Cherwell - 3rd week Trinity 2021

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Eleanor Neale

CULCHER

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Cherwell Independent since 1920

3rd week Friday, 14th May 2021 cherwell.org Vol.292 No.3

HIGH LEVELS OF E. COLI DETECTED IN PORT MEADOW SWIMMING SPOT Estelle Atkinson

As the weather warms, lockdown restrictions begin to lift, and students return to Oxford for Trinity Term, outdoor activities, including wild swimming, are on the rise. Students have been taking to the banks of Port Meadow for picnics, and some are venturing into the water of the River Thames. This idyllic summer image, however, is undermined by the alarming levels of bacteria that can be found in the water as a result of sewage dumping by Thames Water into the waterways in and around Oxford.

A study funded by Thames Water and published by the group #EndSewagePollution found harmful levels of E. coli Bacteria present in the River Thames in Port Meadow from January to March 2021. At each of four tested locations, E. coli levels exceeded the threshold level for safe bath-

ing water quality during three of the ten weeks. This study, amongst others, is part of a movement supported by Thames Water to turn Oxford into a designated bathing water area, allowing the already-existing population of wild swimmers to continue with their activities safely.

Symptoms of E. coli infections include vomiting, stomach cramps, and fever. Diarrhoea is another common symptom, and around half of those infected develop bloody diarrhoea. In rare cases, an infection can lead to kidney failure. Tim Harris, associate at the Rivers Trust, told the Oxford Mail: “We don’t know for certain whether these levels of bacteria are from raw sewage or other sources like agriculture - to know that, we need to wait for a few more months of results. However, this data indicates that, if you swam in the river this winter and swallowed some river water,

you could have had an unpleasant dose of E. coli”.

A survey sent out by the Iffley Fields Residents Association Waterways group revealed in a set of results sourced in April that Port Meadow is the most popular bathing location. Participants cited “physical, mental, and spiritual rejuvenation” as the benefits they experienced through wild swimming. However, participants also cited “fear of pollution, fear of injury, and lack of access” as the major issues that are preventing people from enjoying the benefits of Oxford’s bathing sites.

A petition on Change.org has over 5,000 signatures to give the Thames in Oxford, also known as the Isis, designated bathing water status. While the movement to achieve this status has been taken on by Oxford City Council, at the current levels of dumping, the water quality assess-

ment for such a swimming area would still fall into the “poor” categorisation. In the meantime, various projects are in place to help swimmers make educated decisions about safety. Amongst these is a brand new alert system published by Thames Water that gives live updates on sewage discharges from six locations in and around the city.

The alert system is currently operating via twitter and facebook, with updates stating “please be aware our monitoring systems at [discharge point] are indicating a discharge of diluted sewage to the river started at [time].” Recent updates have been coming in on what can sometimes be a daily basis.

The data from the 2020 Annual Thames Water Return reveals that last year, these six locations collectively produced a total of 281 spills and 3,817.62 hours of spill duration. While the levels

of bacteria in the water could be in part due to local agricultural waste, it is clear that a significant amount of sewage has been contributing to the issue, as is currently allowed by law. If Oxford is to achieve designated bathing water status, the Environment Agency will create a water profile in addition to monitoring and protecting the water. This will provide the community with legal grounds upon which to fight against dumping into local rivers.

The City Council’s bid will likely be submitted sometime before this fall to be examined

by DEFRA, the Government’s Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, and hopefully accepted by next summer. The official DEFRA guidance on applying for such a designation requires that an application be supported...

Continued on page 2.

OULC ELECTS NEW CO-CHAIRS AFTER FAILURE TO RESOLVE INTERNAL DISPUTE Sasha Mills

Laura Ennis and Danial Hassain have been elected as the new CoChairs of Oxford University Labour Club, after the previous Co-Chairs stepped down following a series of issues in regards to an internal complaint. 43 members voted for the pair, with over 60 members attending the online extraordinary general meeting.

In their manifesto, Daniel and Laura spoke of the importance of working with their BAME caucus officer to implement recommendations made to the club by Melanin, a student led-group aiming to “a welcoming environment where we can talk about the ethnic minority experience.” The pair also want to

ensure that all colleges have an “active college rep,” and implement a welfare officer as “being on committee can take a mental toll and we think [that] OULC should be better equipped to deal with this.”

The two Co-Chairs of Oxford University Labour Club initially elected for this term resigned following a series of issues in responding to an internal complaint. In a resignation letter sent to members of the Labour Club, one of the Co-Chairs stated that they hoped their resignation would “allow for members to feel more confident in their committee, and that it will provide some form of resolution to the current situation the club finds itself in.”

The dispute was initially resolved,

whereby it was decided that the two Co-Chairs would not step down and would instead work to ensure “constitutional and club reform, antiracism training, and a public apology” were put into place. The decision for resignation was made after an internal meeting, with the Co-Chair citing the “emotionally and mentally taxing” situation for the committee and the need to ensure closure as reasons for the resignation.

Their statement went on to say that “OULC is not a place for sleazy or petty student politics yet at times members of committee have felt that issues that have genuinely caused distress have been weaponized, which is not what the OULC

stands for.” The Co-Chair also issued an apology to BAME members for the “fraught and tense BAME caucus which does not represent the values that the club should uphold,” and went on to say that while the club did not have an adequate complaints procedure in place, “this does not excuse our failing in our duty of care towards members of the committee.”

The other Co-Chair stated that in their response to the complaint, they were “initially more worried about the consequences for me than how other members may feel.” The Co-Chair went on to consult with Melanin, at which point it was recommended that the University resolution services stepped in. Although

the Co-Chairs w e r e in it ia lly voted by t h e committee t o remain in their r o l e s leadi n g club, stated “the resiga member committee that..

the they t h a t nation of of the made clear to us Continued on page 3 .

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

2 | News

WHAT’S INSIDE LEADER Linguistics: the subject that will never judge you back NEWS People’s Vaccine protest on Broad Street Oxford professor joins group accused of climate change denial by OCJC COMMENT ADHD amongst the dreaming spires Oxford’s failure with eating disorders LIFE All kinds of vulnerable: reflections on the past year Looking a right punt FOOD I am what I eat FEATURES The damaging effects of mild, persistent sexism SPORT Sexual violence in Oxford sport

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Continued from page 1 ...by local authorities as well as including user surveys, information about any facilities at the site, and evidence of a consultation. User surveys must show a breakdown of the number of swimmers, children paddling, and other beach and water users. Local consultations must include any local groups that might be affected by the designation, including but not limited to bathers, residents of the closest town, local environmental groups, town councils, and local tourist offices.

After an application has been submitted, DEFRA will consult the local water company, the Environment Agency, the Country Land and Business Association, the Marine Conservation Society, the Outdoor Swimming Society, Visit England, Water UK, and a number of other relevant groups. Ministers will make the final decision.

Cherwell met with local community activist Ned Wells to discuss the movement to #EndSewagePollution. Wells is an Oxford resident, a graduate of Oxford Brookes University in Engineering, and a fly fisher. In fishing for wild trout, which are an indicator species, he realised that the Thames had poor water quality as it is not a suitable environment for the trout. When he was approached by another member of the campaign, Claire Robertson, Wells decided to help.

Cherwell also met with Claire Robertson, a PhD student in freshwater ecology and avid

hursday first week. I had arranged to walk over to the Cherwell offices with one of my fellow Deputy Editors – this was our first time meeting in person. Eager to make a good impression now that we’d finally made the transition from Zoom and Messenger to real-life human interaction, I asked about his module choices for the term.

“Mostly translation apart from my diss – fortunately I didn’t end up taking any linguistics this term. Who would want to spend their time doing that?”

“Well,” I said, “it is fifty percent of my degree.”

In fairness to him (sorry Matt, it really was a perfectly enjoyable walk otherwise!), remarks such as the above are pretty much par for the course when studying a subject as widely-misunderstood as linguistics. Every time I tell an extended family member that I’m doing a degree in French and Linguistics, I’m bombarded with the same, blood-boiling repertoire of questions: “how many languages do you know then?”, “maybe you can proofread my short stories now?” My Grandpa still rings me up weekly with queries about English grammar; I don’t have the heart to tell him that my last 18 months have been spent learning less about split infinitives and Oxford commas than about

year-round river swimmer. Robertson explained that one of the biggest obstacles in ending sewage pollution is the water companies’ outdated infrastructure: “Groundwater easily infiltrates into sewage pipes, meaning they rapidly overflow when there is heavy rain.”

Wells and Robertson cited four organisations as being particularly supportive of their goal: The Rivers Trust, Thames 21, Oxford City Council (specifically Councillor Linda Smith), and Thames Water. The Rivers Trust is a federated charity that has produced a GIS-based map (Geographic Information Systems). According to The Rivers Trust, this technology “helps develop an understanding of complex environmental systems, builds confidence and eases communication between a wide range of people and organisations who need to work in partnership to improve the water environment.”

On Thames Water, Wells explained, “Although they’re the villain in this plot, they know the game is up and they know they’ve got to do something about it. There’s a charitable point of view that says that if lots of their customers are livid with them, it should be easier for them to get sign-off on the huge investment needed to make the sewage system fit for purpose.”

Wells is working closely with Thames Water on the project to provide sewage alerts. Robertson elaborated, “Thames Water are providing funding for my time to work on the entire proj-

‘garden-path sentences’ and how to make a bilabial click (the technical term for *chef’s kiss*, in case anyone’s actually interested).

I’m not alone; other members of the ‘Linguistics Shitposting’ Facebook group attest to having experienced similar things. That said, they too seem somewhat less interested in broadening their understanding of the subject proper than in categorising literally every object under the sun as either ‘kiki’ or ‘bouba’ (Google it), or in finding out what a ‘wug’ is (when everyone knows that the truly important question is: what are two of them?). Evidently, even for those of us who study it, linguistics remains something of a confusing mess.

One of the most important principles a student of linguis-

Iff ley Fields Residents Association and Oxford City Council have been approached for comment.

Leader LINGUISTICS: THE SUBJECT THAT WILL NEVER JUDGE YOU BACK

FRED WAINE rigid application of trivial and largely arbitrary grammar rules, and the latter relating to a more accepting view of language as an ever-changing and far less stable entity.

Me and my fellow linguists seem to have got the hang by now of describing language in its natural state, rather than fretting about how it ‘should be’, though this is less than can be said for the rest of Oxford’s student population – ask my

“M Y F L AT M AT E’S PE DA N T RY G O T S O OU T O F H A N D T H AT W E H A D T O I N T RODUC E ‘NO - PR E S C R I P T I V I S M NOV E M B E R’.” tics can at least expect to have drilled into them from the moment they step into the faculty is the difference between ‘prescriptivism’ and ‘descriptivism’ – the former referring to the

ect, lab time and space for the bacterial water quality testing, and funding for equipment.”

Looking forward, Wells and Robertson say the team is feeling confident about the prospective success of the application to DEFRA, which is due to be submitted around October 2021.

The movement has truly been spearheaded by the “local community community of passionate river swimmers, paddlers, anglers, rowers, and nature enthusiasts,” Robertson explained, “the people of Oxford genuinely love their rivers, and want to see them clean, healthy, and well-protected.”

Richard Aylard, Thames Water’s sustainability director, said: “Discharges of untreated sewage are unacceptable to us, our customers and the environment, and we will work with the government, Ofwat, the Environment Agency and others to accelerate work to stop them being necessary.

“Our business plan for the next five years includes an unprecedented amount of investment, much of it directed towards safeguarding the environment.

We have a long way to go and we certainly can’t do it on our own – but the ambition is clear. Our aim will always be to try and do the right thing for our rivers and for the communities who love and value them.”

very own flatmate, whose pedantry got so out of hand that we were forced to introduce ‘NoPrescriptivism November’ in Michaelmas.

As my Year Abroad (begin-

ning in October) approaches, I’m met with familiarly patience-trying questions from friends and family: “where are you going?”, “what will you be doing?”

Yet, as I explain that I really won’t know until June where in the whole of bloody France I’m going to end up, and that the only certainty is that I’ll be greeted by a bunch of snottynosed, beret-wearing schoolchildren, I’m grateful to be able to fall back on the lessons that linguistics – of all things – has taught me. The lessons about the need for open-mindedness, for trying to understand and appreciate the way people from other backgrounds do things; the lessons that the important thing isn’t how you speak, it’s that you speak – and that you try to put your true self across while communicating, no matter if that means making ‘mistakes’.

After all, you may judge linguistics – but linguistics will never judge you back.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

The Spin Jazz Club moves to the Old Fire Station Jill Cushen

The Spin Jazz Club, Oxford’s leading contemporary jazz club, has relocated to a new venue at the Old Fire Station, a performing arts centre on George Street. The club was previously located at the Wheatsheaf pub on the High Street.

The club has been closed since the first national lockdown in March 2020 and faced uncertainty around its reopening amid plans for the Wheatsheaf’s first floor to be converted into student flats.

The planning application to convert the first-floor concert venue of the Wheatsheaf was withdrawn on April 9th 2021.

‘Save the Sheaf’, a Facebook group, was set up to raise awareness of the potential closure and attracted almost 3,000 members.

The group urged people to show their support and oppose the application by submitting objections.

Oxford Civic Society also submitted a letter to Oxford City

Council objecting to the planning application. The letter read: “The applicant should be encouraged to withdraw the application and continue the music function in some way, or join forces with the music community and others to look for an alternative site.

Encouraging the Wheatsheaf’s previous activities somehow to continue would be firmly in the spirit of both the national and the local planning systems. It would also be consistent with the city’s COVID recovery efforts and its ambition to enhance the attractiveness of the city centre to visitors.”

Oxford City Council received more than 1500 objections to the application. An email from the Council’s Development Management stated: “The application was withdrawn following concerns from officers as we were likely to recommend refusal of the application on the grounds of the loss of community facility, the poor quality of accommodation proposed, harm to a local

heritage asset and inadequate consideration of refuse storage.”

Following the planned conversion of the pub’s first floor, acclaimed guitarist and founder of The Spin set about finding a new location for the club. Spin has previously been named the Best Jazz Venue in The UK by the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards, the industry standard awards group.

Oxley set up The Spin with drummer Mark Doffman and bassist Raph Mizraki in 1999 and now runs the club alongside Stuart Miller. The club officially relaunched last night, May 13, at the Oxford Fire Station with a streamed concert, on the day which marks 22 years since the club’s first live gig in 1999. The online event was recorded and filmed at the new venue and presented the Oxley - Meier band of five virtuosi musicians performing in OFS’s black-box theatre.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Pete Oxley said: “Whenever rules

permit us to open to the public, we want the audience to enter a room, full of magical e x p e c t at io n s .

The lighting in the

venue is secondtonone; there will be candle-lit tables awaiting you with waiter-ser vice.

The bar will be equipped with an interesting choice of tipples designed by

The Spin, and on the stage, the seductively lit instruments will portent a great night ahead!”

He added: “It was a complete joy for the band to play there, and this has been superbly captured in the recording and filming. Although the film will be available for a limited period after Thursday, we would like to encourage anybody interested in supporting this new collaboration by ‘being there’ – albeit in the comfort of your own home – at 8.30pm on May 13, in the hope that we will feel a collective spirit of positivity for the future of The Spin!”

Jeremy Spafford, Director at the Old Fire Station told Cherwell: “We’re delighted to begin a new partnership with The Spin.

Supporting local music is so important, especially now when it is under threat from grassroots venue closures across the country. Our first gig with The Spin [was] online, [on] Thursday, and we look forward to welcoming audiences back in person soon.”

STUDENTS Continued from page 1 “the resig nation of a member of the comm i t t e e made clear to us that the club could not move on without new leadership.”

L a u r a Ennis and Da n ia l Hassain told C h e r well: “T his has been a turbulent time for OU LC, par ticularly so for members of the BA ME caucus. Going for ward, we want to provide both stability in the leadership of the club and aim to create an environment in which all members feel comfor table in having difficult discussions with and about the committee.

“Our first steps in this direction are to implement the recommendations by Melanin, made as a result of an investigation into issues within the Club. We are also in the process of introducing a formalised complaints procedure, which will ensure transparency in any future issues of this nature and make the committee more accessible to all members. In response to the stress that this has caused members, we are exploring ways to create a new welfare officer role, to suppor t current and future members so that they are always suppor ted and never have to feel alone in OU LC. “We have faith that these are the right first steps to both substantially create change within the culture and institution of the club, and also to restore the faith of ethnic minority OU LC members and the wider Oxford community.”

News | 3 CITY

CITY

People’s Vaccine protest on Broad Street Charlie Hancock

Protesters on Broad Street have demanded that a “People’s vaccine” be made available to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The demonstration was part of a “global day of action” organised by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a “coalition of organisations and activists” who are calling for pharmaceutical companies to share information about how to produce COVID-19 vaccines with laboratories around the world.

Students and campaigners gathered to raise awareness of the campaign, and call upon Oxford University to use its influence to encourage companies to share their technology.

Currently, intellectual property rights prohibit laboratories who are not affiliated with vaccine developers from producing their own supplies of the vaccine. This means countries cannot produce their own vaccine supplies, and either have to rely on global health initiatives such as COVAX. Meanwhile, richer countries have been able to stockpile supplies of the vaccine by purchasing over a billion more doses than needed for their population.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance are arguing that once these intellectual property rights have been waived, companies should share their knowledge and the biological materials needed for vaccine production through the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).

The scheme was set up by the World Health Organisation to “share COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and data” in order to ensure fair distribution of resources which could combat the pandemic.

Molly Clark, a student at Merton

College, who is also part of the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, told Cherwell that the demonstration was particularly important given that they were held on the same day as AstraZeneca’s annual general meeting. She continued: “When they did the research for this vaccine, they had this vision that the vaccine could be used across the world, and not only by governments who could pay a high price. We want to make sure that AstraZeneca stays true to that vision, and doesn’t allow wealthy countries to hoard the vaccine while others suffer”.

Ms Clark also drew parallels between the lack of parity in global vaccine distribution, and the consequences of climate change.

“We often see wealthy countries, particularly in the global north, consuming and consuming. Then it’s nations in the global south which are often suffering”, she added.

Nicole Jashapara, a student reading English at Linacre College, also spoke to Cherwell. She said: “97% of the funding that went into making the AstraZeneca vaccine was either from public funds or charitable funds. And yet it’s now patented by a private company. We don’t believe that big pharmaceutical companies should have the right to control vaccine supply and demand. They should be publicly available”.

Jane Burt, an environmental consultant and educator from South Africa, was also present at the demonstration. She highlighted how the slow pace of vaccination in the country had hampered efforts.

“There’s no way South Africa can keep lockdown. The economy just collapsed...when there was a lockdown people were starving. They’d lost their jobs. Starvation became

more of a risk than COVID-19.

“I felt guilty getting the vaccine here. I just want people to know that [COVID-19] is destroying people’s lives, and children’s lives.

I watched it in South Africa with the HIV pandemic, where a whole generation died. For ten years they fought for the patent to be dissolved. In that time, millions died.”

Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, told Cherwell: “It is simply shameful that Big Pharma companies like AstraZeneca refuse to openly share the vaccine knowledge and technology they control.

It’s no wonder that people are angry and we applaud those who engaged in civil disobedience today to protest against this vaccine apartheid, in which our own government is also complicit.

“That these young activists are willing to put themselves at risk like this should shake company executives, who seem more concerned with trying to add millions of pounds to their already whopping salaries today than waive their patents and ramp up production.

“We will not be silent in the face of this injustice and today’s action is surely a sign of things to come unless Big Pharma immediately gives up its monopolies and the British government stops putting corporate profits ahead of the lives

of millions around the globe.

“We agree with the view that the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. AstraZeneca has risen to the challenge of creating a not-for-profit vaccine that is widely available around the world, and we are proud that our vaccine accounts for 98% of all supplies to COVAX. We have established 20 supply lines spread across the globe and we have shared the IP and know-how with dozens of partners in order to make this a reality. In fact, our model is similar to what an open IP model could look like.”

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca told Cherwell: “We agree with the view that the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. AstraZeneca has risen to the challenge of creating a not-forprofit vaccine that is widely available around the world, and we are proud that our vaccine accounts for 98% of all supplies to COVAX. “We have established 20 supply lines spread across the globe and we have shared the IP and knowhow with dozens of partners in order to make this a reality. In fact, our model is similar to what an open IP model could look like.”

Image credit: Charlie Hancock.

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021 UNIVERSITY

4 | News RESEARCH

Oxford study finds minimal link between social

80% of students returned to university

media use and adolescent life satisfaction

despite government guidelines

Matthew Schaffel

Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) have revealed their findings from an eight-year study of 12,000 British teenagers into the impacts of social media on their overall life satisfaction. The data from the study suggests that links between social media use and life satisfaction are minimal.

This is the first large-scale study focused on this issue. Prior to this, scientists were unsure of the ‘direction’ of any causal link; whether adolescents had lower life satisfaction due to social media use, or whether those with lower life satisfaction use more social media.

Although the scientists who carried out the study concluded that the links were mostly trivial, there was some evidence of causality.

Generally these effects were also more clearly seen among women than among men.

The researchers did note that due to a lack of a political, ethical and scientific framework for sharing detailed usage data from social media companies, their research was limited to the use of selfreported social media data.

Professor Przybylski, Director of Research at the OII, said to the University: “Given the rapid pace of technological ad v a ncement in recent years, the question of how our increasing use of technology to interact with each other affects our wellbeing has b e c o m e increasingly important.

With most of the current debate based on lacklustre evidence, this study represents an important step towards mapping the effects of technology on adolescent wellbeing.

“Moving forward access to this kind of data will be key to

understanding the many roles that social media plays in the lives of young people.”

Amy Orben, College Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Oxford, also said to the University: “The previous literature was based almost entirely on correlations with no means to dissociate whether social media use leads to changes in life satisfaction or changes in life satisfaction influence social media use.

“While our study is a very promising step towards robust science in this area, it is only the first step.

To ultimately understand how the diverse uses of social media affect teenagers we need industry data.”

Another researcher, Dr Tobias Dienlin from the University of Hohenheim, added: “More than half of the statistical models we tested were not significant, and those that were significant suggested the effects were not as simple as often stated in the media. Most statistically significant models examined teenage girls. However, because these effects were tiny, they weren’t significantly larger in girls compared to boys.”

Flora Dyson

The latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) data has shown that 80% of students have returned to their university address in spite of government guidance.

The ONS shows that 82% of students were residing at their termtime address in April 2021, with just 36% living with their parents. The number of students living at their university address has increased from 76% in March 2021 when 41% of students reported to be staying with their parents.

The ONS’ Student COVID-19 Insights Survey (SCIS) measures over 1,400 university students and took place from 15th - 22nd April 2021. Students undertaking practical-based courses, including medicine and creative courses, have been allowed to return to their university addresses as they require face-to-face teaching.

Government guidance for universities states that “remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the Government advises that these students can return from 17 May, alongside Step 3 of the Roadmap.”

CITY

In a statement on 13th April 2021, Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan, said “students should continue to learn remotely and remain where they are living, wherever possible” until 17th May. Matt Western, the Shadow Universities Minister for the Labour Party said “the Government has treated children and young people as an afterthought throughout this pandemic, and students have been left without information or support.”

Students have been allowed to return prior to this date under “exceptional” circumstances which include having inadequate work spaces at their home addresses and suffering mental health.

The ONS survey found over half (53 per cent) of students felt their mental health worsen from Autumn 2020, though this has decreased from 63 per cent, reported in March.

A fifth of students (22 per cent) have reported feeling lonely often and always which the ONS notes “is still far greater than the 6% of the adult population in Great Britain reporting the same over a similar period.”

CITY

Litter in Port Meadow causes Local Election results: Balliol Student wins injuries to animals Labour seat in Oxfordshire County Council Matilda Gettins

Litter on Port Meadow left two animals needing vet treatment this weekend, with injuries that could have been life threatening. A horse cut open its hoof on broken glass and a cow suffered an intestinal blockage thought to be caused by eating litter.

This is not the first time animals have suffered injuries from litter. Last year, two cows, including a seven month old calf, died as the result of eating plastic bags, balloons and other rubbish left behind on the meadow.

Other grazing cows and horses sustained multiple injuries, including glass cuts. Oxford District Services (ODS), the Council owned company responsible for litter management, have also had to rescue swans that became entangled in rubbish.

As the weather warms up and restrictions on outdoor gatherings ease, the City Council anticipates a bigger problem with littering in the city’s parks and green spaces. The Council offers a simple bit of advice: “Bag it, bin it or take it home” as part of it’s anti-littering campaign ‘Don’t Feed The Animals’.

