Cherwell 4th Week MT17

NEWS

INTERVIEW

Revealed: Oxford spent £37k on lunch for Aung San Suu Kyi

Daniel Hannan: Brexit was rooted in student radicalism Oxbow, page 2

4th week Friday, 3 November 2017

AT LENGTH

The unique experience of being a northerner at Oxford

Cherwell page 3

Students at the Oxford Middle East Centre have reacted in anger to the University’s response to the mounting accusations of rape against Islamic professor Tariq Ramadan, accusing senior figures of acting “as if nothing had happened”.

Ramadan is currently being investigated by French authorities over two allegations of rape, sexual assault, violence and harassment.

Ramadan has described the allegations as a “campaign of lies” and said he is suing the alleged victims for “slander”.

Since the first allegation of rape surfaced two weeks ago, the professor has reportedly taught a seminar in Oxford and been seen “laughing” with faculty members.

In response to requests from students, senior figures in the faculty held a meeting on Tuesday “to address implications for student welfare arising from the allegations”.

The faculty told students they intend Ramadan to continue to both tutor and supervise on his return to Oxford from Qatar – although students may ask for another faculty member to be in the room if they wish.

At the meeting, held at St Antony’s College, several students expressed anger at the “lack of communication” from the University, claiming they had heard of the allegations by “word of mouth” without any acknowledgement from the department.

Director of the Middle East Centre Eugene Rogan repeatedly apologised to students for taking ten days to respond to the allegations, blaming the delay on the fact that the controversy was happening in another country with a different legal system.

Rogan reminded students: “It’s not just about sexual violence. For some students it’s just another way for Europeans to gang up against a prominent Muslim intellectual.

ers chanted from a prepared ‘chant sheet’ that included the lines “prolife, that’s a lie, you don’t care if women die”.

The heckling started almost immediately after the first speaker, Irish Times correspondent Breda O’Brien, began to talk. Around 15 students stood and began to chant continuously until O’Brien was forced to stop.

OSFL co-president Anna Branford said: “One minute into her presentation, a group of approximately fifteen protesters from the Oxford SU’s WomCam stood up and chanted slogans to shout down Breda and prevent her from being heard.

“It was impossible for the committee or security to engage in any meaningful manner with the protestors. This continued for approximately 40 minutes: protesters shouted, jeered, stood in front of the projector and chanted.”

Matthew Kirtly, a student who attended the talk, told Cherwell: “The protesters banged on windows, placed themselves in front of the projector, and impeded access by guests to enter and leave the event by both taking up space and by obstructing the entrances and exits.

“They also strongly intimidated many people, who chose to leave rather than be subjected to some very mean-spirited chants.

CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO

Students of oxford...

Tariq Ramadan.

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Don to keep teaching despite rape allegations

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Demonstrators accused of stifling free speech after disrupting anti-abortion talk Oxford SU has been accused of attacking students’ freedom of speech after demonstrators disrupted a talk held by controversial group Oxford Students For Life (OSFL) at St John’s on Wednesday.

Police were called to escort prochoice campaigners from the college after they prevented the start of the OSFL talk for almost an hour through chants and heckling. This followed earlier failed attempts by private security and college porters to move the event into another room.

The move has sparked accusations from demonstrators led by Oxford SU’s WomCam that St John’s actions were “a clear attempt to intimidate protesters” who had entered the event “peacefully”.

In a statement they insisted they were “not protesting OSFL or their speakers’ right to free speech” but were instead “demonstrating that the speakers’ views deny millions of people bodily autonomy, that subject them to forced pregnancy, resulting in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, and sometimes death”.

OSFL members rejected this account however, describing the protest as “a deliberate attempt to shut down discussion and dialogue through harassment and bullying”.

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News Anger at Ramadan response CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE We must protect Muslim students who believe and trust in him, and protect that trust.”

Many staff members encouraged those present not to speak to the media about the furor. Professor Rogan told students: “We can’t tell you what you should say. But I encourage everyone to use their moral judgement about how they voice their concerns – not to victimise the women who’ve made the allegations or the men who’ve been accused of things they’ve not yet had the chance to defend themselves against.”

One postgrad said: “There should have been a more open and frank discussion with female students about how to make them feel safer,” she said. “Women won’t come forward here and say how they feel.”

A number of students expressed concern about Ramadan continuing to teach and be present in the faculty.

One claimed that immediately following the first allegation, Ramadan was seen “walking and laughing in the hall as if nothing had happened.”

Head of humanities Karen O’Brien told students that Ramadan is still a supervisor, but his doctoral supervisees could have individual discussions about how they would like their supervisions to proceed.

She stressed that their priority was that the students’ education could continue uninterrupted, adding:

Union president’s decision cleared

By CHERWELL NEWS The decision taken by Union President Chris Zabilowicz to expand standing committee at the close of Trinity Term has been ruled to be a legitimate interpretation of the Union rules.

A Senior Disciplinary Committee - the Union’s second highest disciplinary body - was assembled to investigate claims that Zabilowicz’s interpretation of a rule change brought in under Michael Li was illegitimate.

Due to changes brought in under the Li’s presidency, Standing Committee was set to increase from five to seven members, with an amendment stipulating that the new rule would take effect following the Michaelmas Term 2017 elections.

After becoming President, Zabilowicz passed an interpretative ruling bringing forward the expansion to the close of Trinity term, which allowed Kaleem Hawa and Grace Joel to be appointed to the committee, the latter of whom had previously failed in her attempt to be elected.

“The situation will be kept under review. We can’t prejudge outcomes.”

A Middle East student told Cherwell: “Frankly, I’m shocked by how badly the University has dealt with this incident. While Professor Ramadan must be assumed innocent until proven guilty, this does not excuse the absolute lack of communication between the Middle East Centre and affected students.

“This story broke two weeks ago. At very least, we should have received an email [from the faculty].

“Also disappointing is how Professor Ramadan was allowed to teach MPhil students as usual last week, despite these serious allegations having been made.”

In a statement to Cherwell, Eugene Rogan said: “Tuesday’s meeting was focused on addressing student welfare issues emerging from the allegations against professor Ramadan, to ensure the Faculty responded to student concerns as we move forward.”

He added: “The Faculty has been in contact with all of Professor Ramadan’s supervisees to arrange meetings to discuss their concerns and wishes.

“The University acts to ensure that its welfare services and support systems are readily accessible; its harassment and sexual assault reporting systems are confidential, totally supportive and clearly understood”.

Cherwell takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are com-

By MIA MILLMAN A former Union president and Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidate has been accused of sexually assaulting another student while at Oxford.

Stuart Cullen, who denies the allegations, has now been suspended from the party, “subject to further inquiry”.

Cullen, who studied at Christ Church between 2008-2011, was accused of sexual assault in an Instagram post as part of the #MeToo movement.

Cullen was Union president in Hilary 2010 and was the Scottish Conservative candidate for Glasgow North in this year’s general election.

The Scottish Conservatives have suspended Cullen “with immediate effect” and have launched an inquiry following the allegations.

The alleged victim, who has asked not to be named, claimed that Cullen sexually assaulted her whilst she was in her first term at the University.

According to the woman, at the time she “was 18, naive, less than a term into university, and lacking in a robust support network”.

Despite saying it was a “difficult post to write”, she was inspired to come forward after increased media

coverage of sexual violence in Westminster.

Cullen’s lawyers have said he denies the allegations, which he considers to be false and defamatory.

In her post, she said: “I never reported him, even after he sent me a message a day or so later saying he should have been ‘kicked out of college for what I [he] did’.”

She went on to say: “I didn’t call bullshit at the time but I do now, partly because he’ll probably be given a safe seat to run for in the next election. #MeToo” The #MeToo hashtag spread on

social media in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal last month.

The hashtag has been tweeted more than half a million times and is used by victims of sexual assault and harassment to indicate the extent of the problem of sexual violence.

In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives said: “We take allegations like these extremely seriously.

Mr Cullen has been suspended with immediate effect, subject to further inquiry.

“We would encourage anyone to report such allegations to the police.”

Stuart Cullen, former Union president PHOTO: INSTAGRAM

Oxford SU protest accused of stifling free speech CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE Any attempt to claim or imply that this protest was peaceful is false. It was predicated upon intimidation and obstruction.”

In a statement provided to Cherwell, WomCam clarified their position.

They said: “Bodily autonomy is not up for debate; it is not a question of opinion. Access to healthcare is a basic human right.

“We will continue fighting until all people have access to free, safe and legal abortion in Ireland, and everywhere.”

In a statement published in response to the comments made

by Oxford SU, OSFL said: “With their latest statement, WomCam have decided to double down on their attack on free speech, while claiming that they are doing no such thing.”

They added that they had “received legal advice that WomCam were breaking the law precisely because they were denying our freedom of speech.”

The furore comes as Ireland looks ahead to a national referendum on the legalisation of abortion that is set to take place next year.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar an-

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS An article last week reviewing the club night Gun Fingers should have noted that the author, Joe Bavs, has DJed at other club nights.

Former Union president and Tory MP candidate accused of sexual assault

mitted to the codes and practices of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso). Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent to editor@cherwell.org or by post to The Editors, Cherwell, 7 St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BS.

nounced the poll in September, stating that Irish citizens would be given the chance to vote on the abolition of the eighth amendment to the constitution, which gives a fetus the legal rights of a citizen even in early pregnancy.

Thousands of Irish women every year travel to the United Kingdom in order to escape some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. In 2016 the UN ruled that Irish abortion law subjugated women to “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment”.

Revd. Professor William Whythe insisted that St John’s was “committed to protecting the freedom of speech at meetings within the College and the freedom to make peaceful protest”.

He added: “neither speakers nor listeners should have any reasonable grounds to feel intimidated or censored”.

In a statement Thames Valley Police told Cherwell: “Thames Valley Police was called at 8.22pm last night… about a protest at St John’s College, St Giles, Oxford.

Further investigation found that the protest was planned and arranged with the university. At 9.03pm all protesters had left the area.”

Protestors chant and heckle speakers at OSFL’s talk

INTERVIEW

VISUALS

Ben Bradshaw talks Brexit and sexual harassment

page 10

SPORT

Oxford student Football Blues art on the Russian bag 2-0 win over Revolution Oxford Brookes Oxbow, page 8

page 12

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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Lavish ceremonies and a £37k lunch – the cost of Oxford’s elite revealed

By JACK HUNTER Every year, select groups of influential figures enjoy elaborate ceremonies and luxurious lunches at the expense of Oxford University.

New figures obtained by Cherwell reveal how the university has spent thousands of pounds conferring honorary degrees on the wealthy and famous.

Following last week’s revelations over the vice chancellor’s expenses, Cherwell can reveal Oxford spent £143,562 on exclusive events for university VIPs and the university’s chief benefactors.

It includes £37,701 spent on a single lunch for the Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at St Hugh’s after she collected her honorary degree in 2012.

Overall, £4,000 has been spent on trumpeters, £6,950 on choirs and £2,662 on gown hire since 2012. £41,844 has been spent paying for international flights and travel expenses for the honorands.

Last year, the University spent £23,846 organising the events, the highest amount in three years.

The price included £5,387 on an honorands’ lunch and £9,795 on honorands’ travel expenses.

The Encaenia ceremony, which was first held in the eighteenth century, occurs in ninth week of Trinity term each year.

It involves closing off the Bodleian Library for a ceremony in which the chancellor confers honours on

Hilda’s to combat depression with light boxes

By AMY WILKINSON

distinguished figures.

After the ceremony, the honorands are invited to a lavish lunch held in All Souls College, before finishing their day at the annual garden party for benefactors and VIPs. In recent years the ceremony has been viewed by some as a publicity stunt, with mounting costs spent on security barriers.

Attendance is limited to senior university figures, including the proctors, the professor of poetry and the public orator.

The figures come at a time of increasing attention on extravagant spending by senior university figures.

Last week, Cherwell revealed that vice chancellor Louise Richardson spent £38,339 on expenses last year alone, with £56,522 spent on air travel since she took her position in January 2016.

Other figures awarded honorary degrees in recent years include Shirley Williams, Hillary Mantel, and Tom Stoppard.

The expenditure was criticised

by Oxford SU president Kate Cole, who told Cherwell: “In a time of increasing pressures on budgets of student services we would want to see as much money as possible being spent on developing the student experience and the quality of education.

“We would question whether spending the equivalent of four undergraduates’ tuition fees for

the year on a single lunch was value for money” President of the Oxford University and Colleges Union (UCU), Garrick Taylor, told Cherwell: “Oxford UCU recognises the importance of Encaenia and understands that, like any international event with highly distinguished individuals, the cost will run into thousands.

“We do have concerns about how much money was spent on a single lunch in 2012 and feel that the University should further explain and justify this, especially at a time when pay was being restrained and pension benefits cut.”

A University spokesperson told Cherwell: “Oxford and many other universities around the world believe honorary degrees are an important and appropriate way to publically recognise and celebrate excellence and achievement across all walks of life.”

St Hilda’s is set to buy £160 worth of medically certified light boxes to help combat seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

The motion was passed at a JCR meeting on Sunday. It stated that “SAD is a type of major depressive disorder that disproportionally affects people living in areas further from the equator, such as England.”

The JCR resolved to buy “medically certified light boxes” in order to make light therapy more accessible to those students suffering from the symptoms of SAD, including “depression, lethargy, anxiety, trouble waking up in the mornings, and withdrawal from social situations”.

The motion was passed unanimously, with one amendment made.

Originally, the proposal requested four boxes with a budget of up to £300, but the JCR settled on buying two boxes worth £160 altogether, with the possibility of buying more

boxes if demand increases. No timeline has yet been set for the introduction of the light boxes.

Bora Guloglu, the student who proposed the motion, told Cherwell: “Unfortunately, SAD is often not recognised as a big problem, since many people suffer from mild symptoms.

Only for a smaller subset of people do the symptoms become unmanageable, and so many people tend to think that it is just ‘winter blues’.”

Bora has recently been diagnosed with SAD herself, and hopes the investment in light boxes will “make life for students dealing with SAD easier”.

The new light boxes would allow for an extra tier of support for students in addition to the light therapy already provided by the Disability Advisory Service (DAS).

Many of the students who voted in favour of the motion felt the waiting period during registration to

The annual garden party, held at Merton, following the lavish Encaenia ceremony. PHOTO: SIMON HUNT

Encaenia expenses TRUMPETERS An average of £604 has been spent on trumpeters each year to perform at the ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre.

GOWN HIRE AND PURCHASE Almost £4,000 has been spent on hiring the obligatory red gowns for attendees since 2011.

HONORANDS’ TRAVEL EXPENSES Over £40,000 has been spent on flying in attendees during the last seven years.

RHODES HOUSE LUNCH £10,505 was spent on a lunch hosted by the University chancellor Lord Patten in 2014.

ST HUGH’S LUNCH A lunch organised at Aung San Suu Kyi’s alumnus was organised to celebrate the pro-democracy campaigner receiving her honorary degree in 2012. A further £640 was spent on transport.

HONORANDS DINNER The University spends an average of £3,124 on a special lunch for the honorands and other university big wigs at All Souls following the official ceremony. Last year the figure rose to £5,387.

the disabilities service justified the proposal.

Antara Jaidev, who seconded the motion, said: “It seemed counterintuitive to spend the whole of Michaelmas term, the time when symptoms are likely heightened, attempting to cut through the red tape of the university’s service.”

This sentiment was shared by Mikey Ahearn, one of the welfare officers at St Hilda’s: “This will simply ensure that students can continue to function as fully as possible between the first steps of diagnosis, right up until, and following, the DAS’s choice to grant individual support.”

Ahearn also raised the issue of “the profile of SAD as a mental disorder”. He hopes that the proposal will

help raise awareness of this form of depression, which is often not taken seriously due to the seasonality of its symptoms.

Other measures are already being put in place at St Hilda’s to further increase the support for students with a mental illness.

Jaidev described one such development: “The officers of the JCR in charge of such policies are in the process of changing their official titles from Disability and Health Conditions Officers to Disability, Health Conditions, and Neurodiversity Officers.”

In this way St Hilda’s hopes to make their health services as inclusive as possible for a variety of health issues, including SAD.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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News University sees spike in bullying and harassment

By ALLEN HAUGH Reports of bullying and harassment have risen sharply since the University updated harassment policy and procedures three years ago.

Data released in response to a freedom of information request

by Cherwell show that the number of harassment and bullying complaints received by the University more than doubled between the 2013-14 and 2016-17 academic years.

University policy was rewritten in 2014 with input from Oxford SU and other groups.

The update, which came into effect in Hilary 2015, was designed to simplify the processing of harassment cases.

Changes included a clearer procedure for students to raise complaints against other students and guidance for staff handling sexual violence-related cases.

A University spokesperson told Cherwell: “The revisions put the students themselves at the centre of the process, allowing them to make first disclosures at a level where they are most comfortable.

“We see the number of students now coming forward to disclose or

report incidents as reflecting the progress made. Students can be clear on where to go for support and confident that they will be listened to.”

The number of staff-on-staff incidents rose from four in 2013-14 to twelve in 2015-16, the first full year that the policy and procedure updates were in place.

The number of student-onstudent incidents went from one to sixteen in the same period.

While the University pointed to policy revisions as the reason for increased reporting, others have suggested that different factors could be responsible for the rise, including an increase in the actual number of harassment incidents happening on campus.

Oxford SU VP for Welfare and Equal Opportunities Farheen Ahmed told Cherwell: “All students should have the right to not be harassed or discriminated against at university. There are many reasons as to why the spike has occurred, some could be due to general increases in incidents post-Brexit or increased confidence in accessing harassment procedures.

“The University has a notolerance policy to harassment or

discrimination (in any form), and students should feel comfortable in being able to report such incidents, wherever the need arises.

“Oxford SU is representing students in improving these process in university committees and in making sure students know how to access the reporting process” 2016-17 also saw three complaints of student-on-staff harassment, the first such incidents since 2010. Action was taken against nine staff members and three students who were accused of harassment.

The University noted that the number of reported incidents is relatively small.

A spokesperson commented: “While we take bullying harassment extremely seriously, these numbers suggest that it is incredibly rare in a University with more than 23,000 students and 13,000 staff.”

The data also shows that an increasing number of university staff have been sent to counseling services after reporting bullying or harassment.

30 staff members were referred to harassment-related counseling in 2016-17, compared to ten in 2012-13.

Inquest opens over Bodleian asbestos poisoning allegations

By NICK BROWN A former Keeper of the Books at the Bodleian, may have died as a result of asbestos poisoning contracted in the Oxford library.

Denis Shaw, who held the role from 1976 until his retirement in 1991, and was previously a fellow at Keble College, died in July of this year of mesothelioma, a disease caused by exposure to asbestos.

An inquest has been told that he spent time supervising the construction of a new extension to the Bodleian Library in the early 1970s, which may have been the source of the poisoning.

The coroner at the inquest, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, said: “The Radcliffe Science Library was also undergoing lots of work at the time.

His job included supervision of the

building works. I would suggest that the correct conclusion here is one of industrial disease.”

In a statement on Shaw’s death, the Bodleian Library said: “Dr Shaw was a valued colleague and is a much missed member of staff.

“Contributing significantly to the development of library services in Oxford, he became Keeper at a time of expansion, as the Radcliffe Science Library extension project of 1971-74 had increased the Library’s footprint by a third, and served as an open shelf library for scientific collections as well as a study space for the scientific community.”

The revelation comes after the closure of the University’s Tinbergen building, home to the departments of zoology and experimental psychology, in February of this year due to asbestos being found within it.

Students of the affected departments were relocated to other buildings around the university, while in some DPhil studentships had to be extended as a result.

That building is now scheduled to be demolished and replaced.

In a statement, Oxford said: “The University takes the health and safety of our staff, students and visitors very seriously and this includes our duty to manage asbestos within our buildings.

“We have robust procedures in place to manage the risk of asbestos and ensure our buildings are safe for occupation by staff and students.

Small amounts of asbestos are secured and contained in University buildings of a certain age so we seek expert advice on every building project where asbestos might be present.”

Referrals have risen year-onyear since 2012-13.

There were sixteen student-onstudent harassment complaints in 2015-16, and eight in 2016-17.

By means of comparison, there were twelve staff-on-staff complaints in 2015-16, and five in 2016-17.

Complaints on the rise Breakdown of harassment and bullying referrals by academic year

SOURCE: FOI REQUEST

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FIXR is set to purchase Oxfordfounded app Cashew – and end its peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service.

Students are encouraged to withdraw their funds immediatly, as the service will cease on 6 November. Users will then have six months to withdraw any money remaining on the app.

Cashew had already refocused its activity away from P2P payment and towards student ticketing, a

move that will likely be accelerated

by FIXR – the UK’s fastest growing events platform.

Cashew, which launched last year, at one point boasted over 60% of Oxford students as users. It later expanded to several other UK universities.

FIXR will be buying the Cashew app, along with its ball ticketing business and associated technology. They plan to focus exclusively on ticketing. The cost of the purchase has not been disclosed.

Cashew co-founder Jamie Cox, a

third year at St Hugh’s, denied the purchase was related to previous rumours of financial difficulty.

Speaking to Cherwell about the motivation behind the sale, Cox said: “Cashew has made the decision to sell because the app was already beginning to move towards the ticketing market which proved to be a more sustainable model.

“Rather than going head-to-head with FIXR, the Cashew Team decided that it would be best to work alongside them to build something which benefits everyone.”

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Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

University employee suspended over alleged terrorism links

By MUSTAFA AHMED Oxford University has suspended an employee pending an investigation, following the discovery of his alleged links to Islamist terrorism.

The decision was made by senior staff after being told that the worker – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had spent two and a half years in European prisons for terrorism offences.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail on Saturday, the University established that it had contacted Thames Valley Police “immediately” after discovering the news.

Thames Valley Police has said it is not currently investigating any offences related to the man.

Police operations led to the worker, who is understood to be in his mid-30’s, being arrested in the Marche region of Italy in March 2012, before he was about to leave the country and travel to Rabat in Morocco.

He was reportedly engaged in a relationship with a woman in Morocca at the time.

Contemporary reports suggest ed that he spent the next two and

a half years serving his prison sentence in various penal “institutes” across Italy before being released and moving to UK. The worker is believed to have converted to Islam after studying Arabic.

