Cherwell - 7th Week Michaelmas 2020

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Vol.292 No.5 | 7th week

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Friday, 27th November 2020

100 YEARS

A century of independence since 1920

OXFORD MARKS TRANSGENDER AWARENESS WEEK Issy Kenney-Herbert

CW: transphobia, suicide Students set up a memorial in honour of Transgender Day of Remembrance in front of the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford colleges flew trans pride flags, and Oxford SU LGBTQ+ Campaign held events to mark Transgender Awareness Week.

On Friday, students set up the memorial pictured on the right, attaching a trans flag with the words ‘We Will Not Be Erased’, alongside two large assortments of posters featuring the names of the 242 victims in 2020 so far to the railings of the Radcliffe Camera.

Elliot Brooke, one of the organisers of this memorial, told Cherwell that the intent “was to honour the trans people who passed away this year”. Brooke said that the significance of this memorial is that the trans community is often neglected, stating that “there

was something cathartic, healing and empowering about putting something together that was going to get people’s attention for a community that is often ignored and forgotten”.

For trans and gender-non conforming people, this last year was one of the deadliest on record, with a 6% increase in reported murders from 2019.

As the statement alongside this memorial noted: “Unfortunately, we must recognise that the true number is likely far greater than 350, as often the death of many transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals goes unreported. In addition, this number does not include trans individuals who may have taken their own lives as a result of the transphobia they face from a society in which prejudice against them is still very much ingrained.”

River Deng, another of the organisers behind this and Oxford’s

Queer Week 2020, said: “This memorial also represents that there are people who care.” He went on to say that this week has highlighted that “trans love is the most important thing to me, out of all this grief and loss our community suffers and will suffer, no matter what, people will come together to love each other”.

Pax Butchard, one of the Continued on page 2

OXFORD PLACED IN TIER 2 Abigail Howe

It was announced on Thursday that Oxfordshire will be placed into Tier 2 after the end of lockdown on 2 December 2020.

Under this tier, household mixing indoors is not allowed. The ‘rule of six’ applies for outdoor meetings. Pubs and bars must not serve drinks unless accompanying ‘substantial meals’, and venues must stop taking orders by 10pm and close at 11pm.

In all tiers, many more businesses and venues will be allowed to remain open than under the most recent lockdown. This includes: • Essential and non-essential retail services

•

Gyms, swimming pools and sports courts (although indoor group activities and classes should not take place in Tier 3) • Personal care and close contact services like hairdressers, barbers, tattoo parlours • Public buildings such as libraries, community centres and halls • Places of worship – subject to relevant social contact rules in each tier.

This tiered system is uniform and applies nationally, without any negotiations with regional governments. This means that additional measures cannot be imposed upon particular regions,

which occurred in the first tiered system. The allocation of tiers will be dependent on a range of factors, including pressure on the local NHS services, each area’s case numbers (and, in particular, the number of people over sixty who are testing positive), and the reproduction rate. Tier allocations will be reviewed on a fortnightly basis and this regional approach is expected to last until March.

Under the previous tiered system, Oxford city moved into Tier 2 on Saturday 31st October, just before the national lockdown.

Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said: “It’s the right move for Oxfordshire to go into Tier 2 after

lockdown. The county’s numbers are looking good compared to surrounding areas thanks to superb teamworking of our local experts and leaders, under a county-wide systems approach.

“But we need to keep this trend going downwards, which is why it’s vital that we all follow the Tier 2 restrictions, so we don’t see a new uptick in cases in December and January.

“We must be careful for Christmas. And there are still serious questions to ask over the tiers system, which for many areas didn’t work last time. So today I called on Matt Hancock to listen to our local systems and give them the chance to lead, so we can be more flexible

than before and take precautionary action where needed.”

Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, told the Oxford Mail: “I want to thank everyone in Oxford for sticking to the lockdown rules and helping bring the infection rate down in the city. This has been a whole community effort and the way you all have responded – businesses, residents and students – means Oxford’s case numbers started to come down last week. This is great news, but we are not out of the woods yet and we will all need to continue to take precautions to make sure the decrease in cases in the city continues.

Continued on page 3

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

2 | News

WHAT’S INSIDE LEADER I just want to do my essay!

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NEWS INVESTIGATION: toxic chemical in hand sanitisers

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Christ Church Dean steps aside

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Academics criticise Facebook for ‘censorship’ of article

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All Souls Library name changed, but statue of slaveholder remains

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COMMENT A century of women at Oxford The dark side of Black Friday Catcalling is never a compliment FEATURES Keeping Venice afloat: the fight for sustainable tourism SPORT Play like a child: sport in lockdown

“C

Continued from page 1 organisers involved with this and Merton’s Trans Awareness Week, said to Cherwell that “Oxford is a city that is quite divided on this issue” and went on to say that while “Oxford can be proud of itself this week, it shouldn’t get complacent about how much work there is to be done”.

Oxford LGBTQ+ Campaign held events on the annual Trans Day of Remembrance. There were services at Wadham College chapel and Hertford College chapel, which were broadcast on Zoom.

Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society held an online breakout space for people seeking support before, during, and after the services.

They also encouraged people to turn off their lights at 6-6:10pm in commemoration of trans people who died this year.

Since January 1, 2008, the

TMM project has monitored reports of transgender murders.

Since then, the number of cases recorded reached a total of 3665 in 75 countries and territories worldwide. In the US, 89% of those killed were trans or genderdiverse people of colour.

Some colleges raised trans pride flags to mark Trans Aware-

ness Week. Pictured below is Magdalen College’s flag. Merton, New, and Linacre are among other colleges who flew the trans pride flag.

Image credit: Zachary Elliott (above and front page), Laura Löser (below)

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Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine up to 90% effective Millie Wood

This week, the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was found to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19 symptoms.

The preliminary data from phase III clinical trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK suggests that the vaccine is 70.4% effective across two different dosing regimes - better than the seasonal flu jab.

The vaccine had 62% efficacy when two full doses were given to nearly 9,000 people at least a month apart.

However a further study of 3,000 people found that the vaccine was 90% effective if a half dose was administered first, followed by a full dose at least a month later. It is not yet clear why the two regimes produced such different rates of immunity.

The full phase III analysis and safety data will now be submitted for independent peer review as well as to government regulators

around the world.

AstraZeneca has already agreed orders for hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine, including up to 400 million to Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance and 300 million to the US. The UK government has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, which given the optimal dosage regime, should be enough to immunise the entire population.

Four million doses of the vaccine are ready to be distributed, pending regulatory approval.

Although it is unclear who will receive the first available doses.

AstraZeneca has said that it is prepared to produce up to three billion doses in 2021.

The announcement is excellent news for global access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Hailing its effort as the “vaccine for the world”, AstraZeneca has promised to produce the vaccine at cost for the course of the pandemic and ensure that lowincome countries are not at the back of the queue for doses.

The Oxford vaccine is more accessible in cost and storage than its Pfizer and Moderna counterparts, which both announced around 95% efficacy last week.

The vaccine is stable at standard fridge temperatures of between 2-8 degrees Celsius.

This makes it easier to distribute than the other vaccines, which all require sub-zero temperatures to remain stable. It is also much cheaper at around £3 per dose compared to £15 for Pfizer’s or £25 for Moderna’s.

Oxford has taken a different approach to both Pfizer and Moderna. The Oxford vaccine is developed from a genetically modified common cold virus (adenovirus). Adenovirus vaccines have been in use and researched for decades. Pzifer and Moderna have taken a more experimental approach called mRNA, which involves injecting part of the virus’s genetic code into the body in order to train the immune system against it.

If this strategy proves effective,

it will pave the way for a new era in vaccine technology.

Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford, said: “This is a great day for the University of Oxford and for universities everywhere.

Pushing at the frontiers of knowledge with partners across the globe and putting our extraordinary brainpower in service to society, is what we do best.”

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “Today marks an important milestone in our fight against the pandemic. This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency. Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval.”

“Serendipity” was how Mene

STUDENTS Continued from page 1 “We are exiting into Tier 2, which means we can enjoy a bit more normality and social life, and it will give a welcome boost to our local businesses. Please do enjoy the run up to Christmas by using local shops and hospitality safely, but remember, the rule of six only applies outside and indoors you must stay in your household or bubble. Continue to take sensible precautions and don’t break the rules. What we each do now will make a real difference to keeping safe over the Christmas break.”

Households will be allowed to travel to form a Christmas ‘bubble’ of up to three households.

However, bubbles should not be changed throughout the period and should be exclusive in order to minimise potential infection.

Other measures are also included in an attempt to limit risk – for example, between 23 and 27 December, people will not be allowed to meet friends and family in private homes unless they are part of the same Christmas ‘bubble’. The government guidelines stated that a “fixed bubble is a sensible and proportionate way to balance the desire to spend time with others over the Christmas period, while limiting the risk of spreading infection… You should consider ways to celebrate Christmas in other ways, such as the use of technology and meeting outdoors, without bringing households together or travelling between different parts of the country”.

Professor Brendan Wren at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine urged caution, arguing that: “The best Christmas present ever is the promise of a new effective Covid-19 vaccine for everyone. It would be foolish to spoil this by relaxing measures too far and causing unnecessary deaths”.

News | 3 UNIVERSITY

Pangalos, executive vicepresident of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, described the discovery that the vaccine is 90% effective when administered as a half dose followed by a full dose.

The dose had accidentially been “underpredicted... by half”.

Professor Sarah Gilbert from Oxford University, who led the research, said: “It could be that by giving a small amount of the vaccine to start with and following up with a big amount, that’s a better way of kicking the immune system into action and giving us the strongest immune response and the most effective immune response.”

Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the trial, added: “What we don’t know at this moment is whether that difference is in the quality or the quantity of immune response.

And that’s something we’re going to be digging into over the next weeks.”

INVESTIGATIONS

Toxic chemical in University hand sanitisers Rachel Muir and Stephan Nitu

The results from the trials of the Relisan hand sanitiser, purchased

by Oxford University for use in its facilities, has been found to contain a synthetic fragrance called butylphenyl methylpropional, also known as lilial, which has been banned by the EU. The European Chemical Agency states that lilial “is harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects, is suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child, causes skin irritation and may cause an allergic skin reaction.” Lilial is also under assessment as endocrine disrupting, meaning that it is suspected of negatively interfering with hormonal systems and triggering developmental consequences for humans and animals.

In June 2019, the European Chemicals Agency reclassified lilial’s reproductive toxicity from Category 2 to Category 1B, meaning that lilial must now carry a label saying that it “may damage fertility and is suspected of damaging the unborn child”, and in August 2020 the EU formally banned lilial, meaning that all manufacturers must remove it from their formulae

by March 2022.

The EU decision states: “Article 15 of the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation (CPR) prohibits substances classified as Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or Reprotoxic (CMR) under the CLP Reg ulation from being used in cosmetic products, unless a specific exemption is granted.” It goes on to add that butylphenyl methylpropional, which is classified as Reprotoxic, “does not meet the criteria for exemption”.

Whilst it might be the case that the UK does not choose to comply with this law under a post-Brexit

free trade agreement, a special government report in 2019 on Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life recommended that the UK government should “set targets for the elimination of endocrine disrupting chemicals from consumer products”. The government pledged its commitment to uphold the EU legislation on restricted chemicals, stating: “The preparations that have been made for our exit from the EU ensure that equivalent levels of protection will be replicated under an independent UK chemicals regime, UK REACH.” The recent EU ban highlights the dangers of continued use of this chemical, and with the increased precautions students and staff are having to take when entering University buildings as a result of the pandemic, many could be exposing themselves to it on a daily basis.

A spokesperson from the University said: “The University reviewed the safety data sheets for all the hand sanitisers it procured centrally to ensure compliance with current legislation and safety standards. These data sheets did not reveal the presence of butylphenyl methylpropional in Relisan as a substance hazardous to health.

In compliance with current legislation suppliers are only required to highlight within their safety data sheets if any chemical in the product exceeds any prescribed levels for substances hazardous to health.”

However, the presence of butylphenyl methylpropional in Relisan is evident from the ingredient list on the bottles of sanitiser themselves, despite it not appearing on the data sheets. Moreover, there is no EUdetermined level of safe exposure for lilial in cosmetics, and the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety in May 2019 stated that while

“on an individual product basis” butylphenyl methylpropional with alpha tocopherol at 200ppm, “can be considered safe when used as fragrance ingredient in different cosmetic leave-on and rinse-off type products”, when considering the “first-tier deterministic aggregate exposure, arising from the use of different product types together, butylphenyl methylpropional at the proposed concentrations cannot be considered as safe.”

The University spokesperson added: “The University periodically reviews the products it procures to support its operations and there are currently no plans for further purchases of Relisan. As part of its normal due diligence processes the University will continue to review the safety data sheets provided for all products it procures centrally to support its operations.”

However, they did not comment on how widespread the use of this brand of hand sanitiser already is throughout the University.

Whilst companies are therefore still able to get away with not listing lilial on their data sheets, and the removal of this chemical is not required in cosmetic products until 2022,

it is clear that Oxford University should reconsider their decision to distribute a hand sanitiser containing a chemical with proven adverse effects. Relisan hand sanitizer also contains Propylene Glycol, which was granted the dubious honour of being named the American Contact Dermatitis Society’s Allergen of the Year for 2018.

While the University is not breaking any laws by purchasing this brand of sanitiser, it is also not putting enough consideration into the health and safety of its staff and students when making decisions about which products to buy for its facilities.

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020 SCIENCE & TECH

4 | News UNIVERSITY

Oxford labelled most influential research institution in the UK Jonny Yang

Oxford’s academics are the most cited researchers in the UK and the second most cited in all of Europe, a report by Clarivate suggests.

Oxford boasts 52 individuals on the 2020 Highly Cite Researchers List, out of a total of 6167 worldwide.

Professor Patrick Grant, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at Oxford, said: “We are fortunate to have so many eminent researchers who are addressing many of the world’s most pressing problems and exciting opportunities. Their work and the impact it produces inspires us all.

“This global recognition of individuals also speaks to the excellence of the research students, early career researchers and staff who support and contribute to our research.”

According to the list, Harvard University in the US remains the most cited institution (188

researchers) in the world and the Max Planck Society in Germany remains the most cited institution in Europe (70 researchers).

China has experienced a major surge in influential research over the past decade, going from 636 researchers making up 10.2% of the list in 2019 to 770 researchers making up 12.1% of the list in 2020. In particular, Tsinghua University in Beijing has moved from 19th place to 9th place in just one year. This places China in second place for research influence, below the USA and above the UK. The list is assembled by analysing the top 1% most cited papers across 21 fields from 2009-2019.

To be featured, an academic must have published a large number of highly cited papers and have a large number of total citations.

The threshold value for a paper to be classified as ‘highly cited’ differs across fields, with Clinical Medicine requiring the highest

SCIENCE & TECH

COVID-19 immunity lasts months Daisy Aitchison

An Oxford study has shown that people who have had coronavirus are likely to be immune from the disease for at least six months.

Research was conducted by the university and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust over a six-month period. 12,180 healthcare workers were regularly tested for coronavirus to analyse COVID-19 reinfection rates.

Antibody tests showed that 1,246 employees had already had the virus. 89 of 11,052 staff who had not had the disease at the start of the study went on to develop a symptomatic infection.

However only 3 of those who had previously been infected tested positive for coronavirus a second time.

The findings show that those who have had COVID-19 are unlikely to test positive again within six months of infection.

The study also noted that those who caught the virus for a second time were all asymptomatic.

These findings mark the first large scale study of the levels of protection those infected by coronavirus have against contracting the disease again.

However the findings have yet to be peer reviewed.

Previous research involving staff at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had concluded that antibody levels dropped quickly following infection. This meant individuals were potentially exposed to contracting the virus for a second time.

Professor David Eyre, a member of the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Population Health, highlighted the impor-

tance of the new research: “We know from a previous study that antibody levels fall over time, but this latest study shows that there is some immunity in those who have been infected...

“This is really good news, as we can be confident that, at least in the short term, most people who get COVID-19 won’t get it again”.

Sue Hopkins, one of the authors of the paper, spoke of the broader importance of the recent Oxford research: “This study is a fantastic example of how well-structed long-term cohort surveillance can produce hugely useful results. Studies like this one are absolutely vital in helping us to understand how this new virus behaves and what the implications are for acquired immunity.

This, as well as Public Health England’s SIREN study, are key to ensuring that we have the information we need to respond to the pandemic in the most effective way.”

Image credit: Amir Pichhadze

threshold and Economics and Business requiring the lowest.

David Pendlebury, a Senior Citation Analyst at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate, said: “In the race for knowledge, it is human capital that is fundamental and this list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers at Oxford University who are having a great impact on the research community as measured by the rate at which their work is being cited by others.”

Laura Herz, Associate Head of the MPLS Division (Research), added: “I am really delighted to be included in the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers List. It’s fantastic to see so many researchers from a number of different MPLS (Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences) Departments represented which demonstrates the strong research base we have within the Division and across the University as a whole.”

Study suggests vaccine priority for prisoners Eilidh Roberts

A new Oxford study identified prison inmates and staff as top priorities for the impending coronavirus vaccine.

The study by the university’s Psychiatry Department reviewed outbreak studies of 28 highly contagious diseases including COVID-19, influenza, and measles. They concluded that those living and working in prisons should be front of the queue for any prospective COVID-19 vaccine.

Professor Seena Fazel of Oxford University’s Psychiatry Department said that the sub-optimal prison environment means that “prisons are high-risk settings for the transmission of contagious diseases and there are considerable challenges in managing outbreaks in them”.

Prisons have been a hotbed for coronavirus transmission. At the end of October, the Ministry of Justice announced that there had been over 1,500 positive cases of

Coronavirus in England and Wales’ 99 prison establishments since the beginning of the pandemic.

Inmates are also disproportionately affected by outbreaks. Many prisoners have underlying health conditions or are from minority ethnic groups, making them more at risk from the disease. Moreover, the high number of staff who work at these institutions provide a vector for the virus to spread throughout the rest of the community.

However, the UK Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation does not currently list inmates and prison-staff in those who can apply for early vaccination.

There are many groups who should be considered for priorityvaccination: age is a significant factor; as is having a chronic illness, like diabetes, which equates your risk-level to being five or ten years older. Prisoners will prove a possibly controversial addition to the list.

SCIENCE & TECH

Oxford vaccine triggers strong immune response in older adults Yihang Fang

The Oxford coronavirus vaccine can produce robust immune responses in adults aged 56 years and above, raising hopes that the various vaccines being developed can bring an end to the pandemic.

According to Phase II data of the Oxford ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine, older adults aged 56-69 and over 70 had a similar immune response to younger adults aged 18-55. The vaccine was also less likely to cause adverse reactions – such as injection-site pain and tenderness, fatigue, and feverishness – in older adults than in younger groups. The study involved 560 healthy adults, including 240 over the age of 70.

COVID-19 fatality rates have been drastically higher among older adults. For every 1,000 people in their mid-seventies or older who are infected with COVID-19, around 116 are estimated to die, according to research conducted in the populations of multiple countries. In contrast, for every 1,000 infections of people under the age of 50, almost none will be fatal.

Vaccines also tend to function less effectively on older people, due to their weaker immune systems. The success of the Oxford vaccine among the older population means it can likely protect the most vulnerable from COVID-19 once it is rolled out.

“Inducing robust immune responses in older adults has been a long-standing challenge in human vaccine research,” said Dr Angela Minassian, Investigator at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases, in a news release from the university.

“We were pleased to see that our vaccine was not only well tolerated in older adults; it also stimulated similar immune responses to those seen in younger volunteers,” added Dr Maheshi Ramasamy, Investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group and Consultant Physician.

However, the authors of the study noted that the participants in the oldest age group (70 years and above) had an average age of 73-74, and also had few underlying conditions. Therefore, the sample may not be representative of the older population in general, particularly those living in care homes or older than 80.

Other coronavirus vaccines currently being developed might also be effective in protecting older adults. The Pfizer vaccine is 94% effective in those older than 65. Similar to the Oxford vaccine, older adults tended to report fewer and milder adverse

effects after being injected with the Pfizer vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Moderna vaccine team reported in September that binding- and neutralizingantibody responses in older adults aged 56 and above were similar to vaccine recipients aged 18 to 55 years, though the data is limited by the small number of participants and lack of ethnic diversity within the sample group.

More recently, Oxford University announced early this week that its vaccine’s efficacy rate could reach up to 90% for those who received half a dose followed by a full dose. For participants who received two full doses of the vaccine, the efficacy rate was 60%.

Older adults will be prioritized in the UK’s vaccine roll-out. Vaccines will likely be distributed first to care home residents and staff, closely followed by over-80s and healthcare workers.

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

Christ Church dean steps aside as new complaint emerges Mark Robins

The Dean of Christ Church, Martyn Percy, has stepped back from college duties, the college announced last week. New allegations that Percy behaved inappropriately towards a woman have recently emerged. This has sparked a dispute between Church of England authorities and the

Dean’s supporters.

Church authorities received a complaint against the Very Rev Professor Martyn Percy, who is also head of the Christ Church Cathedral. Percy subsequently stepped back from his role in the college.

The details of the complaint have not been confirmed publicly, however The Mail on Sunday re-

ports that Percy acted irresponsibly towards a woman during Sunday service last month. The woman claims the Dean told her: “I couldn’t take my eyes off you this morning.”

