Cherwell - 0th Week Hilary 2021 by Cherwell

Friday, 15th January 2021 | Vol.293 No.1 | 0th week

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Friday, 15th January 2021

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100 YEARS

A century of independence since 1920

LIBRARIES IN LOCKDOWN? Abigail Howe Staff at the Bodleian Libraries have spoken to Cherwell regarding the Libraries’ reading rooms remaining open, claiming that conditions are unsafe for staff and students. One library assistant told Cherwell: “libraries are essential to research but access to reading rooms is not”, citing the number of students who are studying at home this term - “by keeping the rooms open, they cannot provide for those students who were unable to return or are self isolating by scanning material for them”. The Bodleian has already initiated a return of the Hathi Trust Emergency Temporary Access Service. However, an email shown to Cherwell has

revealed that the Libraries have already had to suspend Scan and Deliver services in 2021 due to “extremely high” levels of demand. On 6 January, they “turned away over 475 requests for Library Scan alone”. As term begins, demand will only increase. Another member of library staff insisted that “having readers in libraries isn’t safe or sustainable in the current pandemic” given “how serious the rates of infec tion, hospit a l i s at i o n a n d

TOP STORIES First vaccines take place in Oxford page | 3 Rent waived for unoccupied rooms page | 5 New hub to address Uni’s colonial past page | 6 Extinction Rebellion HS2 protest page | 4

ALSO INSIDE Sci/tech: Climate and health | 7 Comment: Your 2021 Prediction | 9 Features: The Limits of Liberté | 12 Sport: Simulating Cuppers | 14

deaths are at present”. During the first lockdown, the Bodleian Libraries closed, claiming that “the health, welfare and safety of readers and staff is our number one priority”. They continued: “The only way to keep us safe is to immed i -

ately close all open libraries and move to remote services only, with measures put in place to minimise the risk of travel”. The University of Cambridge has adopted this model, announcing that their library would “close for in-person visits and study” (but students would still be able to collect reading material or use Scan and Deliver Services) in an email to all students on 6 January. A member of staff who was afraid for their health s p o k e of con-

ditions within the library: “we share desks... they’re cleaned by us, but it takes one to be sick or careless”. They claimed their concerns “have been dismissed [by management] by quoting the risk assessments done before Michaelmas”. In these risk assessments, the new variant - which may be up to 70% more transmissible - was not considered. They urged the Bodleian Libraries to focus “on scan and deliver and opening our collections more through a reviewed click and collect service”. Continued on Page 2. Image: David Iliff. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

OXFORD HOSPITALS’ CORONAVIRUS ADMISSIONS RISE SHARPLY Sasha Mills Hospital admissions to Oxford University Hospitals have increased steeply over the last month, with 275 beds occupied as of the 5th of January, and 410 patients admitted with Covid-19 between the 28th of December to the 3rd of January. As of the 3rd of January, 29 patients required intensive care on ventilators.

Sam Foster, the Chief Nursing Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As people will be aware, the NHS is currently experiencing huge challenges in our hospitals as we see increasing numbers of patients with COVID-19.” “Our hospitals are fuller than they were in March and April last

year. We are doing all that we can to care for our patients with COVID but, if people do not stick to the national lockdown rules, we are likely to see cases rise even more and the pressure on our hospitals and our staff will increase further.. “It is more important than ever that everyone plays their part.” Continued on Page 3.

News | Friday, 15th January 2021

WHAT’S INSIDE LEADER Giving England the slip NEWS First vaccinations given out in Oxford Students will not be charged for rooms unoccupied over Hilary SCI/TECH Climate crisis and global health

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COMMENT 2021 predictions Punjabi farmers protests Northern neglect

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FEATURES The limits of Liberté

SPORT Play like a child: sport in lockdown

s an enthusiastic, ceilidh-loving Scot, I’ve been recently preoccupied with questions of whether England is really all that. When thinking about the state of affairs in this country, my immediate instinct is to call for Scotland to break away from anything remotely associated with Westminster pronto. When I heard another lockdown might be looming, I began frantically searching up flights to New Zealand, thinking now might be a pretty good time to make use of my citizenship-bydescent and get the hell out of Britain. During this brief frenzy, however, I started wondering what Kiwis would think of me as a Brit if I did go everywhere I went I’d be tainted by the fact I came from a country governed

by dithering idiots. What do I think about independence? While I haven’t completely made up my mind on the matter, I will say with certainty that the plot hatched by Downing Street (only to be swiftly rejected) to emblazon vaccines with the British flag, apparently to dampen calls for independence, would definitely not inspire any unionist feelings in me. I know Boris is all about the national

Continued from Page 1. Multiple library staff members raised the issue of individuals not wearing face masks in the library. One member of staff told Cherwell: “we are very constrained in terms of our ability to police mask usage due to central university policy, so there is no way that we can guarantee a safe workplace for those sitting in communal areas”. The Gladstone Link and Radcliffe Camera were originally planned to be open. However, on 6 January, the Bodleian Libraries tweeted: “The Radcliffe Camera is currently closed. Readers with bookings in the reading rooms this morning should not come to the library”. The History Faculty confirmed that this closure was due to a “shortage of staff”. The Radcliffe Camera and Gladstone Link has now been closed until further notice, while hours at the other hub libraries have been cut to 10am until 4pm on weekdays. The Chartered In-

country that chooses to outsource the task of providing poor children with adequate meals to incompetent private companies so they can reap large profits is also beyond me. “Okay Trudy,” you might well cry, “then why did you decide to shoot across the border a week or so ago, back to good old England? You’re a traitor to the nation!” I’ll admit there’s some irony to it - as someone with an unfortunate weakness for posh boys and southern accents, I can’t claim to be altogether consistent in my national loyalties. But I suppose my answer would have to be that you shouldn’t really be bound to nations; you should be bound to moral standards and good social policies. So while part of me is squirming to announce

“You’re a traitor to the nation!” spirit, but the idea of being proud of a country whose lockdown policies have caused one of the highest covid death rates as well as the one of the highest rates of infection is quite beyond me. Being proud of a

stitute of Library and Information Professionals, the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers, has urged libraries to shut their doors. They declared that “we consider that the benefits of providing face-to-face services are lower than the risks of prolonging the pandemic... given that our original guidance on the safe handling of library materials was provided on the basis of advice from PHE, that this advice has been questioned by the US REALM study and no new guidance has been received in respect of the ‘new variant’, we cannot currently state that the risk from materials is negligible”. A Bodleian spokesperson responded: “Oxford University’s highest priority is the health and well-being of our staff, students and the local community. The Bodleian Libraries are currently following government guidance by prioritising remote

services rather than physical ones while continuing to offer a limited physical service to students who are currently resident in the city. This is in line with a range of libraries across the university sector. We are asking readers to only book a reading room space if they don’t have access to other suitable study space. When using the library, readers are required to wear a face covering unless exempt under government guidelines; if arriving without a face covering, readers will be offered one by library staff. Readers are reminded to follow all health and safety measures including social distancing, washing hands thoroughly, and staying away from the libraries if they have any coronavirus symptoms. The libraries are acutely aware of the need to balance the needs of students and researchers who are in Oxford, and those who remain at home, and will continue to adjust services to strike the appropriate balance.”

Leader

GIVING ENGLAND THE SLIP: SHOULD SCOTLAND SAY GOODBYE TO BORIS?

TRUDY ROSS my endorsement of all things Scottish right now, and disassociate myself with the British government, I need to remember that independence would only be valuable in terms of its capacity as a vehicle for positive social change. We can’t have independence for independence’s sake. While I think Nicola is doing a far better job than Johnson, and while the SNP are more invested in creating policies which help people, there’s a danger in subscribing

to their view of independence as the end-goal. I’m not against independence, but we need to make sure we’re thinking about what will happen after more than anything else. We should only fight for it in order to use it as a means for positive change, to improve the benefits system, avoid the privatisation of essential services like school meals, and supporting the poorest in society. There’s no point in ending up exactly where we started.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | News Continued from Page 1. One staff member at the Oxford University Hospitals spoke to Cherwell about their experiences in the hospital: “I was moved to the John Radcliffe ICU for the day from a different hospital due to them being understaffed. Although I was only there for the day, I could tell that the staff were having to work very hard due to a lack of staff and a large amount of extremely ill patients who require careful

monitoring... I have a great amount of respect for the staff and could tell how tired they must be after months of enduring the heavy PPE, high workload and stressful environment.” Ansaf Azhar, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Public Health, encouraged lockdown adherence: “I would urge everyone to protect themselves, the communities in which they live and therefore the NHS”.

Graph by Sasha Mills, displaying a rise in hospital admissions where Covid-19 has been cited as the reason for entry. Data has only been provided until 3 January.

CITY

First vaccinations given out in Oxford as pub offers space Daisy Aitchison

The first vaccinations in the Oxford community have been given to elderly and vulnerable residents in the gym of a local school. The Cherwell School, a secondary school in North Oxford, has become the first vaccination centre in the city. Patients at Banbury Road Medical Centre, Summertown Health Centre and 19 Beaumont Street Surger y are all set t o receive their jabs at the site. Over the weekend healthcare professionals planned to deliver over 1,000 vaccines to the most vulnerable Oxford residents. Dr Monarch, the coclinical director of the primary care network which incorporates all three surgeries, thanked the school for “bending over backwards” to accommodate the medical staff. He also noted

that other venues in Oxford had been keen to allow healthcare staff to use their own spaces as temporary vaccination clinics in order to speed up the rollout of the vaccine. The gym was deemed a suitable site for vaccinations given its high r o o f and ample space for social distancing. Initially the Pfizer vaccine has been rolled out to patients in the community. However, the surgeries plan to begin to use the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine in care homes across the city this week. Meanwhile, a local landlord has offered his pubs as vaccination sites, even if it means losing out on more than £250,000 in business grants from the government. D e r m o t King, the chief executive of Oakman Inns,

said “The only route to any normality is through mass vaccination and for that the NHS needs to be able to work at scale. The entire hospitality industry is desperate to re-open as quickly as possible before we have huge scale redundancies across the sector. Mr King, who manages pubs in areas around Oxford, such as Abingdon and Witney, believes it will be more beneficial to both the economy and society in the long run to ensure everyone is vaccinated as quickly as possible. “Our pubs have

large indoor spaces and in some cases large car parks and accommodation, which could accommodate large numbers of people around the clock. Clearly, the money offered by the Chancellor yesterday would help us in the short-term, but realistically the only way all of us can get back to normal is to get the country vaccinated. We would rather let the Government keep their hand-out to invest it in using hospitality venues as vaccination centres for the greater good of all. “The hospitality

sector has the venues, it has the infrastructure, the venues are sitting empty, and our offer even includes a contribution towards the cost of the scheme. We want to help the Government and the people of the UK beat COVID-19 because the quicker we’re vaccinated, the more lives we save, the more jobs we save, the more businesses we save, and we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to see that happen.” Over 80s in Oxford have been invited to mass testing centres. Image: Andrew Matthews

News | Friday, 15th January 2021

Emergency accommodation for rough sleepers in Oxford remains open Yihang Fang

On Tuesday, 12 January, the Oxford City Council re-activated its severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP), providing emergency beds for people experiencing rough sleeping. The SWEP is activated every night when the Met Office forecasts temperatures to fall below zero overnight. It could also be activated in other severe weather conditions such as snow. It was

open for 19 consecutive nights this winter, from 23 December to the morning of 11 January. This is the longest continuous duration which the SWEP has remained open. The SWEP was then opened once again on 12 January. The SWEP has been open for extended periods on a few occasions in the past. In March and April 2013, the SWEP was open for 12 consecutive nights. This occurred again in February to March 2018, when the

British Isles experienced the Beast from the East cold wave. On average, 10 people per night have accessed SWEP accommodation so far this winter, according to data released by the Oxford City Council. The number peaked at 17 people on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. In view of the ongoing pandemic, rough sleepers in SWEP accommodation are now offered their own room for the night, while in previous

years they would sleep in shared spaces. The Oxford City Council has secured 25 rooms across 3 venues, and there are contingency plans in place to provide more rooms if the need arises. This has been achieved through collaborations with St Mungo’s, Aspire, and Homeless Oxfordshire, organisations that assist homeless people in Oxfordshire. “Cold weather can kill. It is vital that everyone who is on the streets, or who

CITY

is at risk of rough sleeping, can access self-contained accommodation as soon as possible, with adequate support where it is needed. We will continue to work with Oxford City Council to save lives this winter,” said Matt Rudd, regional manager of St Mungo’s in Oxford, in a news release on the Oxford City Council website. Since the start of the pandemic, the Council has housed 303 homeless people.

Extinction Rebellion parade white elephant in city to protest HS2 Sasha Mills

Members of the environmental group Extinction Rebellion dressed up as a white elephant and walked through the city centre in protest of HS2. HS2 is a high speed railway project linking up London to the Midlands, the North, and Scotland. A white elephant has, in modern usage, become synonymous with a building project or scheme that is considered expensive without adding use or value to society. The protest against HS2 is being led by Chris Packham, TV naturalist and presenter. Members of Extinction Rebellion Oxford have been some of the most active protesters against HS2, which they describe as “the most environmentally-damaging development currently occurring.” Michael Taylor of Extinction Rebellion Oxford told Cherwell: “HS2 claims to expand capacity on the rail network but

it does this in the most expensive, least useful, least effective, most destructive way. It is a classic white elephant.” “It is not going to have a significant effect in taking drivers out of their cars or freight off the roads, it is simply a faster way of train travel for people who would already travel by train.” Jessica Upton of Extinction Rebellion Oxford said: “I’m very pleased to hear Chris Packham announce a petition to get HS2 stopped. The money being squandered on the white elephant that is HS2 should be used for reopening disused lines (eg from Oxford to Witney) and the full electrification of the rail system.” “Public transport use is very low at present and the Government needs to be putting in place better public transport options for after the covid crisis. It should not be funnelling the funds into environmentally destructive high speed train lines.”