The Council also urges people not to put their rubbish into overflowing bins, but to hold onto it until they find an emptier

bin.

Overflowing bins can attract scavenging animals, who then spread the litter around creating a new litter problem. Even one piece of litter can be fatal. A week ago, the Oxford Mail reported that a dog died from eating a disposable facemask in an Oxfordshire park. Overflowing bins can be reported on a Council web page.

To combat the litter problem, the Council has increased bin capacity collection frequency, with staff out on Port Meadow at early as 6am. Volunteer groups such as OxClean Spring Clean are also addressing the problem, and will meet on May 29, June 5 and June 12 for volunteer litter picking.

Police and Council staff can also sanction littering, able to issue fines of up to £150 for littering.

Port Meadow Ranger Julian Cooper said: “It’s heartbreaking when we see animals suffering because of people’s carelessness.

ODS has regular litter collections, but it only takes a moment for an animal to eat litter or step on glass or metal left behind.

Ultimately it’s up to all of us to clean up after ourselves so we don’t see any more harm.”

“In the warm weather last summer we were collecting three tons of rubbish a day at Port Meadow – our teams can’t keep up with that rate of littering. Everyone knows they shouldn’t drop litter.

However tempting it is to rush on to the next thing, just think about the harm you might cause by leaving rubbish behind. Bag it, bin it or take it home.”

Matilda Gettins

The May 6th election results for the City Council and County Council, as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner have been released.

Labour won the City Council election, with a total of 34 seats.

The Lib Dems received nine seats, the Greens three. Two independent candidates were elected. The City Council tackles issues such as housing, parks and mobility.

No party won a majority in the County Council elections. Of the 62 seats, 22 went to the Conservative group, 21 to the Lib Dems and 15 to the Labour Party. The Greens Party won three seats, and the two remaining seats went to the Henley residents group and an independent candidate.

The County Council provides infrastructure and manages issues such as street lighting and bin collection.

Conservative Party candidate Matthew Barber won the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. None of the Police and Crime Commissioner candidates received a majority in first votes.

Barber, however, won in the second preference poll, receiving almost 80,000 more votes than his closest competitor, Laetisa Carter from the Labour Party.

The Oxford Mail has reported that a significant number of ballots cast for the City Council only had one cross. In past years, voters could only vote for half of the council at once, while this year voters were allowed to vote for the whole council. This meant

that this year, they could choose two candidates.

The Oxford Mail has also reported an “administrative error” in the County Council election of Banbury Ruscote ward, which was won by a candidate of the Conservative group. It writes that Labour is planning to make a “legal challenge”. If won, both the Lib Dems and the Conservative group would have 21 seats in the County Council.

Amongst the elected Councillors is student candidate Michael O’Connor, who ran in a central ward covering 25 colleges.

O’Connor is currently a graduate student at Balliol, and ran on behalf of the Labour Party. Speaking to Cherwell, O’Connor cited COVID-19 restrictions as one of the most difficult elements of his campaign. “Until late March, we couldn’t knock on doors. That was a big restriction and meant that the campaigning period was very compressed. Additionally, we couldn’t hold events in colleges.”

“Nonetheless, we knocked on pretty much every door in the residential areas of the division during April [and] early May and ran quite a good social media campaign with

the help of a huge network of supportive students. In the end, turnout was really quite good.

Labour increased its vote share in University Parks and won all of the overlapping city wards. We’re alive and well in Oxford!”

Concerning how he will represent this student body, O’Connor said: “I’m keen on engaging students with county policymaking through assemblies or consultations or just being quick to respond to emails!” Talking about his future plans in the role, O’Connor stated: “I’ll still be a student and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. I think I’m expected to spend 2-3 days a week on council duties but realistically I’ll probably spend much more than that as these kind of things tend to overflow the boundaries of working days”.

OULD and OUCA have been contacted for comment.

Image Credit: Secretlondon123 / CC-BY-SA 2.0

News | 5 UNIVERSITY

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

Oxford professor joins group accused of climate change denial by OCJC Matthew Schaffel

Oxford Professor Peter Edwards has joined the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a group accused of “climate denial” by the Oxford University Climate Justice Campaign. Professor Edwards is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and a fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), launched by Lord Lawson and Dr Benny Peiser in 2009, is a group that “while open-minded on the contested science of global warming, is deeply concerned about the costs and other implications of many of the policies currently being advocated.”

The GWPF claims to have no official or shared view about the science of the climate crisis, and states that “our members and supporters cover a broad range of different views, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change position through agnosticism to outright scepticism.” The group’s main focus is to “analyse global warming policies and their economic and other implications.”

Professor Peter Edwards has researched high-temperature superconductivity, the electronic

properties of metal nanoparticles, the metal-insulator transition and hydrogen storage and CO2 utilisation technologies. He is also the CoFounder of the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology–Oxford Centre for Petrochemical Research (KOPRC), the UK Sustainable Hydrogen Energy Consortium and was the UK Representative in the Kyoto International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy forum on Future Hydrogen Energy. The professor has also had close collaborations with Sir John Houghton, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) together with Al Gore.

Oxford Climate Justice Campaign told Cherwell: “It is disappointing to see the solutions needed to tackle climate change being undermined

by Oxford academics. Fossil fuel companies have already wreaked destruction, both on a large scale as the main contributors to the climate emergency, and on a more local scale in communities (usually marginalised and racialised) where extractive goals are prioritised over human rights. The transition to renewables will not be easy. But it is possible; and for the sake of people

who will lose their livelihoods to climate change, transitioning to renewables as fast as possible is the only ethical option.”

Specifically on the appointment of Professor Edwards, the spokesperson for the group said: “This appointment flags up a contradiction in our University’s ethics.

On the one hand, Oxford’s recent efforts towards sustainability have been commendable. ... On the other hand, as long as Oxford receives money from the fossil fuel industry it raises the question of whether academics like Edwards are incentivised to defend the fossil fuel industry due to the money their departments receive from these companies.”

“We believe that our recent report demonstrates this same contradiction: though the University is making strides in sustainability, it is yet to understand and embed the values of climate justice.”

In response, Professor Edwards said to Cherwell: “The Haber – Bosch process alone is said to feed approximately 40% of the global population. Whatever their faults - and I am acutely aware of them we simply cannot stop using fossil fuels; at best we will have to transition from them.”

“I do not believe that the level and scale integration of renewables - wind and solar generation - onto the grid is feasible from either a technological or a socio-political viewpoint. Wind and solar energy are not ‘dispatchable’ meaning they cannot be summoned onto the network when needed . Intermittent renewable generation cannot be called upon exactly when required...society requires uninterrupted or nearly uninterrupted access to electricity. With the hope that ‘Green Electricity’ will fulfil all of our needs , the load on the grid will surely need to double in scale.”

“I raise this as I have no doubt that the consumer will have to pay for such attempts and this will affect disproportionately the poor and most vulnerable in our society. I know from my own extended family – some living in hugely disadvantaged areas in the North West – that this is of grave concern to them. ” The Professor also noted that he receives no funding or fees from his association with GWPF. Dr Benny Peiser, Director at the GWPF, told Cherwell: “To call the GWPF a ‘climate-denying think tank’ is both a deliberate smear and untrue.”

“The GWPF does not have a

collective or official position on climate science. While we are critical of exaggerated claims and doomsday predictions, our members and publications cover a broad range of different views, from accepting the IPCC position through agnosticism to scepticism.”

“Moreover, for most of our publications we invite external reviews from experts who we expect to take a different view to the publication’s author. We offer to publish any substantive comments or criticism alongside our main publications.

In this way, we intend to encourage open and active debate on the important areas in which we work, primarily on climate policy.”

“This explicit diversity of opinion and our willingness to raise critical questions is one of the reasons why eminent scientists like Professor Peter Edwards and Professor Peter Dobson have recently joined the GWPF.” When contacted a final time, the OCJC stated that: “OCJC relies on the expert opinion of reputable researchers when labelling companies and organisations. If GWPF have an issue with how we have labelled them they should take that up with those professionally qualified to identify climate denial.”

UNIVERSITY

Universities cut History courses generating concern over elitism in the field Hope Philpott

Aston University in Birmingham and London South Bank University have announced plans to cut History courses. Aston University plans to close its entire

History, Languages and Translation Centre, whilst London South Bank will terminate its History, Human Geography, Refugee Studies, Development Studies and Education for Sustainability courses. Experts warn that the trend may be replicated elsewhere, as the government seeks to champion perceived ‘high-value’ STEM and vocational courses.

The cuts follow Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s proposals to require financially struggling universities to close so-called ‘low value’ courses with low graduate pay, to qualify for Covid-19 recovery bailouts. The bailout requirements require the affected universities’ ‘commitment’ to free speech. The University and College Union’s general secretary Jo Grady said these twin conditions are evidence that ‘the government is prepared to exploit universities’ financial

difficulties to impose evidencefree ideology and reduce the diversity and strength in depth of university courses and research’.

The projected closures have generated concerns that History, Languages and humanities studies may become the preserve of the elite, with those unable to leave home to study less able to access the subjects, which are available at fewer universities.

Popular historical author and Professor of Public Engagement with History at the University of Reading, Kate Williams, told The Guardian that History ‘should be a degree that is open to all, and that means it must be available to those who want to study locally’.

Older universities have been able to recruit more History, Languages and humanities students following the removal of the cap on student numbers. This has been detrimental to smaller History and humanities departments elsewhere, with fewer than 40 of London South Bank’s 7000 students enrolled this year in the programmes it seeks to cut.

Professor Catherine Fletcher

of Manchester Metropolitan University said this disparity ‘gives more choice to some students, but leaves others from less privileged backgrounds with no options at all’, raising further concern over the pressure on academics in expanding History departments at Russell Group universities.

The Universities and Colleges Union protests the cuts, particularly given their impact on academics at the affected universities. London South Bank History Academic Sami told the Socialist Worker that the LSBU cuts were a ‘kick in the teeth’, particularly as the courses were pulled … from Ucas before telling staff’.

Some commentators have noted that History graduates are indeed ‘employable’, with British Academy research indicating that eight of the 10 fastest-growing sectors in the UK economy employ more graduates from the arts, humanities and social sciences than other disciplines.

Others have criticised the metric of valuing higher education courses based on their employability prospects, with Ms Grady lamenting the underemphasis on

‘critical thought’, rather viewing education ‘in crude economic terms’ as she feels the government has done .

An Aston University spokesperson told Cherwell: “This is an open and ongoing consultation, and we are in discussions with potentially impacted colleagues and UCU. We are unable to comment further at this stage.”

A spokesperson for London South Bank University (LSBU) said: “Decisions around the courses we offer to prospective students are taken very carefully.

We regularly consider how our courses provide students with the skills they need to enter high quality jobs or further study, previous enrollment levels and how they support LSBU’s strategic goals including social mobility and removing barriers to student success.”

“Out of LSBU’s 7,000 new entrants in the 2020/21 academic year, less than 40 enrolled against the seven courses that are closing. We want to re-shape and re-energise our offer to strengthen our student’s teaching experience and research outcomes.”

Cherwell | Friday, 14th April 2021 UNIVERSITY

6 | News

Backlash to government plans funding cut for creative subjects Beth Ranasinghe

The UK government has announced funding cuts to arts subjects including music, dance, drama, performing arts, art and design, media studies and archaeology and according to the Office for Student (OfS), who are responsible for distributing government funding to universities these subjects are “not among its strategic priorities”.

This week, the government has sent a statutory guidance letter to the OfS directing them to cut funding by 50% to high-cost courses not on the Department for Education’s priority list. Performing and creative arts are not among the official “strategic priorities”, with a cut from £36m to £19m proposed next year.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he would “potentially seek further reductions” to central funding for such courses in future years. The government has requested for the money to be redirected to “subjects that support the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] subjects and/or specific labour market needs”. The Department of Education said that this is what is necessary to “support the skills this country needs to build back better”.

Despite this “catastrophic” cut, the Department for Education said that most university funding comes from tuition fees and other sources, and that the reduction in funding would only affect “a small propor-

tion” of universities’ income.

The Russell Group of leading research universities has objected to the proposed cuts. Its submission to the OfS argues that the affected courses will now run at a deficit of about £2,700 per student, including the income from tuition fees. The group – including University College London, who are anticipated to lose £5.8m – said the cuts will particularly affect universities in London and their ability to attract disadvantaged students or those from under-represented backgrounds.

Singer and former Pulp frontman, Jarvis Cocker and author Bernardine Evaristo are among those who have criticised the plan to cut government funding for arts.

Cocker said the “astounding” move would hit poorer students the hardest and claimed that the cuts would ensure arts subjects were only accessible to wealthier students.

The cultural sector contributed £34.6bn to the overall UK economy in 2019, an increase of 27% since 2010, compared with an 18% rise for the overall economy.

Cocker told The Guardian: “I think it will really just put off people from a certain background, and that’s a pity because it’s about mixing with people with different ideas, and then you get this cross pollination of stuff that makes things happen.”

He added: “It always seems to be that it’s art education that seems to

CITY

Oxford indoor cinemas to reopen starting May 17th Yan Chen

The vast majority of Oxford cinemas are planning to reopen next week on Monday 17th May, after going dark for months since the last national lockdown began in December. These include the Oxford branches of film chains Odeon (George Street location), Curzon, and Cineworld, as well as Oxford’s oldest independent cinema Ultimate Picture Palace on Cowley Road.

Phoenix Picturehouse, owned by Cineworld and located in Jericho, will reopen on 19th May. Both Phoenix Picturehouse and the Ultimate Picture Palace are making up for their closure during the film awards season by unveiling a slate of award-winning and award-nominated films. These include Oscar-winning biographical drama Judas and the Black Messiah, about the betrayal of Black Panther Party activist Fred Hampton, and Sound of Metal, the story of a drummer coming to terms with losing his hearing.

Additionally, Phoenix Picturehouse will serve up a mix of action, comedy, and vibrant solo melodrama, screening Godzilla vs. Kong, Peter Rabbit 2, and Pedro Almodóvar’s The Human Voice with a recorded director Q&A, starring Tilda Swinton and filmed during the pandemic.

Anticipated screenings over the summer and autumn include block-

busters Fast and Furious 9, Black Widow, Top Gun: Maverick, and the latest Bond film, No Time to Die. Cinemas are offering new discount schemes in the wake of reopening. Odeon has reduced the price for myLIMITLESS, its unlimited viewing scheme, to £9.99 per month. Its free-to-sign-up membership scheme, myODEON, allows audiences to see films for as low as £6 on its “Member Mondays” and selected showings Tuesday through Sunday. A representative stated that Curzon will offer a discounted membership for patrons under 25 and concessionary tickets available for students on some films.

Phoenix Picture House continues to offer a £14 annual student membership which includes two free tickets, discounted food and drink, and priority booking. The Ultimate Picture Palace’s new free-to-signup Five Pound Film Pass allows 15-to-25-year-olds entry to all its screenings (barring special events) for £5. It also continues to offer its £20 annual student membership scheme.

In accordance with government guidance, cinemas will follow COVID-19 guidance, with masks required indoors except when eating and drinking, social distancing measures including limited seating, more rigorous cleaning, and staggered starting times for screenings.

be this expendable thing, as if it’s not important, and it is.”

Chris Walters from the Musicians’ Union said the consultation, which closed at midnight on Thursday May 6, had been “poorly publicised” and was not “transparent”, “legitimate” or “fair”.

He said: “It risks the financial viability of training that is essential for producing the next generation of musicians and arts professionals.”

“The notice for this cut is so short that it will likely cause chaos as courses are withdrawn at the last minute, affecting students who have already been accepted onto courses for autumn enrolment.”

“The cut will affect all students, but particularly those from less privileged backgrounds who may rely on local, less well funded institutions that cannot divert funds from elsewhere.”

Booker Prize-winning writer Evaristo described the plan as an “awful assault on the arts in universities”. Peake, Evaristo and others have expressed their support for the Public Campaign for the Arts which launched a campaign urging Mr Williamson to rethink his strategy.

General secretary of the arts union Equity, Paul Fleming, said his organisation also “opposes these cuts in the strongest terms”.

He said: “This is yet another government attack on arts education, following years of deprioritising

drama and other creative subjects in our schools.”

“What is most troubling about the proposal to cut 50% of funding... is that it blocks a route into the creative industries for working class and other marginalised groups.”

When contacted for comment, the Department for Education noted that these reforms “would only affect a small proportion of the income of higher education providers,” and that the Department has asked the OfS to “to allocate an additional £10m to our world-leading specialist providers, including several top arts institu-

tions.”

The Department for Education also noted that the Government’s proposed reforms “are designed to target taxpayers’ money towards the subjects which support the skills this country needs to build back better, such as those that support the NHS, high-cost STEM subjects.”

The OfS are still consulting on proposals, and will be taking account of responses before deciding on a final method.

Image credit: U.S. Secretary of Defense / CC BY 2.0

Pea plants provide insights for sustainable agriculture Matilda Gettins

Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences conducted a study on the ability of pea plants to allocate resources efficiently. The study found that pea plants are able to allocate sugar to symbiotic bacterial partners based on their effectiveness and conditional on the availability of better alternatives. The researchers hope that their insights might help reduce the need for artificial nitrogen-based fertilisers.

As global agriculture intensifies, the demand for nitrogen-based fertilisers is set to increase. They are produced by the Haber process, which uses natural gas to produce ammonia. The Haber process is highly energy-intensive, thus contributing to climate change since fossil fuels are burned to provide power. 1% of the world’s energy supply is used in the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers.

In addition, the use of these fertilisers has damaging effects on local ecosystems, causing ‘dead zones’ and harmful algal blooms.

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all plants, and is the limiting factor for much of global plant growth. However, most plants can’t absorb nitrogen from the air, and are only able to absorb it from the soil via their roots. This is where legumes such as pea plants come in.

Legumes are able to form mutually-beneficial (symbiotic

relationships with bacteria in the soil called Rhizobia bacteria. These bacteria are able to convert nitrogen into ammonium, which plants are able to absorb and use - a process referred to as “fixing nitrogen”.

In return, the legumes house the bacteria in specialised root nodules, and supply them with energy-rich sugars.

Most pea plants house multiple different rhizobia (soil bacteria) strains, which vary in their ability to fix nitrogen. Having only a limited sugar supply, pea plants need to ‘choose’ which strains to supply.

Before the study, researchers already knew that pea plants cut off the sugar supply to non-fixing strains. However, there had been no investigation into the allocation between strains with different levels of effectiveness.

To research this allocation process, the researchers treated the plants with a geneticallyengineered strain with an intermediate ability to fix nitrogen. The pea plants responded to this strain differently conditional on the other available options: if only worse fixers were available, the plant supplied a lot of sugar and the bacteriahousing nodule grew large; if a better fixer was available, the sugar supply was cut off, and the nodule shrunk.

However, sugar was not simply allocated in proportion to the nitrogen supplied. Instead, less efficient

RESEARCH

rhizobia strains w e r e sanctioned early on when better strains became available, s u g g e s ting that pea plants have a sort of mechan i s m allow ing them to compare the effectiveness of different bacteria.

Professor Phil Poole, a co-supervisor of the study said: “Understanding how plants manage their interactions with bacteria could help us select plants which are better at choosing effective bacterial partners. This could reduce the demand for nitrogen fertilisers”.

Dr Lindsay Turnbull, another co-supervisor, said: “This is a key development as previous research in this area used naturally-occurring bacteria which may have differed in many characteristics. In this study, the bacterial strains were genetically altered to provide different levels of nitrogen, so we can be sure that changes in the plant’s response are due to differences in their ability to supply nitrogen”.

7 | Editorial

EDITORIAL

Abigail Howe | Editor-in-Chief

L

ast week, millions of voters across Britain exercised their right to participate in fair and democratic elections. This week, plans were announced to introduce compulsory voter ID. Let’s start with the numbers. Of the 595 alleged cases of electoral fraud investigated by the police in 2019 only 33 related to voter impersonation at a polling station – that is just 0.000057% of the over 58 million votes cast in all the elections that took place that year. In the last election there were only six cases of people voting fraudulently across the entire country. Contrastingly, 3.5 million people don’t have access to any form of photo identification in the UK. Even for those who do already have photo ID, these aren’t deemed to be equal. In Bromley’s 2018 trial of voter identification, the 60+ Oyster Card was accepted as a valid form of ID, while an 18+ Student Oyster Card was rejected. Similarly, as non-photo identification, mortgage statements were accepted; rent books were not.

Now, at least, the government has suggested that free forms of ID will be available from local councils; the UK currently has no such option available. In many of the countries used by the government as examples of successful

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

Editor-in-Chief | Trudy Ross

T

CW: sexual harrassment. his week you might have noticed, sandwiched between pint order confirmations, FIXR bookings and various people’s JCR manifestos, an email from the Oxford University Department of Social Policy and Intervention. If you opened it you’d have learned that OUR SPACE has launched a survey which aims to help them understand relationships, sexual harassment, and sexual violence at our university. While this survey is a good thing and certainly a necessary thing, particularly given the rise in demand for the university’s Sexual Harassment and Violence Support Service, I wondered what issues it might raise.

“Why are they sending this out now?” my friend asked; “everything will be different when clubs open - groping and stuff.” The fact that we think of clubbing as something which will doubtlessly involve some level of violation is disturbing, to say the least. But what really struck me about what she said was that her concern implied that the pandemic is changing our trauma, our fears, the way perpetrators carry out crimes, and the way victims are left to deal with them.

Of course, it isn’t as simple as no clubs = less groping. Cases carried out by someone the victim

voter ID schemes, this is a given already.

Alongside the bureaucratic rigmarole and concerns for civil liberties, it’s estimated that this will cost £20 million per election – or £3.3 million for each confirmed fraudulent voter in the last one. Beyond this, any use of voter ID means poll workers are forced to decide who is truly themselves; you’d better hope you still look similar enough to your passport photo (I know I certainly don’t - thank goodness!)

Any government which – having been in power for eleven years – claims that voter fraud allows for voter suppression is undermining its own mandate to rule. And this certainly hasn’t been the case in previous analysis of the current voting system. In March of this year, the Cabinet Office published a joint statement from the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments, proudly declaring that “the United Kingdom is world-renowned for running elections of the highest standards in which voters can have full confidence.” This is certainly a far cry from the Cabinet Office’s recent support for a voter ID scheme which they claim will “combat the inexcusable potential for voter fraud in our current system.”

Boris Johnson previously pledged to eat any ID card he was obliged to show. Let’s see if he’ll eat his words instead.

knows (which already make up the majority) are on the rise, and in many cases so is the intensity of the need for external support. Now more than ever, some people are having to face things alone. We need to look not only at the way experiences with sexual violence is changing, and will continue to change as restrictions ease, but also at the needs of victims. With online classes and restrictions on in-person socialising, our sense of isolation and alienation are worse than ever. Despite the efforts of many charities and university services, how effective can virtual support be?

Surveys like the OUR SPACE will definitely be useful. But with issues as complex as these, we need to bear context in mind. Out of all the students in Oxford, who are the most likely to respond to a survey like this? Those with an awareness of these issues, or those who would rather ignore them? A student who has stayed at home for most of the past year will naturally be less likely to report incidents involving other Oxford students. This does not mean success for the uni. Answers should be interpreted carefully and sensitively, with an awareness of the covid timeline. It’s not no clubs = less groping. It’s not less incidents = big Oxford win. These are problems which deserve time and careful attention, and cannot be solved by a survey.

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Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

8

comment

ADHD AMONGST THE DREAMING SPIRES IK REFLECTS ON THEIR EXPERIENCE AS AN OXFORD STUDENT WITH ADHD.

CW: references to eating disorders, addiction.

“W

hat the f*** is that?!” my friend blurted out, astounded.

She’d just entered my room, to see my neatly-made bed, my pristine, spacious floor, and… a pile of one hundred plastic bags, floating on top of each other, gently tossed to one side. “I mean to reuse them,” I said, “but I can never remember to take them to the shops with me.” She stared as if she was still waiting for an explanation.

I have several stories like this. I was once half an hour early for a train, and then missed it because I was staring into space. I once sat an exam and answered every question twice… except the last one, which I forgot to read. I discovered my housemate had cacti only because I injured myself on them - twice.

“Airhead”, “ditsy”, “messy”, are words I previously used to describe myself, until I discovered four earth-shattering letters: A-D-H-D. I can’t say there was a time when things started to feel wrong, since for me they never exactly felt right.