She also claims that Percy stroked her hair. According to The Mail on Sunday, Percy has denied both claims. The Diocese of Oxford, the administrative

body of the Church of England in Oxfordshire, is investigating the issue.

Allies of Percy have come to his support. The Mail on Sunday quotes one ally saying: “Martyn is in an impossible position of being unable to defend himself while detailed allegations against him are being leaked all round the place.”

Others have said the claims are a “weapon” to remove him from his job. After these comments were published, the Diocese of Oxford released a statement condemning attempts to support the Dean.

It said: “We are disappointed that those seeking to support the Dean are reportedly trying to downplay the severity of the complaint. Such actions belittle the complainant and only add to the distress of anyone else considering a complaint against someone in a senior position.

The complaint, which has been brought to the Church under the Clergy Discipline Measure, will be properly and thoroughly investigated.”

Allies have criticised the Diocese’s statement. David Yamming, a friend of the Dean, told The Church Times it was a “wholly inappropriate public comment

News | 5 UNIVERSITY

while the current allegation is under investigation”. Others have claimed that the comment was one-sided, not taking into account the behaviour of the Dean’s critics, including one member of Christ Church’s Governing Body allegedly anonymously briefing journalists.

Responding to media reports, Christ Church has stressed that Percy has not resigned, but “voluntarily withdrawn”.

Christ Church shared the following statement with college members: “The Dean of Christ Church, the Very Revd Martyn Percy, has voluntarily withdrawn with immediate effect from all duties and pastoral responsibilities in his role as Dean of the College and Cathedral. Christ Church will not be commenting further whilst necessary inquiries are under way. The Charity Commission and relevant Church of England authorities are being kept fully informed.”

This development follows a previous removal of Percy by Christ Church in 2018, which was found to have no basis by Sir Andrew Smith.

Percy has been contacted for comment | Image: David Iliff.

License: CC BY-SA 3.0

CITY

Oxford Christmas celebrations continue with light festival and online market Roheena Buckland

This year in Oxford, Christmas is set to be celebrated with a wide range of festive activities. The Oxford light festival, Covered Market, and even a glowing sculpture spectacle are among the festive events taking place.

With COVID-19, some of the traditional favourites have had to be cancelled or amended to keep the town safe.

This includes the movement of the Oxford Christmas Market onto an online platform, while colleges and societies alike are having to reduce the scale of their festivities - even if they are stil decorating.

One creative Twitter user has even compiled “the personalities and stereotypes of Oxford colleges as demonstrated by their Christmas decorations” from previous years. St Anne’s was descibed as “basically if the 60’s was a college” due to its excess of silver tinsel, while the Pac-Man baubles of St John’s led to the claim that they “eat everything in their path”.

Perhpas one of the most visually impressive event is the light festival, where light shows are being displayed across the town

and the Council is offering £50 to any street to help with Christmas decorations as part of a ‘local light trails’ concept.

A ‘light bus’ is set to tour Oxford over the weekend, playing Christmas songs while its journey will be “illuminated by starry lights and stained-glass window designs” according to the Council.

Other Council-listed events include ‘Global Film’: dance shows demonstrating the “energy, dynamism, and spirit of the dance communities” of Oxford and its twinned cities, which is set to involve 21 different dance groups.

Of these, seven of the groups are international.

Meanwhile, ‘Chirp & Drift’ designed by artist Kathy Hinde, will offer a relaxing evening, where the display (also visible in part online) is “an interactive, digital experience of a flock of moving, glowing, musical sculptures that perform a dusk-time chorus”.

However, a great example of city residents getting into the Christmas spirit involves the decoration of the well-loved Covered Market. This year for the first time, the market florist, ‘The Garden of Oxford’ has donated special decorations to be

displayed over the Market Street entrances.

Representatives from ‘The Garden’ told the Oxford Mail: “The Garden has funded two of these arches as a Christmas gift to our fellow traders and as a thank you to all the wonderful customers who support the independent traders by visiting our market”.

Additionally, the annual Christmas tree has been put up to add to the Covered Market’s festive atmosphere as well.

The tree comes from Greenfield Farm at Christmas Common near Watlington.

Owner Paul Birtles said to the Oxford Mail: “Putting up the big tree in the central square is something all of the Covered Market traders look forward to, and has become something of a tradition in recent years”.

If anything, such traditions have become more important this year, and as Mary Clarkson, the City Council’s Cabinet Member for City Centre, Covered Market and Culture told the Oxford Mail those working at the Covered Market have “been under huge pressure...it’s not been an easy year but they’ve really pulled out all the stops”.

Other events include ‘Windows of Kindness’ on Cowley Street, assorted services and performances across the city and in many of the College Chapels, and ‘LUMINOUS’, the latest project by a group of seven artists with learning disabilities based in Oxfordshire.

Image Credit: Jiahui Huang.

Licence: CC-BY-SA-2.0.

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020 CITY

6 | News UNIVERSITY

Latest Rhodes Scholars announced after first ever digital application Naman Gupta

32 Americans have been elected as winners of the US Rhodes Scholarship for 2021. From an initial group of 2,300 US students, the group have been chosen in what has been the Scholarship’s first virtual application process.

The US Rhodes Scholars are chosen in a two-stage process. This year following an initial 2,300 applicants, 953 gained endorsement from their respective universities and colleges. Following this the strongest applicants were selected

by Committees of Selection to appear before them for virtual interviews.

The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and one of the most prestigious international scholarship programmes and enables its recipients to undertake postgraduate study at the University of Oxford.

The American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, Elliot Gerson, said: “Never before has a class of Rhodes Scholars been elected entirely virtually, with both candidates and selectors participating safely, independently and digitally.

“This year’s American Rhodes Scholars —independently elected by 16 committees around the country meeting simultaneously— reflect the remarkable diversity that characterizes and strengthens the United States….they are leaders

already, and we are confident that their contributions to public welfare globally will expand exponentially over the course of their careers.

“These young Americans will go to Oxford next October to study in fields broadly across the social, biological and physical sciences, the humanities, and public policy. They are leaders already, and we are confident that their contributions to public welfare globally will expand exponentially over the course of their careers.”

Previous recipients of the Scholarship have achieved notability in a variety of fields, including politics, journalism and science. Past winners from the USA include President Bill Clinton, American television host Rachel Maddow and Ambassador Susan Rice.

Cecil Rhodes, a British diamond

UNIVERSITY

Academics criticise Facebook for ‘censorship’ of article Nicholas Rix-Perez

Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson, two Oxford academics, have expressed their frustration at Facebook after the social media platform labelled one of Prof.

Heneghan’s posts as containing “false information”.

The post contained a link to the pair’s article in The Spectator originally titled: ‘Landmark Danish study shows face masks have no significant effect’. In the article, the pair commented on the recent ‘Danmask-19’ trial, which investigated the effectiveness of masks in preventing COVID-19 infection.

The month-long, randomised controlled trial involving over 6,000 volunteers revealed that the difference in infection rate between the ‘masked’ population (1.8%) and the ‘maskless’ population (2.1%) was not statistically significant.

Heneghan and Jefferson concluded: “It seems that any effect masks have on preventing the spread of the disease in the community is small … wearing masks in the community does not significantly reduce the rates of infection.” However, the researchers acknowledged the limitations of their study (e.g. missing data, variable adherence) and declared the results ‘inconclusive’ They argued that the intention of the trial was to address the overarching question ‘Do masks work?’ and appeared to believe that the

trial results suggest that the answer is “No.” They said that governments had a “total lack of interest … in pursuing evidence-based medicine”.

Facebook placed a cautionary comment on Prof. Heneghan’s post, offering an alternative review by Health Feedback titled: ‘Danish face mask study did not find that masks were ineffective at reducing spread of COVID-19; study was underpowered and results were inconclusive.’

This measure prompted Prof.

Heneghan to take to Twitter to protest that the warning on his post infringed upon “academic freedom and freedom of speech”, insisting that “there is nothing in [his] article that is ‘false’”. Dr Jefferson complained to The Mail that what Facebook had done constituted “censorship”.

The Spectator states in a footnote: “Due to the large number of people passing comment on the article on social media without reading it, we have updated the headline to emphasise that the study is about facemask wearers.” The title now reads: ‘Landmark Danish study finds no significant effect for facemask wearers.’

The Danmask study did not address whether masks prevent the infection from being passed on to others. Other studies have confirm that masks reduce the likelihood of transmitting infection to others.

Prof. Heneghan and Dr. Jefferson were contacted for comment.

magnate, established the scholarship in 1902. Rhodes has become a controversial figure, and this has extended towards his projects, for his support of white Anglo-Saxon supremacy and imperialism. Rhodes sought, in his own words, “The furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole world under British rule”, and wrote in his will that “I contend that we are the finest race in the world”.

Rhodes set out a criteria for allocating the scholarships, including “literary and scholastic attainments…fondness and success in many outdoor sports…and qualities of manhood” among other criteria.

Rhodes stipulated that the scholarship was only to be provided to “male students”. This was changed in 1977.

Image credit: Motacilla/ Wikimedia

Final consultation for Zero Emissions Zone Sonya Ribner

The final consultation period for the Oxford Zero Emissions Zone (ZEZ) launched last week and will remain open until January 17, 2021. Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council are asking residents, businesses, and visitors for their position on a revised ZEZ Pilot proposal, after a similar consultation was paused in March 2020. The “Red Zone,” or the ZEZ pilot area, will comprise Bonn Square, Queen Street, Cornmarket, part of Market Street, Ship Street, St Michael’s Street, New Inn Hall Street, and Shoe Lane.

Under the current plan, nonzero emission vehicles using the zones between 07:00 and 19:00 will be subject to charges. This summer, the charge will go into effect in the “Red Zone.” Discounts have been proposed for residents and business vehicles, as well as Blue Badge holders, for the first years of the ZEZ’s enforcement. The revenue raised by the ZEZ will cover costs of implementation. Any remaining income will be directed toward assisting Oxford residents and businesses with the transition to zero emissions vehicles.

In January 2020, a study conducted by the Centre for Cities found that at least 1 in 17 deaths

in Oxford is related to air pollution. A report issued by Public Health England in 2014 showed that long term exposure to poor air quality in Oxford could be responsible for 6% of all deaths of people aged 25 and over.

Oxford City Council’s ZEZ initiative reacts to the recent findings of its Source Appointment Study that transport sectors are the most significant source of NO2 emissions in the city, accounting for about 68% of total emissions.

Oxford has been billed as the first “true” zero emissions zone in the world. After the ZEZ Pilot, the ZEZ will be widened to cover the entire city center by Spring 2022. The Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council share the aim to make the whole of Oxford a Zero Emissions Zone by 2030, consistent with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent announcement that new cars and vans powered wholly by petrol and diesel will not be sold in the UK from 2030.

Although neither council plans to work with other localities on the implementation of a zero emissions strategy, the Oxford Zero Emissions Zone can serve as an instructive model for cities and counties that wish to take concrete steps toward combatting the climate crisis.

City Council Reviews Rental Licensing Proposal Sofie Jones

Oxford City Council is accepting community input on proposed regulation changes to improve housing conditions for Oxford residents who are living in privately rented properties.

The proposed scheme would require all privately rented homes to hold licenses, a significant change from current policy which only requires the licensing of homes in multiple occupation (HMOs), properties with more than three residents from two or more households. The City Council estimates that 49.3% of Oxford residents live in privately rented housing.

“Every private tenant deserves a decent home,” City Councillor and cabinet member Alex Hollingsworth said in a press release.

“As well as renewing our additional HMO licensing scheme, we want to bring in licensing across the whole sector so that every private rented home will need a license. This will help us to deliver on our plans to protect tenants, drive up standards and crack down on ‘rogue’ landlords.”

Groups around the city, including community union ACORN, are on the forefront of the fight for stricter rental regulation.

“Landlord licensing will require all landlords in Oxford to buy a license, register their proper-

ties and submit to inspections,” ACORN representative Connor Woodman told Cherwell. “It’s no silver bullet, but the scheme will help raise private rental conditions out of the gutter of fire hazards and health risks.”

At present, the city’s regulations around privately rented properties are extremely limited.

“Our homes are integral to our quality of life, and yet landlords are given free reign with virtually no government oversight,” Woodman said. “Oxford City Council has no record of 85% of rented homes in the city.

Toothbrushes are probably more regulated than private rented houses.”

Since 2015, the council has received 3,360 complaints from residents of over 2,900 rental properties, one-tenth of the city’s total rentals. Metastreet, a company commissioned by the council to complete an assessment of Oxford’s rental markets, estimates that one-fifth of the over 30,000 privately-held rentals in Oxford contain a “serious housing hazard.”

A lack of regulation makes it difficult for individual renters to hold their landlords accountable for violations. Currently, renters must report public health and safety threats directly to City Council, which makes them vulnerable to ‘revenge evictions.’

CITY

“With landlord licensing, the Council will be able to inspect homes and pro-actively seek out properties containing major hazards, taking immediate action to rectify any issues without relying on tenant reporting,” Woodman said.

Hollingsworth believes the proposed changes will also benefit the city’s landlords themselves, by giving renters “the confidence that they are good and responsible landlords as rogue operators are driven out of the market.”

According to Woodman, the proposed changes would also impact students living in offcampus rented accommodation.

“Students living in the private rented sector outside of their halls will benefit from this in particular, since they tend to suffer poor quality housing at the hands of ‘negligent’ and ‘greedy’ landlords,” he said.

Image credit: Toa Heftiba/ Wikimedia Commons

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

Interview: New University Mental Health Taskforce launched Abigail Howe, Joe Hyland Deeson

Oxford University has launched a Mental Health Task Force to consider the “immediate needs” of students during the pandemic after observing an increase in demand for welfare services over the long vacation. The Task Force will work through until the end of January and bring together those from the NHS, the University’s Counselling and Disability Services, as well as representatives from colleges and students. Cherwell spoke to Gillian Hamnett, the Director of Student Welfare and Support Services across the University, and Sir Tim Hitchens, President of Wolfson College, who are leading the Mental Health Task Force.

While the Mental Health Task Force has only been publicised recently, it has been planned since the long vacation.

Tim Hitchens stated: “Over the summer it became clear that we had not only a significantly increased number of mental health challenges but also that we would have a record number of students at the university this term… In September, we felt that we ought to have a task force which for a limited period focussed on making

sure that the university took policy decisions and focussed on moving resources”.

He continued: “What we’re doing is bringing people together and offering recommendations to those organisations that do make the decisions”.

Gillian Hamnett expanded on this, clarifying the link between this Task Force and the University’s previous actions regarding mental health: “The Mental Health Task Force complements the longer term strategic work of the Student Wellbeing and Mental Health strategy which was launched last year but that takes a much longer view”.

The Student Wellbeing and Mental Health strategy was launched in October 2019 and plans to build on the £2.7 million spent on welfare services in 2018-19 and “embed wellbeing into all aspects of students’ university life, from learning and life skills to community, inclusion and support.”

Hamnett also highlighted the overlap between those with involvement in the Mental Health Task Force and those who are making longer term decisions: “The idea is that the Task Force can benefit from their expertise and feedback to longer term strategy, even though its remit is quite

short.”

One of the first steps taken by the Mental Health Task Force has been to provide £150,000 to reinforce the University’s Counselling Service over this term and £50,000 over the Christmas period. Hitchens described the tangible impact of this support: “The average waiting time for the service is about 8.9 days and we got to the period a few weeks ago where it was nearly 4 weeks… with more resources in the counseling service the waiting time for access which has been lengthening is steadying off and will shorten: that will be an immediate response”.

Hitchens also highlighted the Counselling Service’s website as a preventative resource, which has information ranging from articles about “how to survive alone in a room” to podcasts about the “challenges of COVID”. The University has also subscribed to Togetherall.

Hamnett said that the service, originally known as Big White Wall “offers quite a lot of self-reflection and self-help resources, but is there to help you see if you have tipped over into needing a more focussed intervention, but also the advice on the challenges of living how we’re living right now”.

One of the Mental Health Task Force’s aims is to plan “for the men-

tal health needs of students over the vacations”. Hamnett explained that “for students staying over the vacation we’re hoping to produce some specific information on what you can do to support yourself in a way that perhaps hasn’t always been clear in the past”. Additional funding will also ensure that the Counselling Service can provide greater provision over the vacation.

Another of the Task Force’s aims is advising “on the mental health impact and use of University policies including the Fitness to Study programme during the pandemic”.

This includes disciplinary policies for those who are found to have breached any rules prompted by COVID-19.

However, Hamnett stressed that this aim was not a move towards a universal University policy: “The Task Force can’t set colleges’ discipline policies but it can advise on specific issues where we think there might be mental health implications and say here are some things that we can take into account.

We can’t get a particular college to change their policy or their approach. We need to be realistic about what we can influence and what we can’t.”

Speaking about the Fitness to Study framework, which determines

News | 7 UNIVERSITY

“whether a student is fit to study or to return to study after a period of leave for medical, psychological, or emotional problems” and has been controversial for student suspensions, Hitchens said: “I know [it] has attracted a certain stigma that it is somehow something to do with discipline rather than health and wellbeing” but that he wished for the Fitness to Study process to “be more widely understood as not part of the disciplinary process but as a way in which we can support those students which, for a variety of reasons which could include mental health challenges, are not fit to study and support them through to the stage where they are”.

Hamnett and Hitchens highlighted the importance of welfare within colleges, with Hitchens noting the “enormous amount of expertise developed by the Peer Supporters and welfare officers in colleges who are often trained and supported by people from the Counselling Service”.

Hitchens continued: “I would hope that if you are someone in a college with responsibility for the mental health of your students, if you felt a little unsupported there should be an added layer of professional support to some of those people”.

All Souls College change Codrington Library name, but keep statue of slaveholder COLLEGE

Amelia Wood

All Souls College’s Governing Body has announced that they will no longer call their college library ‘the Codrington Library’, acknowledging that plantations worked by enslaved people were the source of revenue for Codrington’s donation. A new name for the library has not been specified.

However, the Governing Body stopped short of deciding to remove the statue of Codrington which stands in the centre of the library.

The college said instead that they would seek to “investigate further forms of memorialisation and contextualisation within the library, which will draw attention to the presence of enslaved people on the Codrington plantations, and will express the College’s abhorrence of slavery”.

In a statement, All Souls acknowledged that “Codrington’s wealth derived largely from his family’s activities in the West Indies, where they owned plantations worked by enslaved people of African descent.”

The college noted their efforts over the past three years to address the Codrington legacy. The college said they had donated £100,000 to Codrington College, Barbados, and they permanently

set aside £6 million of the College’s endowment to fully fund three graduate studentships at Oxford for students from the Caribbean.

On the statute, they have installed “a large memorial plaque at the entrance to the library, ‘In memory of those who worked in slavery on the Codrington plantations in the West Indies’.”

Christopher Codrington (16681710) was a Barbadian-born English slaveholder, soldier, and colonial governor in the West Indies. Educated at Christ Church Oxford, he was later elected to All Souls college as a probationer fellow in 1690. In 1698, he succeeded his father as commander-in-chief and captain-general of the Leeward Islands, an island group in the northeast Caribbean Sea. He also inherited his father’s plantations and slaves on the islands.

A complaint was made against his rule by the inhabitants of Antigua which was later dismissed by the House of Commons. In 1703, after he failed to capture Guadeloupe as part of a war with France and Spain, he left the governorship and spent the rest of his life on his plantations in Barbados.

His body is buried in the All Souls Chapel.

In his will he left £10,000 and £6,000 worth of books to All

Souls College, which they used to establish the library. His will also left two plantations in Barbados to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, with instructions to continue slaveholding.

Common Ground Oxford, a student-led movement founded to examine Oxford University’s colonial past, published the following statement, calling for further action: “We welcome All Souls College’s recent statement on Codrington’s legacy at the College, and we are writing today with hopes for further discussion and change…

“However, the decision to retain Henry Cheere’s statue of slaveowner Christopher Codrington in All Souls’ Library came as a great disappointment to us. This decision exhibits All Souls’ inability to stand in solidarity with Black and POC communities, who have campaigned to make Oxford reckon with its past for decades.

The choice to preserve the statue cannot be reconciled with the College’s stated commitments to ‘investigate further forms of memorialisation and contextualisation’ with regards to Codrington’s legacy…

“Codrington’s legacy is his wealth, accumulated from systematic sexual exploitation, traf-

ficking and mass murder…This has caused generational trauma not just for their descendants, but for all people of African & Caribbean descent to this day…

“Physically, this statue cannot be made neutral: it is positioned such that onlookers stand at his stone feet, its pose is one of hero-

ism and prestige. No plaque could sanitise the harm of continuing to elevate this slave-owner. No plaque could do justice to the thousands of enslaved people whose forced labour generated the wealth on which All Souls Library stands.”

Image credit: Simon Q/ Flickr

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020 UNIVERSITY

8 | News

New study says playing video games can be good for your well-being Issy Kenney-Herbert New research from Oxford University has delivered a new take on video games: time spent playing games could positively impact mental health. Professor Andrew Pryzybylski, Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute and lead-author of the study said: “If you play Animal Crossing for four hours a day, every single day, you’re likely to say you feel significantly happier than someone who doesn’t.”

“Working with Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America we’ve been able to combine academic and industry expertise. Through access to data on peoples’ playing time, for the first time we’ve been able to investigate the relation between actual game play behaviour and subjective well-being” The conclusion of the study is not that all video games are ‘good for you’ or that ‘all players benefit’.