The report goes on to say that the worker changed his name and planned to travel to Afghanistan to “join the war-fighting formations of the ‘Holy War’.”

The suspect had reportedly sent emails containing links to download operational manuals on how to execute terror “attacks and guerrilla techniques.”

According to the report, he was considered a major link between international Jihadists and Italian terrorist networks.

A spokesperson for the University told Cherwell: “The job the worker has been undertaking no supervisory, teaching, research or direct pastoral duties.

“Both the University and relevant agencies do not believe that there was cause for heightened or immediate concern that staff or students were at risk in the context reported”.

The Bridge Club lease renewed

by Nuffield College Despite concerns that Oxford’s beloved nightclub The Bridge was facing imminent closure, those fears can now be set to rest. Nuffield College have just renewed the lease for the building, according to Oxford Leisure Ltd, who own the club, leaving it safe for the foreseeable future.

Mumps Outbreak at Balliol A number of students from different year groups caught a vaccine-resistant strain of mumps at Balliol, prompting the college to disinfect door handles and the entire JCR, and quarantine those infected. Students in isolation have been allocated assistants to bring food to them at mealtimes.

Hand sanitiser has been distributed throughout the college, and extra precautions were taken for the college bop that occured amid the outbreak.

Several emails have also been set to all undergraduates offering them advice over how to spot the disease, and how to treat it.

200+ The number of students who gathered to sing Toto’s ‘Africa’ at the Radcliffe Camera

Hertford Battels bungle leads to temporary rent strike Hertford College students are to withhold payment of their termly battles after widespread errors threw the billing process into doubt. High numbers of students at the college received vastly inflated bills for vacation rent, or were charged erroneously for extra days stayed at the end of Trinity term.

Reportedly, the college informed students that they were responsible for identifying errors and proving that they ought to have been charged less than they were. As a result, JCR students have resolved not to pay any battles until the issues have been resolved.

The University spokesperson added: “The Principal of St Anne’s is examining questions of wider policy and process which may have been raised by this case (in terms of, for example, staffing solutions, background checks, agency liaison processes).”

In light of the discovery, the University Registrar has requested that the University of Oxford’s Security Sub-Committee conduct a review of the circumstances surrounding the case.

The Sub-Committee is chaired

by Helen King QPM, Principal of St Anne’s College, Oxford since April 2017, and former Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police.

Speaking to Cherwell, King said that her task was to “undertake a review of the circumstances of this individual’s employment in order to identify ‘lessons learnt’ and, if relevant, to make recommendations to prevent similar situations in the future”.

Helen King further added: “My review is at an early stage and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.”

Oxford academics in pro-union think tank

By OSCAR BAKER Senior Oxford University figures, including vice chancellor Louise Richardson, are to play a prominent role in a new unionist think tank, These Islands. The think tank launched officially last week.

These Islands aims to advance the “moral, multicultural and economic” case for the Union, and to promote an appreciation of “virtues of the United Kingdom”.

The group’s values statement recognises that both the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and the Brexit referendum have “served as lightning rods for existential questions about the country’s identity”.

Its ambition is to “maximise the benefits” of the connection between the constituent nations of the UK. This will be achieved by a review of the constitutional settlement, analysis of the “economic realities of the UK single market” and further investigation into questions of local and national identity.

As well as the vice chancellor, the group’s advisory council includes Professor Margaret MacMillan, the Warden of St. Anthony’s College,

and Professor Nigel Biggar, the University’s Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology.

Biggar told Cherwell: “Whereas the Better Together Campaign in 2014 operated almost entirely in the bloodless terms of pounds and pence, These Islands will make a case for the value of the United Kingdom on a richer, broader front.”

In a publication to coincide with the October launch, Biggar said: “Unionist inarticulacy wasn’t a sign that Britishness is bankrupt. It was a symptom of the difficulty of describing the very ground on which we stand.”

The group is chaired by businessman and entrepreneur Kevin Hag ue.

Others on the council include the historians Dan Snow and Tom Holland.

Racist graffiti found in Exeter book

By EMILY LAWFORD Racist graffiti was discovered in a college library book by an Exeter student last week.

The college Sub-Rector sent an email to all undergraduates informing them that the book was immediately withdrawn and has been replaced.

Barnaby Taylor said: “I am writing to reassure all Exeter students that, in line with our longstanding and ongoing commitment to equality and diversity, the College abhors, and will not tolerate, racism of any kind.

“The book in question was published in 1984, and has not been taken out of the library for at least seven years. As such, it is likely that the person responsible is not currently a member of the College.

“Nevertheless, if I fi nd that any Exeter student has engaged in behaviour of this sort, they will be dealt with swiftly under the provisions of the College’s disciplinary code.”

In the past few years UK universities have seen a number of racist incidents on campus. Earlier this year, the vice chancellor of Cambridge University said he was “profoundly concerned” that Holocaust denying leaflets had been left inside the university-owned buildings and attached to car windscreens.

The flyers contained the headline “Who’s telling our story?”, and expressed support for the infamous Holocaust denier David Irving.

According to the Union of Jewish students, similar leaflets were also discovered at three other universities – University College London, the University of Edinburgh and

the University of Glasgow.

Around the same time, a swastika had been painted on a map in the city centre.

“The increase in the number of racist incidents nationally deeply concerns me and should remind us that we must be ever vigilant in the face of racism and bigotry,” the Cambridge vice chancellor wrote in an email to faculty members, alumni and staff.

Also this year, Exeter University launched an investigation after a swastika was found carved into a door in on-campus halls Birks Grange, and a “Rights for Whites” sign decorated with a union flag was discovered on the door of a student room in Llewellyn Mews.

The University also faced controversy last year when students were pictured wearing T-shirts bearing anti-Semitic and racist slogans during a freshers’ week social event.

The photos of the T-shirts, which

included the phrases “Don’t speak to me if you’re not white” and “The Holocaust was a good time”, sparked outrage on Facebook and led to a university investigation that culminated in Exeter’s athletic union banning future sports socials involving the practice of students writing on white T-shirts.

In a statement to Cherwell, Barnaby Taylor said: “Exeter College is deeply committed to the values of equality, diversity, and respect.

Racism of any kind is anathema to our community, and will not be tolerated.

“The book in question was immediately removed, and, while we do not have reason to believe that the person responsible for the graffiti is currently a member of the College, we are treating this incident, as we would treat any such incident, with the utmost seriousness.”

Taylor refused to say what the nature of the symbol was, or which book it appeared in.

6

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Outside the Old Building

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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Shark Tales Drunk freshers meet world-class journalists.

Watch now at facebook.com/cherwellonline

Oxford told: cut entry grades for disadvantaged applicants

By HONOR BROCKLEBANKFOWLER Elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge should lower their entry requirements for disadvantaged applicants, new research suggests.

A report by the social mobility foundation the Sutton Trust has suggested that hundreds of poorer students could be admitted to the UK’s leading universities if entry requirements for them were dropped by two A-Level grades.

The research further indicated that if elite institutions were to lower their offers for poorer students, the number of those students accepted to competitive courses could rise by up to 50%.

The study, led by academics at Warwick and Durham, looked at the use of “contextual admissions” at 30 of the UK’s top universities.

The research found that greater use of information such as the school the student attended, or whether they were eligible for free school meals (FSM), could cause a “substantial hike” in the number of students on free school lunches going to the most selective universities.

85% of students at these top

institutions are recruited onto courses that require at least an A and two B grades at A-Level or equivalent.

If this was lowered by just two grades, to three B grades or two Bs and a C, then approximately 750 more under-privileged students could attend these universities, the study suggested.

The study states: “If all these students were admitted, there would be a 50% increase in the number of FSM-eligibile students admitted to our leading universities (from around 1,500 to around 2,250 each year).”

It follows accusations by Labour MP David Lammy that Oxford’s application process creates a form of “social apartheid”, after data revealed large inequalities in class, race, and region.

Lammy told Cherwell that he did not believe the solution to Oxford’s exclusivity lay in entry requirements, saying: “Let’s not even have a debate about lowering standards.

There are young people who are able to go to Oxford on the grades that they have.”

Research findings showed that while many Russell Group universities use contextual data, it can be very subjective, often leaving it to

Exam leak History paper released early A finals history coursework paper has been made accessible to students four days before they were supposed to access it. In an email to all history finalists, the faculty wrote: “For technical reasons which we know not, the block that we intended to place on the Special Subject Extended Essay exam papers has failed. We meant you not to be able to see them until Friday 3 November, but for some reason you can access them now just by clicking on the link, so do go ahead and look at your paper four days ahead of time.”

Aliens Human and aliens could be more alike than thought A study by Oxford scientists has shown that aliens may share traits with humans. Sam Levin, author of the paper, wrote: “By predicting that aliens have undergone major transitions – which is how complexity has arisen in species on Earth, we can say that there is a level of predictability to evolution that would cause them to look like us”. The study used evolutionary theory support the hypothesis that extraterrestrial life forms undergo natural selection, and are potentially shaped by the same processes and mechanisms that shaped humans.

Westgate Cyclists may have to pay for spaces Cyclists may have to pay for spaces at the new Westgate shopping centre. On the opening day only 142 cycling parking spaces were ready, considerably less than the 1,000 promised by the Westgate Oxford Alliance. A secure cycling hub was supposed to be built on Greyfriars Street, and was intended to provide “safe and secure indoor cycle parking.”

Westgate Oxford has since removed the page on the hub from its website. It has now been reported that the hub will only be available to members, who will be charged £10-£20 a year. An Oxfordshire Green Party petition to make the centre’s owners stick to their 1,000-space pledge has now reached more than 1,900 signatures.

individual departments to decide how it affects admissions.

The study further noted that the A-level grades of disadvantaged students at the UK’s top universities are generally only slightly lower than those of their wealthier peers.

The study concluded that “this suggests that there remains significant scope for greater use of contextual data among selective universities in the UK. “Of course, the data does not reveal what additional support may have been provided to students admitted under contextual schemes, but it does suggest that there is no reason why students from contextual backgrounds admitted with lower grades cannot succeed at top universities with the right support.”

UCAS figures published last month showed that young people from the most socio-economically advantaged regions of the UK are now up to 2.3 times more likely to go to university than those from the most disadvantaged areas.

In a statement to Cherwell, Oxford’s Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach department said: “While Oxford does not believe in systematically making lower of-

fers to certain groups of students, the university has been a leader in using contextual information about candidates’ background to help identify academic potential in students who apply to us.

“Tutors are interested not just in demonstrated ability but in potential and passion for a subject, and grades are not considered in a vacuum.

“We aim to look at not just what candidates have achieved, but what they’ve achieved given the opportunities they may or may not have had access to.”

It added: “We have no plans to systematically lower our offers, as more than 30,000 students each year already achieve AAA or better, and Oxford already has lower standard offers in many subjects than other selective universities.”

In 2016, Oxford University made offers to more state supported school applicants than ever before.

59.2% of offers in that year were made state school students, up from 55.6% in the previous year.

Nationally, 89.9% of full time UK undergraduates at British universities are state educated.

Regional admissions inequalities Figures released last week showed regional disparities in Oxford offers

Luther calls for history reforms The History Faculty have celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his ninety-five theses to a Church door in Wittenberg.

To celebrate the occasion, which sparked the Protestant Reformation, the History department re-enacted the event by sticking the theses to the entrance of their faculty building.

Other attractions of the event included: the German Dominican friar and preacher Johann Tetzel selling indulgences; a working printing press to spread the word of the reformation; and “general merrymaking with jugglers, ginger beer and Lebkuchen.”

‘Luther’ presented his theses to ‘Albrecht the Wise’, in front of a crowd of around 100. ‘Albrecht’ responded: “I disagree with them”.

PHOTO: OXFORD FACULTY OF HISTORY

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

8 Independent since 1920 Vol. 282, No. 5

Cherwell

Poppies mark the season of patriotic sensationalism

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Tip of the iceberg

T

here comes a point in every major news story where it moves from being a series of scandals to a critical mass demanding far-reaching social change. The mounting allegations of sexual harassment - which show it extending from Hollywood to Westminster - are just that.

As our front page reminds us, Oxford University, hardly shy of the corridors of power, is having to ask itself hard questions about how it deals with harassment and assualt allegations amongst its own. The Middle East faculty has difficult questions to answer on its response, being posed by its own students.

And the evidence points to this being the tip of a very large iceberg.

It’s barely surprising that Oxford has found itself wound up in the same scandal that appears to be touching every major institution from the BBC to the Houses of Parliament. It’s even less surprising when figures revealed by the Guardian in March showed Oxford has the highest levels of staff on student harassment for any British university.

The reasons for this aren’t difficult to fathom. We attend a university where relationships between tutors and students are incomparably intimate, with the central policy governing them confused to a level of muddied murkiness.

Much of the problem is likely to lie, once again, in Oxford’s hallowed collegiate system. Administrative tasks are distributed poorly and discplinary proceedings vary wildly between colleges. Some aspects of administration have no set rule that applies to all colleges. And the same, it seems, is true for sexual harassment. The lack of a

centralised point of referral and information means students and staff may be more reluctant to follow through cases of sexual harassment and violence. Campaigns like It Happens Here are trying to change that. With the rising social tide, it’s time Oxford itself considered their advice and brought itself into the 21st century.

A Matt Roller

Nutty business If you’re a first year, you might be rather bemused by the news that Cashew has been acquired by rival FIXR. “What’s Cashew?”, you ask, as the older students reminisce on the free stash and the cashless access to Ahmed’s and Hassan’s the Oxford startup offered.

The bewilderment surrounding the startup is not entirely unjustified.

Launched last year by Oxford students David Hsu and Jamie Cox, the startup – if you were wondering – enabled you to pay using your phone at vendors which didn’t accept cash, as well as easily send money to your friends and family.

So far, so PayPal. Cashew’s niche was its laser focus on the student market, with the Oxford setting offering an added bonus. Unfortunately, it seems that its niche wasn’t quite enough to survive and grow.

Innovation is what makes our economy tick, and Oxford has a key role to play. Most startups will fail, but even if they do, they will have a story to tell and an impact to make. Though it’s time to say goodbye to Cashew, expect much more from Oxford students in the years to come.

The Editorial Team Michaelmas 2017 AKSHAY BILOLIKAR and JACK HUNTER, Editors

CAT BEAN and RYAN MAMUN, Food Editors

ETHAN CROFT, FRED DIMBLEBY, SUSANNAH GOLDSBROUGH, FELIX POPE, and MATT ROLLER, Deputy Editors

DAISY CHANDLEY and ZOE HARRIS-WALLIS, Fashion Editors CHLOE DOOTSON-GRAUBE and GEMMA O’SULLIVAN, Deputy Fashion Editors

EMILY LAWFORD, MIA MILLMAN, and HENRY STRAUGHAN, News Editors JORDAN BERNSTEIN and NAOMI PACKER, Comment Editors ROSIE DUTHIE and GREG BRINKWORTH, Comment Contributing Editors GREG RITCHIE and RYAN GOULD, Investigations Editors THEODORE CORNISH, MAXIM PARR-REID, and ALEX WAYGOOD, Deputy Investigations Editors SELMA STEARNS and ROSA THOMAS, Features Editors ABBY RIDSDILL-SMITH and JULIA ROUTLEDGE, Life Editors JAMES LAMMING, Deputy Life Editor ALTAIR BRANDON-SALMON and ANOUSHKA KAVANAGH, Culture Editors LUCY ENDERBY, Books Editor BECKY COOK and JACK ALLSOP, Film Editors KATIE SAYER and IZZY SMITH, Theatre Editors CHARLES BRITTON and HENRY HATWELL, Deputy Theatre Editors THOMAS ATHEY and JOE BAVERSTOCK-POPPY, Music Editors ELEANOR BIRDSALL-SMITH and ELLIE DUNCAN, Visual Arts Editors

IRTEZA ISHRAQ and JON STARK, Science and Tech Editors ELEANOR BLACKWOOD and THOMAS MUNRO, Satire Editors SHIV BHARDWAJ and THOMAS BROWNE, Sport Editors THOMAS PLAYER, Puzzles Editor CALUM BRADSHAW and KATIE COOK, Video Editors JULIA ALSOP and CHARLOTTE TOSTI, Blogs Editors ELLA BENSON-EASTON, Chief Photographer INDIA BARRETT, ELLIE BOURNE, POLLY HALLADAY, GEORGIE RILEY, Business Team Cherwell is published by Oxford Student Publications Ltd. Oxford Student Publications Ltd. LOUIS WALKER, Chairman REBECCA ILES, Managing Director KATIE BIRNIE, Finance Director UTSAV POPPAT, Tech Director TESS HULTON, Events Director For all advertising enquiries, please contact OSPL at advertising@ospl.org or 01865 722780, or visit www.ospl. org Printed in Great Britain by Mortons Ltd.

The poppy is a politicised symbol of division

head of the England cricket team’s flight to Australia before this winter’s Ashes, the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) tweeted a picture of the 16man squad suited up with the series trophy and the historic urn. The photo was something of a botched job: certain players were shoddily dressed, with a casual approach to footwear and featured a startling pair of socks worn by Stuart Broad on the front row.

However, the response to this tweet was not one of support for the squad. Instead, all eyes were on one player in particular: Moeen Ali. Travelling in a squad containing fifteen white men, of which nine attended fee-paying schools, and one British Muslim with a full beard, Moeen is used to standing out.

But this time, Moeen wasn’t being heralded as an inspiration to British Asian children in the UK. Instead, he found himself as the target for a mountain of vitriol and criticism.

“How come Mo isn’t wearing a poppy? Please, how do I explain this to my teenage son who loves him?” read one reply. “Disgrace that Ali wouldn’t wear a poppy...it symbolises those who gave their lives so idiots like him can play cricket.” said another.

This sort of trolling is nothing new for those who live their lives in the public eye. News presenters Charlene White and Jon Snow are put down on an annual basis, labelled ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘disrespectful’ for their refusal to wear the symbol.

Northern Irish footballer James McClean is booed all year round at English stadia by fans who consider his choice to not wear the red flower as a demonstration of anti-Britishness.

It’s no surprise then that when searching his name on Google, the top suggestion is ‘IRA’.

Indeed, wearing a poppy from late October to mid-November has become compulsory for those who face media attention – failure to do so inevitably leads to an onslaught of poisonous vitriol from selfproclaimed patriots.

In Moeen’s case, the abuse stopped soon after England landed. The team’s account tweeted a handful of pictures of the players arriving, and it was pointed out that whilst Moeen

was wearing his poppy in Perth airport, various other players weren’t – “Poppy fell off!” he tweeted.

But the intense anger directed towards Ali shows not only the extent to which the poppy has become politicised in the past few years, but that it is now being used as a symbol of division.

For example, take the interview that then-UKIP senior advisor Raheem Kassam was subjected to

by Sky News anchor Dermot Murnaghan last November. In a bizarre three-minute conversation – which was meant to focus on Nigel Farage’s meeting with Donald Trump after the US Election – Murnaghan repeatedly asked Kassam why he hadn’t been wearing a poppy. Kassam responded with a series of reasonable explanations: the poppy was on his other coat, it had become “a bit tatty”, and emphasised the difficulties of finding a poppy in New York. But despite this, he was attacked as some sort of traitor by Murnaghan: “Well you can tell that to the Royal British Legion, can’t you? Would you like to apologise for it?”

It was a display of the toxicity attached to the symbol that has had its meaning gradually eroded away over the past decade. Kassam had, it transpired, donated £300 to the Royal British Legion that very morning, But somehow, that didn’t seem to matter. The virtue-signalling few that try to make poppy-wearing compulsory miss the point: if everyone wore a poppy all the time, it’s meaning would be undermined to the extent that the symbol became meaningless.

Indeed, wearing a poppy should and must remain an issue of personal choice. For some, it ignores the millions of civilian deaths at the hands of wars involving Britain. Equally, others object to commemorating wars that they believe should never have happened – after all, the poppy honours those who have died at war, including in recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, not just those involved in World Wars.

The victimisation of those who choose not to – or forget to – wear a poppy must stop immediately: if we fail to respect personal choice, then we risk turning a symbol of respect into an excuse for divison.

Life Arts Style

by Cherwell 3 November 17

+ Life Has modern Russia run out of revolutionaries?

Visuals Dissident poetry behind the Iron Curtain Film Passion over party in Pasternak’s Russia

Russia’s Revolution

A Century on

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

2 oxbow

EDITORIAL Confronting the revolution as it was

By ALTAIR BRANDON-SALMON ANOUSHKA KAVANAGH Red is a colour that puts you on edge. It makes perfect sense: anger, bloodshed, and war are just a few of the warning signs that spring to mind when confronted with the shade. It’s also the colour of communism – symbolic of the workers’ blood, shed in the fight against capitalism.

The latter association is likely why the Royal Academy chose to paint their walls a sickening shade of scarlet for the exhibition Revolution: Russia 1917-1932, earlier this year. But perhaps the dizzying effect of the hue was also intended to make viewers uneasy with works on the walls.

Though a period of unprecedented cultural upheaval, these revolutionary years also initiated horrific violence. Nearly five million died in the famine of 1921-22 as agriculture collapsed under the civil war, and avant-garde propaganda, like El Lissitsky’s ‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ (1920), encouraged extreme bloodshed in the struggle against State ‘enemies’.

In the West today, we tend to gloss over these problematic details. To fetishize the revolution as a sort of utopian dream, if you like. But in celebration of the October Revolution, we seek here to present you with a more nuanced version of this cultural legacy on our pages.

