most tasteful and least cringe-inducing promo video for a ball we’ve ever seen. At £69 for non-dining tickets, it also promises to be one of the best value events on offer, especially since with group discounts you can get as much as ten per cent off that. However, rumour has it that diners will be punted into the ball à-la-Venezia, which goes a long way towards persuading us to fork out the extra money.

Price: Dining £99 (tbc) / Non-Dining £69 . Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday of 2nd week (28th January 2015).

Regent’s Park Saturday 13th June 2015 Theme Unknown

They say: A hidden quad will this year take on a dark and hypnotic guise that has been surprising the world over the last century.

We say: Regent’s Park is the enigma in our exposition. Not only have most students never heard of it, but the theme for their annual ‘Final Fling’ has yet to be released.

The PPH’s annual celebration has a history of being the most competitively-priced student ball in Oxford, and is a popular alternative to the traditional Oxford ball.

Coupled with the fact that it coincides with the end of some finals, last year’s Copacabana-themed bash was a sell-out success.

The Final Fling launch event is on Friday of 6th Week (February 27th 2015). We wait with bated breath.

Price: Starting from £44. Tickets go on sale in 7th week.

Balliol

Saturday 9th May 2015 Monte Carlo

They say: On May 9th, look forward to jazz bands, casinos, show girls and classy cocktails in what promises to be an incredible night of luxury, grandeur and elegance.

Monte Carlo is an obvious choice because we wanted to focus on creatingan extravagant night – expect a casino, an array of Côte d’Azur, inspired cocktails, a giant Scalectrix Grand Prix, swing music as well as a superb closing headliner live band and DJs. We say: Monte Carlo is all about the extravagant and if they deliver on their promise of Scalectrix then we are sold.

We’re not going to lie, the promise of a real casino with the opportunity to lose real money strikes terror in our hearts. However, there appears to be some uncertainty about whether ballgoers will actually be able to drunkenly gamble their student loan away.

Price: £85. Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday of 2nd week (28th Janurary 2015).

C College B +

With ticket deadlines fast approaching, C+ takes a lo have to. Black tie is back in season this year, as the d petition is hot for where you are going to be spendi one question remaining

Exeter

Saturday 25th April 2015 Neverland They say: The magic of Neverland will be brought to the beautiful Exeter College grounds for one enchanting night at the best value college ball of the year, and it’s sure to leave you never wanting to grow up!

The best college ball themes are ones that whisk you away from the stress of the daily Oxford routine and we feel that Neverland does just this.

Our grand hall is to be transformed into Captain Hook’s ship and our bar into a blue lagoon. It’s sure to be a magical night, so make sure you don’t miss out on your opportunity to attend!

We say: Scheduled to occur on Saturday of 0th week in Trinity term, Exeter’s ball is potentially the perfect opportunity to forget upcoming exam worries and start the final term of the year in style.

At £75 each, tickets are also very reasonably-priced, a welcome comparison to last year’s 700th bash where prices reached the astronomical heights of £260 for dining tickets.

Price: £75. Tickets go on general sale on Thursday of 3rd week (5th February 2015).

Keble

St Hugh’s

They say: Oxford’s only annual ball is back! Inspired by the Gothic spires of our college, we invite you to spend an evening under the gaze of the gargoyles enjoying exceptional entertainment, fine food and quality drinks.

Our theme is ‘The Gothic Revival’.

We invite you to spend an evening exploring the depths of our gothic realm. Under the gaze of the gargoyles, you will find fine food, quality drinks and lavish experiences, complemented with exceptional entertainment.

They say: Set over 12 acres of stunning grounds with three music stages, never-ending supplies of delicious food and drinks, and entertainment to suit any taste, it’s Oxford’s biggest ever black tie ball and will be a night to remember.

The theme ‘Enchanted Forest’ was chosen to reflect the stunning grounds of St Hugh’s. The ball will take place amongst gardens, woodland, and secret forest clearings. The grounds and forest will be lit up on the night to provide a beautiful back drop for an unforgettable event.

Saturday 9th May 2015 The Gothic Revival

We say: Keble has a strong track record of getting balls right. Last year’s ‘Romanov Russia’ themed ball was a massive hit, and with one every year you can assume by now that they have it down to a fine art. We feel they could have been slightly more imaginative with the theme but then last year’s was so perfect that it’s hard to see how they could have topped it; however, Keble’s towering spires will undoubtedly provide the perfect backdrop for a truly Gothic night out. In typical Gothic fashion, specific details of the entertainment are being kept in the dark. but Keble’s history of having all the fun and colour of a commemoration ball for a fraction of the price speaks for itself.

Price: £95. Tickets go on general sale on Monday of 2nd week (26th Janurary 2015).

Balls 2015

ook at the array of college balls on offer so you don’t dress code of choice for 90 per cent of balls, and coming the night of Saturday 9th May 2015. There is only g: which will you choose?

Oriel

Friday 26th June 2015 Gardens of Babylon They say: The Oriel College Commemoration Ball is Oxford’s biggest and only white tie ball of 2015. Ticket holders will be immersed in a Babylonian extravaganza, with exquisite f o o d and drinks, excellent music and luxurious floral surroundings.

We say: Magdalen’s cancellation of their Commemoration Ball has left Oriel with a monopoly and a lot of commemoration expectations to live up to. As the most expensive ball on the market by a substantial margin, it needs to deliver the big things its price tag promises. Revellers should expect unlimited food and drink until the wee hours and entertainments galore. Sadly for us, however, the details of their entertainment (apart from the promise of a shisha tent and a fortune teller) are a closely guarded secret, shrouded in mystery like the location of the infamous Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

We have some misgivings about the potential of the theme, as gardens are one of the things Oriel cannot be said to have in abundance. However, the beauty of one of Oxford’s oldest colleges is undeniable and perhaps we are just jealous because we are stuck on the waiting list.

Price: Dining £185/ Non-Dining £155 – sold out. Waiting list available.

Saturday 9th May 2015 Enchanted Forest

We say: We think for once it might be worth making the long pilgrimage to St Hugh’s. A ball set over 12 acres of woodland is bound to have lots of surprises in store and it promises to be a unique experience, unlike the other balls around, which naturally have to be limited on space.

St Hugh’s are also supporting the charity Oxford Homeless Pathways, which strikes a chord with us, as we can’t think of a much better occasion to give back to those less fortunate than when attending an Oxford ball.

Price: £95. Final release of tickets on Tuesday of 2nd week (27th January 2015).

Magdalen

Saturday 27th June 2015 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

They say: Some say it’s the ball of the year – Magdalen’s first ever non-Commemoration ball sold out in three minutes when tickets were released to the University in December. Expect great food and drink, with a wonderfully diverse lineup of music and entertainment, all handpicked for your pleasure by our dedicated team, in the setting of what many say is Oxford’s most beautiful college.

Moonlight, magic and midsummer – if you want more detail than that about our ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ theme, then you’ll have to come and see.

We say: With rumours circulating about the reason behind Magdalen’s decision not to hold their triennial commemoration ball, their replacement ‘June Ball’ has defied the critics in its success. Set in Magdalen’s extensive grounds, Cherwell doesn’t doubt that the night will live up to the hype, especially if your companions are going to be those elusive deer.

However, the waiting list is inundated. With such a wealth of balls on offer, we would advise you give up your slim chance of a ticket for greener pastures.

Price: £100 – sold out. Waiting list available.

Pembroke Friday 15th May 2015 Indian Summer

They say: Be prepared for a dazzling night of entertainment as one of Oxford’s prettiest colleges is transformed into an Indian Summer Ball, with exotic free-flowing cocktails, a champagne reception for early-bird ticket holders, fortune tellers, a shisha tent, an Indian street market, and one of 2015’s hottest up-and-coming bands (yet to be announced as the headline act).

We say: There were some initial doubts about the theme and its potential for cultural stereotyping but with the tact that its Presidents promise to bring, it sounds like an entertaining and colourful celebration. A word of caution: be careful not to book tickets for the Pembroke College May Ball, otherwise you may find yourself partying with a load of tabs.

Price: £95. Tickets go on general sale on Monday of 5th week (16th February 2015).

C

+

Cherwell | 23.01.15

Having a ball

From organising a ball to breaking into one, C + reviews the weird and wonderful aspects of this particular Oxford tradition

Five worst ball flops

C ranks the various ball disasters in the last 10 years +

#1 The Somerville-Jesus shark Billed as ‘The Last Ball’, the Somerville and Jesus joint ball in 2013 has become the stuff of legend – for all the wrong reasons. The Ball Committee had initially booked a live shark to be the centrepiece of the ball, sparking a huge outcry from animal rights’ groups, before it was eventually withdrawn. On the night, alcohol ran out early, and food was also in short supply, with one stall for 1,000 guests. A ‘violent scrum’ ensued near an open fire as guests pushed to get food, and several received burns. Despite rumours that Raymond Blanc would be providing the food, in the end, his involvement amounted only to his kitchen sending a few paltry croissants for the 6am breakfast. Some of the committee later issued an apology to attendees in an open letter expressing regret for “key flaws” in the organisation of the event, and “arrogance” in its publicity campaign. Here’s to hoping that it is ‘The Last Ball’ of its kind.

#2 Teddy Hall Barbecue In 2011, Teddy Hall was forced to cancel its ball due to poor ticket sales. The theme, ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’, was pretty questionable, and one member of the college commented to Cherwell that it would be nothing more than a “glorified bop”.

In the end, to ease the disappointment, the Teddy Hall Ball Committee decided to organize an alternative event in lieu of the ball: a barbecue...

#3 Balliol’s (excessively) disorganised fun In 2009, Balliol Ball was denounced a “failure” by partygoers.

The committee received a number of complaints about food and drink running out early (their alcohol license ended at 1am), about the absence of an absinthe bar and shisha tent, and about the committee themselves being, according to one student, “off their faces”. However, for some, the biggest disappointment was the silent disco. Delays were caused by a time-consuming system requiring students to hand in their bod cards to obtain headphones. Attendees then had to queue to retrieve their cards when leaving to get a drink or to go to the toilet. Fun!

#4 The philosophical brawl Balls are an expensive night out for anyone, but Corpus’ ball in 2004 ended up costing Philip Zambresky £10,000. The former Yale student and chess prodigy reportedly became engaged in a “deep philosophical debate” about money with another reveller, who had “tried to argue that money was the only thing that mattered.” The debate soon escalated into a physical fight and the case eventually went to trial, with the judge awarding the other party £10,000 in compensation.

#5 A haunting similarity Some ball themes crop up again and again. However, with a theme as specific as ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, it’s a little awkward when another ball has exactly the same theme.

In 2012, luckless Keble and Lincoln discovered they had the same theme when flyering. Thankfully, however, Keble and Lincoln were able successfully to resolve this difficulty: Keble’s Ball President commented at the time, “We’ve realised the themes, and the Balls themselves, are actually quite different.” Lincoln’s theme,‘Le Fantôme – un Opéra Parisien’, was French, while Keble kept theirs in English.

Being a Ball President

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orking as the President of an Oxford College Ball is a truly special experience, due in particular to the total uniqueness of such an event.

Beginning the process about a year in advance is very daunting. You are given some details about the previous ball, and that’s it – a scary process indeed, especially when people are expecting so much of you. It involves constant communication between your Committee, College, companies, and of course the guests.

One of the hardest parts is attempting to keep everything a secret; there’s nothing harder than having a great meeting and securing something really special for the Ball and not being able to tell anyone about it…

One of the best bits is the sheer size of the St Hugh’s grounds, which give us so much freedom to have some amazing things on the night – with 12 acres we’ve been able to have a lot of fun.