Professor Pryzbylski argues that his research should be a first step in carrying out a proper scientific study of the impact of gaming on players and their effects over time; he is keen to see more studies follow.

The new study uses anonymised data from the gaming industry data on the actual play time for popular video games rather than self-reported ‘guesstimate’ that have been used in previous studies. These logs were then linked to a survey in which the players answered questions about their well-being. A total of 3,274 gamers took part.

Professor Pryzbylski said this investigation marks a new direction: “Previous research has relied mainly on self-report surveys to study the relationship between play and well-being. Without objective data from games companies, those proposing advice to parents or policymakers have done so without the

EDITORIAL

Dr. Joe Seuss | Editor-in-Chief And so it ends This Michaelmas term, Where Rhodes has fallen Yet still stands firm?

Horoscopes and Cherpse Bizarre CulCher art The Source on ‘a worm’ We were good from the start

A result day disaster, A scandal of hacks, And all before We had even got back.

Excellent playlists, The ‘Society Eats’, CulCher editorials, Were regular treats.

A clear uni policy, What we wanted to see But instead acronyms EAS, FACTS, LFT.

Films for date nights, ‘Cherwell recommends’, Never understood Fashion, And now our term ends.

A hundred years, What a time to write!

A paper edition, The future is bright

I’d like to remember, Our wonderful staff, The rewarding long days, And having a laugh.

All the creatives, Critics having their say, Features on brutalism, And GracefitUK.

Colletta and Horn Duke, Tod, Cerullo, Tansley and Misra, I’ll miss them, you know

Nuclear arms links, ‘Society Spotlight’, Speed Rubik’s cubers This rhyming is shite

But must not forget, When the memory rots, That this was the term We booked library slots.

benefit of a robust evidence base.”

The Oxford Internet Institute research concentrated on the popular video games Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Both are online ‘social’ games, where players engage with others at remote locations, and neither fall into the ‘violent’ category.

According to the report, “Policymakers urgently require reliable, robust, and credible evidence that illuminates the influences video game may have on global mental health. However, the most important source of data, the objective behaviours of players, are not used in scientific research.”

“It’s fine to have an opinion about video games,” says Professor Pryzybylski. “But, without research, you cannot know if this is a real thing of just your own ‘facts’. You can have your own opinion but you cannot have your own facts.”

Editor-in-Chief | Maya Won’t Miss You My biggest achievements as Editor, in order, are 1) stash 2) horoscope column 3) staving off the Cher-puns 4) tricking everyone into thinking I’m taller than I am and 5) breaking important stories in the paper’s momentous and distinguished 100th year blah blah blah.

Let me be clear, though: if the paper achieved anything, it’s because of the staff, who are talented beyond belief. When the stash was ordered, Joe and I wanted to replace the Fashion spread with a mirror-selfie photoshoot, but thankfully the Fashion team vetoed that in favour of something better.

This goes to show Joe and I are actually a catastrophic influence on the paper, and it’s everyone else keeping us afloat. At least I’m not the wanker who wrote a poem for their editorial.

Aside from staff, there were some unexpected people that entered my life because of Cherwell: the hacks. Everyone loved meeting me all of a

sudden--what a tremendous ego boost. And the opportunity to take a bribe? Fantastic. Now that my time as Editor is over, I expect to hear from none of you ever again, despite how “delightful” or “divine” you found me at the time. Thank God and good riddance.

So we’ve had a good run of it.

Despite no clubhouses existing at any point whatsoever, the weeks managed at points to feel “festive”, to quote the SU International Students’ Campaign Director of Festivals.

Looking back on it, am I happy to be done? I’ll be happy to log out of a dozen Cherwell email accounts. Still, I think I’ll have journalism withdrawal…is Cherbadly taking applications?

Joe and I decided we’d propose to our respective boyfriends in this issue, to settle once and for all the question of whether anyone, even those closest to us, reads our editorials. The answer is likely “no”, without any hard feelings at all. But if not: Lucas, Sam?

Cherwell

Michaelmas 2020 Editorial Team EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Wannabe Lucas

SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

Deputy Stolen from the Union hehe

M USIC E DI TOR S

COMMENT EDITORS

CREATIVE TEAM

Jones and Maya Sinnott

Token STEM students 1 & 2

BOOK S E DI TOR S

SofHend: Woman, Myth, Legend

Jess ‘Chuns? Oh wait no’, the RZ

Charlots-of-Source-artwork Bunney,

CULTURE EDITORS

“I want Sasha’s art on my wall”,

Just here to show up his college mum

Deputies Amelia’s SPaG saviour, Rhea

Château LaCômbe, Busy-Lizzie Daly,

DEPUTY EDITORS Chophia

Lewis True-Scottish-Artiste, Matthew

Doesn’t go to Christ Church

L I F E E DI TOR S

Chope-you’re-ok-bb

Collage Queen, Just-in-Features Lim,

Cherullo, Izzy Collect-Amelia’s-Man,

Palatinate-ham

Deputy Very Socially Distanced

Queen of the pun, Trudy ‘give me your

F E AT U R ES E DI TOR S

Amir:)))))))...;)...Pichhadze..., the KOTG

Imogen 1st Duke of News, Amelia

Deputy Ben Jureidon’t-spend-so-much-

STAGE E DI TOR S

cherpse form or I’ll hunt you down’

‘20 Guys and a pommel horse’, Irene

one

Horny-for-Salad-Fingers, Lucy

in-Fresher’s-week

Clemmy, Lovely Grace

Deputies Matchmaker, Ville ledge

OK-Zoomer

Tangy-Cheese-sley, Izzy Kavanagh

THE SOURCE EDITORS

Deputy..?

FOOD E DI TOR S

Deputy Bailey Tod

VIDEO EDITORS

Liv Fucking-loves-The-Source,

F I L M E DI TOR S

Baking Queen, Faatimah Fab-ir

SPORTS E DI TOR S

Morayo ‘The Name’s Bond’ Adesina,

NEWS EDITORS Abigail Howe-does-

Northern?

Jaffar-Doll? McClurg, Joeorge Phillips

Deputy Mamma Mia Sorenti

Hefty Hinksy, The Invisible Woman

Cara ‘James Bond’ Cox

she-find-news?, Mark ‘Third Wheel’

Deputy Flynn ‘well worth it’ Hallman

Deputy Never shagged from Cherwell-

PROF I L ES E DI TOR S

I N V EST IGAT IONS E DI TOR S

Robins, Daniel Tritsch

FA SH ION E DI TOR S

sterman

Foxy Curls of Joy, Sasha ‘Flete Street’

Rachel 1, Eleanot-called-Rachel

Cherwell is published by

Deputies Best Brasenose Student on

Too good at InDesign, Sensational

Deputy Greg Moeser

Deputy Rachel 2

Oxford Student Publications Ltd.

Staff, Amelia Would-dish-on-Balliol

Wardrobe

Printed in Great Britain by Iliffe Print

CULCHER

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Vol.292 No.5 | 7th Week

CulCher | Friday, 27th November 2020

2

CONTENTS CULCHER page 2 | All I Want for Oxmas is... page 3 | It was all a dream THE SOURCE page 4-5 | Source Editor Special!

BOOKS page 6 | Horror favourites STAGE page 7 | Behind the Burton Taylor FASHION page 8-9 | Smell the damn roses MUSIC page 10 | I like what you like: lockdown albums and decision fatigue FILM page 11 | The Mothers of Cinema LIFE page 12-13 | The dreaded ‘transitioning’ page 14 | A jungle of bureaucracy: Accessing laptop privileges in exams FOOD page 15 | Vibrant winter veg PROFILES page 16 | In conversation with Tim Webber

COVER ARTIST AMIR PICHHADZE Under the conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic, this holiday season is expected to be different from those in the past. As the unfortunate consequences of our current struggle with a global pandemic, social distancing and lockdowns may leave our roads bare, our temples barren, and our Christmas bereft of decorative lights. But this need not, must not, and will not destroy our holiday spirits. As depicted in my painting, there may be less of the outdoor holiday decorations as well as less socialization. Yet, as my painting also depicts, I remain optimistic that at least we will get to enjoy a white holiday experience, and more importantly that it will be a season filled with good health, joy, peace and success for us all. We will prove the human spirit not merely survives but flourishes in the face of hardship.

All I Want For Oxmas Is . . .

BY JILL CUSHEN

A

ll I want for Oxmas is my two front teeth. And a vaccine, and a foreign holiday, and a live gig, and a night in a crowded club… Forget the teeth, all I want for Oxmas is normality, or whatever we consider normality to be: that’s not a lot to ask for, surely!

2020 has been a year of unprecedented change, forcing many of us to re-evaluate various aspects of our lives. But after a year devoid of traditional cultural experiences, are we craving a return to what we deemed to be culturally satisfying, or have our priorities changed? Film, television, and music have always been a form of escapism, providing a source of comfort in our hectic lives. This year has been no different, except that our lives have been less hectic and more terrifyingly confusing.

The natural disasters and political turmoil which marred the commencement of the new decade were merely the tip of the iceberg for what was to come in 2020.

Culturally, however, the year began as it always does: the Grammy Awards and the Oscars. Billie Eilish’s Grammy triumph, taking home four of the most coveted prizes and setting a new record for the youngest solo artist to win album of the year, and Parasite making history as the first foreign language film to bag the title of Best Motion Picture both seem like a lifetime ago, and, to be frank, largely insignificant considering the circumstances we are living in.

Back in March, our cultural calendars looked pretty bare, but 2020 was certainly not lacking in influential movements.

Slouchy tracksuit bottoms and oversized hoodies stole the runway, replacing the oversized Victorian sleeves and chunky boots paired with floral dresses, styles which were predicted as 2020’s major fashion trends. With the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, gaming was reinstated as the go-to past time for many people, allowing them to create and roam in a world free from any threatening virus or anything frightening (bar the odd spider). Streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video have found an essential and lasting place in the cultural sphere.

Few would have guessed that the release of

Frozen II on Disney+ would have, despite its title, quenched our Covid woes for an evening, replacing them with an evening of cosy family fun and sing-alongs.

The dramatic changes induced by the pandemic rippled through all areas of society, and likewise we saw some cultural institutions buffeted by storms. The fall of Ellen DeGeneres was disheartening, being such a modern icon and forward thinker.

Her catchphrase “be kind” is tinged with irony following the emergence of allegations about bullying and intimidation behind the scenes of her eponymous show.

These reports shed a new light on celebrities and the slow pace of Covid-life meant that we have more time to mull over such developments, making us less willing to accept things the way they are.

In September, E! announced that Keeping Up with the Kardashians would end after fourteen years and twenty seasons.

The pandemic has provided us with some much needed perspective. Our interest in the lives of the Kardashian-Jenner clan is dwindling and people are less willing to tolerate Kim expressing her gratitude over being able to celebrate her 40th birthday with a “humble” party on a private tropical island, while the rest of us probably won’t step foot on an aeroplane for the foreseeable future.

A standout moment on social media this year was a painful cover of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Actress Gal Gadot and her crew of celebrities attempted a rendition of the song which was randomly compiled, pummelled and punctured, much like our hopes and dreams for 2020. What was inspiring about the video, though, was the group’s collective vulnerability. It was thrown together, but its chaos is entertaining: they weren’t concerned with making a musical debut, but were simply having a bit of fun, another thing which 2020 needed to be injected with, in large doses. Many predicted that over the course of the decade the importance and influence of social media would start to fade, but throughout the pandemic, social media has been a lifeline, diminishing our sense of isolation from the world and connecting people.

Whether we were joining Florence Pugh for a sourdough cook-a-long or Joe Wicks for a workout, social media has allowed us to reconnect, a connection we have forged through a shared crisis.

The Covid culture shock has been significant but the pandemic has not eradicated culture, it has simply transformed it, and continues to do so. Numerous aspects of culture serve to entertain us and enrich our lives, and rarely before have we needed it so much, but the sector has been devastated by the effects of Covid-19, leaving us to consider whether a return to cultural normality is feasible. Will we appreciate these after our first cinema trip or live performance, though? We may very easily slip back into taking the sector for granted.

Some things will never change. The idea of a two hour commute to work may never seem attractive again, but the BBC’s Glastonbury Experience will never replace the real thing: watching Miley Cyrus rocking on a screen in your sitting room can’t top the constant pounding in your chest and the lingering smell of spilt beer for a weekend.

When the crystal ball was dusted off in January 2020, The Atlantic predicted that the next decade would “look very different from what most people expect.” Little did we know how true that statement would be.

The transition from the 10s to the 20s felt like a cultural shift, looking back on the past ten years and towards to the coming decade, reminiscing on everything that has changed, and looking forward to what the next few years had in store.

After one of the strangest years in living history, time feels like a mysterious concept. Predicting how the next decade will unfold is inconceivable given the rate of unforeseen change in 2020. Anticipating what will happen next week is futile, never mind next year. That crystal ball has been obscured in uncertainties. Life has become so unpredictable, and maybe that’s exactly what we needed: predictability is boring.

Image credit: Jun, via Flickr

Friday, 27th November 2020 | CulCher

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It Was All A Dream: Escapism, and Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

BY EMILY BROUGHTON

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fter months of isolation, Zoom calls, and Amazon deliveries, it is no wonder that people want to escape the ‘new normal’. The anxiety and boredom that comes with being trapped inside can be alleviated in a number of ways, but my personal favourite is through dreams.

Whether you are dreaming in sleep or during the day, this form of escapism can transport you to the furthest reaches of the earth and the darkest depths of the ocean. But can dreaming do more harm than good?

We all know what it is like to be immersed in a new novel or TV show: the world outside fades away until you are left with your imagination. It can be incredibly jarring when you are ripped out of this fiction and forced to face the real world. Dreams seem to straddle this boundary between fiction and reality, often informed by real life or perhaps made to help us cope with it.

Edgar Allan Poe recognises this in his poem ‘A Dream within a Dream’.

The dreamer is so caught up in his mind that he struggles to grasp reality. He is shown standing on a wind-swept beach desperately trying to hold onto grains of sand. But no matter what he does the sand continues to creep through his fingers. It is not clear whether the grains represent passing time, the dreamer’s grip on reality,

or something entirely different, but their formlessness prompts him to ask a very important question: “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?”

Although this isn’t a particularly practical question, in the real world it has been posed and investigated through the works of many artists. In the 1999 movie The Matrix, for instance, we are shown what can happen when someone completely loses touch with reality.

Rather than being used as a cliched ending, the idea that everything is simply a dream is placed at the crux of the movie. In this dystopian world, humanity has been reduced to an energy source, living batteries used by the machines that have taken over the earth. In order to hide from this horrible truth, they live inside a computergenerated world that looks much like our own.

In this movie mundane life is the comforting fantasy from a horrific fantasy.

Before the protagonist Neo discovers the truth for himself, the audience is given clues that suggest his world is all a dream.

The man he seeks, the man who can enlighten him, is Morpheus, named after the Greek god of dreams and sleep. Much like this deity, he has the power to leave people sleeping in blissful ignorance or wake them up. However, it is the intertextual references to Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s

WHAT’S ON

Adventures in Wonderland that suggest that Neo’s so-called ‘reality’ is a childish dream. Neo is told to follow the white rabbit, wake up from wonderland and see how far down the rabbit hole goes.

This image of the rabbit hole is particularly powerful and recurs in many discussions about dreams. In Carroll’s book itself no one knows just how far down it goes.

When Alice falls, she goes “down and down”, falling for so long that she wonders if it will ever end, after many hours even believing that she “must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth”. In common parlance, “down the rabbit hole” has come to mean losing touch with reality when engrossed in an all-consuming idea. It is inextricably linked to nonsense, dreams and fantasy itself.

What we are seeing is art commenting on itself. Cinema and literature in particular are regularly used as a form of escapism.

When they begin to reveal dreams within dreams, they show us how easily reality and fiction can be confused in our minds.

Although The Matrix and Alice in Wonderland are themselves works of fiction, they force us not only to consider Edgar Allan Poe’s question, but to ask another one as well: if “all that we see or seem” is but a dream, do we really want to wake up and discover the truth?

Illustration: Rachel Jung

CULCHER EDITORIAL You’d be forgiven for thinking that it isn’t beginning to look a lot like Oxmas at all, really. Winter Wonderland was a non-starter; Santa’s descent down your chimney is no longer just in violation of your personal space, but also the Geneva Convention; and, like all global superstars, the Coca-Cola truck has cancelled its 2020 tour. Fa la la la la indeed. In these not particularly merry times, in which ‘everywhere you go’ constitutes pretty much of bed, the bathroom, and the Tesco queue, watching our go-to festive favourites has taken on the air of reflecting on an illegal past, like Offred looking at Vogue and finding makeup “naughty”. That scene in Elf where everyone gathers in Central Park and sings to power up Santa’s sleigh would have to happen over a glitchy Zoom call; ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ is only permitted between the 3rd-9th December inclusive; and for attempting to persuade us that it’s “time for parties and celebrations / People dancing all night long”, Shakin’ Stevens would definitely be hung on the walls of Gilead for heresy.

For me, salvation has been found, as it so often is, in the loving metaphorical embrace of one Dolly Parton. In a show of Christmas generosity rivalled only by the incarnation of Christ, she released both a festive film, Christmas on the Square, and a Christmas album, Holly Dolly Christmas.

She also donated $1,000,000 towards the COVID vaccine, but hey, who’s counting.

The woman who blessed us with anthems for heartbreak (‘I Will Always Love You’), Marxism (‘9 to 5’), and a second lockdown (‘Here You Come Again’), has descended from on high to spread both good news and great tunes.

Whether you spent your Oxmas trying to microwave a whole stuffed chicken in your kitchen-less accommodation, crying to that Emma Thompson scene in Love, Actually, or cringing at that Keira Knightley scene in Love, Actually, I hope it was filled with the sheer joy that I felt when I heard Michael Buble and Dolly Parton were collabing in the greatest Christmas crossover since A Muppet’s Christmas Carol. On an unrelated note, Michael Buble committed potentially the most unforgiveable of sins by asking in his cover of ‘Santa Baby’ not for a “54 convertible, too, light blue”, but a “65 convertible, too, steel blue”, because it’s too gay to like light blue in a song about asking Santa to hurry down their chimney.

Anyway, stream ‘Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas’.

Christmas on the Radcliffe Square might look a little different this year, but festive cheer can be found in places you least expect it.For example, I saw a bus drive by St. Giles covered with fairy lights, blaring Mariah Carey, and proclaiming itself to be “The Oxford Christmas Experience”. Who needs the Coca-Cola truck, anyway?

- Ben Jureidini

JUNGLE Gallery Opening Show: 5th December 17:00-22:00

Karaoke & Cocktails at the Mad Hatter: 3rd December 17:00-22:00 Discounted teapots, cocktails, and sharers, as well as some of your favourite karaoke tunes: what’s not to love? A warning, however, Thursdays at the Mad Hatter are now only for those aged 20 and above. This is a great way to celebrate your newfound freedom: don’t be late!

Hosted in Cowley’s Templar’s Square, the Jungle Art Gallery is celebrating its official opening. Presenting original works by Micah Hayns, whose ‘classical contemporary’ art is for sale on his website, this event promises to be a great re-introduction to visiting galleries.

An Evening with Joy Richardson: 30th November 16:00-17:00 Kellogg College fellow Dr Shreya Atrey interviews actress and artist Joy Richardson about her role in Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’. Joy’s episode, ‘Red, White, and Blue’, will be broadcast on BBC1 on 29th November.

Brickwork Lizards Online Concert: 5th December 17:30-16:30 Music and Jazz at St. Giles hosts the Brickwork Lizards and their Arabic fusion style jazz for an online concert. Donations for this event, featuring “one of the most creative and certainly eclectic bands the city has ever produced” are encouraged via Eventbrite.

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CulCher | Friday, 27th November 2020

E C R U THE SO

In this final edition of the term, The Source turns inward, with each of the editors contributing a piece.

Benchmark Calum Taylor I wasn’t sure when we looked straight up To the flag of sky over our heads Whether that pattern of stars was already there – Sewn sparks, set from the sun – Or was woven from our own making.

Then the river, cloudless, with its slow-acting stillness Threw back the fractals, glinted, And brought in new shapes: Orion’s necklace, Leo’s crown, Points of reference. Sites for new renown, perhaps, Play into our eyes with that self-same reminder – We make our own maps.

And this bench, here in its present state Exists only for its surroundings.

Worn branch, canal barge, autumn tree, Bridge. Glance. Twist of fate.

The pattern starts from you to there And, breathless, starts again with me.

You told me once under stations of starlight, Spun me a thread that I can’t reel back About a pattern, a series of shapes and signs, Tiles upon tiles that carries on forever, Sites and sights turning endlessly new.

That’s right here, up there, All the things we can do.

Shallows upon depths, depths Upon shallows, lights upon Streets, skies beyond you.

All lies within reach of the places we keep – You can’t split the eye from the view.

Friday, 27th November 2020 | CulCher

5

The Solidified People Liv Fugger The people have solidified since the summer.

Seized up in the cold.

No longer fluid, Melting and melding together in the sun, They can be discerned as individuals now: Separate entities two metres apart.

Pink still blooms in their cheeks But it is a bloom of cold, not of heat.

Their mouths are still there, Noses too, But they are contained now: Silent eyes and foreheads walk the streets.

But the melded people will return As will their blushed cheeks, noses and mouths: They will be out sunning themselves again Laughing and smiling Touching and entwining Melting and merging With the summer

Magdalen Street, Oxford Flynn Hallman Its movement blurs above, and stalls, Where rooks, encircling, shift in murmured folds And the traffic lights silhouette ash-keys.