As a child, I could tell adults spoke to me differently. As a teenager, I was relentlessly bullied.

Oxford was, in many ways, my redemption. The status distracted me from my failures and the opportunities afforded protection to me. As soon as I arrived here though, things started to fall apart. I missed deadlines; I missed lectures; I arrived 40 minutes late to most of my classes. Anything social was irresistible to me, even at midnight before a 9:00 a.m lecture. Socialising turned into heavy drinking; heavy drinking turned into risking my life.

A key difference between myself and my peers was they appeared to have some sort of “stop” threshold.

After all nighters they’d have an early night in; I’d celebrate by meeting friends in the bar. After an essay crisis they’d manage their work better the next week; I’d up the crisis without even realising. By the end of first term they appeared fully fledged Oxford students, while I dealt with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. It became clear to others I was struggling, and among many this invited empathy; I have a lot of love for those who supported me at my most vulnerable.

In a competitive environment, however, it also can breed oneuppance and disrespect. People sometimes asked me how my work was going, knowing my answer would make them feel better about themselves. People casually called me a “mess”, and appeared to enjoy pointing out my flaws to me. ADHDers respond to criticism extremely sensitively, and so I deeply internalized this. So, I hyperfocused myself away from self loathing. In other words, I was a workaholic.

The issue is that this approach lacks balance. The parts of my life I’d neglected eventually

caught up with me. And then came depression. I crashed.

Since then, I’ve been in a familiar cycle – work, hold it together, crash, repeat. Sometimes it’s on an hourly basis, sometimes it’s over the course of months.

I sort my sleep schedule. I attend all my appointments. I feel a calm, satisfactory peace. Then over time, an emptiness is unmasked — I feel disconnected, hollow, and in constant strife. Life is just swimming so you don’t drown, I think to myself.

Will I ever feel truly rewarded?

So I slip. I go on my phone for 8 hours; I wake up drunk and needing to vomit; I leave a deadline until five hours before it’s due. Or it might be smaller — I order a takeaway instead of cooking for myself, and it just escalates. It’s like jenga. I build a tower, I gradually remove blocks, and then BAM! I collapse.

As I researched ADHD, my life shifted into perspective. Years of social humiliation, confusion, and failures suddenly made sense.

I burst into tears when I read

and every letter every single time you touch the keyboard. Imagine you’re trying to walk, and must consciously and individually move every single muscle in your leg.

This is what planning, organizing, remembering, and regulating is like for us. For this reason, selfawareness alone doesn’t help much.

Secondary symptoms are scars which arise over a lifetime battle.

They are particularly pervasive when we’re not diagnosed in childhood.

Before I was diagnosed, I often felt like I didn’t know quite how to be human. I put in effort, yet rarely succeeded; my attempts to connect were met with rejection: I felt on the outside of “life” because I could not become truly engaged with anything.

I’d often lie in bed with thoughts whirling around in my head about how I’m worthless and a failure. The experience I’m describing here is called Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) — 98-99% of people with ADHD have it. Criticism and failure are extremely, intensely painful.

In an attempt to avoid it, we may obsess over our failures, become “IT’S LIKE JENGA. I BUILD career obsessed, develop an eating A TOWER, I GRADUALLY disorder, give up on trying entirely, REMOVE BLOCKS, AND or in my case: THEN BAM! I COLLAPSE.” people pleasing.

I regularly compromise my about the neuroscience of it. To own safety, values and needs, for focus on tasks, a brain must be fear of angering others by being engaged. In a neurotypical brain, me. Much of my life is spent hiding. a careful balance of chemicals The ADHD nervous system can called neurotransmitters ensures contribute to RSD. It’s not hard to this. Dopamine ensures they can see how sensitivity and hyperfocus start a task and pay attention may lead one to be vigilant of failure. to it.

Noradrenaline keeps It’s worth noting too though, that them awake and undistracted. the world constantly tells us we’re In ADHD brains, dopamine and not trying hard enough. When I noradrenaline are dysregulated. sought help, I was frequently told This causes us to flit between that nothing was wrong with me, very-low and very-high levels of I should “try harder”, and that activity. If we aren’t motivated to the problems I was experiencing complete a task, then when we try were normal - including by many to concentrate on it our brains shut health professionals. Often people down or flood with distractions. would claim I was creating my Studying feels like a constant battle. concentration issues - pointing I think of three things at once while to my caffeine or alcohol reading my lecture notes; I have consumption as evidence of this. the constant impulse to check my I believed everything was my fault phone; I sometimes even become and that I was looking for excuses. drowsy and lose consciousness.

This actually stopped me from When we encounter a task which seeking help. Or rather, it stopped is motivating, our nervous systems me from seeking help for the third flood with motivation and reward time. I was 17 when I was referred this state is called hyperfocus, and to Child and Adolescent Mental we have no direct control over it.

Health Services. I was 19 when I We are so focused on one particular was discharged from Oxfordshire task that we lose all sense of time, Adult Services and told “missing proportion and consequences. I your lectures doesn’t mean you sometimes become obsessed with my have a mental health problem” as problem sheets; I daydream all day tears rolled down my cheeks. This thinking of a single good memory; I type of neglect is lethal: one in four wrote the first draft of this article in women with ADHD attempt suicide. a single night, and didn’t feel tired.

Most doctors refuse to accept These immediate effects are that ADHD exists. In fact, the NHS primary symptoms. They create didn’t recognise it as valid until disruption at any given moment, 2000 (for children) and 2008 (for and then it snowballs throughout adults). When I and most other the day. One of the most crippling ADHDers were born, our parents had symptoms of ADHD is executive no resources or sources of support. dysfunction. Imagine you’re trying The world blames them as “bad to type, but must manually find each parents”, and they may internalize

it, or grow to resent us. At least 40% struggles we face aren’t purely of our parents have ADHD too, and the consequences of our nervous so may already be struggling to cope. systems. We’re forced to be people We spend our childhoods wondering we aren’t, shamed when we can’t what’s wrong with us, and why we’re live up to it, and given the wrong causing our family so much pain. advice, consistently. Diagnosis and Substance abuse is another treatment can be life changing, since extremely common symptom. they break this destructive pattern.

Alcohol, marijuana, and stimulants Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, are the most common drugs of and Gillian Lynne (the choreographer choice, because the influx of of Cats) are among the may people dopamine alleviates our symptoms. who demonstrate ADHD neurotypes.

Cocaine, in particular, is similar to Will.I.Am, founder of the Black Ritalin (an ADHD medication). When Eyed Peas, credits his ADHD for his we take it, many of us feel calmer creativity. Simone Biles, who has 30 and more sober than we would Olympic and World Championship without it. Upon learning this I felt medals, recently tweeted she’s betrayed by my brain - like I’d been not ashamed of her ADHD. born with an addiction to anything We are not deficient, we are and everything. I recalled the times different, and we’re raised not to I’d drunk spirits specifically so I know who we are. A few months ago I could complete my problem sheets, suspended my studies, so I can focus and the way this was laughed off by on addressing my ADHD. I’d be lying anyone I told.

ADHD brains “BY THE END OF FIRST TERM, and substancedependent MY FRIENDS APPEARED AS brains have FULLY FLEDGED OXFORD s i m i l a r dysregulation of STUDENTS, WHILE I DEALT the dopamine WITH THE SYMPTOMS OF reward system.

Many of ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL.” us don’t take these drugs to feel high; we take them to feel if I said I wasn’t frustrated, but forcing sober. The combination of ableism, myself into a neurotypical timeline trauma, and a binary nervous system has only ever hurt me. Medication can make for a toxic combination. is already having a profound effect ADHD has a lot of comorbidities, on me; I feel closer to “CEO ADHD” though it is also commonly than I do to “crisis point ADHD”. misdiagnosed. On average, an adult My struggles still feel like an will go through 6.6 antidepressant overwhelming, vicious wilderness, trials before finally being diagosed but now instead of fumbling around with ADHD. ADHD may mask as blindfolded I see footsteps of those or occur with other conditions, who’ve walked before. Through such as Depression, Anxiety, OCD, medication, support groups, and and addiction, amongst others.

ADHD Life Coaching, I can glue my Despite the challenges I’ve faced, fragmented self together — not for ADHD is not a flaw, nor a death the second, third, tenth or seven sentence. My hyperfocus is exactly hundredth time, but for the first. what got me into Oxford - I was Now this isn’t just stimulating — this addicted to solving maths problems, is truly magnificent and exciting. and my hyperfocus compensated for my inability to sleep. The Artwork by Gbenga Chesterman.

9

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

OX F O R D’S FA I L U R E W I T H E AT I N G D I S O R D E R S JAYA RANA DISCUSSES HOW THE UNIVERSITY’S SUPPORT MUST IMPROVE.

S

o much of the typical university experience centres around food and drink; and this is perhaps the case even more so at the University of Oxford. With not only a culture of club nights, takeaways, and kebab vans (which most universities propagate), at Oxford we socialise through college formals, balls, crew dates, welfare teas and so much more.

For those of us who have a history of disordered eating, this can prove pretty anxiety-inducing.

Not to mention, with the highly anticipated June 21st rapidly approaching and the social eating that will come with this, the pressure to get the perfect body is more extreme than ever.

While many people restrict their eating due to having a perfectionist nature and a desire to meet the current beauty standard, others link their disorder to a need for control and order, emphasising that it has nothing at all to do with body image. It is generally accepted that Eating Disorders are worsened, and in some cases, entirely caused, by stress. This places Oxford students at a higher risk considering the elevated academic pressures we face in comparison to our friends at other universities. Rather than being expected to complete a couple of essays or problem sheets a term, we are confronted with at least one per week. It is therefore unsurprising that disordered eating is so prolific at our university. According to a survey organised by the SU in 2016, at least 1200 students at the University of Oxford are struggling with an ED, and these are only the ones who have spoken out. Given the fact that the number of people seeking help for mental illnesses since Covid

has increased exponentially, it is a fair assumption to believe that there are far more than 1200 students suffering from EDs now.

Studies carried out by the National Institute for Health Care Excellence and Beat recognised that between 1.25 and 3.4 million people in the UK suffer from EDs, and that the average age of onset for anorexia nervosa is 17 years old. This, paired with the anxiety of leaving home, and the pressure to have improved oneself physically (a culture cultivated by lockdown), we need support from our university now more than ever.

The rise of TikTok alongside the increase in ‘at home’ blogger/ influencer content means that a

“I H AV E B E E N TOL D TH AT TH E U N I V E RS ITY S IM P LY DOE S N’T H AV E T H E FAC IL ITIE S O R S U P PORT TO H E L P W I T H AN E D. ” lot of what we have seen on social media during lockdown has been about food and exercise. Namely, many ‘what I eat in a day’ videos which promote undereating, as well as unsustainable and unattainable workout regimes.

Beat has seen a 140% rise in the number of people accessing support since 2020. EDs have the highest mortality rates among all psychiatric disorders, and research suggests that the earlier treatment is sought, the better the sufferer’s chance of recovery.

For these reasons, it is shocking, and frankly devastating that, having used the Oxford University’s Counselling Service myself, I can attest to specific

instances in which I have been told that the University simply doesn’t have the facilities or support to help me deal with an ED, and that, while they’re happy to listen, and to provide support in other aspects of my life, it is simply beyond their remit. Given the prevalence of EDs, not only among our age group but with the elevated risk (due to the intensity of our workload), it is hugely distressing to know that there is not a single counsellor or therapist in the Service trained in one of the most common psychiatric disorders.

While the Counselling Service offers personal and group therapy for dealing with issues such as anxiety and body image, it was made explicitly clear to myself and to other students that EDs should not, and indeed, must not, be discussed in these sessions. The counsellors told us that they want us to separate body image issues and Eating Disorders, as they are too much to handle together, and because they are not trained in working with EDs. To me – and evidently to many others using the Counselling Service – EDs and body image problems are not something which can ever be separated: they are two expressions of the same thing.

Conversation surrounding food in any form was strictly prohibited in our therapy sessions, and this rule was extended to our private communication with one another as well; we were told that we mustn’t mention food to each other in any way.

Considering the intrinsic link between body dysmorphia/body image issues and restrictive eating, this forced segregation is unhelpful and potentially dangerous. By banning any talk of food and EDs in sessions with students who are openly seeking help and advice, and

Wes Beckett on... May 17th

simultaneously offering them no alternative forum to discuss these issues, the university forces us to internalise our EDs and to battle them alone. Bearing in mind that the Service’s therapy groups only operate in term-time, and that we are encouraged to engage in only one form of counselling (i.e. to leave any one-on-one therapy), we face over a month with no professional help for our EDs during the vacation. Our one support network, namely, our friends suffering from similar conditions, are also revoked. This March, my group were given an ultimatum by our councillors: to either leave group therapy halfway through our course of treatment, or to disband our group chat and private communication.

Some people may be asking why we don’t simply seek help outside of the university. For the majority, for whom private healthcare is not an option, the NHS waiting lists are simply too long to ever be practical, and this itself is evidence of the national Eating Disorder crisis we face in the UK. For instance, the waiting time at Cotswold House for ED services is

25 months as of 2020. Expecting someone to suffer alone for over two years is simply not acceptable, and often, life-threatening. Beat has been running a campaign to End the Eating Disorder crisis, by urging the Vice Chancellor to recognise this huge issue in the university. Through an open letter Beat urges the Counselling Service to hire a trained dietician and for college nurses to be educated in managing Eating Disorders.

According to a Beat student survey in 2020, 70% of students who engaged with the University Counselling Service expressed feeling that their counsellor or nurse did not have sufficient experience or knowledge of EDs. From both personal experience and those of many of my friends, I can confirm that counsellors in the Service have explicitly stated that such issues surrounding EDs are ‘too complex’, and support simply cannot be provided by the university.

Image credit: Beat ED Charity via Flickr / Licence: CC BY 3.0.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

10

science & technology

W H AT’S T H E D E A L W I T H B A L L E R I N E?

T

SASHA MILLS LOOKS FURTHER INTO THIS INNOVATIVE FORM OF CONTRACEPTION.

he Copper IUD, colloquially known as the coil, is one of the few non-hormonal contraceptive methods available outside of condoms, and can last for between 5 and 10 years before needing to be replaced. Still, the IUD remains one of the least popular contraceptive methods worldwide.

The IUD is inserted into the womb, a process that has often been described as painful by the people that have undertaken the procedure.

Simone Fraser, a graduate from the University of Oxford, experienced what she described as “really intense period pain for a few seconds” during the procedure, and soreness for a few days after. Although she described the experience as worth it overall and a “positive choice” for her, Simone also suggested that having the IUD has increased the period pain that she experiences overall.

TECH TIDBITS

Some people also experience issues with the IUD staying in.

Elliott Rose, a current Oxford student, described the initial process of having the IUD put in as not especially painful, noting that it was “over fairly quickly”. However, after a month he experienced a feeling that suggested that the IUD had started to fall out, and upon visiting his local clinic experienced what he described as “the worst medical transphobia” he’d ever experienced, and was shamed by clinicians for requesting that his IUD be removed.

The IUB Ballerine, a new form of contraception, hopes to solve some of the problems that users have faced with the IUD. At around half the size of a traditional IUD device and with a spherical design rather than a traditional T-shape, it markets itself on being more well-suited to the womb. Daniela Schardinger, a representative for the manufacturer

of Ballerine, told Refinery29 that the device “was invented to be totally spherical so no matter which way it turns, it will always relate to the uterus in the same way," which they believe will help reduce the risk of perforation.

A study conducted of the realworld effectiveness of the Ballerine IUB found that the majority of participants experienced only ‘light’ period pain after going on the IUB, and that 81.4% of the participants would recommend the IUB as a form of contraception. A larger, collated study by the same researchers concluded that the “high userreported tolerability, likely due to improved device conformity with uterine anatomy, will inevitably promote long-term user persistence, subsequently reducing unintended pregnancy rates.”

So how available is the Ballerine IUB in the UK? Well, right now you

can only have the contraception inserted through private healthcare.

The manufacturers of Ballerine, OCON Medical, hope that the contraception could be available on the NHS by the end of 2021 – with the product already available over

W I L L B I D E N’S C L I M AT E S U M M I T S U CC E E D?

large parts of Europe, Scandinavia, and some parts of Africa, it doesn’t seem hard to believe that the IUB could be widespread soon.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org.

Artwork by Aleksandra Pluta.

SCIENCE SNIPPETS

JOHANNES MOEHRLE REFLECTS ON THE NEW PRESIDENT’S CLIMATE COMMITTMENTS. Following his ban by Twitter and suspension by Facebook and Youtube after the Capitol riots in January, Donald Trump has launched a new “communications” website that publishes content “straight from the desk”.

Users will be able to like posts and share them on their own Twitter and Facebook.

Since Cherwell last reported on the rise of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, it has skyrocketed to an all time high value of $0.73 dollars on May 8th, giving it a whopping market cap of $93 billion.

After making Doge’s price “moon”, Elon Musk has now promised to literally take it there.

He tweeted that SpaceX will be launching a “Doge-1” satellite to the moon next year. The mission will be paid for in Dogecoins.

Image credit: forextime.com / CC BY 2.0

B

y organising the virtual climate summit in April, Joe Biden didn’t fail to address one of his most important campaign promises, which is to tackle climate change in unprecedented ways. After four years of climate change denial under Donald Trump, this summit, which brought leaders of 40 countries together, and Biden’s vow to halve the United States’ emissions by 2030, places the President and his country as new leaders in the fight against what he (rightly) considers to be the “existential crisis of our time”.

However, despite displaying this proactive attitude to fighting climate change, Biden’s plans for America and the rest of the world are fragile; for now, no one can confirm whether he will succeed in uniting the world around this pressing issue. Looking at the history of climate politics, it wouldn’t be the first time that promises are not kept when it comes to reducing emissions and increasing sustainability. Nonetheless, there are always some who do believe that “it’s different this time”, and it’s true that Biden’s extraordinary summit leaves room for optimism — so let’s start by looking at what can keep our hopes alive.

Following Biden’s initiative to set more ambitious goals at home, other countries have decided to readjust their targets too. Justin Trudeau, who has been criticised and labelled a “climate laggard”, because of Canada’s lack of impetus in reducing their emissions, has made a commitment

to reduce Canada’s emissions by 4045% from 2005 levels by 2030, as opposed to the initially planned 30%.

Similarly, Japan pledged to go carbon neutral by 2050, which puts them in line with the European Union as well as with America. Closer to home, Boris Johnson praised Biden for “returning the US to the front rank of the fight against climate change” and his government announced plans to cut the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. But will this list of commitments, pledges and targets suffice?

You might have noticed that Russia weren’t featured in the previous listing of “hopeful” promises. Indeed, Biden might consider himself lucky that Vladimir Putin was at all present for the discussions, given the tense relationship he has with the United States. The president of the Russian federation hasn’t made any vows to reduce Russia’s dependency on fossil fuels; in fact, Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen in the past few years, and so has the country’s oil exportation, another matter that Putin did not address. Needless to say, unless those who contribute the most to the destruction of the planet are ready to make a significant effort on their own and together, Biden’s summit can be considered a flop.

Even for the countries who did make commitments, these are not binding words. Most countries are not on track to meet the goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement.

According to the Climate Action

Tracker (CAT), Gambia and Morocco are the only countries whose climate policies are compatible with the targets set by the agreement. With most countries’ efforts deemed as “insufficient”, “highly”, or “critically insufficient”, it is difficult to believe that Biden’s summit will suddenly galvanise countries around the world to change their ways. In fact, even at home, Biden’s plan to cut emissions is going to prove difficult. Congress is yet to be convinced, and even with the Democrats’ majority this isn’t a given. With no guarantee of how long Biden will stay in power and who could potentially replace him in the oval office, his efforts might be interrupted after just one term.

If Biden wants to mark a real turning point, he needs to do more. He will have to take actions by reviewing trade deals with certain countries — a step that no countries have previously taken for environmental reasons.

Such measures will undoubtedly affect the lifestyle of most Americans, which is probably enough of a reason for any president to avoid acting this way. Even if Biden’s efforts to lead the transition to a more sustainable world are commendable, America can no longer be the sole driving force for change. This time there needs to be a joint effort from all countries to fully commit to making the fight against climate change their top priority. If they do not, “uncertain” would be an understatement when talking about the future of humanity.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org.

Early treatment with the inhaled asthma drug budesonide shortens recovery time by a median of three days in patients with COVID-19 who are at higher risk of more severe illness and are treated in the community, finds an Oxford University trial.

Image credit: NIAID / CC BY 2.0

Several key locations where the seafloor bottoms out have been mapped in precise detail by the Five Deeps Expedition, such as the 10,924m deep Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.

It has removed a number of remaining uncertainties, such as competing claims in the Indian Ocean for the deepest point.

CUL CHER

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Vol.294 No.3| 3rd Week

CulCher | Friday, 14th May 2021

2

CONTENTS CULCHER

page 2 | Billie Eilish and Exhaustion page 3 | Let’s work this out, gals

THE SOURCE

page 4-5 | Cuntry Living collab: private parts

BOOKS

page 6 | On the shoulders of giants

STAGE page 7 | Blink or you’ll miss it

MUSIC

page 8 | ‘Liverpool’s first dance’

FILM page 9 | Highs and lows of Riverdale

FASHION

page 10-11 | Digital fashion: the future?

COVER ARTIST MIA CLEMENT I’m Mia, a first-year undergrad studying Geography at Christ Church.

I very much come into all creative and media styles with intersectionality and climate action in mind. Bright colours and tones with hopeful messaging can help make the narrative of climate action positive and engaging, bringing together a variety of people and audiences.

As you can see I utilise text to always make sure my imagery has both visual and literal meaning. Behind the earth are a variety of quotes saying how we need global action for sustainability across the board, from ecological restoration to social equity.

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. As seen at the bottom of the drawing, activists are upholding and acting on the words above them. Individuals have an immense power to change and educate. Here I will quote anthropologist Margaret Mead: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; it’s the only thing that ever has.’’

You can find Mia’s weekly updates on topics such as Climate Optimism on her social media @ climatemia.

BILLIE EILISH

AND THE EXHAUSTION OF BEING A YOUNG WOMAN IN THE PUBLIC EYE

S

ince Billie Eilish burst onto the pop music scene in 2016 with ‘Ocean Eyes’, her voice has reverberated around many a bedroom, club, and festival, cementing her as one of the defining female voices of our generation.

She is the youngest person and second in history to win all four major awards at the Grammys. She has won two Guinness World Records and sang a Bond theme song aged just 18. The list is endless, making it irrefutable to say that Eilish is one of, if not, the, most accomplished young female music artists of our generation.

So when her British Vogue cover broke this week, I anticipated comments about her accolades, about the candid conversation she has engaged in surrounding her Tourette’s Syndrome, and excitement for her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, which is set to be released this coming July.

Yet social media was whipped into heated debate about her outfit choice.

Eilish’s entire interview — her thoughts, her words, her feelings — was swept under the rug, overshadowed by her ‘new look’ which many people felt invited them to discuss, and, as is the wonderful way of social media, rip apart (“She finally sold her soul, don’t expect her to go back to baggy stuff now!... proof that money can make you change your values,” wrote one Twitter user).

A unique sense of fashion defined Eilish’s look as she came of age in the public

sphere, with much of the media attention surrounding her focused on her taste for baggy clothing; it is understandable that this new look would generate a buzz, almost appearing as a milestone on her journey into adulthood — a taste of the new Billie to come. However, the whirling discussion of Eilish’s decision to pose in corsets and lingerie for Vogue has completely saturated the internet in the past week. Many comments exuded anger, branding her a sellout, even threatening to boycott her music.

Eilish was, until last year, when she turned 18, a child. Her decision to cover up was to protect herself from the hounding and over-sexualisation of young people, particularly young women, in the media.

You only need to take one look at a tabloid newspaper and this will become clear as day. Upon wearing a tank top years ago, pictures of her chest went viral, with disgusting, predatory comments circulating — about a teenage girl. A child.

So she continued to cover up, explaining in a Calvin Klein campaign: “I never want the world to know everything about me. I mean, that’s why I wear big baggy clothes: Nobody can have an opinion, because they haven’t seen what’s underneath, you know?”.

Even then, she was attacked for her ‘weird’ dress sense, ridiculed and mocked; scrutinised for avoiding scrutiny itself.

Women do not owe you sex appeal, in the same way they do not owe you modesty.

BY OLIVIA MCQUAID

They owe you nothing. She was evidently not coerced into this shoot, and responded to the backlash on Instagram commenting “I love these pictures and I loved doing this shoot”.