CITY

Friday, 15th January 2021 | News

|5 UNIVERSITY

Students will not be charged for rooms unoccupied over Hilary Millie Wood

Most Oxford colleges have decided to not charge students for rooms unoccupied during Hilary Term, according to information released by the Student Union. Graduate students on long-term tenancies can be reimbursed for the time they cannot use their rooms. “We are pleased to see a significant number of colleges have ensured that students will not have to pay for accomodation that they are unable to live in. We would like to thank colleges for recognising this issue and acting swiftly. We will continue to ensure students unable to return to Oxford in Hilary Term 2021 are not be [sic] financially

penalised”, the SU wrote on its website. Residency requirements were lifted for Hilary term, following the introduction of a nationwide lockdown in the UK on 5th January. Students were advised not to come back to Oxford until mid-February, unless they met one of six criteria and had discussed their plans with their colleges before returning. After students at Keble College arrived without permission, the college announced it would seek to remove those who had done so. The Oxford SU said that the Hilary residency requirement was lifted by the university following ‘extensive lobbying’.

Elected sabbatical offices had over 10 meetings with senior university officials. Removing the residency requirement means that students

will not have to apply for residency dispensation if they do not wish to return to Oxford if restrictions are relaxed later in the term.

The Oxford Student Union and Oxford University have been contacted for comment. Image Credit: Mattbuck/ CC BY-SA 2.0

UNIVERSITY

COVID vaccine can be modified to combat new mutations, says Oxford professor Rebecca Horne

Covid-19 vaccines will be able to be adapted to offer effective protection against future coronavirus mutations, one Oxford University professor has

claimed. Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, told CNBC that he was confident that the vaccine can be updated to protect against future

mutations, and it is likely both the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines already provide protection against the new variant circulating in the UK - B117. Whilst research by

scientists in the US has found that current vaccines appear to work against B117, more uncertainty appears to surround the new South African variant. Dr Simon Clarke, an expert in cell microbiology at the University of Reading, has warned that: “the South African variant has a number of additional mutations, including changes to some of the virus’ spike protein.” The spike protein is what vaccines are designed around, and the extensive alteration caused by a mutation in the South African variant may make it less susceptible to the immune response triggered by the vaccine. These exact same

mutations do not seem to appear in B117, meaning that the current vaccines are highly likely to remain effective. While Bell told CNBC that the South African variant may be “slightly more worrying” he expressed confidence that vaccines could be easily adapted to handle any virus mutations, saying: “if we have to make new vaccines, we can make them now we’ve done the initial work.” Bell also noted that it is likely development processes to update vaccines would require the same large-scale clinical trials held in 2020, with only immunogenicity studies required. Image Credit: Abel F. Ros /CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

News | Friday, 15th January 2021

New online hub to raise awareness of University’s colonial past Charlie Hancock

The University of Oxford has set up a new website to raise awareness of the University’s colonial past and the steps it is taking to reconcile with its legacy. The Oxford and Colonialism Network brings together initiatives from colleges and departments to acknowledge their own colonial heritages with campaigns from student-led groups. Previously, the devolved nature of the University made it hard to build connections between the efforts of different organisations and institutions. “This website is intended as a bridge between projects, that makes it easier to access the relevant conversations, activities, ideas,

debates and actions taking place.” said Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis, co-chair of the Oxford and Colonialism Network. The online hub includes details on the University’s efforts to address system racism in education, including outreach programmes which aim to provide support to Black applicants at undergraduate and postgraduate level, such as Target Oxbridge and Black Academic Students. In her October 2020 oration speech Vice Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said of the network: “In Oxford, we are surrounded by history in our architecture, landscapes, dining halls, libraries and chapels. We cannot wholly change that

historic landscape, but we can address the history we carry within us. We can acknowledge its presence in all we do, and aim with personal integrity and collective effort to improve the future.” The website also includes details of how colleges profited from colonialism and the steps they are taking to reconcile with their pasts, including establishing scholarships and erecting portraits of BAME alumni. All Souls College recently announced they would remove Christopher Codrington’s name from the library built in part with the profits from his plantations in the Caribbean, where people of African descent were enslaved. However, they have

stopped short of removing the statue of Codrington. New College have announced plans to fund a scholarship for Black undergraduates and an annual BAME culture festival to commence after COVID restrictions have lifted.

University funds hip hop dance sessions for teens Daisy Aitchison

Oxford University and the dance company Body Politic have partnered to provide free dance classes for 11 to 16 year olds in the city. The university’s aim is to explore the effects of the arts and physical exercise on wellbeing and is being funded by The Oxford Research Centre in the Hu ma n it ies. The findings will form part of a study being conducted by the Social Body Lab. The lead researcher heading the project, Dr Bahar Tuncgenc, said: “Arts and physical activity can be very beneficial for

improving social connectedness, reliance and self-esteem. “We want to find out whether engaging in our creative dance programme would promote young people’s wellbeing during these much-needed times, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.” The classes will take

place over five weeks and will explore all aspects of dance, from performance to improvisation and choreography. The programme will be

led by the artistic director of Body Politic, Emma-Jane Greig. The company was founded in Oxford in 2012 and aims to promote diverse communities by addressing the lack of representation of artists from Black and Asian backgrounds. It works to provide opportunities for young people from v u lnerable and marginalised com mu n ities and to remove barriers to the arts sector. Body Politics’ mission is built around outreach, artist development and producing theatre. Through dance, the group tries to help to improve the skills,

confidence and employability of young people, while also producing “authentic, relevant and essential work”. In 2019 the company became the first female led independent hip hop group to tour outside of London. Oxford’s Social Body Lab, which is heading the research project, is part of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the university. It was set up to explore links between social connection, group activity and health in relation to both everyday behaviour and culture. Research is conducted by academics and postgraduate students studying for an MSC degree in cognitive and evolutionary

UNIVERSITY

Details of student-led organisations such as Common Ground Oxford and Rhodes Must Fall, who seek to decolonise curriculums and raise awareness can also be found on the website. Image Credit: Alf / Wikimedia Commons.

UNIVERSITY

anthropology at the university and involves fieldwork as well as laboratory experiments. The work of the group tries to connect evolutionary, psychological and behavioural sciences. Researchers are aiming to try and use their findings to improve wellbeing, health and life outcomes across a wide range of settings globally. The hope is that the hip-hop classes will help to support young people in Oxford who are currently out of the classroom and are “experiencing challenging times”. Body Politic also provides an education programme, providing training in leadership. The deadline for registration is 11 January 2021.

Science and technology Friday, 15th January 2021 | Science & Tech

The bloody problem of PMS research

Marietta Kosma discusses attitudes to women’s and trans men’s periods.

omen have historically been sidelined from medical attention. One piece of evidence is the stark lack of reseach into the premenstrual syndrome (PMS). This has not been validated as a legitimate condition, despite over 90% of women and trans men reporting experiencing premenstrual symptoms, such as bloating, moodiness, cramps or fatigue. So why is this gender bias still persistent in medical research in the twenty-first century? Why is menstrual discourse relevant to men? And what can trans men teach us about menstruation? If they have not undergone assignment surgery, or do not take hormones, trans men often still experience a monthly period. This is an undeniable reality for them, and trans men have reported experiencing physical discomfort before their period. This can be very estranging, as they have the biological experience of a woman while identifying as a man. Menstrual blood, biologically different to normal blood, can come to feel like a shameful bodily fluid, a reminder of the part of themselves that they do not identify with. The research carried out for PMS

remains largely inconclusive. As such, the medical treatment provided can be sporadic and insufficient. Both women and trans men are often excluded because their symptoms are not taken seriously. Even though menstruation is a biological reality, it is formulated as a social construct. Society affects one’s experience of having a period and how one deals with it. In most patriarchal cultures, the experience of menstruation is permeated by feelings of shame and secrecy. In some cultures, menstruation is something unclean. The double standard of constructing men’s bodies as “clean” but women’s bodies as “dirty” should be challenged. Unfortunately, the negative perception of menstruation can lead to ‘body shame, self-objectification, and lack of agency in sexual decision-making.’ In many situations, women and trans men are told -“it’s all in your head”, but this negates the veracity of a person’s experiences. To be told that “it’s all in your head” is extremely insulting, even dehumanizing. In order to combat the gender bias in medical research, the distinction among sex and gender is crucial. Gender needs to be viewed as a fluid category instead of as an essential one. Women used to be viewed as the weaker sex, therefore when they were menstruating they were viewed as monstrous as they were unable to ‘control’ their bodies. However, who defines what is ‘natural’? There is no straightforward answer to this, as the norm is a social construct.

The climate crisis and its role affecting global health Lucy Goodfellow explores how rising temperatures will affect our health.

he debate around the effects of the climate crisis often centres around the extreme weather conditions, destruction of habitats and economic costs of damage. But the consequences of climate change are also becoming an increasingly dangerous threat to global health. One of the most concerning repercussions of the climate crisis is the increasing risk of infectious diseases. A warming climate means that longer periods of the year are suitable for transmission of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, Dengue fever, and Lyme disease, and rapid urbanisation in rural areas like the Amazon rainforest allows mosquitoes and the viruses that they carry to move into urban centres and neighbouring rural spaces. Before 1970, only nine countries had experienced serious outbreaks of Dengue, a seasonal mosquito-borne disease usually found in the tropics. 50 years later, it is endemic to over 100 countries. Scientists say that hotter, warmer weather produces ideal conditions for mosquitoes and their associated disease transmission, and the rising global temperatures mean that they can survive better at higher altitudes and latitudes. International travel and global trade have further contributed to the spread of the disease, with insects hitchhiking on used tires and in shipping containers. It’s impossible to attribute an exact number of infections and

deaths to the change in climate, but evidently movements to combat the climate crisis would help, not hinder, global health. On the topic of infectious diseases, one outbreak has affected more of us worldwide than any other in recent memory: Covid-19. Scientists have speculated on the relationship between the climate and the pandemic, and it has been suggested that among other dynamics, the socio-economic changes caused by the climate crisis have pushed humans closer in proximity to livestock, pathogens and vectors. Factors such as the increase in international travel and global trade have contributed to both crises. But perhaps the most important element of the relationship between climate change and the pandemic to consider is the impact of our response to Covid-19 on the climate. Economic recovery packages will need to prioritise forms of energy and transport which are beneficial to global health. This will require investment into renewable energy and active travel policies, instead of focusing on fossil fuel intensive investments. The 7% decrease in carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 due to a frozen economy and limited travel will translate into a reduction of only 0.01°C by 2050. A potentially harmful rebound in economic activity, similar to the boom in gas emissions after the 2008 financial crisis, could have disastrous effects. In combatting

Thus, it is important to bring attention to the interconnectedness between sex, gender, body and sexual orientation. As Annandale and Clark suggest: ‘we artificially, and inappropriately, divide people into two camps…we build a series of other characteristics on top of gender i.e. […] women are irrational, men are rational and so on…real life experience is not like this; attributes and experiences like acting rationally or being healthy cross-cut gender and are not the province of men or women as a group’. The fear towards those who do not conform to the sex and gender order is still pervasive today. De-gendering menstruation is vital in order to be able to deal with the taboos surrounding PMS in a gender-inclusive way. Therefore, it is necessary to acknowledge the multiplicity of menstrual realities that different bodies experience. In conclusion, the lack of adequate medical research around PMS is a cultural construct. There is a major gap in studying menstruation because patriarchal culture silences the discourse of women and subsequently trans men who are viewed as marginal entities. Their bodies are asserted yet at the same time negated from popular culture. What is being silenced and absent in discourse is constantly spoken of. It is necessary for trans men’s experiences to be contextualized in order to alleviate their sense of isolation and to de-stigmatize menstruation. Read the full article online at www. cherwell.org the pandemic by protecting vulnerable populations, developing preparedness measures and focusing on our healthcare systems, we can take similar steps to those needed to tackle the extreme effects of climate change. Climate change also threatens global health other ways. Decreases in crop yields and the resulting raised prices lead to malnutrition, disproportionately affecting children in areas that rely on agriculture. Rising global temperatures are causing significantly more heat-related deaths; the heatwave of 2003 is estimated to have killed more than 70,000 people in Europe. Similar temperatures are projected to occur every other year by the 2030s. The deadly effects of air pollution are also heightened in warmer weather. The combination of effects the climate has on our health is most drastically felt by those in areas prone to climatic weather like floods. And of course these threats have a disproportionate impact on developing countries and more vulnerable populations who cannot adequately build infrastructure against them. In implementing preventative measures, we need to account for these unequal effects. Increasing risk reduction education in hazardprone regions, working to eradicate malaria and other diseases, and investing in sustainable urban expansion will all benefit those who are most at risk of health threats. But we can best tackle the effects of climate change on global health by combatting the climate crisis. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we can uproot and restructure our health services and daily lives almost overnight. If we use the same framework of social and infrastructural changes to confront climate change, we may beat both crises altogether.

Editorial | Friday, 15th January 2021

Amelia Horn | Editor-in-Chief

didn’t expect my first editorial to be so angry. But sadly, my review of Below Deck season three will have to wait, because there are bigger things to discuss this week. What is more important than Below Deck? I hear nobody ask. But, for Oxford finalists, we received news even more shocking than Eddie and Rocky’s laundry room tryst. The University, in all their infinite wisdom, has decided not to implement any kind of nodetriment policy for our exams in Trinity. Because, apparently, when you’ve been living on this plague-ridden planet for almost a year, you should be used to spending twelve hours a day indoors. This year’s finalists have had the equivalent of an academic year of severe disruption to their studies, two thirds of which have been done for most people at home. The extreme workload, which even in ‘precedented times’ fosters a toxic environment in which a mental health crisis five weeks in is normal, is made even more acute by the fact that students are separated from the social system that university offers. For many, home is simply not a viable working space. For the University to expect us to do our

EDITORIAL

finals without any structured system of no-detriment is to show complete and utter disrespect for the student body. It’s nothing new, really, is it? Their‘mitigating circumstances,’ where students are encouraged to prove that the pandemic has had an effect on their exams, does nothing to account for the general distress and anxiety caused by the current situation. Neither does it account for the loss of typical activities that can help to mitigate exam stress, such as seeing friends, exercising, hobbies and social events. The overwhelming message is that living in a pandemic simply isn’t disrupting enough. The University’s reasoning for refusing to implement a nodetriment policy is that “teaching and assessment is being structured and delivered in a more established way.” I can’t be alone in completely disagreeing with this. Remote learning is a different and inferior experience: it is isolating, awkward, and difficult to concentrate. I can have been on a call for four hours and feel as if I have talked to no one. I don’t want to be too harsh. After all, the University did acknowledge the “troubling times” we are in before proceeding to do nothing about them.