In their slow-drawn pirouettes, each falls To ground to find its leaves grown old, Shuddering in their senescence, curled like effigies Martyred in an orant poise, Burned away but imitative of movement still, Stooping from their niche above the street.

At first I heard the noise, The wings beating against stone unseen until I looked up, and caught the rook, its feet

Latticed in wire there beneath his eyes, How it threshed the air in memory of flight While he watched it, unmoving intercessory hands, Unseeing the fire, and the skies Beyond variegated with other birds, indifferent to the sight Of its becoming almost-stillness.

Illustrations by: Luci Mullen , Liv Fugger Submit your creative writing to The Source at: cherwelleditor@gmail.com

CulCher | Friday 27th November 2020

6

A SWING OF THE PENDULUM

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BOOKS

WANG SUM LUK ADVOCATES THE REAPPRAISAL OF HORROR AS A LITERARY GENRE

here are a few horror stories that tend to get academic and critical attention—Frankenstein, Dracula, The Turn of the Screw, The Yellow Wallpaper, maybe I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream or something by Edgar Allen Poe. Everything else tends to be blanketed as bottom-ofthe-barrel pulp, dismissed as non-literary “popular fiction”.

Recently I encountered an essay by Jane Tompkins, commenting on the critical reception of 19th-century women’s novels, which could easily describe the sort of elitism that claims the inferiority of genre fiction. She notes that “critics have taught generations of students to equate popularity with debasement, emotionality with ineffectiveness”— anything that is read by millions stinks of the unwashed masses; for decades even Dickens was merely a “great entertainer”, in the words of F.R. Leavis. His criticism may be passé, but the assumptions it is grounded in are still going strong. Just look at how few sci-fi, fantasy or horror films make it to the Oscars.

But (to make a rather silly reference to Poe) the pendulum is swinging the other way.

Modern academics are reexamining genre fiction, helped by a number of critical movements breaking down literary elitism, and there’s a world of horror which is intelligent, complex and, most importantly, terrifying.

That’s why I’d like to nominate some counterparts to the “literary” horror stories I’ve cited,

as examples of what I think modern horror has to offer.

The stories on this list are classics for a reason, and even now Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is spinechillingly intense (perhaps because it hasn’t been adapted and parodied to death). It’s a justifiably iconic feminist text and portrait of mental instability, and the best counterpart to it is Asa Nonami’s Now You’re One of Us. About a young woman slowly becoming suspicious that something is wrong with her husband’s family, I first read it on the way to a restaurant, and by the time I was there I literally felt nauseous.

There’s no violence or supernatural scares, just a terrifying portrait of gaslighting and emotional manipulation. It takes the themes of Gilman’s story and places them in the context of the dark side of Japanese traditions and hierarchies, weaving a story that can sicken and fascinate.

Next on the list is a counterpart to Dracula.

While I considered some modern vampire novels, I settled on a left-field choice that takes the fear of invasion and societal destruction that Bram Stoker explores in a new direction. Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem and its sequels are technically sci-fi, but I found them disturbing enough to merit a spot on this list. Instead of vampiric invaders, this novel imagines an invading alien fleet and a terrifyingly plausible explanation for their

hostility. Instead of heroic men of the British Empire defeating a rapacious foreigner, it’s a world rooted in the real horrors of the Cultural Revolution and international politics. And while in Stoker’s novel the Count crumbles into dust, in this series there are no easy solutions, only a bleak race to delay doomsday.

Even as a devotee of Henry James, I struggle to call The Turn of the Screw a horror story.

It’s a haunting psychological tale that merits multiple re-reads, but I find that James’ slow and complex prose takes the horror out of the story. This may sound hypocritical when the book I’m about to suggest is experimental both in plot and format, but House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is The Turn of the Screw’s perfect counterpoint. James’ is a short story set in a Victorian mansion, while Danielewski’s is a massive novel imagining an American house which opens into a vast, ancient labyrinth.

But they’re both about the unreliability of knowledge, how trauma lingers in families, and the way good people go mad, set in houses which become claustrophobic reflections of their owners. Someone who wants a relatively simple horror story can focus on the parts about the titular house and the mad, doomed expeditions through it, but I found its metafictional weirdness and its interwoven narratives equally fascinating. While you can rightly accuse it of being pretentious, as far as I’m concerned, its cleverness outweighs its flaws.

The most recent entry on my list of aca-

demically recognized horror stories, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is essentially Harlan Ellison’s rendition of a nightmare, where bizarre tortures are visited on the story’s protagonists by a godlike, demonic AI. Its dreamlogic finds a counterpart in the manga of Junji Ito, where anything and everything can be frightening. I like to joke that his supernatural threats were created via mad libs: zombie fish on robot spider-legs, human-shaped holes in a mountain, a planet with a giant tongue, and spirals. Yes, this is a man who made the idea of spiralsterrifying. Psychologists talk about the uncanny, the sense of something ordinary becoming strange, and Ito’s works find horror in mundane scenarios and peaceful domestic scenes, taking root in the irrational side of your subconscious. It’s delayed-action horror—when you first read it, it’s absurd…but then, as night drags closer, you start to wonder why you’re afraid.

Theodore Sturgeon famously noted that critics who claim that 90% of science fiction is crap are in fact correct—and that this statistic is true for all literature. “The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field,” he wrote.

Times are changing for horror fans, and for anyone who needs a little convincing that there’s true greatness in the genre, perhaps my list will be your starting point.

Read the full article online at www.cherwell.org

Cherwell Recommends: Crime

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EIGHT WEEKS, EIGHT GENRES OF LITERATURE. THE BOOKS EDITORS OFFER UP THEIR TOP CRIME RECOMMENDATIONS.

rimes and crime-solving are the bread-and-butter of popular fiction, ubiquitous and broad in appeal from CSI reruns to Agatha Christie. And yet even the most mundane work in the genre is capable of drawing you in, because by their very nature crime novels build suspense, thrive on plot twists and invite the reader to participate in solving their mysteries. Old or new, heist or murder, shocking or predictable, crime encapsulated in novels gives us access to dangerous worlds and lives on the edge. These stories from the wrong side of the law or morality comfort us from the confines of plot and page; where the wicked are actually relatable antiheroes or thefts can be solved in hours by brilliant detectives.

For such a classic genre, the possibilities are endless— our recommendations draw widely from many iterations of the crime novel. A refreshingly light young adult book billed as a new Ocean’s 11, the unique perspective of a woman covering up for someone else’s crimes in modern-day Nigeria, and the most-sold print book of 2019 about murder in coastal North Carolina all illustrate the diversity of this genre, and its continued readability.

keep wanting more, because this isn’t a mystery that relies on the typical factual questions.

Karede’s titular sister’s pattern of violence— yes, she committed the aforementioned murder— is unpacked slowly, juxtaposed with a love triangle and the emotional corrosion at the heart of their family. Side characters, such as the love interest and the mother, are neither flat nor overly tangential, and the plot’s building tension finishes satisfyingly. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the novel is a literary crime thriller that the New York Times accurately summarised as “helping out family taken to extremes”. My Sister, The Serial Killer is funny enough that you don’t feel the need to take a break from the darkness, and yet, its discordantly hilarious narrative tone never takes away from the crime at its co

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Devanshika, Deputy Books Editor Winner of the 2020 Crime and Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, this is the story of a nurse entrenched in a cycle of cleaning up after her sister. It’s the kind of book that reveals itself in layers, but always gives you just enough to keep you reading on to the next twist. It begins with Karede, the protagonist, describing (in a typically deadpan manner that is one of the book’s highlights) the apparently mundane task of scrubbing a bathroom free from a murdered man’s blood.

You know who did it, you know how, and you also know how it’s getting covered up: but you

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Amelia, Deputy Editor Marina is a gothic thriller written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon; the Spanish author is most famous for The Shadow of the Wind, but Marina has become a kind of cult-classic. Set in Barcelona in 1980, the story follows teenager Oscar and the enigmatic Marina, who he meets and falls for in a dilapidated old house lost in the centre of the city’s Gothic Quarter. The two attend a macabre ritual that only takes place every fourth Sunday of the month. They begin trailing the woman at the centre of the ritual, which takes them to some of the most haunting and sinister parts of Barcelona.

Zafon breathes life into the past and present

of Barcelona in Marina. One of the best things about a literary fiction writer straying into thriller is that the prose continues to be lush and lyrical. The descriptions of Barcelona’s gothic architecture stand out on their own, but complemented by a dark and twisting plot, we see how the world around our two characters mimics the inner world they are uncovering.

Oscar and Marina are on the brink of adulthood, and in between the suspense and the mystery the reader witnesses many touching moments between the two.

Its rare to find a book that is wildly entertaining and simultaneously tragic and endearing; a firm underrated favourite from a classic author.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Eve, Books Editor A murder mystery unlike any other, Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya – ‘the Marsh girl’ – who was abandoned by her family and forced to grow up alone in the marshland she calls home. Her unique upbringing, “Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother,” shapes her into a mysterious and intelligent young woman, with an astute awareness and affinity with the wildlife around her – attracting the attention of two young men from the nearby town. When one of them is found dead, Kya immediately finds herself as the target of a community witch hunt, fuelled by social prejudice. Owens weaves an enchant-

ing and haunting murder mystery against the backdrop of the marshland, “sand keeps secrets better than mud”. Indeed, it is through evocative descriptions of nature that Owens offers the reader important meditations on the impact of isolation, racial and social prejudice and the fragility of life itself.

Night Film by Marisha Pessl Amelia, Deputy Editor I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve recommended Night Film. Despite being over 500 pages, I finally understood the phrase ‘have your nose stuck in a book.’ Its addictive.

Disgraced investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects that the death of beautiful Ashley Cordova was not a suicide. The mysterious woman is the daughter of legendary and reclusive film director Stanislas Cordova, a Tarantino or Kubrick style figure, whose cult horror films are renowned for being some of the most disturbing ever made. Marisha Pessl creates a lush in-world mythology to bring Cordova to life: his films have spooky titles such as Thumbscrew and At Night All Birds Are Black, he has his favourite actors, his secluded property, strange family, and bizarre personal details - Pessl has created a system that is so vivid it is difficult to remember it is only fictional. All this is complemented by the use of mixed media; slotted between the prose are interviews, transcripts, news articles, photographs and artwork.

Along the way, Scott McGrath accidentally recruits two helpers; Nora Halliday and the mysterious and aloof Hopper. It is common in who-dunnit style novels, plot-driven by nature, to spend little time on character development, but Pessl works hard to create a developed and likeable trio of protagonists.

Following them as they gradually get closer to Cordova and his secrets is an unforgettable and incredibly entertaining - journey.

Illustration by Sasha LaCômbe.

Friday, 27th November 2020 | CulCher

7

STAGE

BEHIND THE BURTON TAYLOR Grace Spencer speaks to Robert Bristow, manager of the BT Studio.

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obert Bristow has been in the thick of Oxford student drama for 20 years in his role as BT studio manager; I spoke to him about theatre under the pandemic, standout shows, and his advice for aspiring student thesps…

How did you come to work at the BT, and

how long have you been there?

“I trained and worked as an actor during the 80s and 90s, mainly working with companies where we had to do all our own stage management and administration.

Those jobs come and go, so I came back to Oxford to work in my dad’s second-hand furniture shop and heard about the BT job at the pub one night. I got the job in 2000, which means I’ve been here almost 20 years exactly and makes me one of the most longstanding members of staff at Oxford Playhouse!”

What have you enjoyed the most about managing the BT? “I’ve always enjoyed coordinating and supporting the student programme, with such a huge variety of ideas and projects that groups put forward for presentation, whether they are well-known or original works, and then seeing the companies work together to pull them off.

The Cuppers competition is always a highlight, too. It’s often people’s first time performing in a proper theatre space so they can be very nervous at the start of the week, and it’s amazing to see their confidence grow so much by the end. I love being able to support that – the spirit of it all is great!

I’ve also really enjoyed building up the BT’s programme out of term time.

We’ve managed to get local groups, touring fringe productions, children’s performances, Christmas shows - a real variety of things.”

“

summer. We’d been planning to open the BT for small student group rehearsals or workshops from a few weeks ago, but with the second lockdown that’s had to stop too.​ Although one student group did manage to use the window of rehearsal time and film their play – I would really like to see the​ studio used more in this way. A 50-seater is very hard to socially-distance in, so streaming to live audiences might be a short-term alternative.”

What do you think characterises Oxford student drama?

“The energy and enthusiasm! Students here are always looking for new ideas and ways of doing things – even n ​ew productions of old classics are always interesting and innovative. In terms of drama in the BT specifically, the shows tend to be very intimate and experimental since the actors are so close to the audience.

There is an atmosphere in there that lends itself to quite intense stuff.”

“When the pandemic broke out at the end of Hilary t​ his year, we had to cancel all our scheduled shows for Easter, Trinity and the

What would you like to see more of from Oxford student productions?

“I think that in the age of Covid, things which are interactive and online are going to be very popular. Finding ways to interact with the audience and to stream things effectively is a challenge, but it can work really well and be genuinely inspiring. I know we all want to be in a live space again, but in the absence of that, I think there are some really exciting opportunities.”

REVIEWS/SHORTS

Are there any student shows which stick in your mind?

“It’s hard to pick just a few! The one which sticks in my mind in terms of popularity was a very trendy and out-there radio show called Blue Jam in 2001/2 – it was so popular and sold out really quickly.

There have been lots of good Shakespeare adaptations – one punky Midsummer Night’s Dream was based around a huge rubbish tip – and some brilliant issuesbased self-written drama. I don’t always get to watch all the shows, sadly, but I always enjoy it when I do!”

What characterises Oxford student drama? Energy and enthusiasm!

How has the BT navigated lockdown?

What are its plans moving forward into the post-lockdown world?

Also, work as a team! That’s really crucial.

There have been shows where the director, even though they have great intentions and artistic integrity, has tried to do everything and has taken on too much. It’s important to bring in other people and use their strengths – I imagine that it is hard as a student to take the step to get involved and put yourself out there, so sometimes people won’t come forward, but it c​ an be so valuable for everyone to encourage these people to take part.”

From the ups and downs of the shows that you’ve seen, what would your advice be for an aspiring student production?

“Keeping it simple is a good thing. It’s difficult to create a realistic set in the BT, and in this century when we have television and film, we don’t need all that. I think that a more representative style works better. But if you’re having a simple set, it’s important to go as far as possible with the imagination of your acting and your words, and really play around with them.

Emilia at the Globe The Globe’s Emilia tells the life-story of Emilia Bassano, a poet and potential candidate for Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’. The production’s aim was to make people listen to a woman’s voice, unheard for so long. Although pushing a feminist message and detailing the struggles of womanhood, Emilia was a romp from start to finish.Arrive at your sofa expecting not simply a serious production, despite the production’s significant aims, but also a fun one. The cast and crew are all women, and a success of this is the cross-gender roles (Shakespeare and Emilia’s husband were both played by women), which are hilarious caricatures of inept men.

Moreover, even when male characters took the lead for rare sections of the production, this could never be as undermining as it would be with a gendered cast.

However, Emilia was let down conceptually. Other than in emotional sections on childbirth, the issues of womenhood raised were quite often stereotypical and matched the 21st century. The main feminist issues of the era were that Emilia could not be pub-

lished or have plays performed and could not choose who to marry and her friend was burnt as a witch for writing inflammatory words.

Cat-calling incidents and ‘mansplaining’ lost their relevance when set in an era where the subtlety of gendered power dynamics wasn’t what needed to be tackled. The didactic way in which the perspectives of the play were presented also felt unnecessary. One wonders if anyone who wasn’t already a self-identified feminist would go to see Emilia given how clear its marketing is? Its final words about fighting to have your voice heard run the risk of preaching to the choir. Despite this, it was relatable and empowering to see the anger of a woman disaffected with her lot in life presented as not only acceptable but to be lauded.

These irks and quirks barely mattered though; the production brings you along with an excess of vim every step of the way.

There are big laughs and big cries and seeing a woman’s life presented in such full form is so rare that even if some of the themes are a bit hackneyed, the production is still a breath of fresh-air.

Robyndra Allen

8

CulCher | Friday, 27th November 2020

FASHION

SMELL the DAMN

Roses

It’s a cold November morning in Oxford, and due to the national lockdown, I, like many others, am desperately trying to find ways to escape mundane reality, and my narcotic of choice is hardcore nostalgia. As freedom has been stolen from us, I find solace in letting my imagination run wild, especially through creating make-belief scenarios through stylised photographs.

For me, that has been a particularly effective 2020 coping mechanism as fantasy lets our minds travel when we physically cannot. I want to transport you to the summer of 1969, when fashion and life had no rules, in fact, the fewer the clothes and the more skin to skin contact the better. Taking these photographs helped me fantasize about where I want to be. Perhaps it is a type of creative visualisation - if you can dream up a scenario through photos, isn’t it almost as if you’re there?

The styling for this shoot was inspired by the 60s/70s babes at Woodstock, ironically I took inspiration from a festival that hosted 400,000 half-naked hippies, an idea that is hilariously unfathomable right now. Also, the combination of a suede jacket with nothing underneath, suit trousers and cowboy boots is a look that takes ‘powerful’ to the next level, you heard it here first.

Today, living in Woodstock’s parallel universe in which restrictions galore have been imposed on us, it is supremely important to indulge in day dreaming. Imelda Staunton said, ‘At the time of Woodstock, I was just 13, but I used to see these exotic hippy creatures and I did look on with envy. How could you not? In an ideal world, I would have loved to have been a hippy but I might have been a bit strait-laced. It was my fantasy.’ Mine too, Ms Staunton. I hope you were pleasantly surprised that these photos were taken at 9am, in 7 degrees November, and I hope you can find ways to daydream, spark joy, and smell the damn roses, even in the darkest of days.

Friday, 27th November 2020 | CulCher

9

words styling photos

Anushka Shah modeled by:

Anna Migone

CulCher | Friday, 27th November 2020

10

MUSIC

PLAYLIST NEW THIS MONTH For our final issue, we’re featuring three tracks from three new albums.

Happy listening from Sofia and Fred!

I LIKE WHAT YOU LIKE: LOCKDOWN ALBUMS AND DECISION FATIGUE Angela Eichhorst explores how the lockdown listening experience has changed our approach to finding and appreciating music.

W QUIERO SENTIRME BIEN Kali Uchis Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios)

GIRLS IN THE HOOD Megan Thee Stallion Good News

TELEPATHY BTS BE

hen an Instagram video of Taylor Swift sitting at the end of her bed in jeans asked me to “check out” Folklore, I waited until it got dark. Only after another day of remote work, filled with homecooked dinner, did I build a campfire and allow myself to press play. We listened through in silence, gazing up at the gap in the trees.

I can remember exactly when I first heard each album drop this seasick summer: I listened to Little Simz’s Drop 6 watching the rain outside my window at 4am; Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now was on a three hour drive to the ocean; during Lady Gaga’s Chromatica I stared at fish through the slits of a dock; and of course, I squealed to my current flatmate the moment Ariana or CDs would ever allow – I’m sure we’ve Grande’s Positions flashed up on Spotify. all heard parents or grandparents talking Online hysteria surrounding Folklore was about saving up to buy that hot record. If nothing short of extreme. It was streamed you can only acquire a limited amount of 80.6 million times in music, you’re going to the first day, making choose what everyone Swift the fasting sell- “WE’VE HAD TO PUT IN AN UNU- else is listening to. ing artist in 2020 and SUAL AMOUNT OF WORK TO FIND The growing trend the fastest selling fe- OUT WHAT TO LISTEN TO THIS SUM- of anti-mainstream male artist of all time. MER. GONE ARE THE MOMENTS OF music snobbery has Twittersphere even RANDOM EXPOSURE, SUCH AS TOP been met with a compared Folklore renewed gratefulness 40 RADIO” to King Lear, which for anyone who is Shakespeare wrote creating right now. during an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague.

Obscurify is a plug-in that strips data from Lockdown has heightened our colSpotify to calculate the percentage of how lective experience of album drops. In basic or obscure your music taste is in coma time of physical separation, bonding parison to the general population. This over a shared auditory experience is a summer my score was the lowest it had privilege we haven’t taken for granted. ever been, but somehow I didn’t mind. All The buffet style of Spotify and its it meant was that I had listened to the mucompetitors have given individuals the sic my real-life, and social media, friends ability to build up larger music libraries were listening to at the moment, allowing than traditional pay-as-you go records me to participate in a global movement.

SIX OF THE BEST: WINTER ALBUMS

Fred Waine and Frank Milligan join forces to bring you six Christmas crackers.

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escriptions that liken music to a particular season will inevitably be based on subjective experience. A ‘wintry’ album might remind one person of cuddles with a loved one on a chilly evening; for another, it will be something to dissociate to whilst gazing numbly out onto the frost-covered quad on Sunday of 8th Week.

Or, of course, it might be the seminal avantgarde masterpiece that is 2010’s Now That’s What I Call Xmas.

1. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)

In 2000, Radiohead made perhaps the greatest left turn in the history of popular music, going from everyone’s favourite despondent art-rockers to everyone’s favourite despondent… whatever the hell Kid A is. Much has already been said about Radiohead’s radical channeling of influences from electronica, ambient, free jazz and the avant-garde into their signature brand of alienation and ennui.