Contents

Clockwise from bottom left: Contrast in British and Russian centenary views 4, Revolution! 8, the sexual revolution of the bloc 10, Random review 15

Interview

Music

2

12 Clementine a social critique 12 Review Queens of the Stone Age 12 Picks of the Week 12 Playlist

Revolt Daniel Hannan MEP on Euroscepticism in Britan

Life 4 4 4 5 5 6 6

Love Oxland Contrast in British and Russian centenary views Day in the life of a rugby blue John Evelyn How to end a night out in Oxford Veganism the joys of meat A Life Divided by black tie

Style 7 7

Victoria’s Secret and the truth behind it The myth of bad dressers

Visuals 8 8 9

Revolution! Student artists Poem for Adults reveals plenty about Soviet writers The politics of the exhbition

Film 13 The personal and the political in Mao’s China 13 Passion over party in Pasternak’s Russia

Books 14 14 14

Sci-fi that shaped the revolution Review Wallace’s Dostoyevsky Project 1917 the revolution will be tweeted

Theatre 15 Random at Burton Taylor 15 Confessions my Romeo 15 Five Minutes with the manager of Klaxon Productions

Culture

Satire

10

16 16 16

10 11

The sexual revolution of the Eastern Bloc Revolutionary artists from creative to criminals Katya Rogatchevskaia ‘A Mythical Future’

Interview VC opens up Ouca Disco shock success OxStu ‘too boring to sue’

Oxbow front cover: ‘Eight Red Rectangles’ by Kazimir Malevich

Brexit’s humble beginnings in the Queen’s Lane Coffee House

Interview “Brains of Brexit” Daniel Hannan tells Akshay Bilolikar how radical Tory students took over the UK

F

ew things seem to cause as much ire and irritation as hacks who take themselves too seriously for their own good. A cup of coffee and some meagre patronage for a vote and a position in a student society. You might even get invited to a leaders’ event by a top management consultancy firm. But you’re not important – not really, anyway – unless you somehow combine the intricacies of student politics with the seeds of radical political change.

Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP since 1999, did not invent Euroscepticism, and was in no way the sole architect of Brexit. But if Britain’s political class really are still bred at this university, the founding of the Oxford Campaign for an Independent Britain at Queen’s Lane Coffee House in 1990 seems a seminal moment. Three years before the European Union was officially born, the campaign to take Britain out had begun in infancy.

But the idea was never, until the referendum last year, taken entirely seriously. It was a fringe position, for shire Tories, outcast libertarians, and old-school socialists. But like many political positions without a home on the national stage, it found a space in Oxford’s student community – and not just amongst student Tories. Last year, over 70% of students voted Remain, but if you favoured radical change from the status quo in the early 1990s, you opposed Britain’s membership of the European Union.

“In my day, being Eurosceptic was a sort of anti-systemic view”, Hannan tells me. “It went with being against big corporations and big government, and the establish-

“It’s quite odd that arguing for treating ment. It was for the people, against the elites. The shift in the last five years is one of the most extraordinary changes between then and now – it’s such a shift to see people lining up on the same side as Goldman Sachs, arguing for the existing racket.

“I don’t think that reflects any changes in the EU. I don’t think you could plausibly argue the EU has become any more democratic, progressive, or whatever – just look at Greece. Frankly, Ukip rose to a position of public prominence at the end of 2014, and a loud and negative argument started being made against the European project. A lot of this student enthusiasm wasn’t really people thinking the EU was a fantastic democratic project, but that they didn’t like the people they perceived as being against it.”

When, a week before the referendum, Nigel Farage declared “the EU has failed us all” alongside a poster showing a queue of mostly non-white migrants, perceptions of the xenophobic nature of the Leave campaign seemed all but confirmed.

But from its outset, Hannan’s brand of Euroscepticism eschewed nativist arguments in favour of a more liberal case. However much the accusation of xenophobia is repeated, it’s the argument from free trade and democracy that swung the poll in Hannan’s mind.

“I think that if Euroscepticism really had been the nativist and anti-immigration phenomenon that some Remainers believed, it would never have come close to winning the referendum. Most people were voting for democratic and constitutional reasons.”

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

oxbow

3

interview Hannan in the headlines Paying the electricity bill The MEP tweeted this week that Keynesian economics could be explained with one simple diagram: an extension lead plugged into itself. It led some political opponents to question Hannan’s moniker, ‘the brains of Brexit’.

A rambling imagination In Spring 2016, Hannan declared his affection for the countryside on Twitter. The tweet read: “15 miles up and down over Hampshire’s sloping fields, pausing for a pie @vinehannington. God, I love England in May.” But there was one problem.

The image Hannan attached, apparently depicting Hampshire’s rolling hills, was in fact a stock image of Glamorgan in Wales, taken in 1998.

A friendly warning During the Obama presidency, Hannan made the rounds on Fox News, arguing against the proposed Affordable Care Act (nicknamed Obamacare).

In an interview with Sean Hannity, Hannan pulled no punches while describing the NHS: “If you see a friend about to make a terrible mistake, you try and warn him. And we’ve lived through this mistake for 60 years now.”

g EU migrants just like everybody else is now somehow a xenophobic position, seen on Twitter as akin to mass deportations.” PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA But, as ever in politics, narrative may have trumped reality. And it’s the nativist narrative that has gained momentum a year and a general election later. “Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the Single Market,” Hannan said during the referendum campaign. It’s clear that Vote Leave always intended to prioritise trade over immigration.

But the contradiction between Single Market membership and the perceived political need to end the free movement of labour remains, and at present it seems like the former will be sacrificed for the

“It was for the people, against the elites.” latter. For Hannan, however, this demonstrates the success of the liberal case for Leave – it’s not about immigration, but about a renewal of our democracy.

“Three-quarters of the cabinet and two-thirds of Conservative MPs campaigned to stay in the EU, so the idea that this is a kind of extreme government bent on ideological separation for the sake of it is quite difficult to sustain. When you look at the official documents that have been published, it’s clear we will have a relationship with the EU going forward that is much closer than just a friendly third country relationship.”

“We’re looking at remaining in a number of EU programmes, of

keeping some institutional links.

I’m sure that part of that will mean that going forward, at least in the short run, future immigrants from the EU will continue to have a privileged position over those from the rest of the world.”

On immigration in particular, Hannan is at odds with the government. In September, a leaked Home Office policy paper revealed plans to impose new bureaucratic hurdles and stricter time limits for new migrants, with overall numbers – including for students – arbitrarily remaining in the “tens of thousands.” For Hannan, though, the question is about numbers but about the fairness of the system – EU citizens, through freedom of movement, are jumping the queue.

If you don’t see yourself as part of a broader European nation, the argument is compelling.

“I think it’s quite odd that arguing for treating EU migrants just like everybody else is now somehow a xenophobic position, seen on Twitter as akin to mass deportations. I think you could at the very least make the case that ceasing to give EU nationals an automatic queue-jumping privilege over people from India, the Caribbean, South America or wherever is the less xenophobic view.”

Hannan became Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) president in 1992, and swiftly moved onwards and upwards through the ranks of Conservative youth politics until he became thoroughly enmeshed in the Tory libertarian wing. After the Conservatives went into opposition, Hannan was given a place on

the European Parliament list and – at the same time as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were considering joining the euro – Hannan was elected for the fi rst time. But, despite Hannan’s seemingly effortless entry into Conservative politics, he is far from the typical career politician. Dubbed the “brains of Brexit”, Hannan has championed ideas for reform all centred around decentralisation and local democracy.

Brexit was always in part about bringing power back to the people, but in many respects attempts at localisation have faltered. Police and Crime Commissioner elections, originally proposed by Hannan with fellow Eurosceptic Douglas Carswell, saw turnout as low as 15%. Hannan, however, insists on the essential merit of the idea.

“It’s always easier to argue for these things in opposition than deliver on them in office. It’s one of the hard truths of politics – although people are intellectually convinced of localism, once they get into power they suddenly become a lot more relaxed about it. The really big objective for me is a proper link between taxation and representation at the local level. If we could move towards a higher degree of fiscal autonomy at local level, I think that would really revive local democracy and revive political engagement.”

More than anything, however, it’s the sense of mission which makes Hannan’s politics distinct.

Hannan isn’t a revolutionary, but his reformist instincts bring him into confl ict with almost every aspect of the establishment. And yet, after the referendum result, he

is something of an establishment figure himself.

Removed as he is from the corridors of power, Hannan nevertheless bears a heavy responsibility for

Britain’s immediate future. There’s more to Brexit than just leaving the European institutions – for Hannan, Brexit is about bringing power back to the people.

The Bingham Lecture in Constitutional Studies 7 November 2017, 5.30 p.m.

Manor Road Building Lecture Theatre

“I believe there are Brexit, British Politics and Our Fragile Constitution dictatorial attempts toand hijack Professor Menon is Professor of European Politics Foreign our Affairs at King’s College London. He is a co-author of Brexit and democracy” Professor Anand Menon, King’s College London

British Politics, published on 27 October 2017. He can be followed on Twitter as @anandMenon1 and the UK in a Chancing Europe podcast (available on iTunes), where he engages in debate and commentary about Brexit as it happens.

Undergraduate and Graduate Students are warmly invited!

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

4 oxbow

Love Oxland “I only hope she wasn’t freaked out by my swearing at a racist heckler.”

Lucy Zhu turns out to be more sage than shark while Martha Raymer questions her quiet life Martha Raymer First Year, History Worcester

Lucy Zhu Third Year, PPE Lincoln Since I had never been on a blind date before this one, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of awkwardness and uncomfortable silence. I found out Martha was a fresher and was really impressed by her confidence so early on in her Oxford life (even though she hasn’t been to Hassan’s yet, so essentially hasn’t matriculated). Hopefully my embarrassment at being an irrelevant third year didn’t come through too aggressively, even though I became increasingly mortified by how much more on it she seems to be than I ever was as a fresher. Despite our opposing views on ABBA, Emma Watson and Plush, I think we managed to resolve our differences amicably, and I only hope she didn’t get too freaked out by my swearing at our racist hecklers at the end.

What was your first impression?

Fresh faced first year Chat?

Quietly confident Any awkward moments?

Screaming obscenities at a racist

While some may call it institutionalised sharking for the sake of representation, I’d say the vibe of my date with Lucy was more ‘friendly chat for the sake of procrastination’. It is unfortunate that we both breathed in enough motorcycle fumes to take at least a year off our queer lives, since that makes one less year of defying heteronormativity. The date itself was – I assume – far tamer than my almost-felony-committing, 98% extroverted date is used to, but it worked for a motivational chat. I’ve got to keep on top of my work, drink plenty of water, go to my lectures, and remember to have fun. This ‘mothering’ did not leave her dark side completely obscured though: little did I anticipate a love of Dodie Clark and – although profusely denied – a penchant for poofy yellow dresses.

What was your first impression?

Way too hot for me Chat?

Mainly her to be fair Any awkward moments?

The selfie, definitely the selfie

Want to know more about Lucy’s felonies?

Voting now open on our Facebook page Sponsored by

“You know it’s the centenary of the Russian Revolution, right?”

James Tibbles sees a disconnect between Russian and British approaches to the Revolution’s centenary

A day in the life

Rugby Blue

£4.50 cocktails Monday to Thursday from 9pm.

By WILL WILSON

R

ussia baffles me. Its systems of everyday life combine regularity and inefficiency, it drowns in bloodboiling amounts of bureaucracy, and in the week running up to the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the people and the press are ticking along as normal.

“You know it’s the centenary of the Russian Revolution, right?”

I asked my Russian friend in a spontaneous evening phone call.

His reply was an indecisive “I don’t know, probably, yes.” I didn’t expect him to be digging out the red banners and pitch-forks, but I certainly anticipated a slightly more affirmative response. I thought it would be exciting to be in Russia for the centenary of the Russian Revolution, but I have found myself wishing I was back in the UK where the efforts are much more exciting.

Yet, this contrast between Britain’s intellectual “celebration” and the Russians’ lukewarm response to the anniversary has left me questioning the nature of my excitement.

The hype generated by a centenary in Britain seems to be mere intellectual enthusiasm than genuine commemoration. Every few years, popular culture goes crazy over a date of significance and we

B

eing a finalist and a university rugby player undoubtedly brings its own unique set of challenges. Having said that, I don’t make life easy for myself a lot of the time – as my friends will undoubtedly agree.

I’m fortunate that studying History allows me to manage my time a lot more (with so few contact hours a week, it’s actually difficult to manufacture a clash), so I’m normally able to hurry back to bed following 6am gym sessions which happen far too

Vladimir Lenin’s legacy continues to live let our closeted historians into the open only to bury them back again until the next noteworthy event comes along. This year it is the turn of the Russian Revolution to be dusted off and whipped up for mass consumption.

In Russia, however, that fervour is exactly why remembering such an event is dangerous. For the

Freedom can only be upheld with complete submission to authority Western world, talk of a ‘revolution’ has become something of a light-hearted, left-wing joke. The word has come to signify the power of the people to incite positive non-violent change, but in Russia, revolution still carries the threat of instability and uncertainty.

Just recently, opposition leader Alexei Navalny incited anti-government demonstrations across Russia on the birthday of Vladimir Putin, and, again, I found myself shocked at the lack of awareness among Russians themselves.

When I stated the occurrence of these meetings at a dinner party, frequently for my liking.

Assuming I don’t have to drag myself out of bed when it’s still dark to go and push some tin around, I’ll generally get up between the unholy hours of 8am and 9am.

Most of my day, however, seems to revolve around making and eating copious amounts of food, so that’ll generally take up far too much of my time in the morning.

That being said, yesterday I was in the Rad Cam at opening time – watch this space for some

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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life Evelyn’s diary Mean Girls, resurrection and Hollywood hit Oxford

O

h, we really have entered the silly season when it comes to the ebbs and flows of hack gossip! Your diarist this week found themselves deluged with all manners of rumours regarding the conduct of so many individuals that one genuinely does not know where to start. It seems that all the drama in Oxford is akin to carriages, you wait for one and all three show up at once.

Ghost of Hacking Past

e on in the Russian city of Perm some 93 years after the revolutionary’s death PHOTO: JAMES TIBBLES/CHERWELL one man shut down another’s question by suggesting that these ‘silly people’ probably just want a revolution. End of discussion. Or, rather, there was no discussion to be had.

It is not that the Russians don’t like a good debate. In fact, they love one as much as the British, but democracy in Russia is still young, and pro-government propaganda is constantly dripped into the bloodstream of Russian life.

Only two years ago, the Boris Yeltsin Centre was built in Yekaterinburg with the aim of celebrating Yeltsin’s role as the father of post-Soviet democracy. While it is an impressive museum, I couldn’t help thinking it was more ‘An Ode to Our Amazing Government’ than a service to public interest.

On the one hand, the 1990s saw many successful developments in areas like art and technology. On the other hand, the introduction of modern democracy was met by swathes of violence and unrest.

The museum’s proposed antidote to this social instability is an unbearably unsubtle video which hypnotically proclaims the slogan “the government will always guarantee your freedom.” The message is loud and clear: freedom can only be upheld with complete submission to authority.

And there lies the major difference between the UK and Russia.

Whereas Russians have always looked to a strong leader, we are used to openly criticising authority and deconstructing it. This is a tendency which is so often highlighted by the way in which Britain examines Russian history in popular culture: satire. Armando Iannucci’s newest release hits the spot with The Death of Stalin, a film that undermines the Communist leader’s rule and ridicules his behaviour. Although clearly historically unfaithful, the success of the film reveals one thing – that

the British love a dictator. Why? Because dictatorships are beyond the comprehension of our Western minds. Britain has never felt the full effects of true authoritarianism, and because of this, the Soviet state feels like something out of a fantasy novel.

Hence arises our obsession with Russian history. The world’s largest nation is both familiar and alien, and as a result we don’t

know how to deal with it in popular culture. Instead, we just laugh, and forget the millions who suffered (and thrived) under a brutal regime. It is not just Stalin who has become the butt of an old joke; we simply love to ridicule Russia.

Perhaps we are confused by how a heroic Revolution could have gone so wrong.

Unfortunately, however, the reflex when we cannot understand seems to be borderline insensitivity. The centenary of the Revolution, and the way its resulting Communist state is alluded to in everyday conversation, exposes a deep-rooted misunderstanding of the Russian psyche; it is just that Russia is too close to home and influential to be parked in the camp of the Orient.

While the Russian Revolution masqueraded as a heroic fight for mass freedom, the anticipated narrative never played out like it did in France or America. For this reason, I have come to understand Russians’ lacklustre interest.

Instead they are muddling through the fear of instability and respecting those who were victims of a brutal and fearful regime. The Revolution will not be ‘celebrated’ here in Russia because its effects are still being dealt with. Russians do not have the luxury of serving up their history for popular enjoyment.

continued improvement in morning productivity.

Fatigue is definitely an issue I face when attempting to get enough quality work time in throughout the day – the postlunch lull, as anyone (sporting or not) will tell you, is akin to pushing through the notorious ‘wall’ in any fitness session.

I suppose in my ripe old age as a finalist, it’s become less of an issue, with the result that the hours from 2-5pm are generally

my most productive. I can then rip into training in the evening and come back and hang out with my housemates for some relaxation away from the books.

I’ve never understood people who are late night library shift enthusiasts – my suspicion is that it’s half done for attention the next day, inspiring jealousy and anxiety in their friends and a sense of huge achievement in themselves. When it has to be done, it has to be done, but for me my bed is always a pref-

erable alternative.

It’s undoubtedly a busy life, but I wouldn’t change it for the world: balancing sport and academics keeps me sharp for both of them, with each having their time and place. I’m sure my tutors would rather I spent more time on the latter, and my coaches the former, but famously you can’t please everyone. I just hope I can keep hanging in there and get through this year with a degree and my body intact!

Dictatorships are beyond the comprehension of our Western minds

It seems that the Elysian fields of Union electoral life have found themselves faced with the slings and arrows of outrageous mis-fortune. With the swansongs of Rules Officials past, it seems that the role of Returning Officer does not necessarily provide sustenance. For some, Harking after pastures new is the only way to satisfy the craving. More scandalously still, the Ghost of Hacking Past seems to be starting the haunt anew. Mean Girls, Resurrection, Hollywood really couldn’t make it up. Never, since the days of the Chief B**ch of the Coins, has one seen the dash to manage the cash beset with such controversy. One can only wait and see what happens next.

Like father, like son All the Oxloves in the land were unable to save the men and women of yellow anoraks this week. Having addressed the silliness of the Lord of Sealand in Evelyn’s passim, this diarist fears the apple falls not far from the tree... Like father, like son: he who is in line for the falsest of thrones does not have much love for the euro. Perhaps he should think less about the devaluation of the currency, and more about the devaluation of his reputation amongst his peers.

Harrowing nepotism This week, it seems the spirit of the dodgy dossier has managed to creep its way into the workings of the student representatives. In the choice between he of public education and he pretending to be, it is heartening to see that the men in blue accept no imitations and spare no effort in diversifying the number of Eton houses represented in the Association. Heaven forfend, they allow Harrovians a crack of the whip! Jolly good show, old chaps: pity you have run out of people to nepotistically appoint.

How to End a night out in Oxford

By MILLIE CHU

I

t’s Bridge Thursday. Robbie Williams has sung the last chord of ‘Angels’ and Anuba has closed its doors for the evening. What next?

Give the top floor a go! Because after a couple hours of the same groovy reggae remixes from every week previous, you’ll definitely want to liven things up with some classic house tunes and an embarrassing pole dance.

As is the case with many other Oxford clubs, the toughest hurdle you will face in actually leaving the club is attempting to cross the smoking area. A head down, brisk walk approach normally does the trick, but in lieu of that grab a mate by the arm employ a good cop, bad cop technique. One relentlessly pushing through the throng, one behind with an apologetic smile plastered onto your face. You’ll be out of there in no time.

Avoid the irresistible pull of John Maier’s unforgiving questions. You may think you are spurting outrageously sharp witticisms, but Shark Tales is never your friend in the cold light of day.

Once you’ve made it to the other side of the bridge, you are free! Pick yourself up some cheesy

chips for the walk back and hope that ‘Mysterious Girl’ will stop ringing in your ears.

Next stop, Park End. You’ve probably had an awful night that started with a crew date but has ended up with you pressed up against tall sweaty rugby players. Spend some time in the smoking area, and enjoy the sensation of being pushed up against a fence and sporadically heckled by bouncers. Go home, it’s not worth it.

Let’s turn to Cellar. You mill about in the smoking area for at least an hour before you go because you sure as hell didn’t turn up to Cellar just to boogie in a sweaty box. Look after your mate who will inevitably need a wee down one of the roads off Cornmarket, and make sure to spend the majority of your time complaining about how hot it is inside.

To make your move homeward, begin to drift towards the kebab vans, either feigning fatigue or just owning up to the fact chicken strips and chips will always trump a slightly damp DnB night.

And finally, Emporium. Get ready to be stuck in a series of endless concentric circles thanks to the terrible layout: you will lose everyone you know as well as the exit.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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Life Food

Vegans should embrace the joys of eating

“There is nothing lifeaffirming about an activated cashew” writes Daisy Chandley

I

have two reasons for not being vegan, and neither of them are that I disagree with veganism. I think veganism is ethically required of me if I follow almost any of my other standpoints: it’s pretty much the best thing we can do for the environment as individuals, and is an incredibly admirable lifestyle. At least half the vegan hate lurking out there is because people know that they could do more good for the world in their own lives.

I was MVFS (mostly vegetarian while sober) for two years, and a vegan for exactly four days. I gave up after four days. Firstly, because Veganism is wound so tightly with clean eating culture and lifestyle Instagram accounts, that I was not able to healthily pursue it.

And second, because Vegan food is absolutely disgusting.

Whilst the first seems by far the more interesting, others have spoken about it far better than I could — read Ruby Tandoh. Hopefully by this point there are very few who would deny the toxic culture that’s sadly enveloped so much of what could be a beautiful and positive lifestyle, albeit one that’s really into weird racist slavery parallels. For now I’ll be looking at the second, which rather than portraying me as a level-headed self-love activist shows me in my true colours: the unchaperoned child at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Food is the highlight of my day.

I have more recipe books in my room than fiction books, and, by no slim margin, more actual food in my room at this very moment than reading from my course. I love the gluttonous excitement of a Domino’s pizza arriving, the fact that you know full well that

you don’t even particularly like Domino’s pizza, but, much like Ben and Jerry’s, there is an immeasurable comfort in the ugly, greasy, bitter-sweet ritual of the purchase, the unveiling, and the overeating.

I love it when you add cream to a warm pan that you’ve been frying bacon in, when the cream turns gently-toasted-ma rsh mallow brown, bubbling and sticking to the sides.

Don’t get me wrong, vegetables make the cut: baby carrots with honey, the mint, tarragon, walnut and feta salad from my local Persian restaurant, pretty much anything with caramelized onions on.