Editor-in-Chief | Lucy Tansley

ver the vac, in the naive days before the realisation that Hilary would be going the same way as last Trinity, my family and I made our traditional annual visit to the local pantomime on Christmas Eve, fresh on the back of the news that a lockdown would be in place in large parts of Britain, including ours, from Boxing Day. We wore masks, sat in a theatre where two thirds of the chairs were taped off to ensure social distancing, and had people offering us hand sanitiser every other minute, but overall it was a reminder of what normality could feel like again. Maybe the swell of Christmas joy was dampened a little by my twelve year-old brother next to me moaning in an undertone monologue for the majority about how he would prefer to be playing on the Xbox or whatever it is that twelve year-olds do nowadays, but the play did not disappoint. As the final song was sung (a rousing rendition of Abba’s ‘Thank you for the music’), one of the actors on stage (playing a hybrid Dick Whittington/Aladdin/Ladyin-waiting - it was a very weird production) suddenly became overcome with emotion and started crying. There followed an awkward moment in which everyone present was removed from the carefree bubble of ‘Dame

Trott’s Panto Palaver’ and back into the more depressing world we have become accustomed to. The Cambridge local pantomime won’t be winning any Olivier awards any time soon but it was a pertinent reminder of the fact that there are real people behind every industry, and theatre is one that has been put through the wringer. Outrage was sparked, and rightly so, over the government-backed advert released in October that insensitively suggested that those working in the creative industries could have their ‘next job in cyber’, but the announcements that have followed have done little to abate the impression given that, for the government, the arts don’t matter. The £1.57bn funding that was allocated to ‘save’ the arts in Britain may have seemed like an impressive figure, but with 1,100 theatres alone in the UK, many outlets, galleries and venues will not be able to survive this prolonged drought of ticket sales. It may be easy to dismiss the creative industries as a frivolous concern compared to the many other industries under strain during the pandemic (despite the fact that they collectively brought in £111.7bn to the UK economy in 2018!), but it was hard not to feel like we came away from the panto with a rather more sobering message than the one I’d expected.

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CULCHER Friday, 15th January 2021 | Vol.293 No.1 | 0th Week

CulCher | Friday, 15th January 2021

INSIDE

COVER ARTIST CHARLOTTE BUNNEY Hello, I’m Charlotte and I’m a 4th year Classicist at Univ (what a time to be a finalist!). I’m currently still at home but at least I brought back a good deal of my art supplies to keep me sane. Watercolour was the medium that originally hooked me into the art world but now I work in pretty much all media, with gouache being my favourite. A lot of my work is inspired by nature and the Classical world; at the moment I’m doing some studies of the newly covered wall paintings from Pompeii.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

n the early 1000s, Archbishop Wulfstan of York wrote a sermon for his fellow Englishmen, hailing the imminent end of the world as punishment for their bad behaviour. The opening of the sermon is as follows: Lēofan men, gecnāwað þæt sōð is: ðēos worold is on ofste, and hit nēalæcð þām ende (Beloved men, know that which is true: the world is in haste and it nears the end) What I find so captivating about his opening line is not only the familiarity of some of the language (especially the word ‘ende’), but also the feeling which Wulfstan is trying to evoke here, that of living close to the end of the world. Evidently, the world didn’t end in the 1000s, we’re still here after all, but the threat of Viking invasion which caused Wulfstan to lament the coming of the end is a sentiment which I believe is common to all periods of humanity, including our own day. Wulfstan’s focus on the end of the world has led me to question Matt Hancock’s phrasing in describing the vaccine as the “beginning of the end of the pandemic”. These words, repeated across myriad articles about the vaccine, push a sense of optimism, hailing an end to the pandemic which has so devastatingly characterised 2020. Yet, if we look at the definition of this phrase, ‘the beginning of the end’, we find that the usual meaning is far more pessimistic; the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as ‘the point where something starts to get gradually worse, until it fails or ends completely.’ It seems that Hancock’s words have a rather more Doomsday feel about them, one which he might not have necessarily intended, but one which I cannot seem to elude whenever I think about this vaccine and what it means for us among our conceptions of beginnings and ends. The prediction made by Wulfstan obviously didn’t come true; what then, should we believe about the prediction made by Hancock, one thousand years later? Strangely enough, it’s an episode of the TV show Glee, and its depiction of the hysteria which surrounded the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse that sticks out to me when considering our attitudes towards beginnings and ends. The episode, titled ‘Glee, Actually’, which aired on December 13 2012 (just a week before the apparent date of the end

BY MAEBH HOWELL of the world – December 21), follows the notoriously ditzy cheerleader Brittany, who watches a documentary about the Mayan Apocalypse, and along with fellow Glee club member Sam, creates an Apocalypse club, trying to warn others about what is coming. Whilst Glee is famous for it’s over-dramatic plotlines and exaggerated characters, I think it deals with the 2012 end of the world well in two ways. Not only in the representation of hysteria caused by nutty conspiracy-theory documentaries (10% of Americans in 2012 genuinely did think the world would end that year), but also in the way that the characters react when the world doesn’t end. Brittany and Sam are a veritable trove of disappointment when they wake up on December 22 to a world which is still existing, saying that they were more energised and closer to their friends than ever when they thought that the end was coming. It’s only when their teacher makes up a new date for the end of the world that the pair become content again. Perhaps then, we enjoy living in end times? 15% of Americans believe that the world will end in their own lifetime, and taking the example of Wulfstan, as well as the 2012 “Apocalypse”, it seems that this is a trend which sweeps across the history of humanity. Like the ever-popular genre of dystopian fiction, maybe we like the idea of being the protagonist of a Doomsday story? But in my opinion, an end entails much more than just something ceasing to exist. I disagree with Hancock that the vaccine signals the ‘beginning of the end’; I much prefer the phrasing of the beginning that comes with the end. If you search for a picture of the Mayan calendar which sparked the 2012 Apocalypse theory, you’ll see that it’s a circular slab of stone, and I think this perfectly encapsulates how we should think about these ideas of beginnings and ends. After an end, inevitably comes something new; a beginning. If we think about the Doomsday clock, a visible representation of how close the world is to destruction by means of nuclear war, climate change, and other technological weapons, its circular clock-face perfectly represents this idea. The time on the Doomsday clock is currently 100 seconds to midnight. What will happen when the minute hand reaches the top? Read the full article online on cherwell.org.

Image credit: Pixabay.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | CulCher

FROM LOVE ISLAND TO SHARKNADO: THE GENDERING OF “TRASH CULTURE” BY SOPHIA ZU

hen Love Island premiered in 2005, critics immediately thrashed its formulaic nature, the so-called “celebrity” status of its participants, and the shallowness that permeated every particle of sand on the Fijian island where it was filmed. It was cancelled after two seasons, but in 2015 it returned with full force with a massive following in the United Kingdom, and in other countries, as it was remade in different iterations across the globe. Its ubiquity has arguably made it the face of reality television. Reality television occupies a unique position in culture; it is widely regarded as “bad”, and yet it is a billion dollar industry with franchises like Love Island that span continents. It is not controversial to admit or define most reality TV as something that is rarely worth watching for its inherent value (there is little). Ironically, it offers an escape from real life, where the de facto uniform is not swimwear and people who don’t fit an extremely narrow Eurocentric beauty standard exist. So reality television, at least in the West, is flawed. Headlines frequently describe it as “trashy”, an adjective which conjures discrete images: airport book stands, supermarket magazine selections, fuzzy 90s and 00s era movies and TV shows about high school and sex. It indicates a disdain for the mainstream, but a very particular brand of mainstream that equates its fandom and related obsession with a degree of femininity. Fifty Shades of Grey, People Magazine, and Eat, Pray, Love all share a majority-female audience who have propelled it into popular culture. The Da Vinci Code, whose target audience is decisively less female, still enjoys a certain status of pseudo-intellectualism that buoys it from true “trashdom” despite the fact that it very well could have been written by a 6 year old armed with a thesaurus. The delegation of media as “trashy” has consumed entire genres; I spent two paragraphs using reality television as a blanket term, for example. But romantic comedies, a vast and diverse genre that includes genuine cinematic masterpieces, are one of the true victims of this phenomenon.

They are some of the most widely consumed forms of media with many masterful and carefully crafted standouts which rarely receive widespread recognition from awards or the general public. Movies like Serendipity, The Big Sick, or Clueless are well-written and clever additions to the film universe which rarely receive serious critical accolades. They are good movies; but their enjoyment is tinged with shame in a way watching The Shawshank Redemption or Fight Club is not. Romantic comedies have been designated “guilty pleasures”, and clumped together into the same type of saccharine enjoyment one derives from post-break up chocolates. Male stories - those made for men, by men - are given priority and intellectualized to a degree other stories are not. I am not arguing that Saving Private Ryan is not a masterpiece, or that Mean Girls should have won an Oscar. Rather, movies like Sharknado (which targets male audiences) are elevated and satirized in the public eye, achieving cult following and popularizing a “So-Bad-It’s-Good” genre while movies like D.E.B.S which borders the same line never achieves mainstream popularity because it is about such trivial topics as female friendship and women (it is also worth noting that D.E.B.S provides great and rare representation for samesex female relationships and is quite ground-breaking in that regard). The only woman in Academy history to ever win the “Best Director” award was Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, a war thriller with an all-male cast. The word “trashy” is almost universally associated with media that is geared towards women, particularly young women. The Big Bang Theory entertains all manner of poorly-constructed jokes, sexism and homophobia yet Gossip Girl and Keeping Up with the Kardashians top iMDB’s “Trashy TV Shows” list. This designation leaves behind lots of carnage; the truth is that there is lots of “trashy” media, and lots of “trashy” parts of pop culture, but the world should not be used to perpetuate an existing hierarchy that demonizes and weaponizes traditionally “female” interests.

CULCHER EDITORIAL It’s a strange beginning, some of us in Oxford, lots of us miles and miles away. After the experiences of Michaelmas, and with much colder weather, the start of an online Hilary for many doesn’t exactly feel like a repeat of Trinity 2020. It‘s still distanced, isolated - sensations all too familiar - but nonetheless, it’s a new year, hot off the (virtual) press. Following so much irrecoverable loss, it could not be expected that last year’s shadow would lessen. With the storming of the US Capitol and world leader press conferences emphasising the importance of maintaining democracy, and with coronavirus soaring to record rates as a major incident is declared in London, 2021’s premiere is daunting to say the very least. Nevertheless, the rollout of new vaccines continues to bring hope, and the enforcement of lockdown measures aid protection. It’s important, I think, to recognise the pivotal role culture has in the regeneration and reinvigoration of society that must occur. Culture will keep on turning too. While the scale of coronavirus’s impact on the cultural world, from live performances to galleries, is undeniable, history shows us how we fight back. From Shakespeare scribbling plays during a plague outbreak to Picasso’s Guernica in response to the bombing of the eponymous town, the phoenix metaphor seems apt: something will rise from the ashes. Now, more than any other time, I believe, is one to concentrate on new beginnings: on hopes, on making a change. With society’s adaption to new ways of safe living and the vital progress of Black Lives Matter, we can focus on moving forward for a better year. Now is also a time of production and anticipation, whether that be Pa Salieu winning BBC Sound of 2021, Attenborough’s captivating new series A Perfect Planet, the possibility of a Lady Gaga Chromatica Ball in the summer, or the opening of new museums, from Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein to the Pudong Museum of Art, across the globe. By appreciating the pulsing vitality of art and creation in our society, I hope we can see the rainbows through the rain, and act on creating what we want to see improved in this new year. - Josh Booth

WHAT’S ON Oxford and Empire: Translating Education: Wednesday 20th 12:30-2pm

Build the Hype: Friday 15th 11am-12pm

Panel discussion about the University of Oxford’s role in teaching Oriental languages and developing anthropology as an academic discipline. Register for free online on TORCH’s website.

Online workshop on how to grow your club, society or college community in Hilary term. Free tickets available on the Oxford Student Union website.

CulCher | Friday, 15th January 2021

E H S OU T

RC E

In light of another term away from friends, The Source examines the contrast between being together and being apart.

hands/face/space Katie Kirkpatrick hands the world is smothered by a plastic seal, everything vacuum-packed and ziplock-bagged, and my fingertips are crying out for love, crying out for the hot touch of papercuts and the tongue kisses we like to call splinters. the lines on my palm are joining up the dots between plastic gloves and your arms, telling themselves that these neoprene creases are as soft as the skin on the inside of your elbow. face eyes are everything to me; i am an eleven-year-old girl counting the seconds between stares, clicking the brown eyes box on the does your crush like you back buzzfeed quiz. your eyelashes flutter like fans, relieving my fever and reminding me what breezes used to feel like back when they were allowed. today the wind waits at bus shelters, hides behind terraced houses and sings the grass to sleep. space how we feel now must be the way that stars feel all their lives: always in sight of each other, always feeling each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence, but kept apart by forces they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite comprehend. we wish on streetlamps, watch them light up in constellations and follow them home, hoping to find a new face at the front door. but the lights are always the wrong shade of orange, and you are always looking down on me from another part of the sky.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | CulCher

Instead Of Alex Hopkins-McQuillan

Instead of growing apart, why don’t we go and see that film, the one that’s been delayed, in the cinema that’s closed. We’ll sit on the grubby seats that are always sticky and never recline, and I’ll say It’s been a while, and we’ll laugh about how bad we are at keeping in touch. When something shocking happens, I’ll lean over and whisper about how I saw it coming and my arm will brush yours. On the way out, you’ll say It wasn’t the best and I’ll agree. Perhaps you’ll skip the last step as we’re leaving, turn and look at me like you’re Tom Cruise doing a stunt in Mission Impossible. We’ll walk home and the sun probably won’t be out and it will be cold and we’ll complain. When we get to yours we’ll hug and wave goodbye. I won’t have to close my eyes to remember your smile. When I get to the end of your road, I’ll turn. I’ll see you lift your hand and wave again - but I won’t give it a second thought because I’ll see you again tomorrow.

Atonement Tom McGrath

Was there anything I might have done, To stay the thoughts that have a hold of you? Too late in this— My faults recited for me again, (Though they are often in my thoughts). I rue the lost hours and days: A finite life, this one, Each hour, once gone, is gone forever, A series playing out, our course to run.

Images by: Amir Pichhadze and Bora Rex. Submit your creative writing to The Source at: cherwelleditor@gmail.com

I’ve heard God is found in the divine present, How pleasant is the life he leads, Not his the anguish And the pain of a fleeting hour, Left in confusion and wasted.