But if we’re talking strictly about a sense of coldness here, I’ll just let ‘Idioteque’, with its stark atmosphere, choppy beats, and chilling refrain of “ice age coming, ice age coming” do the talking. FM

2.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F#A#∞ (1997)

“The car’s on fire, and there’s no driver at the wheel…” so begins ‘The Dead Flag Blues’, the mammoth opening track on GY!BE’s 1997 debut, an at times fragile, at others overwhelming sonic journey into the post-industrial wasteland. There’s probably some cheap comparison to be made between this line and the current handling of a certain national health crisis, but I’ll avoid glib connections to contemporary politics and instead focus on the band’s sense of texture and atmosphere, their abstract blend of dirge-like guitars and mournful strings with low, rumbling drones, their sparse, cinematic soundscapes, the ineffable quality of the field recordings that punctuate the album.

“These are truly the last days” indeed.

FM

Mountains – 3. Purple Purple Mountains (2019)

Already about as bleak an album as you’ll be able to find, the feelings of despondency and isolation seeping

through Purple Mountains’ self-titled debut were compounded when David Berman, the man behind the moniker, hanged himself in his New York apartment just weeks after the record’s release.

Deceptively catchy songs such as ‘Darkness and Cold’ and ‘All My Happiness is Gone’ reveal a man who, though frosty and flawed, was someone we could all root for right until the end. Rest In Peace, David. FW

Hecker – Ravedeath, 4. Tim 1972 (2011)

Canadian sound artist Tim Hecker is inarguably one of the most vital and expressive artists working in the realm of ambient music. As such, it was difficult to choose between this and his other masterwork, 2013’s similarly chilly Virgins - I went with Ravedeath, 1972 only in part due to the punworthy fact that it was recorded in Iceland and produced by fellow sonic experimenter Ben Frost. Consisting of compositions that prominently feature grandiose, elegiac church organs alongside Hecker’s trademark fuzzy electronic textures, the record is driven by Tim’s desire to explore through music ideas of decay and degradation, isolation and internal conflict. Fittingly, it’s an emotional powerhouse of an album, one that can

We’ve had to put in an unusual amount of work to find what to listen to this summer.

Gone are moments of random exposure, such as Top 40 pop radio blasted at you in high street stores, Drum and Bass Father on a night out, or whatever is oozing out of the person’s earphones next to you on the bus.

However, more work does not necessarily mean we have had more choice.

Scrolling through Tiktok is probably the place where we have been the most exposed to the greatest variety of music, but we are at the mercy of an algorithm.

The result is the Spotify playlist Viral Hits, a franken-mesh of high grossing big names and alt-bedroom-pop onehit wonders shot to the top thanks to a certain 15 second section of their song.

Perhaps the extreme popularity of this summer’s big album drops along with Tiktok hits indicates decision fatigue more than anything else. In a pandemic, maybe we can be excused for liking what everyone else likes. be as harsh and claustrophobic at some points as it is melancholic and cathartic at others. FM

Better Oblivion Community 5.

Center - Better Oblivion Community Center (2019)

Two of indie-folk’s most affecting voices, in Phoebe Bridgers (we are not worthy) and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, team up on this understated gem, released without fanfare in January 2019. ‘Chesapeake’ is a yearnful campfire duet about “how depressing [the music industry] is”, while ‘Service Road’ lyrically depicts a snow-dusted Midwestern highway.

The highlight, however, is the rollicking ‘Dylan Thomas’, with its angsty chorus and references to the eponymous poet drinking himself to death on a cold November night. FW

Artists – Now That’s 6. Various What I Call Xmas (2010)

As this list is erring on the side of the depressing (“Do they know it’s Christmas?” I hear you ask), it might be best to remind the listener that it’s not all so bad with this set of cheery festive classics. Sit back by the fireplace and let Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ soothe your soul. Or gather round with your friends and belt out ‘Fairytale of New York’ and ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ into the early hours of the morning.

Or question the bizarre inclusion of Jethro Tull and Frankie Goes To Hollywood on the tracklist. Whatever floats your yuletide log, really – ‘tis the season, after all. FM

11

Friday, 27th November 2020 | CulCher

FILM

THE MOTHERS OF CINEMA

MUST SEE NEW RELEASE

As term draws to an end you might, just a tiny bit, be starting to miss your mum. Elsie Clark delves into some of their most important depictions on screen.

M

others, stepmothers, mothers-inlaw – whether you love them or resent them, they are undeniably a definitive influence on our lives. As the end of Michaelmas term draws nearer, and with it the prospect of spending the Christmas holidays at home, they will all be weighing on our minds a little more in the upcoming weeks. To celebrate (or commiserate) that fact, I’m looking back at some of their best fictional counterparts as seen through film to discuss the coolest fictional mums, the philosophy of the coming-of-age story, and why the Disney princesses’ mothers almost always end up dead.

Wicked Stepmother from Cinderella (2015).

I’ve chosen this version over the original animation simply out of respect for Cate Blanchett’s amazing 1940s-inspired wardrobe: the drama of her getting out of the carriage, wielding a Persian cat on a leash and tossing her magnificent viper-green skirts is the kind of extra energy I wish I could embody on a daily basis.

Stepmothers are a classic fairy tale trope, and the one in Cinderella is the worst of them all. Disney hates mums for some reason. Out of all the Disney Princesses, only Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty have living mothers. Whilst on the surface this is nothing more than a strange coincidence, on a closer inspection it reveals an unsettling reluctance from Disney

to show positive female relationships on screen and a desire to impress the importance of romance instead. This aside, the Wicked Stepmother is also the perfect embodiment of 20th century female misogyny. Of course she hates Cinderella: she’s younger, prettier, and annoyingly good at housework. But instead of considering any of these problematic questions, I think I’m just going to try and recreate the lovely tight curls of Cate Blanchett’s hair.

Mrs George from Mean Girls (2004). “Can I get you guys anything?” chirps Regina George’s mum to her daughter, who’s busy getting off with her boyfriend and pays no attention. “Some snacks? A condom? Let me know!” Although perhaps quite not to this level of awkward, we have all known a parent that tries a little too hard to get down with the kids. “I’m not, like, a regular mom,” insists Mrs George to a confused Lindsay Lohan. “I’m a cool mom.” The character is reminiscent all those awkward moments at sleepovers where your own or a friend’s mum has loitered for a little too long after bringing round the snacks, until their child inevitably snaps at them to “just leave us alone” and they shuffle away, chastised. Mrs George is sort of a sad character in this sense, in that she reflects a generation of parents afraid of seeming ‘old’, losing touch, and being resented

DIP YOUR TOE INTO SCHITT’S CREEK Mikaela Choo tells us why Schitt’s Creek is not only a great comedy show, but a “way of life”. Dip your toe in and in no time you’ll be swept away.

S

chitt’s Creek is a show where the main character talks to her many, many wigs. It is a show which manages to make a storyline about bedwetting genuinely romantic.

It is a show that set the record for most Emmy wins for a comedy in a single season.

It is a show that you need to be watching right now.

Co-created by Eugene Levy and Dan Levy, who are father and son both on and off screen, Schitt’s Creek begins with the formerly ultra-rich Rose family moving into a motel room in the titular small town, bought by Johnny Rose for his son David as a gag gift, as you do. It delivers on the crude comedy its title promises. The Roses are great at being socialites, but not so great at being good people, or at being a family. The process of them working on these things is really, really funny.

Catherine O’Hara as matriarch Moira Rose is a revelation.

Exhibit A: her eccentric accent, which is both a source of laughter and a subject of actual linguistic analyses. Exhibit B: everything she says in that accent, like her nuggets of parental wisdom, (“Gossip is the devil’s telephone. Best to just hang up.”) and advice about posting nudes online, (“Never! Never without good lighting!”)

More than anything, Schitt’s Creek is kind. It’s kind to its characters. As easy it would be to reduce the Roses to caricatures, they are portrayed as human (or at least, as trying their best to be human).

They’re relatable (even despite the fact that David, a grown man, thinks that the minimum wage is $45/hour). But the joy of the show doesn’t come from watching the Roses do crazy things and thinking to yourself, “What planet are they from?!” It comes from watching the Roses do crazy things and make mistakes and learn to be kind to each other, even while staying true to themselves.

by their own children. So if you ever encounter such a mum, be nice to them, regardless of whether their fake boobs are being slowly mauled by her dog whilst you’re chatting.

Marion McPherson from Lady Bird (2017).

The working title for Lady Bird was actually Mothers and Daughters, which is unsurprising given how the relationship between Marion and her daughter is the keystone of the entire film. Lady Bird thinks her mother is overbearing, Marion finds her daughter petulant and ungrateful, all without realising that the friction between them comes more from their similarities than their differences.

The whole film perfectly reflects the wonderful paradox of family relationships, where Lady Bird and Marion can be unified in tears over an audiobook one moment, then embroiled in an argument over college choices the next.

“I wish that you liked me,” says Lady Bird after her mother refuses to offer solid approval for her choice of prom dress. “Of course I love you,” replies Marion. “But do you like me?” insists Lady Bird sadly, and it’s a powerful question: we all love our family, but do we like them? Is it possible to love someone without liking them? And should we resent the traits we inherit from our parents, or accept them?

Donna Sheridan from Mamma Mia! (2008).

Despite all the gaudy costumes, the enchanting Greek backdrops, the crazy dance sequences, and Pierce Brosnan’s awful singing, it is the relationship between Donna and daughter Sophie that is ultimately at the heart of the two films. Mamma Mia is interesting in that it goes out of its way to establish Donna as a character in her own right, a mother who has had success in a super-cool 70s girl band but also regrets in the form of three very different men of very different singing ability. Donna is not perfect, although she has tried her hardest to do her best for daughter Sophie, and this is what gives the film its emotional heart.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Like when Alexis shows up to her brother’s wedding in a wedding dress (“This is not a wedding dress! It’s a white full-length gown!”) and walks him down the aisle, which is simultaneously sweet and also borderline incestuous – a brand of funny that only Schitt’s Creek could pull off.

And the show is, I think, one of those rare gems that is more than just a comedy and is really, actually a WAY OF LIFE. And not in the way that I tell myself that The Office is to justify watching it for the millionth time.

What Schitt’s Creek does better than any other show on television is it makes you look at the world with kinder eyes.

It blesses us with David and Patrick, the couple at the heart of what is hands-down the best love story on television. And it does so with a revolutionarily casual depiction of a community without homophobia that is meaningful because it doesn’t moralise – it shows us what life could be like.

UNCLE FRANK Fresh from the Sundance Film Festival, Paul Bettany masterfully carries this 70s set film centred around an alcoholic professor.

TO STREAM

THE CROWN The fourth season of Netflix’s awardwinning drama marks the entrance of two highly-anticipated characters: Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher.

With powerful performances, the series is available to stream now.

CLASSIC

BRIEF ENCOUNTER This iconic story of a passionate affair is the ideal ointment for a tough week. Streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Dan Levy perfectly articulates the magic of this: “If you put something like that (homophobia) out of the equation, you’re saying that… shouldn’t exist.”

If you watch just one episode, it has to be Season 4, Episode 6: “Open Mic.” It starts with Moira finding her co-workers’ sonogram on her desk and responding as any mother/long-time benign neglecter of her children would, by asking, “Who put a picture of a ghost on my desk??”

More funny stuff is said and then we get to Patrick, who suggests hosting an open mic night, much to David’s horror. But when Patrick serenades David with Tina Turner’s “The Best”, you can see the mortification on David’s face melting into tenderness, and then David is tearing up and his mother Moira is tearing up and so are you. Schitt’s Creek will win you over. It is, quite simply, the best.

Read the full article at cherwell.org Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Jason Paris

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LIFE

Life | Friday, 27th November 2020

THE DREADED ‘TRANSITIONING’ Chelsea Coates grapples with her decision to transition to her natural hair

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ransitioning. The word carries so much, it should be accompanied by spooky ghost sound effects every time someone dares to utter it. To those who are less acquainted with the term, welcome to the world of black hair! This word might seem to imply a transformation of seismic, life-changing proportions, but it’s actually just the term black women use for the process of allowing their hair to grow out of their head as it is. Except here’s the catch: this is not a simple process - hardly anything to do with black hair is.

When you transition, you stop using the chemical sodium hydroxide to ‘relax’ (codeword for straighten) your hair, allowing your curls to come out once again.

Gradually, you end up with a half-puffy, half-straight creature emerging from your head, at which point you have an important decision to make. If you cut all the relaxed ends off, your hair will be pretty short. If you leave them it will look quite strange.

Some women opt for shaving it all off for a fresh start. Some women turn to trusted protective styles, such as wearing wigs, weave or

braids to shield their hair during the transition period.

I’ve previously heard several people of other ethnicities claim that we make such a big deal about our hair, but in the words of Fleabag, hair is everything.

Anyway, if they also risked being suspended or even fired for their hair choices, they would probably make a big deal about it too. With a little patience, the time and the effort we spend on our hair are worth it in the end...but it’s still a lot of time and effort (and often money).

My ‘transition’ happened in lockdown. Since the age of 13 I’ve been relaxing my hair, and since the age when my brain began to efficiently store memories I’ve wanted to have long, flowing, essentially European hair. It was all well and good having hair that defied gravity or that didn’t need a hairband to remain in a plait, but none of my dolls, favourite Disney princesses or even female family members had afros. I was tired of entire Sundays being devoted to washing and detangling my hair when I could have been playing Club Penguin, or reading, or watching High School Musical.

Most of all, I wanted to look

pretty, and in the eyes of ten much more importantly, what did I’m back at university, however. year old me, the words ‘pretty’ not.

I also tend to feel a sense of and ‘afro’ existed in two different So what’s the verdict? I’m not dissociation when I look at myself dimensions. quite sure yet. Whereas the ten in the mirror because in my brain, As I got older, natural hair began year-old me would not have been my afro is inextricably linked to make its presence felt beyond able to believe that she could be to my younger self. Although I the closed doors of black would rather look younger hair salons. One by one, my age instead of older, “I WANTED TO LOOK PRETTY, than my aunts began to reveal the prospect of returning to their new manes. Fellow my pre-pubescent self is quite black girls in school began AND IN THE EYES OF TEN YEAR frightening (I wouldn’t mind to don braids instead of getting back the flawless prefresh perms. Beyoncé OLD ME, THE WORDS ‘PRETTY’ acne skin though). released the Lemonade The most pressing album. Gradually, I came reservation of all, however, AND ‘AFRO’ EXISTED IN TWO to realise that natural hair is the fact that when I look too could be beautiful. in the mirror at my newlyDIFFERENT DIMENSIONS.” Lockdown acted as a transitioned self, I get the catalyst for my own sinking feeling that I look transitioning for two reasons. perceived as beautiful as long as good, but I could look better.

The first was that having to stay she had her ‘fro, I’m able to see My ten-year-old self is still in at home made me go through a the beauty in my natural hair now. there somewhere, reminding continuous cycle of learning to I have Janelle Monae, Viola Davis me that what is on my head still appreciate the familiar and then and Lupita Nyong’o to thank for isn’t upheld in wider society beginning to tire of it. In short, that. However, I still have my as something to be admired in I got bored of the sight of myself reservations. As I mentioned the way that European or Asian in the mirror. If I couldn’t change earlier, natural hair requires hair is, and when it is, it is often my surroundings, I might as well time. In the first lockdown, this regarded as an exotic plaything. change myself. The second reason wasn’t an issue: if anything, I’m reminded of classmates was the fact that I was shielded sitting in front of a mirror for a exclaiming “Look, her hair stays from the societal pressure of being couple of hours combing, parting, up!” whilst prodding it with presentable. I had time to tackle moisturising and plaiting was a various classroom paraphernalia, the new terrain that my natural form of free therapy in turbulent and pushing down the discomfort hair laid out for me, to try out new times. My hair is not such a I told myself I didn’t deserve to styles and see what worked, and, therapeutic distraction now that feel. I’m reminded of all the times

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Friday, 27th November 2020 | Life other tourists petted me like a cute dog on holiday, commenting on how soft my hair was and telling their family to join in too, and then beaming with delight at having finally satiated their

Gradually emerging from and reentering lockdown has made me realise how much my perception of myself, or more specifically of how beautiful I am, is formed by others, and that this needs to

“THERE IS STILL THE GNAWING FEELING

THAT, REGARDING THE MANY LEVELS OF

BEAUTY, MY AFRO WON’T BE ABLE TO BREAK THE GLASS CEILING (NOT WITHOUT A BEYONCÉ-SIZED BUDGET ANYWAY).”

curiosity - seriously, if my mum had charged them a pound for each petting, we could have paid for an extra holiday each year.

I’ve learnt to appreciate my afro’s beauty but I’m still learning how to love it. There is still the gnawing feeling that, regarding the many levels of beauty, my afro won’t be able to break the glass ceiling (not without a Beyoncé-sized budget anyway).

change. It has made me see that despite all the praise I will heap on black women that wear their hair in whichever way they choose - natural, relaxed, under a wig, weaved into braids - my ten year old self is still very much here, and she still sometimes craves the hair I will never naturally have.

It seems her and I have some talking to do.

Artwork (below) by Rachel Jung.

cherpse Jo Heymann New Engineering How were you feeling before the date?

Bit knackered. Had a full day of tutes and meetings so was keen to get out of the house.

IT’S WHAT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR...THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF CHERWELL’S FIRST DOUBLE DATE!

First impressions?

Sid? Great guy. I like his hair and rate his gym ethic.

Rubia? Seemed very self assured and was also very punctual.

Adam? Fashionably late but very friendly and chilled.

How were you feeling before the date?

Was wondering how it might turn out, considering covid and all.

First impressions?

She was really nice and easy to talk to.

Did it meet up to your expectations?

Yeah it was really nice.

Did it meet up to your expectations?

Expectation - a fun chilled evening. Reality - a fun, chilled evening...that would be a yes, we had fun chats and a good time.

What was the highlight?

Meeting someone new.

What was the most embarrassing moment?

Forgetting the English language because of lockdown - been pretty embarrassing throughout the whole of term actually.

What was the highlight?

Sid and Adam bonding over where they live.

What was the most embarrassing moment?

Adam chatting to his two friends at the next table... we’ve all been there. Although maybe not embarrassing when there are four of us? I got drunk after two beers - that’s covid tolerance for you.

Adam Tappin Univ History

NOW THAT IT’S SO HARD TO CHECK A BOOK OUT OF THE BODLEIAN, ADAM DECIDED TO CHECK JO OUT INSTEAD...

Describe the date in 3 words: Chilled covid time.

Is a second date on the cards?

Don’t think so.

Describe the date in 3 words: Art, History, STEM. Is a second date on the cards?

You miss every shot you don’t take. Sid - take two?

Seriously though, I asked because why not and got my answer.

HOROSCOPE

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

21 March- 19 April

20 April - 20 May

21 May- 20 June

21 June - 22 July

23 July - 22 August

How you’re still on top of your work is beyond me, but keep going! You’ve nearly made it to the end of a fairly surreal Michaelmas and the fact you’ve thrived despite all the madness is crazy impressive. Reward yourself with a welldeserved night off!

I know you want to have a nice household Christmas dinner, but this militaryprecision style event planning is driving everyone up the wall! Relax, have a mince pie and prepare yourself for the inevitable kitchen chaos. (*sigh*)

I know your 6th week battered you a bit, but with Oxmas comes a brilliant excuse for an early advent calendar treat! Why not pop to Tescos and pick one up? You deserve to treat yourself!

Your friendship group’s Secret Santa will reveal a secret unrequited love affair… they’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you and decided the best way to do it would be with a £5-£10 gift!

Frankly at this point in the term you are impressively behind on work. But that’s okay! You’re styling it out gracefully and my crystal ball tells me you’ll have caught up in no time!

VIRGO 23 August - 22 Sept Ok, we get it, Oxmas is looming – but please stop listening to Bublé’s Christmas album. Apparently you can have too much of a good thing and your patient neighbours are slowly turning on you. Heed this warning!!!

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

23 Sept - 22 Oct

23 Oct - 21 Nov

22 Nov - 21 Dec

22 Dec - 19 Jan

20 Jan - 18 Feb

19 Feb - 20 March

Gingerbread lattes have arrived in Pret and with them, your seasonal soulmate has finally decided to cave and get the deal (Not an AD, this fortune teller is just a fan).

Why not try and bump into them in the queue?

As the weather gets even colder, you’ll hit your fashion element. Finally you can get out all those cosy, cosy jumpers and revel in layers of warm wool. No jumper is too thick, no scarf too long.

Dare to dream.

It’s nearly the end of term!

I know you’re dreading the awful packing challenge that the end of term brings but don’t! I see some kind helping hands arriving to help organise you and all your stuff…

Why not bring a blanket next time someone suggests a coffee on the steps of the Bodleian? In this chilly weather I know you’ve been thinking about it, and I promise you won’t regret it!

Your Secret Santa gift will be completely inspired this festive season! I’m in awe of your tasteful giftgiving skills and I know the recipient will be delighted when they get it! channel those main character vibes.

I know you want someone to do cute festive things with, but can I recommend a best friend over a significant other – they will be far less drama and far more fun!

Take a break from dating and a second to appreciate all the lovely people in your life.

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Life | Friday, 27th November 2020

“A JUNGLE OF BUREACRACY”: ACCESSING LAPTOP PRIVILEGES

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andwriting has always been a hurdle in my race to academic success.