And while women in the public sphere should never feel pressured into taking off their clothes for a photo shoot, so what if they do choose to? Choice is the key word — Eilish chose to cover up, and she can choose at any point to cover up again.

The whole fiasco reminded me of the age old saying: ‘you can’t do right for doing wrong’ — young women cannot avoid scrutiny, no matter what they do. And it is exhausting. It is exhausting to be told that your humanities course is ‘girly’ and therefore ‘easy’, it is exhausting to be told that you only got onto your STEM degree because ‘you’re a girl’. It is exhausting to be a prude if you cover up, but a slut if you don’t.

It is exhausting to see yet another bright, brilliant, talented woman heckled for her clothing choice and for her achievements to be neglected for the sake of commenting on how much leg or chest she may have decided to show.

Enough is enough, I am exhausted of this very exhaustion. And so I embrace Eilish’s own words: “Do whatever you want, whenever you want. F**k everything else”.

Artwork by Aleksandra Pluta.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | CulCher

3

‘DISASTROUS’ FINALES:

WHY ‘LINE OF DUTY’ BREAKS THE MOULD

BY LUCAS JONES

Spoiler warning: Line of Duty (S6, 2021)

I

t’s safe to say that Line of Duty’s Season 6 (and perhaps ultimate) conclusion left a lot of viewers frustrated. The police drama’s ending managed to get ‘#disappointing’ trending on Twitter in the wake of writer Jed Mercurio’s decision to go with a “down” ending. To be fair, I can understand why. We’ve come to expect an unachievable level of complexity from Line of Duty, so the relative simplicity we got from its finale was tough to take. Turns out H wasn’t some criminal mastermind at the top of the police service, nor was he deeply embedded in AC12. He was just some bloke who liked a game of golf.

Viewers were quick to make comparisons to the disastrous endings of other hit shows.

Game of Thrones, which has become a byword for horrific finales, actually managed to trend on Twitter in its own right on the night that Line of Duty’s last episode aired. They are, however, fundamentally different in a simple way: the ending to Line of Duty was supposed to disappoint, Game of Thrones did it unintentionally.

The ratings speak for themselves. Take the last two episodes of Game of Thrones, which are the lowest rated from the entire 73 episode franchise (a measly average of 48% on Rotten Tomatoes). People despised the end of the fantasy world because it satisfied no one. There was no build up to Daenerys’ frenzied outbreak in The Bells, nor was there any gratification in seeing the White Walkers obliterated like nothing after a contrived, terribly-lit fight scene. Game of Thrones’ fan

base was far too large for the ending to please everybody, but it is impressive that, given the sheer scale of the audience, they managed to please absolutely nobody.

Line of Duty struggled to resolve dozens of plot lines in a short time-span. In a hyperconnected modern world where people can constantly discuss, theorise, and rewatch, the audience will notice if any plot point is left untouched. The writers are forced to reckon with every minute detail, which can very easily become clumsy. Take the discovery of a conveniently-placed box that contained the murder weapon for literally every unsolved killing in Line of Duty’s decade on television, or the completely out-of-the-blue destruction of the White Walker king in Game of Thrones which instantly wiped out the most dangerous villain in the entire series.

This is, however, where the similarities end.

For all the flak it received on social media in the hours after the finale, Line of Duty’s last episode didn’t tank in the ratings anywhere near the way Game of Thrones did. Jed Mercurio’s fiery exchanges with Twitter pundits led him to post the audience ratings for the last episode, which show that 28% of a random selection of viewers rated the episode 10/10, while around 85% of that same selection rated the last episode above 5/10. The ratings for each episode in the last series varied by less than 10%, proving that the hysterics we witnessed on Twitter don’t really paint an accurate picture of how the audience interacted with the finale.

Anyone who fails to understand the reason for this disconnect between ratings and reactions hasn’t watched Jed Mercurio’s TV before.

He’s a master of criticising institutions that are lauded in the UK and his sense of humour is extremely dark. He has never been afraid of making uncomfortable television. If you don’t believe me, watch Bodies, a show in which an administrative error almost results in an accidental sterilisation ten minutes into the first episode. It’s gritty, but that’s the point.

The last season of Line of Duty took a very political line, focussing on corruption in politics and law enforcement with reference to events that clearly mirror the appalling justices of real life (including a notable parallel to Stephen Lawrence’s tragic death). In this context, the finale was anything but a disaster. The disappointment people expressed on Twitter was, in large part, a displaced reaction to the realisation that there wasn’t some supervillain pulling strings from behind the scenes. It was a combination of greedy idiots and children who had been groomed for years to infiltrate the police force. It’s not satisfying because you can’t defeat greed. There are, and will always be, more bent coppers on the take.

This season of Line of Duty was more than a police drama. Instead of lauding the justice system like most ‘cop shows’, it was a brutal interrogation into the myriad failures of policing in the United Kingdom. It forced its audience to reckon with questions of brutality, corruption, and racism while emphasising how difficult it is to change a system that is rotten at the highest level.

We are disappointed because art mirrored life and didn’t fall into the trap of a fairytale ending. Perhaps it wasn’t the ending we wanted, but it was definitely the ending we deserved.

LET’S WORK THIS OUT, GALS

BY LILY SHELDON CW: body image

O

n the 17th of May alongside many other re-openings, the government will finally give the people what we’ve been demanding: Legs, Bums and Tums at the Oxford Pure Gym. I remember lying on my worn-out yoga mat in my mismatched athleisure wear in Michaelmas term wondering where this workout culture began and why it was that I, alongside ten middle age women, was Russian twisting — and whether me trying to gain fitness was assisting patriarchal beauty standards to be reinstated or was an act of empowerment.

Working out has to some degree been valued for centuries. Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula provides the remains of a modern gymnasia that was used to host the eight century Olympic games; athleticism was an ‘art de vivre’. However, Pausanias, a 2nd century writer, reported that women were banned from Olympia during the actual Games under penalty of death, further begging the question as to how society moved from women being murdered at the 200-metre sprint to the thriving ‘hashtag sweat

community’ that exists today.

It wasn’t until the 1920s that women’s bodies were starting to be seen as something that could be changed through working out.

Western culture embraced the ‘New Women’ who were slim; gymnastics was encouraged and the vibro-slim (a device that vibrates your fat off) was even introduced to help reach that goal. In the 50s, workout routines were then further developed because VCRs allowed ‘workouts’ to be on demand, alongside TV programmes which were particularly geared towards white privileged housewives; out of the private sphere, the introduction of gyms classes became a homosocial leisure activity for women.

Society continued to dictate the woman’s body in the 70s and 80s, which saw the growth and decline of Jane Fonda-style leg warmer workout videos and jazzercise. Then the deadly 90s and 2000s encouraged any routine that would reach the idealised size zero, prior to the current 2021 ‘slim thick’ ideal. Throughout history, workout culture has therefore contributed to curating an ‘ideal’ body type for women.

The idea of a ‘healthy lifestyle’ has become a secular religion, the aphorisms

being ‘fitness is the new skinny’, charity work being ‘sponsor me for every squat I do’, and our prophets being the Youtube fitness gurus like Chloe Ting or the athleisure-wear CEO Lorna Jane wanting “to empower every woman to live a life that you love through active living.” Including feminism in the brand to virtue signal that the messianic age is having the ‘slim thick’ body even when it’s biologically and economically unattainable.

Society needs to free itself from the ‘shackles’ that started by telling women that they are too ‘fragile’ to exercise and ended in the form of Instagram and Tiktok and billboards telling us that we are not working out enough. The main message, however, from intersectional feminism, is moderation.

Going to a Legs Bums and Tums class in the morning doesn’t stop you from being a feminist but neither does lying in bed. It’s more about what motivates us to wake up at 8AM to target your legs, bums and tums in the first place. Who are we trying to please?

Let’s work this out gals.

Image credit: Misha Petrishchev via the Noun Project / CC BY 3.0.

CULCHER EDITORIAL

Sat on a tranquil terrace in sunny Venice, indulging in an astonishingly fresh seafood pasta dish, and sipping a glass of wine, I struggle to understand what it is I’m feeling. Embarking on a Year Abroad in the middle of a pandemic lends an intensely surreal quality to the entire experience. After three months living in the enchanting town of Siena, I still find myself realising, whenever I walk past colourful balconies from which women lean out of to pull clothes off washing lines, when I step out of narrow streets into the sprawling main piazza, or even walk into a supermarket, that this is where I am. Not home in Brazil, not at university in England, but – improbably, amazingly, against all odds – abroad, and the shock of this realisation is never lost on me.

There is a remark that recurs among the exchange students – I myself say it now, as we are finally allowed to cross provinces and embark on weekend trips to eerily empty tourist destinations. How lucky are we? Every single moment of enjoyment, every new Italian word that I pick up in daily conversation, is engulfed by this feeling – living in a different country is a transformative experience in normal circumstances, but amidst the intense turmoil we’ve been plunged into, the fact that we still get to be abroad feels miraculous. We talk about our other linguist friends and wonder “Did they make it there in the end?”, as the challenge of our Year Abroad moves beyond language acquisition to include actually getting to your destination.

It’s a strange feeling we’re contending with, a sense that we must savour our opportunity to travel for all those we know who are stuck at home. I think of my partner and how much he loves going for a restaurant meal, of my parents locked away from the bustling streets, and of my teenage sister, stripped of such meaningful rites of passage as her graduation.

Whatever I see, wherever we go, I carry them with me, I Facetime them when I’m struck by the beauty of my surroundings, I tell them stories about these places they’ve dreamed of visiting, this increasingly familiar town I’d love to share with them, and give thanks inwardly.

It is an equally strange experience to find a foreign city gradually becoming your home, after being stuck at home for so long. Because my childhood was delightfully marked by constant moving around between countries, making a home out of an unknown place is a trick that by now I’m adept at performing.

Yet I have not experienced it like this before. Navigating the same oscillating regulations as the local population, experiencing the frustration of the 10 o’clock curfew that all students share, and wishing along with everyone that next week we can travel a bit farther, see and do a bit more, has strangely allowed me to accomplish that which I dreamt of for my Year Abroad – I feel like part of this place, I feel like I belong, as we share with this town the slow, delicate struggle of returning to normality.

In years to come, I will return to my adopted home of Siena, and feel astonished to finally know it, to discover its customary reality, concealed now by the unusually empty piazza, by the restaurants hesitant to open their doors, by the empty university lecture halls. I hope, despite of it all, that after this experience, it might feel ever so slightly like a homecoming.

- Flavia Velasquez Cotini

4

CulCher | Friday, 14th May 2021

E H SO T Private parts. ..

U RC E

There is a temple so holy

X

The is a Temple Holy

Only the most faithful can reach

by Eleanor Zhang

with tender steps, fingertips kneading rubbing curved cobbles down, soothing, smoo

thing

so as not to slip, and keep steady.

You will bring no rations the journey itself you will nourish with a river, through several lakes up in drifing snow flakes and in quivering morning’s dews, down picking and licking, with a reverent tongue is the only way to relish

life, in splashing rippling

son The camera flashed n Gib o s n tki A As I writhed in front of the mirror y Popp f l yse ng M Tugging and stretching to suggest the most i n e Op

expanding anticipation.

The words you mouth, swallow , or breathe in repeated prayers are flowing

echoes of bells in the evening distant, but within arms’ reach

And a lotus will blossom in spring, a fountain

Whilst showing the least.

“You’re so sexy” whispered hot and heavy through the phone “Just take off your panties”

So I did.

laundering its veils and curtains

And posed,

behind which is the secret, sacred lore:

And he said, Open your legs.

there are no closed doors.

The laptop screen flashed As I Googled my symptoms:

I entered the clinical doctor’s office and explained myself “Are you sexually active?” he asked, our eyes never met.

“How often? When? Where? With whom? Long term? short term? Have you had this before?”

Are you clean.

And then he slipped on his lilac gloves,

Cottagecore aesthetic meets sterile PPE. And he said, Open your legs.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | CulCher

5

Privacy is sacrificed, Laid down to be slaughtered.

The stone has been rolled back to reveal an empty tomb where my secrets once lay.

I savour sharing things with you, Shocking you with truths which were for so long sitting submerged in shame waiting to be sifted out and placed in the sun.

It feels like confession.

Or at least how confession is described in those coming-of-age Irish novels.

Except you don’t make me say four Hail Marys and three Our Fathers.

Instead you lie silently, listening as if I were reciting a sermon, trying desperately to store these stories in hope of resurfacing them at any point, proving how well you know me.

Inevitably you forget the details, but I am certain that these snippets have been sandwiched between the other pages that are contained within your Book of Me.

Privacy is sacrificed, but like a martyr, it is reborn in a new heavenly guise - they are now our private parts, not mine.

The dancefloor lights flashed Our eyes met and beckoned.

I was lonely or horny , or lonely and horny .

And our bodies touched and fell into each other.

His hands roamed freely in the pulsating darkness.

So we left for his.

“I can’t wait to get you home” And he barely could

.

His wandering hands more pawing claws, And suddenly I realised I was more lone ly than horny.

My knickers pulled down and a look of dismay on his face.

Not shaved.

No. He crinkled his face.

Re

Credits:

‘There is a Temple Holy’, Eleanor Zhang. Artwork by

Abigail Casson solute.

He had come this far. His conquest was near complete.

And he said, Open your legs.

‘Love is lost on lonely villains and monsters’, by

Leah Stein.

‘Opening Myself’ by Poppy Atkinson Gibson. Artwork by

Grace Spencer, Ruth Thrush, Annabelle Grigg.

So I laid back, Eyes jammed shut, And opened myself.

Submit your creative writing to The Source at: cherwelleditor@gmail.com

CulCher | Friday 14th May 2021

6

books

‘ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS’: A BIBLIO-BIOGRAPHY

W

Wang Sum Luk reflects on the capacity great writers hold to shape and (re)make us.

hat makes a great writer?

Practice, of course, and undoubtedly that unique spark called talent or inspiration.

But as every writer, great or otherwise, knows, the whole business of writing is built on reading. I have ambitions of being a published author, and every story I’ve ever written can be traced in some way back to the fiction I love. Consider, then, this article as a little tip into my mind—a list of the books that played the biggest role in helping me to become the writer I am now.

As I write this, the book that inspired me to be an author is sitting in a bookshelf just a few meters to my left. I wish it had been something weighty and literary by Flaubert or Faulkner, since that’d make for a more dramatic beginning—but the unromantic truth is that it all started with How A Book Is Made

by Aliki Brandenberg. It’s a children’s book which explains the process of publishing through illustrations of anthropomorphic cats and, well…that’s all. But once I read it I knew, in that uncomplicated way in which very small children are very certain of themselves, that I wanted to be an author, and that conviction has stayed with me for as long as I remember.

Fast-forward to my early teens, and I was still a bad writer. I wrote rambling pastiches of Riordan and Rowling, cribbing some metaphors from Ray Bradbury’s short stories if I was feeling particularly inventive.

But then I had the bright idea of looking further afield in my school’s library, and I discovered Hemingway. His concise prose, which valued subtext over verbal flourishes, was exactly what I needed to trim my writing into something worth reading, and I learned the rigorous process of editing, cutting down on unnecessary words and passages. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway still takes pride of place on my bookshelf, and while I’ve moved away from the stark minimalism of his style, I owe him an unmistakable debt.

I was about fifteen when I moved from studying in Hong Kong to a boarding school in England. My parents did so in part to

support my interest in English, and soon after I began my first term in this foreign land, I made my next discovery. An older student in the school’s creative writing society (over-generously) complimented a description in one of my poems by comparing it to T.S. Eliot, leading to me stealing a pocket-sized volume of Eliot’s Selected Poems from an English classroom and reading it until the pages literally fell out. What really captivated me, however, was Eliot’s philosophy of writing. His essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent” argued that authors should draw on the writers before them, with new works critiquing and expanding on older ones, and in this I saw my lack of originality become a strength.

During quarantine, I wrote a web novel that was a response to the tropes and themes which I disliked in YA literature, and I accompanied it with a blog post explaining the story’s nature as a critique of existing fiction. This post was titled “Tradition and the Lack of Individual Talent”— I may not be very original, I reasoned, but at least I can be honest about it.

Now, I may love slow-paced, ambiguous literature, but what I also crave are gripping plots and exhilarating drama, and Raymond Chandler does all of that, nowhere better than in The Big Sleep. Chandler codified the tropes of the private eye novel, with convoluted plots, unscrupulous detectives, and even more unscrupulous femme fatales, which later writers would imitate and never quite be able to match. I first read his novels in preparation for writing a mystery story, and The Big Sleep—despite having a plot so complicated that Chandler literally didn’t understand all the details—was exhilarating and clever, and is my benchmark for the entertainment value that my works aspire to. I suspect that my penchant for filling my stories with manipulative men and femme fatales owes something to Chandler’s workthat, and I just like scenes full of tense dialogue.

Speaking of dialogue (pun intended),

this was something I struggled with for years. The stories I wrote during high school were novel-length exercises in awkward, grating conversations, and I knew that I would have to train myself to do better—especially since I am not blessed with the gift of the gab in real life, giving an extra thrill to the idea of showing off dazzling verbal wit in my stories. I began reading through the plays in my school’s library, examining how they conveyed layers of meaning in conversation, and editing my stories based on what I’d learned. Of all the plays I studied, David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, with its sharp, profanity-laden, infinitely quotable lines and rich subtext about the nature of masculinity within American capitalism, was the most transformative influence on my style, helping me craft the fast-paced exchanges that now fill my stories. Writing conversations remains something that is difficult and exhausting, but at least now, I can be proud of the results.

That said, I still have my share of weaknesses as a writer (and person), one of which being the tendency to take myself a little too seriously. My earlier works sagged under the weight of their ‘Important Social Themes’, trying so hard to be great literature that they forgot to be good entertainment. But when I feel at risk of having my head disappear up my own backside, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are there to keep me from vanishing in a puff of ego. Pratchett’s ability to blend truly hilarious scenes with heartbreaking and thought-provoking ones, from exploring revolutionary politics in Night Watch to faith versus dogmatism in Small Gods, act as a reminder that wisdom and self-seriousness

rarely go together, and that to convince someone of a point, the best way isn’t to preach or harangue, but to find common ground—and what’s more universal than a good joke? And with one of my more successful stories so far being one I wrote half-seriously, beginning it as a way to stay entertained over quarantine and then adding more depth and richness as I went along, I think that reminder has helped.

That brings me to the present, and the last book on my list, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. It may surprise you that I’m not including it because Smith’s writing style influenced mine, although the way she navigates social commentary, humour, and deep empathy for all her characters is something I do hope to learn from. I’m writing about it because of the hope that it represents. Smith finished this novel while studying at Cambridge, and published it soon after to incredible acclaim and, even though I can aspire to a career like hers, I’m also aware that Smith’s commercial success is the exception and not the rule, that all this work and more may never land me a book deal, that my dream career may stay a dream. Should I, as the UK government so controversially suggested last year, look for my next job in ‘cyber’? Or bear down a path that could end in failure? In a few months I’ll have to decide between getting a summer job and/or devoting my time to working on the novel that I hope to finish by the time I graduate. I think that story (a more cerebral—and semi-autobiographical—twist on a YA romance) will be successful, but I’ve been wrong before. Whichever choices I make, this story will have to continue some way or another, its ending impossible to know.

Image credits: Kristine (Public Domain), Kelsey Ray (CC BY-NC 2.0), and Chris Boland (www.chrisboland.com, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) on Flickr.

CHERWELL RECOMMENDS: POETRY

A

good poem can make you feel as alive as a cup (or three) of Pret coffee does. Poetry breaks up the monotony of our everyday lives, bringing out the beautiful and reverent in the ordinary. As we move into the thick of term work and essay writing, poetry can provide a bit of respite, a chance to breathe and release the day’s stresses. In this spirit, this week’s ‘Cherwell Recommends’ features our Books editors’ favourite poetry collections to laugh, cry, and live with.

Complete Poems by Elizabeth Bishop Sofie, Books Editor If poetry is the practice of finding art in our

world, Elizaberth Bishop’s poetry exists to make the world a piece of art, in all of its ugliness and beauty. Bishop’s poetics are descriptive, deceiving, and deconstructing. The strength ofher writing hinges on her linguistic precision and knack for inventing visual, sometimes visceral metaphors. Her writing spans three continents (North and South America, as well as Europe) and contains some of the most striking imagery of love and loss in the English language. In her poem “One Art,” a personal favorite of mine, Bishop pens the heartbreaking lines, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master / so many things seem filled with the intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster.” This poem alone can bring me to tears in a matter of minutes. It is as gut-wrenching as it is poetic. Bishop’s capacity for honest reflection, as well as refraction, when it comes

to her own life makes her a rare poetic force well-worth reading and sharing.

breathless, but also compelling, and I raced through the whole collection.

Poor by Caleb Femi Maebh, Books Editor For an English student, I read surprisingly little modern poetry. Perhaps, then, that was why I was so fascinated by Caleb Femi’s debut collection Poor. Published in the summer of 2020, Poor blends poetry with Femi’s own photography, the overall effect being an all-encompassing depiction of Femi’s upbringing in the North Peckham estate, something that is simultaneously beautiful, yet brutal. It’s rare that you so often find a collection which is so free of pretension, so grounded in observation, yet so breathtaking in its imagery, the recurring motif of concrete towering over the collection, unifying Femi’s recollections of people and place.

Perhaps my favourite thing about this collection is its accessibility; Femi’s words are raw and striking, leaving you

The August Sleepwalker by Bei Dao Irene, Deputy Editor My interest in Bei Dao is perhaps a little self-indulgent, having translated some of his works for a high school research project. Chinese-language writers today are invariably read through a political lens in the Anglosphere, which, though insightful, tends to erase their transnational aesthetics and diverse themes. Bei Dao belongs to that post-Mao generation for whom individual subjectivity was a dangerous gift, one they luxuriated in through verse while conscious of its invisible shackles. In one of his essays Bei Dao argues for a poetry that ‘[leaves] behind the language of states’, and The August Sleepwalker imagines just such a world: the poet looks tenderly at fragments of imagery from a half-modern, half-ancient world, painting a country and people that has always survived states.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | CulCher

9

stage

“BLINK” AND YOU’LL MISS IT

B

Katie Kirkpatrick talks to Frangipane Productions about their upcoming play.

link is a knot of a play. Filmed in black and white, and lasting nearly two hours, the production burrows deep into the complexities of grief, connection, and distance while still maintaining a sense of honesty throughout.

The play tells the story of Sophie Kissack and Jonah Jenkins, who each live alone in flats in London. They share eerily similar pasts of isolation and loss, and when Sophie sends Jonah a baby monitor screen, they grow close in a strange, morally ambiguous way. While the story arc seems to follow two people falling in love, it’s never sugary or straightforward.

Instead, as the script says, it highlights that ‘love is whatever you feel it to be’ – and sometimes, it’s messy, dark, and uncomfortable.

“THE BLACK AND WHITE GIVES A SENSE OF TIMELESSNESS.” Speaking to the cast and creatives, I was struck by the amount of time and thought clearly put into the production.

Describing themselves as a ‘closely-knit bubble’, the group had nuanced answers for every question I posed, never hesitant to examine their own dramatic choices.

We began by facing the question posed to every piece of pandemic theatre: why now? With Blink, there were endless answers to choose from. Producer and co-director Louis Cunningham was quick to mention ‘solitude and connecting through screens’, which was also the first thought that came to me on the subject.

The script has a remarkable amount of parallels with our emotional responses to the pandemic, and there’s a fun sense of the ‘meta’ that comes from watching a production about voyeurism and screens on a laptop .

The cinematography of the production is so polished, especially considering this is a piece of student drama from a very small team: the group refer to Director of Photography MichealAkolade Ayodeji as some kind of magical figure, but his wizardry does come across in the show. Two sequences in particular stand out: an intimate scene in which the two characters ride the London Eye, and the dramatic, sensory climax of the first act. While every so often it felt to me that the cinematography was doing very slightly too much, it was hugely impressive

throughout.

While talking about the way the show has been shot in black and white, Louis and co-director Maggie Moriarty cite Malcolm and Marie, a film released earlier this year, as an influence. Maggie talks about how the black and white gives a ‘sense of timelessness’, which I definitely felt, while Louis explains that the other element they took from the film was ‘the nature of being unsure about it’. It’s this idea that makes Blink so fascinating: there’s always something that feels slightly off about the characters, and their actions are at times very morally grey. While in other productions this would feel like a flaw, it is Blink’s greatest strength: the production revels in uncertainty and ambiguity.