CulCher | Friday, 15th January 2021

BOOKS

infrastructure crisis. Spaces of cultural production fall out of existence at an alarming rate, exacerbated by the economic crisis inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic. New spaces of cultural production are rarely established. This is a global phenomenon, as there has been a significant increase in the repurposing of cultural buildings due to the economic crisis, rising population, and a lack of adequate housing. For example, the Wuhan Salon: Cultural Exhibition Center was turned into a hospital to cover the need of hospitalizing Covid-19 patients. The maintenance of these places is important as it Amir Pichhadze and Marietta Kosma are troubled by the allows longtime fans to access prospects of having Tolkien’s home sold to private buyers. them again and again, thereby continually reshaping popular evoted bibliophiles be preserved. To this day, most culture. The interactions they would love to see of the house’s original elements have in these physical spaces Tolkien’s former house are still maintained, such as and their engagement with become a preserved ‘the hardwood floors, the high these unique cultural sites space. For example, Julia ceilings and the wood-burning create irreplaceable emotions Golding, an advocate of the fireplaces, and in the kitchen and signify a new affective era campaign of the house’s there is an old bell system that continuously reshaped. In light preservation states that ‘the was used to communicate with of restricted access to cultural worldwide Tolkien fan base the rest of the house’. There are sites in the coronavirus era, a is enormous, but there is no also ‘a few of the trees Tolkien center for Tolkien anywhere had planted’ himself in the new kind of affective engagement is emerging. As Judith in the world.’ Therefore, one garden. Butler postulated, ‘the demand should be established. Even The debate of the preservafor infrastructure is a demand though the layout of Tolkien’s tion of Tolkien’s house could be for a certain kind of inhabitable house has slightly changed, it seen as a reflection of a larger would be great for his legacy to problem at hand: the cultural ground’. There is a need for

Debating cultural infrastructure: what’s next for Tolkien’s house?

n light of the disaster that was 2020, many of us are looking to 2021 with hope. Amongst the reasons to be excited about 2021 is a literary scene packed with talent. These most anticipated fiction and nonfiction books of the year offer something for every reader, from Bill Gates’ guide to avoiding a climate disaster and Haruki Murakami’s mindbending collection of short stories. 1. Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro Klara and the Sun is Ishiguro’s first novel since winning the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. He introduces readers to a technologically advanced future charged with dystopian elements. The narrative follows an “Artificial Friend” named Klara who makes observations about the world from her posi-

spaces where the intellectual heritage of writers’ is protected. In these cultural infrastructures, visitors can honor the creators of art and form a cognitive, emotional bond with them. It is almost like a cultural pilgrimage that leads the individual to continuously renegotiate his positioning in relation to the writer’s legacy. In the same vein, Jane Austen’s house at Chawton, Charles Dickens’ home in London and William Faulkner’s house in Rowan Oak are some spaces of writers’ cultural production successfully preserved. All these spaces operate as significant sites, literary pilgrimages of the writers’ literary production. Tolkien’s legacy is undeniably enormous. By preserving cultural infrastructures to the degree that is possible, today’s cultural infrastructure crisis can be assuaged. . The wider public needs to ask themselves what kind of cities they would like to live in and whether they are willing to take the risk of residing in a place lacking significant cultural infrastructures such as authors’ houses. Full article available on cherwell.org Artwork by Amir Pichhadze

Cherwell Recommends: Best of 2021

ELENA BUCCISANO OFFERS HER MOST ANTICIPATED READS OF THE NEW YEAR tion inside a store, where she hopes she’ll soon be chosen by a prospective owner. Like his previous trailblazing fiction, this novel tackles questions about humanity through a unique and discerning lens. 2. Empireland Sathnam Sanghera In his informative and illuminating new book, Sathnam Sanghera demonstrates how so much of what we consider to be modern Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past, from the foundation of the NHS to the nature of our racism and the

exceptionalism that was a core part of the campaign for Brexit. At a time of great division, when we are arguing about what it means to be British, Sanghera’s book urges us to address this contradiction. It is only by stepping back and seeing where we really come from that we can begin to understand who we are, as well as what unites us. 3. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America Clint Smith Clint Smith makes his nonfiction debut with How the Word Is Passed. In its simplest

condensation, his book is the story of his visits to seven places that relate to the work and lives of enslaved people. Smith brings readers to these sites as he explores the tortured histories each of these places holds. By doing so, the author asks us to reconsider what we think we know about American history and to take a closer look at the ways in which the legacy of slavery has impacted life today.

Go to cherwell.org to read all of Elena Buccisano’s reviews and find your next read of 2021.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | CulCher

STAGE

REINVENTION: GENDER ON STAGE Scarlett Colquitt argues that diversity, not tokenism, should be the status quo.

t was late March 2019 and my friends and I had just managed to grab some last-minute tickets to see The Taming of the Shrew at the RSC. I was excited as we piled into the cheap seats that our hastily-bought student tickets afforded us. This production immediately stood out for its reversal of gender roles. For a play noted as a witty comedy of female submissiveness and relationship woes, there was a horrific poignancy in the subjugation and gaslighting of the male Kate within the context of the #MeToo movement. It felt daring and bold and thoughtprovoking - exactly how theatre should feel. This production was clearly not the first to play with expectations of gender or race. From Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Othello in a race-reversed cast to Tamsin Greig’s masterful evocation of Malvolia, the Shakespearian world offers realms of possibility for reinvention. When whiteness is incidental to characterisation or the gender of a character is not explicitly stated, a meritocratic approach to casting should be applauded and championed. Critics of colour-blind casting often drone on that it threatens the verisimilitude of the performance and that seeing a black Eponine or an Asian Elphaba on stage detracts from their total immersion in the play. These people are willing to suspend their disbelief when they see a misunderstood witch bursting into a catchy ballad at the drop of a hat or French rebels putting aside their urgent political activism to rally together on the barricades for a belting encore in Act Two, but draw the line firmly on seeing racial diversity on stage. If this is the hill that they are willing to die on, their argument is at best tenuous and at worst dangerously misguided. Diversity on stage should be the status-quo. Those who argue that colour- blind casting always poses a threat to the

integrity of plays and musicals should get their head out of the sand. If everyone always tried so ardently to preserve the ‘essence’ of theatre, whatever that may be, we would still be stuck with the outdated mentality of Shakespeare’s era that women should not be able to act on stage. Theatre should be synonymous with reinvention and change. However, colour-blind casting is not without its problems. Arguing for ‘colour-blind’ casting can be a myopic way of tackling racial inequalities. It is the thespian equivalent of parroting “I don’t see race”. Race, and gender, are inextricable parts of many characters and to ignore the tensions that they can create within a play does a disservice to actors and cements inequalities. These factors should not be the only parts of a character that matter - we have moved beyond this reductive, archetypal approach to diversity - but casting directors need to be conscious of the choices that they make. Marginalised actors should not just be shoehorned into pre-existing plays without any respect or provision for the stories they have to tell. To do so is to package diversity into a commercially successful morsels that are digestible for largely white, middle-class audiences. Theatre should be daring and bold and thoughtprovoking. My experience of the RSC opened my eyes to that. Theatre has the duty to reflect diversity and prioritise an inclusive approach to casting. But this approach should not be blind; it is more glaringly obvious than ever that casting directors should approach their role with a critical eye, conscious of the possible ramifications of a thoughtless approach to diversity but always aware of the transformative benefits of a thoughtful one. Photo Credit: Ikin Yum / RSC.

REVIEWS/SHORTS

Mischief Movie Night: Review

f you’re missing the theatre then livestreams of shows are an excellent way to keep enjoying it! Mischief Movie Night, an improvised comedy show streamed by Mischief Theatre, is a great way to spend a night in lockdown. The beauty of improv is that each performance will be different. In just three shows, I witnessed a horror set in a nursery, an angsty vampire teen story set in a French palace, and a spy thriller in the Amazon. The show is cleverly set up with certain (higher paying) audience members streaming via zoom and contributing ideas for the improv, with the rest viewing via a link. The cast also take to Twitter for ideas, leading to wild inclusions such as the spy turned love-interest koala bear, and the award for

“most dramatic opening of an umbrella”. I never thought the opening of an umbrella could be dramatic. A full improvised musical number later, I was proved wrong. The actors were sharp, witty and full of energy despite lacking an audience. Dave Hearn, Bryony Corrigan and Henry Lewis were all hilarious, but it was Harry Kershaw who truly stood out, switching characters effortlessly from a four poster bed (yes, really) to a spy, continuously forgetting his character’s name yet playing it for laughs, and bringing enormous energy to his performance in order to win the award for “loneliest conga line”. Review by Ben Igielman. Photo Credit: Gudmund Thai. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0

CulCher | Friday 15th January 2021

FASHION

Winter Wardrobe

Four Oxford fashionistas give their opinion on this year’s winter essentials.

Essentials

My winter wardrobe essential for this year has to be stash. Now, I know what you’re thinking ‘stash comes in many forms, and so calling stash an essential is just as specific as saying “clothes”’, and I was once like you, but, in these uNCeRtAin tiMeS, I’ve found stash to be pretty important. Not only does it remind me that I’m part of many different communities despite the fact that it’s been difficult to do anything in person for most of the year, but it allows me to irritate my family who already think I have my head up my arse about going to Oxford. For the two weeks prior to going into Tier 4, I was able to use college stash to maintain meaningless college rivalries with total strangers that I saw on the tube; despite being far

The only possible way to remedy the shortened days and Tupperware skies of winter is to imagine yourself as a sexy, mysterious, no-time-for-your-bullshit, French woman striding around snowy Paris. I propose that it is, of course, the humble beret that provides the fool-proof means to achieve this persona. Not only are they the height of practicality—the crown of your head snuggling under its toasty woollen duvet; one—or two—smothered ears warding off the bitter air and interminable conversation of your family members—but berets, in their inherent flexibility, are also immensely creative. Being a beret-wearer is a substantial responsibility, the first burden being that of colour. I long for the day that Buzzfeed releases a quiz to distinguish between people whose ‘soul beret’ would be classic black, trendy red, jolly technicolour, or completely bejewelled. Next comes the importance of silhouette; only a Francophobe would consider beret-shaping trivial. A multitude of existential questions arise: does today beckon an exposed beret rim and a pouchy, free-standing beret body, or will you flatten the beret to your head, rolling the edge under itself? Will your beret defy gravity, balancing asymmetrically over one ear, or will you blasphemously centralise this almost divinely circular hat across your forehead? The world of berets offers endless opportunity, making it a winter essential in every sophisticate’s wardrobe.

by Isabella Reynolds

too self conscious to actually speak to anyone wearing an Oxford puffer, I’m sure the frustrated eye contact did the perfect job, truly in the spirit of Christmas.

by Lily Kershaw

Friday, 15th January 2021 | CulCher

Undoubtedly the essential that must grace any wannabe fashionistaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winter wardrobe is the timeless long line coat. No other item can quite compare to the power such a necessity places upon the fortunate shoulders of the lucky coat bearer. Such a versatile piece can be styled up or down, paired with chunky trainers and baggy jeans to create an everyday look, or complimented by thigh high boots and a mini skirt to ooze a more sophisticated vibe. The possibilities are endless. Of course the varieties of patterns which can adorn such a coat are also endless. A personal favourite is the pastel block colour, with my own baby blue calf length coat being one of my favourite possessions. However, one thing is for certain, no matter what colour long line coat you wear or what you choose to wear it with, the feeling it gives you when strutting down cornmarket is unmatched.

by Rochelle Moss

It is cold outside. The harsh wind billows. The hairs that blanket your unforgivingly protruding ears are whipped into submission. You are alerted that it is indeed cold outside. In the past, to overcome such circumstances, one would reach for a marginally hideous hat their grandmother had knitted for the festive season (I truly love it nan thanks!). Not this year. Hell has descended on earth in the shape of two cotton balls and some wire. The Ear Muff. Conceived with good intentions, the protective ear muffs have been thrust aside by their pointless, effortlessly fluffy counterparts, adorned by those desperate to make a statement. Not only are they far inferior to the trusted wooly hat appearance-wise, thermal ear muffs leave your eyesight fending for itself, as your hearing has all but disappeared. I end this incoherent ramble with a pledge to not succumb to societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential future craze. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

by Agata Gwincinska

CulCher | Friday, 15th January 2021

MUSIC

Katie Kirkpatrick advocates justice for Jepsen.

(RE)CALL ME MAYBE

icture the scene: the year is 2012, you’ve spent the afternoon crimping your hair and messily applying glittery eyeshadow, and now you’re ready for the highlight of your social calendar: the famed Leavers’ Disco. Sure, you may not even be leaving school, and sure, you definitely don’t have a date, but this is it. Tonight is going to be your night. You arrive at your grotty school hall-meets-gym, tottering on your kitten heels, and know exactly what you have to do first. Awkwardly avoiding your crush, you wobble over to the DJ, wait in the endless queue of sugar-high ten-year-olds, and prepare yourself to request the absolute best song in the world right now: “Call Me Maybe.” Okay, so maybe we didn’t all have the same primary school experiences as me. But there’s no denying that for at least a year after its release, Carly Rae Jepsen’s annoyingly catchy pop single could not be escaped. It made her pretty much a household name, but not in a favourable light: she was branded a one-hit wonder. But of course, “Call Me Maybe” is not the only CRJ song most people know. Her other two hits came in the form of “Good Time”, a cheesy collaboration with Owl City (yes, of “Fireflies” fame), and “I Really Like You”, a pop hit famous for featuring Tom Hanks in its music video.