No matter how hard I try it never fails to be scoffed at by my friends, called “doctors handwriting” by my parents with its only advantage being that my siblings, no matter how hard they try, have never managed to decode my diary. Having had a handwriting justified laptop at A-levels, I thought I would sail smoothly into using a laptop in my exams at university. However, when I thought I would be met with ease, I was instead met with the puzzling and perplexing bureaucracy that is the Oxford Disability Advisory Service.

Of course they should be commended for their service as for most students with a pre diagnosed disability they may have little problem or interaction with the service. However, I, the half-adult that I am, have had to climb through the jungle of bureaucracy alone. I first emailed the college well-being advisor.

She then referred me to the University of Oxford disability advisor.

The Disability advisor then referred me to a five-page form with the hope of being referred to the Evaluator of Needs. The Evaluator of Needs then referred me to the final hurdle of having a two hour SpLd (special learning difficulty) exam which I am still waiting to do. *Deep bureaucracy induced exhale* All that my illegible handwriting has requested for is a laptop but instead I’m doing an assessment that may diagnose me with dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD but will most likely hang my illegible handwriting and academic career out to dry.

The form which had granted me a referral to the Evaluator of Needs was my worst nightmare.

There I sat, at the Social Sciences Library, spending three hours filling out a form with time I didn’t have in order to potentially catch the attention of an Evaluator of Needs. The five page SpLd questionnaire which I was requested to fill out by hand asked me if I had time management problems, handwriting problems, problems maintaining concentration, organising daily life or organising my work schedule. The irony of spending three hours filling out this form so that it would be reasonably legible would suggest that I suffered from problems with all of the above.

Admittedly, this form almost stopped me from reaching out for help and required more persis-

Welfare

I

t’s no secret that Oxford can be an intense environment, and that means that sometimes things can get a little bit hard to handle. You will build an amazing support network of friends while at Oxford, but there’s plenty of other places that you can turn if you feel as though you need some extra support too.

Lily Sheldon

tence and handwriting resilience then it ever should have.

Since primary school, handwriting has always been my curveball to loving to write and learn. I will never forget the complete horror, shame and embarrassment I felt when my year six teacher announced to my entire cohort: “Lily, you will not finish primary school with pen privileges.” In the split of a second my pen orientated dream bubble just popped. I would never be able to present my mum with my pen certificate and I had to let go of my dream of marching into WH Smith to buy that five-pack handwriting lammys set.

In secondary school, instead of being critiqued for my use of quadratic formula or misunderstanding of trigonometry I was instead criticised for the messy way I wrote the date in the top left margin of the page. For a maths teacher, this type of academic feedback just did not add up. It was not until A-levels that I was able to truly flourish because my sixth form teachers recognised that it was my handwriting that was acting as an impediment as opposed to the material itself.

Sixth form suddenly became far more doable and although I had to sit next to that girl who always wears bright green acrylics to clack her way through the English A-level exam, it was still worth it.

My teachers made me realise that one’s academic journey should never be set off track when there is such a simple solution in place.

Therefore, I await my SpLd assessment with apprehension, fear, frustration and expected disappointment. I’m almost certain I don’t have a severe learning difficulty that would grant me access to a laptop, however, if a laptop is what allows examiners to read my writing then why should it be such a bureaucratic mountain to climb? I am not in any way attempting to take away from anyone who does suffer from learning difficulties because I have the deepest respect for all of you. All that I am asking is for our university system to not only cater to the extremes and for each to receive “according to their needs.” For me that is a laptop in a History exam where I’ve spent most of the year typing essays anyway.

There’s certainly a reason for which I never received my primary school dreams of receiving pen privilege. However, now that I have obtained the unwanted pen privilege of writing Oxford exams by hand, why should that stop me from reaching my academic dreams?

Peer Support Every college has a dedicated team of peer supporters, including rainbow peers and peers of colour. They’re fellow students who have completed thirty hours of training for the role, and are on hand to listen to your worries, no matter how big or small. Any conversations you have with them are strictly confidential, and their experience of student life puts them in a perfect situation to emphasise with whatever you’re going through.

You can usually find posters around your college giving details of your peer supporters and how to contact them, so reach out if you need them.

The University Counselling Service If you’re looking for some more structured support, you can reach out to the University Counselling Service. Booking an appointment is really easy: just drop them an email to counselling@ admin.ox.ac.uk, and they’ll reply with a quick form for you to complete so they can assess the urgency of your request. Waiting times fluctuate, but appointments are typically arranged within a week. The great thing about this service, apart from the short waiting times and genuinely caring counsellors, is that nobody is ever turned away.

Other Support Services In addition to the support networks above, there are many other places that you can turn when life just gets a bit too much. For instance, the university offer specialist services such as the Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service, and colleges often employ their own welfare teams such as Junior Deans and Chaplains. Every JCR

bench will have at least one welfare officer who will organise college events such as welfare teas, and most clubs and societies will have a welfare officer on their committee too.

If you’d rather talk anonymously, then Oxford Nightline offer a totally confidential listening services between the hours of 8pm and 8am every evening during term time at 01865 270 270. Remember that there’s lots of other amazing support services out there such as Samaritans and The Mix, if you’d rather reach out to somebody outside of the university too.

Hopefully this information reassures you that your mental health and wellbeing is something that is taken seriously in Oxford. Never forget that, no matter what barriers you are facing, you never have to face them alone. Everyone deserves support, so reach out when you feel as though you need a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. It’s okay not to be okay.

Read the full text in Keep Off The Grass, Cherwell’s freshers guide, available to read online at www.issuu.com/cherwellonline Illustration by Lizzie Daly

JOHN EVELYN

J

ohn Evelyn is delighted to hear that the Union slates this term are both promising something unique: it seems neither of them like the status quo, and are determined to either Rebuild or Create a new one.

This certainly marks a change, but now One could hardly Imagine Another Way, without campaigns for a Clean Slate or a New Way to Engage and Empower the Union, Unlocking it for members. But here the similarities seem to end.

Rebuild is pledging a ‘membership fee audit’. Famously, auditors love reducing fees, and the Union’s staff will certainly be in favour of reducing fees, right? If only some hack had come up with the idea of having an audit in the past, those poor freshers could have paid half as much!

Create have fallen for one of the classic blunders by actually promising to do something - to actually reduce the membership fees, rather than just hold an audit about it. Accountable? Imagine that. Perhaps the Kiwi has learned from her past mistakes: having ran on a campaign pledge 18 months ago of offering £1 pints, it’s interesting to see it reappear in her manifesto. John Evelyn wonders whether he has been missing some secret code or handshake, and has such been needlessly wasting £3.95 on every pint of Fosters; however, John Evelyn knows everything and everyone, and considers his rapport with the Union bar staff a particular attribute. Instead it seems the Kiwi must have, somehow, failed to fulfill her pledge? He wonders if Rule 71(a)(31) may have any interesting views to proffer this.

Meanwhile, The Late Etonian certainly has managed to draw some considerable forces to his side, with Christ Church’s finest flying to his aid from afar. As this paper is flicked through over the weekend, John Evelyn wonders whether his hubris will appear as his nemesis? It wouldn’t be the first time that overconfidence in a candidate was misplaced, with voters staying at home and allowing another candidate to walk to victory.

Or perhaps instead we’ll see another result for Oxford’s favourite wizard, with The Ancient One wading again into student politics with a last minute profile picture change.

Anyway, John Evelyn had now better himself walk down to the metaphorical polls, knowing this column will be even more irrelevant than usual by Saturday. Happy voting!

Life | Friday, 27th November 2020

15

FOOD

VIBRANT WINTER VEG

Isobel Sanders shares her favourite ways to make use of seasonal vegetables.

I

’m writing this sitting on the floor sauté on a low heat in olive oil for around of my student room at university in ten minutes. Then go from there. Take France. I thought I would be spending inspiration from my October article and lockdown alone but all my flatmates make a minestrone. Or how about a chilli decided to invade Lyon; there isn’t too con/sin carne for a weekend dinner with much space, but we get on alright. We your flatmates? And if you’re feeling lazy, watch films together, do yoga every evenadd to scrambled eggs for an outrageously ing and, most importantly, inspect the tasty breakfast. basket of fruit and vegetables that we collect each week. We signed up to a scheme Pumpkins and squash called AMAP (the French love their Pumpkins often have a rather sad acronyms), which roughly stands fate after halloween. The UK bins for the Association for Supabout 8 million pumpkins after porting Small-Scale Farming, halloween each year. Howeva nation-wide distribution er these winter squashes are “THE UK BINS system that ensures a fair perfect for a range of pies, A BOU T 8 MILLION price for both parties and warming bowls of soup or fresh, in-season vegetables festive veggie loaves.

PUMPKINS A FTER for us. We paid some money at the start of term, and now H A LLOW EEN EACH Brussel sprouts every Tuesday we wait to see The winter vegetable with aim to be able to taste these winter veggies Y EA R” what mud-covered, gnarly, the worst reputation has to be rather than drowning them in dairy in the sometimes-past-their-prime vegthe Brussel sprout. When I was hope that no-one will notice what they’re gies have been harvested from fields little, I hated them. Each Christmas I actually eating? So, to put these baffling nearby. would beg that no more than two be put on oddballs in the spotlight, I really recomWhen our panier first arrives, there are my plate. Now I’m older, know better, and mend a good roasting. It’s shockingly moans and groans. “Why have we got 30 am less sensitive to the bitter compounds simple. radishes? What on earth is that?”. Then that make them so widely hated. And all For fennel, chop in half, then cut inchcomes a little meal plan; chard risotto Frithe better, since Brussel sprouts are high thick wedges and place carefully in a day evening, fennel gratin Saturday lunch, fibre, contain more potassium than a roasting tray. Likewise for cabbage. For squash soup and bread Saturday evening… banana, and (so long as there aren’t short- cauliflower, separate the head into florets.

Those knobbly, dirty seasonal vegetables Then drizzle everything with olive oil. A ages…) should be great on a student can be transformed into something delibudget. Still not convinced? couple of cloves of garlic or some cious.

Next time you make a sliced onion would make a nice “BRUSSEL We normally think of winter as a barren addition, or maybe a splash stir fry, shred a few and season, however it is anything but. Go on chuck them in. At worst, of balsamic vinegar for SPROU TS A RE HIGH the hunt for seasonal vegetables and you’ll you won’t even notice extra sweetness. Thinly FIBRE, CONTAIN MORE be amazed at the variety. Okay, potatoes them. At best, you’ll sliced lemon works a are a-plenty, but keep an eye out postbe able to navigate the treat too. If you’re feelPOTASSIUM TH A N A halloween for sweet-fleshed pumpkin, all Christmas table much ing like it, add some BA NA NA, A ND SHOULD BE spices, such as cumin, kinds of leafy green veg, beautiful purple better. beetroots and the unassuming fennel, ON A ST UDENT BUDGET.” ginger, or turmeric. Use cabbage and cauliflower.

Fennel, cabbage your hands to make sure and cauliflower your veggies are evenly Onions, carrots and celery Then come the winter vegcovered with mixture.

As the clocks turn back, the culinary holy etables that leave you perplexed; fennel, Then pop into the oven at 180C for trinity - onion, carrot and celery - should cabbage and cauliflower. Fennel tastes too around three quarters of an hour, turnall be easy to find. Why are they sacred? strong, cauliflower, too weak, and cab- ing every ten minutes, adding more oil if needed, until melty, oily, and slightly Because with them you can form a base, a bage is just a bit, well, gassy. You could soffritto, for a myriad of soups, stews, and make a cauliflower cheese, a coleslaw, or blackened at the edges. These can then sauces. The basic ratio is 2 onions : 1 carrot a cheesy fennel gratin, but adding cheese be stored in the fridge in Tupperware for : 1 stick of celery. Chop into a fine dice and feels like cheating and anyway, isn’t the up to five days, and make a brilliantly

quick and simple lunch paired with pitta, hummus, falafel, eaten as a side, or simply forked out of the Tupperware mid-afternoon for a superior mid-essay crisis snack!

Swiss chard and beetroot

For a winter spin on hummus, look no further than the beet greens family, to which Swiss chard and beetroot both belong. If you don’t make your own hummus and you have a blender, start now! It is infinitely better than the shop-bought stuff which is bulked up with a disgraceful volume of water.

Take a jar of cooked chickpeas (save the chickpea water), three tablespoons of tahini, a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed, and the juice of a lemon and blitz together.

To make a brilliantly fluffy, silky hummus, add a good amount of the chickpea water back in.

Taste as you go and add more garlic or lemon as necessary. (Sometimes I get up to five cloves, depending on the strength of the garlic and whether I’m in a particularly garlicky mood!) In winter, add a couple of medium-sized cooked beetroots to your hummus for a stunning colour.

Read the full article with recipes online at cherwell.org Image credit: Isobel Sanders

RESTAURANTS AT HOME - MAKE HOME DINNERS LAVISH Danielle Perro brainstorms ways to make cooking at home feel like a restaurant experience.

A

s a result of restaurant closures since the first lockdown in March, I’ve missed trying new foods, meeting friends for a weekend coffee, or going for a solo walk through town with a flat white from Peloton.

Although it may seem trivial, food was a valuable way for me to connect with myself and others. So, I’ve used the lockdown(s) to explore food that I otherwise wouldn’t have tried - in my very own kitchen! Now, of course, this is the same kitchen where I get my cereal every morning before I begin my (what feels like) 10,000th WFH (Work From Home) day, so I’ve found ways to make the evenings where I cook a new meal feel special and create a ‘Restaurant at Home’ vibe.

During this lockdown, I’ve frequently craved Italian food so to fill the void, I’ve mastered risotto. It’s so simple to make,

yet, with the right ingredients, the final product is so rich and luxurious that it’s easy to forget I’m in my own house. Some of my favourite flavour pairings are bacon and mushroom, asparagus and pea, or butternut squash and sage.

Hopping onto the lockdown breadmaking trend, I opt to create a focaccia with my risotto. Since risotto recipes are typically quite savoury, I like the neutral oil flavour from the focaccia as a pairing.

Focaccia is a great bread for creating your home restaurant vibes because it isn’t too labour intensive, and the final product is Nonna-approved and sure to impress your flatmates, friends, or partner.

I usually use the BBC recipe for my focaccia. The best thing about this bread is that you can easily add whatever toppings you think will go well with your risotto. Because I was making a savoury dish, I added figs and balsamic caramelized onions to my most recent creation and was really happy with the result!

To tie the dish together, I like to add a

glass of red wine. While any drink will do, I try to pair the meal with a drink that I don’t have every day to make it feel all the more special. Treat yourself!

Aside from the food, there are a few other minor things you can do to make your dinner party (with members of the same household) a success and feel like a refreshing and indulgent evening. I recommend getting changed - make a night out of it! None of us have anywhere fancy to go at the moment, so our nicer clothes are collecting dust. So, why not put on the nice dress you bought that you’ve only had the chance to wear once? The new blazer or blouse that you’ve been meaning to show off. Get changed into an outfit that you love but haven’t had a reason to wear since lockdown. This is now that chance!

Living in student accommodation, space is sparse so you may have to get creative when arranging your eating space. Whatever is available in your house, a nice warm lamp, fairy lights, big cushions, or some ambient music, bring it to your eating

space! I find that changing your surroundings to look, feel, and sound a bit more like a restaurant makes the meal feel like more of an occasion. If you’re playing music in the background, try to avoid playing anything that would cross your Spotify’s recently played while you’re studying. We don’t want to be reminded of our last major assignment while at Ristorante di Casa.

Although we are all probably missing our ‘normal’ pre-COVID lives, where we could go to a new restaurant to spend time with our favourite company, why not embrace our current lockdown situation to create your own Restaurant at Home. Cooking may not be your forte, but by following online recipes you may surprise yourself with a delicious creation. By turning your dining space into your very own restaurant, you can expect to feel that, even just for a moment, you have created an experience that feels normal.

Buon appetito!

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

16

Life | Friday, 27th November 2020

PROFILE

IN CONVERSATION WITH TIM WEBBER company based in London. He started out in the way that many people in this industry do, as an assistant. “I managed to get a job making coffee. [...] It’s sort of how you have to start in the film industry, generally, you just have to start at the bottom and work your way up.”

“It was a very small company at the time.

So I quite rapidly did a mix of different oing from an Oxford Physics degree things. You know, I was still officially a to winning an Oscar for your work runner whilst I was also a librarian keeping on Gravity seems like, strangely, a track of all the tapes, and then also a sort of fairly linear career path. For Tim technical operator managing the machines Webber, the world of physics and the world in the machine room, and also starting of film were appealing to him for the same to work on the creativity of the machines reason: his desire to follow a creative path. as well. I was one of the few people who “I’ve always had a wish to be creative, I actually bothered to read the suppose. And then you can totally be manuals.” creative in the world of physics.

After a few years, Webber [...] “I suppose going and “I’ve always moved onto working doing typical research didn’t creatively on short-form particularly appeal to me had a wish to be video projects, such as because [...] I wanted to get started doing something creative, I suppose. And adverts and music videos.

Eventually, he became creative straight away.” then you can totally be the Chief Creative Officer During his Physics degree, Webber spent “as much creative in the world at Framestore. In the time since he started his career, time doing drawing as I did of physics.”

Webber has worked on some of doing Physics, which isn’t to the biggest films of the last two say much.” He graduated with a decades, including The Dark Knight, portfolio of art and a short film he had Avatar, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, made, and started looking for jobs in the and Gravity. film industry.

While working on Gravity, Webber found “It was sort of a Golden Age, the very that his degree became surprisingly useful. early age of videos when people were doing “Because of my background in Physics, very interesting stuff with what was then I had to do a lot of work educating our cutting edge technology, team of animators. [...] When you create and doing very creative computer animation, one of the things with that hardest things to do is [...] to technology. And make [a person] feel like it has I was looking weight. [...] To look as though for some way there’s weight to his limbs of combining and his body and the gravity my technical is affecting him.” skills, as “And then suddenly, a general we were asking them to term, and animate people where my artistic there was no gravity. and visual They have no mass, and so interests there’s still a momentum a n d issue. But there’s no gravity, abilities. and there’s no air resistance And videos to slow anything down. They sort of had to unlearn [...] a lot of attracted my [...] the natural things they attention learned to do in animation. as being a And in order to help them combination do that, I gave them lectures of those two on physics, lectures in as far things.” as I stood in front of them with For the a whiteboard, and talked entirety of through how the his career, physics of space Webber has works.” worked at Webber Framestore, c r e d i t s a visual Gravity as effects the most

Sasha Mills speaks to Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Webber about his work on Gravity and The Dark Knight, and the challenges that the pandemic has presented.

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difficult project that he’s ever worked on, connection with that character.” in part because of the level of computerOne scene that exemplifies Nolan’s generated imagery involved. “It’s hard to approach to The Dark Knight is a scene give a percentage, but it was like 85% of the where the Joker blows up a hospital. “We images on the screen were created in the could have done a hospital exploding in computer. [...] We were creating every bit of visual effects, but Christopher Nolan, being the image apart from their faces.” who he is, found an unused building that “When they’re floating around in their was about to be demolished, and actually spacesuits outside the ISS, all we were blew it up for real.” A few days filming was their faces, and then before shooting, the windows we’d render the spacesuit, even were stolen from the building, “It was a down to the visor in front of so Webber and his team their faces, and the breath on had to add them in during totally different way the visor.” post-production.

“When we set out, a of working to what you Nolan’s minimalistic lot of people were saying approach is in some ways have to do now.” you can’t do that, that’s quite similar to the way impossible.

You need that visual effects used to wait 5 years until the to be done, at the start of technology’s caught up. [...] So Webber’s career. “It was a it was quite a scary endeavour.” totally different way of working While Avatar involved high amounts of to what you have to do now, because you computer generated imagery, it “was were sort of working with rubber bands and slightly different, because it was a fantasy a piece of string.” world [...] whereas [in Gravity] what we “But it did teach me to be more were trying to create was something that innovative and inventive, because we had had to look real.” very basic tools and you had to find ways The most challenging scene was the to do interesting and complex things with opening long shot, which lasts for 17 the very, very simple tools. You had to bring minutes without any cuts. “It was the first together all sorts of techniques, whether shot that we really started working on in it was using the digital tools that we had, the movie, and the very last shot that we or filming very particular things in very finished at the end of the movie.” The birth particular ways to create any effect that you scene in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men wanted to do.” presented similar challenges.

Webber told me that, despite his “He loves his long shots. [...] He wanted background in visual effects, some of his it to be four and a half minutes long. [...] favourite cinematic moments are those First, we had to create a digital baby, and with only simple techniques. He credits back then, it was a while ago, no one was one scene in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the actually creating believable digital humans Lost Ark for instilling his love of cinema in back then. No one had created one at all. [...] him: “It’s a perfect piece of storytelling. It But someone heard people coming out of may not be the most amazing visual effects, the cinema talking about the shot, going ‘I although it is very, very good for its time. can’t believe they’ve managed to persuade But it’s a perfect piece of storytelling that the actress to give birth on camera!’ When is just the right moment at the right point you hear things like that, that people [...] in that film.” completely believe that moment that Now, the Covid-19 pandemic has created you’ve created, it’s very satisfying.” a new set of challenges. In March, the Still, Webber has enjoyed working on employees at Framestore moved to a Cuarón’s long shots. “[It’s] a big working from home approach indefinitely.