Pip Lang and Gabe Winsor, as Sophie and Jonah respectively, give nuanced, intricate

“‘A KIND OF CIRCUS ACT BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE.” performances throughout. Gabe has a remarkable authenticity and naturalness, while Pip charts her character’s transitions from stillness to emotional outburst in a way that’s constantly captivating to watch; she’s clearly thought about every detail, from lip wobbles to hand gestures. Speaking to the actors, I learnt about the challenges of getting across such complicated characters on screen: Pip described forming an ‘intimacy with the camera’, while Gabe summarised the process as a ‘lovely kind of dance’. We also

spoke about the multi-roling, one of the few aspects of the piece I wasn’t initially sold on: speaking to the team, however, it’s grown on me. It forces us to question how and why this narrative is being told, as the moments where the fourth wall is broken are always clearly deliberate.

One of the most interesting parts of our conversation is a discussion about the way storytelling works in this play, with regard to how the characters exchange control of the narrative.

This is the question lying at the heart of the script. Playwright Phil Porter asks theatremakers to consider ‘why these characters are telling this story out loud and to whom they are speaking’ – throughout the piece, the characters address the audience (or in this case, camera) directly, framing the story like an interview of some kind. While I was very interested to learn the team’s response to this question, I won’t share it here: the play is more fun to watch when the question of the mechanics is left unanswered, as the ambiguity of the role of the camera becomes a tool for audiences to interrogate the character dynamics.

Towards the beginning of our meeting, Louis described the production as ‘a kind of circus act between two people, of juggling all these emotions and arguments and sentiments’. It is this which best sums it up. While the aesthetic choices may be far removed from the idea of a circus, the play is defined by that same sense of quirkiness, instability and fascination. I’d watch Blink over a tightrope act any day.

Blink will be streamed online at 7:30PM on the 13th, 14th and 15th May. Tickets cost £5, and are available via the production company’s Facebook page.

Image credit: Michael-Akolade Ayodeji.

REVIEWS The Arnolfini Portait / Industry Magazine

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nline theatre is something most of us theatre enthusiasts have grown accustomed to in the midst of the pandemic. Despite the increase in production of audio plays, the challenge to produce a successful piece of writing for audio remains undeniably demanding. With the lack of visuals, the audience’s focus is shifted greatly onto the audio as we are called to explore the range and versatility of voice and sound. This piece of writing and its execution seem to do just that: the weighty topics addressed by Alexander (James Newbery) and Jean (Grace de Souza) are voiced with both boldness and vulnerability respectively whilst the play also cleverly employed an unnerving sound palette well suited to the tone of the writing.

The Arnolfini Portrait written by Tamsyn Chandler, explores the past trauma of the protagonist Jean as she is confronted with her memories and hallucinations all within the walls of her local art gallery. Themes

of self-realisation, healing and recovery, grief and memory were all explored with sensitivity and authenticity to the point where my observance of these provoking conversations between Alexander and Jean felt almost intrusive. The writing was simple yet profound. This, I felt gave the voice actors the license to inject emotion and their own sense of weight into each of the lines. A methodical structure outlined by the various options offered by an automated receptionist when a hotline was rung provided a sense of direction – a necessity when the audience is relying solely on audio. Any sense of a sporadic podcast was removed by this initial outlining.

The performance of Alexander (James Newbery) was unafraid and disconcertingly provoking and it is to this which I believe credit is owed. I enjoyed the menacing tone delivered

by Newbery as the convincing delivery of his lines prompted the uncomfortable unveiling of Jean’s memories. Sufficient depth of character was achieved through the intonation of particular lines and sharp contrast in delivery between on-the-surface chat and the heavier lines. Newbery’s use of a slow pace in his

more controversial lines was noticeable and successful in exposing the more derisive side of his character. Praise must be granted to Newbery’s diction, which allowed for a very precise, controlled delivery of complex lines – a real treat for the ears in an audio play.

The performance of Jean (Grace de Souza) must be commended for a diverse range of delivery appropriate to the complexity of her character. Conveying a genuine sense of vulnerability and desperation in one line, Grace was able to quickly shift to a firmer tone conveying stronger frustration, and then to a tone of deep-rooted fear through clever use of phrasing and emphasis. De Souza’s ability to adapt her tone and intonation in accordance with both the lines and temperamental mood of such a multifaceted character must be praised. The complexity of her character, however, came at a small cost as one or two lines lacked the spontaneity and thus authenticity which they were owed. I must contend, however, that this minor detail is trumped by the sheer range of emotions the actor was able to deliver successfully.

The performance highlight of the play also

happened to be the writing highlight of the play for me. The line ‘‘leave me alone, but don’t let me be lonely” spoken by Jean was incredibly moving due to its raw exposing honesty in both writing and delivery. De Souza’s ability to express emotional exhaustion here at the climax was truly memorable. On a note of delivery, I must applaud both actors’ ability to seamlessly bounce off each other – Newbery’s lines had a consistent flare for provoking de Souza’s character, his lines feeding neatly into her responses. One final nod to the use of music – it aided the script beautifully. Its hypnotic character was well suited to the theme of transportation where we see Jean moved from present to past to future. The use of eerie synth to mark Jean’s hallucinations amplified the tension already established by the lines itself. All in all, The Arnolfini Portrait was an intricate, sophisticated project with a controlled yet bold execution.

Every element of sound was carefully considered, and I took great satisfaction in being guided along Jean’s journey through the various mediums of sound.

By Beth Ranasinghe .

CulCher | Friday, 14th May 2021

6

music PLAYLIST PICK-ME-UPS For our third TT21 issue, our editors select their favourite escapist tracks.

OH BABY LCD Soundsytem Cecilia Wilkins Dulanto Image credit: Tore Sætre / CC BY-SA 4.0

BLUE MOTEL ROOM Joni Mitchell Charlie Taylor Image credit: Henry Diltz & CORBIS / CC BY 2.0

GO The Chemical Brothers Matthew Prudham Image credit: Alterna2 / CC BY 2.0

“WE’VE COME A LONG, LONG WAY TOGETHER”: LIVERPOOL’S ‘FIRST DANCE’ Iona Neill discusses the recent trial rave held at Bradley-Moore Dock in Merseyside.

J

ust over a week ago, around 3,000 people descended upon an old warehouse in the centre of Liverpool to take part in a 2-day trial rave as part of a scheme by Public Health England. The event, aptly named “The First Dance”, boasted a line-up of the likes of Fatboy Slim, Yousef and The Blessed Madonna. There was no social distancing and face masks were optional. The goal was simple - party like it’s, well ... before March of 2020?

For the rave at Bramley-Moore Dock, all participants had to take one lateral flow test before and after the event, be current residents of the Liverpool City region, and registered showing no symptoms of Covid-19.

The list of requirements for entry was long, as was the time spent waiting in a digital queue for tickets, which took hours in some cases.

It can’t help but be noticed that Liverpool has become somewhat of a guinea-pig for pilots like these. The city has often been in the foreground in the battle against Covid, not only was Liverpool the site of mass-testing in November of 2020, then under the strictest tier of restrictions for much of the remainder of the year. For a city whose economy is so reliant on nightlife, hospitality and visitors, the promise of a return to mass-scale events is nothing short of exciting.

I was able to speak to Ella Bedingfield, a 2nd-year student at the University of Liverpool, one of the lucky ticket holders who attended the event. With everyone back at uni, she says, students are tested all the time anyway - the whole process just felt normal.

“I WANT TO GO AGAIN. IT WAS JUST SO, SO FUN.”

SELF - GROWTH, SIN MIEDO: THE RISE OF KALI UCHIS Ellie Jai-Williams reviews Uchis’ latest LP, Sin Miedo (Without Fear).

I

f you’ve been scrolling through TikTok recently, chances are you’ve heard the opening lines of telepatía by ColombianAmerican singer Kali Uchis. The song features on Uchis’ latest album and her first to be produced in Spanish, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) – translating as Without Fear (of Love and Other Demons). But what has led to Telepatía’s rise in popularity – and what does the shift to writing in Spanish signify for Uchis?

Kali Uchis debued in 2012 with her mixtape Drunken Babble – written almost entirely in one night, at age eighteen, from her childhood bedroom. Uchis is a bastion of entrepreneurial spirit and authenticity – and in her latest album, this is truer than ever. Uchis has never hesitated to write in Spanish, always proud of her Colombian heritage.

Though songs such as ‘Know What I Want’ and ‘Loner’ in Uchis’ first album Por Vida (2015) reflect her characteristic confidence and enjoyment of solitude, there remains a quiet but lingering uncertainty in other songs like Lottery. Here we see Uchis as a new singer taking tentative steps into the music world, self-consciously asking ‘Will you take this chance on me?’. However, by the time she

“I want to go again.” she said, “it was just so so fun. It was such a nice atmosphere there.”

The excitement of people heading out for their first night out post-lockdown definitely gave a boost of energy.

Despite the long process of applying for tickets, being tested, and lining up for the event, this still wouldn’t deter her from going a second time. “It was quite a long process. But it definitely didn’t put me off, I would definitely do it again.” After all, queues and bag checks are a normality for festivals and raves all over the UK as it stands, and a small amount of inconvenience is unlikely to put many off returning to the dancefloor after months of hiatus.

It looks likely that mass-tested events like these may become the norm for the near future, or at least until the vaccination of the whole of the UK becomes a reality. But the

produces her second album, Isolation (2018), Uchis’ confidence has skyrocketed - and with that comes her first songs in Spanish, and a more confident celebration of her past.

This is one of many themes reflected in Isolation, an album that Uchis claims was written in a ‘subconscious’ manner.

Growing up in her workingclass immigrant household, Uchis recalled in a 2018 BBC interview that “my entire childhood I watched everyone around me lose their lives trying to make money”. This motivates the song, ‘Your Teeth in my Neck’ which explores the exploitation of Latin-American immigrants.

Here an anti-capitalist Uchis states how ‘Rich man keeps getting richer, taking from the poor’. Another song, Miami, explores Uchis’ childhood wish to escape her situation, but also subsequent feeling of having nowhere to go. Uchis also channels her Colombian heritage more in Isolation than previous albums with her

reggaeton ‘Nuestro Planeta’, the album’s only Spanish-language song, featuring Colombian performer Reykon.

Releasing a Spanish language album shows Uchis confidently taking ownership of her heritage that features a multitude of genres central to Latin American musical history, from the slow-tempo bolero to fast-paced reggaeton. Despite the risk of alienating her Anglophone audience, Sin Miedo reflects Uchis’ consistent personal au t h e nt ic it y, which refers to often in lyrics and on social media; “I just want to be the healthiest, m o s t international & loving version of myself”, she tweeted on the 1st February of this year.

However, Uchis’ music transcends language in its tough self-reliance and transcendental sense of self love. Sin Miedo is also versatile in genre and theme. The variety is clear; the raunchy te pongo mal;

outlook for this summer is still unclear, and although many festivals such as Creamfields and Boardmasters are still set to go ahead, nobody is sure of what they will look like.

Many festivals are assuming no need for social distancing at all, relying on the fact that Covid restrictions are set to be all but gone by June 21st. Yet carrying on full-steam ahead seems somewhat risky, especially since a major issue facing future festivals is the lack of pandemicspecification cancellation insurance, in case scheduled events aren’t able to happen. However, should every festival-goer be required to show proof of a negative test before entry just as they have been in Liverpool, there might be some chance of security at these events.

It can only be hoped that the dream of seeing the music and nightlife scene in the UK return to normal will spur people on get tested. Whilst the collective experience of the Bramley-Moore Dock rave was overwhelmingly positive, we can only hope and wait for an overall negative result.

Image credit: Ella Bedingfield.

the unapologetic bossiness of ‘¡aqui yo mando!’; the dreamy ‘aguardiente y limón’ that mixes Edenic imagery with that of a well-known Colombian drink and a visceral wish for peace in ‘quiero sentirme bien’. Uchis utilises spiritual, metaphysical concepts in Sin Miedo in songs like ‘telepatía’, ‘vaya con dios’ and ‘ángel sin cielo’, which I believe is part of ‘telepatía’s’ popularity on TikTok, where all things spirituality, witchcraft and manifestation are currently trending. The song’s title is also an ode to the intangible ways we can connect with the people we love.

Written during a global pandemic, the idea of connecting even when apart is even more visceral.

Sin Miedo’s closing track, ‘ángel sin cielo’, further harnesses this idea of connecting to others even when alone. Written solo in her bedroom once again, Uchis ends her genre and language-barrier-defying album with a nod towards her roots: both her Colombian roots and the roots of her career, back when she produced an entire mixtape from her bedroom. With hauntingly beautiful vocals, a celestial Uchis softly sings ‘Ángel sin cielo / Hay que hacerlo sin miedo / La vida es una y a nadie le debo’ (‘Angel without heaven / You have to do it without fear / Life is one and I owe no one’). Uchis ends her chart-topping album with a celebration of something she has quietly done from the beginning: celebrated the power of being herself, unapologetically.

Image credit: COUGHS / CC BY-SA 4.0 .

7

Friday, 14th May 2021 | CulCher

THE EPIC HIGHS AND LOWS OF RIVERDALE Katie Kirkpatrick unpacks the pure chaos of the infamous CW teen drama.

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een dramas have been ridiculous for years. We’ve seen Chuck Bass’ dad fake his death only to fall off a roof while dramatic orchestral music plays in Gossip Girl. We’ve seen the ever-mysterious ‘A’ put five girls in a huge fake dollhouse in Pretty Little Liars. We’ve seen teenagers pray to a grilled cheese sandwich that happens to look a little bit like God in Glee. Until recently, however, we’d never seen a girl talk to her twin brother’s taxidermied corpse. We hadn’t seen a villain called the Gargoyle King kill people through a game that’s basically Dungeons and Dragons. We definitely hadn’t seen a plot about tickle porn, or organ farming.

Riverdale is the teen drama to end all teen dramas. What started off as a fairly standard show about a teen murder mystery has evolved into essentially a parody of itself. The dialogue has to be heard to be believed, with real lines including “you can’t have any of my bodily fluids, you succubus!” No, I’m not kidding. None of the plot lines make sense together, and the dynamics between the characters are endlessly confusing, with secret siblings and pseudo-incest galore. And yet, the show is undeniably a success. It’s on its 5th season already, ratings

are still high, the cast are all stars, and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon. So, frankly, how? How is a show so categorically bad doing so well? Like the characters themselves, we’re going to do some investigating.

First: the genesis of Riverdale. A creation story to rival that of Adam and Eve. There are two key elements to Riverdale’s birth. The first, of course, is the comics: the series starts off with characters that already exist, and are quite familiar to some. The second component is a person: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasas.

RAS, as fans refer to him as, has a long past with the Archie/Riverdale universe: in 2003, he wrote and staged a play about the comic characters grown up, in New York, where Archie is gay and mixing with real-life serial killers. Despite a cease-and-desist order by Archie Comics, he went ahead with the play, changing character names – making Jughead into Tapeworm and Veronica into Monica.

Yes, really. He also spent a few years writing for Glee, because of course he did. When you think about it, this creation story makes perfect sense: take iconic comic characters, combine them with a writer known for the weird and the camp, and you get Riverdale.

RAS’ Glee past also explains one of Riverdale’s most random elements (okay, maybe not most random, that’s highly contested): the musical episodes. The show has now tackled Carrie, Heathers, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, managing to squeeze an ungodly number of songs into its 40-minute episodes. They’ve become internet-famous, but for bad reasons: half of the cast literally can’t sing. At the same time, however, the musical episodes are some of my favourites. We’re a generation of musical theatre lovers, and it injects fun into the show, even if it also makes your ears bleed. Who doesn’t want to see a high-schooler initiate a threesome in her auditorium while singing ‘Dead Girl Walking’ from Heathers, or a girl group singing ‘Milkshake’ on the literal roof of a diner? Don’t pretend you don’t.

There is so much joy to be found in terrible art. Riverdale is, I would argue, the singular worst piece of television in the last couple of years, and yet it’s also one of my favourites.

It’s impossible not to enjoy watching it. There does also seem to be some craft going on behind the scenes. The show clutches on to some semblance of plot, so the end-of-episode cliffhangers do leave you wanting more. The character dynamics are easy to get invested in, especially as we’ve been following the same small group of friends for five seasons.

Riverdale walks – or rather, totters – the line between conscious satire and just poor writing in a way that’s unfailingly captivating to watch. In fact, a lot of its appeal is in waiting to see just how far the writers will dare to go.

I for one can’t wait to see what they do next – although I doubt they’ll ever manage to outdo the time Archie literally fought a bear.

Full article available online at cherwell.org.

film MUST SEE NEW RELEASES

INSIDE NUMBER 9 A new series of this creepy horror anthology began this week on BBC2 and iPlayer and continues on Mondays at 9:30.

TO STREAM

NOMADLAND Supposedly the best film of the year, Chloé Zhao’s post-recession drama is finally available in the UK via Disney+.

CLASSIC

THE BIG LEBOWSKI One of the best comedies of the 90s – and that just our opinion, man.

CANNIBAL COMING-OF-AGE: JULIA DUCOURNAU’S RAW Lucy Vickers looks into the power of disgust in this gory take on the coming-of-age genre.

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eat sweating through the pocket of a lab coat, blood dripping slowly to the floor, the sound of flesh being torn apart.

Only fleeting moments in Julia Ducournau’s Raw (2016), but an accurate taste of the film’s uncompromising use of graphic horror. I have often found that, whatever I have been told I may get out of watching a graphic film is not worth the harrowing experience that I must go through to get it.

Raw, however, is different.

Raw is disgusting, but it is also an important story about acceptance, what makes us normal, and our relationship with what we eat. Disgust is central to the point it wants to make. Ducournau wants us to feel ill, but then uses the film to convert this feeling into a more productive force. It is a unique cross-genre blend of horror and coming-of-age drama. Raw is telling what might be a familiar story about the young adult experience, but through the horrific vehicle of cannibalism – and this is what really drew me in.

The film follows Justine, an unassuming 16-year old girl, arriving at veterinary college for her first year. On her first night she is subjected to an intense hazing ceremony

that extends into a week-long induction.

They are made to crawl on the floor like animals, showered with buckets of blood, and expected to worship the older years like Gods. Raw constantly surrounds Justine’s story with the story of the calculated violence of the initiations. Ducournau sets up a violence that is easy to immediately criticise as a backdrop that contextualises the story she really wants to tell. So, when Justine begins to eat raw meat, followed by her first taste of human finger, it felt justificable to me considering what she was being subjected to during her induction week. The complex nature of Justine’s turn to cannibalism, along with the fact that I felt a huge amount of sympathy for her, meant that as I sat through my first watch, cannibalism began to feel almost normal.

If I was so blinded by my own sympathy for Justine that I could ignore intimate scenes of human flesh being torn apart, what does that say about how I relate to Justine’s young adult experiences?

Interestingly, at the same time as cannibalism becomes more understandable to us, Justine herself is constantly suppressing these desires, actively shielding the secret from all those around her. We may be

being pushed towards understanding, but Justine feels nothing but shame - in much the same way as girls are often expected to feel about their own bodies. The disgust that she feels for herself and her inability to stop wanting meat regularly extends into a physical, bodily reaction. The first time that Justine eats meat is when she is peer-pressured into it as part of the initiations. Her body goes on to reject this, shown to us through an extremely visceral (and disgusting) all-body allergic reaction.

Her body’s reaction represents both the disgust she feels for herself at having eaten meat, and also her body’s literal rejection of the first attempt to blend in. Every time a piece of graphic body horror is shown, it is cleverly used in much the same way - symbolising the changing relationships Justine has with herself, other people, and other animals.

Some have labelled Raw as a piece of vegan propaganda, perhaps implying that quitting vegetarianism will turn you into a cannibal. Whether this is true or not, Ducournau has a lot to say about our relationship with meat. Justine enters college as a vegetarian, and her feelings about animals as food are in constant focus. She

also relates to the animals she works with, in many ways reflecting how she is treated as sub-human – as an animal – during the college induction rituals. When she does eat human flesh, it seems as though it is an outcome of these things, of her changing relationship with animals through how she relates to and consumes them. She begins to eat animal flesh, but then also sees herself more and more as an animal, resulting in blurred moral boundaries. Ducournau weaves together these different threads, asking questions about both humanity and animality, forcing us to contemplate our own relationship with animals.

Raw is brilliant because of how necessary the moments of the gruesome are, not despite them. The horror is enhanced and expanded beyond the traditional confines of the genre to tell new stories in new ways. And it is because of these things that I, a newcomer to the world of horror, have become such a big fan of the film in such a short space of time. As I sit down to watch Raw for the fourth time in two weeks, I would encourage you to put aside any reservations and embrace the power of the disgusting.

Full article available at cherwell.org.

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

10

fashion

Digital fashion: the future?

The news that the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world has raised questions, for many, about the ways in which we can limit our environmental impact whilst still wearing clothes that make us look and feel good. For some, a move away from the mindset perpetuated by fast fashion seems to be the answer, whilst for others, prioritising recycling clothes through charity shops provides a cheap, and easy solution, to textile waste. Yet, in our increasingly online lives, the advent of digital fashion has provided another, more innovative, alternative.

So, what exactly is digital fashion? The main premise is that the clothes exist solely online; you choose which clothes you want to buy, send a picture to the company selling them, and then the clothes are edited onto your picture, allowing you to then use the photo and experiment with the clothes without having to physically buy them.

DressX is the pioneer of this model, hailing themselves as the ‘first multibrand store for digital fashion’ in the bio of their TikTok account (@dressxcom) with their slogan ‘Don’t shop less, shop digital fashion’ reassuring us that we can continue to consume fashion when we want to, but in this newly imagined way. The TikTok account demonstrates the company’s embracing of the digital age, with short videos demonstrating how digital fashion works, and showcasing the range of outfits that the website sells.

But are we ready to embrace digital fashion? The comments on these TikTok videos suggest otherwise, with one suggesting that the clothes don’t ‘even look real’, whilst others point out the high cost of the clothes, with even more seeming to think that the whole account is some kind of ‘joke’.

My contention, however, is that digital fashion is not intended for the everyday consumer, at least not yet. I think that digital fashion is a brilliant tool for social media influencers, who are often sent hosts of PR packages containing clothes and beauty products, which are often only used once for a photo before never being seen again. Digital fashion companies would allow influencers to work in collaboration with companies, giving them the exposure they want through posting pictures, without any clothes having to be wasted in the process.

But, for most of us, physical clothing is still necessary, if not a staple of life. I think a good analogy is that of eBooks and physical books; eBooks can be useful, sure, but there is something so lovely about picking out a physical book in a bookstore, in the same way as buying physical clothes encompasses the experience of going to the store, touching the fabric, and anticipating how it will look on you. And, after all, people will always need physical clothes in which to live their day to day lives.

Yet, perhaps digital fashion isn’t trying to supplant physical clothing. After all, the website has an FAQ page explaining which photos to use before sending them into the company for editing, requiring a well-lit photo and tight, short clothing for the outfit to be edited on top of. Furthermore, the outfits on the website seem to emanate high-fashion, with lots of extravagant dresses; they hardly seem to be trying to supplant traditional fashion, instead providing a way to experiment with clothing which has less of an environmental impact.

For now, I think the technology is simply not there to make digital fashion look realistic enough. Nor is it the quick fix to our society’s over-consumption which we desperately need. The fashion industry, and our society as a whole, needs a complete shift in the way that clothes are produced, sold, and used, and the problem of over-consumption is not at all confined to influencers. It’s an exciting way to try something new, and as with the rise of digital artwork and NFTs, the shift to digitalisation within the art and fashion industries is something innovative and novel, yet, for the time being, tradition I think will prevail.

Maebh Howell

11

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

The simple men’s suit is over, and the era of decadence is here This red carpet season, while at many points remotely conducted, has seen men’s fashion elevated. From one of the opening events of this awards season, the SAG awards, we saw Leslie Odom Jr. in his rainbow suit, Daniel Kaluuya in Louis Vuitton pyjamas, and in the Guardian Weekend, Louis Theroux in chocolate-coloured Gucci leather. The message is clear: a simple suit just might not cut it anymore.

That men’s fashion is changing has been evident throughout this year’s awards season.

Leslie Odom Jr. followed his rainbow suit with vibrant Versace prints and colours and went to the Oscars practically dressed as the statue. Questlove also showed up to the Oscars in gold, but in the form of shining, glorious crocs. Riz Ahmed, often in blue, layered his usual offering with a printed Prada turtleneck at the BAFTAs. Even Kaluuya’s Oscar-winning look, while more reserved than his other awards season offerings, was elevated with its double-breasted cut and Cartier jewelry. Sure, there are many that remain in simpler silhouettes and colours – but now, they’re no longer leading the way.