As a Ball President, your organisation is really put to the test as you coordinate lots of different people and work to very strict deadlines – making sure nothing is left forgotten is definitely a challenge! It is also an incredibly exciting experience organising Oxford’s big-

gest black tie ball.

I am very much looking forward to seeing a year’s worth of work put on show for all the guests as they enjoy a truly unforgettable evening.

Interestingly, on hearing that I am Ball President people seem to like to say “I bet you wish you didn’t take that on”, but on the contrary, it’s such a fantastic thing to do in terms of experience. And also the satisfaction of working on a huge event is great.

If you don’t mind putting your life on hold for a while I couldn’t recommend it more, especially if you are an obsessive control freak…”

Matthew Shaw, St.Hugh’s Ball President

Confessions of a Ball Crasher

F

or supposedly being some of the most intelligent students in the country, we at Oxford don’t seem to be very good at sniffing out scams. The ball marketplace is the most egregious example of this defect: every term, thousands of students seem content simply to cast off hundreds of pounds in order to attend one night of mild revelry, in anticipation of unlimited free alcohol and Brideshead levels of decadence.

In fact, what you get is a bar which shuts before morning, having run dry well before then, and a bunch of stuck up twits scared to spoil their white/black tie doing any proper partying because they’re worried about losing even more money than they’ve already spent.

And yet, term after term, year after year, students are sucked in with an image that promises so much more than the reality. Yes, in theory balls should be fun, a unique Oxbridge experience which you’re unlikely to find at any other university in the world.

In practice, however, they too often descend into having to hang out awkwardly with people you don’t really like, queuing hours for a meagre portion of food, or a single watered down shot, and wondering whether all that money and anticipation was really worth it, as you crouch over the blocked receptacle of a filthy portaloo. There is a simple solution though, one which satisfies the image in your head and adds a priceless degree of excitement to an otherwise stale night: crashing.

Pretty much a ritual among certain circles, crashing a ball is an elaborate art, which involves several stages:

first up, choose your crew – it is essential that your fellow trespassers be able and willing to jump over walls, scramble through undergrowth, swim across rivers, or even hide in a cramped space for a few hours. Next, scout the location – I advise doing this on the day of the ball, so you can find out where the security has been posted.

Every college has its weak spots, and this is when you find the ones the guards have neglected. For some colleges, like Univ, it’s going to be basically impossible to break in unless you’re part of the Ocean’s Eleven gang, but camping out with an insider can be a cunning alternative.

Once you’ve done all the prep work, it’s time to launch the attempt – you’re likely to run into others attempting the break-in too, so work together to spot security, or to get tips on weak spots.

Once inside, either lie low for a bit, or mingle with the crowds – security knows people do this and they’ll be looking for you. However, once you’ve shaken off any guards, the feeling of exaltation is unlike anything you’ve done in Oxford before – you’ll hit the dance floor with a new vigour, smash the shots quicker than Bob Hawke and party harder than any of the suckers that paid to get there.

Sure, it isn’t strictly legal or ethical, but it sure as hell is fun, and worth the price of some muddy trousers and a throbbing headache, rather than a £150 bill. Hopefully I’ll see some of you daring folk there; open season’s coming up…

MC

Food & Drink | 19

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Recipe of the week: Mutabal eggplant dip Bar Review: Jonny Lawrence cooks up a staple food of Middle Eastern cuisine Wadham

M

utabal, an Arabic dish made from burnt aubergines, is just as popular in the Middle East as houmous, yet it has not found the same vogue in the UK in recent years. It’s a really simple and very impressive addition to any mezze platter, as well as being a lot of fun to make.

Ingredients

hini until the liquid and paste have mixed to form a thicker, white-brown paste. Chop the garlic up finely and then add it.

3. Peel off the black part of the aubergines. You should notice that most of the aubergine will have a burnt black skin which has burnt off the fruit with a brown layer on the inside. Retain the brown layer, only remove the burnt skin.

4. Chop very finely so that it is essentially a mush. Add this to the tahini-lemon paste and then add between one and two tablespoonfuls of Greek yoghurt to make it smoother.

Two aubergines Four cloves of garlic Tahini paste Two lemons Greek yoghurt

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Method 1. Turn your hob onto its highest flame.

Place the aubergines on separate hobs, directly on the flame, and wait until the skin is blackened. Once completely black and charred, take the aubergines off the hob and leave to cool.

2. Mix the juice and zest of the lemons with roughly an equal amount of ta-

Not Red Rum

We take a look at the various white rums at the supermarket Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum (£26.00, 63%) Stronger than your average supermarket spirit, this drink makes up 90 per cent of rum sales in Jamaica and is considered there to be a household staple.

It is not hard to understand why. Although surprisingly bitter for such a sweet drink, the fruity, tropical palate is distinctive and fun, hard to miss even through the high alcohol content. Its firey, bold flavor is not for everyone, but definitely worth trying. The danger, though, is that, if you can take the punch, it will knock you out.

Bacardi Superior White Rum (£16.00, 37.5%) Recognisable as a staple of your parents’ liqueur cabinet, Bacardi is a safe choice for a variety of rum based drinks and cocktails.

The taste is unobtrusive but present, with hints of almonds and molasses, and designed to clash with few common mixers. It won’t win over any fans of whiskey or gin, but for those who like a drink that tastes like dessert, which won’t sit heavy in their stomach, Bacardi is a good bet.

Sunset Reef (£6.50, 21%) Produced by Sainsbury’s alongside their “Superior” and “Basics” white rums, it is by far the cheapest of the bunch.

It is simultaneously saccharine and bitter, and the cloying taste of coconut fails to overpower the alcohol.

To its credit, it works out at approximately 35p a shot, but when you consider that it would take half as much of most spirits to get you the same level of drunk, the price tag seems less appealing.

Something we should try? Email lifestyle@ cherwell.org with suggestions.

Oxford’s most-loved Japanese

Benjamin Berry kicks off Hilary with Edamame’s Thursday sushi night

W

e hit up Oxford’s favourite authentic Japanese eatery for its first Sushi Thursday of term. Put off by college’s stodgy-sounding offering of beef bourguignon, we found a delightfully fresh alternative in Holywell Street’s Edamame. The early evening sushi night on a Thursday seems, from the size of the queues, to have become an Oxford institution, and rightly so.

On arrival at Edamame - the restaurant takes no bookings and has limited space so an early arrival is advised (we arrived at 17:30 and by 17:45 there were queues out the door) - we were promptly given a menu of the evening’s fare.

Thursday night’s menu is restricted to sushi or sashimi, yet there is an impressive variety of styles to be tried. As a party of three, we decided to share a selection of the sushi on offer and picked five sushi dishes and three sides.

We began our feast with the eponymous edamame beans and went on to choose a Gunkan set (mixed fish sushi wrapped in seaweed), a more classic nigiri set, a tuna and salmon sashimi dish, and a Makizushi special set. This selection gave us the chance to try different sushi styles, as well as a variety of fish – the Gunkan set included salmon eggs and the nigiri featured octopus for the more intrepid gastronomes.

The sushi itself was excellent, and the freshness of the fish – particularly the tuna and salmon sashimi – was evident.

Edamame makes all its sushi on site and this certainly comes through in the food; this said, the homemade nature of the nigiri resulted in a lack of cohesion between the rice and salmon, causing some crumbling issues. The Makizushi set was a special – be sure to check the walls for these, they are not made obvious

on the menus – and the strongly flavoured seaweed wrapping, as well as the crunchy pickled radish in this dish, provided an interesting taste not to be found in high-street sushi chains.

As well as the edamame beans, we had side dishes of spinach and sushi rice. While satisfying and delicious, these dishes were a little overpriced at £3 each, given their size. Those seeking a more authentic experience should try fish flakes on the spinach, something we were too cowardly to do. The sushi rice had the perfect sticky texture and tones of vinegar and it provided a good dose of carbs to thicken out the otherwise light meal.

To kick off Hilary in style we ordered a tokkura (150ml jug) of sake, which is served in small, traditionally painted ceramic cups, as well as cups of green tea and an oolong cha. While sake is most probably not to everyone’s liking,

“

A great eating experience in the heart of Oxford it once again made our experience more authentic and was a nice touch.

Overall, Edamame offers a great eating experience conveniently located in the heart of Oxford. While there are cheaper restaurants to be found, Edamame does not compromise on quality or freshness for what is essentially a well-priced meal. A great find for sushi lovers and ‘shinnichi’, but be prepared to queue

alking in through a sea of Nike Roshes, ironic sweatshirts, and pictures of Beyonce, I wasn’t really sure what Wadham bar would be like at all.

Entering through the front quad, I thought the bar, like most college bars, would be tucked away in some underground cavern just off the main quad.

Alas, 15 minutes later, I was still lost in the complicated maze that is the back end of Wadham. Having finally found the right staircase, I walked in through a quad which had a somewhat tragic resemblance to a Floridian retirement home.

Walking in, the place essentially looked like a corridor which, as if by accident, happens to have a bar. To be honest, the whole thing looks a bit like an accident and this is not helped by the sparse number of blades above the bar and the random assortment of old photos hanging on the walls.

With the bar on the right-hand side and the booths on the left, the weird chasm in between initially made me think that this was a bar for the most hacky of hacks who were paranoid that someone would overhear their conversation.

However, there isn’t actually glass between the booths, so you can hear the next

“

The place essentially looked like a corridor, which, as if by accident, happened to have a bar table’s conversation on the politics of dildos.

It also means that the acoustics are a bit odd and so it’s easier to hear others’ conversations than your own.

It was also fairly small and it not particularly full (even on a Tuesday), so I guess even Wadhamites themselves aren’t that fond of it. On the bright side, the bar was admittedly very well stocked and had an excellent range of liquors. Approaching the bartender, who was reading the paper and looked a bit bored, I asked if Wadham had a signature drink.

Looking somewhat confused as to why I was talking to him, he told me that it was a tequila and pineapple juice. Being both a fan of pineapple juice and tequila, I was looking forward to what I expected to be some kind of variant on a tequila sunrise (especially since I paid a decent amount for it).

I have great memories that all involve tequila sunrise, so the pressure was on.

What I got was a shot of tequila which had a chaser of a shot of pineapple juice. It was alright, but realistically, for the price I paid, the tequila should have been better quality.

There’s nothing exceptionally terrible about Wadham bar but it just feels like no one really cares, like it’s a little bit too much of an effort to do anything really well.

PHOTO

Secrets of Venice - Nathan Stazicker

FASHION Fashion Matters Rosie Gaunt welcomes older models

T

he fashion world has long lived by that well-known adage ‘beauty before age’, but flick or click through the pages of any fashion mag or site today and you’ll find that times are changing.

Almost every big brand’s spring/summer ‘15 ad campaign’s lens favours the older woman. The oft-featured Italian nonnas at Dolce and Gabbana move to centre stage with the young’uns. Octogenarian American writer Joan Didion (much to the internet’s delight) shares the spotlight with 14 year old Freya Lawrence at Céline, as do three veteran models with their daughters at Lanvin. Burberry’s line-up sees Naomi Campbell star with Jourdan Dunn, in a shoot similar in style to the brand’s fragrance ad last year, starring Kate Moss with Cara Delevigne. Some brands have even gone as far as throwing the baby faced models out with the bathwater: see Madonna’s return to Versace and Joni Mitchell for Saint Laurent.

It’s true that this shift has not simply come overnight. The fashion-set have long been obsessed with the likes of 90 year old icon Iris Apfel and Ari Seth Cohen’s Advanced Style blog (and now book and documentary), which features street style photos of New York’s “most stylish and creative older folks”. Cohen describes his work as “proof… that personal style advances with age”, but this is proof for which fashion designers and editors need only look, behind those big sunglasses, to themselves.