“A part of his language, telling films Working separately has been a that way. [...] If it’s a camera challenge for their lot of people particular living in the world, and team. having to physically move “We have, not much short of were saying you from one place to another, 1000 people in the building, [and] the action is actually can’t do that. You need and we had to get everyone continuous action, it feels to wait 5 years until the set up working from home more like these things are with very, very complex actually happening and I technology’s caught computer systems. It’s a very think you get immersed in the collaborative process, visual up.” story much more.” effects, you need teams of people Because of the unique challenges working closely together. So, we did the film presented, the visual effects in it. You know, it took a couple of weeks, but Gravity had to be heavily researched. actually, it’s phenomenal that we managed “It was very interesting to do all the to get that to happen at all, [...] it took a lot research about life in space and how things of technical innovation and teamwork to worked.” Part of NASA’s remit is to share make that happen.” knowledge with the public. “They take They started out working on footage their role in spreading information about filmed pre-pandemic, “but now there is space very, very seriously, so there was suddenly no work.” Crowd scenes have an unbelievable amount of material to proved a particular challenge, as the ability do that research from,” including books to bring together large groups of people in about the realities of life on the ISS. real life seems distant. Webber credited his On the other end of the spectrum, team for their ability to adapt to the new Webber describes The Dark Knight as way of working, but pointed out that the notably free from CGI. “Christopher film industry may be facing challenges for Nolan, I think very sensibly, loves a long time, with a large number of films to do as much for real as possible. delayed until next year. “Even if cinemas He likes to use his visual effects, open, there’s not going to be an awful lot but will do as little in visual effects of material.” as he possibly can. When he does Despite these challenges, Webber and do stuff in visual effects, he tries the Framestore team have been involved to make it as based in reality as in some exciting new projects, including possible.”

Disney’s live-action Mulan remake. Webber “When you start to have himself has now moved on to start directing characters moving around in alongside visual effects supervision, as “It’s sort of physically impossible the storytelling that I enjoy.” Given his ways, you know that what clear passion for doing just that, I’m excited you’re looking at is not a to see what he comes up with next. real human being. [...] And I think you lose any human Read the full piece online at cherwell.org

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

9 CARTOON

Wes Beckett On... continuing residency requirements

COMMENT

A CENTURY OF WOMEN AT OXFORD

AS WE REACH THE 100 YEAR MARK, SHARON CHAU LOOKS AT FEMALE EDUCATION ACROSS THE

T

he year 2020 marks the centenary of women being awarded degrees at the University of Oxford. Women were first granted full membership to the University on 7 October 1920, and were given the right to be awarded degrees a week later. As much as this is a cause for celebration, it is sobering to think that only a hundred years have passed since women were allowed to properly study here. Much remains to be done to equalise access to higher education for young girls, especially for those from worse-off socioeconomic backgrounds.

But while we lament the problems we see in the West, from stereotypes that contribute to fewer women in STEM higher education or the microaggressions and sexual harrassment women face on campus (all of which are serious issues to be tackled), women on the other side of the world are faring much worse. Many young girls do not get the chance to attend school at all. A shocking example is South Sudan, which has been named as the toughest nation in the world for girls to receive an education.

Nearly three-quarters of girls there fail to attend even primary school.

As for the Central African Republic, there is only one teacher for every 80 students, contributing to very low attendance rates. And there is a gendered dimension here - nearly twice as many girls (38%) are out of school as boys (20%) in the Central African Republic. Research demonstrates that uneducated girls are more at risk of poverty, child marriage, vio-

lence and diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Clearly, something needs to be done for female education around the world.

The benefits of educating girls are quite intuitive. It vastly increases women’s participation in the labour market through equipping them with crucial skills and qualifications for employment,

declined need for many children as a risk insurer, and slower population growth in a stagnant economy leads to more resources per capita since the total economic pie is divided among fewer mouths. All these are clear reasons why female education is incredibly important, not just for the women themselves, but for the country and development as a whole.

and through changing stereotypes about women’s roles. As earning power increases through education, women become more self-sufficient and autonomous, which frees them from an unhappy marriage or any marriage at all. Female education also slows down population growth, as educated women are more likely to delay marriages and use birth control. Infant mortality rates are lowered as well - each one-year increment in mothers’ education corresponds to a 7-9% decline in under-5 mortality in many developing countries. Lower mortality rates decrease population growth due to a

But if female education creates so many benefits, why do so few girls around the world go to school compared to boys? This is due to a few factors - the opportunity cost of losing a pair of hands in the home, social and cultural norms surrounding female schooling, and low economic returns to investing into girls’ education. Not sending daughters to school is often a rational choice when they will be taken care of by their husbands, when nontuition costs such as transportation and learning materials are high, and when girls can stay home and fetch water or help their mothers take

care of younger siblings. Girls might also not be sent to school because parents are afraid of physical or moral harm done to them, as demonstrated in longitudinal studies in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

In light of these barriers, governments have to develop explicit policies to increase girls’ education.

This should include providing financial incentives for families, decreasing physical barriers for schooling, and changing norms surrounding female education. For example, governments could pay parents for consistent attendance or achievement of their children, build more schools in densely populated areas or provide transportation subsidies, and have advertising campaigns on the benefits of sending daughters to school. This changes the financial calculus of parents, making them more likely to view female education as a rational and sound choice.

The success of similar education programs has been demonstrated in many countries. For example, Mexico’s PROGRESA program, which provides stipends for school attendance, is credited with increasing girls’ primary completion by 15%; a scholarship program for girls in Bangladesh has almost doubled female enrollment; and Indonesia has reached 90% enrollment for girls through building new schools that meet the specific educational needs of girls. These case studies show how active efforts by governments can remedy the inequality within education currently borne by young girls.

In addition, governments ought to scrutinise education materials and prevent them from entrenching insidious stereotypes, which are prevalent in many textbooks.

Instead, education can be a powerful way to cultivate a virtuous cycle through increased illustrations of female scientists and doctors or expanded STEM programs for girls.

If all these policies are adopted by governments, we can expect girls’ attendance in certain developing countries to skyrocket and, slowly but surely, for the benefits analysed above to materialise.

It is vital that feminists in the West deal with the many problems women face nowadays, such as the gender pay gap, sexual assault, the lack of representation, and prevalent stereotypes that prevent women from achieving their potential.

Indeed, the fact that it has only been a hundred years since women were awarded degrees at Oxford is a grave reminder of the long way to go. However, it is also incredibly important to widen our scope and look into worse problems that afflict millions of women worldwide, including female genital mutilation, stifling cultural practices, and the lack of access to things like abortion or education. As a feminist and a student privileged enough to attend the University of Oxford, I am conscious of problems that myself and many women around me face. But I must also channel my privilege into trying to help the women who are suffering the most.

Illustration by Emma Hewlett

10

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

COMMENT

T H E DA R K S I D E O F B L AC K F R I DAY

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ELLEN HENDRY REFLECTS ON THE ETHICS OF CONSUMERISM THIS HOLIDAY

alking down Holywell Street on Tuesday night, speaking to a friend on the phone, I gave a little list of what I’d like for Christmas.

And hey, the sales are hitting soon, so I tick off gift-buying and grab some bargains for myself too.

“Black Friday does feel a bit dodgy, but hey… half price Beats! It’s not really our fault, anyway, is it. It’s the big companies.”

“No, Ellen, it’s really not. The big companies wouldn’t exist if we didn’t buy from them.”

Though this may be true, I had still been hanging onto that wilful ignorance that I hoped may give me a few free passes a year to close my eyes to the consequences further out into the world that any act of consumption inevitably has.

This is exactly what mainstream retail wants us to believe. Afterall, Black Friday helps businesses thrive and gives those who would not otherwise have access to luxury goods the opportunity to purchase them. The pandemic is forecasted to make 2020’s Black Friday no less of a profit-maker than usual: early web sales have risen by 60%.

The drastic reductions of Black Friday seem suspicious: how can any companies afford such big reductions? For one, most businesses lose money on the big Black Friday purchases like TVs and computers, but make the money back from the addons purchased, like cables, insurance, warranties, and any other cheaply-made miscellaneous products that the businesses take the opportunity of your spending-ecstasy to sell at the checkout. It’s easy to see why ¾ of businesses take part when we see that these discounts are often deceitful: a Which? investigation found that 87% of Black Friday deals were the same price or lower at other times of year. Mind games and psychological manipulation are techniques with high currencies during sale season: never a promising sign for the integrity of an institution.

The lack of benefit to the consumer is only one many ethical problems with Black Friday and consumerism in general. It is no revelation that consumerism is continuing to have a dire effect on the environment.

Black Friday itself creates a spike in emissions. As well as the effect deliveries make outside of the vans, inside are often poorly-treated workers. Strikes and controversy plague logistics companies: their ruthless pursuit of speed and efficiency is disgracefully often at the expense of basic safety, pay, and dignity of workers.

Living just above my college’s lodge, I didn’t need to seek out statistics to know how hard delivery drivers work.

A crucial contributor to this problem is Amazon. With over 608 million parcels delivered in the UK per year, Amazon is a Big Deal. During Covid-19, their net sales have risen by 40%. Amazon is embedded in millions of homes, an entertainment provider, grocery supplier, even conversationalist (‘Hey Alexa!’). Their marketing has convinced us that this is okay: they’re ‘environmental pioneers’. As part of their September 2019 Climate Pledge to emit net-zero carbon by 2040, they have ordered 100,000 custom-built electric vehicles to be on the road by 2040. But at what cost?

Notably, their workers’ safety and human rights. Reports of injustices committed by Amazon sneak through to news outlets now and then; there is some outrage, but we inevitably go back to blissful feigned-ignorance because ‘it work so well!’

30’C warehouses. Punishments for ‘too many’ toilet breaks. Urinating into plastic bottles at the workstation. Severe lack of PPE. Forced-close proximity working and ‘Mandatory Extra Time’, which can be up to 12 hours a week, with threat of firing.

For their life-risking work, Amazon workers were awarded a £2 pay rise.

This was dropped to pre-Covid levels in June. It has not risen since.

I could go on, and this alone is a privilege: workers from the warehouse floor to the corporate boardrooms have been silenced by the pernicious publicity team’s “external communications policy” which does not allow “misrepresentation”, aka any criticism. Doubt about the Orwellian nature of this policy is dispelled by the words of ex-Amazon-Vice-President Tim Bray, who resigned because “firring whistleblowers [is] evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture.”

fill or incineration after an average of 7 uses; 93 billion cubic metres of water is used by the fashion industry each year; 93 billion cubic metres of water is enough for 5 million people to survive.

The eye-watering amount of textiles needlessly purchased per year is even more shocking when considering what happens to them. 80% of

difficulties. Our own government published this report nearly two years ago. Nothing further has been done yet to try and make this a reality in the UK. Nothing from the government, but some brands have been trying to increase their own sustainability. Patagonia’s “DON’T BUY THIS JACKET” ad campaign directed people to its

returned clothes are in perfect condition. Most companies have little-to-no sustainable way of returning 15 million metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere.

This is not restricted to fashion: only 20% of global electrical waste is recycled, even though much of it contains high-quality recoverable materials such as gold and copper.

Before it even gets the opportunity to be thoughtlessly discarded by consumers, some producers have the fun habit of incinerating their own stock.

To preserve the exclusivity of their brand and stop poor people getting their hands on reduced-price stock, Burberry – until 2018 – sent over £28.6million-worth per year up in flames. Stockpiles like this are created to fuel consumerism – both demand AND supply need to get the message that these practices need to end. Of the 100 billion garments made worldwide each year, 92 million tons become waste within that year. Even for the best wardrobe in the world, how could anyone justify the cost?

The Waste and Resource Action Program, a UK-based charity – is pushing for the government to introduce an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme whereby producers have responsibility for the treatment and disposal of products they put on the market. This means ensuring that products can be sustainably disposed of, have a long-as-possible life-expectancy, and are not made in a harmful manner. Since France implemented this in 2007, recycling rates have risen by over 50%, meaning over 90% of goods are reused or recycled. This scheme has given full-time employment to over 1,400 people, with 49% going to people facing employment

repair and recycling services. Its 30% sales increase after this campaign may raise suspicious eyebrows and accusations of performative activism, but its transparency about the immense cost of production to the environment is admirable.

Businesses do not need to beg for their own demise to get behind a similar message: they just need to make long-lasting, high-quality, fairly-produced products that do not need replacing so often. Alongside this, consumers must realise the need is exactly what should be driving purchase, and not just the ‘want’ to replace things.

It would be naïve to preach this message and pretend that many do not already do this: people who cannot afford to clothes-shop every weekend and must use all resources to their maximum capacity to spare wasted income have known the importance of repairing, recycling, and reusing for much longer than #sustainability has been trending. It is here that the elitism of the conversation on sustainable consumption becomes clear.

To condemn anyone for shopping in stores with poor ethical practices is profoundly unfair. When looking through resources like www.goodonyou.eco which tell you where it is ethically okay to shop at, you notice just how expensive most new ethically-produced clothes are. Granted, buying from a company like MUD that uses 581 litres of water, compared to an industry standard of 7,000 litres, saving 6,419 litres, and one that uses primarily recycled materials is better than spending £100 on jeans that do not. But most people cannot afford one-time purchases in this region.

It is easy to see how sustainability

“TEXTILE PRODUCTION’S EMISSIONS CONTRIBUTE MORE TO CLIMATE CHANGE THAN INTERNATIONAL AVIATION AND SHIPPING Though a central culprit, Amazon is only one part of the network that fuels Black Friday consumerism. Just down from toys and electronics, the fashion industry takes up one of the largest shares of Black Friday profits. Its sustainability problem has received lots of (deserved) air time in recent years, but a quick reminder: textile production’s emissions contribute more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined; the average piece of clothing in the UK lasts 3.3 years before being discarded; most t-shirts in 2020 are worn half as much as they would have been worn in 2000; globally, 80% of discarded textiles go to land-

seems exclusive when none of Patagonia’s jackets cost less than £100.

Yes, they are often investments that will last, but they are not accessible.

Are people with incomes that do not allow them to spend hundreds of pounds on clothing not allowed to be sustainable then? There is an argument that they do not need to be as much, since research has suggested that the wealthiest 1% of people (which means all those with a household income of £70,000+) produce as much carbon as the poorest 10%.

These big spenders are the ones who need to cut down most and switch to ethical alternatives.

So, what should be done this Black Friday? Mindful purchasing is the key. Thought-out decisions, longterm, investments where you can, and research into where you are putting your money are the kind of steps that individuals can take. It is imperative that people do not simply waive their responsibility to the planet for a day, especially if they can afford the time and effort to think about this. Shopping locally to cut transport emissions. Shopping small-business to boost local economies.

Shopping with research behind it to see just what abuses may be lurking in the supply line. This is taxing, and yes, it is a burden, but if these brandnew Burberry bags, over-worked, underpaid warehouse workers, and toxically-decomposing landfills were in front of me on Holywell Street, I know I would not have tried to deflect responsibility.

A date much more important than Black Friday shows us that there is hope: Earth Overshoot Day marks the day each year on which more resources have been used than the Earth can produce in that year. So, if our resource consumption was totally sustainable, the day would be the last day of the year. This year, the day was August 22nd. If only the UK’s consumption was being tracked, it would have been May 16th. It has been getting earlier in the year since 1970.

The cumulative debt we owe to earth from the resources we have unsustainably consumed is around 18 years, so it would take that many years of totally sustainable consumption to reverse the damage done. If the Overshoot Day moved forward 5 days each year, it could be back in December by 2050. City planning, sustainable power, local sourcing of products, limiting pollution, and all other solutions discussed can help this.

So, while the burden is on governments and companies to fix this, it is also on us. However small the relative impact of any group may be, I have not yet seen a convincing argument as to why one individual’s actions would not matter in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure not much has been said here that you couldn’t have guessed, but how much could you justify?

11 SOCIETY SPOTLIGHT

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

CATCALLING IS NEVER A COMPLIMENT CHARLIE HANCOCK TALKS TO CATCALLS OF OXFORD ABOUT THEIR NEW CAMPAIGN TO TACKLE PUBLIC HAR ASSMENT IN OXFORD

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rasenose Lane is every inch the quintessentiallyOxfordian cobbled street which makes the city attractive to tourists and filmmakers alike, with a historic charm gilded by the flutter of autumnal leaves down from the Exeter Fellows’ Garden. In November, that beauty was disrupted by the phrase “get your pussy out!” written in brightly coloured chalk standing out starkly against the black tarmac.

w h e n they try to exist comfortably in a public space. “ I don’t think anyone is able to properly explain or understand the motives of people who catcall.”

The student told Cherwell. “It seems here that due to Oxford being regarded as so safe, catcalling isn’t treated as seriously as it should be…it’s not deemed as a big issue because it’s so common.”

A 2016 survey by the End Violence Against Women Coalition

women in the United Kingdom significantly underestimate the percentage of women who had experienced any form of sexual harassment before they turned 15 (68%), with men estimating the rate stood at 46%.

Stop Street Harassment has found that 25% of men have experienced street harassment, with LGBTQ+ men reporting at a higher rate than those who identified themselves as straight.

Catcalls of Oxford told Cherwell they believed catcalling is not taken as seriously as it should be by both the public and authorities.

“It’s so often regarded as ‘a compliment’ – which just by reading some of the remarks people get, we can see it’s not.” Comments like “oh damn” whistled on the High Street or “look at that” on Broad Street are objectifying, and can stick in the minds of the people at whom they are directed at for the rest of t h e day. “ A quick r e mark w i l l say in your mind f o r days.

It can really affect your concentration, the way you think about yourself, and even the way you go about your daily life.”

Under British law, physical harassment and exposing oneself are punishable offenses, but making unwanted sexual advances or sexualised verbal harassment is not. Campaigns such as Our Streets Now are seeking for the UK to follow the examples of Portugal and France and make street harassment illegal.

France criminalised street harassment in 2018 after a woman was physically assaulted after she told a man who wolf-whistled at her to “shut up”. The legislation permits on-the-spot fines from €90 to €750, depending on the severity of the incident. The new law was popular, with a poll finding that 90% of respondents agreed with its imposition. The first fine (€300) issued under the new law went to a 31 year old man who slapped a woman’s bottom on a bus and made sexual comments about her breasts.

Not everybody understood what Catcalls of Oxford was trying to achieve. “Someone asked if we are almost ‘giving people ideas’ by chalking it on the street. The person understood that this was not the case when we

explained that none of these catcalls are new.” Indeed, being told to “get back in the kitchen” as one

“THERE IS SUCH A BRILLIANT COMMUNITY; WOMEN ARE COMING TOGETHER ANONYMOUSLY - TO BRAVELY SHARE THEIR STORIES AND STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH EACH OTHER.”

The installation is a part of a new effort to draw attention to the issue of street harassment and catcalling in Oxford. Inspired by the international Chalk Back campaign, Catcalls of Oxford was started by an anonymous Oxford University student who now runs the Instagram account of the same name, where they raise awareness by sharing photographs of anonymised submissions using the hashtag #StopStreetHarassment.

Similar campaigns have taken to inscribing people’s experiences of public harassment all over the world, from New York City, to Dakar and Kenya, and now Oxford. The quotes are often vulgar and intimidating, and are a vital reminder of the obstacles some people – with women being disproportionately affected – face

found that 85% of women between the ages of 18-24 have experienced “unwanted sexual attention in public places, ranging from inappropriate comments, whistling, or even sexualised touching. Public harassment starts young, with a 2017 report from the Parliamentary

“85% OF WOMEN AGED 1824 HAVE EXPERIENCED UNWANTED SEXUAL ATTENTION IN PUBLIC PLACES.” Women and Equalities Committee highlighting how women often endure their first experiences of sexual harassment before they turn 18. However, data from Ipsos Mori shows that both men and

submitter was outside Burger King sounds like a jibe from a different

century. But the response to the account has been overwhelmingly positive: “There is such a brilliant community; women are coming together – anonymously – to bravely share their stories and stand in solidarity with each other.”

Catcalls of Oxford can be found on Instagram via the handle @ catcallsofoxford. Since it was created in October, the account has gained over three hundred followers and has shared people’s experiences of street harassment from all across Oxford.

Anyone affected by street harassment and catcalling can submit their stories via direct message.

Image credit: Alexander Simpson.

Images used with permission of Catcalls of Oxford.

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FEATURES

Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

KEEPING VENICE AFLOAT: THE FIGHT FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Kiran Armanasco

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earch amidst the sea of tourists and you might find the force trying to keep Venice afloat- quite literally.

In the summer of 2019, I was lucky to experience life amidst Venice’s grassroots anti-tourism group, No Grandi Navi. The experience had a formative effect on my attitudes to tourism, which had been hazy before. Deep down, most regular travellers have an either confused or hypocritical attitude to mass tourism. We know about “tourist traps,” and talk wistfully about our favourite places, thinking ‘gosh, how it’s it’s changed.’ And yet most do nothing to prevent the ruin of these holiday destinations. Much like other deep-rooted societal issues, such as environmental or humanitarian crises, we comfort ourselves by delegating the capacity for change to “big, evil corporations.”

Yet, an increasing number of phenomena such as “insta-touraffordability of short city breaks grassroots political organisations ism” and targeted marketing, picand the ever-growing popularity have reasserted the responsibility turesque city-centres, previously of cruise ships. It is easy to unof the individual, and derstand the strain taken action into their these services place own hands.