Since its conception, the humble men’s suit hasn’t changed all that much. The garment finds its origins in the 18th century, when Beau Brummel, a regency era dandy, introduced the suit as a means of fitting in with his aristocratic friends. The garment went on to be innovated into the frock coat, the lounge suit, the militaryinfluenced suit of the roaring 20s, the zoot suit of the 40s, and the slim-fit suit of the 00s and 10s. Through these changes, the basic elements and silhouettes of the suit have remained widely similar, even though they are less widely worn today.

It’s not that there weren’t interesting men’s fashion moments happening previously.

Who could forget Justin and Britney’s matching Canadian tuxedos, or Jared Leto’s viral love affair with that green Gucci coat? The LGBTQ+ community have almost always been pushing against the boundaries of red carpet fashion, with stars such as Billy Porter turning out unique looks time and time again. Harry Styles has long been known for his affinity for dressing in pearls, sweater vests, and colourful nail polish, and appeared on the cover of Vogue in a dress last year. These moments go back decades – think David Bowie, Elton John, and Prince’s extravagant performance looks.

So what’s different now? Well, the mainstream move to brighter, more interesting men’s fashion reflects wider shifts happening in the fashion industry. Increasingly, stores are moving beyond gendered categories: last year, Adidas opened its first gender-neutral store in Soho, following on from forerunners such as The Phluid Project in New York, which opened its doors as the first gender-free store in 2018 and has focused on community-building since its start. Charles Jeffrey’s Loverboy label has refused the gendered norms of dressing from its conception as a club night in East London. Now, the traditional boundaries of gender are becoming less important on the red carpet: LaKeith Stanfield’s Oscars jumpsuit was adapted from a Saint Laurent women’s piece.

Men’s fashion has long been the dead zone of awards seasons, often ignored in best-dressed lists in its dark colours and repetitive silhouettes. But as the red carpet moved to remote and semi-remote offerings, fashion has become a way to liven up the otherwise dull Zoom ceremonies that many events have been forced into. Instead of falling flat, the suit has become a place for vibrance and joy in a year where those things have been lacking.

Article by Sasha Mills.

Artwork by Aleksandra Pluta.

Life | Friday, 14th May 2021

14

food

I AM WHAT I EAT

Wang Sum Luk explores how cross-cultural cuisine can influence identity.

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’ve heard all the jokes about how sine ended up in recipes because a starving Chinese people (or Asians in general, peasant thought “well, this could be edible, those making the jokes rarely know let’s put it in the pot and see if it doesn’t the difference) eat dogs and cats, or kill us before starvation does”. While the post-COVID variant on this theme nobles across the world dined on juicy about bats and pangolins. The insidious haunches of meat, the poor made do with thing about these stereotypes is that they organ meats, finding ways to make them seem grounded in how Asian cooking can edible, and eventually delicious—an art of involve unusual ingredients, never mind frugality that the Chinese are thoroughly the fact that the use of exotic animal adept at. We braise chicken feet (eupheingredients (often claimed to have mistically called “phoenix talons”) medical properties), especially the in soy sauce and rice wine, until practice of dog-eating, is hotly they practically dissolve into protested and condemned in sticky, savoury sauce.

“BEING SQUEA MISH their China. And yes, jokes about Pigs’ liver can be grainy what foreigners eat have and chewy if badly cooked.

A BOU T FOREIGN always existed—the British But, when gently simmered FOOD IS SOMETHING joke about the French eating with greens, in a broth well known, it makes sense to lessen that frogs, the French retaliate TH AT H AS A LWAYS fragrant with ginger and impact by making use of the whole animal, with “les rosbifs”, and so on. goji berries, it has a melt- instead of throwing away anything that BA FFLED ME.” But even setting aside how ing tenderness and gently isn’t a tidy, supermarket-friendly, cut. these comments are an easy meaty flavour. Pigs’ ears are You’ll see this inventive aversion to waste veil for xenophobia and prejudice, stewed in broth, their natural in a lot of traditional French and Italian a concern which the recent rise in anticollagen thickening it and allowing cooking. More recently, it has been seen Asian hatred makes more acute, the idea them to be set into a marbled pâté. Sliced in the nose-to-tail cooking movement, led of being squeamish about foreign food is very thinly and tossed in Szechuan chili by chefs such as Fergus Henderson, which something that has always baffled me. oil, with sliced scallions and coriander, it advocates respecting the value of every It’s probably to do with my upbringing. makes an appetizer that is crisp, chewy, part of an animal, instead of dividing it I’m from Hong Kong, a city built at a culand spicy—and proves that you can in into commodities and waste, an approach tural crossroads, as much influenced by fact make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. which yields utterly delicious results. its Chinese heritage as by its history as a Now, I’m not surprised that these dishes Food that not everyone likes can, paraBritish colony and the gateway for Western aren’t widely popular. They take time to doxically, bring people together—it offers commerce into China. In traditional cafes prepare and often demand a fina sense of unique identity within throughout the city, you’ll find Chinese icky attention to technique. a cultural group. A person “W HEN I FELT dishes, like wonton noodles, right next to can say, we are the people Not everyone shares my Western imports, such as local versions fondness for the exotic or who can appreciate LIK E A STR A NGER IN of custard tarts, sweet buns, and French lacks major food dislikes extraordinarily spicy toast, which we stuff with peanut butter, either (the only foods A STR A NGE L A ND, BEING food, Marmite, kimchi, deep-fry and drizzle with condensed milk that I actively avoid are fish sauce, or haggis.

A BLE TO EAT FA MILIA R or syrup—it’s as delicious as it sounds. And braised daikon and boba And I can proudly say DISHES WAS A BRIEF, that’s before getting into other influences, tea—which I recognize of China that we are the like the trends we’ve adopted from Japan is weird coming from WONDERFUL REMINDER people who, over the and Korea, which make the city’s food and someone from Hong centuries, have figured OF HOME.” culture a unique combination of differencKong). Organ meats have a out how to make great es. Hong Kong has learned to make great gross-out factor that makes things from the most unapthings out of strange ingredients: a base of many people unwilling to touch pealing ingredients. And we in Chinese culture, a dose of colonial influthem, or for restaurants to serve them— Hong Kong have learned from everything ence, scattered international inspirations, you’re unlikely to see your local fast food between colonialism and communism, and a healthy splash of independent spirit. chains putting the McChickenFoot on the and created a resilient and independent Moving away from the metaphorical, this menu next to nuggets and Filet-o-Fish. society that I am proud to be a part of. applies quite literally to how we cook as But with the environmental and ethical That sense of unity, of being part of a well. Many odd ingredients in Chinese cuicost of meat-eating being increasingly greater we, can be something truly spe-

cial. Last year, when I was still able to study in-person in Oxford, I found a Chinese noodle restaurant just down the road from my college (Tse Noodle, for those interested). This is my first year at Oxford, and when I felt like a stranger in a strange land, being able to eat familiar dishes—a bowl of spicy beef noodles, or rice with barbecued pork—was a brief, wonderful reminder of home. And, joy of joys, that restaurant served little bowls of chicken liver or sliced chicken heart, the tender meat a backdrop for a thrillingly spicy dressing of Szechuan chili oil, scallions, and sesame seeds. Finding a dish that I never would have expected to enjoy in the UK was a nostalgic escape from isolation both literal and symbolic… and a very amusing way to freak out friends who were more squeamish than I am.

I—like many people from Hong Kong whom I know—have mixed feelings about China, especially when it comes to politics both local and international.

But one aspect of Chinese culture that I will always love and be proud of is our food. It’s a unique part of my home that globalization can’t homogenize, a symbol of our ingenuity and thrift, and a connection to that greater we. And to those too squeamish to give this sort of thing a try, all I can say is that you can go ahead and enjoy your bland chicken breasts and mashed potatoes. I’ll spare you and your tastebuds a thought the next time I sit down to dinner.

ARBEQUINA: OXFORD’S TAPAS TRIUMPH

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By Angus Beazley ’m often sceptical when approaching a tapas restaurant in the UK. Although the allure of melt in your mouth tortilla and rich, tomatoey albóndigas is enough to bring me running to the door, I often find myself talking more about the food my plate

reminds me of (from that long-lost era of foreign travel) than what’s actually in front of me. Although I love to reminisce about my paella from La Pepica, what really excites me is that I can now tell people about Arbequina instead.

Walking down the bustling Cowley Road, I was puzzled when someone told me to look out for a ‘restaurant with a pharmacy sign’. However, as soon as I saw the vintage ‘R.A Nevil’s chemist’ logo and heard the buzz from the customers eating below it, I was hit with a Catalan nostalgia. Just as my first visit to Sant Andreu saw my friend take me from his father’s chemist to an unforgettable plate of pinchos, what accompanied my arrival at Arbequina continued this peculiar tradition of pharmacies and good food.

Let’s start with the Maghreb inspired aubergine with whipped feta, molasses and pomegranate. Although similar to one of the signature dishes at Morito, the whipped feta is a thing of genius. Each bite hits you with a light, creamy, saltiness which settles just when you need it

to with the fruity pomegranate seeds. The aubergine is what really struck me though.

Accustomed to cooking aubergine over an open flame, to really give it that smokiness, I was intrigued to see a crispy layer at the bottom of the aubergine packed with flavours of mint, cumin, and chilli. The chef later told me he got this effect from roasting the aubergines first and then crisping the bottom up on a flat top grill.

Definitely going to have to try that one!

Although the Middle Eastern dishes at Arbequina give a sumptuous variety and remind me of good times in Andalusian pueblos blancos, they certainly know how to nail a classic. There’s definitely some bad patatas bravas out there, sat sadly next to a drizzle of bland tomato sauce.

But this was certainly not the case with the generous serving brought out. After a few minutes there was nothing left but a delightful dilemma of deciding which was better: the crispy outside of the potatoes, or the fluffiness inside- probably both.

The tortilla that followed almost seemed like it was trying to trump what came

before. The drizzle of rich olive oil, that seeped into the perfectly caramelised onions, saw it falling apart in magnificent fashion.

Arbequina is the perfect place for vegetarians: most of the menu is occupied by a luscious list of Eastern-infused, veggie, pinchos. That being said, I couldn’t stop myself from ordering the seabass. It was topped with a mojo verde, which was subtle enough to allow the crispy-skinned bass to stay centre stage, and yet sufficiently zingy to make you mop up the rest with a slice of the bread. If you haven’t finished it off already!

All and all, hats off to Ben, Rufus, and Ben for putting this beautiful menu together. A menu which, I might add, does change from time to time! Something you’ll find me talking about incessantly.

Arbequina leaves you hard pressed to find anywhere better to absorb the vibrance of Cowley, all whilst sipping on carafes of wine and enjoying one of the best meals I’ve had in Oxford.

Image credit: Angus Beazley.

11

Life | Friday, 14th May 2021

life

All kinds of vulnerable: reflections on the past year Beth Ranasinghe discusses her experience of lockdown with clinically vulnerable family members.

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hile the worst some could imagine was a life without pubs, the worst I could imagine was the loss of my three closest family members. Upon reaching the one-year anniversary of the first lockdown, I have had the chance to reflect on the events of the past year. My experience, one of constant fear for the safety of my family, still haunts me a year on.

As keen as I am to forget the trauma of the last year, I feel a duty to reflect. Living with a vulnerable family during a global pandemic was frightening to say the least. As the one non-vulnerable person of the family, the weight of responsibility to keep my family safe was suddenly shifted onto my shoulders as I learned of the horrifying effects of the virus on the clinically vulnerable.

I was in my final year of secondary school when the first lockdown was announced in March 2020.

Not only had my school year been curtailed by the announcement, but so had an entire chapter of my life.

Initially, the effects of Covid were limited to uncertainty about exams and university places, and rushed goodbyes with friends and teachers.

There was a mutual anxiety shared by anyone who was in Year 13 during the start of the pandemic. Saddened by the way in which our memories of school life were ending and anxious for how this pandemic would affect our future prospects, our year group felt isolated and lost, unable to find solace in the government’s decisions.

At this point, we were still feeling no active threat to the health of the populace and our minds were crowded with anxieties regarding

our own futures. However, as the death toll rapidly rose, worries about my own future dissipated and became altogether insignificant as I became increasingly worried about the welfare and health of my family.

Throughout my life I have lived with my mum and my two grandparents — all three of whom qualified as extremely clinically vulnerable.

This meant that they were required to shield, for if any of them were to contract Covid, the likelihood of a very serious, if not fatal, outcome was extremely high. Overnight, my entire world shifted — their safety and welfare became my priority.

I found myself having to adapt my fairly selfabsorbed way of life to the needs of my family.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter that I was bored or that I was missing out on my final year of school — there were greater things to worry about. Every anxiety I felt about my social life and a wasted summer felt trivial in comparison to my family’s fight for safety and health. This idea reverberated throughout the country as attention was turned away from the missed frivolities and was instead directed towards the key workers and the vulnerable members of society.

Naturally, this priority shift changed and affected my day-to-day routines. The weekly grocery shop required a task force. Fully masked and gloved and on our knees, my mum and I would meticulously disinfect every grocery item that had been delivered before storing it away. As the least vulnerable, I was

sent out to the shops draped in PPE, but despite my ridiculous protective attire, I still came back racked with paranoia that I could be bringing the virus home. The fear was constant.

Wearing gloves when opening the post, disinfecting the doorbell each time it was rung, and obsessive handwashing became routine in our house. Every simple household task was made more tedious — as the severity of the pandemic heightened, the safety precautions we took only increased. My motivation to protect my family was spurred on by the

what felt like a perpetual anxiety.

For a while I had taken comfort in my friends — I rested assured that the whole country was in the same boat experiencing the burdens of lockdown. However, even when restrictions were eased, so long as I was shielding with my family, those positive changes would not apply to me.

This is when it started to dawn on me that the country was moving forward and those in vulnerable households were being left behind.

The FOMO set in as social media reminded me that I was now at a loss — I was totally healthy, yet here I was indoors and shielded from the world. There’s a difference between knowing you can’t go out anyway and therefore not going out, and knowing you can go out and still choosing not to.

The clinically vulnerable had no choice about staying indoors, but I did: I was living my life every day as if I was vulnerable, but I wasn’t. I was living with restrictions which were entirely self-inflicted. Living with the feeling of ‘I could be out right now’ was heavy as I kept on reminding myself that the anxiety would be all be worth it once my family came out in good health at the other end.

This anxiety was only amplified by a deep frustration I felt. Those not at medical risk who had been given some aspect of freedom (the freedom to walk and interact with other households) were abusing their liberty, which meant that another spike in Covid cases

“Every person who lived through the pandemic was some kind of ‘at risk’” constant reminder of the prospects that awaited them should they be exposed to the virus. One shocking news headline was enough to make me run around the house with antibacterial spray, frantically cleaning doorknobs and handles. My Dettol spray and I grew to be inseparable.

However, it got to a point where such routines took a toll on my mental wellbeing. I found myself drained not only from the constant disinfecting but also from the sheer emotional exhaustion that came from my permanent state of worry. Every day I woke up to

was triggered. The irresponsible exercising of their freedom brought with it only more restrictions and more days locked inside for those who were shielding. Families like mine were paying the price for other people’s carelessness. I felt a distinct lack of empathy during this time: the doors were open for those not at risk to go out into the world, but the vulnerable were quickly forgotten.

It took a few more months before government advice stated that it was safe for shielding families to go on walks, and this freedom felt overwhelmingly good. Skip a few months forward and my entire family had received their vaccines.

The past year has been one of pain, grief and realisation. There has been nothing I regret, and I would do it all again for those I love. I realised the value of family and my ability to de-prioritise my own needs when it comes to protecting loved ones. I have also realised that there were all sorts of vulnerable people throughout the pandemic. Whilst I wasn’t medically vulnerable, the pandemic made me vulnerable to an array of emotions.

The loneliness and frustration and exhaustion also contributed to my mental vulnerability. A year on, I look back and think that all of us were in a sense, some kind of vulnerable. Dealing with loss, guilt, grief, anxiety, and fear every single day made each person who lived through the pandemic some kind of ‘at risk’. We were all at the mercy of the virus, whether it be medically, emotionally or mentally, and it is this shared vulnerability I take solace in.

Image credit: jcomp via FreePiks

12

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Life

Vignesh First Year Balliol Chemistry

Hamzah First Year Univ Chemistry

Cherpse

What were you hoping for from the date?

Good vibes.

What were you hoping for from the date?

Good chat and a drinking buddy.

Do these two chemists have any actual chemistry?

First impressions?

He was really comfortable to talk to!

What did you talk about?

Our subject, where we grew up etc.

Best thing about the other person?

Easy to talk to.

First impressions?

“Hey, i know this guy!”

What did you talk about?

Everything and nothing.

Best thing about the other person?

Wasn’t stingy with the cigarillos.

What was the most embarrassing moment?

Realising we’re both chemists.

What was the most embarrassing moment?

Definitely when he said ‘you, too’ when the waiter said ‘enjoy your food’.

Describe the date in 3 words: Lots of fun.

“Magic, madness, heaven, sin.”

Is a second date on the cards?

Maybe ;)

Describe the date in 3 words: Magic, madness, heaven, sin [Editors’ note: very much not three words, but we appreciate the reference..]

Is a second date on the cards?

Absolutely.

Horoscopes...

LEO 23 July - 22 August Once we’re in the swing of an Oxford term, it can be difficult to make time for some culture — try to remedy this this week by making time to stream a play or film online, or listen to an album in an unfamiliar genre, and satisfy your inner connoisseur!

TAURUS

20 April - 20 May

ARIES 21 March- 19 April Aries, we hear you, we see you, we love you. We know how hard you’re trying not to gloat about your successes – whether Collections, that night out, or extracurricular triangleplaying – and the stars appreciate you. Think: I am a swan and paddle furiously underneath, but glide on top.

LIBRA 23 Sept - 22 Oct Try not to relieve your essay malaise by getting into arguments on Twitter with people who are never going to agree with you. Spend your breaks doing something that makes you feel good, and not as though you’ve been pushed down a well with several right-wing pundits screaming and refusing to throw down the ladder.

Sometimes, Taurus, you just have to accept it’s really not Summer yet.

Put your strawberries away, put on a coat, and replace that ice cream with a hot chocolate. Haven’t you seen it’s raining?

SCORPIO 23 Oct - 21 Nov Before things get too stressful in Fifth Week, try to meet up with a new friend this week, or an old one, that one person you’ve been meaning to reconnect with for ages — it’ll do you good.

GEMINI 21 May- 20 June If in doubt, you could always tell your tutor it was your tute partner’s fault, Gemini. Not that your stars condone that action, they’re just offering it up as a potential solution.

SAGITTARIUS You’re the archer, Sagittarius. Maybe it really is time to shoot your shot.

That rogue tinder match, you know the one you keep thinking about? Give it a go, drop them a message – your stars forsee both great accuracy and great success with your archery-based love antics.

21 June - 22 July

Your stars implore you to avoid the S3 bus to Chipping Norton. Don’t ask why, no good can come of it, Cancer.

CAPRICORN 22 Dec - 19 Jan

22 Nov - 21 Dec

CANCER

AQUARIUS

VIRGO 23 August - 22 Sept

Your non-Virgo friends are probably sick of hearing about how much you hate Hinge. Either choose your conversation partners wisely, or try Bumble!

PISCES 19 Feb - 20 March

20 Jan - 18 Feb Your star sign is the goat fish, Capricorn. Neither Cherwell, nor your stars, have any idea what this means. Maybe go swimming in Port Meadow? I really don’t know what to tell you.

May 17th is but a glorious week away, Aquarius, so set aside some time for yourself this week. You need to look after yourself, too; take this as your celestial reminder to do at least one thing for yourself a day - whether it be a walk, your favourite coffee takeaway, or brushing your hair.

You know what they say, third time lucky - so, Pisces, this week is the one you’ll vault the SSO barriers, 9.00am and army of neeks to book a Bodleian library slot. It may be the soulless catacombs of the Gladstone Link, it may be the airy heights of the RadCam… but you’ll never know if you don’t play.

13

Life | Friday, 14th May 2021

LOOKING A RIGHT PUNT

P

unting is one of those things that I had always associated with Oxford in the abstract.

I can still remember walking around Christ Church Meadows during interviews, seeing groups of students huddled in punts, pufferadorned and wine drenched, like Elysian gods on cerulean water. The punting of Oxford and Cambridge has a distinct prestige; talk of quants, tills and all the lexis of punting somehow became emblematic of my desire to attend Oxford, with all its opulence and archaic excesses.

So, when I eventually arrived at Oxford, punting was at the top of the to-do list. It would be a rite of passage, something that would affirm my status as a student of Oxford – transformative, transcendental. It is perhaps fitting then that the chance to punt came on matriculation, the day that I actually was confirmed as an Oxford student. Wrangling a Covid-restricted matriculation was an odd thing in and of itself.

Missing the contact with higher years, none of us really knew what we were supposed to do, aside from get dressed up in flappy gowns and a suit, take pictures by the Rad Cam and drunkenly terrorise the residents of Oxford. So, after a rather depressing watch party of the online Formal Welcome, the only logical step was to drink an enormous quantity of wine, cram in a McDonald’s and stagger down to the Isis in the hope of finding a punt.

With a crew assembled of four similarly inebriated Univites, we took to the water. Suffice to say that our technique did not mirror that of the Venetian gondolas. Any smoothness of motion remained elusive, as the quant was wielded

Hari Bravery

like a lightsabre, hacking at the riverbed and more often than not leaving us drifting horizontally down the river. Not that we really minded – the fact that we were subfusc-wearing students in a punt was enough to sate our headiest conceptions of Oxford life. As we zig-zagged down the straight of the river, music blaring, all seemed to be going well. But, as it turns out, cornering in a punt after two bottles of wine is no easy feat. We very quickly became jammed beyond repair, and of course the only logical solution was to rock the boat from side to side. Needless to say, that one second I was standing and the next I was submerged in the murky water of the Cherwell, as was another of my crewmates. After flailing futilely for a while in the water, we eventually managed to haul ourselves back into the punt, sodden and delirious.

The most profane of acts was then performed, as we two abandoned our punt-mates and jumped onto the riverbank, to seek the warmth of college. If this first foray into punting was certainly unsuccessful, it was only made worse by the fine we were slapped with for bringing our boat back late; yet it remains one of my fondest memories of Oxford.

Punting seems to return me to visions of Oxbridge glimpsed in literature: the undergraduates of Thomas Hardy’s Jude The Obscure, Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, or E. M. Forster’s Maurice. And so even if punting for me started as a self-satisfying fulfilment of Oxbridge status, it now seems to me an act that I cannot dissociate from my own experience of Oxford, even though I definitely looked a right punt whilst doing it.

Cherwell check-in: Ben Farmer, Oxford SU For this edition of Cherwell check-in, we heard from Ben Farmer, SU Vice-President for Charities and Community, about the resources on offer for dealing with Mental Health at Uni.

T

here’s a growing demand for accessing mental health services, but many students are still unfamiliar with the overall process: who should they reach out to first and what kind of support can they expect?

Information about emergency mental health support is at: https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/ support-advice/what-to-do-inan-emergency/. The University Counselling service provides a range of support for students.

Oxford SU’s staff-run free, independent and impartial advice service can provide students with sign-posting and options across a range of areas including wellbeing, exams, housing and financial issues.

How can students work together to overcome this crisis and how can they get involved

in relevant activ ities to contribute to the student c o m m u n i t y ’s well-being?

Come along to our workshop on Tuesday 18th May to help shape our Mental Health policy going forward! Get your free ticket at: https://w w w.oxfordsu.org/ents/ event/2232/. The aim of this workshop will be: Creating an official Oxford SU Policy to be passed through Student Council, and presented as a paper to the Student Wellbeing Subcommittee co-written by students. This will be used as our basis for understanding what Oxford students and the SU believe is important for campaigning on Student Mental Health.

Ask your Common Room Welfare rep how you can get involved and help out with college welfare activities. Join Oxford SU’s Disabilities campaign to help lobby the university on these issues and join a community of like-minded people.

Introducing...

Cher Brilliant Don’t just do it Cherwell – do it Cher

Brilliantly.