For a long time, they have been reluctant to do so all the same. In 2013, the then 64 years old Miuccia Prada explained in an interview with T magazine that she wouldn’t put an older lady on the runway saying, “Mine is not an artistic world, it is a commercial world. I cannot change the rules…

“

Some brands are even throwing the baby faced models out with the bathwater I’m not brave enough. I don’t have the courage.” Just one year later, Rick Owens and Jean Paul Gaultier plucked up the courage to do just that, sending older models down their runways in Paris wearing their AW14 collections. What a difference a year makes: that brave leap of faith in AW14 now seems like little more than a toe-dip in the fountain of old age, amongst the silver-haired spreads of SS15.

This change of tides, with its influx of older models, is ultimately positive for an industry that, while being creative, needs to be tethered to reality, as it is so often accused of not being. Brands have clearly been starting to realize this in recent years as 2014 saw the arrival of transgender models and a greater number of ‘plus-size’ models on the runway and in print, and so older models were the necessary and natural next step. There is clearly some skepticism as to whether this is the industry recognizing the potential of appealing to wider audiences, or more cynically understanding the power of shock and spectacle as a talking point. Either way, the result of the change is for the better as women see that, just like their quality designer handbags, they get better with age.

6

7

Menswear special: Florence and London diaries Jordan Quinlan and Romain Reglade share their experiences and talk trends Jordan Quinlan in Florence

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itti Uomo, Florence. This is arguably the most important show for men’s collections. The event, which has run since 1972, takes place twice a year in the Fortezza da Basso, an imposing Sixteenth Century fortification built just shy of Florence’s city walls.

Having been responsible for bringing the O bag Factory by Fullspot brand to the UK during my gap year, I was invited to sample the new products being launched there and to meet the other 30 or so distributors and agents from around Italy and the world who had also made the trip. Fullspot’s presence consisted of a stand inside the Fortezza and a temporary shop opposite the main train station in Piazza Stazione. The latter was the venue for opening night cocktails and canapés, attended by Italian footballers Alberto Gilardino and Alessandro Diamante among other guests.

The sheer variety of vendors exhibiting was striking and incredibly international, ranging from the mass-produced pieces of global brands of whom we’ve all heard to the hand-

made creations of small tailors. It was pleasing to see these small, often family run clothes makers standing proudly side by side with the likes of Prada and Versace – and outnumbering them significantly. Equally impressive were the Pitti peacocks, flocking the streets, dressed

“

The most important show for men’s collections

Retro revival

D

Romain Reglade in London

T

to the nines in their unique style. I bring back these trends as souvenirs from my time there: The gloves are off: If you’re not wearing your gloves you can still show them by leaving them peeping out of your breast pocket.

Hats: I’m not talking baseball caps or beanies, but beautifully constructed felt fedoras, invariably by Borsalino or Locke & Co. Keep it classic in Mafia black, though it is also seen in more vibrant shades of burgundy and cobalt

Persis Bhalla discusses one of the biggest SS15 trends

oesn’t the fashion industry thrive upon the ‘next big thing’? Does it not yearn to quench its thirst for never-seen-before designs?

Indeed, this is usually the case, but looking at spring/summer 2015’s nostalgic meander through the archives, style is set to take a trip down memory lane all the way back to the Seventies.

Fast forward to the current fashion collections, and we see Miu Miu displaying knitted crop-tops, and a sepia, tea-ring tinge adopted by the catwalks of Tom Ford, Pucci, and Gucci in London, Milan and Paris.

Nicolas Ghesquière’s debut at Louis Vuitton saw a late 60s/early 70s tone, complete with hacking jackets and turtle necks, coordinated with PVC trousers and white frilly collared shirts. Hedi Slimane chose a more rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic for his Saint Laurent line (pictured below), with his models complete with dishevelled hair, fringed suede jackets, and layer upon layer of trinkets around their necks.

So why the regress back to tassles and the rose-coloured glasses? Why is it now acceptable for us to frolic in flares and fringing without feeling like we’re in fancy dress? According to designer Jonathan Anderson, “We’re living in a generation and a moment in fashion where you see a lot of nostalgia,” because, ultimately, “No one knows where they are going and everyone is trying to work out whether they fit.”

In fact, is it any wonder that we simply cannot let go of the past, when our Instagram and Facebook newsfeeds are littered with #throwbackthursday, and Timehop? According to Judith Watt, a fashion historian and head of the fashion journalism MA at Central Saint Martins, “It follows James L a v e r ’ s theory that fashion looks back in a 30 or 40 year cycle.” So, perhaps it is unsurprising that we crave images of Ziggy Stardust and the summer of 1976, visions of dancing to glam rock under disco-lights. The Bowie era is back

blue.

Little checks: While a few windowpane check suits were visible, the checks have become much smaller this year finding their way onto shirts, suits and overcoats. Make the most of them by opting for a mix of different patterns or make them stand out by keeping the rest of your outfit uncomplicated and minimalistic.

rends to watch: 2015 sees the return to the by-gone eras of the nineteenth and twentieth century. From Bohemian mixmatch to rigid military tailoring and onto the Shearling jackets of the post-bellum, designers of the LCM 2015 combine a revival of traditional masculinity with an edgy, modern cut.

Shearling jackets: When the style is seen consecutively on the runways of Marlon Brando, Coach, Belstaff, Richard James and JW Anderson you just know it’s going to trend.

Traditionally associated with WW2 pilots, the Shearling jacket has a special place among frequenters of Indigo, Ballroom or any other vintage stores in Oxford. Stay away from the cheap copies found at ASOS or Topman.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Tan, tan and some more tan. Slim leather or suede trench coats paired with heavy, checked scarves make up the Burberry Prorsum of AW 2015. Imitating the Burberry Bohemian style is all about layering: put on a slim fitting stone or brown shirt, a waistcoat, a killer tan trench coat and a heavy, fringed scarf et voila – you’ll look like you just got off the Burberry runway.

Military jackets: Slim fit and structured shoulders are the leitmotifs of the Alexander McQueen collection this season. The collection brings about the uniformity and grace in men’s dress, culminating in the streamline, fitted frock coats that dominate the runway.

For a cheaper but high quality alternative to the McQueen military jacket, have a look at the Kooples online store

tyle Style Street

We love Brandon’s unique hat, glasses and key on a chain.

Tom has perfected the colour clash with this combo.

Christina proves tailoring isn’t just for the men.

22 | Fashion

23.01.15 | Cherwell

ON THE FRINGES PHOTOGR APHER: ANNA BELLETTATO

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Fashion | 23

OF ANTIQUITY

MODEL: TALLULAH LE MERLE

STYLIST: ROSIE GAUNT

Th is

CULTURE

theme... ek’s we

Monstrosity

Frankenstein, Godzilla and now Norman Foster

Ollie Johnson decries the monstrous state of our modern city skylines

I

f you found yourself in Pyongyang, there would probably be more immediate things running through your mind than how repellent the skyline is. The North Koreans may not be all that concerned about it, given all the other pressing concerns of being a North Korean. Like the lack of food. And water. And, I suspect, the overbearing presence of an apocalyptically militant dictatorship.

But if you took a glance around you, walking down Pongwha Street, you’d see the ugliest building ever made. In fact, probably the ugliest man-made thing ever: the Ryugyong Hotel. It is remarkable to think that the building was designed by someone with eyes. It’s certainly no friend to those blessed with the gift of sight. Critics have said it looks like a supervillain’s crack at a Holiday Inn, but it more closely resembles how a five-year old draws mountains; one massive triangle surrounded by two smaller ones. It rends the P yong yang

skyline asunder by virtue of being clad in a particularly annoyingly iridescent glass and by being 800 feet taller than all the other buildings in the city. It looks like an arrowhead, which should point to a massive neon sign floating in the sky reading, “I was a dreadful mistake.”

No other word can describe it than ‘monstrosity’; the architectural counterpart to Godzilla. Indeed, our modern context of what ‘monstrosity’ means has moved from the pages of literature to the movie screen, and now to the buildings that surround us.

The monsters of the modern age are chimeras of glass and steel, that rise hundreds of feet into the air. They scrape the sky, and our retinas. They impress upon the way we think and feel. Why else do you think all the Somerville freshers look perpetually shell-shocked? It would be impossible to feel any other way if you had to live in Vaughan accommodation, a building that boasts an exoskeleton made of concrete and regret.

Vile skylines are a global issue. London gets off comparatively lightly. The Shard is actually stylish, though balanced by being woefully small. It needed to be taller, because now it seems like a remembrance monument for expectations not quite met. Dubai went the other way with the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building that also uncannily resembles the equipment used in IVF. Could you describe what the Tokyo cityscape looks like? I don’t think anyone could. It’s difficult to know what would be worse; to be affronted by a few very ugly buildings, or surrounded by many mildly ugly ones.

Tokyo sits in the latter category. It has a skyline so bland and non-descript that I can imagine that’s what it must be like to live on a Monopoly board.

Psychogeographers would say that what surrounds us has tremendous influence on our minds. They’d have a

field day with the Ryugong. Enclosed as we are by droning towerblocks, or one-off architectural aneurisms, it is hard to feel anything but hopeless. There’s very little to find inspiring or uplifting in a building called

“

The monsters of the modern age are chimeras of glass and steel, that rise hundreds of feet into the air the Walkie Talkie, which looks exactly as confusing as its name suggests. Did anyone ask for a building resembling a handheld, two-way radio transceiver? I refuse to believe anyone has ever looked at a walkie-talkie and thought, “I’d like to live in that.” But what if we flip the question around. What do our buildings reveal about our own collective psyche?

Moral degeneracy. Our crumbling societal standards have clearly echoed into the bricks inside which we live, producing the monstrosities of our modern architecture. What with £1.99 two-litre White Ace ciders, over two-thirds of marriages ending in divorce, dropping church attendance and this newfangled electronic pornography, no wonder our buildings have become repellent. We became the monsters, and our buildings simply followed.

Oh, to hark back to the days of the Empire State Building. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore, all solid and reliable, smelling of law and order from 1931. That’s what a self-

respecting building looks like – a monolith of dependability, caked in 200,000 square feet of limestone.

It only took two weeks to draw the building designs as well, from the foundations through to the Art Deco-inspired top 16 floors.

It’s not like these modern sordid buildings, with their prurient protrusions and their voyeuristically transparent glass walls.

The skylines of today are amalgamations of fear and wonder that pervert our minds and transform the human race into the immoral rogues we now are.

Powerless to resist their pernicious auras, we now worship diligently at the phallic shrine of the Gherkin. I remember the days when architectural marvels were something to be proud of, a reassuring sign of humankind’s ingenuity, and not a perpetually wailing reminder of how far we have fallen from the heights of our prelapsarian, pre-Norman Foster days of architectural i n n o cence

Top Pick

The Oxford Book Club’s NT Live: Treasure Island The Woman In Black Hilary Sale Saturday, 11-4pm Java & Co The Oxford Book Club is back with its first sale of Hilary term. With a relaxed, coffee-scented atmosphere, and some playlists so relaxing you might fall asleep, upstairs at Java & Co is the place to be on Saturday if you want to unwind after a stressful 1st Week. Oh, and you can buy some books too if you like.

The Dumb Waiter

Tuesday, 12pm Phoenix Picturehouse

Monday-Saturday, 7.30pm Oxford Playhouse

Tuesday-Saturday, 9.30pm Burton Taylor Studio

Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of murder, money and mutiny is brought to life in a thrilling new stage adaptation by Bryony Lavery, broadcast live from the National Theatre. If you couldn’t make the first showing on Thursday, head to Jericho’s Phoenix Picturehouse for an encore performance.

Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, The Woman in Black delivers a chilling theatrical experience. A lawyer obsessed with a curse he believes has been cast over him engages a sceptical young actor to exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It all begins innocently enough, but soon the borders between make-believe and reality begin to blur...

Harold Pinter’s modern classic of fear, hidden authority and black humour will be coming to the BT on Tuesday, in a new and particularly claustrophobic production. If you like eccles cakes and questioning authority, you’ll love this.

Picks of the Week

Culture | 25

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Milestones Cherwell picks out a key moment in cultural history. This week, Fergus Morgan reflects on Edward Bond’s Saved

Poetry Corner

To appear in this space, submit your work to our Tumblr blog cherwelletc.tumblr.com/

capella. No, I’m not talking about Allegri’s Miserere. I’m talking about doo-wop barbershop quartets. I’m talking about all-grinning, all-bouncing singing groups.

Picture this scenario: You’re just out of school. You’re 18, you’re coming to university, and you’re free. Free to eat and sleep when you want. Free to spend your money as you see fit. Free to meet new, interesting people and engage in the highest intellectual pursuits of your life. You can drink. Take drugs.

Sleep around. You’re a student, and the world is your oyster. What, then, to do with this giddying freedom?

If your answer was to join an a cappella group, then congratulations – you’re part of the growing majority of Oxford students dedicated to this growing medium. As proven by the giddying heights reached by groups like the Oxford Gargoyles and Out of the Blue (the former being in the grand final of the BBC’s Choir of the Year and the latter hailed by she-wolf Shakira herself), a cappella is well and truly thriving here.

But perhaps, like me, you’re one of those who don’t quite get it. Call me a cynic, but I find a cappella groups to be too happy. Too enthusiastic. Part of the performance is that it apparently requires Glee-like levels of happiness – it seems forced, bordering on creepy or inane. No one is denying the immense musical talent required by the style, nor the clear team mentality and community that a cappella offers. It’s just a bit too much

The Royal Court Theatre has a long history of breaking new theatrical ground. With John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger in May 1956, it crystallised the sentiment of a generation into one character: Jimmy Porter, the original ‘angry young man’. In January 1995, it produced Sarah Kane’s infamous Blasted, which features explicit scenes of rape, suicide and cannibalism. It was in November 1965 though, with Edward Bond’s Saved, that the Royal Court truly made its mark on British theatre.

The critical vitriol Saved received was scouring, and it was largely directed at one particular scene. Scene VI to be precise. “My only emotion was cold disgust at being asked to sit through such a scene,” The Telegraph proudly confessed, pointing to its stiff upper lip. “One of the nastiest scenes I have ever had to sit through,” muttered Punch. “A systematic degradation of the human animal,” said the Times, trying to act all clever.

Come on, admit it. You want to know what happens in that scene. Okay, I’ll tell you, but be warned, it’s pretty horrible. The scene depicts a group of youths in a park, with an abandoned baby in a pram. Out of boredom, the boys begin to harm the infant. In an masterfully-conceived atmosphere of escalating horror, they progress from spitting on it, to pulling its hair, to punching it, and ultimately, to stoning it to death. Yeah, grim, I know.

Yet to characterise Saved purely by its ability to shock and disgust would be inappropriate.

That same attitude was prevalent in the critical reactions to Kane’s Blasted three decades later and look how stupid it seems now. It’s much more impressive to pretend that you ‘understand’ it.

Saved is a play about violence. It depicts the appallingly unimaginative lives of a group of

working class south Londoners and, although the baby-stoning scene is the most horrendous example of their emotional barbarism, it is the everyday life of these people that offers the most thought-provoking social comment. It is a life entirely devoid of sentiment or affection.

The play’s true violence is in the ceaseless arguments, the meaningless conflict between characters.

Bond’s play was not revolutionary in this. It did what many good plays do: it pointed out a problem in society and directed the public’s attention towards it. What Bond’s play did was lift the physical horrors of Greek tragedy and, much later, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and prove that they had a place on the contemporary stage. There was bound to be friction, as there would be with Blasted, which took things to another level entirely, but ultimately, dramatic integrity sides with Bond and Kane.

Attitudes at the time were far from Cherwell-levels of enlightenment, however.

Initially, Saved was denied a license by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, who deemed it unfit for public consumption and The Royal Court was prosecuted when it tried to find a loophole. The debacle exposed the absurdity of censorship law and provoked a long debate that eventually led to its abolition in September 1968. So, good on you, Ed. Top stuff.

Saved is rarely revived. The Royal Court brought it back in 1984 and the Lyric Hammersmith did so in 2011. It was even on at the BT Studio back in 2013 (odd how a London revival is so often followed by an Oxford one), when our very own Francesca Nicholls stated that it had “absolutely no meaning”. Oh FFS, Francesca. Come on

Deep Uncover feat. S.O.

Theatre Ad Infinitum: Light

Tuesday, 10pm-1am Cellar

Wednesday-Thursday, 8pm The North Wall Arts Centre

Blackwell’s Presents: Michael Morpurgo

LiveFriday: Heaven & Hell

With familiar faces from Deep Cover DJing, world-renowned hip-hop artist S.O. comes to Cellar before he heads to his US tour. S.O.’s style brings a fresh twist to hip hop, as his lyrical precision reflects both his passion for the genre and his love for Jesus, making him the most talked about name on the Lampmode label, and possibly the first Christian MC to grace the stage at Cellar.

Inspired by Edward Snowden’s revelations and the ensuing debate on state surveillance, Theatre Ad Infinitum’s Light presents an Orwellian future, when a totalitarian regime monitors the thoughts of its citizens through implants.

Blending anime-style storytelling and a pulsating soundscape, this is a nightmarish tale of love, betrayal and technological power.

Friday, 7pm Sheldonian Theatre

Friday, 7-10.30pm Ashmolean Museum

Do you like horses? Do you like war? Then you’ll love Michael Morpurgo reading his acclaimed novel War Horse to the accompaniment of John Tams and Barry Coope playing music the former specifically wrote for the National’s award-winning production.

Explore William Blake’s visions of Heaven and Hell in this special edition of LiveFriday with a programme of live music, performances, workshops and tours throughout the Museum and find out how Blake has inspired writers, artists, musicians, and scholars through the ages.

A

Jericho

October.

Pretty strangers, pretty strange like the space between our hands, where heartache insinuates itself.

‘No one to close to’ – reasons for the ghosting and doors left on latch.

Why must love muster us like a sink of soap and food-flecked vessels?

Why am I in your nightmares?

You are every arrondissement you have ever been to or the lamplighter outside the terraced homes of Jericho silvering zeroes into living rooms.

I am a hand in the dark beside you opening.

Fionntan Mac Alpine

Picks of the Week

Cherwell | 23.01.15

26 | Art & Books

Rembrandt: The late works at the National Gallery

Mark Barclay feels that the works of the Dutch master strike a powerful chord

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embrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), a master of the Dutch Golden Age, was known for his extraordinary treatment of light and the psychological depth of his portraiture.

The National Gallery is staging a landmark retrospective in his honour and it is a barrage of masterpiece after masterpiece. But breathtaking though this is, it is not what makes The National Gallery’s latest exhibition so captivating. The exhibition is much more than a spotlight on the greatness of Rembrandt’s work, it is a trip into the shadows that stalk his masterpieces. What is offered to the viewer is the tragedy behind the triumph: the broke, widowed, rejected and dejected Rembrandt. The dim first room (“self scrutiny”) feels like a church. The crowds, heaving though they are, soon become still and silent on entering. Sad and distant eyes peer worriedly back from the paintings. Before us: Rembrandt in 1659.

Three years previously he had declared bankruptcy, a year before his beloved art collection fetched almost nothing at auction, and that same year the Amsterdam Painters’ guild enforced a rule that banned him from trading. In the year to come, he was to be forced to sell his home and move. By 1669, Rembrandt’s eyes look resigned.

Since his last self-portrait he had experienced the humiliation of being out-commissioned by his former students and the grief of living through the death of his son Titus. Seeing the tenderness of the late works against the background of Rembrandt’s personal tragedy made for an utterly compelling view of the artist.

The second room (“experimental technique”), however, offers an alternative, with Rembrandt rising before the viewer looking forebodingly in control. In this self portrait, two circles enigmatically shadow him: a calculated show of defiance; where the painter is down but not out. Among other professional fiascoes, Rembrandt had gone out of fashion. His loose brushwork clashed with the tight realism that was then in vogue.

Accused of aging self-indulgence, Rembrandt chose to paint himself with these two mysteri-

cannily expressed in The Jewish Bride, which has Rembrandt portraying a lone couple mournfully caressing each other. He heaps squares of paint onto the man’s sleeve using a pallet knife. It lends the painting a tactile quality, which transmits the aching sensuality of the scene. But it’s also highly poignant: what the trouble is, we do not know.

It is always in the eyes where we see Rembrandt’s emotional and psychological depth. It’s the eyes that animate The Syndics, which were to be found in “observations of everyday life”, one of the last rooms. Here, a business meeting is rendered not only interesting but actually exciting, giving a sense of movement and ambiguity to the figures. The most striking gaze is that of the Apostle St Bartholomew, whom we see staring into some undefined point beyond the canvas with a stern gaze. Yet something gentler and sadder emerges the more you look at him. It’s completely captivating.

ous circles behind him, referring to a legend that the Italian artist Giotto had such technical command that he could draw a perfect circle free hand. Rembrandt stands before us painted in defiantly loose brushwork, with perfect hand drawn circles behind him. His face almost dares his critics to say he’s lost it.

However, pushing the boundaries of style and technique flew in the face of the establishment, and his desperate situation. Rembrandt could not afford with his debts to defy the established style publicly. Nonetheless, curator Betsy Wieseman has assembled a rich collection of sketches, etchings and prints that give us an insight into how audacious Rembrandt could be. One sketch shows a sleeping female nude drawn with simple spare brushwork. It could easily pass for a Japanese Zen painting. The economy of the lines and the delicacy of the brushwork is truly some-

thing to behold. It is a testament to Rembrandt’s bravery that this stalwart of European classicism chose to experiment with a form totally removed from his native context at a time when it could mean destitution.

Thisboldnesswasnotjustaprivateexperiment.

When Rembrandt was finally thrown a bone and asked to paint a large work for Amsterdam’s new city hall; the result so outraged his employer that before the year was up, the painting was chucked out. You can see why. The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis, which could be found in a later room focusing on light, is almost an impressionist work.

The ghostlike conspirators huddle around their deformed leader, his missing eye illuminated by the soft, yellow light. It’s an almost sinister (and given the context) most definitely ballsy depiction of a proud Dutch legend.

The impressionistic tendencies are most un-

“

His face almost dares his critics to say he’s lost it Rembrandt painted the world with a passion that drove him to experiment in visionary ways.

This was coupled with a sympathy that captured the most intimate moments of the human experience. He endeavored to do this at a time when the world he portrayed was decidedly against him. What emerges from this struggle is not resentment or anger, but a profound sense of humanity and vitality. It captured Bartholomew’s gaze, it touched the hand of the Jewish Bride, and it caressed the lines of the nude’s body. Most of all, it filled Rembrandt’s eyes

John Williams’ Stoner: ahead of its time Loading the 50 years on, Rose Sykes asks why this book was forgotten Canon Michael Roderick calls for the addition of the philosopher John Gray to the literary establishment

T

hough he would dispute the title, the philosopher John Gray is contemporary Britain’s arch-pessimist – that is, if we set him against the standards of the winsome, optimistic humanism de rigueur found in most of the great thinkers alive today.