It’s the latter of these which is most interesting in terms of Jepsen’s music career: this is because it came out in 2015, just before the release of her third album, Emotion. One element of her career that has made Jepsen something of an internet music icon is her habit of releasing B-Side albums - both Emotion and her fourth studio album Dedicated were followed up by B-Side albums of almost the same length and quality as their predecessors. Alongside her collaborators, who include pop mastermind and Bleachers frontman Jack Antonoff, she can churn out consistently excellent pop music at double the speed of almost everyone else in the game… except Taylor Swift, perhaps. Pop music, especially by younger female singers, gets a reputation for being ‘bad’ or ‘trashy’. But what is pop music supposed to do in the first place? By putting on Katy Perry or Jessie J, you’re probably not looking for a quasi-religious experience. There’s no need for overly philosophical lyrics or boundary-pushing orchestral accompaniments; rather, you want catchy hooks, relatable lyrics, and, above all else, fun. Jepsen does this all flawlessly. Let’s look at an example: “Want You in My

Room”, from Dedicated. The song starts with an instantly 80s-sounding rhythm. After the first verse we get an incredibly catchy pre-chorus complete with instrumental beats that it’s impossible not to dance to - this is one of the Antonoff tracks after all. The digitalised backing vocals make the chorus feel like it’s from another era - whether this is the eighties or the future is yet to be determined. The lyrics are very tongue-in-cheek, and far more risque than the candyfloss world of “Call Me Maybe” and “Good Time”: you’ll have ‘on the bed, on the floor’ stuck in your head endlessly. Coming in at just under three minutes, the track is a nugget of pure pop gold. This is my message to you: forget about “Call Me Maybe’”. Listen to either Emotion or Dedicated with a fresh mindset. Think of her as the next exciting thing in pop rather than a tired one-hit-wonder. You’ll be surprised how much preconceived notions influence your enjoyment of music. We all need a little joy right now, and Carly Rae Jepsen offers it in bucketloads. Do it for my lipgloss-covered ten-year-old self. Image credits: Raph_PH via Fickr and Creative Commons.

NO DESK? NO PROBLEM. Get away from the trials of at-home uni with a playlist featuring some of the biggest upcoming artists and some timely throwbacks. Curated by Matthew Prudham. Find on Spotify @cherwellmusic Image credits: Simoncromptonreid, Andrew D. Hurley, Newzee

SHAME Snow Day

CELESTE Love is Back

OMD Joan of Arc

Friday, 15th January 2021 | CulCher

FILM

t seems difficult to think of anything so integrally British as the phenomenon known as the ‘Great British Sitcom’. Up there with scones, Big Ben, and the BBC, it is hailed as one of our much-loved cultural oddities, a strange and mystifying asset which is difficult to pin down. Yet in a time of Tory scandal and coronavirus disaster in Britain, I feel myself clinging to this odd, undefinable genre as a rock of national identity. Once, one of my international friends who was spending a while in the country asked me, perhaps within reason, how I could be proud to be British in a time with Brexit raging across every headline. With a rather shocked look at him, I said, “Have you never seen Doc Marten?” The range runs from Peep Show, starring David Mitchell as a socially and romantically inept office worker, all the way to The Vicar of Dibley, starring Dawn French as a progressively-minded vicar in a conservative English village. In between these opposite ends of the spectrum lie Spaced; Bad Education; Miranda; Outnumbered, and countless others. Though undoubtedly influenced by their predeces-

sors, these shows are integrally different from The Two Ronnies sketches, or Laurel and Hardy pieces. Admittedly, 70s shows like Fawlty Towers or Are You Being Served? might serve as a bridge to this modern genre. But what exactly is it that makes the format so distinctive and unquestionably British? One thing that all of the modern shows listed have in common is situation. Whether the focus is on the computer geeks of The IT Crowd or the schoolkids of The Inbetweeners, all of these shows have a group of characters attempting to navigate, with varying success, the throes of everyday British life. Whether their problems are romantic, social or otherwise, the general British awkwardness that supersedes everything drives the situation forward. The backdrop of these situations also plays a role in defining this genre. If we’re in an urban setting, we’re likely to get shots of the Houses of Parliament, or at least a sturdy-looking London skyline. A rural setting, on the other hand, is likely to feature a good dose of rain and those nice, white semi-detached houses with bay windows and a side garage (you know the ones) that crop up all over our fertile land. Admittedly, these shows often present a limited view of Britain – London-centric, southern-based, and generally skimming over all the unpleasant

A RECIPE FOR THE ‘GREAT BRITISH SITCOM’

Ursy Reynolds considers ingredients which make British comedy such a curious concoction.

bits, such as colonial history and Prince Andrew. British humour is notorious for being a thing of mystery to the rest of the world. I imagine that especially in the light of Brexit, the rest of Europe see us as a lot of oddballs. Our little island, with its terrible weather and generally shocking cuisine, has bred a certain type of ‘let’s just get on with it’ humour that is possibly one of the most difficult British things to explain (aside from most of the Cabinet’s decisions, that is). Rather like us Brits ourselves, our jokes are silly, awkward, ridi-culous, nuanced things. We seem to have a particular fondness for puns and other jokes based on our bastardised language (see Upstart Crow), as well as a good dose of what the Germans call ‘Schadenfreude’ – finding great humour in someone else’s passing misfortune. The surreal, too, also plays into many of our jokes (probably the result of all the hard water). Situations are often ridiculous at their most comedic; consider Dawn French tap-dancing with Darcy Bussell in The Vicar of Dibley. And so, despite all the Government have done to ruin our international standing, I still find myself feeling fond of our strange little land. As it turned out, national identity exists not only is such things as politics and flags, but just as much in humour, settings, situations and friends. With that, I’ve got to dash – I’m on the final episode of This Country!

MUST SEE STREAMING: SOUL

Pixar’s latest release, Soul, tells the tale of band teacher Joe whose soul is split from his body moments before his debut as a Jazz pianist.

CLASSIC: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR

STUDENT FILM: THE WANDERER

Will Smith’s breakthrough role as a A homeless nomad at Christmas mischievous, socially displaced L.A witnesses the reciprocation of human teen can be enjoyed once again, as all decency that changes his outlook 6 seasons are available on BBC IPlayer. on life.

LIFE

Life | Friday, 15th January 2021

DEAR DIARY: NEW YEAR, NEW ME? Elsie Clark reflects on her 6.67% success rate at sticking to New Year‘s resolutions.

ince 2016 I have kept a diary, and over the past 5 years I have somehow managed to write in it every single day. No breaks, no omissions: just 1825 pages of my random scribblingsfrom the ages of 14-19, peppered with strange anecdotes and long tangents on events of interest to no one but myself. And since 2016, on the page marked ‘January 1st’, I have written my New Year’s Resolutions, apparently in the desperate hope that by setting them down in pen they might actually come to fruition. But out of the 15 goals I have set for myself over the past 5 years, I’ve only stuck to one! This leaves me with a staggeringly unsuccessful 6.67% success rate when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions. Wondering how I had gone so wrong I looked more closely at what I’d resolved to do, and as I did so several common themes emerged: 1. Attempts at fitness: “do some form of exercise once a week” (2016); “exercise at least once a week” (2017 - unoriginal copy of last year’s resolution); “exercise 3-4 times a week” (2018 – a massive increase on the previous year’s target. Not sure where this sudden enthusiasm for the gym came from). 2. Healthy eating: “eat less unhealthy food” (2016 - uselessly

vague); “not to eat mindlessly” (2021 – broken mere hours into the New Year when I found out I wouldn’t be allowed back to Oxford until at least the 25th and had to eat 2 bowls of Shreddies in rapid succession just to feel something). 3. Relationships: “Do something re my crush???” (2018 - questions marks suggest I was already highly sceptical that I would ever do this); “get over my crush” (2019 – a resolution achieved, but only in the year after I set it so it doesn’t count). Interestingly, the one year for which I made no resolutions at all was 2020. Perhaps deep inside I knew what was to come and that I should not bother – or I simply forgot to write them down. One or the other. Why do we set these unconvincing and often unachievable targets every year? With the emergence of the #selfcare movement there has been increasing backlash against the idea of ‘New Year, New You’, most notably from celebrity activist Jameela Jamil who stated on Instagram last week that “we deserve to focus on a happier and more mentally stable us” rather than “the stupid fucking diet and detox industry”. She has a point. Many, myself included, feel pressure to overhaul themselves come January 1st, throwing out

their ‘old self’ along with the Christmas tree and the Bounties at the bottom of the Celebrations box. No one better embodies this desperate desire for change than Bridget Jones, who lays out her New Year’s resolutions on the opening pages of Helen Fielding’s genius novel. She asserts, amongst other things, that she will not “smoke/spend more than earn/get upset over men/ bitch about anyone behind their backs”, but instead will “stop smoking/be more confident/be more assertive/eat more pulses/ form functional relationship with responsible adult” and so on. 25 years on, these declarations remain funny because we are still making ones exactly like them: Bridget’s resolutions, like mine, could fit into the exact same Fitness/Food/Relationships categories listed above. So many of our years begin with such indefinable goals such as “get fitter”, “be happier,” or “be nicer to others” without setting out any realistic way of achieving them. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve, as long as it’s for the right reasons, but if you are going to make a resolution it has to be one you can actually stick to or measure. It’s all very well saying that I will eat less mindlessly this year, but what must I do if I want to achieve this? (This is a question with an easy answer I don’t

want to accept: stop buying Shreddies.) In the social media age I see more and more people resolving not to exercise more or eat less, but instead to “be proud of themselves no matter what”, “get help when I need it”, or “learn to say yes/no more”. These are more positive resolutions than Bridget’s list of musts and must nots. But I’m beginning to realise the arbitrariness of it all: why does it have to be ‘New Year, New Me’? Why, if you want to do something, can’t you just decide to start at any point in the year? If you want to take up stamp collecting, or pet more dogs, or stop listening to the same 6 songs you’ve had in your playlist since you were 14, why wait until January 1st to do it? The single resolution out of the 15 that I did manage to keep dates back to 2016, where I announced that I would “write in this diary every single day”. I have managed to stick to it for over 5 years now, just because keeping a diary combines writing and moaning, my two favourite things. If the failure of the majority of my resolutions has taught me anything, it’s that you have to make them with conviction or there’s no point doing it at all. And I swear I really am going to stop mindlessly eating this year – just as soon as I finish this bowl of Shreddies. Artwork by Rachel Jung

Friday, 15th January 2021 | Life

Aran Veneik New Engineering

Cherpse

How were you feeling before the date? I had been signed up by a friend and had no idea what they had said about me on the form, so didn’t know what to expect. First impressions? Nadia seemed really friendly and easy to talk to. Did it meet up to your expectations? Yeah for sure! Despite the date being over Zoom, we chatted away for a couple of hours and I had a really nice time! What was the highlight? Discovering we were equally calamitous in the kitchen. Some of her stories really cracked me up.

How were you feeling before the date? Given that I was attempting to gulp down a gin and tonic prior, I was definitely feeling nervous. First impressions? He had joined the zoom call precisely on time - very punctual. Did it meet up to your expectations? Exceeded my expectations. The remainder of my gin and tonic was forgotten about. What was the highlight? Discovering that we are equally dangerous in a kitchen setting, and share an enthusiasm for good Thai food. A recipe for disaster?

Describe the date in 3 words: Funny, relaxed and enjoyable.

Describe the date in 3 words: Forgot about studying.

Is a second date on the cards? Potentially, although Corona might make things difficult.

Horoscopes.... LEO 23 July - 22 August Look at the stars, Leo, look how they shine for you, and everything you do. That’s all. N.b. if it was all, in fact, yellow, this may be a sign of jaundice and neither your stars nor Cherwell take responsibility for medical misdiagnosis.

CAPRICORN 22 Dec - 19 Jan Well, 2020 may have ended with more of a whimper than a bang but there’s hope on the horizon so stay positive! You might think they’re so last year, but an upcoming Zoom quiz will bring with it an intriguing revelation and plenty of laughs…

Is a second date on the cards? Hopefully? However, if his answer is no, I quickly retract! that comment...

CANCER

PISCES

21 June - 22 July

19 Feb - 20 March

Virhilary’s got you courting your Intended with laden glances from a respectable 6 feet - period drama vibes have never felt so grim. But never fear! The stars have aligned and we see a romantic future for you that’s more Bridgerton than Bronte…

AQUARIUS 20 Jan - 18 Feb 2021 is the year of hashtag self-love, babe. Set your expectations low. (Set your Strava to ‘run’ and hop on your bike for a tried and tested feel-good tactic).

ARIES

SAGITTARIUS

21 March- 19 April

22 Nov - 21 Dec

A lunation aligning with Capricorn & Pluto ushers in a period of muchneeded introspection for you. Trump’s Kristen Stewart tweets may have been lost forever, but your tipsy Masterchef livetweeting is still very much in the public sphere. Beware.

SCORPIO 24 Oct - 21 Nov It’s time you took some control of your own emotions! Don’t let other people tell you how to feel – only you can decide that. Make sure to check in on your horoscope next week for more vital advice!

Nadia Roberts St Anne’s Law

This is the universe telling you to sign up to Cherpse blind dates… your other half is out there now, eagerly answering questions about their hopes and dreams and wishing for a match exactly like you. So what are you waiting for?

LIBRA 23 Sept - 23 Oct Well that New Year’s resolution lasted long, didn’t it? Nevermind, Libra – dust yourself off and maybe pick something a little less ambitious for the rest of the year? And if you’re sitting here thinking you haven’t yet broken it, are you sure?

It’s alright, Pisces. Dry January isn’t for everyone.

VIRGO 23 August - 22 Sept I’ve gazed into my crystal ball and your 2021 is actually very easily confused with the kind of ‘success montage’ found in early 2000 Rom Coms – picture yourself strutting through town, wielding a hot coffee and the kind of confidence normally reserved for Cardi B music videos, because this year, is your year.

TAURUS 20 April - 20 May New year, new you, Taurus! It’s time to shake off the nagging little worries you carried with you through to Christmas. That waiter probably doesn’t mind that you told them to enjoy their meal, and we’re sure your friends don’t actually remember you snorting when you laughed that one time. Maybe.

GEMINI 21 May- 20 June The new year is supposed to be a time of self-reflection and you might want to keep an eye on yours, Gemini. Self-awarenss is the way.