The preservation of its on destinations: It is easier, cheaper both city breakers and quicker to travel identity is a burden which falls and passengers than ever. We are not on cruise ships encouraged to stop and on the few locals who have not are unlikely to ask whether, just bestray further afield cause it is possible to do yet been driven out. than their point of something, we should. arrival, spend little Yes, we can fly to Paris money, and sleep in in August for €10 on a Ryanair inaccessible to the budget tourist, accommodation which has been flash deal; but the implications are within reach. The saturation accused of depriving locals of of such decisions occurring on a of these destinations has become valuable housing. mass scale can elude us. unsustainable and, despite the Now, across Europe, political Mass tourism has been tradieconomic betterment of a few, groups are gaining ground in tionally associated with package significantly damages these locathose cities where unsustainable holidays, with travel agencies tions financially, environmentally tourism has reached this breaking pushing customers to the same, and culturally. point. Spain, receiving eightyoversaturated hotspots and chanResearchers at the New Ecothree million tourists a year, has nelling money into affiliate comnomics Foundation identified been home to such organisations, panies, rather than local econocertain prominent factors within Barcelona having been particularmies. And yet with the advent of this trend: the rise of Airbnb, the ly affected by damaging Airbnb

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tourism.

One reactionary group, “Arran” or the Popular Unity Candidacy’s youth wing, have been especially prominent in the fight against the harms of mass tourism on both the natural and cultural environment. Not only are these concerns voiced, but the group carries out controversial protests, including the slashing of tyres of tour buses and rental bicycles. Many have been quick to condemn these as extremist acts of terrorism, including former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. These protests then spread throughout Spain, to Mallorca and San Sebastian. But, contrasting this model, it was the complex emotional undertones, and defiant yet peaceful nature of the Venetian anti-tourism campaign which interested me most.

As I travelled to meet Venice’s most notorious anti-tourism

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

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group, I found myself battling immensely accelerated by these city slipping from the hands of its known for parties, such as the flavour, far from the glamorized with the irony of taking perhaps ships. inhabitants into those of tourists. Croatian Hvar, pledged to intro- and romantic version of the city the least environmentally friendly Yet it is the tourism encouraged Particularly moving was the locals’ duce fines and legal charges for most know. I picture buying grotravel option available to me, by these ships that is perhaps acceptance of the physical fate irresponsible tourists. Generally, ceries from boats, walking miles flying. Yet, with hindsight and the most tragic phenomenon of of Venice coupled with determi- then, efforts are being made and miles every day, old men sat understanding of the movement, all: masses unleashed on the city nation to maintain its dignity to throughout Europe. And yet it is in their cotton vests outside bars I can see that the group’s prior- for just a few hours, treating the the end. Commenting on this new hard to say whether these efforts and a community that fights back ities lie elsewhere. It is not, in sights and experiences as a theme reality, a young Venetian woman I will be enough to fully turn the against injustice. Though I remain fact, primarily an environmental park. It has often been suggested met said: “The thought of the city tide on the destruction of these fully aware of the privilege that movement that attempts to that, economically, these tourists being destroyed allowed me to live and preserve the greater natural envi- are somewhat a blessing to a city by those ships breathe Venice the way I ronment despite this being among losing its own population, yet is sad.

The did, knowing the right locals its concerns – lockdown dolphins these particular tourists often thought of the It is tourism which forces the and speaking the language, aside. It is rather the existence of eat, drink and sleep on the ships last years of its the overarching message the city itself at stake. Physically, themselves, spending very little existence being locals out, struggling for for tourists remains clear: it lies precariously on its original, on the cobbled ‘calles’ of Venice. turned into a listen. Listen to the voices floating pillars. The preservation A recent calculation demonstrates mere projection breath, space and drowned out by mass tourof its abstract ‘essence’ and iden- the astonishing debt that cruise of the tourism ism initiatives, be conscious tity is a burden which falls on the ship tourism creates to local industry is accommodation in their own city about where you place your few locals who have not yet been authorities. Even factoring in the much worse.” money when travelling and, driven out. income, they bring, around 238 Grassroots most importantly, take it The group’s title “No Grandi million euros of debt is left when anti tourism slow. Spending more time Navi”, which translates literally as the maintenance of the city, and groups have gained a reputation cities’ cultural heritage, and en- in one place enriches your experiNo Big Ships, specifically targets its environment, are considered. for violence, particularly fol- vironmental health. Our habits as ence and allows you to contribute the large cruise ships which are Paradoxically then, it is tourism lowing the recent youth wing of tourists may already be set, with more to destinations which will still legally permitted to enter the which forces the locals out, Catalan political party filmed an our taste for cheap, tick-box tours soon occupy your heart. fragile Venetian canals, but mass struggling for breath, space and attack on tourist cycles, but “No of Europe too commanding.

We must, when assuming the tourism at large is a general con- accommodation in their own city.

Grandi Navi” adopts an entirely The Venetian activists left me role of tourist, acting as an “ally” cern for the populus. I first noticed Those that remain, including a peaceful approach to its protests. with one certainty: the responsi- to the conservation and preservaone of the infamous “no grandi considerable student population, The most documented of these bility is now left in the hands of tion of a place. Environmentally, navi” flags hung on cast iron gates contrast starkly with the luxury was the group’s invasion of the the individual traveller, not only we should support sustainable and as I approached the home of one cruise ships and fast paced tour- iconic Piazza San Marco in June to think over the nature of their eco-friendly accommodations. of the activists. Later, I began to ism. The lack of public transport 2019, where citizens held flags visit, but also to contribute to the Choose the most environmentally notice them peppered around the on land makes crossing over to of the historic Venetian Republic restoration of the places that have travel means possible: if flying is quieter streets of the city, the the old city a rare occasion. Few, and banners with slogans such as brought them such memories. the only feasible option, try to offhand-drawn, almost pirate-like but well concealed, gondolieri will “Venezia is not Disneyland”. Yet, Walking through the city during set your carbon footprint. Avoid evidence of a force alive and take you across the canal for a few protests can be smaller scale: I my days visiting the group, I tried giving money to corporations that kicking behind the monotonous euros in their gondolas, maybe witnessed simple but powerful to compare the visit to my only exist in your home country – the crowds. The young woman I vis- even for free if your Veneto accent acts such as students flying No prior visit as a child. Though I Big Mac can wait. Instead, support ited directed my attention to the permits. Tight passageways are Grandi Navi flags in front of pass- hadn’t arrived via cruise ship, I local business: this way, your facts. Large cruise ships, over 300 filled with lazy “spritz” drinkers ing cruise ships, with their arms had shared some aspects of that money will be reinvested into lometres in length, 50 in width and leaning outside bars. Yet, turn the linked in giddy rebellion. kind of tourism, visiting for just a cal finances, instead of detracting 60 in Have an- few hours, snapping photos at San from them. We must stay outside height t i - t o u r i s m Marco and appreciating the gon- hotspots, support local projects, (figures groups had an dolas from the midst of crowds. such as traditional festivities ex p e c tthe hand-drawn, almost pirate-like impact on the I realised I remembered nothing and contemporary local artists’ ed to e n v i r o n m e n t s more than the photographs. As I galleries, all of which help locals grow as evidence of a force alive and kicking they try to pro- left for the second time, I reflect- share and convey their own sense larger tect? In Venice, ed on the relationship I had built of their city. s h i p s behind the monotonous crowds the mayor’s with Venice during my prolonged Travel is a privilege, we are not y i e l d office took note stay with locals. Passing some entitled to it at any cost, and we m o r e of protests. In of the world’s most spectacular must share these destinations profitApril 2020, the architecture on the same route to with those who live in them. able results for the tours) enter corner and you will find gradually city finally, and only in the wake of buy groceries, I wondered at the Beautiful places should not have and exit the city via the Bacino encroaching strips of designer the coronavirus pandemic, banned miracle of incorporating beauty to shapeshift according to our di San Marco and the Canale stores heaving with selfie-stick large cruise ships from entering into the everyday. Though I don’t desires. Instead, we must learn to della Giudecca, only 150 metres holding masses, a seemingly sin- its historic centre, and introduced have any photos from that day, shape our desires to fit our destifrom the Palazzo Ducale and gle unit from which the occasional a ban on new tourist accommo- I remember eating pizza on the nation’s needs. historical centre. Shifting literal red flag of a tour guide emerges. dation in the city centre. Govern- steps of La Salute, the cool Istrian Artwork by Rachel Jung tonnes of water during transit, Of course, it is these groups who ments took note elsewhere too. stone against my thighs. My new the ships pose a huge risk to the own the city now. ‘No Grandi Navi’ Milan introduced a summer ban memories of Venice have ancient foundations of Venice, the activists fear for the extinction on selfie-sticks. Towns and island a distinct deterioration of which has been of their own lifestyle and feel the

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Friday, 27th November 2020 | Cherwell

SPORT

Maurício Alencar

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Play Like A Child: Sport In Lockdown

he latest Amazon advert shows a ballerina preparing for a performance, in which she will play the main role.

However, her performance is cancelled due to lockdown, so instead, her family and neighbours organise for her to perform in front of all the surrounding flats. Amazon’s “product placement” comes when one of the heroine’s neighbours buys a torch from the Amazon app - she is put under the spotlight and her mesmerising performance is watched by her community. If we take away Amazon’s product placement in the touching advert, there is much to learn from it. We too can continue to play sports and shine under the spotlight in lockdown or isolation, but that requires your touch of creativity.

Most professional athletes have continued to compete through the November lockdown.

There is much we can learn when we watch them. First, watch professional sports on TV, and identify why they are the ones on your screen. In lockdown, watching sports might be more important than ever. Before, we might have watched IPL cricket, UFC mixed martial arts fighting, or Premier League football purely for our own enjoyment. We can still enjoy watching sport and use it as a pastime, but in lockdown, watching sports becomes even more important. For us to be the best possible sports player when isolation periods end, we must know the sport. So, we should die Hinch on the hockey field. It might also intensely watch and analyse the particular be that you learn an interesting technique of movements, positions and techniques of each another sport which you could employ in your sports star we watch. Our analysis seems to be current one. For example, you might notice hugely important for our own success in the that a long jumper’s spring in their step lets sport. you leap that extra centimetre higher when In fact, we might even treat the sports star you slam-dunk in basketball. Or instead, Mike on our tellies as an artist, who themself will Tyson’s boxing stance and quick feet might develop and improve, or change, the skills inspire you to better approach a tackle in of past artists. Roger Federer perfected the American football or rugby. It does not necesone-handed backhand in tennis, used by varisarily matter what sport is being shown on TV. ous iconic players like seven-time Wimbledon-winner Pete Sampras.

Robin Van Persie also added greater “OUR ANALYSIS SEEMS TO BE swagger to the first-touch volley, a famous trait of the legendary Dutch HUGELY IMPORTANT FOR OUR striker Marco Van Basten. Tiger Woods self-improved his own golf OWN SUCCESS IN THE SPORT” stroke, coaching himself last year to then win the Masters. The best not only learn from the best, but master the best.

At the end of the day, something significant or Lockdown or isolation is the opportunity for insignificant can be learnt from all. you to know your muse better than they know After some time, you might think there is themself. no other fun and creative way of remaining The second step is to mimic the idol. This active. It is true that there is no way of safely step in the process is perhaps more complex rugby tackling someone in your bedroom, while in lockdown. An aspiring hockey wall-balling with a lacrosse stick in a tiny goalkeeper, for example, might idolise Team university room, or swimming 200m with GB Women’s Maddie Hinch, who saved four only a bottle of water by your desk. But, with a penalties at the Rio 2016 Olympics, crucial creative touch, many things are possible. to helping them win gold. They might have What is in your room? A student will likely extensively unpicked her best attributes; they find lots of books in their room. These might might have noted it down, but are unsure of be used as weights, or perhaps as a way to what to do next. Foolish it might sound, it build a pile from which you can balance on and might be worth standing in front of the telly try different things, such as keepy-ups with a and copying the athlete’s every movement. So, football or tennis ball. A new in-room sport lockdown or isolation might be that ideal time can be invented. to refine technique and perfect your skills and Is there a table in your room? You might get techniques. It may be in the form of quickly a ping pong ball and bat from somewhere, and stretching your legs across the room like Madplay ping pong against your wall, watching the

ball rebound off it before you hit the ball again.

If you are not a fan of ping pong, you might better your beer pong skills. With another light ball, you might simply throw it against a firm wall, and practise your catching. Or, with that light ball, you could improve your throw’s aim and try to hit cups off a table in the fewest possible number of attempts. In all these instances, you can count your scores and share them with other households or housemates.

Another individual sport possible to be done is boxing. A punch bag can be created with different clothes, towels and blankets in your room. Tie them up together and hang them from your wall. Then, you will be ready to punch the bag and feel as though you are fighting a hybrid of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. You might go as far as adding in crowd noise, as Sky or BT do for football matches on TV. Your room is your arena. There is an infinite number of ways you can keep sporty and competitive individually, all that is needed is to “think outside the box”. In fact, on the issue of boxes: why not put holes through the box and practice your golf putting skills?

You might be looking to do something more enjoyable with your household or support bubble. You might even wish to keep up the competitive element with them. ‘@honeyhouse’ has gone viral on TikTok for creating competitive mini-games between members of their household. The boys went up against the girls in a series of small, in-house events. For example, they rolled cans down the corridor and played their spin-off version of curling.

As the can or tin rolls down the corridor, with the team’s roller aiming for it to land in the zone which achieves the highest number of points, other team members scrubbed dust

off the floor, just as a curling team scrubs the ice in order for the throwing stone to slide further.

Another mini-game they shared on Tiktok was throwing pairs of socks into different baskets from different distances. A large variety of other mini-games were played; spoon and egg races, blowing candles from different distances, walking across a room with cups acting as “landmines” while blindfolded, throwing paper airplanes and matching coloured pairs of socks as fast as possible were just some of the games they competed in.

In the end, the “homies” (boys) won the first “season”, but the second season is coming soon. Their house found their inner “childishness”, and so your house can too, maybe even with added stakes.

Lockdown, or isolation of any sort, might put a halt to team sport, but should not stop the way you play sport yourself. It goes without saying that being active and sporty is crucial for both physical and mental health, so we should find any possible way to do so, whether alone or with our household group. While most professional sport on TV continues, we sit and watch them with a slight envy. Yet, we should also, perhaps more than ever, want to learn from them and put into practice what they do. If competitive sport is not your thing, then at least the mini games, as they do in the ‘honey house’, might be the best way to stay active in lockdown.

So, just as the ballerina in the Amazon advert is able to find a way, there should be a way for everyone. The only task is to find what you can use in your room or in a park to do what you need to do. Lockdown is not the limit to playing sports. As the slogan from the Amazon advert goes, the show must go on.

12

31.7

3

614,557

Million adults ‘inactive’ in mid-March to mid-May

Million views on Honeyhouse’s most popular video

Million fewer active people during the first lockdown

Signatures on government petition for gyms not to close

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

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YOU’RE HAVING A LAUGH, REF! Zak Angell

I

have been a referee since the age of 14, the youngest age at which you can qualify. The experience of refereeing is incredibly different at the top of the pyramid compared to the bottom. At the top, referees in the Premier League and the Championship, who are full-time match officials, have the assistance of the infamous VAR and goal-line technology, and operate in 30,000+ seater stadiums.

At the bottom, referees are paid around £35 a game, have a couple of Sports Direct flags to give to reluctant substitutes, and referee on muddy park pitches. Refereeing on a Sunday morning can be a lonely and difficult experience for so many referees, particularly as you are usually the sole nonpartisan individual present.

The hardships that many amateur referees face are beginning to be highlighted more and often relate to the mental health and isolation that many referees feel, both on and off the pitch, stemming from abuse received whilst refereeing.

A University of Portsmouth study has found that three in five referees experience abuse every two games, with 93.7% of match officials reporting experiencing verbal abuse, significantly higher than the figures for cricket and rugby union, and also significantly higher in the UK than in other European countries.

Worryingly, challenges to referees are also physical. In August, London FA referee Satyam Toki was punched three times after sending a player off for foul and abusive language. The attacker was only given a police caution, despite conclusive footage of the incident circulating widely on social media.

The FA reports that assaults occur in 0.007% of matches, which equates to 2 assaults each week. In addition, this figure doesn’t take into account assaults that aren’t reported, as many referees are losing faith in their county FA to deal with reports appropriately.

There are some support networks available from county FAs, charities, and the national FA, and steps are being taken to try and help referees. The FA has published mental health guidance for referees to try and help those who are struggling with their mental health, whether refereeing-related or not. Charities, such as Ref Support UK, have stepped up to fill the gap left by authorities. Ref Support UK was in the spotlight after Ryan Hampson, a young referee who has been spat at, punched,

S P O R T S

OURLFC Maurício Alencar

In a time where lockdown has put an indefinite end to many sports in Oxford, one might look forward to getting stuck in and experimenting with a new sport next term.

Oxford University Rugby League FC might be the university club to join, as the club prepares for the impending return of the BUCS league.

In the scenario where BUCS is further postponed, the club hopes to play a three-match series of fixtures against Oxford Brookes. The primary aim is to keep team training sessions entertaining and competitive for all team members while fixtures are not played.

After a morning fitness session on Monday mornings at Iffley Sports Centre, the club meets for a skills-based session at Oxford City

and headbutted by players, became an ambassador. The Referees’ Association helps referees to connect with their colleagues at monthly local meetings and training sessions.

In lockdown, via Zoom, meetings have continued; Howard Webb, the 2010 World Cup Final referee, led a webinar on Thursday 19th November, attended by over 500 referees. The FA has also introduced sin-bins for grassroots football, in an attempt to reduce dissent towards referees. Relating to football more widely, the Duke of Cambridge’s ‘Heads Up’ campaign aims to encourage more men to talk about their mental health.

However, there is still a long way to go.

Martin Cassidy, chief executive of Ref Sup-

port UK, has reported a ‘massive’ increase in referees seeking support post-lockdown, with many players behaving like ‘caged animals’.

The chief of the Referees’ Association, Paul Field, has commented that he is ‘convinced one day a match official in any sport will be assaulted and either seriously injured or killed. The warning signs are there and we have to do something. Doing nothing is not an option.’ I’m sure that most amateur football referees would agree with Mr Field.

This is certainly not to say that refereeing amateur football is always a torturous exercise. I enjoy the vast majority of games I officiate. Normally, you can have a laugh with players and enjoy the game. When I was 16, I was jokingly asked if I needed “to get home to do my homework” by a player (I did, to be fair…). Most players are respectful and are there to enjoy the game, just as most referees are.

Disappointingly, though, the mark is often overstepped. If there was more support for referees after incidents of abuse, and such incidents occurred less often, fewer talented referees would drop out and instead continue with their passion and progress through the ranks.

So, next time you moan, or hear a pundit on TV moan, about the standard of refereeing, ask yourself why more people don’t put themselves forward to do it, and ask yourself if you’d want to start refereeing tomorrow.

The people that do referee, from the Premier League down to Sunday league, have one uniting motivator – they love football, just like all fans and players.

Image credit: Aldershot RA Twitter

S H O R T S

THE LIFE OF A WEST BROM FAN FC sports facilities in Marston on Monday evenings. Players who have never played rugby league before are able to learn more about rugby league in these training sessions.

The club also plans to play a 40-minute intrasquad match each Friday evening while BUCS and other competitive fixtures are disallowed.

There is much to look forward to for the OURLFC family this season. The Blues team looks to get a 12th consecutive win in the Varsity fixture against Cambridge, and the Maroons reserve team also look to add another win to their tally. The club also hopes to host social events in Hilary, while complying with Covid-19 restrictions. Oxford University Rugby League FC always welcomes players of all abilities to join. If you are interested, visit the OURLFC website and get in contact.

Asha Turner

Nothing can beat the elation you feel when your team is promoted. Yet for a West Brom fan, even that experience was dampened by the fact that, after drawing our last game, promotion relied on Brentford losing.

Supporting the Baggies requires immense dedication, accumulating just 3 points in our first nine fixtures this year. Each week the excitement and hope that we will get our first win of the season keeps us going.

An agonising pattern of highs and lows, as glimmers of hope momentarily shine through the dark abyss of the relegation zone. Take for example our 3-3 performance against Chelsea, or the 88th-minute winning goal from Tottenham. The signing

of Karlan Grant gives us promise that Bilić has not given up on our season just yet. The worry is whether our players can replicate their success from last season, with Pereira having only managed two assists in 8 games so far, despite leading the Championship last season with the most assists. It is the uncertainty that West Brom fans have grown to love over the years; the bursts of creative brilliance from Pereira, the vital saves from Johnstone, and the passion and faith that Bilić portrays both on the touchline and in the post-match interview. Whether we defy the odds and save ourselves from relegation is yet to be shown, however, for reasons not yet evidenced by our performance, I have faith that we will.

Cherwell | Friday, 27th November 2020

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FROM THE ARCHIVE

One hundred years ago, two Balliol students had the idea for an Oxford newspaper during the long vacation of 1920. In the century since, Cherwell continues to thrive. Each week, we look back to articles from our extensive archive.

Curated by Joe Hyland Deeson and Sofia Henderson

“OBSESSIVE REPORT WRITING PHASE” TO “JESUS PLAN”: COLLEGES GO MIXED

Cherwell reports on the progress of the trial to allow women at men’s colleges, indicating that many colleges remained undecided. Three years later, alomost all had admitted their first female undergraduates Vol. 157, No. 3, p.1 (1977)

Cherwell interviews the author of a pamphlet advocating co-residence, who describes the struggle in getting even a handful of colleges to agree to go mixed Vol. 147, No. 4, p.5 (1973)