A former professor at Oxford and then LSE, Gray thinks that almost all of our beliefs about ourselves are total fictions. The most widely held and detestable of modern fictions are philosophical humanism and (liberal and illiberal) progressivism, which Gray sees as the petulant, bastard children of a debased Christianity. Most of the principles that Christianity bequeathed to the Enlightenment and modern humanism – that we are free, conscious and rational beings endowed with inalienable rights etc – wither and fade when the Deity is removed from the picture.

Gray argues that humanists can’t go on about inalienable human rights when there is no reasonable metaphysical basis for them.

They can’t say that we are innately gifted with supreme Reason when the lesson of modern evolutionary biology is that our minds evolved at the behest of natural forces whose purposes were anything but the pursuit of truth and reason.

Because of this, he sees all attempts to ameliorate or improve our benighted condition as the hopelessly flawed spasms of a demented species. The notion that irreversible ethical advances can exist in human history is to Gray a lie. This is not to say that he therefore opposes all attempts to improve the conditions of people whose lives were once blighted by intolerance and oppres-

sion. Rather, he opposes the sanctimonious rhetoric of progressives who see all history up to the present enlightened moment as an aberration. “The good life,” he writes, “is not found in dreams of progress, but in coping with tragic contingencies… it means seeking peace – without just hoping for a world without war. It means cherishing freedom – in the knowledge that it is an interval between anarchy and tyranny.”

Gray’s gift for the frigid aphorism is second-to-none. At the end of Straw Dogs, his most famous book, he writes with dark and bracing assurance, “Nearly all philosophies, most of religion and much of science testify to the desperate, unwearying concern for the salvation of mankind… other animals do not need a purpose in life.”

It would do much, in my opinion, for our happiness and our sanity, to think on these words.

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ohn Williams’ novel Stoner was one of the most widely read books of 2013, yet 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of its first publication. Initially well-reviewed but virtually unknown in the intervening years, Stoner’s rise to fame and acclaim was all the more remarkable for being prompted almost exclusively by word of mouth amongst readers.

Williams’ style is understated, subtle, even unprepossessing, so it is perhaps understandable why it was so overlooked. You only need to compare it with the type of literature which made a resounding splash in the same year – Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, for example – to see how it missed the recognition it was due.

Stoner is about a quiet, patient man and his realistically slow trajectory from manual labour to academic work – a man who will seldom talk about his sorrows, which are whispered rather than screamed behind less than mysterious narration, though in no less agony.

Certainly the treatment of some issues in the book were ahead of its time: the purpose of academia and disability discrimination take up a substantial part of it, though this does not adequately explain why a novel previously all but ignored took off so spectacularly in the Twenty-First Century, when much of its content revolves around the timelessly relevant subject of relationships broken by an unforgiving society. Indeed, Stoner has achieved success far beyond what Williams ever hoped for when he told his publisher in 1963, “I have no illusions that it will be a ‘bestseller’ or anything like that.” But a bestseller it now is.

The characters of Stoner’s wife, daughter and mistress stick in the mind as particularly well-drawn. A deeply touching passage illuminates his daughter’s nature, and the reasons for her miserable dependency on alcohol, “alien to the world, it had to live where it could not be at home; avid for tenderness and quiet, it had to feed upon indifference and callousness and noise.”

Completely incidentally, this may express something about the rise of the book itself: it needed the appropriate soil for its natural merits to bloom in the minds of its readers.

Perhaps our society is more willing to express its feelings of alienation than was the case 50 years ago, possibly in light of a pervasive digital age – and so is far more receptive to Stoner’s melancholy.

However, if anything encapsulates the character of the book – its quiet courage and empathy in the face of a bleak reality – it is surely the last few days that Stoner shares with his mistress before propriety pulls them apart. He watches “with an immeasurable sadness their last effort of gaiety, which was like a dance that life makes upon the body of death”

Film & TV | 27

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Brittain’s wartime triumph

Naomi Morris Omori appreciates Testament of Youth’s searing poignancy

Landmarks of cinema Avatar (2009)

James Cameron’s science fiction epic breaks records with never before seen visual effects, motion capture and animation.

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midst the swarm of collections and first week tutorials, you may find yourself wondering what all the academic toil and strife is for. Testament of Youth, based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain, gives us the perspective we need at this time of tears, presenting the tale of a fearless young woman whose brother has to insistently persuade her father to let her apply to Oxford. The First World War interrupts her dreams and she leaves Somerville College to give, love and lose all in the War. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, this is a film of remarkable hope.

Despite the fact that other, perhaps more beautiful, Oxford colleges posed as Somerville, it is nevertheless a thrill in the cinema to spot the streets that are well-worn by our feet.

In the context of such bravery, however, it is humbling to think that we have the privilege to follow in the footsteps of so many students who have aspired to such great things.

The film offers insight into the challenges faced by women trying to break down the barriers of inequality. “Her degree won’t even be officially recognised by the University, you know,” Vera’s brother says to her father as he pleads with him to let her sit the entrance exam. Without formal tuition or schooling, Vera has a strong disadvantage. But nevertheless, with the face of bravery which she wore for the rest of her life, she remains determined.

When staring at a Latin paper, which she was not expecting, she instead writes her entrance exam in German.

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina) stands out with her effortlessly graceful acting and enigmatic eyes, which captivate the audience’s imagination. In a Q&A at the British Film Industry on Monday, she commented, “It’s rare that a strong female lead comes up, so when you see one, you just grab at it,” and

that this was a “female perspective I’ve never come across. As a woman, I connected greatly.”

Kit Harington (Pompeii, Game of Thrones), Colin Morgan (Merlin), and Taron Egerton (Kingsman), play her lover, her friend, and her brother respectively, all giving strong performances.

Golden Globe nominated Dominic West (The Affair, Pride, The Hour) also brought charisma to the screen as Vera Brittain’s well-to-do father and mill owner.

The director, James Kent, and producer, Rosie Alison, were present at the BFI event, along with Baroness Shirley Williams, the daughter of Vera Brittain. Baroness Williams astutely

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remarked, “Inspiring figures are those that are not conventional.” The director hoped that the “glorious young men [of the film would] come alive again and [will] never be forgotten by the new generation.”

More than anything else, however, what truly brought Testament of Youth together was Rob Hardy’s incredibly moving cinematography, especially in his evocative shooting of landscapes and the perfectly capitulated chaos of the battlefront.

The Testament of Youth brings Vera Brittain’s searing memoirs of the First World War to the cinema in an ethereally crisp and cathartic manner. It is rare to find a tale so truthfully poignant and moving, and cinematography so flawlessly breath-taking

TV’s Golden Age?

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Anything but Grimm

Aimee Kwan is spellbound by Into the Woods’ big-screen adaptation

It is a thrill in the cinema to spot the streets that are wellworn by our feet

Close up t’s often said that we live in a ‘Golden Age’ for TV. The Wire, Mad Men, Lost, Breaking Bad, airing from the mid-00s, all were hailed as groundbreaking, big budget shows that could carry character development, plot and style over the course of a season of hour-long episodes in a way that even films couldn’t, often thanks to production by the powerhouse that is HBO. It’s a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, with the likes of Game of Thrones, Homeland and Boardwalk Empire going strong through 2014.

However, I think there’s a case to be made for another Golden Age from the late 90s up to roughly 2004. Perhaps understated and unappreciated outside of especially geeky circles, shows like Firefly (2002-2003), Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) were revolutionary in their own right. Fairly low quality special

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ames Cameron’s Oscar-winning Avatar broke records when it grossed a whopping $2,787,965,087, becoming both the first film to make over $2 billion, as well as becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in the process, an achievement which is particularly impressive considering the fact it took the record from Titanic, also directed by Cameron 15 years previously.

Cameron claims he delayed production in order to allow visual effects to advance enough for the film to be done justice, resulting in its eventual production using innovative techniques based around precision motion capture. Cameron is set to write three sequels, the first of which (originally slated for a 2016 release) has been pushed back to 2017.

effects meant these shows were constantly reliant on character-driven storylines with significant development and consistency rarely seen since.

If you think Walter White’s descent into evil was convincing, take a look at the changes someone like Willow – a mere supporting character played by a young Alyson Hannigan – undergoes over 144 episodes of Buffy. If Carrie Mathison has issues in Homeland, try following Lindsay Weir’s teenage tribulations in Freaks and Geeks. You think Jon Snow faces hard choices a long way from civilisation? Let me point you in the direction of the space-marooned crew of Firefly.

These programs challenged stereotypes and brought depth to a medium that lacked it before. Their human element was undeniable, as is their influence. Let’s not forget them.

Tom Barrie

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nto the Woods has just hit UK cinemas, offering a silver screen take on the much loved Stephen Sondheim musical. Starring big names like Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Johnny Depp, there’s a big chance that at least one actor you might like is starring in it. At first glance, this might seem like a box office gimmick but in fact it’s very much the performances of these much acclaimed names that makes the film such a delight.

The film follows much of the original musical’s plot: we take the well known stories of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, and cross them over in a story focusing on a childless couple that is offered a bargain by a witch. We see the consequences of each of the characters’ desires, what they must go through to get their happy ending and, of course, what happens after that...

Of all the things that first hits you about the film (aside from the constant music, of course), is its colour palette and tone. Draped in dark blues, murky golds and blacks, this is no fluffy Disney story. Into the Woods is called that for a reason – the woods are dark, dangerous and conjure up all manner of things.

Aside from the bright glowing red of Red Riding Hood’s cloak, Rob Marshall has evidently gone for a specific tone for a reason, and it works beautifully.

Though I’m a fan of the original musical via the soundtrack, I’ve never seen it live in the theatre and therefore cannot offer a direct comparison. However, Rob Marshall’s translation of the many storylines onto the screen is successful. Some stories that are given more time in the musical are perhaps a little lacking: the ending and the development of Rapunzel’s story, for example.

I don’t necessarily think it cheapens the points that

are being made in the film, but in comparison to the musical, it makes it a little weaker.

The scene changes are smart and snappy, whilst the choreography is cleverly done so that there’s no lagging time in which the audience can get bored. It’s easy to be held in rapture all the way through. This brings me to my point about the performances offered in the film. With such a big ensemble cast it’s easy to lose some people along the way – I sorely missed what Christine Baranski and Simon Russell Beale could have brought to the table had they been given more time. But that’s just part and parcel of it.

However, characters like Chris Pine’s Prince or Billy Magnussen’s Prince’s Brother fill up their limited screentime with incandescent performances that have more depth than other actors might give. It’s fair to say that the four main leads are formidable: Meryl Streep is untouchable but so are Emily Blunt, James Corden and Anna Kendrick, all veterans of musical and costume drama who we knew would be able to accomplish their roles when we heard they were cast.

Overall, there is much to like about Into the Woods. At first, I was worried about the running time, and how this might alienate those with no predisposition to musicals. Coming from a fairly musical-averse household, two hours was not met with enthusiasm.

I felt that the sharp characterisations of Cinderella and the Prince amongst others were great enough to make the material compelling, enabling the time to fly by in a blur of excitement.

For certain, the ending (and by that I generally mean, from the second half) is not as dark or brooding as the original musical.

That being said, Into the Woods still manages to place itself in the better half of musical film adaptations thanks to a strong cast and just as strong production: see it if you have the chance

Cherwell | 23.01.15

28 | Music

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Death Grips Fashion Week

rom a band who used the image of cult hero and drummer Zach Hill’s erect penis for the cover of NO LOVE DEEP WEB, Death Grips’ latest surprise album perhaps shouldn’t surprise us. The track list, when read together spells out ‘J-E-N-N-Y D-E-A-T-H W-H-E-N’, presumably a reference to the upcoming release of the second part of their double album The Powers that b. Unsurprisingly, this loud and messy aesthetic very much encapsulates the sounds on Fashion Week. Despite the fact that this is an instrumental album, the boot-to-the-face drumming of Zach Hill and the deranged metallic synth-driven beats ensure that this remains a balls-out Death Grips release, although the lack of MC Ride’s bare-chested howling does detract from the record.