The problem I have, above and beyond veganism’s perils, is that you lose some of the most beautiful and peaceful rituals that exist.

There is nothing life-affirming about an activated cashew, a £13

Buddha Bowl that tastes of grass or, let’s be honest, your fifth helping of chickpeas this week.

Of course, from a utilitarian point of view this is pathetic: the horrors of the dairy industry and slaughterhouses are anything but beautiful and peaceful, and the fact that we want to keep eating these things shouldn’t matter, but I do even if it does. Life is too dark and relentless to lose anything this joyful.

Clearly, the solution is to make new rituals around plant-based and cruelty-free food. We must find cathartic recipes and delicious fast food that simply don’t involve the ingredients that hurt the planet and the animals that live on it.

I’m happy to try and do this – honestly I am – but for one reason or another the world just isn’t game. Whilst there are some

fantastic vegan places popping up which offer the sort of finger-licking-goodness I’m after – Temple of Seitan in London for instance – and many Asian-inspired restaurants such as Wagamama are mastering the art of ‘you wouldn’t know it’s vegan’, most others are lagging behind. I don’t want quinoa or a range of lukewarm plain vegetables whilst my friends are eating a burger, I just want you to make the burger without meat, eggs or dairy.

I know I’ll never be able to give up non-vegan things entirely, or even just give up meat, but I wish I could make more vegan choices without losing the joy of food. Until restaurants, supermarkets and bloggers accept that veganism is a simple restriction on ingredients rather than a life ban on seasoning, texture and luxury, that’s going to be a difficult task.

Top picks

From left: Homemade cous cous salad with feta, meat feast pizza, shrimp stuffed calamari on squid ink pasta, Greek-style chicken thighs

L

et’s face it, none of the Oxford libraries quite compare to the domed beauty that is the Rad Cam. Yes, you may have to elbow your way past throngs of tourists to get to the doors, but once you’re in, it feels like you’ve stepped into a scholar’s wet dream. The dusty books, the deafening silence, the Insta-perfect architecture — it has it all.

Tired of staring at your blank screen waiting for a two thousand word essay to magically appear? Just stare up at the mesmerising ceilings and forget your problems for a while. Will it help you academically in any way, shape or form? No. Will it get your cover photo a hundred likes plus? Probably.

Not only is the building itself the most beautiful of the Oxford libraries, the circular citadel is renowned as a chirpsing hub, populated by the best dressed students in the university. Yeah, you may feel a little shabby walking

around in your college hoodie, but who cares if that means you get to spend a couple hours mesmerised by the hottie in the Hilfiger jacket to your left? Abundant in inspiration for your next Oxlove, the safe haven provides some well-deserved distraction from that dead tutorial essay you’ve practically given up on.

Even the smallest things make a big difference, like the freezing cold temperature that keeps you from falling asleep at your desk.

Annoyed that you can’t bring in coffee or snacks whilst you study?

Don’t fear, friends – I’ve managed to sneak in an entire burrito and a milkshake whilst no one was looking. If you can believe, you can achieve.

All in all, the formality of the Rad Cam is ideal for masking your procrastination efforts with the prestige of an academic setting — and isn’t that really what the Oxford experience is all about?

A life divided

The Rad Cam

Priya Vempali and Julia Alsop avoid circular arguments

T

he Rad Cam. It is, to all intents and purposes, a symbol of the rich history of a university that we are more than privileged to attend. Furthermore, it’s absolutely ace Instagram fodder if you catch a pretty sunset.

But it’s a gimmick – beyond the neo-classical façade it is literally the most unpleasant place to work, and yet it always seems to gain prestige and favour over far better libraries (#justicefortheWeston).

The voyage to getting a work spot in the first place is burdensome. First of all, you are forced to battle through the hoards of tourists, obliviously deciding what filter to add their selfie in the Divinity School.

Even once you’ve sweated your way into the building itself, you are faced with the dilemma of finding a space (but where?) and doing so in absolute silence to prevent the library early birds from flashing the kind of penetrating

stare that nothing can dull your shame at breathing ‘too loudly.’ As you finally find somewhere, you realise that you are sweating from stress and the bizarre heat of the place, and you haven’t even typed a title yet.

But behold, eventually you notice that there are people there who are taking up ALL the space and literally barely working. These are the worst people of all: the ones looking slightly too dolled-up to be in essay crisis, with an open Facebook tab which they check periodically.

Beware of the Oxlove-seekers, with their faux-whimsical-academic vibe and total lack of regard for their fellow students in denial about their deadlines. Don’t be one of these people: the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality – although they are, after all, already in the Rad Cam.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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style The truth behind Victoria’s Secret Despite being marketed a circus self-love, it’s time we started seeing Victoria’s Secret shows for what they are, writes Lara Drew

I

t’s one month to go until the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2017! If you’re not jumping for joy and excitement at the prospect of this early Christmas present, a celebration of female empowerment, cultural diversity, and body positivity topped off with glitter and a pink satin bow, there’s something wrong with you. Or so runs the overwhelming story publicised by high-fashion magazines, newspapers, Instagram posts from overexcited models, and the fashion brand itself.

A series of documentaries released by the underwear giant on its website chronicle the casting process, where around 400 glossy,

Over-sexualised yet insistently wholesome skipping, strutting girls travelled to New York to parade in heels and identical underwear (you can ‘shop the official bra of castings,’ the ‘Sexy Illusion’ for a mere £45!) before a panel of cheering judges.

The footage is interspersed with desperately excited declarations of passion and enthusiasm from the models themselves, almost as repetitive as the tediously cheerful pop music blasting from the speakers throughout.

The ideas of a ‘dream come true’ and of ‘the chance of a lifetime’ are on everyone’s lips as aspiring young women from all corners of the world, single-minded, determined, confident in their months and months of training and dieting, line up at the competition they’ve pinned their hopes and dreams on.

Each casting candidate leaves with a goody bag emblazoned with pink sparkly letters full of Victoria’s Secret underwear and beauty products like some sort of sexualised yet insistently wholesome seven-year-

On the street

Photography by Eleanor Birdsall-Smith

old’s princess birthday party. Those lucky few who make the cut through the ‘rigorous elimination process’ are told they’ve ‘truly earned it’ by the casting directors, join the exclusive girls’ club that is the Victoria’s Secret angels, and get the reward of spending the next three months training and dieting even harder before they parade their bodies, and possibly a bit of underwear, in front of the world. Ironically this underwear, despite supposedly being the star of the show (and costing up to £3 million in the case of the ‘fantasy bra’) will rarely fit the models, whose regimes will more often than not cause them to lose so much weight around their chests that intense padding, stuffing and push-ups are required - the closest the brand can come to photoshop in real life.

If we strip away this glossy pageantry, elaborate circus-like showmanship and electric pop-concert atmosphere of fashion’s biggest catwalk show, which on average costs about £9.2 million to stage and reaches 800 million viewers, we are left with a curious spectacle: 50 practically naked women who have been dieting fiercely for months walking up and down a strip of ground in front of screaming crowds. All but a few token nods to corporatelymotivated diversity have the same mermaid flowing locks, fluttery eyelashes and bronzed skin which constitute the high-octane glamour synonymous with Victoria’s Secret, and are clothed in thongs, extreme push-up bras and bizarre wings.

This, their beaming smiles and waves, pink confetti and glitter and pop stars belting out chart-topping hits say, is female empowerment and body positivity. How so? These women, some of whom have championed charitable causes and stand up for equality on a daily basis, do not speak. They have all worked themselves to the ground to achieve the uniform body shape and size.

In regular shows they showcase the clothes, but here at Victoria’s Secret they are the product, their bodies

William Hosie

The myth of bad dressers

I

the ideal which is being shoved in the face of teenage girls around the world, intentionally drawn in by performances from their pop idols.

The world of fashion is not obtuse.

Designers have the capacity to create beautiful, thought-provoking collections, and pour their heart and soul into their work. They can make political statements, challenge the status quo and stand up for racial and gender equality. High-fashion magazines such as Vogue (though particularly its teen counterpart) and Harper’s Bazaar report on contentious issues within the fashion world with sensitive and insightful journalism. Models use their influence to set up foundations,

At Victoria’s Secret, models are a product promote charities and act as role models for young women. So why does the fashion world - designers, journalists and models included continue to overlook the destructive potential of this pink circus? British Vogue anticipates, with the simplistic, demanding rhetoric of a toddler, “Pink! Glitter! More pink! Confetti!’ in this year’s show and ‘a glossy girl gang in provocative, playful outfits that show off the fruits of twice-daily workout regimes”, joining other reputable publications in bland, cutesy, click-bait articles which completely refuse to address the deeper issues that the show throws up every year.

Alongside promoting a literally unachievable body type (recall

the padding and push-up bras) to young women, the show has serious problems with what it considers to be its commitment to ‘diversity’.

Last year’s show, coinciding with the brand’s expansion into the Chinese market, featured mostly white, blonde underwear-clad models sporting Chinese embroidery stiletto thigh-high boots, with Chinese dragons entwined around their semi-naked bodies.

Journalist Helin Jung wrote of the brand’s insensitive attempt to connect with an untapped market for Cosmopolitan, arguing that “the Orientalism on display here doesn’t show an understanding or an attempt at dialogue” and rightly accusing the brand of “shamelessly cherry-picking imagery” from different cultures and sexualising it to suit their own purpose. Similarly, the Native-American headdress and fringed suede underwear combo modelled by Karlie Kloss in 2012 sparked heated debate, with Native-American forum Native Associations accusing the brand of “blatantly and ignorantly perpetuating the over-sexualisation of American-Indian women.”

The Victoria’s Secret 2017 show will be held in the very country it so misguidedly targeted last year, announced on their website in sparkly pink writing: “Ni hao Shanghai!...

China’s vibrant, modern metropolis makes the perfect backdrop for the world’s sexiest runway.” Beneath the seductive festivities and pantomime glamour, which continue to be unquestioningly accepted and celebrated, will lie the same old issues: a dangerous and prescriptive body image, and insensitive cultural appropriation.

n his article ‘The Science of Simplicity’, John Haltiwanger attempts to convince us that we should take a step back from our image-obsessed materialistic culture and realise that clothes really aren’t that important. It seems an easy enough viewpoint to defend, if it were written in a good and nuanced manner. Sadly, it isn’t. His use of Barack Obama (then US President) to exemplify the idea that we have bigger things to worry about than our daily outfits is absurd. He has managed to choose an example which couldn’t be less representative of the standard individual whose day to day concerns do not involve the lives of hundreds of millions of citizens.

The other ‘inspiring’ examples cited by Haltiwanger are removed from our common realities: high profile, mythicised (and exclusively male) figures like Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg.

When it seemed Haltiwanger was about to make a substantial point about the absurdity of ties, he ended up using them to designate all “material things” which “bring no real value to our lives.” Ironic that he should cite the inventor of the iPhone as an example of greatness in the previous paragraph.

This attitude, whereby particularly bland examples of traditionally masculine attire are put on a pedestal, is also popular within the world of academia. Jonathan Woolf’s piece in The Guardian “Why do academics dress so badly?”, the answer to which he suggests is their “happiness”, highlights the discrepancy between expectations for men and women’s fashion in formal and professional environments. He admits

Women are forced to be ‘original’ in their attire choices that only men are permitted to have this blasé attitude to their clothing, putting on the same thing every day, but doesn’t critique it or seek to defend his female compatriots right to dress scruffily and repetitively.

An article published by Francesca Stavrakopoulou ‘Female academics: don’t power dress, forget heels – and no flowing hair allowed’, calls Woolf out on this. She reveals how “acceptable” female dress code derives from smart, conventional male clothing, how a woman’s more “original” style in the workplace is received negatively, whereas a man’s is not, and how women are forced to be “original” in their attire choices. If we are to draw any conclusion from these articles, it’s the fact that dressing simply, repetitively, and wholly how they want is a luxury women are not afforded. Instead, they are burdened with having to walk the fine line of assimilating with her male colleagues but still appearing just ladylike enough.

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Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

Revolution!

One hundred years on, the Russian Revolution is as relevant as ever to the way we perceive our societies.

Here, we showcase original art by Oxford students, inspired by the aesthetics, emotion, and power of the revolution.

Clockwise from top left: Georgiana Wilson, of Russian railway workers; a sketch by Jessie Evans; Adam Story’s SYNTHESISE poster; Chloe Dootson-Graube’s collage of leaders (centre); Charlie Baker’s Russian charcoals, Grace May Crabtree’s protest collage; and Holly Stone.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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visuals Adults of the revolution, and the The opening of a closed cultural world politics of the

exhibition

One combative poem has a lot to reveal about the place of artists under Soviet rule, Charlie Baker writes

By ISABEL MORRIS

T

‘I will never believe in minds kept under glass; but I believe that a table has only four legs, but I believe that the fifth leg is a chimera, and when the chimeras rally, my dear, then one dies slowly of a worn out heart.’

I

t was the year 1955 in communist Poland when Adam Wazyk published ‘Poem for Adults’. Formerly one of the most ferociously Stalinist members of his nation’s literary world, Wazyk’s text was a damning indictment of the corrosive power of the communist regime over his nation and its people.

In a brief moment of reduced cultural control, the explosive material was published – and once released, could not be contained.

Attempts at retrospective censorship were in vain. The poem was widely circulated: written copies were passed hand to hand, or fetched huge prices on the black market.

In many ways, Wazyk’s poem is that of a man looking around himself and not understanding what he sees. Its ruthless criticism of the decay of society, the Russian exploitation of Polish resources, and the ruthless deception of its citizens, exposes the lies that his nation had been forced to live with: the promises that have been made

It was often in the cultural sphere that these illusions were created and not kept. The ongoing claim to universal equality and national prosperity, and its exploitation.

The chimeras that have gathered round.

It was often in the cultural sphere that these illusions were created and preserved.

For artists that did not conform there was no place in the Soviet world, and part of Wazyk’s poem focuses on the life and death of one such individual: “They threw her out of art school,/ For lack of socialist morality./ She poisoner herself once – they saved her./

She poisoned herself again – they buried her.”

The story of the extremes of communism, and the brutality of the communist world that was born with the October Revolution, is not a surprising one in retrospect.

We know that the communist dream manifested itself into a disaster where a systematic duplicity between the Party line and reality obscured a misled economy, inviolable state power, and the continuous infringement of this power into the lives of its citizens.

What becomes more difficult for us to remember is the role of personal agency and choice in this obscure world. The Polish intellectual Leszek Kolakowski asked in 1999: “Could half of Europe and half of Asia have been raped by a handful of bloodthirsty madmen,

by Lenin and Stalin? Such things do not happen, it is nice to believe that they do.”

It is all to easy to blame tyrants, and the organs of force and violence – the dictators, the secret police, the armed forces – for taking whole nations hostage. What’s much harder is to reconcile these shadows with everyday life: those who voted for communism, who lived through it, and who fought battles for it – the Adam Wazyks of the world.

What we can learn from individuals like Wazyk is that communism was not a historical aberration or an unprompted disaster, but, for many, it was a choice. And for more still, it was a world they had an active part in shaping.

Wazyk was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw in 1905. He was a soldier in Berling’s army, fighting the Nazis as a resistor alongside Soviet allies, and as a staunch

communist.

Like many others, he had seen his nation torn apart by the experiences of occupation, collaboration and resistance. His voice had been

It is all too easy to blame tyrants for taking whole nations hostage part of the chorus that welcomed the accession of communism in Poland after the war, and had continued to be one of its great supporters.

These voices may not have been a majority in post-war Poland, but to forget they existed is to forego an understanding of choices made in difficult times, and in the promise that comes with revolution.

Just as 1917 promised the Russian worker a utopia, the subsequent revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War promised its people a brighter future, and the chance to make it for themselves.

In ‘Poem for Adults’ we see Adam Wazyk sever ties with his own past: old beliefs are exchanged for a realisation that the revolution he had been part of had given birth to terrible things.

For over a decade, he was not only a proponent of the Party, but one who ruthlessly supported its suppression of people’s cultural and literary freedom. In publish-

ing ‘Poem for Adults’, he went from being part of the literary establishment, to a dissenter and an infidel.

The fact that this work was so extensively bought and circulated, and that the authorities fought so hard to suppress it, makes clear that his sentiments struck a common nerve.

In the centenary of the revolution that captured the imagination of huge numbers of people, we can spare a thought for those, like Adam Wazyk, who were a part of its legacy.

He and many others would come to look around at a world they had helped to build and no longer recognised as their own. These individuals came full circle, and in art like ‘Poem for Adults’, they again made radical acts of revolution.

Top illustration: Annabel Westermann Bottom print: Holly Stone

he fifteen years following the 1917 Russian Revolution produced an entirely new culture and social system in Russia, and spurred an outpouring of avant-garde art and creative experimentation. In commemoration of the historic event’s centenary, the Royal Academy of Arts has opened ‘Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932’, an exhibition of artwork from the period.

In response to the exhibit, Jonathan Jones of The Guardian expressed doubt over the exhibit’s apolitical tone. He argues that, by exhibiting Russian revolutionary art in such a way, the Royal Academy has overlooked the brutality and repression which this propaganda-art enforced.

Departing from complete neutrality in any given exhibition prompts a discussion of the relationship between art and exhibition space: does creating a space which contextualises the works it holds provoke a fuller appreciation of the art? Or would it cause individuals’ interpretations to be unnecessarily tainted by the views of others?

With regard to Royal Academy’s exhibition, Jones worries that young idealists might view the propagandist works, decontextualied, as innocent ‘revolutionary chic’ rather than as proponents of systematised Soviet repression. Especially at a time when radical leftism and political protest are increasingly perceived as edgy or hip, it’s critical that this kind of revolutionary art is framed by its cultural and historical context – that of the gulag system, political indoctrination, and mass depravity.

Because it’s not exactly cool when we end up with modern-day groups – take for example Red Wedge, a 1980s UK socialist music and arts organisation – creating logos in the image of communist propaganda posters which perpetuated Sovietera atrocities.

On the other hand, it must be granted that artistic works can hold meaning independent of their geneses – and perhaps that’s what should be celebrated in art museums.

Despite the extreme ideological repression which was to follow, the period from 1917 to 1932 was a time where artistic expression flourished.

Unfortunately, the complexity and diversity of expression during this period is too often oversimplified, leaving under-realised the suprematist and constructivist works of artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, and Vladimir Tatlin.

Thus, through their apolitical exhibition, the Royal Academy has perhaps given these revolutionary artists the platform they never had – an exhibition space in which their avant-garde art can speak for itself and consequently be appreciated in a purely artistic respect.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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Sowing the seeds for the Eastern bloc’s sexual revolution Chantal Marauta explores the life of Russian Revolutionary feminist Alexandra Kollontai and her fight for gender equality

W

hen you think of the Russian Revolutions of 1917, you think of the overthrow of the monarchy and the clash of the Reds and the Whites. What doesn’t usually come to mind though, is that it was also a time of cultural and sexual revolution: rebels sought to liberate themselves from the social norms of a Russia perceived as ‘dark’, ‘backwards’, and even ‘evil’.

Putting aside the sausage fest of conspicuous male revolutionaries, one woman was instrumental in pushing forth this cultural revolution: Alexandra Kollontai. Kollontai was a prominent Bolshevik, and founded the Party’s women’s department, the Zhenotdel, in 1919. Her writings and political activities encouraged women to break free from the archaic Tsarist patriarchy, and to take on their roles as equals in a new society instead.

With regards to eradicating traditional social structures, Kollontai and her associates wanted to bring about a total rejection of the conventional bourgeois family: they heavily advocated for the alteration of divorce and abortion

Revolutionary artists: from creatives to criminals

By CATHERINE CIBULSKIS

laws, in order to release women from tyrannical husbands and antiquated family values.

On a more radical level, the ‘scandalous’ side of Kollontai’s social and political beliefs can be seen in her campaigning for the sexual emancipation of women. In her works, Kollontai wrote about women who explored their sexual-

Kollontai wanted to bring about a total rejection of family values ity in a way that was typically only afforded to men. She propagated the idea of ‘free love’, and sought to normalise erotic friendships as a way for both men and women to fulfil their bodily needs without feeling shame for straying from the generally accepted norm of monogamy.

Above all, she called for a novel approach to sexuality that did not put women in a position of exploitation and weakness – but instead saw sex as a natural interaction

R

ed October transfigured Russian literature, life and art, with the avant garde movement reaching its creative and popular climax between 1917 and 1932. This outflux of creativity was then superseded by the statesponsored aesthetic of Socialist Realism. Although the era undoubtedly generated some of the most powerful art of the 20th century, it equally precipitated one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s cultural history.

After the Bolsheviks assumed control artists, composers, and writers alike were caught up in a revolutionary current that swept the nation. Believing that art could have a purpose beyond itself, that it could in fact help restructure the

between two equals that fulfilled a basic human need.

Kollontai’s 1921 piece, ‘Sexual Relations and the Class Struggle’, is a prime template for this school of social thought. In the article, Kollontai sees interactions between the sexes as constituting a significant dilemma at the centre of the new society.

A dilemma of a magnitude previously unseen in this realm of social interaction. She describes the phenomenon of sexuality as a “vicious circle” that nobody can break out of, and argues that the only way to live with this inevitable conflict is to consolidate “more healthy and more joyful relationships between the sexes.”

Through her writing, Kollontai brings issues previously seen as matters of the private sphere into the public sphere. In doing so, she normalised the open discussion of typically taboo subjects. By being ‘extra’, unashamed, and unapologetic, Kollontai broke barriers and sowed the seeds of a revolution that would only truly bloom in the West in the late 1960s.

Yet Kollontai’s sole focus wasn’t sex. She also aimed to free women from emotional abuse, and propagated the importance of a entire country, a new generation of artists flourished and begun to deconstruct and reconfigure the very fundamentals of artistic endeavour in a bid to discover what form a new ‘people’s’ art should take. Mayakovsky shouted: “the streets shall be our brushes, and the squares our palettes”, proposing that art was for the people, made by those with new and electrifying ideas.

As visceral changes transpired across Russia, art was radically changed, seeing the emergence of Suprematist, Futurist, and Constructivist movements. These were led by a cluster of artists such as Kandinsky, Malevich, and Lissitsky, who would revolutionise art in the same way Russia itself was being revolutionised.