Life | Friday, 15th January 2021

NOT DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Shreyasi Banerjee discusses the bitter-sweet experience of spending the Winter vac in Oxford.

henever I feel homesick, I find that my mind drifts to those things that have evolved into family traditions over time. This past winter vacation was no different, and although the childish glee of Christmas has frosted over for me, December is still a month enriched with small habits and special meals, each embedded with sentimental value. And so, though I was in Oxford for the entirety of this vacation, images from my childhood wove their way in and out of my mind: the twinkling of lights reflected in windows and the scent of silky onions, poking out from steaming trays of roast potatoes, inspiring my own Christmas dinner. Spending this winter vacation away from home, I considered what parts of Christmas I feel are the most essential, and by reworking old traditions and fashioning new ones for myself, I developed an antidote to this particular brand of sensory homesickness. Vac is a time prescribed for rest. With hours melting away like butter in a pan, and days punctuated only by Netflix’s “Are you still watching?” messages, I couldn’t be further from the structure or schedules that term thrusts upon me. This psychological shift is, however, usually accompanied by a geographical counterpart, with all the components of my university life hastily packed away into bags and shoved into a car – except, with tests coming back positive back home, this time was different.] Growing up in a non-Christian household, I’ve long been accustomed to picking

and choosing from popular traditions, especially during the festive season. As a result, I underlined panettone on this year’s festive shopping list, the Milanese sweet bread that my family ritually devour on Christmas Day, conscious of my cultural distance from religious activities that would simultaneously be taking place. In Oxford, I also bought my first real Christmas tree - I was previously committed to the practicality of the packaged plastic that I would adorn back home, but now, I can’t believe that nobody told me how good real pines smell. One moment stands out to me when reflecting on my vac in Oxford. As I was walking down Turl Street, beckoned by golden streetlights bleeding into the fog of the inky afternoon, I realised the malleable nature of customs, and that I was forging my own traditions in this city day-by-day. It was a walk I’ve done countless times before (admittedly, out-of-breath as I race to the Classics Faculty), but it felt as though I’d discovered it anew as the cold wrapped around my fingers like a Christmas ribbon. I headed back to my room, furnished with an appreciation for this unique Christmastime and presents to tuck under the tree. Spending unexpected time in Oxford outside of term has refreshed my relationship with the city. Now, passing the Rad Cam, I’m reminded of those who gathered (socially distanced) outside the enduring monument at midnight on New Year’s Eve. We took it in turns to cry out, “Happy New Year!” – to those here during term, those here all year round, and to those who can’t wait to return.

John Evelyn

herwell reader, come on down! The Price Is Right’s term is upon us and the extra-ordinary members have invited many awe-inspiring speakers on our behalf. Yet many readers had their festive period ruined by the news that successive committees have been ‘binning’ some of these lauded persons. Maybe John Evelyn should try turning our hacks off and on again in the hope that The Late Etonian’s term will bring change for the better. John Evelyn was disappointed to learn that The Fleteing Secretary’s time in office was just that. He commends her on her promotion, though hopes her replacement — The Pertinently Problematic Secretary — will fulfil the promises of a Socially Distanced Silent Disco and Cocktail Invention Competitions. John Evelyn anticipates such a competition will bring about a beverage with an origin tale similar to that of a Manhattan. Though the pledges of the secretarial office are uncertain, John Evelyn rests assured, as another of Mr Derham’s Darlings has thrown his second hat into the ring to succeed to the treasury. In fact, John Evelyn is optimistic about a pledge to print these ramblings in The Elizabethan if this dynasty continues! Best wishes to all, wherever you may be. John Evelyn x

STUDENTS ABROAD

Cherwell reaches out to students on their year abroad. This week, Lucas Jones discusses his travels in...

sort of...

’m loving my year abroad. I visit loads of brilliant places: the fridge, the sofa (a favourite haunt of mine), even the recycling bins when I’m feeling adventurous. I get to experience the wonders of Tunisia without leaving the comfort of my bed, through a camera that is always inexplicably pointing at my Arabic teacher’s crotch. I’m now approaching a full year of online learning. I’ve languished at home since TT20, enjoying my neighbours’ hysterical screaming matches and clinging on to the fading hope that this nightmare will soon be over. As the pandemic has progressed it’s become increasingly clear to me that, despite our tutors’ half-assed assurances, my year abroad will be an online experience. The prospect of a fulfilling year / term / month abroad is the carrot that has been dangled in front of us to justify charging the standard year abroad tuition fees, making me feel like an ass in more ways than one. The mutant variant of Covid-19 has placed British nationals firmly between knives and guns on

the list of items that must absolutely never reach the cabin of a plane. It’s hard to accept how dangerous each individual in the UK is to the wider world. I feel more sympathy than ever for the rats who carried the Black Death to Europe now that I, too, am a rodent being victimised for unwittingly carrying disease to foreign shores. The variant has, in essence, killed the last hope for a vaguely normal year abroad. Looks like I’m stuck at home for the rest of the year. Luckily for me, so are you. Being at home last term while the rest of you mingled in Oxford was undeniably tough. I will admit that I had a moment of Grinch-like delight when I realised Hilary was partially cancelled. It reminded me of a friends’ reaction to the news that I’d be spending Michaelmas at home: “at least you’ll be safe here”, she cheerfully announced, forgetting that I live in South Croydon. While I admit that the situation is extremely difficult, I find the insinuation that an online course is a worthy substitute for a year in a foreign country extremely patronising. I’m half-tempted to apply for a travel grant to buy a new laptop. If

they accept, I get a free laptop. If they reject, it proves what we all know: online learning is not a substitute for actual immersion. My year abroad has been one continuous exhausting attempt to simulate that immersion in my living room. At one point my boyfriend called it a “Netflix degree”, which would be offensive if it wasn’t so uncannily accurate. Like many linguists this year, all I can do is pray that the vaccine brings back international travel before the year is out. Failing that, it would be great to have a few more A r a b i c language series on Netflix...

Friday, 15th January 2021 | Life

FOOD

The Power of Food Jill Cushen talks food: survival, inspiration, connection.

ood is more than nourishment; it is a joy which can bring people together, and its connective power is needed now more than ever. Food has a power which goes beyond the physical. It can be more than just an experience for the taste buds but can inspire and unite – powers which we value even more after a crisis which forced us apart. It isn’t just the taste we enjoy. It’s the company. In primary school, children trade lunch box treats; swapping Freddos for chocolate digestives and making friends in the process. Food can provoke laughter, particularly when culinary endeavours don’t quite go to plan, and the meal can’t be distinguished from a pyrex dish of black ash. Friendships can develop through any food experience, a celebratory banquet at the end of term or even a Taylor’s sandwich in the University Parks. Eating is universal, it is a shared experience. While not every meal has to be a memorable feast, eating together the odd time, rather than at our desks with only Netflix as a companion, can bring us together. Coming together for a meal is a tradition as old as the Bible. The disciples gathered for the Last Supper

FOODSPIRATION

Channel: Deliciouslyella.org Drink: Bailey’s Hot Chocolate Sweet Treat: Galette des rois Book: Modern Cook’s Year

where the breaking of the bread was not only a symbol of the body of Christ but an experience which connected the twelve apostles. We can scarcely begin to imagine the grandeur of the feasts served up in the Roman Empire, and maybe it was munching on those platters of meat and cheese together which made them such a powerful empire. Given that their relationship lasted two days, perhaps it was the 10-course meal on the Titanic over which Jack and Rose formed such an intimate bond. Countless are the times we wish we were guests at Nigella (aka the Domestic Goddess) or Jamie Oliver’s dinner parties, joining in the

Food reveals more than what we eat or how we cook conversation and gorging on their creations. Food can be an explosion of flavours in the mouth, but the taste is not the only memorable part of eating together. Food is a form of cultural expression. We learn to appreciate and understand our diversity as a global community when we are exposed to new flavours and culinary traditions, whether that’s a coconutty curry, salty ramen, a stack of pancakes or even fish and chips. Food reveals more than what we eat or how we cook, but who we are and why exactly we come together to eat it, be

puris under Diwali Lights or enjoying chicken soup and matzah balls while gathering for Shabbat. Duringthe festive season, the uniting power of food is more evident than ever. Arguing over when to take the turkey out or experiencing a massive stomach ache after consuming a mound of chocolate sound familiar? Meals at Christmas can bring people together, even if only one household is allowed to devour the feast together this year. Freshers’ Formal, the first test in understanding the years old traditions of Oxford, is indeed a bonding experience as you wrestle with whether to sit or stand, and attempt to withhold your giggling spurts as Latin phrases are recited. Buying someone a vodka shot while crampedi n a sweaty club wasn’t really an option this term, and so a coffee and a pastry from Pret or the weekly bubble meal was a way to forge friendships. After months of eating only at the kitchen table, we also have a renewed sense of the importance of restaurants, the communal experience of eating out being a rare treat between lockdowns. Food is nourishment for our bodies, our souls and our hearts. As Hilary Term draws near and uncertainties remain, remember the power of food. Bonding might not happen during a night of club-hopping this year, but a dinner party of six can be just as enjoyable, even if it’s chaotically prepared in the confines of your tiny shared kitchen and consumed on the floor of your bedroom. We all have to eat, so why not eat together? Artwork by Alessia Daniel.

/ recipe

NO FAIL RISOTTO

Feeds four hungry students! 320g risotto rice 300g mushrooms, any type, chopped into slices Small glass of wine 1 litre vegetable stock (2 cubes) 4 shallots 1 garlic clove 75g parmesan 40g butter Handful of dill, chopped relatively finely Handful of walnuts, roughly chopped Salt, pepper In a wide-based deep frying pan, gently fry chopped shallots and garlic for 5 mins in butter. Get your stock simmering on the hob. Tip in your rice into the onions and toast for 2, add the wine and evaporate, constantly stirring. Chuck in the mushrooms, then, ladle by ladle, start adding your stock so that it is comes just up to the level of the rice, no further. This is not a dish that can be ignored! You don’t want the rice to stick to the bottom of the pan. Taste as you go along. The second the rice is cooked, add the majority of the finely chopped dill, the butter and the parmesan. Season well with pepper. Put a lid on and leave for five minutes while your friends set the table. Serve topped with remaining dill and scattering of chopped walnuts.

sex,stomas & social media

Life | Friday, 15th January 2021

PROFILE

Izzy Tod speaks to sex educator Hannah Witton about vulvas, Pornhub, and crotchless underwear.

annah Witton’s Zoom background can often exclude people who have physical puts the rest of us to shame. She is disabilities. “If we put pleasure first rather sat in an armchair with a tidy but than metrics [...] we’ll all have more sex”. For colourful bookcase to her right and Hannah, the question we should really be a bright white wall to her left. Professional yet asking is “what feels good?”. Hannah admits that this was an relaxed, the room is crying out to be turned into a thumbnail. As soon as the call connects, intersection that she had never considered I cannot help but sit up straight, rearrange my before it impacted her directly, which she hair, and shift the angle of my camera slightly, regretfully calls a “symptom of a society that so as to obscure as much as possible of my often ignores disabled people”. In 2018, after a own background: my childhood bedroom bad flare of ulcerative colitis, Hannah had an strewn with the remnants of a recent ten-day ileostomy, which means that she now has a stoma, an opening in the abdomen that allows isolation. digestive waste to be Youtuber, author, out of the podcast presenter, and of students diverted body. Hannah’s stoma sex educator Hannah Only Witton has dedicated her feel they have been taught goes by Mona. “There was a lot to overcome career to campaigning for and providing holistic all they need to know in terms of feeling like sex education in the UK. about sexual pleasure. my body was mine again. Feeling like I had “Whilst [sex education] is control and agency, covering important things, it’s just not giving people the full picture of feeling like it was connected to me and feeling sexuality and sexual relationships,” Hannah like it wasn’t this thing that was trying to kill tells me. “It is very much in the preventative me - because my body definitely tried to kill realm surrounding contraception, pregnancy me”. “When you are suddenly in a different and STIs and it never really goes into the fact that sex is meant to be pleasurable”. situation where you can’t do the same things According to the 2019 Relationships and that you used to be able to do, you start Sexual Education Survey, only 31% of thinking more creatively. You start to think students feel they have been taught all they outside of the box, you can’t follow this script need to know about sexual pleasure. The that we’ve all been given. What else can you figure for contraception, on the other hand, do instead? [...] There may be limitations, is 86%. Instead of focussing on “all the things there may be restrictions, but there can still be that could go wrong”, Hannah advocates for pleasure. One of the things that it’s opened education that covers “the ways to make your up in my world is crotchless underwear social, personal and romantic relationships [...] it’s something sexy that keeps the healthy, fun and pleasurable in the widest stoma bag out of the way”. The label ‘sex-positive’ would sense of the term”. But before she can even begin to broach seem to apply to Hannah pretty the subject of pleasure, Hannah is stuck unproblematically. But when I ask, “having conversations about the fact that she is hesitant to accept the term sex, or any kind of penetration, should not outright. “The problem is, if you go be painful”. “We were all lied to,” she says, for so hard and so enthusiastic down the first time raising her voice. “I remember that route, you forget that a lot thinking that there was no way around it, of people have negative or that if you had a vulva, the first time you have even traumatic experiences penetrative sex, it will hurt [...] what a messed when it comes to sex. And up thing to be taught”. Painful sex, society then it can also alienate would have women believe, is “the price asexual people as well”. we’ve got to pay for having a vulva [...] it’s our For Hannah, the term ‘sex critical’ is more eternal punishment”. Sex education fails on another front too, r e p r e s e n t a t i v e in its “narrow and rigid view of sexuality of her beliefs, and sexual behaviour”. Whilst our normative i n c o r p o r a t i n g approach to sex education impacts many both the good intersectional groups, Hannah’s primary and the bad focus is on the ways in which the disabled when it comes sexual community are let down. “Disabled people to often aren’t seen as sexual beings, as having experiences. Taking the any kind of sexual desires, needs or wants, but are also not being seen as viable, desirable porn industry as sexual partners. So many people would just an example, Hannah tells automatically write off somebody if they me that whilst someone is sex-positive saw that they had a visible disability, but who it’s because there’s such a lack of education might view porn as a healthy way to discover around it”. At the moment, she says, we are asking all sexual preferences and the wrong questions: “How many times do you a liberatory avenue female sexual have sex? How often do you have sex? What of someone kind of sex are you having?”. The hierarchy expression, of sexual acts allows society to define what who is sex critical would it considers to be ‘real’ sex, a definition that scrutinise the industry

31%

itself, its exploitation of sex workers and its unsafe labour practices. “We need to be listening to all sex workers. There are lots of different reasons why people will go into sex work”. She leans in and lowers her voice, “there’s lots of different reasons why people go into any kind of work. We really need to be treating sex work in the same way that we would treat any work”. At the time of our conversation, Pornhub has just announced its decision to remove all unverified content from its platform in order to combat the scourge of child abuse videos that had been found on the site. “We’ll see how that works”, Hannah tells me, “but there is just this general pattern of ‘save the children’ - which is absolutely a noble cause but the way that governments and businesses try and go about it tends to actually not save the children; [...] it trickles down and then consenting adults, sex workers and sex educators as well are being penalized. [...] I’m all for holding Pornhub accountable for its shit”. “There’s really no good places online for sex workers to make a living safely without the risk of platforms deciding that they don’t want to be associated with them anymore. We saw Tumblr do it. We saw OnlyFans this year. I don’t know if that’s what’s happening with PornHub right now. I imagine it might be a side effect. [Sex workers] are already at the bottom of the barrel of society. It doesn’t matter if we squish them more. That’s what it feels like”. We say our goodbyes and hang up the call. Thinking back now, I can’t quite believe how comfortable I had been to talk so freely about sex with a stranger on the internet. But Hannah’s attitude was infectious. I had been given a glimpse of what conversations about sex should look like; never condescending, never exclusionary, always honest. Whilst sex education in the UK continues to be embarrassed by its own existence, it is down to people like Hannah to remind us that sex is something worth talking about.