The first ‘Runway H’, comes across like classic Death Grips noise-vomit, but filtered through the sludgy synth work of Trent Reznor. Most refreshing, however, are the truly unexpected tracks. The first ‘Runway N’ is perhaps the most light-hearted track Death Grips has ever produced, with pitched-up shouts and lazer synths underpinning a J Dilla-esque organ-led hip hop beat. The most unusual track, ‘Runway Y’, is also the most exciting. Like Fashion Week as a whole, it’s fucking nuts, wears its significant flaws on its sleeve but ultimately remains in keeping with Death Grips “nothing sacred, nothing serious” sonic manifesto Henry Bruce-Jones

Barbarism begins: Meat is Murder at thirty

Ben Wilkinson-Turnbull looks back at a classic album from The Smiths

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ewind to 1985. The rich are making their first calls upon excessively large “mobile” phones, Oxford are busy refusing Maggie Thatcher a doctorate, whilst the BBC are engineering the downfall of evening television by launching Eastenders. Meanwhile, back up north, Morrissey, Marr and co are busy releasing their own kitchen-sink drama in The Smiths’ second album – Meat is Murder.

30 years later, and it is still easy to see how the album became The Smiths’ highest charting release, topping the album charts. Opener ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ still blasts unrelentingly a remarkably relaxed tale of schoolboy abuse. Ever cryptic, who k nows if any of the tale is autobio graphical to the lyricist. But who really cares?

Thematically, what’s a Smiths album without a literary muse?

Their debut

snipped up the playbooks of Sheila Delaney, gleefully sneaking quotes amidst their track listing. But Meat is Murder relies on the cult classic Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. You need only read the title to understand why the work appealed to Morrissey. It doesn’t take too much to picture him lying down and weeping by Manchester station, scrawling quotes for ‘What She Said’ and ‘Well I

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What’s a Smiths album without a literary muse?

Wonder’ into a large notebook entitled ‘Feels’.

‘Well I Wonder’ is a song of immense beauty.

The work is a musical interpretation of the heart-breaking final lines of By Grand Central Station:: “My dear, my darling, do you hear me where you sleep?” Critics were always so quick to shallowly condemn Morrissey’s use of literary sources as plagiarism. But, as always, he does not merely lift quotes – he gives them new life. A sentence upon a page now meanders atop the sorrowful plodding of Joyce’s bass and Marr’s soft acoustic. The sound of rain begins to filter into the arrangement as the song reaches a close. The arrangement is perfect, and it is clear why the band chose never to play the song live. It belongs to an isolated moment in time, one that is so overwhelmed with pathos that it could never be recreated live.

Melancholy aside, the album is also humorous – whatever Morrissey will proclaim in ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’. ‘Nowhere Fast’ marks Morrissey’s first foray into monarchy bashing. 30 years on, and the image of him drop-

3 Belles(andSebastians)oftheBall?

Belle and Sebastian 3 N Girls in Peacetime 3 Want to Dance 2 33222 2

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Panda Bear Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper

oah Lennox, better known as Panda Bear, co-founder of the psychedelic group Animal Collective, returns with his fifth solo album after a three-year hiatus.

The LP mostly follows on from its predecessor Tomboy, with a preference for synth loops and whirring sound effects, but perhaps the most notable moment is the ethereal ballad ‘Tropic of Cancer’, an especially poignant moment reflecting on the effects of disease on loved ones.

A timely reminder of his impeccable voice, backed by a looped sample from The Nutcracker, this is the best song here by some margin.

For much of Grim Reaper, Lennox’s expressive tenor is shrouded by his favourite production tools and indeed ‘Tropic of Cancer’ is one of precious few moments where Panda Bear departs from his modus operandi. Rather, he sticks with what he does best: simple, repetitive psychedelic pop tunes, and the call-and-response vocal hook of ‘Boys Latin’ is a highlight.

Unfortunately, though, atmosphere is far too often prioritised over coherent songwriting, an interesting bass squelch or melody left undeveloped, and several tracks do little to justify their run times. There is certainly enough material here to make this an enjoyable listen, but Lennox could have achieved something closer to his best work had he stepped out of his comfort zone a little more often on this record Aidan Clark

ine albums in, have Belle and Sebastian finally used up the last dregs of that ever potent miserabilia that has kept fans coming back for more for the last nineteen years? I desperately hoped not as I started listening to their latest offering, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.

The first thing to note is the album’s persistent political overtone. The band have put away their Arab straps, left Sukie well behind in her graveyard and focused their lyrics on the current political landscape. Just listen to opener ‘Nobody’s Empire’. Underneath a catchy riff, the lyrics document the bleak conformity of modern life. Although, when sung in the ever enticing Glaswegian drawl of Stuart Murdoch, it’s still delightful – even humorous. “Now I look at you, you’re a mother of two/You’re a

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The band have put away their Arab straps, left Sukie well behind in her graveyard quiet revolution”, he sarcastically coos in the midst of this wonderfully dark critique.

True, their dark humour remains as virile as ever. However, the album is more disco than the indie rock sound the band are famed for.

If you’re searching for the classic Belle and Sebastian sound, give ‘Ever Had a Little Faith?’ and ‘The Cat with the Cream’ a listen.

The latter reeks of the band’s earlier hit ‘This Is Just A Modern Rock Song’. Its minimal guitar arrangement even comes with their trademark Pulp-esque voyeurism. Who doesn’t love lyrics featuring a grown daughter listening out for her mum having sex? Likewise, ‘Enter Sylvia Plath’ has the bands identity stamped

all over it. You can practically see the young fangirls swooning whilst reading the title, nursing a copy of The Bell Jar and If You’re Feeling Sinister on vinyl. However, they will quickly be disappointed. The synth-heavy track sounds more like a Pet Shop Boys song – and a dull one at that. The album is certainly experimental in sound, but their alchemy is not always successful. Often, the resultant product is more iron pyrite than precious metals. Not offensive to the senses, but neither greatly satisfying.

Yet, the album’s lead single ‘Party Line’ is a nugget of pure gold. The funk guitar riff is delicious, prompting you to dance to “the beat of the party line” and become one of the conformists the song warns you about.

It’s great to hear an established band play with their trademark sound, and be successful. It’d just be great if this could be said about more than one-third of the album.

Ben Wilkinson-Turnbull

ping “his trousers to the queen” is only funnier.

Similarly, the narrative of young love and contemplated suicide at the fair in ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ is somehow made very amusing. There is so much glee taken in the pain of young lovers.

If someone “scratch[ed] my name on your arm with a fountain pen” in their arm, that’s as good as a marriage proposal, isn’t it?

But then there is the album’s title track – the closer, ‘Meat is Murder’. The song is a perfected dramatic performance. Sampled bone-saws and animals cries serve as a harrowing prologue and epilogue, introducing the main text of Morrissey’s vegetarian mantra. It’s a struggle to find a better and more affective opening line than “Heifer whines could be human cries” when uttered in a grave-like whisper. There is something disturbing about how Morrissey’s voice remains so delicate while documenting such harrowing sights. Who knows how many people have been converted to vegetarianism since having their blood chilled by the track. And for a band so passionate about their views, who could ask for a better legacy than to still be affecting the dietary choices of their listeners 30 years down the line?

Where are they now?

Cherwell delves into the later careers of one-hit-wonders so you don’t have to When 3 of a Kind dropped ‘Baby Cakes’ back in 2004, little did they know that its bubblegum sweet chorus and 2-step tempo would instantly make it a failproof dance track, and manage to triumph over The Libertines’ ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’, winning the spot of number one. But despite its unprecedented popularity, the trio, made up of Liana Caruana (aka Miz Tipzta), Nicholas Gallante (aka Devine MC) and Marc Portelli (aka Marky P), never bothered releasing a follow-up track, riding on the wave of their top-spot glory.

But after a decade of near anonymity, Gallante re-emerged on Never Mind the Buzzcocks as part of the ‘Identity Parade’ round in November last year – the apex for all great one-hit wonders.

He revealed that he is now a party planner, whilst Portelli is rumoured to be a pro poker player. Despite having prematurely ended their musical journey (which incidentally began on the day they all met), the trio remain Facebook friends, and the lyrics, “Babycakes, you just don’t know, know...” live on.

Stage | 29

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Playing the Waiting Game

Overheard at The Imps

Fay Watson gets the lowdown on this production of a Harold Pinter classic

pretty sure they hate me ‘cos they “ I’m once asked for a literary style to perform in and I said ‘James Joyce’

Have I Got Revues For You

Bethan Roberts checks out this term’s first comedic offering

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ust before Hilary term comes crashing down on us like a ton of disillusioned first years, we get our first glimpse at the comedic salvation that will be on offer for our weary and work-worn selves in later weeks. The first Audrey of term offered sketches, stand-up and songs, and if you missed your chance this time, fortuitously we are able to give you all the inside information, as well as hints of what to expect at later Audreys and in one-off shows from the Revue.

There are plenty of familiar faces, with Georgia Bruce, Will Hislop, David Meredith, Jack Chisnall and Barney Fishwick putting in predictably strong performances, but their contributions are balanced by other equally capable performers at varying stages of their comedic careers, from seasoned performers to relative newcomers.

The sketch comedy is, on the whole, stronger than the stand up, and provokes bigger laughs from the audience. This might be in part due to the change of venue to the Old Fire Station, where the more theatrical atmosphere gels more easily

with the sketch comedy that is the Revue’s forte.

This isn’t to say there a r e n ’ t some great solo performances – I c a n ’ t truthfully find fault with anyone who, as George McGoldrick does, tells me a whimsical, Gruffalo-inspired story about the deep

web – but what’s notable about the successes is the ways in which they push the limits of what you might expect from traditional stand up, one example being Alex Fox’s guffaw-

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As side-splittingly enjoyable as their previous endeavours inducing piece about a dysfunctional upper class family in which he plays, well, everyone. As well as offering us something new, these examples also seem to fit with more ease into the Audrey format, possibly due to their more sketch-like, less traditional, nature.

The show

is almost exclusively new material, which, whilst conceivably disappointing for anyone who has a favourite sketch, must overall be seen as a massive point in the Revue’s favour, as it demonstrates that comedic invention is in far from short supply.

There’s also something for every sense of humour, ranging from the surreal, to the observational, to the satirical – there’s a fantastic #notallmen sketch which earned some enthusiastic woops from women in the audience.

As far as I could tell from my subjective experience of events, the audience seemed to be having a wonderful time, everyone finding this early offering from Oxford’s comedians as side-splittingly enjoyable as their previous endeavours.

Based on the initial signs, the comedy forecast for Hilary term looks exceptionally good – great news in this most grey and miserable of academic seasons – and if you haven’t had the chance to experience the Revue in action before, I’d definitely recommend it, although make sure to get in early – there weren’t any tickets available on the door at the point I arrived, and people were being turned away.

Historically, the Footlights might have had more of the fame, but with the talent of the current Revue members, I honestly would not be surprised if that were to change some time in the near future

arold Pinter’s claustrophobic two-man play The Dumb Waiter operates on two levels – what is spoken and what underlies this dialogue. The first scene I was shown was one of inane football conversation; however, what initially appeared as a debate about whether Villa will be playing home or away was interspersed with disproportional tension.