Revolution against the Tsar offered hope for a revolution in attitudes toward

ing was a woman’s downfall: she alludes to the fictional womaniser

Don Juan when stating that men often “not only…[took] a woman’s body, but they also ruled her soul”.

Kollontai laments how infidelity, alongside a lack of respect for women on the part of their husbands, was somewhat justified by material gifts – like flowers and jewellery. According to the revolutionary, centuries of this behaviour resulted in a woman “[orienting] her conception of happiness on the gratification of the external”.

Though this should not be the case, she argues, as a woman’s ego should be just as respected as her husband’s. The idea of a woman not only “seeking” but demanding “esteem for her personality” presents a boldness previously unseen in the traditional obedient wife.

Celebrated artists gave birth to artistic spheres that claimed to express a utopian vision of a revolutionary future. For Kandinsky, art became a spiritual communion with music. For constructivists, it encompassed the dynamism of modern life with its “new and disorientating qualities of space and time”.

For Malevich, it emblematised “the supremacy of pure feeling”. His Black Square, the fi rst piece to be totally devoid of any relationship to real life, was truly unnerving, taking art to a new plane of abstract, geometric discourse that could speak universally to the people.

In the wake of the October revolution, agitprop came to wave a red banner on behalf of communism.

In his Beat the Whites with the Red

Wedge, we see Lissitsky at the forefront of propagandistic art, where stark colours and shapes assume symbolic significance. In a geometric battle, a red triangle pierces a white curve in a demonstration of Red supremacy over the White army. The colour red also points to a bloodstained campaign that cannot be ignored when we evaluate Russian works with contemporary eyes.

From 1932, things would deteriorate in the Russian world of art.

The Soviet state now decreed that art must depict man’s struggle for socialist progress. The creative artist must serve the proletariat by being realistic, hopeful, and epic.

Pioneering ideals of abstract purity from the avant-garde were now confi ned to ‘accurate’ portrayals of

woman’s self-worth. In her 1918 article, ‘New Woman’ (from her book The New Morality and the Working Class), Kollontai asserts that “dominance of feeling was the most typical trait peculiar to the woman of the past”. According to Kollontai, this dominance of feel-

“Men not only took a woman’s body, but they also ruled her soul.”

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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culture the position of first female ambassador to Norway.

Despite her profound social and cultural impact, Kollontai was kept away from central party politics and instead given diplomatic roles, indicating that female emancipation was far from complete.

Yet even considering this moderate political success within the Party itself, there is something incredibly powerful about Kollontai’s

Kollontai helped demolish centuries old social and cultural boundaries

ds sex, femininity and gender roles. ILLUSTRATION: ANOUSHKA KAVANAGH As such, this marked a fervent push towards equality and respect for all – not just the working class man.

It is humorous to note that Kollontai’s vocal condemnation of the typical arsehole – and her consequent ‘call to arms’ for women to stand up for themselves – is not unlike the feminist, anti-fuckboy movement of today.

In her own way, Kollontai set the precedent for the modern-day independent woman. American novelist Alice Walker once said that “the most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any”.

Just short of a century earlier, Kollontai’s lengthy texts promoted this same idea – an idea that has

inspired generations of women to find their voice, claim their power, and fight for the respect that they deserve.

As is evident, Kollontai was ahead of her time. Her theories preceded the sexual revolution of the 1970s that normalised ‘free love’, and it is remarkable that so early in the 20th century, her eccentric and feminist ideas – which she very publicly voiced – were not condemned, but celebrated. She was not shamed for her outspokenness, openness about sexuality, and close friendships with men in her party.

On the contrary, her candour made her a Bolshevik icon, and she symbolically rose in political station to eventually be awarded

the worker in all his glory. Viktor Shklovsky lamented that, “Art must move organically, like the heart in the human breast; but they want to regulate it like a train”.

The revolution that promised the avant-garde an imminent new world

not only shackled their creative imagination but actually incarcerated them in gulags, seeing them as an ‘appendage’ that had had its use.

Their ‘crimes’ were artistic, their work obsolete.

In the 21st century we can look at each of these movements in relation to the period in which they were born.

Johnathon Jones condemns retrospective celebrators of revolutionary works for their tendency to overlook the art’s proximity to an emerging regime, patterned by brutality and violence. For him, exhibitions like that at the Royal Academy are essentially guilty of nostalgia for a proletarian utopia that never existed.

Kandinsky himself famously argued that “every work of art is the child of its age. It follows that each

shamelessness, her revolutionary zest, and her determination to see the start of a new social order that did not solely satisfy the ego of working class men.

Somehow, by using her sharp tongue and no bullshit attitude, she managed to navigate an early 20th century sociopolitical system that was entirely dominated by men.

She was a significant force in publicly demolishing centuriesold social and cultural boundaries, and she performed the literary equivalent of raising a skirt above her knees as a metaphorical fist to archaic attitudes.

Kollontai had no time for the glorification of the pining, obedient, and demure heroine that needed to be swept off her feet by a gallant man.

Rather, she believed women of the revolutionary era had a greater purpose than that: they were capable of so much more than what novels and the society of the past restricted them to.

This attitude is summarised in one of her most famous quotations: “I’ve read enough novels to know just how much time and energy it takes to fall in love and I just don’t have the time.”

In a few short words, Kollontai demonstrated her refusal to believe that a man’s love and his good opinion are needed to define a woman’s self worth.

Ironically, this message is still prevalent in the modern day, revealing how our world – and the struggle of the sexes – is not so different from that of Kollontai and the revolutionaries of 1917. period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated”.

In his assertion we can see that revolutionary art can never be extricated from the period in which it was created. While the roots and uses of these pieces are a cause for concern, their own innovative force and haunting abstract nature cannot be denied, nor can their transformative and irreversible effect on the world of art.

“A Mythical Future”: Katya Rogatchevskaia on the Russian Revolution

By ALTAIR BRANDON-SALMON

P

eople won’t tolerate stagnation, economic, political, or social,” Katya Rogatchevskaia emphasises to me over the phone, “the [tsarist] regime in Russia was unable to reform, it was stiff and stable – this we need to remember.”

She’s an enthusiast, an academic still ardent about her field. Rogatchevskaia is the Lead Curator at the Eastern European Collections of the British Library, and the driving force behind the critically acclaimed exhibition Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths (which was on from 28th April to 29th August 2017 at the British Library), which marked the centenary of one of the most momentous years in world history.

Behind the scenes, she says, “There was a lot of discussion about how we should describe it, and we decided on ‘marking’ the Russian Revolution—definitely not a celebration. I wanted to be objective about the facts and people’s experiences.” Rogatchevskaia didn’t want to be trapped by the ideologically-weighted conclusions often drawn around the events of 1917, and instead return to a level of historical rigor often missing from discussions about the Revolution.

Both exhibition and centenary arrive at just the right time – as Sheila Fitzpatrick wrote in the London Review of Books earlier this year, “In purely scholarly terms, the 1917 revolution has been on the back burner for some decades now, after the excitement of the Cold War-fuelled arguments of the 1970s.”

If we’ve moved beyond the heady rhetoric of Capitalism versus Communism, then it seems a ripe moment to re-evaluate the Revolution. For Rogatchevskaia, there are clear lessons to be drawn for the present: “the Russian Revolution and [subsequent] civil war shows that politicians should have a very clear message of the future. You can’t keep the status quo, as the White [Russians] wanted.

“The Bolsheviks showed the future and won. It was a mythical future, but it still won out.”

Dr. Rogatchevskaia, who studied Russian literature before joining the British Library, notes that “I wanted to show the emotional effects of the revolution and civil war,” with the Library’s holdings in photographs, posters, books, and maps, recreated the material qualities of the era.

She reflects that amongst all the exhibition’s items, two of her favourites were “the tribute book to Lenin, [where] every single ribbon from his funeral procession was documented. It was the first luxury Soviet book,” and “the Who’s Who in the Revolution,” published in England for British and American audiences confused by the rapidly changing governments after the fall of Tsar Nicholas II. The exhibition’s strong visual design, with dark red curtains,

chandeliers, and reproductions of photographs on metal plates suspended above display cases, was created by the design company Hara Clark.

Rogatchevskaia confesses with laughter that “I’m not a visual person! But when we first saw their idea, my team immediately loved it.” The subdued lighting created an intimate atmosphere, compelling visitors to take their time over the exhibits. “People are quiet in the exhibition, they read the labels. Some people spend two hours!”

Rogatchevskaia is motivated by a desire to enlighten a public unaware of the true scale and impact of the Revolution: “visitors were surprised by the amount of devastation caused [it]. Many people now see the threat of revolution to Britain and the British involvement in the civil war; it comes as a surprise. Many of my colleagues were surprised by the extent of the British involvement.”

The Revolution was far from exclusively Russian: from Japan to the United States, the rest of the world became rapidly embroiled, trying to undermine the Bolsheviks.

However, this lack of historical awareness runs both ways. “Being Russian myself, I didn’t know much about World War One myself,” she says, “as the Russian Revolution overshadowed it as trauma and because of the Communist [Party] narrative.” She points to the current absence of discussion of Russia’s role on the eastern front during the First World War as another side of the story “talked very little about.”

Rogatchevskaia though, is especially interested in the links between Britain and the Revolution, pointing out that Marx and Lenin were readers at the British Library, which later became a centre of Russian émigrés who had escaped from the civil war during the 1920s. “[It] was a literary hub, people came to learn, they were intellectuals...Some of the Russian exile families were close to the families who operated the British Museum. They suggested what books to buy—they saw it as their own library and we’ve tried to keep that heritage.” By offering an objective point of view for audiences to make up their own minds, the exhibition was refreshingly free of political didacticism.

When I conclude our conversation by asking whether the Russian Revolution will continue to resonant with people, she replies, “The results of the Russian Revolution—the experiments in communism, the Cold War, all these problems with the totalitarian state, economic development in the region – everything influenced and caused by the revolution will stay pretty hot in the agenda for still some time.”

We still cannot escape its shadow, so Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths offered our best chance for a long time to understand it.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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music

cherwellmusic listen to our latest playlists

Playlist

Revolutionary music

T

he Russian Revolution of 1917 occurred long before the explosion of modern popular music.

However, its shockwave effects have left a mark on music history. The revolution produced all kinds of reactions:

music endorsing the political movement that caused it, music indulging in the strange nations it created and even sounds that weren’t possible without the technical innovations that the revolution spurred on.

A beautiful, entrancing mess of an album – with a piercing social critique Jim Connell ‘The Red Flag’

The Beatles ‘Back in the USSR’

A socialist anthem in British Politics, this song was famously omitted from New Labour conferences.

It’s return shows a leftward shift.

This opening track to The Beatles’ White Album parodies love songs about the US by instead crooning about the isolated Soviet state.

The Sandpipers ‘Guantanamera’

The Beach Boys

Celebrating the beauty of women from Guantánamo (the town not the prison), this song is treated as an effective national anthem by patriotic Cubans.

The song is known for its use of the spaced out theremin. Less famous is the theremin’s Soviet inventor.

Lenin admired the instrument so much he endeavored to learn it.

‘Good Vibrations’

I Tell A Fly Benjamin Clementine

9/10

B

enjamin Clementine’s most recent album I Tell A Fly was released at the end of last month and listening to it is quite an unprecedented experience. This is the artist’s second album, following his mercury prize winning debut album At Least For Now. In an interview with Kate Mossman for The Guardian, Clementine claimed that he knew this album would not sell as many copies as the first one. This is perhaps due to the challenge it poses to the listener’s ears, but if you stick with it I guarantee it will be worth it. I Tell A Fly is possibly the furthest from easylistening music as one could imagine – it is a fully immersive experience, full of unexpected twists and turns, a ball of energy that does not fit into any defined genre.

The album somewhat confusingly opens on a ‘Farewell Sonata’, which introduces his psychedelic spin on classical music, with piano ballads

Review “Pop songs with rock sensibilities”

Pick of the week

Franz Ferdinand ‘Always Ascending’

Clementine produces an sophomore album far from easy listening, writes Clara Dijkstra

Franz have clearly been heading in a different direction to their original indie rock sounds since their 2009 album Tonight . This latest single, however, represents their largest shift yet.

With a classic electric pop core, ‘Always Ascending’ drops intriguing hints for the tone of Franz’s upcoming album to be released next year.

Queens of the Stone Age don’t quite live up to their high standards, writes Rowan Janjuah Villains Queens of the Stone Age

6/10

layered on harpsichord phrases. This makes I Tell A Fly something of a rock opera, slightly reminiscent of Queen in its theatricality but with a pinch of subtlety and a message about global politics. Clementine drew his inspiration for this album from a line on his American visa that described him as an “alien of extraordinary abilities”. We hear this clearly on ‘God Save the Jungle’, the dark and slightly ominous second track, as well as in ‘Jupiter’, a song that stands out from

I Tell A Fly is something of a rock opera reminiscent of Queen the rest of the album through its soul influences and comparative simplicity, and has the line “Man’s an alien passing by… Back home in Jupiter things are getting harder”. Contrasting attitudes towards immigration in general stands out as a theme Clementine wants to communicate, clearly expressed in ‘(Everyone Said Come In) By the Ports of Europe’, as well as the line “the barbarians are coming” on the closing track ‘Ave Dreamer’.

Bullying and discrimination is also

E

ver since I first heard ‘No One Knows’, I was in love with Queens of the Stone Age. Their driving riffs were in perfect harmony with notorious frontman Josh Homme’s eerily melodic voice.

They created a musical catalogue any rock band would be proud of, and they have done it whilst straddling the line between true gritty, guitar-rock, and a sort of cabaret parody of itself.

2013’s. Like Clockwork was, for me, their masterpiece. Following that, therefore was always going to be a tall order.

Villains starts with three driving rock songs. The riffs for all three are simple, matched with Homme’s typically droning, ghoulish lyrics, you end up with pop songs with rock sensibilities. The opening track swells in and kicks off into a truly instantlygratifying groove, and the breakdown shows Homme’s voice at its ethereal best. The single, ‘The Way You Used to Do’, is an Era Vulgaris-esque

a clear theme of this album, seen in possibly the most unique and jarring track ‘Phantom of Aleppoville’, which tells the story of “Billy the bully” and contains one of my favourite lines: “For me the difference between love and hate/Weighs the same difference between risotto and rice pudding”.

This song is a poignant poetic experience, mixing eerie harpsichord phrases, bursts of shrieks, and lyrics akin to slam poetry.

Snippets of Clementine’s life also become apparent throughout this album. At times the poetry of the lyrics become a little lost under the layers of soaring choruses and harpsichord, we hear French in ‘Better Sorry Than Asafe’, referencing the time he spent nearly homeless in Paris.

His strict religious upbringing also seems to have an influence, seen in the rhythmic and repetitive chanting that makes these songs so hypnotising. He was forbidden from listening to popular music as a child, and we see the importance of classical music in this album especially in ‘Paris Cor Blimey’, where he borrows and plays on a phrase from Debussy’s Clair de Lune.

Ultimately, the word ‘pandemonium’ that Clementine repeats on the track ‘Paris Cor Blimey’ quite accurately characterizes this album: it is a beautiful, entrancing mess. headbanger, truly dissolving the line between guitars and synthesiser.

The chorus is what makes this song special – a flourish of rich chords in an otherwise musically simple jam.

Domesticated Animals, is in the same vein, with a 7/8 time signature that will make you feel like you were tripping on your own feet.

The rest of the album is quintessentially QOTSA. ‘Hideaway’ is a personal favourite: Homme sounds like a choir-boy over raucous, roaring chords, and a hazy drumbeat. What makes the song, however, is the synth line, which washes over cleaning all your wounds from the earlier pace of the album.

Villains, then, is both typically QOTSA, but still an example of them at their punchy and fresh best.

However, it can never match the emotional depths or musical variety of its predecessors and can only be considered as one of their ‘very good’ albums, and no more.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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film The gulf between the personal and the political in Mao’s China Katherine Shen on cinema in the Cultural Revolution

By MARIA MINCHENKO

T

T

he political upheavals during and after the Cultural Revolution in China limited cinematic creativity. Chinese films were produced within a political climate deeply inimical to any overt critiques of the government. Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998) are ostensibly classified as ‘CulturalRevolution’ cinema. Both films were subject to censorial scrutiny, but to describe them as ‘protest cinema’ is to ignore the nuanced depictions of interpersonal relationships and complex explorations of the self.

Chen Kaige and Joan Chen defy the reduction of their works to the political by creating films that are neither propaganda nor entirely divorced from politics. The Cultural Revolution irrevocably transformed lives, yet the cinematography and plot revolve around the emotive world rather than the political situation.

Farewell My Concubine tells the story of two Peking Opera performers who overcome persecution during the Cultural Revolution. While Chen’s unflinching depictions of the cruelty and humiliation of Maoist zealots does not shy away from the political, calling Farewell My Concubine a commentary on Communist China is profoundly reductive. The pivotal

Passion over party in Pasternak’s Russia

conflict is not caused by the turmoil of the outside world, but rather, derives from the relationship between the two protagonists. Their sense of self is as turbulent and forceful as the reality they are faced with and Chen makes it clear that their existence would be far from peaceful even without a revolution as the backdrop.

Chen’s whimsical cinematography, replete with literal smoke and mirrors, suggest that the misfortunes of his protagonists are intertwined with, yet never truly precipitated by, the catastrophes around them.

Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl represents a far less ambitious project with respect to the scale of experiences and passage of time. Nevertheless, Joan Chen’s exploration of female sexuality and innocence is earnest and unyielding. The eponymous heroine Xiu Xiu is sent to the countryside as a part of the ‘Down to the Countryside Movement’ during the Cultural Revolution. While her exile

was the consequence of impersonal political forces, the ultimate tragedy lies in the sexism and selfishness that pervades her personal relationships. Xiu Xiu’s suffering is much like real-life. There is no grand narrative that explains tragedy, and the viewer is left grasping for some explanation.

Glimpses of Tibetan wilderness and moments of tenderness between Xiu Xiu and her protector-figure compel the viewer to find beauty in the bleak, yet these moments are never permitted to redeem the film entirely. The Cultural Revolution is the historical situation, represented as an intransigent force of fate, within which the true tragedy, the tragedy of human relations, plays out. Two decades later, Chinese filmmakers continue to struggle with the after-effects of a political campaign that probed into the lives of citizens, politicised the personal, and used art to wage war. Perhaps it is out of political necessity that directors

fixate on the interpersonal elements in post Cultural Revolution cinema.

Regardless of cause, the material restrictions on Chinese cinema have produced an astounding array of work that interrogate human truths traditionally consigned to apolitical

Lenin in October (1937)

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Sunstroke (2014)

This intense biographical drama provides a snapshot of Vladimir Lenin, charting his alteration from a witty and obsessive man into the revolutionary genius who shaped the Soviet Union. Lenin (Boris Shchukin) is expertly captured and seems to manifest on the screen as the man himself.

Sergei Eisenstein’s gripping masterpiece, this propagandist classic recounts a fictional naval mutiny and massacre in the face of the Tsar’s reign. It is inflated, dramatic and at moments ludicrous, yet it is gripping throughout and manages to overcome the political messages being deployed so as to still be entertaining today.

The lapse of time between the revolution and this film have allowed it time to reflect on the event that irreparably changed the country. An unnamed officer asks why the Russian Empire fell, through the lens of a past romance; the calamitous ending stunts his musings, showing how even time’s passage failed to shed light on these questions.

The sense of self is as turbulent as politics itself cinema. The Cultural Revolution may be political, but in reminding us of the pain and joy that we are capable of inflicting upon others, Post-Revolution cinema serves as both a warning, and a promise. The personal is the political, and it is emotions such as love and empathy that can create or evade tragedies.

Ones to watch

Three films for the 1917 centenary

hough set against a deeply political backdrop, Doctor Zhivago’s story itself is more like a beautiful, and slightly cheesy, melodrama. The film is based on Boris Pasternak’s novel, which was banned by the Soviet Union, and published independently in Italy in 1957.

It is perhaps a little poignant that the filming rights for Doctor Zhivago were won only a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Carlo Ponti in 1963.

It was released in the West in 1965, and director David Lean was taken aback by the mixed reception.

Bosley Crowther complained that the screenplay “reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance”.

Indeed, civilians being attacked

by Cossacks during a peaceful demonstration, or entire villages being burned by Bolshevik forces, fade into the background as Zhivago tries to decide which lady to go for in his love triangle.

Crowther admits, however, that the physical production of the film was phenomenal, and most viewers and critics agreed. Doctor Zhivago won five Oscars and five Golden Globe awards, and is the eighth highest-grossing film of all time in the USA, as of 2016.

The reason behind such reverence for a flawed movie is the quality of the scenery. Even though the movie was mostly filmed in Spain — with actors struggling in their furs in the Spanish heat — Lynn managed to portray the vastness of sights such as the winter steps so well that even Russian audiences were awed.

As a viewer with a Russian background (I emigrated to the UK during my childhood), I couldn’t help but feel bothered by what critics deem ignorant portrayals of Russia. I see now where all the stereotypes come from.

An American director with no access to the USSR couldn’t help his lack of knowledge, of course.

Still, I feel bitter when I watch Western adaptations of Russian classics, and I know some Russians feel the same way. Should we, as critic Richard Roud suggests, in response to Doctor Zhivago, collectively decide not to adapt foreign classics?

Nonetheless, Doctor Zhivago is a great movie. I sat down to watch it and found myself absorbed by the stunning camera work and charming details (such as a pony chasing a carriage, or an obnoxious army officer falling into a barrel), even if the history was less accurate and emotional gravity somewhat lacking.

Maybe there is some pleasure to be found in seeing your country through a foreigner’s eyes after all.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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books Science fiction that shaped the Revolution

By DANIEL ANTONIO VILLAR

I

f you had been in Petrograd in 1917, during the first few months of ferment after the Tsar had been expelled and before the new regime had entrenched itself, you would have had the pleasure to encounter scores or brilliant and original theoreticians.

However, none would have been quit as interesting as Alexander Bogdanov. Bogdanov was a polymath – as a philosophy, physician, politician, and novelist he had gained note.

