Hilary: The “Grey” Term?

Sophie Lord

Around this time a year ago, I wrote my frst article for Cherwell. I’m not writing this to be narcissistic – in that article, in the middle of Hilary term, I wrote about burnout at Oxford and the relation between this and meritocracy. Much of what I wrote back then still stands, as I write now in my fnal Hilary at Oxford.

Something about Hilary term feels, to me, grey. Michaelmas is sweet in postsummer glory – the arms of friends and the dreaming spires a warm welcome back after a long break. As the weather gets colder in Michaelmas, Oxford still remains beautiful and unchanging. Walking through Christ Church Meadows, you can feel the seasons change – one day, orange leaves crunch under foot, and the next, the Isis is frozen over.. With the increasing cold and dark comes the switching on of Christmas lights, and the luxury of Oxmas dinners and Christmas parties.

Can you tell I tend to romanticise? No university term, Oxford or elsewhere, is perfect. Between sparky Michaelmas memories were plenty of essays and hours spent in the library – which feels a ftting transition to describe Hilary. As I mentioned earlier, Hilary embodies grey. There are no seasonal transitions – it has been cold seemingly every day – and nothing to look forward to at the end.

It was this feeling, the constant working to fulfl goals that are slightly out of reach, just to do the same again the following week. This is the essence of Hilary: that my friends and I joke that we are living a St Peter’s variant of ‘groundhog day’, unaware of date, time, week, just living the same day on repeat. This is why I wrote a year ago, that, ‘everyone feels like we are pushing and pushing for a non-existent, unreachable goal’. Working to such a high standard, and constant tight deadlines, as we do in Oxford, is hard with little reward. Hilary feels like there is no end in sight.

However, a year later, my perspective is a little different. Perhaps this is my romantic fnalist mindset, but I do now believe that there is a slight comfort that can be found in a repetitive and monotonous Hilary. I try my best to soak in the joy I feel on the walk to the library with friends, and in the chaos of a post-Bridge debrief

This is, of course, idealistic- romanticising moments of Hilary is redundant if you actually feel unhappy, which is an entirely fair thing to feel- but I have found that focusing on these little moments of joy, among the bleakness of Hilary, does make it a little less grey. Whilst it is easy to miss the cosiness of Michaelmas, and look forward to the sunny days of Port Meadow and picnics in Trinity, grounding yourself in a little appreciation does not hurt.

Read the full article online at cherwell.org

Disaster Relief in Turkey & Syria

Oliver Hall

This week, I was lucky enough to speak to Barney Mayhew, an expert in international crises and the logistics of foreign aid delivery across the globe (profles piece to come!). He has worked in crises across the world for decades and it was fascinating to hear his take on the relief delivery in Syria. One thing that has certainly jumped out to me is the media’s inevitable focus on Turkey as a result of the fact that they can’t get access to much of Syria. Barney insisted though that the structures already in place would mean that organisations are prepared to deliver the aid that they do recieve. Having said that, a week on the frst international aid has only just arrived in rebel held areas - a worrying sign to say the least.

Jakub Trybull

The delivery of foreign aid has previous tension points - between Turkey and Greece, Armenia, and the frst European aid from Italy arriving in Syria. We have also witnessed a remarkable moment of cooperation between the West and Russia, both delivering aid to a people in need. This sentiment of human unity falls short, however, with political lines remaining to be drawn regarding attitudes by the Al Assad regime with limited help reaching affected areas controlled by opposition forces. It seems, as it always does, that *everything* is political, even the value of human lives.

Adam Saxon

The issue of how to get effective, targeted aid to war-torn countries like Syria is diffcult. Attempting to provide assistance to opposition held areas is near-impossible, and there is a serious risk of whole areas being forgotten about. It may, tragically, be too late to save many this time around, but there are lessons to be learned. In future, the response needs to be rapid, and both sides must reach out, put human life frst, make (even temporary) peace and ensure a collaborative effort of some kind to distribute foreign aid can be put together. This would mean all affected areas can make use of the supplies and expertise of rescue teams like those sent by the UK last week.