Tom White, the director, explains, “This is a classic instance of the random conversations that have a sinister resonance.” Indeed, I’m told they also argue about such controversial topics as sour milk, eccles cakes and boiled eggs.

The BT appears to be the perfect space for such a tense, closed-in thriller. They even plan to make the stage feel smaller (it’s hard to believe it’s possible) with strategic lighting creating dark spaces.

Tom Marshall, who plays Ben, says the aim is for them to be in “in each other’s hair”. White continues, “The BT is the perfect space as it is an enclosed underground stage.” Not only will it allow for an atmosphere of claustrophobia but it will also amplify moments of suspense and horror.

Ambiguity is the key factor to this play’s success. White talks about the importance it plays in creating tension – he even cut a line, concerned that it would be too suggestive of a certain interpretation.

Having spoken to Marshall and White, I’ve

spoken to two-thirds of the production. There are only three of them: two actors and the director. Yet this is far from a disadvantage.

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Each line bounces back between them, quickly but in perfect sync Marshall raves about how “it was nice to be so small, it wasn’t overcrowded and allowed a space for us to develop.”

It also allowed, from what I have seen, the relationship between the two leads to develop.

The play hinges on their interactions and the power play between them. This is evident in a scene from later in the play where Ben delivers the instructions of the hit to Gus; each line bounces back between them, quickly but in perfect sync. “We tried to instil scenes with deliberate symmetry,” White tells me.

This looks like a clever production of a tense and interesting play focusing on the place of power, questioning authority and the limits of human patience.

Definitely not to be missed.

The Dumb Waiter is on at The Burton Taylor Studio from 27th– 31st January

Know Your Thesp Helena Wilson Mansfield

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he musical is West Side Story. The characters are Officer Krupke, Bernardo and Chino. The question? Shag, marry, kill.

It’s a query not easily resolvable for the minds of laypeople, but luckily, we got in touch with Helena Wilson, who’ll soon be playing Anita Josefina Del Carmen Margarita etcetera, etcetera, to resolve this labyrinthine tangle of speculation.

Helena has been a frequent face on the Oxford stage scene since her fresher days, and this second year English student shows no sign of letting her theatrical prowess slide.

When we asked what her favourite thing about the Oxford drama scene was, Helena gave her answer, but then qualified it with, “Ugh, please rephrase that so it’s not so cringey!”

Always ready to acquiesce to such heartfelt requests, we put some random words through a thesaurus and present you with this edited response: “There’s remarkably

enough occurring, as a consequence you get to grasp enchanting plebeians.”

Not all Wilson’s performances have been as polished as you might imagine. “I did an audition for the Welcome Ceremony at the Olympics which involved speaking French the whole time, and I momentarily confused the verbs ‘kiss’ and ‘fuck’. That was embarrassing.”

Given her character’s famous love of the country, we wondered what Helena’s favourite things about America might be.

“It sounds lame but I really found it to be true that the people are so much friendlier and more approachable, which I really like!

‘Many hellos in America,’ as Anita puts it.

Proper pancakes with syrup and fruit and everything. Also Hillary Clinton.” Undeniably sound choices.

Finally, and most crucially: “Kill Krupke, shag Chino, marry Bernardo.” You heard it here first.

Cherwell | 23.01.15

30 | Sport

Can the reign of the big four continue or is the end nigh?

Sam Volpe on the new talent set to be showcased in the Australian Open and the future of the big four Sam Volpe Contributor

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his year saw the organisers of tennis’ Australian Open forced to change their ‘extreme heat policy’ in light of global warming. Now, whilst the likes of Novak Djokovic and the seemingly immortal Roger Federer might escape some of Melbourne’s harsher conditions, they’ll perhaps be more vulnerable on court than ever before. Simply put, the field of their potential challengers on the men’s side of the draw is, as 2014 proved, as big as it has been since Federer came to prominence ten years ago. A few of the younger stars tipped to make a mark have fallen early, but as the tournament progresses we’ll get a real sense of how close we are to a change at the top.

Last year saw Marin Cilic and Stanislas Wawrinka become only the second and third players from outside of the ‘Big Four’ of Roger

Quick Fact

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Murray’s straight set victory against Matosevic in round 2

Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to win a Grand Slam since 2005.

A tranche of younger players – think Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic – are circling, whilst the age group below might just have the potential to jump straight to the front of the queue if 2015 goes to plan. Borna Coric hasn’t made it past the first round, but Aussie duo Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios both looked good in making it through.

British tennis might be able to smile too, although that is far from certain as the LTA continues to lurch from blunder to retrenchment; it seems a year doesn’t go by without seeing some form of ‘action plan’ enacted to save tennis in this county. Despite the fact that all three of James Ward, Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson fell at the first hurdle in Australia, the fact that they were all in the draw by right is potentially exciting.

Andy Murray has lived an occasionally thankless life as Britain’s only tennis player of any real quality for some time now. Injuries and illness have sadly hindered Laura Robson and Watson, whilst once hotly-tipped teens like Oliver Golding have grown tired of floating aimlessly around the Challenger circuit and packed it in for an easier life. However, things may be changing. Watson is surging back up the rankings, and Robson is said to be nearing a return.

Ward has finally looked serious about the sport in matches other than the Davis Cup, and then there’s the other young Brit who has been exciting onlookers lately, Edmund, who

has stormed to be just inside the world top 200 and spent time training in Miami with Murray.

How excited can we get about Edmund though? He was never terribly likely to make it through. He is older than the likes of Croatia’s Coric and Australia’s Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, both of whom are a hundred places higher in the rankings and can claim notable victories over – last year’s admittedly out of sorts – Rafael Nadal. In truth, it’s unlikely that he’ll beat a top ten player just yet, and making it into the main draw of the Australian open was remarkable enough, but having survived the mess that is the Lawn Tennis Association’s youth provision will stand him in good stand to emulate the other exciting young players on the men’s tour.

The women’s game has looked in good hands for the last couple of years, with the likes of Eugenie Bouchard in particular forcing oldtimers Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova et al to buck their ideas up. The men’s game could be in for a similar shock this season.

So, with all this talk of youth, ought we to imagine that in future this tournament will be seen as a turning point? Probably not. As the first week of the competition draws to a close, print deadlines could well leave this writer looking silly, but both Federer and Djokovic have looked in imperious form in the season’s nascent stages at least. Andy Murray too, even if he has much to prove after an indifferent year which ended in a shocking straight sets defeat against Federer, appears to have resolved the coaching tensions which dogged his 2014. He looked in good form alongside Heather Watson during the Hopman Cup team tournament. As for Nadal, his knees have been written off numerous times before, and only a madman would look elsewhere for a winner at Rolland Garros in June, but away from Paris he has been but a shadow of his old self over the

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The next six or seven major tournaments could define a new epoch past few months.

Given Federer’s age, of the old guard only Novak Djokovic is a sure bet to be still ruling tennis’ top courts in two years time, and the question of who will join him is, to a fan who has simultaneously been blessed and occasionally numbed by the sustained brilliance of Federer and Nadal in particular, an exciting one. The next six or seven major tournaments could define a new epoch, but it is up to the likes of Coric and Kyrgios in particular to show these (relatively) old men that the next generation are bored of deferring to the old masters, because those familiar names won’t fancy a commentary career just yet. Especially now Wawrinka and Cilic have proved that they are not as invincible as they once seemed

Tables BUCS Women’s Hockey Premier South

BUCS Men’s Lacrosse Premier South

BUCS Men’s Badminton Premier South

#

Team

P

W

Pts

#

Team

P

W

Pts

#

Team

P

W

Pts

1 2 3 4 5 6

Exeter 1st Bristol 3rd Cardiff 1st Oxford 1st Bath 1st Oxford Brookes 1st

9 9 7 7 9 9

8 5 4 3 2 2

25 16 12 9 6 6

1 2 3 4 5 6

Oxford 1st Exeter 1st Bristol 1st Bath 1st Cardiff 1st Portsmouth 1st

8 8 8 8 8 9

7 7 5 4 1 0

21 20 14 13 4 -1

1 2 3 4 5 6

Bath 1st Oxford 1st Imperial 1st Southampton 1st Cardiff 1st Bristol 1st

8 8 8 8 8 8

8 4 4 3 2 1

24 14 12 10 7 3

BUCS Men’s Football Midlands 1A

BUCS Women’s Fencing Premier South

BUCS Women’s Tennis Midlands 1A

#

Team

P

W

Pts

#

Team

P

W

Pts

#

Team

P

W

Pts

1 2 3 4 5 6

Oxford 1st Birmingham 1st Bedford 1st Coventry 1st Notts Trent 1st Birmingham 2nd

6 6 7 6 5 6

4 3 3 3 2 1

12 10 10 9 8 3

1 2 3 4 5 6

Oxford 1st Surrey 1st UCL 1st Cambridge 1st Cardiff 1st Imperial 1st

2 0 0 0 1 1

2 0 0 0 0 0

6 0 0 0 0 0

1 2 3 4 5 6

Oxford 1st Birmingham 1st Warwick 1st Nottingham 1st Warwick 2nd De Montford 1st

7 6 5 6 6 6

5 5 4 1 0 0

17 15 13 4 1 1

Has your team done something worth writing about?

If you would like to write about a sporting event you’ve been involved in, email sport@cherwell.org

23.01.15 | Cherwell

Sport | 31

Centaurs find inspiration in Barcelona

OUAFC Second Team impresses with solid performances and come away from Barcelona with much needed experience Fergus Morgan Culture Editor

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he Centaurs, OUAFC’s second team, completed a 9-day tour of Barcelona in the New Year, playing three matches against local opposition in an effort to prepare for the punishing term ahead. The Centaurs battled hard against some formidable Spanish opposition, and can leave Catalonia with their heads held high.

Arriving on January 5th, the 19-man squad got stuck in immediately, training hard the next day ahead of their first match against CF Damm on January 6th.

Founded in 1954, CF Damm is a youth academy whose first team (which the Centaurs faced) plays in the Division de Honor, the premier league of Spanish youth football. They recently drew 1-1 with Barcelona’s U-17 side. The club has a long history of producing some of the world’s finest players; Dani and Sergio Garcia, Isaac Cuenca, and Christian Tello to name but three. Fears of an absolute drubbing were rife amongst the tour squad.

Playing in a small stadium with a capacity crowd of over ten, the Centaurs started well and for the first 30 minutes, it was fairly even.

Roly Carter terrorised his full-back, Tom Brown was Gerrard-like in his distribution, and Joe Fowles marshalled the defence with confidence. CF Damm’s creative instinct was snubbed by the Oxford side’s organisation.

Two defensive mishaps and some dubious officiating put CF Damm 3-0 up in an increasingly feisty affair, before some healthy shoving in the box made room for Wande McCunn to flick Cian Wade’s long throw past the keeper with seconds remaining. The final score: CF Damm 3-1 Centaurs.

The Centaurs’ second game, on January 9th against Universitat Ramon Llull’s first team was a much closer affair, decided by two controversial goals. The University champions of

Catalonia pulled one goal ahead thanks to a quick free kick catching out the Centaurs defence, before the Oxford side equalised shortly into the second half.

A flowing move down the right flank and some sterling work by John Dineen allowed O’Grady the space to find the bottom left hand corner. Dan Brown, playing out of position up front, almost put the Centaurs ahead, but his delicate slot beat the keeper only to rebound in off the post. In the dying moments, a Ramon Llull corner was bundled over the line. Centaurs players surrounded the referee, claiming

a handball, but the goal stood and despite another impressive performance, they were left in danger of returning to Oxford without a win.

The last match, versus the University of Barcelona on January 12th, was played in baking hot conditions that really tested the Centaurs’ fitness.