But it was as a novelist that he most aided the Russian Revolution. In his 1908 work of science fiction, Red Star, Bogdanov gave one of the clearest vision of the scientific socialist society which was envisaged by most of the Russian intellectual class during the Russian Revolution.

The story revolves around a mathematician, Leonid, who travels to Mars and discovers how socialism, brought about by technology, has created a utopia. By the end of the novel Leonid returns to earth, and seeing that utopia is possible, enters the revolutionary fray with new vigor.

Bogdanov is often forgotten today, but a century ago he was a close friend of Trotsky and involved in most of the revolutionary movements, in arts, sciences, and politics, which were in the air at the time. Many Russian scientists and intellectuals were introduced to socialism via Red Star, and although he is little remembered today, the influence of his technologically driven space communistic ideology survives in things as varied as Star Trek and the technology of Richard Stallman.

Project 1917

The revolution will be tweeted

By LUCY ENDERBY

Reconsidering the Lobster: Wallace’s Dostoyevsky David Foster Wallace cuts to the core of what makes Dostoyevsky invaluable, writes Barney Pite

O

ne of the essays written by David Foster Wallace in his collection, Consider The Lobster is ‘Joseph Frank’s Dostoyevsky’, a lengthy review of the Princeton and Stanford scholar Joseph Frank’s four volume biography of the Russian novelist. A thoughtful and detailed review, Wallace doesn’t shy away from looking in depth at the hardcore criticism and theory that Frank is working with in his biography.

David Foster Wallace, like Dostoyevsky, is one of the people you just have to try. The two have a lot in common. Both are the sort of writers who are good to have read if you’re headed to a cocktail party, both write long and involved books that grapple consciously with the serious philosophical questions that end up defining what it is to be a human being. This underlying theme in Dostoyevsky’s work is acknowledged by Wallace through asterisked sections listing off some the questions which preoccupy Dostoyevsky; ‘What exactly does faith mean?’, or ‘Am I

“M

y dear, I’m not sure that I’ll have time to write to you tomorrow morning, so I’m writing at night.

It’s bad. Very bad. The food issue is terrifying. Hunger is at the gates.

Something’s going to happen.

And so it would be good to be able to work.” Anatoly Lunacharsky, the Marxist revolutionary and newly appointed People’s Commisssars for Education posted from Petrograd on 27 October 1917.

Meanwhile, Nicholas II, seemingly unalarmed, tweeted from the Governor’s Mansion in Tobolsk, “It has already been two months that we have lived in this house. It was a wonderful sunny day and it passed as usual.”

As 2017 marks the centenary of the Russian Revolutions, Project 1917 is providing a unique way of experiencing the events of 1917.

Mock social media accounts update posts giving a voice to more than 300 historical figures from Lenin to Alfred Knox, and even a simple peasant: Alexander Zamanaev.

Driven by a team of young historians, writers and journalists, Project 1917 is the brainchild of journalist and documentary maker Mikhail Zygar, who founded Russia’s only independent news TV

a good person?’. While this stylistic trope can seem confusing, superfluous or even pretentious, Wallace manages to get to the bottom of what Dostoyevsky aimed to address.

When people talk about Wallace, they often talk about the ‘New Sincerity’. The cultural movement which looks fondly back to the honest and sincere literature produced before post-modernism, and which distances itself from the gutless aestheticisms of novels after Joyce.

The Stanford scholar Cynthia Haven equates Dostoyevsky with what literary fiction had lost: “Who is to blame for the philosophical passionlessness of our own Dostoyevskys?”, she asks.

Wallace similarly sees Dostoyevsky as a throw-back to a time of philosophical confidence, writing: “The big thing that makes Dostoyevsky invaluable for American readers and writers is that he appears to possess degrees of passion, and conviction and engagement with deep moral issues that we, here today, cannot or do not permit ourselves.”

What Wallace sees in Dostoyevsky, he tries to emulate in his own ficchannel Dozhd.

The organisers write, “Our main aim is to make history popular – to bring a multitude of voices from a diverse array of historically significant figures to as wide an audience as possible.

“That is why we do not always observe all those standards which

It would be easy for the project to become too ideological are normally considered inviolable in serious scholarship”.

Drawing on some previously unpublished primary sources; diary entries, poems, letters and telegrams, the website presents an innovative, immersive way of reading about the revolution as if events were unfolding today.

Whilst it would be easy for the project to slip into becoming too ideological, or even ahistorical, instead it seems to provide a new and engaging way of looking at a range of first-hand accounts side by side.

In the Russia of 2017, the Kremlin

tion. The really hot thing about Infinite Jest, Wallace’s gargantuan magnum opus about addiction and tennis, is that it reaches a couple of half-formed conclusions in answer to the questions Dostoyevsky’s asking. In the last 200 pages of Infinite Jest, a truly extraordinary example of modern fiction, Wallace depicts a wounded demerol addict resisting the offer of anaesthetic. Describing the pain is dealt with, he writes: “He could do the dextral pain the same way: Abiding. Here was a second right here: he endured it…he could just hunker down in the space between each heartbeat and make each heartbeat a wall and live in there.”

Wallace suggests that we can manage if we just stick with our convictions and endure, or Abide, to use one of his favourite words. After finishing Infinite Jest, the reader is left with a sense of cautious optimism; despite the moral labyrinth of personhood,

there is – Wallace posits, a passage though.

is refusing to officially acknowledge the anniversary of the revolution.

At this year’s Valdai speech, Putin said of the Russian Revolution of 1917: “Let’s ask: was it not possible to follow an evolutionary path rather than go through a revolution?

“Could we not have evolved by way of gradual and consistent forward movement rather than at the cost of destroying our statehood?”

In an interview with the Financial Times, Zygar expressed his desire to provide a new way of looking at history, and said: “Access to the original sources is a kind of value system in itself.

It shows you that society makes its own choices and is the master of its own fate.”

As well as way of looking at the key events of

the revolution, the site also draws upon the daily minutiae and banal details of the world at war.

The profile page of Joseph Stalin provides an interesting juxtaposition.

On 26 October, Stalin updated his status: “Power to the Soviets means a thorough cleansing of any and all governmental agencies, from back to front and top to bottom.”

The previous update had been his wife tagging him in her post ten days earlier: “Stalin somehow fell asleep with the pipe in his hand still smoking.

When he woke up, the room was already filled with smoke: his blanket was smoldering with flames from the pipe.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Stalin explained exasperatedly, “No matter how hard I concentrate, I still drift off.”

The Russian media of this age seem largely to be cherry-picking pieces of both imperial and Soviet history to patch together a history of the 1917 revolutions to service their own ideological concerns.

“Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being” Similarly, Dostoyevsky is important because he engages. In a way that’s unusual in a lot of modern literature, novels like Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov take the reader by the horns and demands that we think about the basic problems of the moral world we inhabit.

As Wallace famously quipped, “Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being”. Dostoyevsky is about what it means to be a fucking human being, and that’s why he matters.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

oxbow 15

theatre Confessions of a Drama Queen

The sleek emotional triumph of a single actor

Kitty Horsfall is stunned by the acting talent and troubling social critique of Klaxon Production’s Random

★★★★★ Random Burton Taylor Studio 31 October, 7.30pm

E

ntering the Burton Taylor Studio to be greeted

by Francesca Amewudah-Rivers slumped on a stark white chair against a backdrop of family pictures, it becomes clear that John Livesey’s adaptation of Debbie Tucker Green’s Random is not your typical Oxford Am-Dram production. Staging a one-woman, multi-role play that tackles the sensitive yet urgent topic of knife crime, against a backdrop of race, gender, and familial relationships, is certainly ambitious. However, the astuteness of every cast and crew member makes the production a sleek emotional triumph.

There are very few plays that could sustain such an electric con-

Five minutes with

John Livesey, Manager of Klaxon Productions

nection with the audience for fifty minutes without interval. Gazelle Mba’s minimalistic set design is an intelligently understated symbol of the construction and destruction of family life.

The addition of a microphone to the set at the climax of the plot transforms the speech of the sister into a court testimony, unsettling any previous domestic warmth.

As Amewudah-Rivers entangles herself in the cord of this stark prop, she wraps herself in the memory of all those affected by the social uncertainty that war-

Not one word of the script is wasted rants the line, ‘Death used to be for the old.’

Furthermore, the precision of the lighting orchestrated by Linette Chan plays an integral role in separating both the multiple

T

his week, we chat to John Livesey, whose production of Random is reviewed above.

Could you tell us a bit about how you got involved in Oxford drama?

It can be scary to start ‘doing drama’ at Oxford - it feels like people know each other already, and you are just some strange, quiet fresher. I was really lucky that the first show I got involved in (Edward II) had a very big, very friendly company full of drama stalwarts. It meant I didn’t think twice next time I was going for an audition. This is my first go at directing but I very much hope to do it again, you won’t get rid of me that easily!

What’s you happiest memory of drama at Oxford?

I’m not even halfway through my degree so I hope there will be a few more moments to choose from if you ask me again in a year! Currently though, some of my happiest memories have

I meet my Romeo

By KATIE SAYER

A

characters, and the time scale of the play, so that fifty minutes becomes a series of days.

Amewudah-Rivers’ acting is nuanced and fresh. Her performance is peppered with perfect comic timing in the first half of the play, an impressive feat considering Random’s emotional depth.

Her portrayal of grief, heartbreak, and the dissolution of family roles are professional and clean. Not one word of Tucker Green’s script is wasted.

The immense challenge of flipping between the characters of mother, sister, father, and brother could have easily descended into disorientation if approached by a less capable performer, but the standing ovation on the opening night is testament to her talent.

She achieves a sharp distinction between the characters is achieved through an intoxicating blend of vocal contortion, Chan’s fluidity of lighting, and Mba’s raw set design.

Particularly extraordinary, however, is Amewudah-Rivers’ physicality. As she walks across the stage, so do we as an audience traipse to school, to work, to the butcher. The stooped back of the mother reflects a life defined by working hard and giving love, just as the military posture of the father gives gravity to the stock character of the man as the

head of the house. The realignment of family positions in the aftermath of the death of a son was questioned through this physical characterisation.

AmewudahRivers’ command meant there was not a single area of the stage that escaped becoming complicit in the performance. It would be a further challenge to her ability (and immensely intriguing if nothing else) to see the production transposed into a bigger space.

The power and vulnerability her presence can evoke indicates that the intimacy required of Random would not be lost, and the impact of the play, with the chilling line “It’s already way too late,” would potentially resonate further.

With just one cast member, no intervals, and an intimate performance space, every element of Random has to flow, to avoid a staccato sense that would detract from the impact Tucker Green intended for her words.

The seamless harmony between the direction, production, set design, lighting, and acting goes further than this – the script is elevated so that even as we understand it to be fiction, we cannot escape the wider context of the reality of random violence in an uncertain world.

Random is running from 31 October – 4 November.

nother week, another heartbreaking tale of rejection and solitude. The tragedy of my life this week concerns – inevitably – a boy.

Although, I would have it amended that ‘boy’ doesn’t do justice to my feelings for Thespian Jacob - ‘love of my life’ would be more appropriate.

It all began as I was sitting down to watch the play I was reviewing for Cherwell. When I say ‘sitting down’, I was accidentally half an hour late because I was catching up on The Apprentice and had to stand at the back, and to be honest I was so hungover that I’d napped through the first half, and then it happened. Thespian Jacob took centre stage, both in the play and in my heart.

Was it stalkerish that I followed the cast to the pub afterwards? If this was a 1990s Richard Curtis film, such a gesture would be the epitome of romance. And was it so outlandish to add his mum on Facebook? I just wanted to congratulate her for raising such a gift to the world! And as for my review verging on harassment... okay, so it ended with a marriage proposal.

I do not think the restraining order was necessary.

It’s also quite unfortunate that it’s led to a lawsuit, but that’s for Cherwell to deal with. At least if there’s a trial I can go for a kind of felonious Elle Woods vibe, and our eyes can meet across the court room and he will realise that we are meant to be together forever and move to the home counties with three kids and a golden retriever.

He’s put on Facebook that he’s ‘interested’ in an audition for Sweet Charity, so I think I might try and join the costume team for that. Shouldn’t be too hard - I love charity shopping, and have seen the necessary tableau scene in Wild Child. Wish me luck! Adieu, fair reader!

been from Random. It’s such a great team and we have a lot of fun, despite the serious subject matter. Fran and I have a similar sense of humour. The artistic eureka-moments we’ve had has made it a very special process.

collective eye-roll).

any schmaltzy a-lister.

How would you want to stage it if you had to put it on in Oxford?

Some of these might actually find their way to the stage so I don’t want to give any spoilers: that’s just bad marketing...

Do you have any advice for freshers who want to get involved?

Audition. Audition again. Audition again. And if you’re a director? Just risk it: submit the bid and see where the journey takes you. It’ll be horrible, amazing, dreadful and mindexpanding – the best fun you’ll have in this crazy place.

Have you ever had any complete production nightmares?

I’ve had a few very bad dress-rehearsals. I’ve been in a show that had only rehearsed for a week. The worst was probably a cast-mate missing their cue completely, forcing me to skip 2 or 3 pages: nobody noticed but my heart relocated to Cuba for about 5 minutes.

What’s your favourite play?

Superlatives don’t do justice to the diversity of work out there. I can recommend some good ones though Big & Small by Botho Strauss, Another Country by Julian Mitchell, An Octaroon by Branden Jacob-Jenkins, The Flick by Annie Baker. Oh, and Angels in America (I say this pre-empting the

Who’s your inspiration?

Ben Whishaw is a role model for me, although that might just be because I have a crush on him! I try not to miss Robert Icke’s shows, and Tarell Alvin McCraney too. I also have the utmost respect for the way Rufus Norris is changing the game at the National. I also find my friends inspiring, back home and in Oxford. I think there’s something rad about understanding that those around you can be just as inspirational as

Are you working on any exciting projects at the moment that you can tell us about?

Once we’re done with Random I need a sit down with a hot mug of cocoa. However, KLAXON are also getting started on a bid for Hilary and there are some other things I hope to pursue when I have more time. Going to lectures is another honorable goal, but I don’t want to offer false hope.

Satire UNIVERSITY NEWS

An interview with Louise Richardson, Oxford VC

So do you think your salary is too high?

Don’t be ridiculous! I can barely afford to sustain my diversified eleven building property portfolio and gambling habit on this pittance! Any tawdry politician who says otherwise is just jealous that they can’t embroil themselves in an expenses scandal.

What do you have to say about allegations that you overspend with your expenses?

Total rubbish! I only go for the most budget five star hotels and only travel when it is absolutely necessary for me to go on holiday.

I have a global institution to promote, and if I can create publicity for Oxford while promoting myself then that’s a positive.

Another problem raised was the lack of openess when student journalists made FOI requests – any comment?

Again, utter tosh! We are as open as you can expect any archaic, byzantine, and bureaucratic organisation to be.

But have you considered that students aren’t very comfortable with their student debt going towards your salary?

Some students have raised their concerns with me, and I’ve said to them it isn’t my job to make them feel comfortable. It’s my job to make myself feel comfortable in business class when travelling around the world.

Sorry to get distracted, but is that a portrait of yourself engraved in amber with a platinum frame, and diamonds where your eyes should be?

We all have to treat ourselves from time to time.

BUSINESS

DANCING

US POLITICS

Ouca disco

Trump opens Müller probe probe

JOURNALISM

Reporting on the great success of the latest social, the Ouca president has celebrated the unprecedented turnout of a dozen human people at the termly Ouca disco.

Eyewitnesses reported that the latest dance-moves, such as ‘The Worm’ were performed, with all twelve revellers having a wild time after a small glass of port each. At press time, there was jubilation that nobody had brought the society into disrepute with their moves.

With several of his closest consultants now under investigation for collusion with the Russians, Donald Trump has opened a probe into the Müller probe for suspected connections to notorious organised yoghurt cartels.

Associates of Mr Müller are suspected of eating the two parts of a Corner separately and licking the lids of yoghurts in an overtly sexual manner, for which President Trump has vowed that justice will be done.

Leading libel lawyers have lamented the lack of interesting content in The Oxford Student. At their annual conference in Oxford last week they complained about the total lack of interest in even the most inaccurate articles in the paper.

“How can we remain motivated when they won’t even publish a blatant lie about the Oxford Union?” whinged their chairman, who also complimented the array of malicious allegations in Cherwell.

Freddo market “as volatile as Bitcoin” Huge success for Following previous reports of major figures criticising government failures to solve the 2008 Great Freddos Crisis, Cherwell Satire understands that the situation has deteriorated further both financially and socially.

Freddo prices are now so hyperinflated and unstable that local stores are having to change their prices everyday, ranging from 5p to over £3000 per Freddo.

The lack of any centralised governance in the market and the prevalence of dark web profiteers has further

exacerbated the situation.

Socially this has led not only to people wallpapering their rooms with Freddo wrappers in times of high inflation, but to wide-ranging religious changes, including the incorporation of the Freddo frog in Christian iconography. Justin Welby said: “This may seem bizarre to some, but the love I feel for Freddos finds its match in my love for the divine.”

For support in this trying time, Cherwell Satire is running a 24hr helpline (07809678037).

OxStu “too boring to sue” say experts

Starting at the top left corner and going clockwise, fill in the opening lyric to a seasonal song (2,3,4,4,4,1,7,3)

SUDOKU

ACROSS

DOWN

Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.

7 Laughed (7) 8 One who points the finger (7) 9 Female relatives (5) 10 Impermeable (9) 11 Is owned by (7,2) 14 Boogie (5) 15 Hard exterior (5) 17 Fall out of use (of a word, for example) (9) 19 Ones who lives on Isle of Wight or Man, for example (9) 21 Fibre yielding plant (5) 23 Deal in something illegally (7) 24 Figurative (esp. in postmodernism) (7)

1 Self contained part of organism (5) 2 President of Russia from 1991–9 (7) 3 Command (5) 4 With one voice (9) 5 Got away (7) 6 Noblemen, biscuits (9) 12 Capital of Slovenia (9) 13 Bathing headgear (3) 16 Melodious (7) 18 Flat pasta (7) 20 Capital of Bulgaria (5) 22 Movie ogre (5)

Last week’s crossword: Did you spot Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and the other Toy Story characters hidden in the grid?

ACROSS 1 Bog 3 Tsk 5 Dollar 8 Algebra 9 Cowgirl 10 Using 11 Planet 14 Pi 16 Buzz 19 Rex 20 Wheezy 21 Idling 22 Moo 23 Roar 24 IR 25 Gleans 27 Stows 30 Juniper 33 Octagon 34 Little 35 Aye 36 Toy DOWN 1 Bulls 2 Green 4 Scamp 5 Duo 6 Lightyear 7 Air 12 Lax 13 Newton 14 Pizza 15 Brogue 17 Under 18 Zeitgeist 22 Men 26 Story 28 Toast 29 Woody 31 Uni 32 Eye

This week Cherwell Satire were invited to interview Louise Richardson about her expenses claims, aboard her gold-plated yacht, the Illuminatio.

Surprise Cabinet appointment settles into his new department

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

9

Opinion

The Lola Olufemi ‘scandal’ is intellectually dishonest and damaging to BME progress

Brian Wong

We should be encouraging people of colour to share lived experiences

L

ola Olufemi, the Cambridge University Student Union’s Women’s Officer, came under fire from online commentators after The Telegraph published an article discussing her efforts in leading the decolonisation of Cambridge’s curriculum. Despite The Telegraph’s later amendment and clarifications concerning the article, a plethora of abusive comments were launched at Olufemi on online platforms.

Make no mistake here – the criticisms against Lola are not only intellectually dishonest, but deeply damaging to the ongoing progress to empower persons of colour to speak about and share their lived experiences.

The dishonesty is evidenced on two levels. The primary charge levied at Olufemi is that her campaign insists on ‘erasing’ and ‘rewriting’ history.

Firstly, the call for the inclusion of more non-white historical figures and academics on the official syllabus does not preclude the inclusion of the works of white intellectuals (syllabus extension is largely additive, not substitutive).

Moreover, white historical figures and academics tend to be overrepresented in popular media, library stocks, online resources, and core textbooks for courses – it is unclear why removing a few white names from the syllabus, even if that did occur, would cause substantial erasure of white history. Instead, it should be seen as a proportionately justified

reduction in the time allocated to the study of them.

Secondly, the demand for curriculum decolonisation does not equate the erasure or exclusion of periods of history – instead, it calls for the expansion of perspectives that accommodate hitherto subaltern voices. If anything, such diversification enriches and informs our understanding of the past.

Finally, this charge against Olufemi is factually inaccurate – Olufemi is not the sole member of the Curriculum Decolonisation Campaign. It is supported and led by many other individuals, and to purely associate the campaign with a woman of colour is a political ploy steeped in misogyny, designed to construct the false illusion that the well-meaning academic campaign is a racially motivated plot.

The secondary charge is that the University of Cambridge, as a ‘British’ university, ought to focus on teaching ‘British history’.

The University of Cambridge – as per any other high-quality institution – aspires towards academic excellence across all fields and areas of specialisation within particular fields, independently of regional or political confinements. To say that Cambridge has the primary obligation to teach British history neglects its position as a globally funded, backed, and influential site of academic research and development.

Also, decolonisation does not call for a complete removal of the focus or prioritisation of British history – it

merely advocates the inclusion of more options, papers, and texts on the Global South that are currently severely underrepresented in the official curriculum. Above all, it is distinctly myopic and superficial to ignore the connection between British history and global history – particularly with respect to the s u b j u g a t io n of ethnic minorities under colonialism and imperialism.

The refusal to recognise the importance of any viepoint other than the ‘white perspective’ only hampers our ability to understand and fully contextualise Britain’s past in relation to its contemporaries and counterparts. One of the ways we should judge the quality of an academic community is through its ability to attempt a holistic outlook to disparate and marginalised voices, and to provide them with the platform they so clearly require.

Yet even if it were intellectually valid to critique Olufemi and her associated campaign, the vicious comments deployed against her are deeply regressive towards existing efforts to make campus spaces more welcoming and open environments for people of colour.