The uni’s trying to ban trashing ? after all we’ve been through this year ? just let the kids silly string each other, GOD

Listen up, Cher’s going to let you in on a little secret: various colleges have been trying to ban trashing for years, to little avail. You can even read about it in the archives of this very newspaper. If you simply must trash, do remember to always be respectful to Oxford residents, be as kind to the environment as possible (biodegradable confetti is your friend!), and follow Covid guidelines by inviting five of your closest friends to spray prosecco at you from two metres away. Oh, and invite your college parents — Cher has heard that the second years are positively bereft that they won’t be trashed until finals, so I’m sure they’d love to live vicariously through you.

What nail colours look good on guys?

First of all, let me applaud you for realising that an eye-popping shade of nail polish has no gender, ma cherie — keep doing you! Secondly, my cinematic inspiration Miranda Priestley might dismiss the timeless power of florals for spring, but I think it can still be truly groundbreaking to lounge on a punt with the spring sunshine reflecting off your pastel pink nails (that’s if this awful rain finally stops). As we inch into our post-21st June summer of love, I’d suggest trying something a little sultry, like a deep red or purple. But really, with fashion the only rule is to express who you are, so as long as what’s on your nails reflects what’s in your soul, you have my full support, my dear.

Artwork by Zoe Rhoades

Questions used with permission from Oxfess 3.

John Evelyn:

L

ike Lazarus from his grave the Union has had a fortnight of true resurrection!

A term-card drop, social events galore, and the highly anticipated visit of the man, the myth, the Magnus Carlsen is enough to restore the Absent Etonian’s role as the Late Etonian. Like Lazarus, he is a man reborn; sleep schedule fixed, questions excellent and seemingly omnipresent. John Evelyn likes to think he inspired this change…

Meanwhile the Union Beer Garden has been swamped by pundits almost nightly, especially in its last week of operation. With Karaoke and comedy punctuating its last huzzah, even John Evelyn must admit grudging respect for the Nolonger Runner Up’s Vanity Success.

Sadly, the Price was right all along.

However, with domestic troubles being overcome, John Evelyn can turn his attention to this term’s election gossip. Word with the hacks is that the Presidential Stereotype is the firm favourite to win, He fits the bill after all; Union-dominant school, college, and course is a

dynamite combination. John Evelyn hears that he is approaching a full slate but is yet to decide a name… let us hope it is more original than the usual drivel our hacks come up with. That might be an optimistic thought…

Meanwhile, the OX2-commuter is apparently struggling. Despite having a full officer slate, John Evelyn hears her standing committee line-up is looking rather bare with one candidate recently dropping out to focus on running for GeneralSecretary (sorry, Co-Chair) of another society…a run John Evelyn gather was unsuccessful. An omen for his former slate? The rumourmill also tells of an independent standing committee run by the exsupposedly-CCC. Nonetheless, John Evelyn hopes the OX2-commuter can scrape a slate together; he was so looking forwards to a bloody, contested and destructive election. It is never too late for a change in electoral fate however…if TT20 teaches us anything it’s that it only takes one instance to sink a candidacy…

Until next time, your beloved JE xxx

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

Being aware of the effect, one can cident, but when you consider the them believe that they don’t really filter things out. But this is not build-up over many months and deserve that next promotion. By easy, and even being aware of it years, a strong response is entirely avoiding confrontations, we are is not a guarantee of success. Life reasonable. simply kicking the can down the is busy, and most of us don’t have Mildly sexist attitudes can also road, leaving the problem for oththe time or energy to constantly perpetuate rape culture and nor- er women to deal with. And the second-guess how we perceive malise more serious incidents of women who are with them at work, others to view us. sexual abuse. One of my friends as their colleagues, employers, Though I eventually felt grateful was sexually assaulted, and she and employees, will not have the to have had my library bathroom told some male friends about option of simply avoiding them. crisis, the question remained as to her experience. Their immediate Blame aversion is a third reason why I had not previously noticed response was to joke about it and that may be behind women’s the effect of mild sexism on my tell her that she had been “asking avoidance of acknowledging sexmental state. In the quest to for it.” This deeply affected the ism. It is uncomfortable to call out understand why, I found valuable way she viewed the incident, and individuals. This is again drawn insight in a 1984 paper by social it was not until much later that from Crosby’s work; she states, psychologist Faye Crosby titled she realised what happened to “people experience discomfort in “The Denial of Personal Discrim- her was not acceptable. She had confronting their own victimizaination.” internalized what those men tion, because individual cases of Crosby asked participants three said, to the point that she felt it suffering seem to call, psychoquestions; “Do you currently probably wasn’t “a big deal.” She logically, for individual villains.” receive the benefits from your says, “after talking to other people There is a need to lay blame on job that you deserve to receive?”, about it now, I feel sick to think one person. In cases of outright “Are you at present the victim of that I blamed what happened on sexual abuse, this is easy. In the sex discrimination?”, and “Are myself – and even sicker to think case of insidious, persistent, longwomen discriminated against?” that some of my friends do not term sexism, one woman may have Her results were fascinating – the think that what my assaulter did faced sexist remarks from a wide women who took the survey over- was in any way serious.” range of people. The perpetrators whelmingly responded by saying The second reason that mild, may even be regarded as friends, they did receive the benefits from persistent sexism is hard to people who are perfectly reasontheir job that they deserved, and discuss is highlighted in Crosby’s able and decent most of the time. that they were not a victim of sex work. She states, “Elementary It is uncomfortable to state they discrimination.

However, they are guilty of bad behaviour. agreed that women Lastly, many men do on the whole are “They will carry their sexist not make throwdiscriminated away sexist against.

The attitudes with them into their career, comments collective logic maliciously is flawed – if perpetuating gender inequality.” and are often no individual is unaware of the discriminated against, damaging effects. how can women as a whole be Other people, and the men disadvantaged? politeness makes it difficult to themselves, can easily dismiss the Crosby is looking at women’s portray one’s own suffering, while behaviour as ‘immaturity,’ espeattitudes to workplace discrim- group loyalty demands a sensitivi- cially when the remarks come from ination, which manifests, for ty to the plight of one’s group. Our men in their early 20s. This term example, in the form of a gender society ill tolerates complaints, is deeply misleading, as it acts as a pay gap and women being passed especially if one appears unready veil over the true harm caused by over for promotion. I believe the to change or leave the offending their behaviour. Dismissing these same phenomenon exists in the situation.” actions as “immature” implies a way many women view mild sexist This chimes with my experience lesser seriousness and also less incidents and the psychological when talking to others about the responsibility on their part - “it’s effects of these. A woman knows issue. Others will agree that these just because they are young men, that that sexism occurs, out there, experiences are awful, but then don’t worry, they will to other women, and it affects the advice tends to imply that the grow out of it.” This them. But it doesn’t affect her. I responsibility to ‘fix’ the situation approach entirely can identify four reasons for this falls to us women. Generally, we belittles the fact on personal denial of the effects of are told to move away and spend that their actions sexism on oneself. less time with the men in ques- are deeply probWith mild and persistent sexism, tion. lematic; being sexist it does seem, at first glance, hard Certainly, it would be much and objectifying woman to justify a strong reaction. More easier for women to avoid men is not a ‘natural’ part of being a extreme incidents of sexual abuse who make these comments. But young man. are intensely negative experiences this simply does not address the Clearly, we can see there are that occur in a short space of time, problem. The men I have heard many barriers that obstruct open and so a proportionate reaction sexist remarks from are intelli- discussion about the effect of of intense outrage is warranted. gent Oxford students, who will go casual sexist remarks on the indiWhen the sexist behaviours are on to take up important roles at vidual. It feels difficult to justify mild but occur over a long period influential companies. They will anger in comparison to incidents of time, the effect can also be carry their sexist attitudes with of extreme sexual abuse, it would damaging and yet an intense them into their career, perpet- be easier to just avoid the men angry reaction is easily dismissed uating gender inequality. They making these comments, women as an over-reaction. It may look will make the women they work do not want to place blame on disproportionate when compared with feel less capable, make them the men in their lives, and it is all to one individual mild sexist in- question their abilities, and make easily dismissed as immaturity. I

18

have fallen into all four of these traps in the past. But if no one calls out their behaviour, men will never understand the true extent of the damage caused.

In the past, a female friend and I have attempted to directly talk to male friends about how their sexist remarks affect us. We hoped that a frank, face-to-face discussion would make them understand why we were upset and would make them want to change.

I was sorely disappointed by the response; it was along the lines of, “we will try to stop talking like this in front of you, but we are still going to talk like this when you are not around, because it’s just our style of humour.” They regretted upsetting us, and they wanted to avoid that in future, but there was a lack of understanding of the underlying issue. There was a lack of willingness to try to understand. I was left feeling that if only I could explain myself better, and present a more full-bodied argument, then maybe they would understand. These are intelligent Oxford students, after all. This piece is the manifestation of ‘explaining myself better.’

This brings us to the question of what to do next. There is a perfect storm of factors at play here. Mild, persistent sexism is harmful and damaging, as women internalise these remarks and it affects the way they view themselves. But women are often reluctant to disclose how sexism affects them personally, or are oblivious to it entirely. The men themselves are unaware of the harm they are causing, or are unwilling to confront the issue.

When women do speak up, as I am doing here, it can be easy to fall into the trap of intense, unproductive anger. Indeed, I first wrote t h i s

not know the answer. Looking to others for inspiration, I stumbled upon the Everyday Sexism Project set up in 2012 by Laura Bates. This consists of a blog where women can anonymously post stories of sexist incidents. More recently, the Everyone’s Invited Project, following a similar blog format, has highlighted the prevalence of the issue specifically at schools.

These efforts feel like a step in the right direction. They normalise the reporting of mild incidents of sexism and do not ask the woman to lay blame on a specific individual.

However, we need to take into account the fact that channelling our outrage into online blogs aimlessly is not going to be productive. These blogs may be preaching to the choir; the people reading them will overwhelmingly already sympathise with the movement. I highly doubt you will find a sexist man scrolling through the Everyday Sexism blog in his leisure time, having a sudden epiphany and vowing to reform himself.

Maybe I too am guilty of the same charge. Will any sexist man pay attention to this piece of writing? Perhaps not.

At a local and personal level however, the beginnings of one solution can be found in the university community we live in. Out in the big, wide world, structures aren’t necessarily in place to collectively think about the issue of mild and insidious sexism. Within the university, however, we already have a framework for informing new students of the values that they are expected to uphold. In Freshers’ week, at my college, we attend workshops on sexual consent. Perhaps these could be extended to discuss insidious forms of sexism. Additionally, repeating these workshops for students as they progress through their “Sexist remarks can go university careers would be a straightforward affecting her without her way of ensuring these conversations are onbeing cognisant of it.” going. Freshers’ week was a long time ago for many of us.

For men reading this, think piece in a of the structures you exist in flurry of anger when the scale of and pause to consider the effect the injustice first became appar- of sexist behaviour that you are ent to me. The first draft was a witness to. Ask the women in far more scathing attack on those your life how they feel about the that I know to exhibit this type of issue. For women reading this, sexism. But unrestrained anger ask yourself if you have properly does not always lead to productive acknowledged how sexism affects solutions. you. Listen to that quiet voice It feels somehow irresponsible deep down that knows what is to identify problems without wrong, and don’t be afraid to let offering concrete solutions, but I it get louder. will be upfront and state that I do Artwork by Rachel Jung

17

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

features EMMA BRASS

CW: Mentions of rape

I

’m in my last few months of four years at Oxford. I have much to fondly remember, but in this piece, I’m going to comment on one of the less pleasant aspects of my time here.

I am going to tell you about my own experience of insidious, persistent, mild sexism, and the damaging effect that it has had on me and some of my female friends. I want to discuss why I think this issue does not always receive the attention it deserves.

In bringing light to this mild and persistent form of sexism, my intention is not to downplay the experience of those who have been the victim of more extreme incidents of sexual abuse or harassment. I understand that as a white, cis, able-bodied, educated woman, I have many privileges not afforded to people who identify otherwise. The experiences of these other groups remain at the forefront of feminism. To them I simply want to add my voice, to share the effects of the kind of sexism that I and my friends have experienced.

In a kitchen setting, a female

friend dropped her knife as she was preparing her lunch. A man remarked that she will make a bad housewife.

Another time, one man sat with his girlfriend. He and another man began to discuss how good she was at cleaning up his room for him - whilst the girlfriend sat right there. The other man goes on to ask where he can “get one like that.” The boyfriend jokingly replied, “oh they’re pretty cheap.”

One friend told me about a time that she was wearing a skirt, and a male friend commented on its short length. She now sometimes feels insecure about her appearance - “I find myself wondering if my jeans are too tight, or if my top is too revealing. I then often end up changing into something looser, baggier, less revealing.”

In a discussion about our sex lives, the women who had slept with multiple men were described as “hoes,” whilst the man who used this term confidently explained that, even though he has slept with multiple women, derogatory terms cannot be applied to him: “it doesn’t count because I’m a guy.” This warped

THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF MILD, PERSISTENT SEXISM, AND WHY THEY’RE SO HARD TO TALK ABOUT

logic is common.

A rape scene came up when a group of us were watching a movie together. My female friend and I were sombre, hit by the emotional distress and trauma embedded in the scene. However, the men began to laugh. We called them out on this, and they replied with a half-hearted excuse about how the man’s face looked funny as he raped the girl. We were appalled by their mismatched emotional response to the scene.

I have witnessed some men joking around by making moaning sounds to one another, artificially raising the pitch of their voice to imitate how some woman sound when having sex. While on the surface this seems reasonably innocent, their imitations mock and belittle the sexual experience of women, turning female pleasure into a cheap joke.

I have a reason for describing incidents that are very personal, rather than making broad remarks about sexism in society. Most of us know that gender inequality is an issue. We know that the gender pay gap exists, and that women as a whole experience

sexism. However, I have come to believe that it is very hard, as a woman, to admit when oneself is personally experiencing, and being affected by, sexism. I myself have found it hard to admit.

For me, the moment of realisation came after a week of unusually frequent sexist comments. I went to the library to get some work done, and instead ended up crying in the library bathroom.

My distress was due to a feeling of deeply unsettling disdain for my own womanhood; I remember sitting there and thinking, “I wish I wasn’t a woman.” I was internalising sexist attitudes towards my gender, doubting my own worth and feeling less than human. It was horrible, and it was only at this moment that I was forced to confront these feelings. My tears almost came as a surprise to me; it took the appearance of this physical manifestation of my distress to make me realise that the distress existed at all.

If a woman is not lucky enough to have a crisis like I did, sexist remarks can go on affecting her without her being cognisant of it.

The subtle psychological conse-

quences that sexism can impart on a woman’s identity can be explored though the concept of the “looking-glass self,” which was introduced by the American sociologist Charles Cooley in 1902.

This term describes the tendency for an individual to understand themselves through the perceptions that they believe others to have of them. An individual’s identity, actions, and behaviours can be strongly influenced by how they think others perceive them.

Sexist remarks often demonstrate, implicitly or explicitly, that men think of women as less capable, less deserving, and unworthy of respect or consideration.

Women internalise this, and this can affect their self-worth and their confidence in their own abilities.

Since becoming keenly aware of this in the library bathroom, I now actively take steps to acknowledge how I think these men see me, and attempt to stop myself internalising those perceptions. It seems that the effect of the looking-glass self is strongest when you are not aware of it.

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

16

INSIDER: “For someone who has their I wish I could take a break from it – as own trauma, especially of a violent or much as I love my job and as much as I sexually violent nature, it can be really feel like it benefits people. Sometimes I triggering to listen to stories that are wish I could shut off true crime and have similar, or even that don’t seem similar a happy month and then go back to it. on the surface. For some, it could be like So, I really encourage my viewers to do picking a scab off of a wound over and that to take a break every now and again. over and over again… never giving it Otherwise, you’ll end up thinking the enough time to heal.” Amanda Vicary, an whole world is just doom and gloom all associate professor at Illinois Wesleyan the time.”

University, echoed this sentiment in While streaming services have led to the Huffington Post: “Women may want an explosion in the amount of content to learn about crime because they fear available for viewers (Sky has now being a victim themselves, but then launched its own channel purely with every podcast they listen devoted to the genre), this isn’t to or book they read, they a new phenomenon. Capote’s are just learning about In Cold Blood is a classic “Sometimes another woman who was of American literature, I wish I could take kidnapped or killed, while the serials of which can then increase Wilkie Collins and a break from it – as the fear even more”.

Charles Dickens were Neale has received greatly influenced much as I love my job countless messages by the British public from young female and as much as I feel like it obsessively tracking fans (her typical true crime cases in benefits people.

Sometimes demographic) who daily papers.

True feel overwhelmed by I wish I could shut off true crime books have also binging her videos. For been wildly popular for someone whose income crime and have a happy decades. A 2006 survey relies on consistent found it was the fastest month and then go growing viewers and regular literary genre; channel growth, her Mailer’s The Executioner’s back to it.” response is surprising: “Every Song even won a Pulitzer single time someone says that Prize. A 1993 survey conducted I say ‘please, please do if it’s affecting

by Publishers Weekly found that true your mental state, take a step away. Don’t crime novels performed better when they watch any true crime content.’ Sometimes focused on more gory content – with

serial killers doing especially well. A creators to focus on ‘smaller’ stories. direct link to the case can be viewed as While there is a grim level of awareness even better, lending the text some form of regarding cases which are likely to authority. Helter Skelter, the best-selling increase engagement – Neale confesses true crime book of all time, was written that “the videos in which there is a by the lead Manson family prosecutor young, white female in the thumbnail do Vincent Bugliosi (alongside Curt Gentry). twice as well as any other case” – there is Similarly, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside also the opportunity to highlight lesser Me focuses on the writer’s known cases. She cites a recent video personal relationship covering the kidnap and murder of with Ted Bundy. True Latisha Frazier – “oh my god, it “These ones crime YouTubers was awful. She was killed by are limited by all of her friends. She was are being told on my the platform’s lured there and killed, and g u i d e l i n e s channel because no one I couldn’t find any videos… regarding graphic And I was like… ‘right, else will tell them and content and okay, I’m going to tell this often have no story’.” More generally, a I want to tell that relationship to focus on sensationalising the cases they’re cases means that “people’s story.” covering. What, then, everyday stories don’t get told – is the allure? Neale believes like the ones where someone is killed there’s a level of intimacy unique to by their partner in their home. It’s not as YouTube. “It is so much more relatable juicy as something else. And that’s one and aware. I’m literally just a northern of the sad things that I’ve realised while girl sat in my bedroom”, leading to I’ve been doing this job is that if people content feeling like a “conversation” like me and my peers don’t tell the ones rather than being primarily “produced that don’t get the documentaries or the and edited”. This level of access and Netflix series, then they don’t get told. relatability cannot be replicated by And I like to say that in the start of my documentaries. Similarly, there’s a sense videos where I cover smaller cases. of community – which Neale describes “These ones are being told on my as “respectful” above all else – within channel because no one else will tell her subscriber base, with viewers able to them and I want to tell that story.” theorise and change their minds based on new evidence in real time.

The freedom of YouTube also allows Image credit: Eleanor Neale

Student Profiles: Elliot Brooke Issy Kenney-Herbert speaks to LGBTQ+ Campaign Co-Chair Elliot Brooke about trans activism at Oxford and beyond.

I

log onto a Zoom call to be greeted by an array of colours: placards from protests cascade down the walls, various rainbow objects litter the room, and a vase of flowers stand in front of a trans flag with the words ‘We Will Not Be Erased’. I can tell this is the room of an activist.

Elliot Brooke is a second year History student at St Hilda’s College, who spends his spare time campaigning for improvements in trans rights across the University through his roles as Transgender Representative for LGTBQ+ Society and Co-Chair of SU LGBTQ+ Campaign. He laughs as he tells me that he came back to Oxford last year after being away due to personal circumstances throughout Hilary, to suddenly be told that he would be doing another term from home. Yet, coming back to Oxford in Michaelmas Term, he was quick to launch straight into projects that had been brewing over lockdown.

Many people will remember his own trans flag being hung across the RadCam railings alongside displaying 242 names of trans victims of violence in 2020. It became a place for the trans community to come together to grieve, as well as demonstrate their love and sense of community. I inquired about Elliot’s inspiration for this memorial: “Anti-trans violence is such a huge problem still, especially beyond this country, and the victims who may otherwise be forgotten deserve to be remembered. I played around with a few different ideas on how to do it, but in the end the panels made most sense and ensured the names of those we lost were displayed clearly, which I feel is important. After settling on that, it was just a matter of persuading a group of mates to help duct tape everything together and drag it all down to the RadCam at five in the morning”, he chuckles.

I ask him further about the decision to locate this memorial at the RadCam: “Radcliffe Square gets a huge amount of foot traffic, so I knew it would be a place where the memorial would get seen by a lot of people, and so raise a lot of awareness for TDOR and the wider issue of anti-trans violence. It was also an outdoor space large enough that if LGBTQ+ individuals wanted to come and spend some time mourning and reflecting, they could without worrying about Covid.”

He takes a deep breath before continuing: “Over the past

couple of years, there have been a lot of instances within the university that have contributed to creating an alienating and unwelcoming environment for its trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming members. I think for a lot of people, there was something very empowering about seeing the trans flag hanging outside the RadCam, a building so iconic and so strongly associated with Oxford. It was about asserting our right to be here and be seen.”

This was one of his first projects that he did under the LGBTQ+ Campaign, a group he became involved with during his Second Year: “I’ve had a really mixed bag of experiences throughout the past couple of years around being trans at Oxford,” he tells me, “loads of people have been absolutely fantastic about it, which was a really pleasant surprise, and I am so grateful to have found an amazing group of queer friends who are just fantastic. But there were also a few incidents and individuals who made things really difficult, which led to my mental health being really negatively impacted.

Over the summer of 2020, I gave a speech about this at the London Trans Rights Protest in July, and the positive reaction and support I got from speaking out about my experiences was incredible, and encouraged me to look more into how I could personally get involved in work to try and improve the experience of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ members - which is when someone suggested joining campaign to me!”

Now he is Co-Chair of LGBTQ+ Campaigns, alongside Tori Mangan. When inquiring about the workload, he admits it is a lot of work and that he feels “sometimes it’s easy to forget that students in volunteer roles are also still students who have a whole degree to do on top of the work we’re trying to accomplish within campaigns.” Yet, for him it’s an experience he wouldn’t miss: “it’s been a really incredible opportunity that I’m so grateful to have - I’ve been able to work with departments on developing their equality policies, attend national conferences, and work in smaller ways to try and improve the situation for LGBTQ+ students in the university, and that is a really rewarding position to be in.”

It s clear he is fast becoming an expert on the issues facing trans students within Oxford, so I ask him where he feels that trans activism needs to go in the future. He takes a moment before carefully continuing, “I think there is still a very serious issue surrounding the lack of adequate welfare provisions and safeguarding measures for transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming students within the university. The 2018

Trans Report revealed just how dire the situation was regarding trans individuals in the university, and unfortunately my confidence that these statistics have improved over the past three years is low. Activism and welfare are, when it comes to trans issues especially, often inextricably linked together; our very existence is constantly politicised, and therefore activism becomes an incredibly important tool in pushing for our basic rights to safety, privacy and comfort to be met. We’ve still got quite a long way to go before we can say that goal has been met.”

When I ask him what is one thing he wishes people knew about campaigns, he smiles: “I wish people knew how keen we are to connect more with the wider student body. I know there’s a general feeling that the SU doesn’t really do a lot, and I can understand how sometimes it can feel very far removed - especially since the collegiate nature of Oxford means the SU can sometimes play a less significant role in our day-to-day life than it might at other universities. However, having worked with the SU for coming up on sixth months now, it’s been really enlightening to see how many resources they have available that are simply not known about, and how helpful they can be in resolving issues students are encountering. We really are happy to help in whatever way we can, and are always interested in hearing your issues and ideas, and supporting any projects you might want to carry out.”

What can students do to support the work of this campaign?

Elliot eagerly states “the absolute best way people can support the work we do is by continuing it themselves. From small acts, such as adding your pronouns to your email signature and asking others to do the same, and challenging people when you hear anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to take the burden off your LGBTQ+ peers, to bigger things like setting up a Gender Expression Fund in your college and actively getting involved in queer activist efforts in Oxford. We’re currently looking to fill some campaign positions, so if you are interested in getting more involved, feel free to reach out to us!”

You can learn more about Elliot’s activism through his Instagram and contact LGBTQ+ Campaigns via their email lgbtq@oxfordsu.ox.ac.uk and Facebook.

Image credit: Elliot Brooke.