Two clinical first-half goals from McCunn eased the tension in the first half, but shortly before half-time, the home team pulled one back. The Centaurs dominated the second-half, out-battling the University of Barcelona and

finding the net thrice more: McCunn completed his hat-trick, Jacob Burda showed his

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Their defence held firm when necessary and they can be extremely proud of their 5-3 victory flair with a fine finish, and O’Grady capped off an inspiring display with a deserved goal.

A late comeback momentarily flustered the Oxford side, but their defence held firm when necessary and they can be extremely proud of their 5-3 victory.

Off the pitch, the Centaurs soaked up a good deal of Catalan culture, visiting Gaudi’s worldfamous Sagrada Familia; the Fundació Joan Miró, a modern art museum honouring the influential Catalan surrealist; and the Castell de Montjuïc, which offered spectacular views of the city from its hilltop location.

Two trips to the Nou Camp saw Barcelona’s 5-0 thrashing of Elche in the Copa del Rey, and a feisty 3-1 victory over title challengers Atletico Madrid in front of a capacity crowd. A good time was had by all.

Considering the Centaurs only managed four points from four league games in Michaelmas, it was vital they used their tour of Barcelona to bond as a team, given that many of the current squad are newcomers this year, and to prepare for their Hilary schedule. With three solid performances, and one famous victory, they can look back on their tour with satisfaction and look ahead with confidence to their remaining fixtures

Sledging is a part of cricket – simply dial it down Tushar Kelkar argues that, whilst sometimes players let their anger come through, sledging inherently adds something to the game Tushar Kelkar Sport Editor

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he period of play comes to a close; the two players immediately hurl a barrage of abuse at one another. Players’ livelihoods are at stake, and it’s clear now how much the match means to them. The two are separated by their teammates in no time at all – they have kept their cool and understand the significance of ensuring that their own teammmate does not come out worse from this encounter.

The description above may well refer to any particular sport. All sports are by their very nature competitive, and are prone to bring out the best (and arguably worst) in people – to think that an attempt to regulate such behaviour would be 100 per cent effective is foolish at best, and irresponsible at worst.

Moreover, the recent attempt to use the tragic death of Phillip Hughes to try and further debate is despicable – Jonathon Agnew should be ashamed of himself for conflating the incredibly emotive and sensitive issues of life and death with something completely unrelated: the issue of sledging and gamesmanship.

One of the primary excuses provided by advocates of sledging (when the bowling team engages in verbal intimidation to try and gain an advantage over the batting team, usually through disrupting the batsman’s concentration) is that when the stakes are so high, as they are particularly with the commercialisation of the sport leading to much higher wage contracts and sponsoship deals, players are justified in using any means possible. I think this argument misses the nuance of the debate, and what sledging is truly about.

The battle between the bowler and the batsmen is one of the ultimate psychological battles within the sporting world, and those who have played the game understand what is meant when the two engage in a verbal

confrontation – there is an implied relationship where the batsman knows what is coming and the bowler is expected to provide the vocal stimulus. It is a subtle game of to and fro, requiring intricate knowledge of sporting

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It is a subtle game of to and fro requiring intricate knowledge of sporting psyches psyches. Most importantly, sledging is an expression of the aggression and intensity with which all bowlers must play their attacking game – those game scenarios where partnerships must be broken are no time for timidness, nor a friendly encouragement of the opposition batsman.

There will always be time to reconcile, perhaps a pint with the batsman afterwords.

But the batsmen are aware of the name of the game, and any attempts to hold back in favour of thinking that you’re ‘playing nice’ would be shame for the sport. Perhaps the greatest cricket clip ever is Mitchell Johnson giving James Anderson lip back when he utterred those famous lines, “Why are you chirping now, mate, not getting any wickets?” This exchange was followed by Anderson taking the wicket of Johnson’s partner, Ryan Harris, and best exemplifies the expressive nature of sledging, whereby both sides eking it out adds so much to the game.

David Warner is fully aware of the excessive nature of his sledging and how he overstepped the line. I myself have seen teammates in club cricket (many of whom are much older, and of previous generations) engage in unbridled

abuse, including swearing, and racist and homophobic abuse. I am not remotely claiming that such actions are defensible and part of the modern sport: it is the existence of such contrasting, unacceptable examples that highlight how important it is that we find the appropriate level of gamesmanship within the modern game that fosters intense periods of play that simply results in good cricket. ‘It’s just not cricket’? I would rather good cricket any day of the week.

Critics of sledging are concerned that it is a recent phenomenom on the rise, and abrogate those values that are supposedly the sole preserve of the sport of cricket. These people are

living in the fantasy of the Nineteenth Century origins of the game – the myth of the ‘gentleman’ who makes up the sport’s playing folk.

Gamesmanship has been a crucial, important part of the sport, especially with the rise of professional sports. The ‘bodyline’ series of the 1930s, W.G. Grace’s infamous attempted last stand – even the great Don Bradman, rarely walking after being caught in the gullies, put sportsmanship on the sidelines when they realised what was truly on the line.

People’s concerns when bowlers simply engage in verbal bullying are well justified, but simply rectified: players know when they are in the wrong

Sport

Tushar Kellar defends sledging in modern cricket

OUNC to shoe the tabs (again)

Samuel Volpe gives the low down on this year’s Australian Open

This week’s Sport in brief OXFORD UNI ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL Club’s Blues were unlucky in their game against Reading FC U18s last Wednesday. This was an exciting match for the Blues as they got to play right next to the Madeski Stadium against the young talent of Reading FC. The final score in the match was 4-1 to Reading, however, the experience of playing at that level will only help the team to improve going forward.

OXFORD UNI HOCKEY CLUB’S MEN’S Blues (first team) have had a disappointing start to the term, losing 3-0 to Sevenoaks last Saturday. The seconds and thirds have seen a better start to the term, however, with both teams winning over the weekend. The Occasionals (seconds) beat Old Loughts 3 4-0 and the Infrequents beat Guildford 2 1-0.

OXFORD UNI ATHLETICS CLUB have seen their indoor season get underway with an immediate success. Louis Rawlings has had an extremely impressive start, setting the lead by finishing second and picking up silver in the U20s Southern Championships last weekend.

Varsity preview: we talk to the OUNC treasurer about their preparations Emma Williams, Tushar Kelkar Sport Editors

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ith a successful Michaelmas term for the Blues Netball Team, OUNC treasurer Beth Nichol is looking forward to the upcoming matches in Hilary term culminating with three Varsity matches for all three netball teams on March 1st (Sunday 7th Week) in Cambridge. As Nichol said, “The Blues are having a successful season with the other two teams improving week-on-week; everyone in the club is working hard to make sure we shoe the tabs come the end of term!”

After unfortunately getting relegated to BUCS Netball Midlands 2A at the end of last season, the Blues have made a triumphant start, topping their league at Christmas. Their only

loss came against Loughborough 3rds, with their next fixture against them being crucial to their promotion campaign. The Roos (2nds) on the other hand have faced a very varied season, with the team plagued by injury throughout Michaelmas. This has meant mixed results for them so far, with their last two matches seeing them get thrashed by the Cambridge Jays, and then comfortably beating Warwick 2nds. As for the newly formed Emus (3rds), it had been a tough start to their first season and they lost most of their games in ONL last term. However, with some hard work and perseverance they managed to turn things around towards the end of the term, with a well-fought victory.

With all the hard work on the court, Nichol says the girls enjoy themselves just as much off it, with socials every Wednesday night. The squad is one of the most popular to crewdate of

all the women’s University sports teams. Nichol reckons this is because they “are a really tightknit team, who know each other really well, making for great sconces. We also have team breakfasts after most early morning training session which all helps improve team spirit.”

Like any university level sport, OUNC demands a substantial time commitment. This includes matches every Wednesday for the Blues and Roos, and Monday night matches for the Emus. The long journey time to away matches in the BUCS can put a strain on time management, but its also a chance to bond en route.

Nichol added, “If any girls are thinking about trialling for OUNC, I would definitely recommend it as a truly great club to be a part of. Some of my best times include our kit night crewdate and crowd surfing in Parkend – we love Parkend”

OXFORD UNIVERSITY NETBALL CLUB has also had a great start to the season, with both the Blues and Roos “smashing it” in their first games of the season. The Blues thrashed Coventry 1sts 45-13, with Mia Coe being the standout player, and the Roos beat Lincoln 1sts 41-16.

OXFORD UNI HANDBALL CLUB is on top form with both the Men’s and Women’s teams easing through the 1st round of the British University Championships in November.

The 2nd round will be played in Birmingham in mid-February and promises to be even more exciting than the last! Finally, Varsity is being held in Cambridge this year, with the big day occurring on 31st of January - can the Men’s Team make it two on the bounce following victory last year?

OXFORD UNI DANCE CLUB launched their free taster classes this Tuesday to give Oxford University students a chance to learn a variety of latin and ballroom, as well as rock and roll dances. Not only do they offer Latin and ballroom, there’s also zumba if you just want to do some exercise without the more technical stuff. Either way, get involved!

Spanish sun is the perfect preparation for crucial term With this term’s varsity looming, OUSC jetted off to Spain for a week-long training camp to get their fitness up to scratch

Emma Williams Sport Editor

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fter excessive over-indulging during Christmas and New Year, many of us decide to embark on a ‘January diet’ and aim to ‘get fit’. This has become such a widespread ritual of so many that January is now known as the dieting month. However, for many of us this means an enthusiastic few days at the start of the month (well, more than 24 hours if we’re doing really well), and then a lack of willpower and temptation of all that left over food from the festive period and we’ve failed before we even really started.

The Blues swimmers, it seems, do not follow this popular pattern (shocker) and instead went on a ‘fitness’ trip to Torremolinos, Spain just after New Year. With the big Varsity competition day on the horizon this term, I took some time to talk to one of their new recruits, George Stannard (a first year medic), to find out how the team preparations were going for this important term.

The team jetted off to the sunny destination of Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol in the early hours of January 3rd over the Christmas Vac in order to keep up their fitness over the break and to maintain the group training. This was not a relaxing winter sun break, as the team had around nine training sessions over the week they were there, in a luxury Olympicsized pool.

Stannard explained, “These sessions would vary in length and intensity, with some longer aerobic sessions and shorter sprint work.” In addition to these ‘ordinary’ training sessions they also did some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and team runs for general fitness.

And as if that wasn’t enough, some of them decided to undertake an hour-long sea swim in what I imagine was a fairly cold Mediterranean Sea. I think it’s safe to say that they’re taking their varsity match later this term seriously.

It wasn’t quite as brutal as it sounds, however, as unsurprisingly they had some fun too… there was a jokey secret santa, they played a relaxed game of football in the sun and had a sangria night by the pool (of course, only when

there was no training the next morning).

There was also nearly an Oxford/Birmingham University swimmers’ crewdate (which no doubt would have been great fun in a foreign country), but it unfortunately never quite materialised. ‘Did they try the Spanish culture while they were there?’ I hear you ask.

Well, sort of. Their diet of English breakfasts and Burger King certainly lacked the Spanish touch. Although, apparently they did go for tapas on the last day, so at least they got to taste some of the local food.

George continued, “Overall, it was a really good trip and everyone enjoyed it; the aim was to help us improve fitness and technique over the vac and get us ready for this term.”

Their focus is obviously on the varsity meet-up but more immediately they’ve got a competition on February 8th in Southampton and a BUCS Long Course before the big one on 28th February. Oxford have now won the Varsity meet-up for three consecutive years and are hoping for a fourth this year. Lets hope it’s another successful term for our swimmers and I’m sure they will #shoethetabs