The inflammatory rhetoric makes it even less attractive for those with legitimate criticisms towards the

Silencing bias does not silence academic freedom

status quo to speak out, by placing them under substantial psychological and social costs. The Telegraph’s singling-out of Olufemi (which could very well be unintentional, or not) put her in the negative spotlight for a decision made by a collective group constituting both students and academics.

Ensuing comments have unhelpfully labeled the campaign’s demands as ‘silencing’ academic freedom, conveniently neglecting the fact that academics and intellectuals of colour have long had their thoughts and views repressed and underrepresented in the overwhelmingly white space of British academia. Further, they failed to mention that the suggested changes do not amount to mandated changes, or that the demands have little to do with what academics can choose to research (academic freedom) – but merely the diversity of content and methods with which teaching is offered.

In many ways, Olufemi was the perfect scapegoat for reactionaries.

Her ethnic background fitted neatly with the grander, race war metanarrative of persons of colour seeking to undermine ‘white Britain’. Her unreserved fortitude could be aptly twisted into aggression that was deeply discomforting for individuals who much preferred defending the status quo. Further, her identity as a student activist associated with the Student Union morphs seamlessly into the motif of left-wing ‘social justice warriors’ and ‘snowflakes’ seeking to sabotage academic freedom.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

10

Opinion Caring about O’Mara’s past is not pedantic – it’s our duty

INTERVIEW

Ben Bradshaw on Brexit, Russia, and sexual harassment

Benedict George

Ben Bradshaw MP, former cabinet member and Labour deputy leadership candidate PHOTO: UK PARLIAMENT

T

By WILL DRY rump’s ex-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his deputy, Robert Gates, have been charged. They are the first of many dominoes.

The pair, it is alleged, got rich advising a pro-Russian party in Ukraine, and illegally funnelling that money back into the US. Another has been charged with lying to the FBI, and has reportedly made contact with several Russians.

So, Russia’s cyber curtain is being drawn back, and as the initial glimmers of light are revealing an army of the dead – thousands of gormless bots who claimed Hilary is the devil and Alex Jones is a demigod, and Russia’s set of ‘useful idiots’. But what if Russia practiced this before the presidential election. What if they let loose what existed of their b o t- a r m y, and they practiced their manipulation of domestic fools, in our Brexit referendum?

What if they had a practice swing in June, getting ready for November?

This is the question that Ben Bradshaw MP is asking of his Parliamentary colleagues. He tells me he is “concerned about the complacency and lack of interest in a potential problem”. Putin, he adds, has “never made a secret of his support for Brexit”, cultivating “long-standing very close contacts between right wing groups here and the Kremlin”.

I wonder if part of our lack of interest is due to the innate British tendency to resist the scent of melodrama – “Oh no, the Russians wouldn’t have hacked our little plebiscite!” Yet the evidence is slowly mounting.

The public must be able to have confidence in their democracy

A study revealed that there were 13,493 Twitter accounts, who predominantly tweeted pro-Leave messages, and all vanished shortly after the vote. They were effective at “rapidly generating small to medium-sized cascades...of hyper partisan news.” In the US, Russiancreated propaganda reached 126 million people - 40% of the population.

Even if the Russian effort was just a practice swing, a small scale effort, it is still quite possible their ‘hyperpartisan news’ seeped into the conscious of millions.

“The public must be able to have confidence in the integrity of their democracy,” Bradshaw tells me. Until we find out what has happened, I do not.

The second possible method of covert Russian interference Bradshaw tells me of is the Kremlin’s more traditional one: subjugating the weak, the ideological, and the desperate into doing its bidding. An army of the dead commandeered by a few useful idiots. Manafort reportedly owes $64m in debt to a Russian oligarch. That is de-facto ownership.

The oligarch can perhaps choose what he wants Manafort’s net worth to be by changing the interest rate.

The prime candidate for Russia’s useful idiot in Britain could be Arron Banks, the controversial mega-donor of Ukip and the Leave side in the referendum.

The Electoral Commission announced recently that they would be opening an investigation to look at Mr Banks and see if, among others, he “facilitated a transaction with a non-qualifying person” through Better for the Country Ltd – a company of which he is a director.

However, Bradshaw worries that the Electoral Commission does not “have the power to subpoena documents nor hear evidence under oath. There are so many examples in Britain of these inquiries not getting to the truth because of the inadequacies of their powers.”

The solution may be a judge led inquiry, something Banks himself has

called for. It is only the government who doesn’t want one.

Bradshaw says the government is “wilfully complacent or completely ignorant of all of this” and that one possible scenario is that it all comes out as a result of Robert Mueller’s investigation which would result in “the British government looking very stupid”.

Whatever is revealed in the coming months, B r a d s h a w ’s call for f u r t h e r investigation backed by strong powers can only improve the clarity of the situation.

Bradshaw, an MP of twenty years, is informative about the current sexual harassment storm engulfing Westminster.

According to Bradshaw, “there is clearly a problem and there have been cultural problems for some time”. Without going into great details, he tells me that he himself reported one of his parliamentary colleagues to the Labour party Chief Whip after a complaint was made to him by a former intern of his office.

Have the whips been doing enough? “You would have to ask the whips that. They assured me that it had been dealt with and that the MP in question had been spoken to.

I was assured at the time that my complaints had been followed up and acted on.”

But, and it is unclear, if this MP – who has allegedly preyed on an intern – remains at Westminster, has enough action been taken? No. 650 people are given the opportunity to be our MPs at any one time, there is no room for the crooked and twisted.

Whips should not use the information as a stick to beat the MP into line on a precarious Parliamentary vote, but as a stick to beat them out of the party. Crabb, Green, and countless more need to go.

There have been cultural problems for some time

The O’Mara case is a good example of the role the news media can play

A

t one time or another, everyone performs a role.

At school, our teachers lead us out into the streets and told us that we represent the school and should be on our best behaviour.

As we grow up, that situation is replayed.

The characters may change, but the principle remains the same.

When we represent people, they have expectations of us. As long as we wear their badge, our behaviour has consequences for them.

The position of politicians, with their private lives under scrutiny, is only as unusual as the responsibility they have undertaken. An MP’s jersey is multicoloured: it carries their constituents’ stripes and their party’s. If they reach the cabinet, they get 65 million tiny chevrons on their sleeves – one for every citizen.

What then could indicate ineptitude or infidelity? With that question in mind, it’s a little easier to see through the media’s attempts to pry into politicians’ pasts and private lives.

For example, it may seem distinctly unfair for journalists to trawl through the detritus of a politician’s historical online activity.

But in the case of politicians, nuances of character can make or break credibility.

The case of Jared O’Mara is a good example of the constructive contribution that the news media can make by revealing the relevant elements of politicians’ private lives.

His misogynistic online comments cast doubt on his sense of equal responsibility for all voters regardless of gender, and on his commitment to the Women and Equalities Committee.

The interests of certain sections of the electorate rest on the requirement that politicians should not hold the attitudes he displayed, and that requirement can only be imposed through the removal of politicians who fall short. Only by such means can the public interest be maximised.

There is a kind of prying that does seem unfair. The news media faces no greater incentive to unearth and publish the role-relevant misdemeanours of politicians’ pasts than to reveal irrelevantly shocking or sensational stories from their private lives.

To act to achieve the latter is problematic, but we can usually identify the line at which public interest and media influence become problematically merged.

The social role of the media in this case was to fill the gaps left by the normal party vetting process.

That’s a part which will be useful in other cases too, and one it will naturally play as it avidly seeks stories. It will serve the public good as far as it does so. When it oversteps the boundary of political relevance, however, it will treat politicians unfairly and muddy the waters of electoral freedom.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

11

Shape the conversation Oxford’s debate continues around the clock.

Get your voice heard at cherwell.org

Fighting for Islamic State does not make you less human

A

Rosie Duthie

s with many of the issues surrounding terror, what to do with those returning home from IS divides opinion. Some declare that nobody associated with IS should be allowed back into Britain; others say these individuals are victims in need of support and forgiveness; others still declare that investment into intelligence and surveillance can allow them to return home with diminished risk.

The “right” answer is not clear, and its nuance cannot be appreciated by such absolute statements.

Outright refusal to allow their return is one option. It fails, however, to recognise that every IS fighter is human. Some of the strongest voices against welcoming those who desert IS home would crumble when faced with a 14 year old who, forced into a

marriage, raped and stripped of her rights, decided to return home. A 15 year old boy sent to fight, sleeping and waking to the sounds of gunfire and approaching explosions seems far less threatening than the extremist fighters we see displayed on television.

It is too easy to forget the human we are talking about, too easy to forget that these are the people we went to school with, played with as children, took our own children to nursery with. Indoctrination and vulnerability do not make them less human.

That is not to say that they do not have a responsibility to bear. Our society demands that those who break the rules by which we live together answer for their actions. Joining IS to fight, partaking in terror, is illegal, and must be recognised as such. How-

ever, our greater aim should not be forfeited in favour of stringently imposed laws. If the Government rejects an individual’s request to return the effects go further than that person.

The propaganda of IS and its supporters will perpetuate the idea of an Islamophobic Britain, where Muslims cannot and should not feel welcome.

It is this ideology that we must fight, as we aim to unite everyone against the tyranny of IS. Surveillance and psychiatric support as part of a rehabilitation plan seem to be, in some ways, the best solution. They offer the opportunity to rehabilitate, to protect and to observe those who have returned. But the cost is undoubtedly prohibitive, and there is no guarantee that they will not pose further threat to innocent individuals through radicalisation.

International cooperation has been pushed to the forefront of fighting terror, but where the question is rehabilitating returning IS fighters, it seems to become a game of pass the parcel. While there is no easy answer, one thing is clear.

We must remember that these individuals are just that: individual people, with thoughts and emotions and fears and vulnerabilities as prominent as our own. We must remember that keeping us safe is about more than keeping them out, it is about creating a place where acceptance, strength, and solidarity are at the fore.

They are the victims of IS. We must protect us and we must protect them.

CONTESTED

Can the vice chancellor’s expenses be justified?

Will Dry

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Yes

ouise Richardson works tirelessly for us all. If we want Oxford to succeed, we should be cheering her on. The reality is a national press consistently misrepresenting her positions in their mission to perennially paint Oxford as a bastion of the elite and privileged, and a student body all too eager to lap up, rather than scrutinise, this narrative.

Even Cherwell has, in my view, some room to improve. Its front page last week was particularly banal in its critique of Richardson (the real scandal is over a University which is displaying an allergy to transparency).

Yes, she presumably chooses to fly abroad but only in the same way she chooses to turn up to work on Monday. It’s a fundamental part of her job, to be Oxford’s global cheerleader – to persuade the world’s best and brightest to come here, and the wealthiest to invest here.

That promoting Oxford in different countries involves flying to places, which costs money, is as newsworthy as the reporting on Malala’s jeans. If anything, the figures seem low: the University of Sheffield spent virtually five times more on hotel accommodation in

the year 2015/16 than we did.

The genuine amount Louise Richardson ‘splashed out’ on, in her personal expenses, was £543 - a far lower amount than most university vice chancellors.

So, what should our attitude to her be? Well, it is possible to be neither overly deferential nor disrespectful. This is a woman whose life story is what Oxford, at its best, is all about. She was a underprivileged girl from a nowhere ‘town’ in Ireland who earned a place at Trinity College, then UCLA, then Harvard.

Her education empowered her to change the world, and she put it to good use. She put a stop to George Bush’s corrosive consensus on how to treat extremism at home and abroad. She is now head of the best university in the world.

We have a world-beating woman from an underprivileged background and yet instead of championing this as a realisation of Oxford’s dual mission to be an elite institution and ambassador for social justice, we are far too quick to lampoon her.

Like a diehard football fan analysing the team’s manager, it is possible to support and fairly scrutinise her. At the minute, I fear we are a bit too much in the ArsenalFanTV camp.

It won’t be long before we have Kate Cole outside Clarendon House telling John Maier, “I’m fed up John, I’m fed up - she’s got to go. She’s got to go - now!”

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Why are we lampooning Richardson for doing her job?

hen the news of the MPs’ expenses scandal broke back in 2009, it didn’t just lead to individual humiliation. The ensuing loss of confidence in one of this country’s fundamental institutions permanently changed the way in which the government was perceived.

It is in the same damaging terms that we must view the recent revelations about Louise Richardson’s expenses.

In the first seven months of her appointment, the University spent £30,818 on Richardson’s travel, accommodation, and ‘hospitality’, and this figure does not even account for half the total since claimed. For reference, the average UK salary is £27,271.

How can such vast sums be justified?

Granted, the duties of the vice chancellor of a university with Oxford’s international reputation naturally, on occasion, extend outside of the city’s municipal borders. But can this really be touted to excuse spending nearly £10,000 on overseas hotels on Richardson’s 26 trips abroad?

It’s hard to believe that the U n i v e r s i t y ’s international reputation hinges on Richardson’s regular appearances in China and the US, or that without a jet-setting vice chancellor Oxford would struggle to attract overseas applicants.

The University has tried to quieten

Think of the bursaries the money could have paid for

PHOTO: OU/IMAGES AND JOHN CAIRNS

No Greg Brinkworth voices decrying executive privilege by stating that they were smaller than in previous years. Admittedly, Andrew Hamilton (Richardson’s predecessor) racked up over £44,000 in claims in 2014/15 – as if this is in any way reassuring. If anything, the refusal to release further details concerning individual flights or hotel rates illustrates the disregard the University administration shows for the legitimate concerns of both students and staff.

Think of the bursaries the University could have provided with the money spent on trans-Atlantic flights and expensive hotel stays. Instead, the money has been consumed flying one individual around the globe – the latest development in a concerning trend that sees money diverted away from education, and towards a privileged administrative elite.

The University needs to respond to the reaction that Richardson’s expenses claims have provoked . That the vice chancellor can claim almost £70,000 on top of her disproportionate salary is galling to both support staff without whom Oxford couldn’t function, and to students facing yet higher fees with little apparent return. In a time of crippling wage inequality, it is past time we asked how things can be done differently.

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Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

At length tive associations with what are now thriving and developing places.

My subconscious response is therefore to identify myself with a city I live forty-five minutes away from, if only to avoid the inevitable groan when southerners hear the word ‘Bolton’ or the blank expression from the word ‘Bury’.

Oxford’s southern obsession

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here’s no point in denying that being a northerner here can be hilarious – there are certain personal features, often language or accent-based, which distinguish you from the majority of your friends, and which often become a topic of conversation. I know several people who consistently repeat what I’ve just said back to me in my own Bolton accent, completely unconsciously – it becomes a source of embarrassment when I then point it out to them, but is nonetheless a clear subconscious acknowledgement of difference between us.

Dealing tactfully with southerners’ heinous attempts at northern accents is a challenge in itself, but it’s quite disarming to hear my sentence again without having said anything I consider to be worth imitating. The fact that people never seem to be able to differentiate between, for example, Manchester and Yorkshire accents is also slightly insulting; it’s all in the spirit of joke, but it does highlight a general ignorance about the North and an underlying assumption that ‘it’s all the same up there’.

On a more practical level, the vacations present a challenge. Invariably, visiting university friends will involve the investment of considerable amounts of time and money.

London is always the hub, owing to its transport links as well as the fact that it’s the home of most of the people I’m visiting, but being stuck up North often entails disproportionate effort just to spend a couple of nights with friends. southerners have the monopoly in every way.

As more attention is called to Oxbridge’s prejudiced admissions practices, Emma Carter analyses the barriers to entry for northern applicants

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here’s something special about being a northerner at Oxford.

It’s an extraordinary yet alarming experience. Recently released statistics show that the University of Oxford takes more students from the Home Counties (the few counties surrounding London) than the whole region of the North, and David Lammy MP’s ongoing battle with Oxbridge admissions has highlighted how intakes are “utterly unrepresentative of life in modern Britain.”

As a geography student from Manchester, the impact of these statistics resonated deeply. This issue is one in danger of being appropriated by southerners, so I consider it necessary to express my thoughts on poor northern intake to elite universities and how this affects my daily life as an Oxford student. There might be humorous sides to my northern identity, but perhaps this simply makes it more difficult to illuminate what are

serious and systematic disadvantages rooted in the country’s economic North/South Divide.

As one friend has pointed out, being northern becomes, to a certain extent, your identity at Oxford. Whilst people obviously define themselves in other ways too, a casual summary description of a northern (or Welsh, Scottish, American or international) student would always include their place of origin in a way which doesn’t apply to southerners.

The fact that we are in the minority makes us distinct from those who might be considered ‘normal’, and makes regional cultural differences obvious in our interactions with other students. This is a sentiment which is probably even more applicable to students of colour – and whilst this should not diminish the struggles of northerners – racial and ethnic minorities are undoubtedly subject to another dimension of alienation, something which was highlighted by David Lammy’s research.

Nevertheless, ‘The North’ seems to be unchartered territory for southerners. Not only have few of my university friends ever visited anywhere other than the Lake District or occasionally York, there is also a basic lack of knowledge about the region which makes it seem like it’s irrelevant to many. I find myself trying not to tell new people that I’m from a village between Bury and Bolton – “near Manchester” is the standard reply to the age-old conversation opener, “Where are you from?”. Literature and the media have painted a picture of the North as an industrial wasteland with constant rain and an impoverished populace, such that southerners maintain nega-

Being Northern becomes your identity at Oxford

Original photography by Emma Carter

Don’t wait for superefficent technologies to save the planet

I

become unjustifiably excited when I meet a single other person who lives within a two-hour drive from my home town. I didn’t realise how different the situation was for northerners until I saw that my Londonbased friends can’t identify with each other if they don’t live under three tube stops apart.

Whilst the community that northern students at Oxford belong to includes those from Liverpool, Manchester, Yorkshire, Newcastle, Cumbria and further, Londoners differentiate between themselves when they live even in separate areas of the same city.

It’s true that these experiences are shared among the few northerners in my college – a friend’s date telling her that “a northern accent is a very interesting novelty” is probably one of the more blatant ways that a southerner has acknowledged the differences between ‘them’ and ‘us’. But on a deeper level, someone’s voice being novel in the same country is worrying – there is a fundamental divide between northern and southern students here that is constantly highlighted in the everyday context.

Being ‘the northerner in the group’ may confer special status and an exemption from all posh jokes regardless of my private-school background, but I do think it has more sinister implications.

I realised the scale of the problem when faced with the stats: it’s particularly shocking that about

three-quarters of the UK population live outside London and the South East, yet this region contributes to nearly half of the population of Oxford students. According to the BBC, only 15% of Oxford offer holders came from the North West, the North East, Yorkshire, and the Humber combined between 2010-2015. In contrast, 48% came from London and South-East England.

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hilst well-meaning southerners are indignant on behalf of their northern counterparts, and angry at the obvious prejudice, it’s northerners themselves that should be explaining this issue. It’s not just about Oxford tutors being subconsciously discriminatory against northern accents, although this may contribute. A 2014 survey of British adults by ComRes found that northern accents (categorised as Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle) were consistently rated as

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

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The areas that account for 25% of Oxford offers

educational infrastructure. The high proportion of prestigious independent schools in the South, particularly in London, act as ‘feeder schools’ into Oxbridge. The Sutton Trust found that between 2002-2006, 15% of admissions to Oxbridge could be traced to just 30 schools across the country.

Private education, which is likely to provide better teaching and resources to equip students with promising applications, is less affordable and therefore less popular in the North.

E DATA: OXFORD UNIVERSITY, FOI REQUEST

perceived to be the least intelligent.

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his is, however, an issue that goes beyond the university.

The geographical disparities in admissions to top universities are a symptom of the country’s North/ South Divide. I don’t mean to justify the appalling statistics, but rather I wish to explain them in their wider economic context.

It is true that in London and the South East, a higher proportion of pupils achieve the standard AAA A-level requirement to realistically apply to Oxford or Cambridge. Whilst around 15,700 pupils from the South and East of the country get three As every year (according to figures from Oxford), this number falls to 6,000 in the North and 3,700 in the Midlands.

The divide in educational attainment is obvious, and demonstrative of the regional geography at play: the lottery of where you’re born determines where you’re going to end up.

In general, incomes are significantly lower in the North of England – Londoners on average have twice the economic value of people in the North of England, claims The Financial Times. The connection between family income and educational attainment is well-established, with a higher concentration of well-off families in the South producing a bigger pool of high-achieving students in this half of the country. Whilst there are, of course, exceptions to the rule, the lower grades that northern students get is partly down to lack of ambition, something which is emphasised much more in middleclass families with what Frank Ferudi (author and professor of sociology at the University of Kent) has labelled ‘intensive parenting’.

Then there’s the vicious economic circle: less money in the North means that professionals and those seeking higher incomes move to the South, taking their money with them to

only exacerbate the problem. This is something I’m considering myself: with a new base in Oxford, and friends around the country, returning to Manchester to work and earn a significantly lower salary than could be found in London is not especially appealing. London, alongside cities such as Bristol, is sucking in graduates due to its generous salary offers and exciting career prospects: The Guardian reported last year that the North sees a net loss of around 75,000 graduates per decade to the south. This creates a ‘brain-drain’ from the North, which denies that region the money it needs to develop economically. Not only that, but this exacerbates the divide in education, as graduates are typically those who will raise children who also become graduates.

This is something that the government is currently failing to address. George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse Partnership project has struggled so far to provide the transformational transport links the region so desperately needs. In the foreword to a recent NPP report, Osborne despairingly described northern areas of specific expertise as “in pockets across the region, separated by traditional geographic boundaries with proud local identities.” As a northerner and a geographer, I don’t see how differing local identities are insurmountable barriers to economic progress: the former Chancellor is almost painting northerners like tribes that can’t communicate with each other.

Therefore, there is simply less money in the north to create a solid

ven those that do get that opportunity seem to be disadvantaged, given that private schools in regions including Yorkshire, Humber, the East Midlands, and the North East send half as many students to Oxbridge as the national average. As southern private schools continue to send more students to top universities (such as Westminster School and St Paul’s Girls’ School, each of which sent almost half of their university applicants to Oxbridge over a fiveyear period, as the Sutton Trust found), they learn what works.

W h i l s t Oxbridge claims that they assess the potential of prospective students, it is worth asking whether this is possible: are they seeing the raw potential of a candidate, or a finished product? The statistics would suggest the latter, with so many of my university friends describing their southern schools as ‘Oxbridge machines’ that are able to mass-produce successful applications through the devotion of time and resources to high-achieving students.