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Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

profiles

IN CONVERSATION WITH: ELEANOR NEALE watching – must be intimidating. unsustainable. At the beginning of 16, 17, 18, and I used to walk home from Sometimes, they may be shocked or each video, Neale includes a disclaimer my friend’s houses in the dark — they’d horrified by what they see in the media. that she means no disrespect to the live two miles away from my house! I One episode of Netflix’s I Am A Killer victims or their families and that all would never do that these days and I explores the murder of Robert Mast. research has been obtained through would hope that my little cousin and my When family members were approached reputable secondary sources. Regarding friends’ little sisters wouldn’t do what we to participate in the show, Mast’s the disclaimer (which has now been did.” In a sponsorship with sportswear CW: descriptions of violence. stepmother replied: “as a parent, a fellow replicated across the true crime YouTube brand Gymshark, Neale shared tips to stay human being, I beg you not to do this… community), she says, “I did six videos safe while out running (such as removing t’s bizarre when Eleanor Neale replies PLEASE don’t do this!” Mast’s stepsister without it. And there were so many information when sharing to my first question. I’ve become so told TIME: “When we continue to give people that commented ‘are screenshots of routes on used to having her videos playing in numbers to these shows, they keep you doing this for views?’… social media, location “One of the the background, describing murders, making them. And real people living I don’t like that people are sharing, and running kidnappings and missing persons’ cases. real lives keep getting re-traumatized coming to my videos and against traffic), sad things that I’ve It’s incredibly odd to now hear her every time.” Likewise, Lauren Bradford’s thinking that of me while recognising respond in real time. Still, this is a feeling mother was murdered in 1991. In 2016, when I started out just that no level realised while I’ve been common to many – with 1.6 million ITV aired The Secret, a drama series doing missing persons of precaution subscribers and nearly a quarter of a based on the “story” of the crime, cases and the reason doing this job is that if people can guarantee billion video views, Neale is one despite resistance from Lauren I was doing them was protection. “That like me and my peers don’t of the world’s most well-known and her family. Lauren to get them out there”. was literally “You do true crime YouTubers. wrote in the Guardian Neale elaborates: “you favourite tell the ones that don’t get my have to state your Beyond views, Neale’s that “by calling it a do have to state your sponsorship that the documentaries or the I’ve ever done. It videos often have tangible story, they trivialise the intentions. That’s the intentions.

That’s impact. Her video on reality of these events first time someone is wasn’t as much about Netflix series, then they the Jessie Blodgett, a brand, it was about the first time someone and dehumanise the hearing you and seeing nineteen-year-old singer impact that it has you… They don’t know what they stood for.” don’t get told.” is hearing you and seeing on those involved. anything about you… You and musician who was Neale tells me she wants murdered in 2013, has Furthermore, careless need to make it clear that you to be a “friend” to viewers you… They don’t know been watched over oversights, such as are just doing it to cover the case and who is relatable and comforting.

1.2 million times. The She seems more like this corner of the anything about you… You the misspelling of give that victim justice in a way”.

LOVE>hate Project, my mum’s name in Can this be enough? “It can be a little internet’s elder sister: ready with advice created by Jessie’s need to make it clear that emails that I had to bit scary sometimes.” She pauses, then and concern for her fanbase, along with parents in 2016 to correct, go deeper continues, “I’ve had so many cases for those impacted by the cases you are just doing it to than just a trivial where I’ve covered the case on YouTube, sympathy help victims of human she is covering. trafficking and domestic cover the case and give mistake; this echoes and then like one of the victim’s family Neale doesn’t often speak about the violence, received an influx a disrespect for the members has emailed me; more often impact of researching – often gory, of donations after Neale that victim justice in victims and disregard for than not, they’re absolutely lovely. When often intimately personal – crimes on a referenced them in the video. accuracy. In telling I know that family members of regular basis. “At this point, I’ve pretty a way.”

Jessie’s father even reached these “stories”, these victims do see the videos, much kind of been able to separate my out: “I remember her dad emailed they have to rethere is a huge pressure there work from my brain. And if I couldn’t “When I me… he was just checking all the write truth to fit - I’ve got to do the victim have done that would have made me ill accounts. And he was like: ‘we had a a narrative that gives justice. I’ve got to tell - if I couldn’t pull up that kind of shield, know that family huge influx of donations around last the impression of an their story accurately.” when I started researching, then it would members of these week, and I couldn’t figure out where assumed complicity or One of Neale’s first really, really affect me”. She pauses. on earth they were coming from’.” The even authorisation from videos covered the Her usually bubbly tone, referenced victims do see the LOVE>hate Project later featured Neale’s the families, which is case of Alissa Turney. in innumerable YouTube comments in video on their website. Neale continues: so often not the case…

At the time, the contrast to the grim subject matter of videos, there is a huge “I could tell how happy he was in this Truth is replaced with s e v e n t e e n - y e a r - o l d ’s her videos, is sombre now. “I’ve gone pressure there - I’ve got disappearance email. Sometimes I kind of “good enough truth”; was through stages where I’ve been like an forget the kind of impact embellished and unsolved. Her sister, anxious mess… and then I can’t leave the to do the victim justice. that my videos have until rewritten for Sarah, used social house for a week…. I’ll be walking down it gets to something like entertainment”. media to campaign for the street when it’s kind of dark and all I’ve got to tell their that. My audience can H o w e v e r , justice. Sarah contacted the cases that I’ve ever covered will be story accurately.” Neale directly after seeing running through my brain.” raise hundreds, if not while TV thousands, of pounds documentaries her video and explained She’s stopped covering certain cases for particular causes. have teams of that some of the evidence – due to the impact on her own mental That really reminds researchers and PR which Neale had found through health; children’s cases remind her of her me like why I do officers who can navigate news reports – was wrong: “Her family four-year-old nephew, who occasionally this.” these difficult interactions, have had this uphill battle with news features in her videos. “These Such pressure – Neale is working with outlets because they’ve always been children lost their lives so the knowledge that far fewer resources. printing things wrong about this traumatically”, she says, “I a victim’s friend or She’s recently hired an case. And I said, ‘Look, I would feel like it is important to “At this family member editor to take up some love to redo this video with tell their stories. But, at point, I’ve pretty could be of the workload while your input’. And I did; I the same time, those someone else makes her took the video down. And were the ones that got much kind of been thumbnails (although I spoke with her sister me choked up every she has the final and we completely redid time… In every case able to separate my approval, noting how the video”. In August of a young boy, I work from my brain. And would relate it to my some are “too movie 2020, Michael Turney poster for me”).

— Sarah’s father and if I couldn’t have done that nephew. And every While As much Alissa’s stepfather time I would just as Neale loves — was charged with would have made me ill - if cry.” Speaking to covering cases Alissa’s murder. When BBC Sounds, Neale concerning announcing the grand I couldn’t pull up that kind elaborated: “I get serial killers, jury indictment, the all the emotion out of shield, when I started as she’s had to prosecutor addressed I am researching limit these Sarah directly, [but] I remember I researching, then it as they praising her efforts: was researching the would really, really take her “your perseverance and Jamie Bulger case “a b o u t commitment to finding which is one of the worst affect me”. three justice for your sister, Alissa, cases I have ever heard of weeks” is a testament to the love of in my life,” she recalls. “I to research. a sister ... Because of that love, remember I cried so much as I With a Alissa’s light has never gone out.” was researching that case.” s c h e d u l e Neale tries to cover many cases relating For viewers too, there’s a potentially which features to young women. “That is what young negative impact when consuming m u l t i p l e women who watch me respond best to, as excessive true crime content. Erin uploads each scary as it is for them to hear all these Parisi, a mental health counsellor who week, this is horrific cases… I think back to when I was specialises in true crime coverage, told

Abigail Howe speaks to true crime YouTuber Eleanor Neale about storytelling, its impacts on mental health and doing victims justice.

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19

sport Ariana Rubio

CW: sexual violence and rape

S

Friday, 14th May 2021 | Cherwell

Sexual violence in Oxford sport:

arah Everard’s tragic passing in March of this year and the ensuing interest in the @everyonesinvited Instagram account, which shares anonymous testimonies of sexual harassment at secondary schools and universities, catalysed a chain reaction of discussions. From top government officials to family and friends, everyone was talking about women’s safety. Shortly after Everard’s death, Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to Twitter to express his “shock” and “sad[ness]” at the “horrifying crime”. In the context of these recent events, I was able to meet Sofia Baldelli, third year medic and President of Atalanta’s Society, to discuss issues of sexual harassment and assault in sport at Oxford.

Atalanta’s is a society that “promotes and supports” women in sport at Oxford. The club was initially founded in 1992, partly in reaction to Vincent’s Club which, at the time, accepted only male members. While Baldelli mainly female-driven enterprise, describing acknowledges that the social dimension of the being in a meeting full of women to discuss society, which enables sportswomen to meet these issues and wondering where the men each other, is “commendable”, she emphasises are. That said, she points out that Vincent’s that Atalanta’s creates a mutually supportive Club has recently come out with a no tolercommunity that aspires to improve the generance policy for sexual harassment, and that al environment for women in sport at Oxford.

Atalanta’s male members, who are all involved For example, they provide financial aid for in women’s sport in some way, are leading the both teams and individual players, promote way by implementing changes and leading matches via social media, and carry out outdiscussions. Baldelli stresses that men should reach work. Baldelli stresses that Atalanta’s use their platforms in this context and that, strives to become a “force for change”, and equally, there should be space for the voices of make “room to keep trying to push” Oxford historically marginalised socio-demographic sport, which was originally “built for men”, in groups to speak out. the “right direction”.

Earlier this year, Atalanta’s compiled a small Recently, for instance, Baldelli is “most pool of testimonies of incidents of sexual proud” of their work on issues of sexual harassharassment and assault that occurred within ment. At Iffley Road Sport Centre, Atalanta’s the context of sport at Oxford. In addition to spearheaded a scheme to put up posters in a number of reports about groping, there were bathrooms that detail steps one can take after over ten reports of non-consensual sex. While experiencing sexual harassment. The society unsure of the scope of circulation and uptake, is also working with the Sports Federation and the fact that such a large number of rapes hap“It Happens Here”, an anti-sexual violence pened in contexts tied to Oxford sports team campaign associated with the Student Union. is, as Baldelli says, is “harrowing”. Another One of Atalanta’s aims is to establish a specific reporting system whereby whole sports teams and even clubs “PEERS HOLDING EACH OTHER can be held accountable when an incident of sexual harassment or any ACCOUNTABLE IS REALLY form of discrimination occurs. This is not, she is careful to say, a system in IMPORTANT” which everyone would be castigated for the actions of a few individuals.

Rather, it shifts the emphasis from punitive common theme of the testimonies, which retribution to collective accountability. Capmainly occurred in nightclubs and other social tains would have to provide evidence that they settings, was the sense of powerlessness in the had acknowledged the incident and held a team face of injustice. Many did not know where they wide discussion to identify what they need to could report the experience to and, when they do differently. “Peers holding each other acdid, were “blatantly ignored”. In contrast to countable is really important,” Baldelli says, Boris Johnson’s reaction to Everard’s murder, and an effective method of ensuring that there Baldelli maintains that this is “not shocking”, are consequences for inappropriate behaviour. but rather, to be expected. The poor structural As she emphasises, this is about “all women support for reporting incidents of sexual asand gender non-conforming individuals in sault and even poorer response to those that Oxford” who interact with sports players and are reported make such experiences common. deserve to feel and be safe. She notes that such This is not exclusive to the university reporta reporting system, as well as the posters at ing system: only 1.5% of reported rapes, which Iffley, seem like “common sense” necessities, represent just a fraction of those which take and is proud that Atalanta’s is at the forefront place, result in legal action. For Baldelli, the of such grassroot efforts to change sport at testimonies “really highlighted that things Oxford for the better. need to be done in the sport setting” at Oxford In a sense, however, any such change for the and in society at large. better is bittersweet because it was so desperOn an individual front, Baldelli emphasises ately needed earlier. In a discussion with one the power of discussion as a force for change. of Atalanta’s trustees, Baldelli learnt that she “There is no individual without the collec(the trustee) had established a sexual violence tive”, Baldelli summarises, and the impact of charity in Oxford in the early 2000s, and that even one person taking note and demanding she could not believe that the situation had accountability cannot be overstated. Again, not improved almost twenty years on. While this is not simply an issue of women’s safety, Baldelli is appreciative of the recent emphasis but applies to all forms of harassment and on women’s safety, this is tinged with a “slight discrimination. As students, we all live in resentment” because it is so long overdue. She Oxford for a significant proportion of the year, also draws attention to the fact that this is a and should all take responsibility for making it

in conversation with Sofia Baldelli, President of Atalanta’s society a safe place. Societies and sports clubs should enact this on a larger scale. On the 27th of March, Atalanta’s released a statement urging university sport captains and presidents to join them in standing “in solidarity with those who have been affected by acts of sexual violence” or “discrimination based on their gender, sexuality or race” and “bring about changes within their clubs so that everyone can feel safe and supported within Oxford sport”. Ideally, Baldelli explains that every club would release a similar letter acknowledging what has been done wrong, what has not been done, and what can be done to improve the situation. In addition to vocalisations of support, however, she emphasises the necessity of concrete action and a more general change in the ethos of sporting culture at Oxford.

Baldelli believes that, at the present moment, there is “too much of a culture” where individuals feel pressured to “let [cases of sexual violence] slide”. With the cumulative efforts of Atalanta’s, other clubs, and individuals, she hopes to engender a culture of increasing accountability.

While Baldelli stresses the positive effects of discussion, she is cognisant of the fact that this can sometimes feel like a burden. As well as personal experiences of sexual violence, the general ubiquity of distressing news on this topic can, in her words, be “exhausting”. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to this, but Baldelli suggests that one should “take comfort from friends”, from “the people around you”, and from “the fact that you know that there are people out there” trying to change things.

A n d B a ldel l i herself b el ie v e s t h a t “things are changing”, like the small but tangible example of posters in the Iffley bathrooms.

Ultimately, one needs to find a “balance” between promoting discussion and one’s

own welfare.

In terms of Atalanta’s short-term goals, Baldelli explains that they aim to design and produce final posters with comprehensive flowcharts that outline the steps of a robust reporting system. At their general meeting at the end of this term, the society is introducing a welfare representative, which will hopefully allow Atalanta’s to support even more members and non-members in situations of sexual harassment and assault. In the long-term, and more abstractly, the society aims to create a space for these kinds of issues to be talked about, particularly those to do with women and women’s sport. In terms of more general, structural changes, Baldelli would like to see a complete “overhaul” of the university’s sexual harassment reporting and welfare system.

While the prevalence of manifestations of rape culture in sport at Oxford are distressing beyond measure, it is heartening to see that societies like Atalanta’s and people like Baldelli and their other members are so committed to combating this. I follow Baldelli in maintaining “hope that things will change”, and in personally taking measures to contribute to making sport and life at Oxford safer and more supportive.

Read the full interview online at cherwell.org.

Main image courtesy of Sofia Baldelli.

ON THIS DAY ON MAY 14TH, 1983, ROSA MOTA ACHIEVED THE

WORLD RECORD TIME (FEMALE) FOR RUNNING 20K, CLOCKING IN AT 1:06:55.5.

OTD Image: Save the Dream / CC BY 2.0

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

20

PREVIEW:

VARSITY CHANNEL RELAY 2021

Matthew Cogan

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his June will see the return of the Varsity Channel Relay race for the first time in 5 years. After a postponement last year due to coronavirus, and a failure in 2018 for Cambridge to field a team, one of the most gruelling varsity competitions is hoping to be back with a bang.

This year is even more important as, in memory of Nick Thomas, who co-founded the relay and was an endless source of support to OUSC (Oxford University Swimming Club), the relay team will be raising money for Cancer Research UK, a charity close to OUSC’s and Nick’s family’s hearts. 50% of all funds raised will go to Cancer Research UK. Should you wish to donate, search “Varsity Channel Race JustGiving”.

This is the team’s 12th time taking on Cambridge, after the race was postponed last year. Oxford are the current reigning champions after a victory by half an hour in 2016, and currently lead the head to head 6-3, with two draws between the two teams (two minutes are allowed between the two sides in order for the race to be declared a draw).

The Oxford team is made up of 6 swimmers, 3 men and 3 women, who will race their Cambridge counterparts across the Channel from Dover to Calais. This is an approximate distance of 22 miles and will take the teams between 8 and 12 hours to complete. Tides need to be taken into account and most swimmers tackle a sort of S-shaped course.

The principle is quite simple: each team will swim in a relay with only one swimmer in the water at any one time.

The swimmers will be following a piloted boat for the whole route and those who are not in the water will be cheering avidly from deck. Each swimmer will swim for an hour and then they will rotate around the team, with the first team to reach France crowned the winners.

The Cross Channel Relay Competition was founded in 1998 by Nick Thomas and Martin Davies and has been running biannually ever since. The Varsity Channel Relay Race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1998 was a roaring success and has become a mainstay in the varsity calendar. This event is the only university swimming race across the Channel and has generated publicity worldwide. The

S P O R T S

race has been featured in countless publications from The Times all the way to Australian national radio. It has also received extensive features in both Universities’ student media and in the Swimming Times, a national swimming publication.

If dealing with the unpredictable weather and the huge distance being swum was not already difficult enough, wetsuits are not allowed, so the only protection from the waves (not to mention the jellyfish) will be a swimming costume, a cap, a pair of goggles. As I am sure many people will have jumped into the Channel or the North Sea before, you will know how cold it can be and this will be no different.

The team have been preparing by swim-

After a remote Hilary, Cherwell asked Oxford University’s sports clubs about their plans for reopening.

Oxford University Basketball Club have managed to do some training outside.

“Weather is a massive issue, if it’s raining half the time during autumn or winter,” says Secretary Karl Baddeley. “Also, being outdoors, there is higher injury risk,” because players will fall on concrete rather than wooden gym floors. “We can’t play as intensely as we normally would indoors, so that definitely limits training.”

Baddeley also says for their strength and conditioning regime “we have to do a lot of bodyweight stuff on zoom, all just in our

Image credit: @oxforduni_openwater on Instagram.

UNI RETURN TO SPORT – OUSC Angela Eichhorst

rooms, which is fine, but obviously, that’s limiting as well.”

Most teams are holding out hope for a varsity competition at the end of term but students understand that the situation could change at any moment. “Best case scenario, we can have a friendly towards week seven or something, maybe, and then the one we really hope to have is varsity against Cambridge, maybe at the end of week eight, we don’t really know,” says Baddely.

At the moment basketball training consists of “lots of drills in bubbles” but the team is hopeful they can get back on their indoor court by week 4 of Trinity to train in groups.

To help the team in their race and support Cancer Research UK, in memory of Nick Thomas, search “Varsity Channel Race JustGiving”.

S H O R T S

UNI RETURN TO SPORT – OUBBC Angela Eichhorst

ming in Queenford Lake and Port Meadow as they try and acclimatise for the temperatures of 15 degrees that they will experience during the swim; with a normal ‘cold’ swimming pool being around 27 degrees, it really will be a tough challenge for those taking part.

The Oxford 2018 team swam the Channel and, despite not having a Cambridge team to race against, they were the 4th fastest Channel relay crossing out of 120 that year. Cherwell spoke to some of the swimmers from that 2018 Oxford team to ask about what the biggest challenges are for those who are undertaking such a huge task.

Victoria Lackey said of her race in 2018: “I thought the hardest part was swimming in the dark. It’s difficult to prepare for that element.”

Meanwhile, Lauren Burton told Cherwell: “for me, the most difficult part was psyching myself to jump off the boat for the first time into the utter unknown (not helped by the dark!).

“I also didn’t like the uncertainty of the swim and not knowing when we would get the all clear for the swim to go ahead.”

On behalf of everyone at Cherwell, we wish the team all the best in their final preparations before the race in June and hope that they will be able to beat the old foe in such a difficult and gruelling event.

President of Oxford University Swimming Club, Felix Gallagher, has only had four weeks in the pool this year. After all indoor sports facilities shut under lockdown restrictions in October, “it’s been tough to get people involved,” Gallagher admits. Over the past six months he’s been running team fitness circuits over Zoom but has noticed attendance drop. “I think everyone just got a bit zoomed out to be honest,” Gallagher says.

Single lanes have been open at the Rosenblatt swimming pool since April 12th and Gallagher hopes the team can return to coached sessions from May 17th. After such a long lapse in practice, “the immediate concern is injuries, that people rush back into training and maybe

don’t appreciate just how long they’ve had off and just how intense normal training is.”

Gallagher is also concerned that “if [members] are not swimming at the same level they were before, they get disheartened, demotivated, and perhaps they quit the sport. I think we are a little bit worried that we might lose quite a few members.”

Gallagher was happy to see that Zoom meetings this term were mostly frequented by the newest members of the group, some of whose only experience of OUSC has been those first four weeks in October. Gallagher reckons the zoom sessions were “probably really beneficial in the sense that it was probably a bit less intimidating if you’re new to the club.”

Image courtesy of OUSC.

Cherwell | Friday, 14th May 2021

21

puzzles CROSSWORD - OR AN INTERNAL MONOLOGUE?

By Beatrice Barr Across 1. Dua ____ 5 Natural hairstyle 9. Former Republican Presidential candidate, typically stylised with an ‘!’

12. “Have you got your ____ card?” (teacher’s question on a pre-Brexit school trip) 13. 5d.-er 14. They run the Euros 15. ____ Gartland (singer and former YouTuber) 16. “How are you?” response from literally any Oxford student 17. Shady contracts behind many a scandal 18. Saint-not-Giles 20. Plentiful in PPE, lacking in PPEists 22. It means “relating to the theory of knowledge”, but, two years into a politics degree, I still don’t think I understand 24. Word with kitten or blonde (3) 27. Annual varsity match which definitely doesn’t matter and no one cares about, right?

31. Steve or Bindi 32. Kitchen flooring 33. Pull with effort 34 ____ Mongeau, American internet personality(?)

35. Noise, or “yes” at Port and Policy 37. Aptly named US- based bank 38 Bridge from the third to the fifth?

39. Abortive festival, for which someone was willing to go a long way to secure Evian

SUDOKU

By Cinna Mekonnen

E A S Y

40. One half of a Granita Pact 41. Big Roman Guy? idk I don’t do Classics 43. Not a stoat 44. 20(!) year old BRIT Awardwinning singer-songwriter, whose debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, was released this year.

46. _____ punch (as someone fighting well) 49. Southern Ukraine native 52. Berry at a health food shop 53. Shades which face off at 27a.

55. Scheduling software for Apple users 57. The only age group which will understand this crossword 58. “Ready to go!”

59. www.isthe___stillstuck.com (now-redundant website) 60 Why you might get a call every time you want to send a silly little email (just me? just me.)

61. Clueless’s Emma 62. Deadly virus similar to SARS and Covid-19 Down 1. It is to lion as 5d. is to ram 2. Definition of antisemitism, adopted by Oxford in 2020 3. Prescription with a higher risk of blood clots than the Covid vaccine 4. What we’re all at Oxford for!!!

5. It is to ram as 1d. is to lion 6. You must leave Oxford with 1/3 of these, allegedly 7. Addison ___ (TikTok star) 8. How Netflix shows are available 9. Sci-fi good guys 10. Department in charge of Frost and Milton: Abbr.

11. Nicki had a super one in 2010 13. STEM word for Park End’s official name, probably 14. Global refugee agency 19. “Let’s put ____ in that for now” (subject-changing

remark) 21. President of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980 23. England’s Morgan or an Irish John 24. The first letter in the alphabetised alphabet 25. _____ and Cooperation Agreement (the Brexit Deal) 26. Me, to my dog 28. A.K.A. 29.

Affectionate name for the endings of 18a. and 6d.

30. Like a scene kid, but on TikTok, and apparently cool?

35. Mono_____ (yes, for instance) 36. “Can I have an ____?” (vegan’s request at a welfare tea) 37. Form of discrimination popular in Oxford!

39. Venus in ____ (Velvet Underground song) 40. Nickname for Rebekah 42. Port city that might be pronounced with a “th” 43. Take forcefully 45. Do is to it as te is to jam and bread 46. Is a bit behind, as a Netflix show 47. King-beaters 48. Apple product discontinued in 2017 (which Melissa McCarthy claims to be able to hide in her butt, in Bridesmaids)

50. Head or heart complaint 51. Popular shaving alternative 54. Home of Gove & Malala 56. Vinyl fan’s collection

Send solutions to puzzlescherwell@gmail.com.

M E D I U M

H A R D

Image credit: Mingle Media TV / CC BY-SA 2.0