Image copyright: Rebecca Need-Menear.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | Cherwell

Wes Beckett On... no detriment policies

YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR

Fonie Mitsopoulou collects hot takes from students across Oxford.

020 was a difficult time. In fact, that might be the understatement of the year, if not the century. If one were to do a year in review, the slideshow would more so resemble a horror movie to the untrained eye. However, as veterans of these “uncertain and trying times”, many of us are now unfazed by references to the cword, among other tragedies. Thankfully, with the Sounds of the Bodleian, we were all able to get through this dumpster fire of an annum. My advice to you is: completely forget everything that happened in the past 12 months. None of it is salvageable. Make like the Neuralyzer in Men in Black (I know- retro). It was all a dream. We must don our blinkers, and look forward only. Some predictions for 2021 were genuine; possibly from some soothsayers in our midst:

“

A year of Two Halves. Things bad until vaccinations kick in. Then a summer of fun :)”

I don’t even remember what fun feels like :)) Some dispensed some fashion wisdom on our poor, argyle-clad selves (yes, it does make you look intellectual- it also makes you look like my

grandfather). Hopefully the fashion section won’t come for us.

“

PVC will become popular. Been predicting that for a while.”

You might be predicting it for a while more- I don’t think we’re yet ready for the responsibilities that come with dressing like a delinquent from the 50s- or Ariana Grande.

“

In 2021, we’ll finally have an occasion to wear all the clothes ordered over lockdown(s)” This I can get behind. Out with the sweatpants you’ve been wearing for five consecutive days (because who will even see- let alone smellyou?), in with the sequins (I am at the mercy of instagram ads). One can only hope that predictions of a post-COVID Roaring Twenties will ring true. We’ve all watched The Great Gatsby: cigars, headbands, champagne flutes (none of that wine-out-of-a-mug business), rampant sexism- what a time to be alive! Even for the introvert, nothing is currently more appealing than never-ending parties. I think. I’ve yet to meet one. Anyways, true or not, for the Oxford student, that will still be a distant dream- you have an essay (or two) to submit first.

Some people were concerned only about their romantic endeavours, post-global pandemic.

“

Sweating all over someone at Park Lane or Bridge will not be taboo”

Interestingly, I’d like to suggest that this was always taboo. This is a very fascinating way to go about clubbing, albeit one that sounds somewhat unpleasant for others around you. If you can call even the half year seven disco, half hormonal mosh-pit that is Bridge “clubbing”. As a dear friend once told me: “Oxford clubbing is like London clubbing’s acne-ridden little brother. Awkward, eager to please, and prone to either breaking out, or breaking down.” That being said, calling it “Park Lane” is glaring evidence of how far away the memory (and prospect) of clubbing is from us at this point…

“

Maybe I’ll get laid more than once a term”

Oof. To be fair, even that once this term doesn’t sound very social distancing of you, but, as magnanimous as I am, I’ll let this one slide…

“

After Oxford gets vaccinated, it will be Piers Gav every weekend”

And still, none of us will ever be invited. Others were not afraid to get political…

“

Maybe the Queen will die” Is that a threat? And then what will the English put on every item ever? King Charles just doesn’t have the same charm as that bundle of funsized pure rage.

“

Cherwell, OxStu, and the Blue take up arms and have a battle to the death on Christ Church Meadows”

And we all know who would win :)) This was, unsurprisingly, a contribution from a previous editor. Unfortunately, plans for a battle in Christ Church meadows are somewhat hindered by the hordes of people who decided to pick up jogging this coronaseason, forming an impermeable throng, almost akin to a phalanx. Actually, scrap that, maybe the runners themselves would win this one… Read the full article online at cherwell.org

Cherwell | Friday, 15th January 2021

COMMENT THE PUNJABI FARMERS

STANDING UP FOR INDIA’S DEMOCRACY

Ciara Garcha discusses the salience of the ongoing Indian farmer strikes.

hotographs of the ongopendence in 1947. ing Indian farmer strikes The 2019 Citizenship Amendhave trickled through to ment Bill is a recent example of social media feeds across this nationthe world, in stark contrast with alist agenda, the relative silence of European which sparked media. Whilst many in the UK controverand Europe remain unaware of sy and anger events in India, they amount within India to a bold attempt to secure the and across the future of the world’s largest deworld. The bill mocracy. removed the The farmers that first floodright of Mused onto the streets of India a lim refugees few months ago, trekking the from certain over 230 miles from Punjab to neighbouring Delhi, were raising their voices countries to against rash reforms passed by claim Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mocitizenship, di’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata an explicit exParty (BJP) government. The pression of the new legislation opens the sector BJP’s narrow up to exploitation and manipuview of what lation by private corporations, it means to be removing safeguards for farmers Indian, which and largely deregulating the inwas brought dustry. But with three quarters into the politiof the Punjabi population being cal mainstream employed in agriculture and the with Modi’s sector making up around 25% rise and election as prime minof the state’s economy, the new ister in 2014. Protests against reforms represent an attack on his Citizenship Amendment Punjab and the Punjabi people. Bill were met with brutal state Punjab, “the bread basket repression, as well as of India,” is home to paramilitary mostly small and violence. “The protests have medium-scale Similarly, farmers, peacecome to represent more with 85% ful prothan a struggle against of India’s testers a piece of farming legfarmers demonislation, but a struggle owning less strating than five acres against the for India’s future.” of land. Thus, the farming laws preference and support have been met with given to large corporations by tear gas, water cannons, rubber the new legislation has pitted bullets and batons. As imagthe small-scale farmers of Punes emerge of protesters feeling jab against powerful businesses, the wrath of a storm of rubmany with close links to Modi ber bullets, or an elderly Sikh and his government. man cowering as a paramilitary The protests have come to member swings a baton over his represent something more than head, India’s claim to being the just a struggle against a piece of world’s largest democracy seems farming legislation, but a strugincreasingly dubious. gle for India’s future. The reIt is not difficult to see how forms and the outcry in response the changes in agricultural law to them must be viewed in the are an extension of the Hindutva context of Modi’s six years as agenda. As the farming sector is Prime Minister and the agenda home to approximately 16 milhe and his BJP party have purlion Sikhs, making up nearly 60% sued. As a proponent of Hindutof the state’s population and va (the ideology of Hindu-Indian much of the agricultural worknationalism), he contradicts the force, the farming bill appears secularism that India was foundto disproportionately target Ined upon when it achieved indedia’s Sikh population. Punjab is

a vast, diverse state and the continuing strikes have been assembled of farmers and allies of all

an inclusive, diverse, positive future is still possible for India. The strikes have also inspired

faiths and backgrounds, united and standing in solidarity. However, it is not unreasonable to think that an attack on the home of India’s largest Sikh population was motivated partially by narrow, discriminatory ideas of Indian nationalism. Yet, in standing together—Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus amongst others—and journeying through the streets of India, Punjabi farmers are not just resisting unfair legal reforms. They are fighting for India’s proudly multi-faith, secular and democratic character. As one of the states divided by the outgoing British colonial administration in 1947, Punjab has had a difficult history relating to religion. But these protests have showed a positive view of the diversity within Punjab and India itself, flying in the face of the BJP’s Hindu-focused ideas. Images of Muslim protesters serving the traditional Sikh meal, langar, to their compatriots, or of farmers of all faiths standing guard whilst Muslim demonstrators pray, show the significance of these protests. For an India which is having its secular commitment tested by the BJP’s agenda, scenes of solidarity emerging from the ongoing farming strikes inspire hope that

movements beyond India. British Punjabis and diaspora groups across the world have stood in solidarity in a range of places including Leicester, San Francisco, London and Toronto. As home to over 700,000 Punjabis, the largest ethnicity amongst British Asians, the UK has seen several demonstrations in support of the striking farmers and in solidarity with those facing repression in India. In Leicester and London, car rallies were held, bringing traffic to a standstill in the capital as demonstrators assembled outside the High Commission of India. British Sikhs in particular have been at the forefront of the demonstrations in the UK, as 92% of Sikhs inthe UK have ties to agricultural land in India. For many Sikhs within India and around the world, agriculture is intertwined with their heritage and an attack on independent Pun-jabi farmers has, to many, translated as an attack on Sikh culture and identity. The global Punjabi population is therefore playing a part in resisting an attack on such a fundamental part of Punjabi culture. Read the full article at cherwell. org.

Friday, 15th January 2021 | Cherwell

NORTHERN NEGLECT: COVID RESTRICTIONS AND THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE Rachel Rees looks back on the chaos and double standards of the local lockdowns.

ast month, on the 16th of December, London and the South East entered Tier 3, and then, the newly created Tier 4 soon after. Public figures ranging from London Mayor Sadiq Khan to footballer and sports commentator Gary Lineker lamented the socioeconomic implications of the increased restrictions for London and surrounding areas- but for onlookers in the North, this is nothing new. The government consistently displayed an overreliance on harsh, restrictive measures for the North, in a clear disparity with its treatment of the South. Most strikingly, London’s Tier 2 status after emerging from national lockdown on 2 December came under fire: in the week leading up to the end of lockdown, London’s coronavirus infection rates were 174.1/100,000, higher than Middlesbrough (170), Manchester (166), Nottingham (152), Leeds (150), and Newcastle upon Tyne (128) , all of which were placed in Tier 3. Below-average infection rates in large parts of the North East and Greater Manchester throughout early December exacerbated this controversy, with Andy Burnham, Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, tweeting that it was “hard not to conclude” that “when cases rise in the North, t h e N o r t h g o e s under res t r i c- tions”, but “when cases rise in London and the

South East, everyone stays under restrictions”. Inadequate communication further demonstrated government disregard for the North. On the 31st of July, a ban on all indoor socialising affecting almost 5 million people across the North was announced at 21:15, less than 3 hours before the measures came into effect and the night before Eid al-Adha festivities were due to take place. For Health Secretary Matt Hancock, blame fell on those “not abiding to social distancing”, while the Conservative MP Craig Whittaker targeted the Muslim population that now found itself bearing the brunt of the restrictions. Hartlepool and Middlesbrough councils were informed about new October local lockdowns only five minutes before press announcements, and Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, condemned the consistent failure to communicate and consult with local authorities. Later that same month, it was in the middle of a press conference that Andy Burnham found out about Greater Manchester’s £22 million Tier 3 test-andt r a c e funding, a figure that came to £8 per person, prompting his desperate, blunt response: “It’s brutal, to be honest”. Manchester’s mistreatment is just one example of the consistent failure to provide adequate financial support or resources for Northern ar-

eas affected by restrictions. It was only after London’s entry into Tier 2 in October that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced support for UK businesses affected by restrictions, just days after Manchester’s requested £65 million support package was refused and following months of restrictions for some areas, prompting criticism of Northern neglect from Labour figures including Burnham and Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds. Furthermore, mass testing in schools was offered to London (then in Tier 2) and the South East in early December, but not immediately to Northern Tier 3 regions, many of which had already raised concerns about schools with the government. When Hull saw an infection rate of 770/100,000 and 3 in 10 students off school in mid-November, requests from city officials, headteachers and NHS bosses were met with silence. Similarly, Kate Hollern, Labour MP for Blackburn, tweeted that Lancashire officials had raised concerns about schools “for weeks”, and yet “this level of support was never offered to us” – proof that “the government is treating the North as second class citizens”. Such arrogance and complacency define Conservative attitudes to the North. They may have made deep inroads into the North in December 2019, but their government shows nothing but contempt and disregard for their newfound constituents, an attitude that can only alienate Northern voters and MPs, as the newly-formed Northern Research Group of red-wall Tory MPs warned in October. Labour has an opportunity to not only regain seats but also make real changes, as the regionalised trauma

of local lockdowns and the popularity of regional figures like Burnham has made the case for more devolved local government. This is a policy Labour can -and should- get behind, with Labour mayors currently holding all the Northern combined authority mayor positions: Greater Manchester (Burnham), North of Tyne (Jamie Driscoll), Sheffield City Region (Dan Jarvis) and Liverpool City Region (Steve Rotheram). As Burnham notes, in Westminster “decisions are too far from the ground”, and instead, “we need that strong voice at the regional level”. This is the way to ensure competent and effective regional policy, without double standards or negligence. These double standards are nothing new, but more prominent under COVID-19 policies. Under the Conservative-led austerity of the 2010s, the average Northern council saw local government cuts of 34% compared with 23% for the South, while the five areas with the largest cuts were all in the North). This is hugely relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic: a report by the Northern Health Science Alliance drew a direct correlation between the region’s vulnerability to COVID-19 and austerity and its exacerbation of Northern economic deprivation, calculating the Northern death rate during the first peak (March to July 2020) as 57.7/100,000 higher than in the rest of the country, echoing the Guardian’s identification of the North’s “health crisis” in February 2020.I n COVID-19 policy and beyond, the government continues to view the North as expendable, both politically and economically, putting lives and communities at stake.

57.7

£53m

more deaths per 100,000 people in the North compared to the rest of the UK in the first peak,

hours notice for a ban on all outdoor socialising for nearly 5 million Northeners on July 31st.

disparity between requested and awarded funds for Manchester’s Track and Trace.