The sheer number of people that I’ve met who attended London private schools is staggering: too many conversations involve me listening mutely as people discover or discuss their mutual friends from neighbouring schools.

Northern students think they won’t fit in at Oxbridge

Y

et the biggest contributor to this admissions pattern, in my view, is a result of the social implications of economic inequality. Oxford simply isn’t attractive to

many northern students. As Professor Danny Dorling explained in this year’s Access Lecture at University College, only 15-25% of straight-A students from the North and Wales applied to Oxford, compared to 30-35% in the South, even after adjusting for geographical differences in population and attainment.

Many northern students think that they won’t fit in at Oxbridge. The general atmosphere of the South is tangibly different to our home towns.

My sister, visiting a few days ago, notably echoed my exact first thought I had on arriving for an open day before applying: she remarked that people dress so much better in Oxford.

This might seem like a throwaway comment, but on closer examination it reveals the greater presence of the middle classes, who can afford expensive clothing through increased disposable income. There is a middleclass feel which permeates Oxford, and which may be intimidating to northern students who haven’t encountered this before and feel that it may not suit them: perhaps this explains why so many of the northern Oxford students I know in fact come from the pockets of affluence which pepper the region.

It’s worth acknowledging that university students do tend to choose institutions closer to home (the £50, four-hour train journey home sometimes makes me wish I’d done the same), and the vast majority of my home friends do attend northern universities.

Not only do the aforementioned factors contribute to this, but I would say that we were conditioned at school to apply to these institutions partly through the precedent set by previous years. I was the only student from my school to go to Oxbridge that year, in contrast to the hordes sent from some southern schools.

It would therefore seem that many northern students don’t find Oxford accessible as a result of the monopoly of middle-class, privateschool-educated students – it’s a selfperpetuating cycle. Oxford life suits me well, and the differences I find myself remarking upon are ultimately all in a jokey way, but there are times when being singled out as regionally foreign can be alienating – we’ve got to work against that if these statistics are going to improve any time soon.

Friday, 3 November 2017 | Cherwell

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Science+Tech GENETIC MODIFICATION

‘Miracle’ salt-tolerant rice yields bumper crop Nina Billows reports on the successful first harvest of a crop that could feed 200 million

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ecently, Chinese scientists have developed several ‘miracle’ rice varieties that can grow in conditions with high salinity. This is the first large scale harvesting of such crops. Since China has 100 million hectares of soil with high salt content, which cannot be used for conventional crops, the rollout of these new rice varieties could feed hundreds of millions. The new rice types were created using pioneering molecular techniques, as well as traditional breeding strategies.

There are huge implications for the development of these crops, especially due to hunger crises and sea level rises caused by climate change.

Salt tolerant rice are varieties of the traditional crop that are adapted for environments with high salinity.

They were first discovered in 1986 by rice expert, Chen Risheng, and have since been engineered to be able to grow in extreme alkaline conditions and to survive in sea water. Despite their early discovery, successful harvests have only just begun. This is

China currently has 100 million hectares of land with high salinity

due to stalks of the rice collapsing and poorer molecular technology.

More recently, scientists have been able the achieve yields greater than 300kg per mu (667 square metres).

They hope to increase these yields to solve future problems.

Yuan Longping, chief of the Quindao Sea Rice Research and Development centre in China, has been pioneering rice modification techniques since the early nineties.

There are two techniques involved in modifying rice to cope in high salinity conditions.

The first is a traditional method, where plants are bred through a process called recurrent backcross breeding, which allows the gene for a particular trait to be transferred into a high-yielding variety of the plant.

Here recurrent backcrossing produces salt tolerant rice varieties that have substantially the high yielding genome of the crop but carry a specific gene conferring salt tolerance.

Additionally, Longping and his colleagues have cloned a salt tolerant gene using modern methods and, using molecular techniques, have transformed high yielding varieties of rice to contain this cloned gene.

Both methods have been very useful in producing several salt tolerant rice varieties. However, molecular techniques have had a faster turnover of salt tolerant rice.

There are many implications of

producing salt tolerant rice that may have future impacts. With the hope of improved farming and utilisation of space, salt tolerant rice is thought to be a solution to world hunger.

The Independent has suggested that if one tenth of areas with saline soil were to be planted with rice, 50 million tonnes of food could be harvested, which is enough to feed 200 million people.

Given that 12.7 million children in China are stunted because of chronic malnutrition, the increased food will not only boost rice production and profit but should improve health across the country.

The new rice is also said to be

more nutritious, containing a higher amount of nutrients such as calcium.

Despite such benefits, one issue with this is the expense of the rice, valued at eight times the price of ordinary rice.

With time, the technology should improve and become easier to use, which will hopefully

It is hoped that this will resolve hunger crises around the world

reduce the expense. It is hoped this will also solve hunger crises throughout the rest of the developing world in alignment with the 2016 agreement between China and the World Food Programme – a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ that pushes developing countries to draw on China’s experience to solve their own poverty and hunger issues.

With sea levels rising, and an increased rate of natural disasters, the amount of farmland lost to increased salinity is only going to grow from here. So, while it is useful now, having new crops and technology like this is going to be absolutely essential in the future.

Astronomers observe the first comet from outside our solar system

By IRTEZA ISHRAQ

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or the first time, astronomers think they have identified a comet originating from outside of our solar system. While most comets take a long time to swing round close to us, they do orbit the sun and so will come back regularly.

This comet, however, is observed to be moving so fast that it must have come from deep space and will leave our solar system forever after it passes by.

As well as its high speed, its extraordinarily close pass by the Sun has impressed astronomers.

Lovingly named A/2017 U1, the object was first detected on 19 August by the University of Hawaii’s STARRS 1 telescope, and later confirmed by the European Space Agency’s telescope in Tenerife.

At about 400 metres wide, the comet was seen hurtling through interstellar space at speeds of almost 16 miles per second.

While all other comets we’ve seen have an elliptical orbit around the Sun, meaning that they come back around eventually, A/2017

U1 appears to have an extreme hyperbolic orbit, which does not loop back around.

This has fascinated astronomers and led to questions over its origins, with preliminary analysis suggesting it came from the direction of the Lyra constellation.

Further modelling has predicted its trajectory to leave the solar system.

The comet entered our solar system from well above the plane of most planetary orbits, first hur tling b e t w e e n M e r c u r y and the Sun, before finally beginning its escape by passing 15 million miles below the orbit of Earth.

“This is the most extreme orbit I have ever seen,” said Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a press release. “It is going extremely fast

The comet was hurtling through space at 16 miles per second

and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back.”

Although the origins of A/2017 U1 aren’t completely determined, astronomers are excited at the potential origin story of this rogue comet.

“We have long suspected that these objects should exist, because during the process of planet formation a lot of material should be ejected from planetary systems,” said Karen Meech, an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Hawaii.

“What’s most surprising is that we’ve never seen interstellar objects pass through before.”

This is the first instance of an object from outside the solar system being observed, and thus the rules for naming this type of object are yet to be determined International Astronomical Union.

Most of the comets we observe come from the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is a disc shaped region that extends past the orbit of Neptune, containing the many remnants of early planetary formation

in our solar system.

Kuiper Belt comets are identified by their elliptical orbits, which tend to lie in the same plane as that of the planets in our solar system.

Some scientists theorise the existence of a larger collective of icy planetesimals, known as the Oort Cloud. The matter composing the Oort cloud is conjectured to have been scattered into space by the gravitational effects of giant planets early in the Solar System’s life.

Thought to exist about 2000 Astronomical Units (AU) away – a

distance 2000 times greater than the space between Earth and the Sun – the Oort Cloud is said to account for objects with orbital periods of greater than 200 years.

The extreme hyperbolic orbit of A/2017 U1 suggests it is unlikely that it lies in either of the Oort Cloud or Kuiper Belt.

Further observations should confirm the origins of A/2017 U1, and if proven that the asteroid has origins outside our own solar system, its brief trip to our solar system could shed light on early planetary formation.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

15

Sport Hungover Varsity start would be “an honour”, says ex-pro Talotti hat-trick heroes RUGBY UNION

By MATT ROLLER

“It was the right decision to make.”

After five seasons in the Italian top flight, three in the European Challenge Cup and one in the Heineken Cup, Roberto Talotti called time on professional rugby career at the age of just 23. The flanker had struggled for game time in the 2008/9 season at the club he had joined as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, and made the “very tough” call to return to full-time education in South Africa.

A rugby fanatic, Talotti did not take the decision likely, but his affinity for management and business outweighed his desperation for another chance to play at the top level.

Eight years on, Talotti has the opportunity to play in the secondoldest regular fi xture in the game – only England vs Scotland has been played for longer – after beginning his study for an MBA. “The term ‘excited’ is an understatement,” he told Cherwell. “I can remember watching the Varsity Match as a youngster and being in complete awe of the occasion. To be a part of such a historic fi xture would be an honour and a privilege.”

While the South African-born flanker admits that he wonders what might have happened if he had continued playing professionally, he is clearly delighted with how things have turned out for him.

“I was fortunate enough to have played professionally for five years, learnt Italian, and travelled all over Europe,” he continued.

Indeed, in a five-year career, Talotti played in the U19 and U21 World Cups and Six Nations, winning the Coppa Italia and challenged himself against European giants Saracens, Harlequins and Biarritz – where he

faced his “toughest opponent” in French back row Imanol Harinordoquy – in knockout competitions: for a man scouted at school and thrown into the first-team set-up one month into his trial, it was a dream foray into the professional game.

Furthermore, his working career is by no means a backup. His enthusiasm for business is clear, and he describes his Oxford experience to date as “intense, diverse [and] inspiring.”

“I have always wanted to study for an MBA,” he told Cherwell, “and Oxford was on top of my list. An MBA is important in advancing one’s career within an organisation… [it] will provide me with invaluable skills, allowing me to develop my business acumen. I am loving every minute,

and I cannot believe that I have been here two months already.”

Moreover, Talotti’s Blues career has got off to a flying start. After coming off the bench to score the decisive try against Bucs Super Rugby champions Hartpury College, the flanker made his full debut two weeks ago in the clash against Trinity College, Dublin.Again Talotti impressed, making himself a nuisance at the breakdown and thwarting the Dubliners with some crunching tackles, before his second-half try in the corner sealed a 21-17 win for the Blues.

“It was massively important to get off to a good start,” he said. “It was a brilliant team effort by the boys, and we showed great determination and tenacity to get the wins.”

Rugby Union Men’s Blue called up to Canada squad

Football Bucs goal glut for Women’s Blues

Eton Fives Dark Football Brasenose Blues’ double put twenty goals tournament delight past Univ

Centre Dan Moor has been called up to Canada’s squad ahead of their fi xture against the Maori All Blacks in Vancouver this Friday. The Christ Church student is set to win his 16th cap for the national team, having made his debut against Uruguay last year. Moor is also set to become the eight Canadian to appear in the Varsity Match if selected for the prestigious fi xture at Twickenham in December.

After a close pair of opening fixtures, the Women’s Blues cemented their position at the top of the Bucs Midlands 2B by thrashing Bedfordshire and the University of East Anglia.

Maddie Hooper’s side won 6-0 at home to UEA in third week before going one better on Wednesday.

Bedfordshire’s start to the season has been miserable, including an 8-0 defeat at Warwick, and the Blues put seven past them to secure top spot.

Both men’s and women’s tournaments at University Eton Fives Championships were won by Oxford pairs last week. In an all-Oxford women’s fi nal, fi rst pair Georgia Allen and Marjolaine Briscoe thrashed Rosie Parr and Carolina Valensise 12-2, 12-0. Meanwhile, in the men’s tournament, Thomas Kirkby and James Piggot defeated a Cambridge pair 12-5, 12-4 to win their second tournament as a pair.

Univ were on the end of a humiliating result in the JCR Third Division, losing 20-0 to Brasenose. Calum Flintoff scored four and set up four more, with Tom Steer also netting four to go with his three assists. Brasenose’s Will Stone told Cherwell that the side had been “fairly clinical”, adding “I assume there had been some heavy nights for the Univ team.” However, Univ did manage to bounce back with a 2-2 draw against Trinity this week.

Men’s JCR Football Premier Div

Bucs Women’s Football Midlands 2B

Bucs Men’s Hockey South B

Bucs Women’s Hockey South A

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By SECRET COLLEGE FOOTBALLER

Talotti had the chance to play at the highest level of European competition during his Viadana spell

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On a personal level, it was vital for the 31-year-old to come through his first couple of games for Oxford unscathed. After all, only seven months previously, he had undergone a serious operation to his shoulder, and these were his first appearances since: “I was quite relieved to get through them intact,” he admitted.

After those two wins, and a 41-24 thrashing of Championship side Bristol’s Academy, Oxford have won three home games on the spin, and look well placed ahead of December’s clash with the Light Blues at Twickenham, with Cambridge currently three games without a win. And if they are to come out victorious in the season’s biggest fi xture, you can bet that Roberto Talotti will have more than something to do with it.

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3

5

St. Catz

0

1

2

1

4

East Anglia 1

0

2

1

2

4

Exeter 2

1

0

2

3

4

Cardiff 1

2

0

2

6

6

Worcester

0

1

2

1

5

Bedfordshire 1

0

1

2

1

5

Bath 2

0

1

1

1

5

Bristol 1

1

0

4

3

7

Queen’s

0

0

1

0

6

Northampton 1

0

0

2

0

6

Canterbury CC 1

0

0

3

0

6

Cambridge 1

0

1

4

1

College football inspires a unique level of commitment among players.

Obviously, you’re not going to let anything stop you playing, but nor are you necessarily going to miss a night out because you have a match the next day. This particular recipe of priorities sometimes makes for a somewhat stomach-churning concoction – the hungover game.

No matter what you might think, eventually it creeps up on you, and when it does, you just have to face it. 2pm kick-off, you say to yourself as you crack open that first cold one at pre’s, plenty of time to have a lie in and wake yourself up after a night at Bridge/Park End/miscellaneous other venue. If Paul Gascoigne could do it before Euro ’96, why can’t you?

Because you aren’t Gazza, you realise as you awake the next morning, just in time to see it turn into afternoon. You might have all of his charm and grace on the pitch, but it won’t count for anything if your beleaguered legs can’t even carry you to the ground.

The thought of bailing on the game crosses your mind, but is soon shattered as the college crest on your shirt catches your eye, its radiance engulfing your bleary-eyed vision.

Of course, you could never turn your back on the team. When destiny calls, college footballers answer, their voices echoing through darkness and adversity. Also, it’s your job to bring the kit this week, and you’d never hear the end of it from your teammates.

So, how best to deal with the situation? Drinking copious amounts of water before setting off is a must.

Not only does rehydration reduce the effects of the hangover, it’s a well-known fact that players perform better when on edge, and nothing puts you more on edge than slightly needing a wee during the game.

However, that could be the least of your bodily concerns, as you become increasingly aware of last night’s Hassan’s impeding your pace and movement. There are two potential solutions to this problem, the first being to keep pace and movement to a minimum. Dictate the play from deep and use your natural vision and ability to read the game to become the pivot on which the team moves, à la Andrea Pirlo.

Alternatively, those of a more box-to-box persuasion may have to indulge in a discreet tactical chunder in the toilets before kick-off. This was a strategy perfected by the Leicester City team of 2015-16, whose boundless energy on empty stomachs carried them to the Premier League title against all odds.

Jamie Vardy may have been having a party, but he always managed to recover in time for the next game. Hectic fixture schedules mean that college footballers often go without the luxury of time, so the path through hangover hell is a well-trodden one.

With that in mind, players can take comfort in the fact that, when they face their next hungover game, at least they’re in good company.

Cherwell | Friday, 3 November 2017

Sport

Talotti’s flying start

After tries in his first two Blues appearances, Rob Talotti speaks to Cherwell about his professional career

FOOTBALL

England on the brink of success

Thelen at the double in Blues win

By TJ FITZGERALD

Oxford striker Dom Thelen celebrates his opening goal in last year’s Varsity Match PHOTO: DAVID BAUCKHAM/CENTRE CIRCLE PUBLISHING

Men’s Blues

2

Oxford Brookes

0

By THOMAS BROWNE The Men’s Blues went into Wednesday’s game against Oxford Brookes full of confidence, looking to extend a winning start to their Bucs Midlands 1A campaign which saw them go in with a 100% record.

However, previous encounters have shown that form goes out the window when facing Brookes, with the Blues having failed to beat their city rivals in any fixture since 2013.

The Blues knew what to expect against a physical and compact side, and coach Mickey Lewis had

FOOTBALL

Corpus seconds finally triumph

By DERMOT CUDMORE

them well drilled in anticipation of the expected aerial assault.

The game started much like everyone had expected, with Brookes looking to press the Blues on the ball and release their strikers with balls over the top.

However, the centre-back trio of Sam Hale, Cian Wade, and Alex Urwin dealt with the pressure well, and it was the Blues who looked to impose themselves on the game, using the diagonal switch ball to great effect.

Striker Dom Thelen, in the starting line-up after an injury-hit preseason, threatened constantly, bringing the ball down well and beating the Brookes centre-backs with ease.

The pressure soon told, with Thelen lobbing the keeper after

good work down the right wing to open the scoring. A 1-0 scoreline at half time was probably a fair reflection of how the game had gone.

The second half saw Brookes again fly out of the traps, looking to dominate the physical battle.

But again the Blues stood firm, playing the ball well and looking dangerous when going forward.

Good build-up play resulted in a ricocheting ball falling to the clinical Thelen, who dispatched calmly to make it 2-0. Thelen was the Blues’ top scorer last season, and opened the scoring in the Varsity Match at The Hive: it is crucial for Oxford’s success that he stays fit for the rest of 2017/8.

The following 20 minutes were a battle, with Brookes becoming

increasingly confident in their forward play and committing more men forward, looking for a route back into the game.

However, bar a fantastic save from keeper Sean Gleeson, the Blues back line rarely looked troubled.

And it could have been even more for the Blues, with captain Urwin’s free-kick forcing the keeper into a fingertip save, and striker Mo Eghleilib hitting the woodwork.

Ultimately, it was a deserved win for Oxford, who made it four wins from four and are now sitting pretty at the top of the table: it is a dream position to be in looking forward to Brookes Varsity and a league fixture against Cambridge in the next few weeks.

Whilst Corpus Christi continues its quincentenary celebrations, a piece of sporting history was made. The 2nd XI side, led by captains Jack Counsell and Maxi Brook-Gandy, won their first game in over two years, with an emphatic 7-1 victory over local rivals Christ Church.

An ominous start to the season saw Corpus defeated by Benet’s 8-4, as the monks from the suburbs competed in their first ever game in college football. This was followed by an early Cuppers exit after only eight Corpus players were available.

Fresher James Dempsey, known around college as ‘Sports Guy’, was man of the match having signed for the side in a drunken deal the night before at Ahmed’s kebab van. Two goals and an assist, including a delightful near-post twenty-yard curler that somehow

managed to bounce over the keepers head on its way in, marked an astounding debut.

Tactics and endeavour proved critical in a game of little skill.

Christ Church tactics composed of sending up hopeful long balls to two tall strikers. However, despite constant chat, they provided no threat to the Corpus Christi back line.

The 4-5-1 formation, however, allowed Corpus to dominate the midfield. The Merton Street college seemed to want it more and this dedication was exemplified by fifth goal.

Counsell, chasing an over-hit through ball, clattered into the keeper, and knocked the ball out of his hands.

Showing the predatory instinct for which he is now famed, the skipper slotted the loose ball into the net, and then jogged towards

the centre circle with such confidence that the referee – who happened to be from Corpus – had no choice but to award the goal.

To truly understand the importance of this result, consider the historical relations between the two colleges.

Encircled by their larger neighbour for many centuries, exacerbated by the annexation of the garden in the 19th century, Corpus has often felt like an underdog in size, if not in spirit.

Even though they lack the resources of Christ Church, with two Corpus players in basketball tops juxtaposed with the matching socks of their opposition, Corpus won the battle between the worst two teams in college football.

It was a fixture steeped in history, but a fixture that gives hope for a new generation of sub-par Corpuscle footballers.

“Youngsters these days have no regard for tradition. We don’t get to finals of world cups [sic]. How dare they.”

Peter Crouch’s tweet sums up English international football at the moment. England have struggled to find success for a long time now at international football at the senior level.

Gareth Southgate’s England may have qualified for the 2018 World Cup and have not been beaten in over 35 qualifying games for major tournaments. They have the odd world-class player such as Harry Kane leading the line, but, to be honest, nobody is going into this World Cup full of confidence.

However, at youth level, England cannot stop winning. So far in 2017 England have won the Under-17 World Cup, the Under-20 World Cup and the European Under-19 Championships. Maybe World Cups are just like buses: we wait fifty years and then two come at once. Rhian Brewster has grabbed a lot of the headlines throughout the U17 tournament, scoring hattricks in both the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, and leading the massive comeback from 2-0 down to winning 5-2 in the final.

The Liverpool striker’s eight goals throughout the tournament have shown the world why Jürgen Klopp is so excited about this young talent. However, he is just one of a much wider team that has had so much success.

The Under-20 team saw similar success this summer too, with Liverpool forward Dominic Solanke winning the Golden Boot at that age group’s World Cup. Many of these young players are trying to fight their way into their respective clubs’ starting teams. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is regularly starting for Everton, and Joe Gomez (England U21 Captain) and Trent Alexander-Arnold are shining this season for Liverpool.

This is providing England fans with a lot of hope for the future.

After all, not only do England have a sensational amount of talent about to break through, but also the current senior line-up has a number of young stars, such as Marcus Rashford and Dele Alli, in the team. Jordan Pickford is a promising young keeper, and Kane will be in the prime of his career by 2022.

All England need is a top manager to help organise the national team in an effective manner and bring the success in international football at the senior level that we all hope for.

Mauricio Pochettino has played a big role in bringing a number of current England players through, and has been described as ‘England’s secret weapon’ by Gareth Southgate.

Indeed, Pochettino has recently revealed ambitions to manage England in the future – so maybe, England senior team may one day soon follow its youth divisions and bring the World Cup home.