Features | Friday, 15th January 2021

THE LIMITS OF LIBERTÉ Katie Child explores whether France’s proposed ‘global security law’ is a necessary step to protect individual police officers or a breach of international human rights.

t the end of November, I passed through the Place de la Bastille and the Place de la République in Paris. Over the years these two squares have played host to thousands of people protesting against political and social injustice. A mere couple of hours after I had left, they were once again awash with protestors and police officers in full riot gear, silhouetted against a backdrop of tear gas and plumes of firework smoke. As alarming as this sounds, it was by no means an unprecedented occurrence. Tensions between participants and the French security forces have always been high at demonstrations such as these, particularly since the emergence of the gilets jaunes (‘yellow vests’) movement in 2018. However, whilst police and gendarmes have always been a presence at protests, on the 28th of November they not only found themselves at the heart of the action, but at the root of the protest’s cause. The explanation for this shift? A proposed law which talks about ‘global security’, camera phones and protecting police identity. The ‘global security law’ was passed by the French National Assembly in mid-November and was awaiting approval by the Senate when the waves of public protests against it began. It gives legal justification for police and gendarmes to share footage captured on their body cameras and for security forces

unease surrounding Article 24 has prompted many NGOs to call for the article to be scrapped altogether. Clearly, this is much more than a case of the French ‘overreacting’. to use drones to monitor public spaces. The Criticism of this law goes much further most controversial section is Article 24, than defending a core element of French which criminalises the publication of images culture. As well as being seen as a means of of on-duty police officers if there is an intent protecting freedom of expression, the right to damage “physical or psychological integ- to film on-duty police officers has become rity”. The latter offence would be punishable a key tool for those seeking justice against by up to a year’s imprisonment or a fine of instances of police brutality. A recent French €45,000 (£40,500). incident to make international headlines The proposed law has attracted severe concerned the black music producer Michel backlash. Critics are concerned that people Zecler, who was attacked by four police will be discouraged from filming acts of police officers in his Parisian studio in November. violence for fear of prosecution. According According to Zecler’s lawyer, it was CCTV reto government figures, on 28th November cordings of the event that he used to pursue 133,000 protestors across France took to the legal action. When news of the case emerged streets to voice their opthe law was already under position. These protests This inherent subjectivity heavy scrutiny, fuelling were mirrored, although is what makes it so difficult to public indignation and not quite to the same conclusively and convincingly motivating several key scale, in the weeks that attach a label to the law members of the French followed. sporting community to It might be tempting for onlookers to disexpress their outrage over the matter. miss the entire episode as an example of the Less publicised was the case of Cédric French obsession with their beloved liberté Chouviat, a father of five of North African d’expression, embedded in French culture descent, who was stopped by police in Paris. since the Revolution. Yet some aspects of the After being pinned down by three police proposed law have caused some anxiety from officers, he died in hospital two days later. a universal human rights perspective. A broken larynx was listed among other inAmnesty International, the European juries in the autopsy report. Several passing Council and the UN have all expressed conmotorists filmed the incident, providing cern over the global security law. Advisory footage which some have said was instruexperts to the UN Human Rights Council mental to the opening of a criminal case. have judged the bill to be “incompatible with These two cases reflect the growing global international law and human rights”. The awareness around police brutality that has

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Friday, 15th January 2021 | Features

FEATURESFEATURES FEATURES FEATURESFEATURES FEATURES emerged during the past yea r. The experiences of Zecler and Chouviat (among others) also demonstrate the vital role that civilian footage can play if police officers deny the use of violence. Restricting the right to film these incidents is seen by many as inhibiting justice – the right to which is recognised in international law. Yet to declare that the global security law is an unquestionable breach of international human rights would be to ignore the opinions of those who find themselves on the other side of the debate: the police officers themselves. The lawmakers who drafted the bill claim that they had no intention of limiting freedoms of expression or the press; their primary concern was the protection of individual police officers. In recent history there have been cases where images of French police officers have been posted on social media with the purpose of identifying them and causing them harm. The rather woolly phrase describing “a threat to physical and psychological integrity” in Article 24 refers to the very real fear that some officers have for their own or their family’s safety, should they make enemies whilst carrying out their duties. Moreover, there are those who believe that the proposed law does not go far enough to ensure the protection of individual officers. Numerous regional leaders of police unions have expressed their desire for more decisive government intervention in the matter. “We want actions, laws and regulations which will protect our officers,” said a departmental representative of the union SGP Unité Police. The French government thus finds itself in a rather problematic position, unable to fully satisfy either group’s demands and accused of undermining people’s rights on both sides. Darmanin has tried to bridge the gap between the camps by insisting that “protecting police and preserving freedom of the press are not in competition”. Yet such comments remain unconvincing when juxtaposed with the words of Christophe Castaner, parliamentary leader of LREM, who described it as a balancing act between the two. Should concerns over police safety prevail over the right to freedom of information? This raises the question of whether police

officers - in France and elsewhere - deserve to harm” police officers using images will still the level of individual protection that the be subject to punishment. This is where the bill affords. The right to privacy is stated in fundamental issue lies, and why the global the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human security law is likely to remain a simmering Rights and is mentioned in over 150 national issue for quite some time. constitutions. The idea of “intentional harm”, central Police officers are, by definition, employto the wording of article 24 itself and in the ees of the state. Back in 2019, ten officers rhetoric of the controversy surrounding it, is involved in misconduct proceedings in subjective. Indeed, this was one of the many Scotland lost a battle to discount a series criticisms of the law: people feared that poof Whatsapp messages as lice officials might evidence in the case. Senior Should concerns over use the phrase’s figures in the Scottish police safety prevail over the ambiguity to abuse judiciary system concluded right to freedom of the powers affordthat police officers should be information? ed to them. But it held accountable to certain is not only the word standards whether they are on or off duty, choice which is problematic; in the article, in order to preserve public faith in the law French lawmakers are attempting to conciseenforcement system. The case in question ly codify a rather hazy offence. The addition concerned private messages as opposed of the prospect of psychological damage to identifiable images, but the message exacerbates this. It is difficult to conceive resonates with our debate: in many of a way in which “the intention to harm” Western democracies, police officers can be defined objectively in a way which cannot expect the same right to will satisfy both police officers and the law’s privacy as ordinary citizens. For original critics. A layer of subjectivity will those who interpret this principle in always remain. This inherent subjectivity is its most fundamental format, French what makes it so difficult to conclusively and officers have no right to the level of inconvincingly attach a label to the law, either dividual protection that the proposed as a necessary step to protect individual global security law awards them. police officers or as a threat to international It is all very well to come to this conhuman rights. clusion through logical deduction. But The dual aspect of this entire debate was the harsh reality that this verdict would summed up quite nicely by one political comproduce if enforced verbatim has signifimentator, who wrote that the government’s cant moral implications. There are officers decision to redraft the bill was ‘un signe de whose conduct is far from blameless. sagesse et de faiblesse à la fois’ – a sign of But we must ask ourselves the question: wisdom and weakness. Macron’s promise to do we want to live in a society which, revisit the law has kept critics at bay for a in certain contexts, condones people short while, but this is unlikely to last long. taking the law into their own hands? The We can expect a revival of the debate majority of us would agree that we do not. when the government begins the This perhaps explains why opponents of review process later this month. the global security law are choosing Whatever the outcome, the to shout loudly about the threat matter is sure to have a sigto freedom of expression rather nificant impact on Macron’s than directly addressing police 2022 re-election campaign, officers’ concerns. Such an appraisal where he will undoubtedly face might force them to face some rather criticism for his and his minisuncomfortable moral predicaments. ters’ handling of the situation. Succumbing to pressure from NGOs, As the world looks on, it will public figures and political protestors, be interesting to see how the at the end of November Macron’s matter continues to play out government announced that the global in the land of liberté and the security law would be “completely rewritimplications for the future of ten” before being presented once again to similar legislation elsewhere. the French parliament. Yet the concession Artwork by Katie Child. was not total. Rather than scrapping the Image credit: Rama via Creative infamous article 24 (as the UN advised), Commons. Castaner promised that “the intention Read full article on the website.

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Sport | Friday, 15th January 2021

SPORT

Simulating Cuppers: Our virtual alternative to a missing season

Bailey Kavanagh

know for a fact that I’m not the only one missing college football. There are, of course, more important things going on right now, and our inability to play 9-a-side, referee-free, cup games while hungover is clearly a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. That having been said, part of the experience of the last year has been replacing our favourite things with more unwieldy, and very much inferior alternatives. Where there was the tutorial, we now have the online seminar. The casual conversation has been supplanted by the Zoom quiz. Elite football, at least, has its sterile, crowd-free version. It’s not as good, but it exists, and it’s an alternative. In the absence of a Project Restart of our own, college football has no Covid-secure alternative. Normally, around this time of the year, we’d have some write-ups about Cuppers, a result and fixture list, and maybe a couple of match reports. Clearly, we can’t do any of that. What we can do, instead, is tell you with complete certainty exactly what would have happened in the 2020/2021 edition. From the headlines, telling you which colleges would have met when, who would have made it to Iffley, and who would have raised the vaunted trophy come the end of term, to possession stats and scoring charts for proper nerds. It turns out that there are just about a million websites that let you create fictional

Share of possession Hilda’s enjoyed vs Pembroke

tournaments, fill in team data, and then simulate the results. Cuppers can be rescued, as long as we all agree to pretend that randomly simulated results are exactly what actually happened. It’s what I’ll be doing, at least. In that spirit, here is Cherwell’s report of this year’s Cuppers, as it happened. (For anyone who cares, the format of the simulated tournament is the same as real Cuppers - it’s a bracketed knockout tournament in the style of the FA Cup. There are two rounds before the quarter finals, and three teams get byes in the first round to fill out the bracket. The teams were given skill ratings for attack and defence from one to nine, depending on how well they performed in last years Cuppers, with bye ‘teams’ being a one, and champions St Hildas’ being a nine.) The tournament opened with the most boring game of football imaginable, with Lincoln putting Corpus & Linacre out in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of play that failed to produce a single shot. After such a nervy opener, that first round progressed in fairly predictable fashion, with every one of last season’s semi-finalists progressing to the next round. Elsewhere, Christ Church got off to a quick start, putting four past Jesus, who had presumably come directly from a heavy night at Park End, while Keble swatted aside visitors Univ with a 3-0 win. By far the biggest shock was the

1 win

For non-existent team ‘BYE’, who had no players, but still beat Magdalen

giant-killing of Magdalen by non-league side ‘BYE’, who fielded no players, and seemed pretty intent on losing. Points for dedication go to St Johns, who made the longest away trip, all the way to LMH, albeit presumably in a well-heated, oil-guzzling team bus paid for by college. A somewhat flat first round was followed by a much more engaging second. Fifteen colleges and ‘BYE’ remained, producing a set of fixtures that included a grudge repeat of last season’s final between Pembroke and St Hilda’s. Hilda’s, perhaps the most boring team in the college footballing pyramid, took the day again, with a 2-0 win in which they enjoyed a 9% share of the possession. On another fun note, Queen’s beat Somerville 4-0, scoring on the 38th, 48th, 58th and 68th minutes. Lower-league minnows ‘BYE’ were finally stopped by LMH, who also went on to put out the defending champions in their quarter final, setting up a semi-final with Worcester, the best attacking team in the cup up to now, having scored seven goals. Indeed, their fire-power proved to be too much for LMH, who found themselves facing a long walk home after a 3-1 semi-final defeat. Awaiting the Worcester squad on the hallowed turf of Iffley was to be the winner of the clash between Merton/Mansfield and Teddy Hall. Tragically, Merton/Mansfield, with their squad put together on a shoestring budget, seem cursed to never make it beyond a semi-final, crashing out after a 2-0 defeat in which they only conceded two shots. The final was a cagey affair, as finals tend to be, with neither Worcester nor Teddy Hall appearing willing to take any real risks, anxiety that was only aggravated by playing in front of the possibly dozens of fans stood in the Iffley bandstand. However, a late handball penalty, confirmed by VAR, forced Worcester to come out and play, at which point they promptly conceded a second, all but confirming that it was to be Teddy Hall who would lift the very real 2020/2021 Cuppers trophy. Congratulations to Teddy Hall, Oxford champions, for being selected by the glorified number generator, and commiserations to all the other teams who didn’t take part in ‘not Cuppers’ - better luck next season, hopefully. Image credit: Pascal Swier on Unsplash.

£50m

Christ Church’s transfer warchest for this season’s Cuppers

Friday, January 15th 2021 | Sport

If Boris were a Blue... Fred Waine

his week: Cherwell spotlights a young rugby-playing upstart from Balliol…

Name: Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (“Boris the bruiser” to his mates) College: Balliol Sport(s): Rugby Union Career history: Spent his youth career at Eton Rugby Club, whose 20+ junior teams were just enough to accommodate Johnson’s moderate athletic ability – I’d imagine he felt right at home in the Z squad. Later made several high-profile appearances for the Bullingdon Club, renowned for its unusual club kit (surely it’s obvious that tailcoats on a rugby pitch don’t make for great success) and *ahem* selective choice of playing staff. Position: Right wing (it runs in the family) – but he also seems desperate to appear in the front row… Signature move: The “U-turn” – carries the ball 5 yards forward, retreats, inexplicably orders his teammates to leave the field in order to have a 50% discounted meal in the clubhouse, “for the sake of the economy”. Known for: Making the unorthodox decision to forgo the traditional post-match ice bath and instead spend 15 minutes hiding in a fridge. Career highlight: Taking out that suspi-

ciously youthful-looking opponent on the 2015 Japanese tour. Career lowlight: Falsely promising to donate £350 million to OURFC if the club “took back its sovereignty” and gave up competing in Varsity (he doesn’t like dealing with “that other lot”, you see). True to his rugby form, he went and fumbled it. The verdict: Loyal fans will insist that “he’s just trying his best” and “his teammates

SPORTS SHORTS

are letting him down” – no one ever said that about Danny Cipriani though, did they. There’s no denying that he’s an entertaining watch, but “BoJo” is haunted by a fundamental inability to actually do his job when it matters most. Image credit: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency available via Wikimedia Commons (modifications made by Fred Waine).

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AROUND THE GLOBE

WHEN OXFORD WON THE FA CUP

Mauricio Alencar

The other side of the globe likewise faces difficulties with regards to the virus and sport continuing. In Australia, where things are close to being back to normal due to tough government restrictions, the tennis and the F1 events will take place but have been postponed. In China, they have restricted international events from taking place, but most sports have continued. Even in these tough times, sport has been a breath of fresh air for those watching from home around the world. Image credit : Jose Maria Miñarro Vivancos on wikimedia.

The return of the FA Cup is a great excuse to remember the time Oxford University won it in 1874. Oxford University beat the Royal Engineers at the Oval in front of 2000 attendants in the final. Before that, they had to face the Wanderers, winners of the competition’s first two editions. Football has come some way on from the days only the elite played it. It is still, and likely will always be, the only university institution to win a national cup in football. Image credit Paul Gillett under wikimedia commons.

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